It's a cold and wet Saturday afternoon, a perfect day for playing war games. You pull out your trusty phone list to contact your fellow gamers, but unfortunately every call has resulted in disappointment. Wouldn't it be nice if you get up a game of Axis & Allies at almost anytime? Wouldn't it be nice if you could play the game over a period of days instead of in just one sitting? Why not play over the internet? Today you can play via email and in "chat rooms" across the net. You can even have a referee (or GM as some call them) watch over your game.

A Club is Great Way to Start

I currently know of two clubs that offer 'managed' play over the internet. The Axis & Allies Members Club (AAMC) and The Axis & Allies Online Club (AAOC). Any information you may have related to other internet clubs would be appreciated.

Both of these clubs orginated on America Online and provide quite a list of members to challenge, along with a comprehensive ranking system. The clubs also provide special guidelines for playing 'live' online (using AOL) or via e-mail. As a bonus for non-AOLers, the AAMC club has developed a method for playing on the internet using a software package called Pow-Wow. Check out their web-sites for more information.

Club? I don't need no stinking club!

Suppose you already have an opponent and simply want to play by e-mail outside of any formal club. The only thing you lack is a way to roll the dice so both parties can verify the rolls. The Irony Games Dice Server to the rescue!

Here's the method my friends and I use when playing by e-mail using the dice server:

Send your all purchases and combat moves to your opponent.

If necessary, give your opponent an opportunity to respond to any of your combat moves with his/her preferences for order of losses.

Roll the Dice. Go to the Irony E-Mail Dice Page and roll 1 round of combat at a time. In the Subject Area of the form enter the purpose for the roll, ie. Ukr A: 3Inf/3Arm v. D: 2Inf. Make sure to send a copy of the rolls to both you and your opponent (for validation).

Resolve the losses for each round of combat until one side loses or you retreat.

Once all the combat has been resolved, send the entire results to your opponent including: non-combat moves, map updates and any changes to the 'Land/IPC' report.