The Basics:
Designed by Lawrence Harris, Axis & Allies was first published in 1984 by Milton Bradley. Today, it is published by Wizards of the Coast (a division of Hasbro).
Why Axis & Allies is Part of the Games Timeline:
Axis & Allies took the concept of Risk to a new level. It's still a mainstream wargame, but with additional levels of complexity.
Here are the other games I believe are the most culturally and historically significant games published since 1800.
More About Axis and Allies:
One of Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series of games, the original Axis & Allies includes every arena from World War II. Numerous versions of A&A have been published in recent years:
In 2000, Avalon Hill published Axis & Allies: Europe.
2001 saw the release of Axis & Allies: Pacific by AH.
In 2004, AH published Axis & Allies: D-Day, along with a revised version of the original game.
In 2005, AH released the first wave of Axis & Allies Miniatures. Several expansions have been released since then.
In 2006, Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge was published by Avalon Hill.
In 2007, Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal was published by AH.
In 2008, AH published the Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition.
