and we play through a four to five hour marathon (single game) of Axis and Allies. I absolutely love the game. Unfortunately, the experience of playing never seems to equal the excitement leading up to playing.
We can never seem to get 5 players, so it inevitably becomes 1 vs 2, which seems to slow everything down.
Also, one player always seems to lose some vital part of his military in the first turn (Great Britain's navy, for example) and then proceeds to whine about it for the rest of the game. Not cool.

I love the idea of the game, and the memories from playing it in college, but somehow actually playing it doesn't hold the same draw it used to.

As a side note - about a year ago I had an afternoon all to myself and so I played all five armies myself using my favorite strategies for each. This may have been the most fun playing the game I've ever had. I was able to see what would happen to each army if they were playing at their 'optimal' level. In the end, the US was able to pump troops into Germany faster than Japan could take Russia, and the Allies won the game. Best Game Ever. (Yes, it's sad, I know.)