New at this game and I can't beat the allies

[Chompers2]

I am new to axis and allies and have played about 10 games.  It is growing on me really fast and I enjoy it a lot.  The thing is I just can’t seem to formulate a winning plan.

Last game as the axis I purchased 10 inf and 1 fighter my first couple of turns and then after that purchased a lot of tanks to attack with the inf against Russia.  I kept my air flight in Paris to fend off the allies from landing in Europe and destroyed a strong allied navy with it.

I was pretty devastated after turn one Russia by the attacks they made.  I lost West Russia and Ukraine with Russia losing like a total of two inf.  So not only did a lose my forces before I ever used them I lost valuable land and points to Russia and since he rolled well he had large forces in Ukraine and West Russia before my first turn.  This set off a pattern of land grabs between Germany and Russia but Russia was always able to keep a respectable amount of points to fight back and I had to watch my back for the English and Americans who wanted to make a landing.  I secured Africa even though my opponent built an IC down there.  I didn’t capture the IC but I held most of Africa for the entire game.

I tried to be patient building up a force to smash Moscow with and my goal was to hit it with a mixture of Inf and tanks.  My opponent started building and landing a lot of fighters in Russia and this made the task more daunting.  I was using 3 transports to shuttle troops from Japan towards Moscow but this got messed up when the Americans came over with a Pacific fleet and I had to fight that off.

My opponent is very good at playing the allies and I really want to beat him.  It just seems that I can’t kill Russia in time before England and America can start landing in Europe.  I can fend them off for quite awhile but I am just not sure how to win.

Sorry to make it sound like I am complaining.  I like this game a lot and it is just my nature to want to win very badly.  I am just not sure how to counter the moves of my opponent.

Thanks

Frank

[Lucifer]

You could try to be faster with Japan, but generally, even if AA42 seems well balanced, I suggest players use a bid for the side that can’t seem to win, until you have figured out more effective strats with axis. I have only played a few AA42 games, most games w/o bids, and have both lost and won with axis.

AA42 is not very different from Revised, but there are enough differences so that we can’t use the exact same strats and hope for the same results.

Other than that, players will learn a lot if they play against a “worldwide” community of A&A players, like the TripleA lobbies, but AA42 is not as popular in the unstable lobby as AA50.

[Hobbes]

I’ve played games yesterday as allies and won them against the other player. We had played before using the same sides and I lost. Here’s my impressions of what happened and what you described:

• The initial Russian opening is pretty much standard, he should have lost 3 inf according to probabilities but G will lose 2 of the following 4 territories to R on the first round: Ukraine/West Russia/Bielorussia/Norway.
• G has to push Russia back on the first or second turn. Buying only inf for G on round 1 is not the best choice (the allied player did it on both my games). Ideally, if you buy 5 tanks you can be able to make Karelia impossible to take by the Russians (depending on the number of russian casualties and their initial purchase). If that’s not possible then you will have to take and hold Karelia or Ukraine somewhere on the following rounds.
• What you do regarding the Brit fleets really depends on how much you want to risk sacrificing your air force. Taking out the UK Battleship and the Transport with the sub, fighter and bomber gives some breathing room for G on the Atlantic, along with killing the Cruiser. And don’t forget to move the G subs.
• Regarding J it really depends on what R and the UK have made. If they are playing aggressive then you’ll have 6 inf on Buryatia, UK controlling Borneo and New Guinea, UK fighter on US carrier on Hawaii. Your first buy should be 2 transports and 1 destroyer, in any case. You’ll need the DD do deal with any allied subs, while the factory can wait a little longer. With Japan I’d say that the US fleet is the biggest target, followed by China and Borneo. If R moved to Buryatia leave 1 inf behind in Manchuria and land as many fighters as possible there.
• If the US goes Pacific (like I did on my games) and starts building a fleet, then your focus is to prevent the US fleet from invading either East Indies/Borneo/Phillipines and building an IC there. You’ll need some infantry to drop on Asia using the transports available but combat ships and planes have the highest priority. On Asia focus on taking India, the Chinese territories and the 3 Russian territories. Don’t leave your ground units where they can be destroyed by allied  counterattacks.