destroying nations

I spent President's Day losing my first game of Axis and Allies. I don't really get all the interest in WWII games. Whatever it is, I think it's linked (at least in principle) to the success behind the Civilization games.

Maybe people get into the alternative history or maybe it's the thrill of pseudo-world domination. After trying to ferry all my silly little plastic men (and women, too, in my world) around the islands of Japan on transports that never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, I'm inclined to believe that it's just a really complex game of Chinese checkers.