It has been a while since I've had a "board games night" with my friends, so when Luch asked me to participate in a game of "Axis & Allies", I agreed. I knew I was signing up for a long game. The last time I played Axis & Allies was back in the mid-late 90's, and the game took at least four hours to complete.

This time, Luch wanted to play Axis and Allies: Europe 1940, which is a far more complicated game than the original Axis & Allies. So one Thursday night after work Luch, Craig, Sharad, Jake and I gathered in a meeting room to play. I think it took us two hours just to set up the game and get familiar with the rules.

We randomly selected who would play which country. I got to play Germany. I wish I could tell you how the game ended, but it hasn't yet. We have had three 6-hour gaming sessions over the past month, and we have only completed 4 turns so far. It is a complicated and intricate game.

So far, Germany is doing fairly well. I have made a decent invasion into Russia. However, my only friend - Italy - was just dealt a massive blow when the US invaded the Mediterranian and Britain simultaneously attacked northern Africa. Soon I will have to defend Europe while simultaneously maintaining my Russian invasion, and I think that might be a problem for me.

This is a photo I took just after we set up the game for the first turn. The black units are Germany's forces. Dark brown is Italy. Blue is France (France usually dies on the first turn, so it is played by the same player who is controlling the US). In the background, the tan units are Britain.

Once we figure out who wins World War II, I will post another photo of the outcome. Based on the rate at which we are playing, it may take another month or two though.

Technical Details: This photo was taken with my 5D Mark II + EF 100mm Macro at 100mm, ISO 400, f/4 for 1/100th of a second, with my Speedlite 430EX flash.