From: Vintage Sports Cards, Inc. Average Rating: Binding: Toy Label: Vintage Sports Cards, Inc. Manufacturer Minimum Age: 12 years Manufacturer Maximum Age: 99 years Model: 4098347 Release Date: May 01, 2007
Features:
Axis and Allies Pacific is the second expansion to the Axis & Allies game system. In this game, the three main powers (Britain, Japan, and the US) square off against each other against the backdrop of the Pacific ocean.
Ages 12 and up. 2-3 players. 335 historically accurate battleships, carriers, fighters, artillery, and more! Complexity level: Challenging.
Contents: Gameboard Map, National control markers, national production charts, battle board chart, industrial production certificates (IPCs), 12 dice, plastic chips (gray and red), gameplay manual.
Axis & Allies Pacific invites you and your opponents to determine the future of the Pacific! Good Luck. The fate of the world is in your hands!
EXCELLENT I am a fan of this kind of game and it is a must have!
This game is great! This board game is the best Axis and Allies game yet. i think the battle is kind of lopsided. the Japanese are outnumbered 3 to one. If you get this game, make sure the person you want to play as the Japanese is a good strategist. otherwise, the game will be over in an hour or less. the plastic pieces are very durable, except the american fighter and Japanses soldier. the game isn't really educational. but it puts you in the shoes of a general, so I guess you could learn something from it. I hope this review helped you.
Terribly Fun. A excellent buy. This is a really great game. The map and playing pieces are beautiful, the game fluid and fast-paced. The designers made the rules easy to understand and it's very quick to get the game rolling forward. The games I've played have typically wrapped up in a couple hours. As a teacher, I think the game would work great as a teaching tool. There are few better ways to learn about the Pacific War than have to make the same strategic decisions and mistakes. The game has a few bumps and rough spots, but other than that, Axis and Allies: Pacific plays very well. The game covers World War 2 in the Pacific with the players in the role of the United States, the British, and the Empire of Japan. It's really a two-player game, US v. Japan. At times, the British player tends to feel like a third wheel, especially if the Japanese player can prevent a big British fleet from forming (which is not terribly hard). As for playing the Indians or the Chinese, well, bring a magazine or something. As for the US and Japanese player, the Japanese start with a big, impressive fleet and try to fend off the ever growing American strength while pushing their domain outwards in Asia and the Pacific. Each game usually has a dramatic tipping point, probably when the Americans win their first big naval battle. After this point, the Japanese empire rapidly folds and the Japanese player has to scramble to pull off a win. The game has a few rough spots. As is, it's set up for a "quick game," one probably not lasting more than 6 or 7 turns, in which the odds are actually stacked on the Japanese side. That is the biggest problem with the game- the Victory Points system by which Japan wins is not very good. It's quite awkward, winning through accumulating 22 victory points, and about as much fun as winning in boxing "on points." Further, it tends to create highly artificial moves from the Japanese player- one gets about 15 points or so and then pulls everything back to Japan to coast through the last few turns. But it's a board game and changing rules is both easy and fun. A "victory cities" system, and you can easily find them online, is probably the quickest way to fix it. Also, get rid of the Industrial Complex in Hawaii. That makes the Americans far too powerful. On the whole, this is a terribly fun game- easily worth the price. I've even gotten it down and played by myself once. It seems mandatory, though, when fighting naval battles, to move the airplanes and make little "vroom-vroom" and "ratta-tat-tat" noises. Good sound effects should definitely be worth an extra attack die. Maybe even two.
Almost as good as the A&A Revised Base Game Axis and Allies: Pacific is an excellent game. To understand the scenario, envision the base game with a zoom focusing your attention to the pacific theater only. The strategy component is basically this: can Japan last long enough against the onslaught of the US to get a "victory point win" (a technical win), or can Japan take India or Australia and hold it for a turn. Otherwise, in the long-run US will crush Japan in this game. Given that explanation, I have found through several plays of the game that Japan has a very good chance of getting a victory point win (if Japan uses this angle it seems to be a fairly even game). Only problem with the victory point win however, is that this strategy is somewhat anticlimactic (personally, I like to invade and see the opponent crushed). Given my personal inclination I prefer to go the non victory point route (which is unfortunately highly unlikely to succeed). India is easier to attack than Australia (Australia is too far away to reasonably take over with transports and navy support) but due to a strategy called substalling (basically the US can put a sub in each sea-zone which slows the approach of the US navy and allows India to stockpile Infantry and move reinforcements from China) even an India win is unlikely (if playing a decent opponent). Given all of the above points Japan is somewhat forced to go for the somewhat boring "victory point" strategy and the US has to race against the clock to prevent this from happening. While this was fun during the first few games, it doesn't hold my interest as well as the original over the long haul. Also, the US player is basically forced to be reactionary to whatever Japan chooses as a strategy.
As a side note, keep in mind that there are several rule changes unique to A&A: Pacific (aircraft can only attack a sub when destroyers are present, combat air patrol, destroyers perform shore bombardment on an attack of 2 instead of the usual 3, etc.)
Despite my complaints however, I would recommend this game, as it is quite enjoyable to play and there is more naval action here than in other A&A incarnations.
It's an improvement... Axis and Allies Pacific is an improvement over the base A&A game, if for no other reason that the U.S.A. actually gets a decent chance to participate in game play. Basically the game is played the same as the base version except, like A&A Europe, there are additional rules for the Sea areas.
The Good: Not only does the US get a chance to participate, but Japan is also a much more interesting factor in game play. For the first time in the A&A series, sea battles are a very important part of game play strategy, which makes for a very different game, so it's not just a more focused outlook on the original A&A battle board.
The Bad: The game is unfortunately unbalanced in that it favors the Axis in both turn order and how victory is achieved. Japan has the first turn and basically sets up a reactionary stance for the Allies for the remainder of the game. Like in the original A&A the US needs at least 4 turns to gather enough steam to go on the offensive.
The Ugly: Because the only random aspect of the game are dice rolls during battle, the strategy involved boils down to a repetitive template where Japan has to make certain attacks on the first turn in order to assure advancement. This is due to the format of the game in which troop placement is predetermined and leaves little room for active strategy. This was a problem in the first game (where it really sucked to play Russia) and is an aspect that needs to be changed for repeat play to be a little more fun.
All in all this game is an improvement, but hardly stunning.
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