Okay so new group of 5-6 players so not yet into the deep strategies and “standard” turn 1 openers as most this is their first 4 or 5 games and only 1 or 2 of us have ever played A&A in the past.
Question I have is, it seems that the US (aside from an attack on US prior to round3) does not get to do anything but buy and posture. For a new group this is okay, it might psych some players out into doing something other than attacking one of your allies, but other than that they know you cant attack until round4. Can the US do anything other than just buy and build for us1 us2 us3? then go to war in us4?
The way we understand the rules, this seems to be the case. Cant go get any islands, cant put forces on any ally territory, cant park ships off any coast that is not a US coast or island. I am feeling like we are misinterpreting the rules or doing something wrong. Frankly, (in our games as newer player base) by the time US gets into it (US4-5, more likely US6) it does not really matter anymore if they were even in the game.
Again, new A&A group so they are still learning the rules and what does and does not work. And for me, this is only like my 4th global game.
Thanks much for any input.
A lot of players will attack the US by Japan 3 so you’re already fighting then. But if not, in the meantime…
Really basic ideas:
1. You can build an entire US Fleet and park it off the coast of Queensland, Austraila. Move you Phillipines units there to join up. Park a destroyer at Midway to block Japan from taking Pearl Harbor and you’re in business.
This allows you to attack the big money Dutch Islands and the Philippines J4 and keep Japan from killing Anzac.
2. You could also build a fleet ready to take Gibralter/Morocco r4 and attack Norway or Italy rd 5.
3. If the Germans are threatening sea lion by buying transports G2 building a stack of bombers in the Eastern US could allow you to sink their fleet after the invasion of London.
Plan for a 10 round game at least. The US gets into action well before halftime.
1. Some of the guys are interpreting that the US cannot be off the coast of anything that is not a US territory while not at war. Seems odd to me, we reading it wrong or is this true?
2. But other than that, until the US is forced into DoW or US4 all I/US can do is buy and maneuver? (I know this is simplifying it but best way to put it)
In Europe, the US fleet can’t move, except one SZ east. In the Pacific, they can be off the coast of any non-Japanese territory, but can’t land. So you can have transports and navy next to Queensland, for example, but you can’t land units there (land or air) until you’re at war.
Ah okay I see. I will have to look the rule up again and be able to point that out. Your explanation is clear, but for stupidity reasons to dumb this down, I can park a boat off of every sea zone next to ANY territory I want as long as it does not belong to Japan? (in the Pacific.)
In Euro they can do the “long range” recon into the one designated SZ and then stay in their own territory?
In Europe, the US fleet can’t move, except one SZ east.
Not quite true. You can move to Greenland. A naval base there will at least then get you to SZ 119 when you’re allowed to move out, which is probably only going to be helpful if Germany does Sea Lion.
You can ‘annex’ Brazil giving you +2 IPC’s.
You can ‘annex’ Brazil giving you +2 IPC’s.
I thought it wasn’t allowed to take neutrals, pro allies or not, since the US isn’t even a part of the “Allies” yet.
You can do so only in continental America
Not true. While not at war, US is neutral, and therefore cannot move into any tt’s other than there own.
Not true. While not at war, US is neutral, and therefore cannot move into any tt’s other than there own.
Yes. The US owns Greenland.
Quoting from the 2e Europe '40 rulebook, page 37:
“While not at war with Germany or Italy, the United States may end the movement of its sea units on the
Europe map only in sea zones that are adjacent to U.S. territories”.
Since Greenland is a US territory, you are not prohibited from moving any of your units there. I offer no opinions on the utility of such a move, but it is allowed. There are no restrictions there on Continental or not. If there were, this would also prohibit placing units in the West Indies.
As a possibility, in addition to the Naval Base I discussed earlier, you could also dump an Air Base on Greenland and load it with Air units which could then reach the UK in one turn.
America can not take any neutrals when not at war. Brazil early can’t happen.
Yes, I had grand delusions of scarfing up South America while I waited but then found the “neutral” rule as well. I like the Greenland approach and a forward airbase and stack aircraft there for the one turn move to England. Might have to look at that one.
