Most Surprising First Round purchases you have seen?

[Rhineland]

I’ve got an even more surprising Round1 buy…
Seeing an IC in WEU on G1…. and lose the game because of it 
My, is that a shame or what

If you think it is such a good open then I will take you up on that offer.

Otherwise you are just messing around. How in the world could a IC being on WEU be any help? It allows WEU to fall fast make you defend that heavy and germany which will make germany fall easier. It gives russia the ability to go hard on the offensive. If I saw this I would buy tanks and art next round and push the germans back easily.

The only positive could be fighting the allies in the atlantic but they do not have the money nor the time to build anything other then a suicidal fleet.

[Jennifer]

The IC in W. Europe can be helpful for Germany if Germany is building fleet too stop England and America from liberating Africa or threatening Germany.

The IC allows you to plant new naval purchases directly on your fleet in SZ 6, 7 and 12 instead of building it back in SZ 5 or 14.  Also could assist in any Operation Sea Lion attempts.  And it is cheaper than building an Aircraft Carrier. :P

[Crazy Ivan]

I was Japan and my German partner bought an IC for W.E. and a BB for the Baltic fleet on G1! I almost had a heart attack! Then on G2 he bought a CV and a fighter.  I had a cow with that one. Then he lost the Med fleet by coming out into the Atlantic too early,Gerrrr……
I had to work very hard to take out Russia and win the game before Germany was taken.

[Aretaku]

I’ve had an Russia 1 purchase of 1 AC and 1 Tran work out well for me…but only the first time I tried it.

My what a glorious game that was though. the Soviets marching through Rome on their way to Berlin.  :-D

[Rhineland]

The IC allows you to plant new naval purchases directly on your fleet in SZ 6, 7 and 12 instead of building it back in SZ 5 or 14.  Also could assist in any Operation Sea Lion attempts.  And it is cheaper than building an Aircraft Carrier.

All valid points but how does this help take moscow? I hope you are not saying that we should place the axis hope on taking britian.

As for the claim that the german’s can take on Britian and americans fleet I do not understand this because they have like 72 resources while the germans have like 40 at the start and this will be diminished very fast if the russians are allowed to push very far into german territory.
If you want to slow down the american’s and bristish to give japs time then I think that you could do this from SEU naval base and not have to deal with the trouble of the russians fast advance into germany. Instead of trading russia places you will be trading german ones and these extra 10 ipc will do wonders for the Russian cause.

I still challenge anyone to a game under the conditions that you have to do IC WEU first turn. I will give a 10 bid and you can discuss with me the russia open so that I do not unfairly use the german IC purchase knowledge to my advantage.

[Jennifer]

Okay, let me clarify, this is the rationale, not my defense of the move.  Just want to clarify before people start thinking I’ve gone off the deep end like the original guy(s) who posted the idea on this site.

1)  It is supposed to allow you to hold the Atlantic Ocean there by stopping England and America from sending any meaningful reinforcements to Russia

2)  It is supposed to allow you to hold the defensive ground forcing the allies into over committing with warship purchases, against, stopping England and America from sending any meaningful reinforcements to Russia

3)  It is supposed to allow you to set up Canadian Shield in a more subtle manner, thus allowing you to take E. USA or London before taking Russia. (I added the ‘or London’ because sometimes people worry more about Canadian Shield and not reinforcing England, etc.)

4)  It can make staging Operation Sea Lion easier/safer.

Now, note, that not ALL four are expected too happen, those are just the four rationales I, personally, have heard for the move.  I have attempted the Complex twice, and lost both games.  Though, one of the games was at the hands of a deft master, the other was to a tottering, drooling, idiot (my impression of him, no offense to idiots was intended.)  Note, the idiot is NOT A POSTER ON THIS SITE (caveat I have to mention so a certain somebody does not think I am referring to him. It’s a player I met at Northern Illinois University and, while he’s cute and has a great personality, I wouldn’t trust him to make tactical decisions on where to get my car serviced, let alone how to run my armies.  Yet, he was still able to win with the German Round 1 Complex build.)

