@Sgt-Mclusky Unlike previous renditions of A+A I find that AA40 has so many options and paths to victory that were still playing it and seeing new strategies in my group. Granted I was late to the party with this version so I don’t have years of experience, but we do play an awful lot, and almost never see the same game twice.
Axis victory
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So is there a good way to balance US between the two boards or is it better to go primarily for just one side? If you want to liberate London, could you purchase accordingly and then just build enough subs/des in the Pacific to defend Honolulu and Sydney so that Japan couldn’t get victory?
I have found it is usually better for the Allies if the US goes primarily one side or the other. In fact, I find if US goes after Japan first really hard and can more or less neutralize them early enough (don’t have to actually take Tokyo, just sink the navy and corner them on Japan), there is usually enough time for US to make a decent presence in Europe before Germany/Italy gets the 8 VCs.
I have also found that when US tries splitting up it’s resources between both theaters, they end up with not enough on either side to make a difference. They may slow the Axis down, but not defeat them. Meanwhile, Germany gains ground in Russia and Japan gains ground in China and India.
I concur.
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So is there a good way to balance US between the two boards or is it better to go primarily for just one side? If you want to liberate London, could you purchase accordingly and then just build enough subs/des in the Pacific to defend Honolulu and Sydney so that Japan couldn’t get victory?
I have found it is usually better for the Allies if the US goes primarily one side or the other. In fact, I find if US goes after Japan first really hard and can more or less neutralize them early enough (don’t have to actually take Tokyo, just sink the navy and corner them on Japan), there is usually enough time for US to make a decent presence in Europe before Germany/Italy gets the 8 VCs.
I have also found that when US tries splitting up it’s resources between both theaters, they end up with not enough on either side to make a difference. They may slow the Axis down, but not defeat them. Meanwhile, Germany gains ground in Russia and Japan gains ground in China and India.
Hmmmm. How many rounds does it take for US to corner Japan, and when can they make a presence is the Atlantic? Maybe when I play as the axis I’m just not playing against great players, because in my games it would not be possible for US to corner Japan and then go and make a difference in Europe, because victory comes for the axis before US has any chance of that. For example, in my last game as Germany, I decided to try sea lion for the first time, and it went SO much better than what I was planning on (and it wasn’t just luck). I had plenty of units on London for when the US would come around. Then I moved over to Russia and I burst through their front lines–Russia went from a big threat (as it was holding the three border countries in Germany) to a threat Germany could stop two or maybe even three times over. This was just the beginning of round 5, which I don’t think is enough time for US to do its work in the Pacific and then move over to the Atlantic to liberate London or capture back Egypt or hold Rome for a round.
(BTW, Jenn, it was because of my previous games where I dominate as the axis that I was assuming Germany owned London, Italy held Egypt, and Russia was in trouble).
I would have thought that after I went for Sealion that Russia would have been able to pound into Germany a whole lot more than it did. Any thoughts?
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Well, yeah, a lot depends on the playing caliber of your opponents. If your Russian player doesn’t work his defense well, then Germany will probably push through and grab Moscow faster than they normally would. If your England player doesn’t properly protect London, like maybe putting too much in the Med against the Italians or even trying to rebuild the fleet instead of troops/planes for London’s defense, Sealion could happen for Germany way easier than it should.
Basically, I am referring to games between players of somewhat equal experience/talent. If the Pacific Allies can manage to keep Calcutta out of Japanese hands and the US spends wisely in the Pacific, mainly warship and aircraft purchases, then Japan could possibly be cornered on their island by round 6-8 or so. UK India has to defend Calcutta as much as possible because once Japan gets it, it is unlikely to be liberated. However, once UK successfully defends Calcutta against a Japanese invasion, then it is more likely that the threat will be over and Japan will start getting pushed back. Any Japanese forces in the area will simply be too weak to make another attempt, and they will probably be VERY short on land units anyway.
