Making UK more exciting

[liquidvet]

You don’t have to rescue them, 2 infantry loaded on a transport can then converge with 2 destroyers (if you think you are going to kill the one in trans with a G plane, fine, I will gladly trade a G plane for a destroyer and its a coin flip anyways) or 1 destroyer, 1 AC, 1 Fighter, 1 sub not to mention the sub has a preemptive strike.  Sure there is a good possibility the fleet will die but japan won’t be without some losses as well.  And I might not even make that a possiblity, I might just move everything to the bottom of the board (can’t remember the number) and then japans navy won’t be in range to hit them unless they want to sacrifice planes.  And that is fine too, it may take longer to get those troops into africa because I will have to go around the tip but it will still serve as the same purpose, and then I will be ready to consolidate my navy with any us (probably not british they will be working karelia) navy making transport moves.  It all depends, but there is a reason there is a sub and a transport down there, and they can get away :)

[Guest]

Liquid…

The SZ15 DST is DEAD on G1, period, end of discussion.  Almost all the time it is killed by Germany w/o loss.  Also, the Suez is CLOSED to both sides after G1 sicne Germany hold Egypt and UK holds T-J.

Now, that leaves you with 5 ships in the Indian/Pacific theater… 2 TRN, 1 SUB, 1 AC, 1 DST.  And a FIG… the ONLY UK FIG outside of London.  There are no reinforcements coming to help UK.  And Japan starts with 2 BB, 2 AC, 1 DST, 1 SUB, and 6 FIGs and a BOM… nearly all of it in range of one group or another of UK’s navy…

UK’s Pac/Indian fleets are dead (or ran away) by the end of J2 in almost all cases.

[liquidvet]

How is the trans destroyer always dead?  Most people only bring one plane, thats a pretty even battle.  And that is fine if it is dead.  Like I said I am more than happy to converge my entire navy into the lower bottom square and swing around the south side of africa.  I can still save two troops to drop into africa if needs be.  Austrailia will get taken over regardless, so why sacrifice two extra troops just to hold it one or two more turns.  I am basically giving up 3-1 for my money.

[Guest]

The DST of Egypt/T-J i dead by FIG/BB/TRN as part of the Egypt amphib.

If you consolidate your UK navy AND pull out of hte Indian ocean, you just let Japan get rid of your ships for free.  They need not worry about them OR kill them.  That leaves Japan in TOTAL control of both oceans for the entire game… and free to send a pretty sizable task force to Mexico or Brazil or Africa or to raid Australia, etc.

And, it will be 5 turns before those ships reach UK to actually DO anything.  And by then, if the Atlantic is not already secure, the Allies are toast anyway.

[JamesG]

@liquidvet:

I might just move everything to the bottom of the board (can’t remember the number) and then japans navy won’t be in range to hit them unless they want to sacrifice planes.Â

If the India Fleet moves striaght down and the Australia fleet moves due west, they converge in SZ30.  That SZ can be hit by more than just planes, the BB and AC in the East Indies can also get there.  If that UK fleet contains a loaded TRN, it may be worth it for Japan to strafe for a round or two to kill it.  But you are right, they will probably lose a fighter or two.  But if that little fleet includes everything, it means Eygypt was not retaken and the Kwangtung TRN was not sunk.  The Axis is in pretty good shape then and can probably afford to let that fleet go in order to concentrate on more important targets like China, Pearl, maybe Bury, and/or gearing up for a J2 assualt on India.

[Patton+]

Adventure, excitement, A Jedi craves not these things. However, Britain has all kinds of fun stuff to do to japan If they are feeling frisky.

My personal favorite, attack Borneo with two men from India vs the one… nothing else (this is not a great battle but ahhh Its not really about winning its about controlling japan on the first turn). Take the fighter from the carrier and go get the transport in sz 59. Use your Australian sub and go fight the Japanese sub (if your lucky you kill theres and yours survives or both die… if your unlucky oh well). Use that transport off Australia and take two men from Australia and go get new guinea (again not a great combat… but like I said, If Brittan is feeling frisky)

Ok those are the combats… hopefully you got the transpot off Manchuria with out a loss… where to land? ahh I usually pick china but hey you can land on the carrier your non combating to sea zone 49 (this serves two purposes 1st it keeps japan from being able to take the one transport they have left to Borneo, 2nd it give the Japanese battleship a target it can’t ignore)… then non combat the two British fighters from the capital to western Canada. take the British destroyer from SZ 35 to 36 (WOOT! now the Japanese fleet in SZ 37 can’t be anywhere that it wants to be.) Of course you should take the bomber to Yakut… Now you have a threat on the Japanese build that is hella good, and you have made the British The new prime target for Japan and let the American fleet get away…

After this first turn you should get back to focusing entirely on Germany… I mean really, that British pacific fleet is now gone, so you won’t have to worry forgeting any non combats to get the fleet back to a useful place in 5 turns or so… Side note there is alot more to this strategy that the us should do on turn one and Russia needs to do, also you don’t give up on Africa the first turn you should land in Algeria with you fleet and US joins you… and of course my first turn purchase is usually 5 men 3 tanks to secure the mainland from germany… build fleet on turns 2,3,4, and so on, and get into germany fast… while japan tries to get that turn back you just stole from her.

