My brother got Axis and Allies for his birthday yesterday, and we can't figure out how the battles work. It is very complex, with all the numbers. They talk about a certain piece attacking on a 3, and defending on a 2, for example.

Has anybody played this game, and if so, could you give me a few pointers?

I have not played in a long time, but as I recall there was included a “battle board” that you place the attacking and defending pieces on. Attacker by attack rating defender by defense rating. Those are the numbers you were talking about. A tank for instance attacks needing a dice roll of 3 or better for a hit and defends with a dice roll of 2 or more.

I suppose better means higher?

Yep.

each piece,except for transports,has an attack and defense number. In the Revised Edition of A&A,for example,tanks attack @ 3 or less and defend @ 3 or less,infantry attacks @ 1 and defends @ 2 or less,etc...what this means is that whenever you send units to attack a territory ,you roll one die per unit and whatever the attack value is,if you roll that number or less,you have scored a "hit". here is an example. I have two men in a territory and you are attacking it with two tanks. So you would roll two dice,one for each attacking tank. Lets say you rolled a 2 and a 5. That is one hit because the attack value of the tanks is 3 or less. Now the defender would roll his two dice,one for each defending infantry. He rolls a 1 and a 4. He scored one hit because infantry defends on 2 or less. Now the first battle is over and each person removes any "hits",in this case one tank for the attacker and one man for the defender. Now the attacker can continue his attack or he can retreat. If he decides to continue,then he would roll one die for his remaining tank. Lets say he rolls a 6. Thats a miss. Now the defender rolls a 2 with his remaining troop. Thats a hit. So the attacker loses his tank,is wiped out and the defender holds the territory. Infantry defense is stronger than attacking because the troops are considered "dug in" and thats why they attack @ 1 and defend @ 2. Fighter planes attack @ 3 and defend @ 4 so they are always good for defense. Bombers attack @ 4 and defend @ 1 so they are great for attacking ..anyhow,the game is awesome and I have been playing it and the variants for about 20 + years now so I can answer any question you can conjure up...good luck rR

Thanks so much rotATOR! That is exactly what I needed. Your explanation was great, too!

you are more than welcome my friend..rR

I've got another question.

If a particular power, Germany, for example, is completely wiped out (all their land and sea units destroyed and all their territorries conquered), do any remaining IPC's belonging to Germany's player revert to the player who destroyed his last units?

If you capture the Capitol,the area with the German flag,you IMMEDIATELY get the IPCs that the German player owned and he is defeated at that point if there are no German land units(troops,arty or tanks) left on the board to try and re-capture the Capitol. You then collect money for that territory and you are also allowed to use the factories there ( you are limited to the number of units you can build at that factory to the value of the territory) if the war continues against Japan. rR