I’ve been thinking that the rule change allowing you to take aa guns as casualties brings up an somewhat interesting use for them. Why not put an aa gun out with your front lines, you know on the territory that traditionally gets traded? UK could do it against Germany/Japan depending on how those fronts are developing. US starts with a bunch as well, it’s a pain to get anything across the atlantic though. Japan could send a bunch to Asia and force China/UK to risk their air or send extra ground pounders. I think the biggest bang for your though is on the eastern front against USSR.
Germany starts off with a bunch of aa and could move most or all of them up to the front in time for a G2 or G3 attack on USSR. NCM 1aa and maybe an inf to get all territory you’re trading up to 2inf, aa. USSR only has a limited amount of men, air, and $$$. Anything that makes them spend extra resources to take terr is a huge plus in my book. In order to take a territory USSR either risks their precious air force and/or they have to send in extra ground forces to take the terr without air. So it’s a win/win/win for Germany.
Germany might lose some aa cover in wgr, but I think the benefits could outweigh the negatives. And unlike in say AAR or some such, those aa could never be turned around against you. They just die and maybe give you one more shot to kill a ruskie. The great thing is these aa typically don’t do much for you against USSR anyway, so why not put them to good use? If it helps you collapse USSR, you’ll have the $$ to build replacements against the allied landings on the coast.
This also works well for the Russians against Italian can opener maneuvers, typically a tank or 2 with air support. Instead of blocking German mobile units with a single infantry, maybe put out an AA gun and a few infantry. If Italy MUST take or at least clear that territory their air force will have to pay for it. USSR starts the game with quite a few AA guns.
I hadn’t thought of that and it could put a stop to the can opener. The only issue with that, is that aa is probably dead and that’s one less aa to use in defending the main stack or moscow itself. It’s not like USSR can afford to buy more. It might be a moot point though depending on how much air Germany has left.
Y’know this might be a good counter to the I2/G3 Barbarossa (ie. the plan where Italy takes East Poland then Germany “reinforces” the new Italian territory without a DoW so they collect the nonaggression NO). If Russia were to stick an AA gun and maybe 3 or 4 infantry in East Poland, Italy could still take it but suffer heavy losses. Increase that to an AA and 6 infantry and they probably couldn’t take it, so they either go in though Baltic states which exposes the German force to counterattack from Novgorod, or they just delay the invasion til G3 and miss out on the $5. Hopefully the AA and infantry inflict some losses on the Germans.
You mean to say… you’re not ALREADY doing this?
I was always just doing the pullback. This is better though.
I would think that the loss of all that russian ground force at the expense of maybe one more german infantry would justify the loss of the NO for a turn.
Not saying it’s a bad idea; it’s certainly interesting and can vary based on the size and composition of Italian forces, but I’d think it might have that drawback.
You mean to say… you’re not ALREADY doing this?
I thought everyone does it too. lol
as germany, it can be the difference between holding bryansk or baltic states from a russian onslaught.
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As russia, I don’t block blitzes. I usually have a few mech of my own from round 1, because most people do naval purchases and threaten a sea lion (so I have to be ready to hold romania the turn london drops).
I don’t see the point in blocking a blitz either. you can just have guys behind wherever it is you are worried about a blitz. like guys to the right of volgograd usually your mech/tanks… what else you gonna use mech for other than to counter mech?
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Don’t bother giving italy something to kill or giving germany 4-5 inf to move his big stack over… that’s just dumb because there isn’t a spot I would want to block germany from moving into that is worth 4-5 inf… nor would i ever want italy softening me up before the big battle with germany.
If you worried about volgograd you can go behind it or put guys in it to hold it. iz way better option than sticking blockers.
Seth,
I believe, and I have not talked to Larry in a LONG time mind you, that may have been one of the reasons for making them casualties. I know the MAIN reason was to give England a little more OOMPH without giving them more power to hurt Germany (thus limiting Sea Lion a bit without totally overwhelming the massively underpowered European axis).
Those are my opinions, however. (Except for the “main” reason, which I have a PM from Larry stating that it was the reason.)
wow european axis is powerful to me. 10 inf round 1. round 2 some artillery rest mech/tanks… you get a huge rush on russia. allies have to build naval to guard their transports then transports then men for them…that takes time… so there are no worries for germany for a good 3 rounds at least.
Man I am freaking going to war japan 1 and walking away with wins everytime. I even play tested some allies strats against myself, because I know the standard g1 . all ground that can reach france goes to france and crushes it. 2 sub BB or 1 sub BB to 110 3 fighter 3 tactical fighter. 2 sub to 111 1 fig 1 tac fig and 2 bomber.
slam yugo.
round 2 buy artillery/inf in germany sometimes a few mech/tank in germany (catch up to main force 1 space faster, which is good vs a russian who buys lots of artillery and some tanks to keep germans back). west germany all mech/tank. move everything east. germany air blasts medit sea. sometimes hold alexandria for italy. sometimes something else. depends.
round 3 you are pushing russia no problem.
with mech/tanks russia ain’t holding bryansk, because of the blitz from belarus to russia, plus he won’t have enough to kill your belarus stack. and no more trading units in ukraine once he walls back to russia…the 12-14 inf +2 art in bessarabia can then hold ukraine no problem. then you merge in bryansk, then you push to tambov and behind that is the last minor volgograd and now all the minors are yours to build off of… and that is it for russia folks. just a matter of time.
it is like clockwork, russia just gets owned. Allies have to fly stuff in or blitz mech/tanks up from minor ic or uk pac. take africa seriously so russia can blitz his little 1 tank 1 mech around to get +19 NO money… which is russia’s only hope of stalling out, but don’t make all that till round 8 at the latest and the rush is timed for 9.
you should not keep guys in holland or normandy. west germany/germany is good. itally should be on the home defense game after a certain point.
