Okay, I played the '41 Scenario last night. My first impressions, much of which will be old news, but some may not, are as follows:
1. Germany – On G1, he attacked Karelia, Baltic States, East Poland, Ukraine, my sz9 fleet, and my sz2 fleet. He did not attack the sz12 fleet, the sz6 DD or Egypt. Purchase-wise, he bought all tanks (for the most part) and did tank dash. It was not as effective as I might have thought it would be. The Soviet player bought almost exclusively infantry, and with only tanks to counter (after the first couple turns), the German player got bogged down into some expensive trading with Russia. He probably should have focused more on taking Karelia or Caucuses (Italy was largely irrelevant in the game), and he did take Karelia on each turn. However, Russia re-took on R1 and Britain re-took on B2 and B3. I/o/w, Germany never took it in force. I’m not sure he could have, without exposing his flank in the south. He also burned through his airforce pretty quickly, which left him with only tanks for offensive punch. He should have taken out my sz6 DD and probably attacked Egypt. Instead, he used Germany’s sz13 transport to amphib attack Ukraine. That was a mistake.
2. Russia – buying all infantry still works, apparently. Russia used his lone tank to re-take Karelia on R1 and promptly lost in on G2. After that, he had exactly 1 artillery for offense. But since he was facing mostly short-stacked German tanks, it was not really a problem. The play reminds me a lot of A&A Europe – there is a wider front for Germany to defend, only in this game, each territory counts toward IPCs. Germany gets a big push early, but can’t sustain it in the face of 10 new Soviet infantry per turn, especially once the Allies get the SBR campaign going (discussed below). The real threat to Russia came when Japan absolutely tore through China like tissue paper.
3. Japan – my GOD is that Japanese fleet massive. Three carriers, nine fighters, five transports, plus a BB, a cruiser and a destroyer or two. This is definitely not revised where Japan is reduced to one transport on turn 1. Far from it. Yes, Japan must conquer all the islands it already owns in Revised, but with all the fleet at its disposal, and basically no one standing in its way, that’s hardly heavy lifting. He also gobbled up China by J3. His only mistake was not bringing a fighter into the attack on the Phillipines, which delayed his taking the Phillipines until J3. That was seriously the ONLY bright spot for the Allies in the Pacific. (That and he needlessly burned through his transports by moving 2 of them forward, unprotected, so that I could kill them both very easily).
4. Britain – okay, they nerfed the India fleet, leaving Britain with very few options indeed in the Pacific. I used my DDs to kill his transports off East Indies and New Guinea, and I amphib attacked New Guinea from Australia and re-took it. Might as well use that fleet before I lose it, because that transport will not live to see action on UK2, that’s for damn sure. The good news was, since Germany foolishly left his German transport exposed off the coast of Ukraine, and since I still had my Egypt plane, I killed his transport automatically, ending any further Germana amphib attacks in the Med. I also went ahead and stacked Egypt, pulling troops off of India, leaving me with a healthy stack of around 8-9 pieces. I built a South Africa IC, some fleet and two fighters to fly to Russia eventually. My biggest mistake was not hitting that stupid Baltic fleet. I’m still used to Revised where that fleet has some survivability on UK1, but in this game, only the Cruiser shoots back and neither the sub nor the transport can be taken as fodder vs. my planes. So all I needed to do was kill the stupid Cruiser and his Baltic fleet (except the sub) was history. Live and learn. I’m not sure the South Africa IC was the way to go, but I damn sure wasn’t going to put it in India, with that massive Japanese fleet floating around. It was simply not sustainable, IMO.
5. Italy – he really missed the boat with Italy, IMO. First, he bought 2 tanks a turn. That’s not the best use of Italian money. He’d have been better off with buying a fighter a turn or troops to take Africa. He also foolishly tried to take Egypt on I1 even though I had it stacked taller than the forces he had available to attack it with. So he promptly got slaughtered. On I2, I had pulled out of Egypt (basing my troops in Persia to counter India if Japan attacked it), so he dropped a tank there, again to no real effect on the game. Too late he realized Italy’s highest and best use is in a support role to Germany vs. Russia. Especially since I had built the South Africa IC, there was no way he could effectively contest ownership of Africa.
