My son and I are in the throws of a game of Attack!  It’s described as being a war game somewhere in between the complexities of Risk and Axis and Allies.  We have a card table set up, and we’ve been playing off and on for a week.  With just two players (out of six possible), it’s taking a little while – but that’s fine.  We enjoy playing it in spurts.

I have to say, I think it’s a pretty good “introductory” war game.  There are economic cards that control resources/production, sea battles, a little bit of variety in the units, and even some diplomacy (when there’s more than 2 players, obviously).  One thing I don’t particularly like is that most of the variance in the units has to do with attacking, but nothing really for defense.  With the right die roll, and infantry guy can take down an airplane, which is a bit unlikely. 

There is an expansion available that gives you the Western half of the world (it’s a World War II based game), more units, and “advanced” rules, which probably would take care of some of my complaints with the “basic” game that I have.  I’m not sure if I’ll purchase it or not.  I’m actually leaning towards some older counter-based war games, like Advanced Squad Leader, or one that I had as a kid – Panzegruppe Guderian (both old Avalon Hill games).  Of course, we could get the board game version of Axis and Allies, too (we have the computer game).  I’m not sure I want to deal with more plastic pieces, though, I feel that stacking counters is a bit easier.

I’m in no hurry, though.  We’re enjoying what we have.  We also have a couple of versions of Risk, Chess, and an airplane war game.  We’ve got plenty to do in our “down time!”