Cow,
One day we need to play so I can show you how quickly I can make the British Empire beg for mercy. ^_^
@Cow:
wow european axis is powerful to me. 10 inf round 1. round 2 some artillery rest mech/tanks…
Consider artillery round 1 instead of infantry, then later rounds your mech/armor can reinforce the spearhead.
Cow,
One day we need to play so I can show you how quickly I can make the British Empire beg for mercy. � ^_^
I prefer low luck games with people like you. You remind me of Bayder, except he only played LL games and always got mad at me, because I sometimes did a “gambling” strategy and got “lucky”… so we would have to play “extreme low luck” with spreadsheets on the dice rolls.
The problem with global is the medit sea, on one hand italy can dice UK by scrambling 3 fighters and getting 4-24% odds to defend… on the other hand typically there are a bunch of 1-2 ship stacks that remain… there are some games where they all miss and some where they all hit.
So each game italy is either weaker, average, or stronger. It makes a big difference in how the game develops.
I don’t know, UK usually fights with italy, especially if USA is going full pac… you got to make the EGY minor to stop italy from getting africa and eventually shut him down with naval parked in SZ 97.
Lately half the allies seem to go full pacific with USA, uk tries to shut italy out of the game, and after pacific usa flies fighters into russia…
The other half people do balanced buys.
Half the germany players buy ground to push for russia round 1, the other half do sea lion bluff.
For me it really depends on my mood / what the axis does.
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I don’t see what making the British beg for mercy has to do with anything. The round London goes is the round Russia parks in romania. +9 in NOs (sometimes a mech takes finland for +3 more).
Egypt is italy on round 2 if UK lost too much air units in the opener.
I welcome the sea lion. I like having a strong russia. Game is 10x easier to play. half income for japan other half for europe. when you start pushing ruskies out of romania… uk is soon to be liberated. It works out pretty good.
I do the Sea Lion when I do the India Crush the same round. Then there are no British capitols. Sure, you CAN liberate London on round 13, but that’s a Russia with literally NO help in the way of blockers. Ignore China and go the southern route - it can hurt to lose the last Chinese territories, but you can always get those back once Moscow falls.
??? this is 3.9…
india don’t drop round 3 no more, because india is strong enough to hold burma round 2 and block naval from dropping on india…
London can hold out till round 4 as well.
… mech ruskies can stay in romania for 3-5 rounds depending on casualties from london. sometimes make a run for rome if italy is doing africa.
G4 london = axis lose. G3 london fail = axis lose. g3 london win = axis win some or lose some. Mechanized russia can hold romania pretty damn long. G1 naval buy = R1 6 art rest mech G2 moar naval buy = R2 mech/tank and stack up near german borders G3 london fall = R3 attack 3-4 german spots and hold romania.
Sea lion aint what it used to be. 5 aa guns is a huge difference along with the added two units, germany should lose most his armor.
Cow, why does India not fall in round 3?
The rest of your post was unintelligible.
I just explained why india does not fall on round 3.
Airbase in kwangsi still requires you to hold yunnan or siam for landing. Smart players don’t die till round 4.
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My last post made perfect sense. G3 you take london R3 russians attack. Transports aren’t real units, they don’t defend themselves, usa liberates UK 4-7 rounds.
The more germany invests into holding london or countering usa naval or in a possible take back UK attack…. The longer ruskies hold up in romania.
Took russia to rome once… it was awesome.
Sea lion ain’t what it used to be. Take too many casualties and russians take rome.
Everytime Russia sees a naval purchase from germany on round 1 and round 2. russia should buy much. Pushing for rome is not hard, you can even land USA on your stack if you need to. (germany can’t kill it and defend germany at the same time, which is why the push for rome is so awesome).
Oh you mean Shan State.
You bring up a good point, that UK should take back Yunnan and Shan State to delay Japan’s attack.
One thing to watch out for is a Japanese air strike on your burma stack, which becomes a J3 invasion of Calcutta that you can’t really stop. But yes good point.
you right shan state. Not sure why I said siam.
Cannot do J2 burma. get blocked in malaya. Japan can use all his air if he wants to… Odds are what? 50/50 typically. If you pulled all your air in range you get 99% odds and use all 21 air units. You will have 11-13 left. That is fine.
Considering all india usually gets to kill is 2-4 air units fighting on india… getting to kill 8 air units instead is much better.
UK PAC still makes 23 and drops 7 inf (going to assume Japan 2 DOW)
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If it really bothers you, UK pac can just buy mechanized infantry on india round 1. Round 2 nothing can take burma if you use 1 destroyer to block, hit siam and yunnan up and that’s it. you lose india round 4 instead of 3.
Also the USA bomber buy prevents any possibility of losing both london and calcutta on the same round. Japan DOW round 2 = bombers in london = germany has no chance of taking UK.
In previous editions the USA bomber buy just increased germany casualties (which is what the 5 aa guns on UK does currently)… now it actually makes UK survive another round… which makes russia so highpowered in comparison to germany after.