6. US & China – first, China is screwed if Japan is paying any attention to it. I don’t see how the Chinese hold out more than 3 turns, tops. As for the US, about the only GOOD things are: (1) you get a carrier in the Pacific that the Japanese PROBABLY won’t attack (he didn’t in last night’s game); and (2) you get an extra bomber. That’s it. You are otherwise screwed because, as America, (1) you MUST build fleet to get “in the game”, and (2) building fleet is very expensive in this game. To get the same impact from buying an 8 IPC transport in Revised – a unit that transports AND shoots back at planes and other boats, you now must spend 15 IPCs – 7 for the transport and 8 for the destroyer, which now defends on a “2”. And with Japan tooling around with 3 carriers with up to 6 planes on the carriers, you don’t have the option of building slowly – which I found out the hard way. We decided to deal with Germany through a strategic bombing campaign (you start, after all, with two bombers), so I figured I’d build a bomber a turn and fleet. But even with 12 IPC bombers, it still took too long to build a sizeable enough fleet to screw with Japan while also building bombers. You pretty much need to buy fleet only for at least 2-3 turns. And ignoring Japan and going after Germany didn’t seem to be a viable option, again, because of the expensive fleet building problem. By the time you get to Europe with enough troops to take France and hold it, Russia is probably already overrun from behind by Japan. So the dilemma for US is, there is no one else but you to stop Japan, but how do you do it? And IF you do it, Japan is going to require all your efforts, leaving Britain alone to deal with Germany and Italy (except for the US bombers, of course).
Overall, I think the new rules for the '41 Scenario favor the Axis for several reasons:
For Japan: (1) it’s fleet is already built, unlike the US and UK, which must rapidly built fleet to contest with Japan and Germany, respectively, (2) Japan goes BEFORE Britain, not after, which means Japan gets TWO rounds of attacks in before UK can place its first build in an India IC, which effectively means that strategy is DEAD without serious Soviet support or Japanese neglect, (3) Japan’s economy gets huge (to 50+) very quickly, allowing Japan to replace any losses quickly, slowly and steadily build up your invasion force versus Russia, AND screw with the United States, if you feel like it, or just go swallow up Africa whole.
For Germany: All you need to do is focus on Russia and keep it tied down until Japan comes in from behind. You don’t really have to seriously worry about a D-Day-type invasion before maybe UK4 or 5 at the earliest (if then), because Britain is desperately trying to keep you out of Karelia, if it can. Britain must buy the transports and troops in the interim to try to assault you, but that must wait until they build sufficient fighter cap to help Russia hold its capital. Since you’re probably not buying any fleet, the expensive fleet problem doesn’t really affect you. In fact, it’s a blessing. Your only worry, and there’s nothing you can really do about it, is American and British strategic bombing coupled with your limited IC capacity. As Germany in AA50, unless you take Karelia, you will only ever be able to build 10 units per turn, because the Southern Europe IC is no longer yours to build in – it belongs to Italy. And if the Allies bomb you, chances are you will be buying 8 tanks (or, God forbid, only 6 tanks) per turn instead of 10. That seriously slows down your offensive against Russia, because Russia can basically build 10 infantry per turn, no problem. So all you can do is keep attacking, with Italian help, and hope that: (1) Japan comes to the rescue, as usual, or (2) Russia screws up and you manage to pick her off yourself. If neither of these two happen, then the likely result is: (3) the Allies come up your tailpipe with the D-Day invasion, which you are powerless to stop, once they build up enough transport capacity, because all your production has been going to fight Russia. My sense is, once you turtle in this game, you’re dead, barring a miracle.
So, in summary, the biggest change, the map aside, is the fleet rules, and they suck for the Allies, period. It’ll be interesting to see how the Allies compensate.