Then, with the powerful US Navy coming into the scene, Japan will start losing ships that it can’t easily replace. Meanwhile the USA CAN replace it’s naval losses much easier. China and UK will start making headway on the mainland, driving Japan further and further back to the coast. ANZAC will be hitting any smaller targets. Before long, most of the Japanese navy will be depleted and the US will have a large fleet right in SZ 6 convoy raiding Japan into the poorhouse.
Also, I wouldn’t bother getting too many transports, men and tanks/art for USA. Let ANZAC take all the islands from Japan and the Brits and Chinese (and maybe even Russians) take the mainland territories. USA’s job is to kill that Jap Navy then surround Japan. If UK and Russia are done right, Germany/Italy won’t yet have their needed VCs and the US can start sending troops to Europe in a big way. Once US gets a large force in Europe, or better yet takes Rome, Germany will be doomed.
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First off, there is no possible way to stop a G3 sea lion under the current incarnation of the rules (as of 1/3/2012). What is debatably is whether or not this means Russia is unstopable. I say no, I say you can still easily contain and push the Russians back, it’s only a matter of if America can stop you from winning before you do win. I justify this with the fact you still have 13 transports, that’s a bloody aweful mess of units you can land in Russia each round and something Russia has to consider before sending armies into the Balkans and without whole armies in the Balkans, they’re not holding them against Italy.
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That’s a very good point, Jen.
The counter-weight to Sealion is a stronger Russia, and one that is on the offense quickly.
And with the altered Russian NO, that Russia can get even larger.
However, people often forget to keep in mind that Russia’s infrastructure is not designed to support a sustained offense.
They only have 2 minor ICs in range to make much of a difference, while the Axis have 3 Major ICs in the area that are more than capable of pumping infantry to push Russia out.Even if Russia is making ~48 a turn while Germany is making ~60 a turn, Germany will be able to push Russia out much quicklier than those numbers suggest because of those differences in production capacity.
And Germany’s complete naval supremacy after a successful Sealion prevents a strong Russia from advancing further than they’d be able to otherwise.
So even though Russia does have an advantage initially, it does go away quickly. That’s the issue that determines the balance in a Sealion game.
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I wasn’t saying that Sealion wouldn’t happen or that Germany wouldn’t be successful at it. I was saying that depending on what the UK player does, it could be rather hard for Germany, requiring them to use a lot of resources, or it could even be easy, requiring Germany to use less to take London and therefore have more to start out against the Russians.
I have seen games where Germany went for Sealion and the Brits defended so well that while Germany captured London, they used up a lot of ground forces and even lost a lot of their air force in doing it. Also, the naval investment is pretty big too. A carrier and 10-12 transports isn’t cheap and isn’t as likely to help against Russia. Yes, you could use them to amphibious assault Leningrad, but if you lose a lot of land units taking England, you will have to buy that much more to refill those transports. What’s happening on the eastern border during this? It just could be that in taking London, Germany could end up in a sorry state against Russia.
I have also seen games where UK made the wrong choices, like investing too much in Africa or trying to rebuild the fleet, and Germany ends up pulling off a Sealion with only 4 or 5 transports and their air force. In this case, Germany will still have a lot of stuff to throw at Russia and have all of England’s money to boot.
Of course, a lot depends on the roll of the dice. Unless you use low-luck that is.
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any people who keep on playing and don’t mind VC’s?
i see that most of the times axis win, even with US in the pacific. -
I find that without grabbing a VC win early, the axis almost always lose. Then again, that could be because I play to win and then get talked into playing beyond winning after having won already.
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Jenn there’s also the economy win, you can win as Axis when you reach a superior economy and you can secure it.
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I dont have the rules with me, but I believe the only way the axis actually win the game is to take the VCs needed.
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I don’t see how you guys think the USA can do anything against Japan. When I play Japan takes India turn five every time and there is nothing that the allies can do to stop it. Japan sets up shop on the coast off french indo china and supports them selves with an airbase and naval base in yunnan. Now they have air cover and maneuverability in the south. The US can’t even risk putting its fleet danger down there until turn 5 or turn 6 depending on how lucky the allies are with defense rolls. Now that is too little too late. Once India has fallen its game over what is stopping Japan from sending ground troops at Russia now. All Japan needs to do is keep reinforcing its Navy off indo china and they will build an airbase in french indo china and hainan. Now they can scramble 9 planes and they have all their navy which is being reinforced. The allies can’t win in the Pacific unless the US completely forgets about Europe the whole game. Then its a German victory over Russia.