I think what we are running into now, as it seems we are not playing the US incorrectly, is that our games are determined very early. As what will happen with new players and one or two that have some background with the game. So the game lasting long enough to allow US into it has not gotten to us yet it seems.
Greenland is not any closer and has no airbase. Does not seem to help.
I’ve found newer players try to keep the US out of the war until the US can declare.
When that is the case, just build enough of a fleet (probably US1 is 1 battleship, 2 carriers) and move every aircraft to Hawaii.
After that Japan has probably lost itself the game in the Pacific and you just need to plan on convoying her out of the game and destroying her ships so she cannot expand.
The rest of your IPC should go towards your first landing fleet in Europe. Remember you want to protect your transports, so make sure your fleet, combined with a UK one is enough to deter Germany from attacking your fleets (generally if each side has a carrier with aircraft, a battleship or two and a handful of DD Germany won’t have enough firepower to make it a tasty target to attack). The rest of your IPC should be spent to get yourself 3 rounds of 4-5 TT flowing - one from the US to Gib, one from Gib to Italy, Norway or Europe somewhere, and a third returning from Gib to the US to pick up more units.
Thats a general outline, its not very specific because the US is more of a reactive play type - as you have to react to and anticipate the Axis moves. Once the US is dictating the tempo, the Axis are on their way to losing barring a lucky roll of the dice.
Greenland is not any closer and has no airbase. Does not seem to help.
I (basically) said earlier that you will need to buy an Air base or Naval base for Greenland in order to make it remotely useful. It will help in that you start your shucks to Europe 1 turn earlier than you will going the Gibraltar-England route, however, since Greenland shucks units into Scotland, this means that direct attacks on London are still going to happen on the same turn no matter which way you went. The Greenland-Scotland shuck also keeps you from having to worry about Italian attacks on poorly defended TTs; conversely, Italy doesn’t have to worry about you either. If Germany took Scotland before hitting London, then the Scotland shuck could put Scotland under direct US control which will enable them to put an IC there. Is this better or worse than your other Sea Lion recovery options? Shrug… I could be convinced either way.
I can think of one scenario where a Greenland airbase might be a good idea:
Under those circumstances, putting fighters and an airbase in Greenland while USA is still neutral could get the planes to Scotland then Nenetsia a turn sooner than they could by going to London/Scotland/Nenetsia/Moscow. That’s a lot of “ifs”. I can’t really imagine actually doing it.
@Eggman:
Not true. While not at war, US is neutral, and therefore cannot move into any tt’s other than there own.
Yes. Â The US owns Greenland.
Quoting from the 2e Europe '40 rulebook, page 37:
“While not at war with Germany or Italy, the United States may end the movement of its sea units on the
Europe map only in sea zones that are adjacent to U.S. territories”.Since Greenland is a US territory, you are not prohibited from moving any of your units there. Â I offer no opinions on the utility of such a move, but it is allowed. Â There are no restrictions there on
Continentalor not. Â If there were, this would also prohibit placing units in the West Indies.As a possibility, in addition to the Naval Base I discussed earlier, you could also dump an Air Base on Greenland and load it with Air units which could then reach the UK in one turn.
I was referring to the statement concerning Baszil
Sorry, that should have read Brazil
A lot of players will attack the US by Japan 3 so you’re already fighting then. But if not, in the meantime…
Really basic ideas:
1. You can build an entire US Fleet and park it off the coast of Queensland, Austraila. Move you Phillipines units there to join up. Park a destroyer at Midway to block Japan from taking Pearl Harbor and you’re in business.
This allows you to attack the big money Dutch Islands and the Philippines J4 and keep Japan from killing Anzac.
2. You could also build a fleet ready to take Gibralter/Morocco r4 and attack Norway or Italy rd 5.
3. If the Germans are threatening sea lion by buying transports G2 building a stack of bombers in the Eastern US could allow you to sink their fleet after the invasion of London.
Plan for a 10 round game at least. The US gets into action well before halftime.
This is a really good post.
Preparing for war by buying stuff with a lot of cash, is harder than most think, and takes practice. If it’s round 3 and you’re finally able to move towards Gibraltar, there will be no excuse for not having enough land units in your transports.
