I’m fairly new to A&A having only played about 6 games. Last weekend i played a game that went for almost 20 hours over 2 days. What an epic battle it was with the tide turning on multiple occasions only to tip too far due to a costly error by the axis general.
The UK just purchased an IC at India and Persia and had increased factory production. I was sending over the RAF (3 bombers and 2 fighters) to support the battle in the east. They had landed in Russia on their journey there and i thought they were safe. To my horror the Italians took Eastern Ukraine which allowed the German tanks a path to Invade Russia. Russia wasn’t that defended only the planes and 5 infantry. My whole army was sitting in Belorussia and his in East Poland. Both sides afraid to press an attack. He took Moscow and killed the RAF (maybe my error was a master stroke) which were heading for India. The amount of tanks he used left his force in East Poland weakened and i attacked next turn wiping them out.
The problem is that when attacking only one country can do it and when defending all countries are involved. In the case above both UK and Italian forces where present in smaller numbers meaning that attacking was going to prove difficult causing the stalemate. Only due to his error did it make it worthwhile. Even then by the time I got near Gernamy he’d rebuilt and during this whole time Japan’s force was huge meaning i couldn’t afford to make a mistake with Russia so pressed home slowly and surely instead of rushing in.
I’m finding that even when the game appears to be in one sides favor that by careful outmanouvering and harrassment that you can turn the game the other way. I was playing the allies and found that it’s better to sit back and snip territory and harrass and build up rather than go headlong into a conflict, even if the conflict is in your favour. There was a few occasions where i could have attacked hard but chose not to as a bad battle due to dice would have left me vulverable to counter attack. It was only once the US had built a large enough navy to take on Japan that i felt comfortable attacking hard. I am a rather careful player and will spar until i get a decisive opening rather than try to land a risky KO punch.
a game could go for a long time, when i started playing, the first few games took 10 - 12 hours,
after getting familiar with the set-up and rules, a game usually goes for 4 -6 hours
If one side play very aggressive and makes a do-or-die strategy, its often over after 4-6 hours. But if both are playing conservative, you often play at least 10 hours. After 10 hours, when our wifes are calling freneticly, we often decide together who would be ah probable winner, by the overall positions on the table.
