What would you do if the game started with ANZAC/France??

[variance]

Over in the League discussion thread, Dizzkneeland and some others have suggested that the axis bias in Europe could be overcome if we just allow France to have a turn before Germany.  Well, there is an axis bias on the Pacific side too.

So the question I want to ask anyone interested is this:  If you were playing allies and the game were to start with ANZAC and France, then Germany etc., what would you do as ANZAC and France on that first turn?  Would it fix the game, would it make the allies too strong, or would it not do much of anything?

[calvinhobbesliker]

As ANZAC, I would probably just take Java. As France, I might just stack Paris and attack 96 and block 112/104 with destroyers to force Germany to attack 110 with all air. It would be tempting to attack Holland or Northern Italy, but the French units can probably do more damage defending. If France stacks 11 further units in Paris, including the London fighter, then Germany will need to attack Paris will all its land and at least 4 planes (probably 5-6) to be relatively confident of victory, which leaves too few planes to attack 110 (which is defensible by 2 ftr, CC, BB) and 111 simultaneously…

[knp7765]

Well, allowing either France or ANZAC to go before Germany or Japan respectively would not be very historic. The main point of the game is to simulate the events of 1940 and that time was dominated by the Axis powers aggressive movements which provoked the Allies into action. Having the minor Allies move before the Axis just wouldn’t make sense.
France was doing all they could to avoid war plus with all the money they spent on the Maginot Line they were very defensive minded. The impetus was on Germany to attack and they had too much momentum for France to stop them. Having France go before Germany just wouldn’t make sense to me.
As for game balance, I think it would really screw up Germany’s plans. France would put so much stuff on Paris that Germany would have to send part if not all of the Luftwaffe to be successful. In that case, Germany would not have the resources to take France and sink the Royal Navy around England. This would result in a much larger surviving Royal Navy which would not only make Sealion out of the question, but may lead to UK landings in Europe as early as rounds 2 or 3. This could also lead to a stronger Russia since they would have time to build up while Germany was tangling with England. So overall I think it would make it too hard to have an Axis win in Europe.
As for ANZAC going before Japan, I am not so sure there would be a big effect there. ANZAC is too small and too far away from Japan to have much of an effect on Japan’s plans. Might as well leave the turn order as it is.

[Shin-Ji]

I can think of two effects that might result from ANZAC going before Japan.

As Calvinhobbesliker mentioned, they’d take Java (or possibly PNG if expecting a J1).

But the other thing they could do is move their fighters to Java with no possibility of a Japanese attack on them, so they could aid in defense of India.

And as far as the ahistorical things goes, this game is a joke as far as history goes anyway, so that’s not a concern of mine at all.

[Witt]

The answer to balance is to weaken Japan’s ridiculous number of starting Air and pump up te US’s at war bonus.
I would hate for  France and Anzac to go first. Would make the Fallmof France a G2 thing.
And I do love Historical accuracy.

[variance]

I think what I would do is just stack Paris, sink z96, and grab Java and land the ANZAC fighters there.  I calculate that Germany would have to use the entire luftwaffe plus all land units in range to take Paris without losing large number of tanks/mechs.  I think this is historically fair because stacking Paris would be in the spirit of France being in defensive mode, and let’s just say that in the real war France got diced by the sickle cut.  It should have been harder for Germany.  So in this scenario the royal navy would be quite safe and without any possibility of sealion they could easily afford to nuke Taranto and build an IC in Egypt right away.  Russia gets some breathing room and a strong UK gives USA more room to focus on the Pacific. ANZAC having an extra round of income and $14 for the first couple rounds is a small help too.