G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players)

[Karl7]

@gamerman01

We regularly play AA50 here in the Bay Area in FtoF settings. You can finish it in a day, easy. The 1941 set up needs a bid, usually around 15, we find.

The other great one OOB, was 2001 Pacific. If you just did the India fix, the game was pretty tight, fun and easy to finish in less than 5ish hours. (Although it has some of the old classic mechanics, so would probably cause some 504 errors in my mind trying to play it again)

[gamerman01]

'41 AA50 was so popular because it was a different starting time, I was a bit annoyed because few would play 1942 which I liked. The first round of '41 was basically getting you to '42. Japanese take all the islands… tedious.

Anyway, '41 was so popular (I did play it a bunch later) it couldn’t have been too unbalanced.

I have 35 of my games of '41 scenario in my records (61 games of '42). Bids ranged from 6 to 19 (and most are under 15)
I won’t tell you how many I won unless you ask, but <cough> I won a ton of them including the '41 league championship of 2012. Bid of 11. Against Zhukov.

'41 wasn’t broken at all.

[gamerman01]

Ahhh, the veteran Karl is in lock step with me - we posted at the same time :blush:

Anyway, not arguing just to argue, just “hey”! Give it another shot?! But not the alcoholic type this time

[gamerman01]

'42 AA50 bids were miniscule. It was balanced. Sometimes a little bid one way, sometimes a little bid the other.

Again, there is no better A&A global game for tech.

[gamerman01]

@gamerman01 said in Post League Game Results Here:

I have 35 of my games of '41 scenario in my records (61 games of '42). Bids ranged from 6 to 19 (and most are under 15)

Eh, to be clear, those 96 games were all ones I played, not the community in general. So you could play a lot of games with a lot of people.

If you were losing, it was over quick. You get diced in G40 global game, you suffer for a very long time if you don’t resign.

Just sayin’! G40 isn’t the best at everything! :D :D

[LennardF]

@gamerman01 I bought Anniversary during a reprint a few years ago and quite enjoyed it. Fun on it’s own as a shorter play than Global it was also interesting to see the progression of ideas Larry Harris followed on his way from AA to Global.

[trulpen]

Haven’t tried AA50, but G40 (read BM4 and P2V) simply is a gem.

[Karl7]

@gamerman01 said in Post League Game Results Here:

@gamerman01 said in Post League Game Results Here:

I have 35 of my games of '41 scenario in my records (61 games of '42). Bids ranged from 6 to 19 (and most are under 15)

Eh, to be clear, those 96 games were all ones I played, not the community in general. So you could play a lot of games with a lot of people.

If you were losing, it was over quick. You get diced in G40 global game, you suffer for a very long time if you don’t resign.

Just sayin’! G40 isn’t the best at everything! :D :D

My G40 BM games are now at least 18-22 rounds if they are competitive. Once in awhile you get a rout that causes someone to throw in the towel first 5-10 rounds. But not usual. Even if Germany captures Russia, it isn’t over if Allies are in good position. Almost the start of the game really.

[trulpen]

Perhaps you’d like to introduce me, @gamerman01?

[gamerman01]

Oh wow, it would be like playing a brand new game - exciting. I can’t get my kid to play more than 2 turns, as in, less than 1 round. I had started a game against the AI, rolled super subs for Germany for 5 IPCs, and never proceeded from there.

I do have 3 big G40 games going right now all against people who would love to beat me, so I probably need to wait. Remind me later?

[gamerman01]

I usually got my opponent to agree to +1 movement on long range aircraft. +2 in a serious game is overwhelming. I don’t like 1 turn delayed tech.

[gamerman01]

Also no island complexes (which I believe was first formally codified in G40)

[trulpen]

I trust your judgement and experience. You choose settings. I’ll follow.

[trulpen]

Just no LL. I despise LL.

[trulpen]

G40 OOB is a bit too unbalanced in favour of Axis. It’s very hard to say what is a decent bet as it kind of ranges between 30-60 for the Allies. For me that is a weakness of the game.

BM4 is much better with a richer dynamic of play regarding NOs and balance. Bids range perhaps between 16-24 for the Allies.

P2V might still need some more love, but is pretty darn interesting. I’d say a reasonable bid there is 6-10 for Axis.

[gamerman01]

As my nephew (close to my age and former bitter rival in A&A) used to say (and I agree),
“Low luck is a bastardization of the game”.
(This is Boldfresh, still #8 top poster on this site)

I’ve never even tried one turn of it because I can envision what it’s like.

Pretty sure I never played AA50 on TripleA. Was all ABattlemap back then. Type all your moves, move all the icons. It was fun.

[ussgordoncaptain]

@gamerman01 G40 has a lot of “dead” time it feels like. I’m somewhat surprised that league only has the 2 G40 variants and PtV and not 50th anniversary edition. There are a lot of turns in PBEM g40 where almost nothing happens (France/anzac, Italy, Russia after the fall of moscow) g40 is also just too long face to face since you have to roll a ton of dice turn G1/J1 and moving into the G1/J1 position F2F takes a while (you can agree to start off with G1/J1 already done but that is pretty hard to get people to agree to).

A&A 50 is much shorter in terms of time, but not in terms of rounds. The thing is it removes a lot of the dead turns that have little action, and the smaller map with higher IPC value territories makes it easier to finish the game. the main thing about A&A 50 is that I wish it had mech infantry, which is the unit that G40 added that has the best impact on gameplay. Though 5 cost tanks are basically better versions of Mech infantry+Tank anyway. The other change that G40 made that I wish were in was 12 cost MICs that make 3 units/turn. Instead of the 15 cost ICs that make territory value units/turn.

Though playing with NOs is more fun it definitely makes the game heavily axis favored.

[simon33]

@karl7 said in G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players):

My G40 BM games are now at least 18-22 rounds if they are competitive. Once in awhile you get a rout that causes someone to throw in the towel first 5-10 rounds. But not usual. Even if Germany captures Russia, it isn’t over if Allies are in good position. Almost the start of the game really.

For a shorter game, try knocking out some NOs. An unfortunate side effect from BM.

[gamerman01]

@ussgordoncaptain Well said, thank you. Glad I moved this to general G40 discussion already

[simon33]

@gamerman01 said in G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players):

Obviously, G40 is THE standout A&A game in many departments, but that time sink and the amount of RAM you need in your head is sometimes staggering.

I know what you mean here. The mental drain of playing a whole game in one sitting is very noticeable, even if it is <10 rounds.