New Player Information
What is the International Axis and Allies Players Association?
The International Axis and Allies Players Association (IAAPA) is composed of gaming enthusiasts from every continent in the world who love to play Axis and Allies online using Play-By-E-Mail (PBEM). The current membership of the Association comes from over 20 countries and their talent level ranges from people just learning the game to some of the best players in the world!
The Association Government performs many administrative duties including setting up games and providing means for players to challenge each other to games, running several annual and invitational tournaments, publishing three distinct Association monthly periodicals, maintaining seasonal and lifetime rankings, and arbitrating on player disputes. Some of the programmers in our Association have created shareware utilities that aid in the play of Axis and Allies via email including a virtual board utility which allows you to keep track of as many games as you have disk space and odds calculators which assist in determining your chance of success in any given battle or series of battles. Finally, our web site has its own dice server to allow members to play in a secure environment games of Axis and Allies, in addition to dynamic online queryable statistics on our database of over 20,000 games.
Who can become a member of the Association?
Anyone who has access to internet e-mail and the World Wide Web and is willing to interact with all other members in an ethical and sportmanlike manner is welcome to join and become a part of our Association.
Does it cost anything to join?
No! In these past we required a small membership fee, but the club is now FREE to join.
What sort of rules does the Association use?
The Association tries to stay close to the original rules, a few changes have been made to try to balance the game, but nothing significant. The official changes to the game are as follows:
- Bidding - Both players submit a bid of of units or IPCs when they issue a game challenge or accept a challenge and the IAAPA server determines who entered the lowest bid, and lets both players know which one gets to play as the Axis, and what units and/or IPC(s) that they have included in their bid.
- Unlimited groups - The rules state that you may only have as many 'groups' of units on the board as you have plastic playing pieces, limiting the number of ICs, AAs, and so forth that you can build. Our Association allows you to build as many as you like, regardless of how many plastic pieces you have.
A complete set of the Association Rules can be found on our Rules Page.
How fast do you play?
Players usually submit turns every day or so, though there are players who can play multiple turns in a day and those who prefer a slower pace. As a rule of thumb, one turn per day for PBEM games is the norm. Tournament play is under a strict schedule, though, so be sure to check the tournament time rules before entering any tournaments.
In PBEM games, the play is entirely dependent on the speed of you and your opponent, and fast (and eager) players can finish a game over a weekend if they are dedicated.
How do you write turns and abbreviate territories and sea zones?
The IAAPA has compiled a list of suggested abbreviations for every territory and sea zone on the Axis and Allies board. We encourage all players to use them to prevent problems that come with multiple sets of abbreviations. However, if both players agree to use a non-standard set of abbreviations, this is not a violation of IAAPA rules. In case of a dispute, if one player uses the standard abbreviations, that player's moves will be validated. In the downloads page of the site, there are sample turns (in text format) which you can download and graphics which show every sea zone and territory on the board map with the most commonly used abbreviations over them.
How do I find new players to play against?
Your first game will be set up for you against another rookie in the Association if you wish. If you are experienced with PBEM play already and you do not feel you need the protection of a rookie game for your first game, then you may challenge any other member in the Association for your first game.
After that first game you can enter a tournament that will give you an opponent until you win or are eliminated, or you can check the player pool for opponents hungry for a game. After your first game you are also welcome to enter your name into the player pool. This pool is available on the web site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so any Association member can search for and challenge opponents whenever the desire strikes them. This ensures that you will always be able to find other members eager to play Axis and Allies.
The online player pool allows you to indicate that you are interested in playing a game of a specific type (PBEM for example) with players of a certain type (officers only for example) at a given speed. You can play as many concurrent games in the Association as you feel you can manage (some of our members play as many as 15 concurrent games!).
How does the Association stand on certain rules ambiguities?
As you may have noticed, the Milton Bradley rules do not cover all the situations that arise while playing the game (even with the rules clarifications). New players should check out the Association rules on the web site and if you are not familiar with them download the rules clarifications from the downloads section.
What sort of tournaments are played in the Association?
Currently there are several tournaments run by or involving the Association. There are the Spring and Fall Classic Single Elimination Tournaments (SETs), the Opens (4 per year) and other tournaments. For more information on Tournaments, check out the Tournaments Page.
How do I join the Association??
Click here!!!
Questions? Email our Help Desk