Most of the rules will be familiar to Axis & Allies players. A&A Europe does add new pieces (artillery units and destroyers), new ways to take IPCs from the enemy (by occupying naval supply lines and taking over the oil fields of the Middle East), and expanded rules for Strategic Bombing Raids.

Plus, all of the pieces in A&A Europe are country–specific. The fighter units are not generic fighter planes but the U.S. P–38 Lightning, the Soviet Yak, the German Stuka, and the British Spitfire.