Which countries are most difficult

[stroutqb22]

I’m having a bunch of people over to play and i want a list of what you guys think the hardest to easiest combinations of countries to play assuming it’s a full game with 6 players.
I think it should go something like this
1. Uk and Anzac
2. Germany
3. Japan
4. Soviet Union and France
5. USA and China
6. Italy

(4 and 5 are pretty much equal though)
What do you guys think?

[ghr2]

1. Japan
2. Germany
3. UK
4. Italy
5. Russia
6. USA
7. China
8. ANZAC
9. France

[Dafyd]

As a newer layer I find the list a bit different from the more experienced players.
1. UK - you get pummeled from all directions and it is hard to keep from getting overwhelmed.  South Africa is your only source of supply in Africa and until Perssia is taken or Cairo secured, those forces are your only life line.  Your fleets are annialated and your airforce scarce but with some good play, you can hold on and actually gain some foot holds in anticipation of the USA landing reinforcements.
2. Germany - you lead the dance and you have alot of decisions to determine the course of the war.  You get the lion share of the attention which allows japan to gobble up victory cities if played correctly.
3. Soviet Union - you are on the defensive the majority of the game.  You must know when to turtle and when to counter-attack.  What forces you are willing to sacrifice to redirect the axis players and what is precious to the defence of Moscow.
4. Italy - you are the junior partner with little income to begin with.  You get to be the can opener as well as the defense of the European theater and try to gain ground of your own in Africa and the Middle East in order to get the IPC’s to do What the Germans need you to do.
5. The USA - All of the Allies look to the US to save them. You have to fight a war on two fronts against two enemies that each can be making almost as much as you are.  You have to anticipate what the enemy is going to do three to four turns before they do it so that you can buy the material needed to counter them.
6. China - you are on you own against a heavily gunned enemy.  You have little to no weaponry (American artillery if the road is open) and 1 lone fighter.  You fight a war of attrrition hoping to delay the superior enemy while the Pac-UK and ANZAC’s can get enough materiel together to fight off the Japanese as well.
7. ANZAC - you start with little money and have to share the only real source of increasing your income with the PAC-UK because they need it to survive as well.  Once you get going though, you can make a difference against the Japanese.  You becoem a can opener for the USA at times but they bcome yours as well.

[Gargantua]

Take your rating system, then make the newest/worst players play the biggest/most-important roles.

Then let the experts toil with their dinky toy fleets, and pitiful efforts within the small countries.  It makes for great fun, and the new guys love sending wave after wave at each other.

They also learn a lot…

[pidlerohotmail.com]

I like the idea of having the newbies play the Big Guns

[Don Bosch]

For new players:

1. Germany
2. Japan
3. UK
4. USA
5. Russia
6. Italy
7. China
8. ANZAC
9. France

I think for new players it’s hard to play the Axis (Germany or Japan). They have lots of options, especially the fitst few rounds. For the more experienced players, playing the Axis will be quite easy.

for experienced players
1. USA
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. UK
5. Japan
6. Italy
7. ANZAC
8. China
9. France

For more experienced players it is hard to play the Allies i.m.o.
As the Allies you’ll have to wait and see witch side is doing best and base your purchases on what you think you need 2/3 turn later (especially USA). Playing the Axis is straight forward. You know what your options are and basicly just do the best you can to win the game a.s.a.p.

[taamvan]

OOB, the Axis can screw up quite a bit and still win.

With a poor Russian player, the war is over before it begins–they can only afford to lose/risk one stack of units the entire game, a few mislaid/misplayed pieces are the difference between holding out and dying…and only have the planes to make 1-2 crucial offensives per round.

With a poor or timid US player, japan or Germany can hold them off with one hand, winning with the other.

If you have a varied set of experience levels, I would give the

very new players the small empires (Anzac, Italy), easy to manage
the average players the big boys with lots of management and choices (Germany, US, Japan)
the most skillful players the teams that are the easiest to misplay/lose (Rus, UK, UK pac, China)

[taamvan]

@ShadowHAwk:

@taamvan:

OOB, the Axis can screw up quite a bit and still win.  Â

With a poor Russian player, the war is over before it begins–they can only afford to lose/risk one stack of units the entire game, a few mislaid/misplayed pieces are the difference between holding out and dying…and only have the planes to make 1-2 crucial offensives per round.

With a poor or timid US player, japan or Germany can hold them off with one hand, winning with the other.

If you have a varied set of experience levels, I would give the

very new players the small empires (Anzac, Italy), easy to manage
the average players the big boys with lots of management and choices (Germany, US, Japan)
the most skillful players the teams that are the easiest to misplay/lose (Rus, UK, UK pac, China)

Anzac and china while being verry small in economy are vital to the Allies, played well they can delay progress of japan quite considerably played badly japan will have an easy win.

