When comparing Axis & Allies vs A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition), the Slant community recommends A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) is ranked 11th while Axis & Allies is ranked 57th. The most important reason people chose A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) is:
Like Risk, but with more planned strategy in stead of luck by throwing dice. Tactics are planned out ahead of time (instead of turn by turn in Risk) and then they are laid out turn by turn depending on placement.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Variety of piece types
There are 3 different ground units, 3 different air units, and 5 different sea units you can build, as well as different support structures. Because each piece is different, the leaning curve can be large...but it forces you to be strategic and think about unit counters, which often ends up having a good blend of units
Pro Many different versions
There are about fifteen different version of Axis & Allies, ranging from 1940-42 with 1st and 2nd editions of each to Pacific and Europe editions.
Pro Excellent game design
Like Risk, but with more planned strategy in stead of luck by throwing dice. Tactics are planned out ahead of time (instead of turn by turn in Risk) and then they are laid out turn by turn depending on placement.
Pro Nerve-racking
The game is extremely intense. Shouldn't be played on an empty stomach!
Pro Good replayability
Every time it is different, more or less players matters a lot in the gameplay which effects how the game plays each time.
Cons
Con Relies too much on luck
Using dice is always going to depend on luck but many feel that Axis & Allies using too many dice rolls which brings about too much luck for all the players.
Con Takes a long time to learn and play
The gameplay is very deep and interesting, but it involves a lot of mechanics and rules. You only have a certain amount of action tokens, and you can't always use the more powerful actions (you need to be a certain rank on the track), and there's a bunch of other things you need to think about constantly. There are tons of little mechanics you need to learn first before you can actually enjoy the game (and that will probably take a playthrough or 2, which is about 5 hours...especially if you're reading the rulebook).
Con Flares can be fustrating
As one of your action tokens, you can use a flare, which interrupts another action token of an opposing player. While useful, they do nothing besides slow down the game (for example, if the Lannisters keep flaring the Greyjoy's ships then they're stuck where they are and the Greyjoys can't do anything about it, essentially rendering them useless).