When I played it was almost always with the same two people so I usually got stuck with Germany. I got to play the US once and that was a lot of fun.
The perfect country for the newbe
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Kantabricus, you make some good points. I still say let the newbie take the game home a few days ahead of time and set it up. Perhaps the newbie has to lose once first. I did, I got spanked. So I borrowed a game, and spent lots of time with nobody distracting me.
The nice thing is that if you do a really dumb move as Russia, then as Germany you SEE _how dumb a move that was, you can go back as ‘russia’ and correct it, THEN do Germany’s move.
If you start the game off wrong, then all you learn after the first turn is how to play a game that starts off really really bad. Let that come later, it always does!
BB_
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We used to give the newbie the United States and tell him to “let 'er rip!” If the Japanese player did not attack Hawaii, the newbie would always blow huge wads on the Pacific fleet. If the Japanese did attack Hawaii, the newbie would buy fistfuls of bombers & put a factory in Alaska. Little effort was ever made, without a little coaxing, to assist the UK or Russia.
It seems to be an epidemic amongst new players to see the Japanese fleet and use their economic weight to slam the Land of the Rising Sun. While this is effective, to an extent, the complications arise when all monies are spent in one area and all influence in Asia is lost.
A good G1 that wipes out all UK sea units leaves the Allies in the lurch in the Atlantic, and Africa in serious peril. An effective US player knows when to throw all his weight into one area, and when to divide and conquer.
After saying all that, I think that the US is still the easiest way to get a rookie some playing time. The economic freedom and relative separation leaves room for error. The downside is the same relative separation.
I can agree that if you want to “throw them into the fun”, Japan is the way to go. Japan is for the “type A” personality with a good sense of humor. The UK is for the intellectual, patient type. Their personality usually resembles pocket lint. Russia is for the middle-lower class 9-5er. He just goes to work every round and hopes not to get %*(#ed by bad luck. The US can be the “everyman” of the game, and Germany is for the angry.
I agree that no newbie should ever play Germany. I made that mistake 15 years ago, and I am still an angry, but wiser, man. I took one look at that compact, angry, fully-stocked, gray little country and just fell in love. I still think that I drive aggressively because of Germany. I have to reel myself in when I hear a British accent. I heard the words “heavy bombing” the other day and fell out of my chair. One of these days when I visit Moscow, I’m going to place one little gray tank in the middle of Red Square.
See what I mean? This should not be cast upon anyone who just wants to play a game.
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Are you from the US All Gravy?
I was wondering, 'cause i live in Denmark and here a newbie US player can be counted on to make at least a decent effort to liberate Western Europe (an, incedently Denmark) from the nazi yoke.
I Was thinking maybe patriotism played a role so any newbie wacks the guy closest to his own backyard.
Still he would split his ressources, and i agree with you that any newbie would need some friendly coaching if he has to play US.
You should point out to any newbie that this is not WWII but a game and if he starts trying to recreate wwII step by step he will get killed. -
Yup Riker, I’m from the US and I think that there is either “fleet fear” or fleet envy" of Japan at the beginning of the game. Just seeing all the US income does something to their heads, I think. The Pacific is dominated by the Japanese, and the US players probably see a way to 1.) get into the combat quickly. 2.) support the Soviet Far East & re-establish Asian presence. or 3.) just pound the Japanese fleet.
I’m not sure why that seems to be the trend, but it is.
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Suprise, suprise I still don’t agree. I’d say of the 2 axis nations Japan is the harder. Yeah the german initial move is tough, so lay that out for the newbie, perhap suggest round 2 moves, but within a few rounds Germany is more straight forward then Russia, granted, the game can unfold many ways depending on play style.
Usually, Germany starts off complicated but gets simple, once a newbie grasps what can hit western europe, germany and eastern europe all he has to do is build infantry and cover those 3 territories say by round 3-4.
By the latter rounds the Japs are huge and might be a bit daunting for a newbie. For the Axis, the game often hinges on the Germans holding tight while the Japs do something to break the game open.
In my games the Brits often do more attacking than anyone else, I use them to attrit the Japs. I try to preserve the US and russians so they have a potent 1-2 punch against the Germans. In this sense, both the US and Brits are equally tough to play for a newbie.
I guess it boils down to how the game will develop with the newbie.
BB
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the reason germany is harder is because it’s a balancing game. This means you need just the right amount in eastern europe to make sure it will hold
if you get it just right to the infantry, then you may have enough to hold we as well
if you can’t figure this out, then you will either lose, or trade we
that’s why germany is so hard, especially for the newbie, it takes time to figure it outjapan basically has to get transports and men and use the infantry push mechanic with dead zones
this is the basic idea, of course there is much more involved for a well played japanmost allied wins that come from axis blunders are german blunders, not jap blunders. can we agree on this? If germany doesn’t put the exact amount of infantry on it’s territories, it becomes inefficiant, and good allies will punish for this. Japan just isn’t on the same type of pressure level
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Yeah, I can buy that. But…… For the Jap player to really shine they have to go into Africa with fleet almost always. That is the tricky part. When you do this it interferes with the normal push of infantry via transports. Do you purchase more transports or an IC?
The problem is a newbie might make an error early, with german this is generally more fatal. Mind you, I doubt anybody would let a newbie do something catastrophic.