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fanofbond,
Are you referring to Alpha 3 rules, Out of the Box Rules or?
It makes a difference, you see. OOB Japan’s going to get India every time because of a Major Complex in Malaya, but you can’t do that in Alpha 3 rules (or Alpha 2) because Malaya is not Japanese territory - it’s conquered land.
In Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 the Americans can get pretty big in the Pacific and you can really do a lot more than they are given credit for. I’ve seen Japan reduced to a smoldering island by round 8 numerous times (mainly by being in charge of the Mighty MO and leading the way myself!) I just never see Tokyo conquered - like EVER.
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for usa the balanced pacific approach seems to work well in dice games. usa from gibraltar has triple threat, uk, europe and africa. usa spending 30 ipc on naval every turn for pacific ain’t so bad, you only need 1 or 2 transports really and you are a threat… link up with the anzac squad. india should last at least 5 rounds, there comes a point where u don’t leave india. if germany does london, russia should have plenty of breathing room for awhile depending on how many german units survived.
as far as axis goes. germany really only has a few choices, russia or london. italy can do 3 different things, go for africa, try to bombard russians after busting turkey, or provide ground forces for french territories. Japan pretty much goes for china and india then turns attention to ANZAC.
If you go all out europe with USA there comes a point in the game where india’s demise is certain and u can see it coming. then you have to roll out pacific or axis gets the victory conditions necessary on that half of the map.
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victory conditions aren’t one half of the map anymore, I believe. So you can still race for europe before japan surges past india , china and soviet far east. -
Last time I checked it’s still by map - COW.
Allies: Take Tokyo or Berlin
Axis: Take 8 European Victory Cities or 6 Pacific Victory Cities
If I am going Pacific, it’s because Sea Lion did not happen first of all. Secondly, I’m going hard Pacific with 80% or more going for warships. I want 4 transports and assorted ground units (5 infantry, 2 artillery, armor) on them and I need units for holding Alaska as well probably.
I’m happiest with 4 battleships and 4 carriers, (dds, cas, sss etc as well of course) but don’t care how that combo comes together.
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Also as Japan, don’t start war before london is taken, unless USA is an idiot that did not setup to reinforce it if war were to occur, then by all means kick it off.
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@Cow:
Also as Japan, don’t start war before london is taken, unless USA is an idiot that did not setup to reinforce it if war were to occur, then by all means kick it off.
Not always an option. If I want Calcutta, odds are good I have to attack on round 2. I’ve been playing around trying to get a round 4 sack of Calcutta but there’s not enough resources to pull it off, unless India does something really wrong.
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Depends who you play with Jenn, this is alpha, not the final rules. Change whatever you want to test new stuff out, new gameplay.
Anyway Jenn if germany sets up for sea lion your japan is likely to fight china only till london is taken or the americans land fighters/bombers inside making the battle from 90% to slightly below a coinflip. you always talk of taking london and india on round 3, but the people I play with don’t give those opportunities even with your “leet” strategy. sarcasm here.
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most of the time you get an ultimatum, calcutta pushes out with USA set up to reinforce UK / sink sea lion. Those games can get crazy sometimes. Especially if axis go for both. -
allies are trickier to play as it requires planning and counter strategy. Axis act first with allies setting up in response.
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I believe garg plays this on low luck, have to ask him what he starts bidding down to.
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Actually, Cow, if I set up Sea Lion, I usually set up Calcutta as well so that they both fall on Round 3. It means America comes in the war on Round 2 instead of Round 3 and Russia comes in on Round 3 instead of Round 4, but with 45 IPC worth of land permanently taken from the hands of the Allies, it’s worth it. (No, I am not saying they go and take it all, I am saying the allies cannot collect that money.)
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