I don’t see how Japan could ever loose unless the dice are god aweful. With Russia not there as a threat and US making significantly less money in the pacific. How does Japan loose, even with the new Alpha 3 setup?
Played Our First Game Tonight
-
Why not?
I’m a Chinese Canadian interested in Napoleonic war
Is that opposite of a french Canadian whose interested in the Chinese Civil War. :-D
-
Well, I am a French Chinese Canadian if you want :D
Its 2:30 and I’m still awake. Must study for my exam
-
It seems like there’s little reason for japan to wait to attack since the uk and Anzac can start to get ipc’s from the east indies if the Japanese don’t take them on r1. Has anyone found it to be very advantageous to wait to attack as japan? If not then why not have the game start in 1941
-
My thoughts exactly. I feel if you tip toe with Japan you have to make up too much ground with the commonwealth’s transports sacrificing themselves on the Dutch Isles, this will give you problems. My first few turns with Japan I loaded up on Carriers since a large scale war with the US is inevitable. You already have the airpower, might as well exploit it all across the Pacific. Also, since the game came with 8 Jap carriers it seemed the game was designed to lean that way.
-
I think the reason the game is set at 1940 is to give the players another option in the game. If I’m correct, most of the AA are set at 1941-1942. 1940 will place the players into a new setup.
Now, Japan CAN attack UK/Anzac if she wants. She can also attack USA! Nothing prevents her from doing so, except being at war with everyone!!! For most of us, since we are “dedicated” players, we forget about the fun part of these games. For a normal player, a game like AA50 will be balanced because they will play casually, without the “optimal” strategies.
The decision that Larry offers us with this setup is very very interesting. I hope that there aren’t one better route than another. (So that the game offers even more options) Some of us might already be making calculations on IPC losses to the allies, IPC gained for Japan VS IPC gained from USA. This could be interesting. But until something as “optimal” strategies are discovered, I think it is safe to say that we need to give this game a chance.
Robert
-
Inevitably, Japan must dedicate a lot of her ressources into fighting or holding USA. Question is : Can she do so early in the game? Or does she needs some extra IPC from a defeated China?
-
@Army:
I’m still waiting for a phone call from my local game store! I’m in UK and I believe it has been released today. Absolutely champing at the bit for this title. Will post again as soon as I’ve picked up my copy… :|
where did you get it if you dont mind me asking. im from UK had to import it.
I too am curious about that. Also, what price are people paying? It seems to be pricier than Anniversary, even though it should be the same.
Lozmoid can you answer this question please :)
-
Inevitably, Japan must dedicate a lot of her ressources into fighting or holding USA. Question is : Can she do so early in the game? Or does she needs some extra IPC from a defeated China?
Ok, two games played now, neither finished but each about 7-8 rounds, 4-6 hours. In both games, Japan has failed to completely take China. In one game Japan attacked allies on J3, took bonuses away, took burma road for only 1 turn, ended up getting pushed back by china and UK, kept US in check though.
In the other game Japan almost took China, had Burma road on J1 and J2, with lots of land units holding it, but Britian rode in and destroyed all the ground forces Japan had on UK2 (so UK and Anzac declared war before Japan) and it set them back big time, and China came back. UK was getting bombed to death in later rounds, but Japan was also gettingbombed to death by USA (1 minor IC in Hong Kong, 1 minor IC in Shanghai, and then in Tokyo). USA was closing in on Japan in that game.
This game looks hard for Japan to win, imo. But I think its awesome having to plan for who would declare war on who first.
-
A Brit who is interested in the American Civil War?
Yes indeed. Interested in lots of wars. I tend to be more interested in the ‘losing’ side, though. I don’t know why. I’m also interested in wars in which the smaller side wins the most (Frederick the Great).
Lozmoid can you answer this question please :)
Loz said that his local game store are charging £75. How much are you paying from the States GC, and how much is shipping?
Do we know whether the merged game will have the possibility of different starting dates like anniversary?
-
So I couldn’t find anybody to play with after I bought the game yesterday so I was a HUGE nerd and played the game by myself.
From my playthrough Japan owned absolutely everything. As Japan I focused alot of forces on China early and had taken over the country without any real resistance by turn 4. I also sent a decent sized Navy down south and sunk the British fleet. While I captured all of the East Indies I lost all of my transports to US bombers but it was easily worth it since the Allies wouldn’t be taking them back for several turns. By turn 4 I had Britain holed up in India with lots of troops massed on each side of the border and it was inevitable I would capture it in a few turns. The US made the Pearl Harbor mistake by sending it’s whole fleet there to protect Hawaii. I figured if I didn’t then Japan would get another victory city and 5 bonus income so I made the sacrifice. By the time I stopped playing (I didn’t finish) Japan had taken over all of Asia except for India, had a massive fleet off the coast of Australia, and the US and ANZAC were just about to start kicking Japan out of the South Pacific.
While I’ve only played the game once I’ve noticed several flaws:
-
Why doesn’t the US declare war it’s first turn to get it’s massive bonus income? This seems to be the most logical thing for them since Japan will probably initiate its attack on it’s second turn anyway. Might as well allow America to get another extra 40 IPCs.
-
What the hell is with the income chart?!?! It’s maximum value is 48 IPCs, yet America exceeds this as soon as it goes into war production. It would made sense if the chart went up to a max of 50 IPCs so you could just reset the token to 1 on the chart to indicate that you are at 51 IPCs. But no, it’s 48 for absolutely no freaking reason!
-
With the units it starts out with Japan will destroy China so long as it puts in MINIMAL effort to do so.