[88 Millimeter]

When I’m feeling conservative I pick up the New Zealander on UK1 and bring him back to Australia- back to the original SZ. I then keep an eye on the Jap navy- if everything had to move out of range I head the transport West toward Africa. 2 Brits stay to make Australia not quite a cakewalk. The Transport/ 2 Infantry team up quite easily with the original Carrier which had also retreated to SZ 34 or Rhodesia SZ. The U.S. Ftr in Hawaii went to Australia on US 1, and then voila! it lands on the UK Carrier on US2. The US Ftr is in the appropriate theater 1 turn earlier than if it had flown across the U.S. to Britain or Algeria. It also protects the Brit Carrier and can be useful during US3 in Africa.

In the meantime I would do the normal stuff I do- kill Jap tranny with the destroyer, and use the Brit Ftr to either take back Egypt or help the sub kill the Jap sub- then land on the US Hawaiin Carrier to make Japan’s life more miserable.

Try it, you’ll like it. And it’s not too risky- just quietly effective.

[Guest]

And still leaves the UK naval units dreadfully out of position to be a significant threat to Japan…

[Afrika Korps]

Send the fighter to the American carrier at Hawaii SZ, and use the submarine off Australia to attack the Japanese Solomon submarine. Pull the rest of the units back around Africa is what I usually do as UK.

Of course, if you still own Anglo-Egypt, pull back into the Mediterranean.

[Guest]

One change to the above Afrika…

Send the AC and DST to kill the TRN off Kwang.  This is CRITICAL to slowing Japan (and preserving UK’s income).  And if both units survive (as they usually do), if makes Japan have to send a pretty significant force to deal with two 3’s on defense…

[frimmel]

I really like throwing both the AC and the Destroyer at the Kwang transport. Japan has to kill 'em. And they can’t make a token effort at it of a couple of ftrs.
Trying to run with those boats usually just draws the Japs to Afrika. “Oh wait it isn’t so far to Africa after all, and we can take India on the way. And sink those UK boats too.” At least that is my limited experience trying to save that Navy.

[88 Millimeter]

Well, Switch, since you slapped me to the curb with your response…  :-)

Did I mention that I pull the Brit navy away when I’m feeling conservative? Yup. And with proper logistics Africa can be sealed up quickly with the help of the 2 extra Infantry from Australia. It keeps Germany out of S Africa if Egypt wasn’t immediately re-taken. Nothing wrong with that. And being dreadfully out of position to hurt Japan just happens to make the UK perfectly in position to keep Germany’s economy down. You say tomatoe, I say tomato… many ways to skin the ol proverbial cat. If you like skinning cats.

But to make Britain’s turn more exciting… drink more beer.

[Guest]

LOL!  Every game is better with alcohol…

Have a friend that I think we are going to get together and do the A&A Drinking Game a few weeks from now (just need to talk him into it, or more importantly talk both of our SO’s into LETTING us do it :-) )

I can see your point about securing southern Africa… would force Germany to send troops to Africa longer…

But the trade off against Japan…  I just don’t think those 3-4 IPC’s are worth it to the Allies.

[frimmel]

The A&A drinking came? A beer a round? Beer when you lose territory? Can you use homebrew for that? Can you use scotch?
Is there a link in the House Rules section. I love beer.

[Guest]

It is somewhere here on the boards… I’ll ahve to look for it later.

Consisted of things like a shot of Vodka when Russia took a territory, Whickey when the Americans did… that sort of thing :-)

Imagine some of these longer games with THAT variant…  Wondering how many games could even MAKE 5 rounds… that is a LOT of Saki for the Axis player…

I think it was designed for 5 players… have to downgrade the shots of only 2 players, otherwise I see SERIOUSLY ripped players after Turn 2…

[frimmel]

Well it could certainly lead to some intresting strategies. Or more likely really bad ones.

[88 Millimeter]

The worst part is checking out the game the next morning and wondering just exactly what you were thinking. Oh man I’ve made some bad moves on whiskey.

When I play FTF I write down every purchase for every nation (leaves a nice purchasing history)- but I’ve seen one paper where the writing got so big and sloppy I could hardly read it.  :oops:  Drunken hieroglyphics.

Remember kids- you must be 21 to purchase and imbibe intoxicating substances…

Are we off topic or is this really the key to making the UK more exciting?

[Guest]

Well, alcohol certainly makes the entire GAME more exciting (or at least interesting)… so I guess we are sort-of still on topic.

But lets move back toward specific changes or modifications or strategies that make UK more enjoyable to play, somethign besides emptying TRNs into Europe…

[Tom Saywer]

The UK has alot of responsibilities on two different fronts. (which reminds me of another old debate I was going to re-open in a separate thread).

I do not think an IC in Africa is desirable or necessary because I don’t think that Germany needs to go after Egypt at all.
Just like historically, it funnels away troops which are desperately needed in the East for minimal gain. Yes, the gain is minimal. . .You can’t get to south Africa until G3 anyway, and if you decide to go after Italian East Africa on the way down, or French Equatorial Africa instead, it takes even longer, and your gain doesn’t recoup the cost of the troops used to take it.

Even 21 down, the UK can still make a great pain in the neck of itself for Germany,

In the old edition, Africa was important. In the revised edition, I’ve never seen it make a difference.

I wish my chief opponent would agree to an alchoholic A&A session.  Maybe then we’d see some variety. Or maybe I’d win once in a while. . .

[AlliedFront]

I think a strong argument can be said for the fact that Britain already is one of the most exciting countries to play. After all, there the only country that is able to participate in practically any important battle. Fighters to Moscow, capturing Africa, landing in France, defending India, island hopping from Australia, fighting subs, invading Italy… I mean Britain is pretty awesome as if :).

P.S if you couldnt tell they’re my favorite country to play.