I’ve played against two in the last month or so.
Game 1 -
R1 went badly - I had to retreat from Ukraine with the German fig still alive, and I took higher than usual casualties in WR. G1 took out of the British BB in SZ2, and pretty much otherwise threw everything else (including the Med fleet) against the Russians, with slightly better than average dice.
On UK1 I built 3 figs, figuring that would be enough to (A) check against any Sealion and (B) take out the German Baltic fleet on UK2. I took out the German Med Fleet with the UK med destroyer, the fig from Egypt, and the UK Bomber. I decided to gamble on FIC with the Indian garrison, and got very good dice. J1 was subpar, he took China, but with heavy casualties, and though he went somewhat heavy into pearl, he took several casualties, and was left with a bb, cv, and 1 fig there.
It was at this point that my brain literally fell out of my ass, and I said, “Let’s go KJF!” (But only with the US!) Long story/short, the US only KJF was doing okay, but slower than it needed to be. Germany continued to spend most of its income on reinforcing the med fleet (bbs, more cvs, more destroyers, etc…), while the UK continued to build build build an airforce in the UK. It took longer than anticipated to get a strong enough airforce with the UK to take down the German fleet. When I finally got 80% odds, I went, and got horrible dice, and had to retreat after the first round. Meanwhile, thanks to the R1/G1 results, Germany is pressing Russia. Germany is sending all of its starting troops, plus a few scattered ground buys East. Even though Europe is largely ungarrisoned, the allies can’t do anything about it, because the US is ignoring the European theater, and the UK can’t put a fleet down, allowing Germany to maintain a very healthy income. Japan is slowly getting locked out of the islands by the US, but has overcome mainland Asian resistance, and started pressuring Russia. Eventually Russia falls. I feel like this is one of my worst losses in 1942.
Game 2 - R1 goes normal (took UK with a tank left, 3 fatalities taking WR). G1 builds heavy into the Baltic, otherwise typical G1 moves (UK BB killed, takes AE with 2 tanks.) As soon as I see the Baltic build, I slap myself and say, “Ignore Japan completely, KGF all the way.” UK1 buys 1 fig and nothing else, counters AE, and sit. US retreats from the pacific, and makes a big naval buy on US1. ( R2 buys 4 tanks (+3 inf), and moves aggressively West. UK2 drops huge fleet, reinforced by US2. G3 tried to reinforce the Baltic fleet, but it was too little too late. The UK reinforced on UK4 (while dropping troops into Norway), and was strong enough to take out the G fleet on UK5. Pretty soon Germany is surrounded. Japan advances quickly through Asia, but by the time it can secure Novo, Berlin has fallen to the British and the Russians are headed back home.
I don’t think the strategy is a long term winner. It worked against me in the first game because I played very poorly, and even then had very bad dice in the key battles. I was intimidated into some early ground buys with England early, which made the race against the German fleet tough for England to do alone. Even so, had I just spent a turn buying fleet with the US, the allies could have easily secured the Atlantic. Silly me. :?