-
While the board is magnificent, nothing else about this game justifies me paying $80 for it.
-
The container boxes are sweet, but there’s no separate box to hold all of the chips, dice, facilities, etc. And why are there no dividers like in the Anniversary boxes?
-
Why on Earth is there no paper money?! You know why I like paper money? Because it’s far easier and more convenient than writing numbers down and scratching them out over and over again!
-
Why does ANZAC only get its one NO once? If they can hold a Japanese island for more than one turn I say more power to them and let them keep the extra income.
-
There are not enough plastic peaces in the box. Japan gets the exact amount of tactical bombers it needs to start the game with if you use the chips to identify more than one unit. This means that if you ever by a single new tactical bomber or wish to split up a current force of tactical bombers you’re out of luck. I was running out of American pieces too.
-
This is an admittedly petty and minuscule complaint but the Japanese tactical bombers are incredibly difficult to set on the aircraft carriers correctly because of their little landing gear on the bottom of the piece. Maybe I have OCD but I have to have the planes sitting on the carriers correctly before I can do anything else. I spent a lot of time doing this.
While I’ll give the actual gameplay more of a chance because it might still be really good, these other problems are ridiculous. While they are mostly small issues, all of them together start to really annoy the hell out of me. And what’s even more upsetting is they are all EASY to fix if there were any time put into it. If it’s a matter of cost I’d be willing to pay an extra $5 for a sufficient amount of plastic peaces, paper money, an extra box, dividers in the boxes, and an income chart that isn’t mindbogglingly stupid.
-
-
While they are mostly small issues, all of them together start to really annoy the hell out of me. And what’s even more upsetting is they are all EASY to fix if there were any time put into it. If it’s a matter of cost I’d be willing to pay an extra $5 for a sufficient amount of plastic peaces, paper money, an extra box, dividers in the boxes, and an income chart that isn’t mindbogglingly stupid.
That’s what I’m talking about! An extra $5 would rectify everything being complained about. You could even throw in some taskgroup markers.
-
While I’ve only played the game once I’ve noticed several flaws:
-
Why doesn’t the US declare war it’s first turn to get it’s massive bonus income? This seems to be the most logical thing for them since Japan will probably initiate its attack on it’s second turn anyway. Might as well allow America to get another extra 40 IPCs.
-
This is an admittedly petty and minuscule complaint but the Japanese tactical bombers are incredibly difficult to set on the aircraft carriers correctly because of their little landing gear on the bottom of the piece. Maybe I have OCD but I have to have the planes sitting on the carriers correctly before I can do anything else. I spent a lot of time doing this.
The reason the US can’t declare war until fired upon to reflect the isolationist mindset of pre WW2 US. We didn’t want to be involved in another war after WW1 (heck, we didn’t even join the league of nations), so we let the rest of the world sort itself out. Until Japan poked us. If Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl it’s possible even if Japan had hassled the UK in the east Indies we still may not have gone to war. Doubtful, but possible.
The Vals have landing gear? Oh maaaan, now I may actually need to get the game. Just after my friend who actually enjoys A&A moved and I no longer have a truely interested party to play against. sigh.
-
-
The reason the US can’t declare war until fired upon to reflect the isolationist mindset of pre WW2 US. We didn’t want to be involved in another war after WW1 (heck, we didn’t even join the league of nations), so we let the rest of the world sort itself out. Until Japan poked us. If Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl it’s possible even if Japan had hassled the UK in the east Indies we still may not have gone to war. Doubtful, but possible.
Ok I reread the rules and it appears they can’t declare war until attacked or by the end of the 3rd turn. The rules are written a little confusingly so I thought the US could declare war at any time.
-
Way to take one for the team and play one by yourself plum. +1 to you.
I agree with a few of the smaller things you mentionned. Tac-Bombers forsure (maybe I will paint soe of my extra fighters). They could have easily left the income chart right out if they weren’t going to do a good job on it. Used the extra material to divide the boxes or something.
Oh well, if the gameplay is good (and it seems like it is) then the game will be more than worth the $111 Canadian I shelled out.
I didnt buy it for the plastic pieces anyway…
-
You are totally right Plum, the game is not worth the money they charged. The map IS amazing, the gameplay IS really fun. But you nailed it with the boxes, paper money, IPC chart, cardboard pieces, lack of tac bombers. I mean, I paid basically the same money for this game as I paid for my copy of AA50 and this AA40 Pacific is missing lots of the quality that AA50 had.
-
I do like the map, but the 2 separate pieces thing annoys me as does the huge crease in the lower half. Also, the territories and convoy zone markers are too small. Much better than the aa42 map though, much much better. Any chance someone is going to make a killer PDF of this map, eh eh?
-
You are totally right Plum, the game is not worth the money they charged. The map IS amazing, the gameplay IS really fun. But you nailed it with the boxes, paper money, IPC chart, cardboard pieces, lack of tac bombers. I mean, I paid basically the same money for this game as I paid for my copy of AA50 and this AA40 Pacific is missing lots of the quality that AA50 had.
Exactly! I was totally content with how they presented AA50. Everything was high quality and all aspects of the game and its components were top notch. Totally worth the money I spent on it.
While this game certainly has some high quality aspects about it, (especially the game play, which is all that really counts in the end) there are so many small blunders it’s really frustrating. The income chart is what gets me the most. It seems like the day before they shipped the game out somebody realized “Oh crap! We forgot income charts!” and then threw together the first thing they thought of and tossed it in the box. I’m surprised they weren’t scribbled on a piece of notebook paper.
Suggested Topics