That’s what I said and why I said it.

[taamvan]

Yes sir, and my point was that they can learn a lot from playing a mini-empire and have some real effect on the game, but not have the entire thing depend on them.  Especially because they get to go last and watch the conduct of the rest of the turn.

They’ll get bored and quit if you don’t give them anything to do, or get frustrated when you have to coach every single move and every single consideration.

One of the best ways to make the Axis weak is to give Italy to someone new.  Because they have their own plan, they wont act in lockstep with Germany, which is the entire key to making Italy worth anything.

[SubmersedElk]

I second the ANZAC-is-difficult notion. They don’t have a lot of pieces or income and it’s really easy for their production and units to be wasted ineffectually. To do ANZAC right you need a keen sense of maximizing their ability to help India, help the US, and harass Japan in DEI. It’s way too easy to waste their 15-20 IPC/turn doing nothing productive.

[variance]

UK is the hardest.

Germany and Japan would be hard except you can do pretty well just by playing some kind of script (e.g. India Crush; I2/G3).

USA and Russia are easy to play but not so easy to play well.

Italy and ANZAC don’t get much to do unless their side is winning.

Whoever plays Russia should also play China, and whoever plays USA should also play ANZAC.

France should be played by your retarded little cousin or whatever.

[Spendo02]

This is all going under the assumption 4 people have played other A&A games before, but not Global:

Axis:

Whoever plays Japan will do one of two and possibly both things to lose for the Axis in the Pacific:  Run their navy into the ground too early, or wait too long to expand under the idea of keeping the US out of the War as long as possible.  Both of these are pretty unforgiving for Japan and can turn the entire Pacific board into an afterthought for everyone.  To me, this makes Japan one of the hardest to play with zero knowledge about how Global works.

Germany is probably the most forgiving if anyone has even the slightest idea that Germany is supposed to capture Paris, try to sink as much of the Royal Navy as possible, and buy as much armor as possible to take Moscow.  These are pretty typical strategies in most A&A games, so it shouldn’t be a far reach to play Germany rather well for the first time.

Italy is a toss up because it’s early battles are very 60/40 or 40/60 odd types that Italy could be run into the ground early, or could become a monster by round 3-4.  Much of Italy’s success for a new player (and really even experienced ones) is very much dependent on how intent the UK is on harassing it versus what the Germans are willing to do to prop up their starting assets.

My ranking of Axis, Hardest to Easiest:
1. Japan
2. Italy
3. Germany

Allies:

Americans never lose, but they never really win either.  They just push everyone around on whichever side of the map they get involved in, but without 100% into either map, they really are just an irritation to be dealt with.  You cannot really mess up as the Americans, making them very forgiving but potentially very bored if someone makes you wait until the 4th turn to attack.  That’s entirely possible with people new to the game seeing the chance to keep the Americans out of the war that long.

UK - London
Pretty easy game for UK - London players.  I highly doubt a new German player will Sea Lion, so I’d expect UK players to do fairly well.  Still, a determined march on Moscow by the Germans requires UK intervention which a new UK player may not realize until it’s too late as they’re trying to build a fleet and units to land on Normandy.  UK also may overlook Italy and Africa early and find itself working out of the IC in Africa to save the continent.

UK - India
Considering it is highly unlikely to see a new player behind Japan go for the KIF by Round 3 / 4 effectively, UK India should have it pretty easy - especially once in the War.  India’s long play is really contingent on taking DEI, so depending on if a new player recognizes this or not will probably make the difference between staying afloat in the Pacific or turning China into a monster that kicks Japan off the coastal territories.

China is, well pretty boring.  Provided a new player understands holding the Burma road is the key to their success and Japan does not do well in contesting it by landing new units near Burma each round, China could handle Japan on it’s own.  China could fall just as fast against a well informed and strategic Japan without help from the UK.  I’d bet the likely scenario for a game of all new players is China is building Art in Round 3.

Russia’s difficulty really depends on the effectiveness of a German player.  A Germany that takes France and then goes all in on purchases to take Moscow and DOW on G3 is going to be hard for Russia to play against.  Russia had two rounds of purchases that could be really, really bad for Russia if they bought the wrong things or thought it was a good idea to contest the starting borders.  If Germany tries to DOW on G2, and Russia decides counter attacking is a good idea, Russia could be a fun strategic Cat-n-Mouse play ripe with risks that could make or break the battle in Europe on any round.  Overall, Russia could be very difficult to play, or very fun, and sometimes really boring if / when you reach a stalemate sitting on Moscow.