BB
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from my experience germany is easier to screw up, and the hardest to understand how to manage. Sure there are different strategies with japan with industries, retaking africa etc, but germany has it tough
it depends on how new the player is though, and how new their opponents are.
if the player is really new, germany may be better than japan
if the player has experience, and knows basic stuff, germany should be left for the better axis player.
these are only my opinions of course, i just think japan is easier to pick up, as i still have a tough time with germany. Germany is usually under a lot of pressure even very early on, so it’s extremely tricky.
if you are only going to play 4-5 turns (typical board played game) then give the better player germany
it’s really an opinion though so we could argue forever… In any case beginners should really play one of the allies with help from other allies.
perhaps we can agree on this! -
Yeah, I agree that a newbie should play on the Allies. The Allies require teamwork and they have to help each other out anyway. With a newbie on the team as a weaker country you can come to the rescue or try to fix his mistakes.
Every country has a role to play and can screw up the game for their side. I’d give a newbie the UK - It’s more fun than buying all INF with USSR and they can follow the US lead in the Atlantic. The US can guard Africa and UK can send planes and men to Karelia or Western Europe. UK isn’t threatened, either. Watching the colonies go up in flames kind of sucks, but your Allies should protect those.
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My thoughts almost exactly. The UK is within stricking distance of Germany, which is exciting. Germany rarely has a chance to strike at the UK homeland unless it gets to be a very long game. The Allies can help the UK out with the colonies. The UK can even afford to take some early losses among its colonies if the US can manage to limit them and take some of them back for the UK (assuming you’re playing that allied recaptures count toward the original country’s income).
I personally always put the newbie on the UK unless the newbie demands to play a particular country. It takes some convincing to let a newbie play Russia or Japan, I almost never give them Germany or the US, no matter their protests. They can learn those after playing a time or five.
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The first time I ever played A&A, I got handed Russia and the admonition, “just buy infantry”. Of course, I think we were all pretty new then, only the people who owned the game had any experience, so it was basically them telling everyone else what to do. As far as what country to give to a new player, I would say U.S for the Allies and Japan for the Axis. The real thing to teach them is how to support your allies (some of my friends still don’t get this) :x but again, that’s only my opinion.
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Every Newbie should start with playing Japan first IMO.
Most of the reasons given here about why they should play an Allied country or not Germany are precisely why they should play Japan.
My rationale may be significantly different than yours….because my starting point is to give the newbie a first game enjoyable experience…so that they will play again. Everything else is secondary.
Now, the Allies require coordination and there are three of them. IMO, there is absolutely nothing worse than your so called teammates telling you what to do and effectively making all your moves for you. This is not at all a fun way to learn a game like A&A. The other players should help you with rules, maybe even discuss the relative merits of your plan…but not in detail and not so that it is their plan and not the newbies plan. The newbie needs to be in the driver seat…he makes the overall decisions…he explores what seems to make sense. You should restrict your advice to when it is requested and/or only when a clear game losing move is about to be made…prolong the basic fun and game for him…but make sure he is in the game…not just observing.
So, Japan. They can be played independent of Germany, with little need for early cooperation. They start with a lot of pieces. They have both land and naval forces that should last at least a few turns. They have lots of airpower. Even a newbie will advance and gain in Asia. Their fleet can try numerous things in the Pacific. They are an island nation with a good starting position. It is almost impossible to screw things up so bad that you cannot have some victories and fun. They are not really subject to potentially devasting first turns and real early collapse. They will be engaged in combat almost certainly every turn, and likely on multiple fronts…but none are instant game losers. They have enough options that they can try all sorts of strange and wonderful things, that will also bring back a smile to your face as you realize their naivete. Because of all these factors, you can be guaranteed that Japan introduces them to all the pieces, all the rules, multiple fronts, many combats, and lots of fun. You can still have at least 5 turns of reasonable gaming experience, and you may even be inspired to respond with some wacko Allied moves…just to keep it fresh and prolong the inevitable.
With a newbie it should always be about getting them to enjoy the game.
Thus, I submit that Japan is by far the best choice.
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yeah im a newbie and i was wondering is beating US(freind also newbie) wit germany(me) in 7 turns good for a first game? then he played as russia it was a constant battler between ukraine S.S.R and causcus(SP?) nuttin but tanks and infantry i used a little air and bombers. but i won both games? thanxs for ur time
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If you are a total newbie and have never played before and has not recieved any kind of info on the game play, US is easiest to play cause you’ll be able to make alot of misstakes with them, without getting killed :)
But russia is the easiest contry to play if you have some exp of the game.
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I disagree with some of the results of the poll big time! I am really surprised that so many would give newbies RUSSIA. Russia may have a simple strategy, as most would agree with, but it is perhaps the easiest country to loose on the whole board not to mention one of the most frustrating to try and keep! You are being attacked on both sides while at the same time you have the weakest income and the smallest army! Why on earth would you give russia to a newbie …if russia falls soon (as would happen with a newbie) there is no way for UK to hold of Germany. I would reccomend, therfore, giving US to the newbie. In my opinion, the necessity of the US fro the european victory is over-rated. In most the games I played, if russia and UK are done well, the US is minimally needed. This lets the newbie "go at his own pace, " he can learn the navy side with japan, he can learn the strategy of cooperation with the UK and he can learn land assaults in China and in Africa(assuming he figures that out).
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USA, there lack of threats and high income makes them perfect
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