[Rhineland]

Jen take me up on the offer to test the WEU IC open for germany?

[losttribe04]

The most suprising first round purchase I did was as the US I spent the entire first rounds budget for destroyer bombardment tech.  I was hoping to buy 5-6 destroyers and park them off the coast of Germany.

The bad news I didn’t get the tech.  :x  :cry:

That made for a very rough start for the allies.

LT

[03321]

Saw a guy buy a carrier for Japan round 1, claiming he was going to put pressure on US, then didn’t kill the Pearl fleet.  He ended up making a stupid move to take Alaska, giving US the Pacific islands, then had his entire navy wiped out about the same time the US made landings in mainland Asia.

[losttribe04]

@03321:

Saw a guy buy a carrier for Japan round 1, claiming he was going to put pressure on US, then didn’t kill the Pearl fleet.  He ended up making a stupid move to take Alaska, giving US the Pacific islands, then had his entire navy wiped out about the same time the US made landings in mainland Asia.

Ouch

[Rhineland]

Never thought of an AC open for Jap but it might through off the americans.  I think it would be better to wait for R2 though.

[ABWorsham4]

Had a friend who purchased as many dice rolls as possible for weapon upgrades on the first role.

[Guest]

I actually had a friend playing as Russia build a bomber on his first purchase and try to bomb Japan with it. He managed to take a good amount of IPC away.

[Jennifer]

Thinkin, 2 fighters/artillery could work if you land the 2 originals in Caucasus.  Give you a decent shot at sinking the Med fleet anyway. (4 fighters vs battleship/transport)

Dunno if it would be wise, but at least it is not a standard move!

[Croggyl]

@Cmdr:

Thinkin, 2 fighters/artillery could work if you land the 2 originals in Caucasus.  Give you a decent shot at sinking the Med fleet anyway. (4 fighters vs battleship/transport)

Dunno if it would be wise, but at least it is not a standard move!

It’s not a standard move, but funny. For the germans.
I have done these years ago, and retreat two fighters after one round of combat without any hit by myself. :(

Notes to myself:

• russian pilots are not able to sink any german ship
• better build an embankment dam at Gibraltar and dry up the Mediterranean Sea

[Jennifer]

Theoretically it’s plausible to sink the German navy with 4 Fighters. (American fighters are better than Russians though, I agree…Russian fighters usually end up sinking Allied ships, not Axis ships.)

[Rhineland]

Has anyone every tried an all air craft build for japan turn one? If so how did it turn out?

I’m interested in trying this myself next game see what happens.

[Croggyl]

@Rhineland:

Has anyone every tried an all air craft build for japan turn one? If so how did it turn out?

I’m interested in trying this myself next game see what happens.

I think, without a transport build you will lose foothold on asia quickly. If the UK sink that lonely tranny in SZ 59 (which seems to be a common move) you will only land 4 land units in the first two turns. If the UK build an IC in india you may be in deep trouble …
You need an infantry shield to claim land. Fighters/bombers are nothing without fodder.

[losttribe04]

I agree with Croggyl, you don’t need FTR’s without INF to absorb hits.  If you want to try this idea do the normal TRN build J1 and the FTR build J2.  That’s if you want to get them into the game quickly.

I would do a TRN build on J1, INF J2 then the FTR build J3.

Keep in mind that this is all based on moving into Asia. I would do things diffrently if you are proposing a FTR build to get into the Pacific.  If that is the case I think a FTR build could be interesting.  Although FTR’s can’t really outmaneuver a navy in this game b/c of the SZ and island spaces each count as a space.

I would be interested to see how this works out for you. Keep us posted.

LT

[Rhineland]

The thinking with the fighters it to have a squad go over to africa to defend the german placement. The bid will go into a tran in med or libya men.

Its a land grab for germany more so then for japan and this will play into the axis hands if they come after the jap as well becuase germany will have africa plus the russian territory to roll into russia.

It has got me interested and I will try it out maybe not all FTRS start but i will go all 2 rnd. Plus they will not expect it lol. I hope that rolls do not effect this to much either way.