ANZAC is another pretty boring nation to play overall.  Severely limited by economy and proxy to ongoing events, a new ANZAC player may get involved in matters with Japan it has no business doing early in the game.  Losing its Navy early could cripple the mid-late game for ANZAC due to inability to expand to DEI.  Assuming the player is new, I’d bet this happens.  Bright side, is losing the fleet and fighters for ANZAC isn’t the end of the world because ANZAC is unlikely to be a focus for Japan for many rounds.  It just makes for a boring waiting game which assuming Japan makes some mistakes along the way, will just turn the game into a stalemate in the Pacific.

My rankings of Allies, Hardest to Easiest:
1. Russia
2. UK - London
3. UK - India
4. ANZAC
5. China
6. USA

Overall rankings, Hardest to Easiest:
1. Japan - It fights alone in a single theater against multiple nations.
2. Russia - One misplay early could load the deck for Moscow to fall.
3. UK - Russia needs the UK’s help more often than not.  Most think landing on Normandy helps, but often it does not.  UK could lose Europe, Asia and Africa with a few misplays.
4. Italy - A few strategic gaffes could spell the end of Italy’s expansion, and failing to recognize that defending Germany’s backside is just as important if not more-so than it’s own expansion could lose the game for the Axis in Europe.
5. China / ANZAC - Both are pretty minor players.  One has a huge early game impact, the other can have a huge impact on a mid-late stalemate in the Pacific.
6. Germany - Fairly forgiving in the overall sense of the game.  You can make multiple errors and still sack Moscow.
7. USA - Just as forgiving as Germany, but that is because you can just buy more stuff.  Proxy to both conflicts requires planning purchases turns in advance which is about the only difficult thing about the US.  You won’t win on your own, but you’ll almost never lose the game because of your decisions.

[WILD BILL]

Just to note this thread was started about 10 months ago. The original poster never chimed back in to say how things went or which powers were given to players/skill level.

If I were to have a game with 6 players (3 on each side) with different skill levels this is what I would do.

Have the 2 players with the most experience split up on opposite sides as captains/mentors. Have the rest fall into place maybe teaming with the person/side they want to play. I like what Garggantua said earlier about having the less experienced players taking the larger roles. This will get them up to speed much quicker, and keep their interest in the game as well (nothing worse then giving a new player a minor power with little to do).

So my axis list would be:

Germany–played by novice
Japan----- player having some experience
Italy------ played by experienced player to mentor others

The axis side is easier to play IMO, because as the aggressor you get to dictate the game tempo (plus most feel that the game is axis favored). I think the person with the least knowledge of the game on the axis side should play Germany. Nothing like throwing him into the deep side of the pool to see if he can learn to swim. The most experienced player should take Italy, because the Euro axis work together, and that way he could mentor the German player (w/o forcing his hand). Japan should be played by someone with some knowledge of the game because they are pretty much on their own in the Pacific. They need to know how the water game works, and blocking etc… As a side note I would have the Japanese player attack no later then J2 mainly to keep all players interested in the game.

My Allies list would be:

USA/China------ played by novice
UK/India/Anz-----player having some experience
Russia/France----player with most experience.

I like to make sure that when playing multiple powers at least one of your powers would be engaged early in the game, as your other(s) may take a while to become active. I also favor keeping the UK/Commonwealth as one player, but don’t have a problem with giving the Anz to the US player.

The USA/China can be played by someone w/o much experience IMO, but they will need to take the advice of the senior player (need to be decisive). It takes them awhile to get active with the US, but once they do it is a lot of fun (again I would have the Japanese player attack no later then J2, otherwise players can lose interest). China gives them something to do until the US gets going. The UK is the hardest to play IMO needing to continuously have balance between defending certain assets, and attacking others (UK is my favorite). Just as Japan I would give the UK to someone that has some knowledge of game (and won’t lose his capital easily). The English Empire is split up all over the place so this player will need to know how to use his naval and air assets (plus playing UK will advance him up the experience latter). The most experienced player should probably take Russia and France (could add China if US is given Anz). These powers will be a bit boring to play, but this player will keep interest fielding questions from the others. Russia for the most part is the heart (center of the map), and the person playing them will need to know how to play defense (or take advantage of axis weakness). This would include coordinating with the Western Allies to get help to Moscow (ftrs), or amphibs in Europe to re-leave the pressure.

[teslas]

Most to least difficult:

For new players:

1: Japan
2: Germany
3: UK
4: Italy
5: Russia
6: USA
7: ANZAC

For somewhat experienced players, or at least how I feel about it:

1: USA
2: UK
3: ANZAC
4: Russia
5: Germany
6: Japan
7: Italy

China is just an extension of the unified allied resistance in the Pacific.