What country is funnest to play?

[RougeOne]

What Country do you have the most fun time playing? My favorite is the U.K.

[Young Grasshopper]

Japan for me.

[Narvik]

No no you are both wrong, France is the funnest country to play.

[Wolfshanze]

@RougeOne:

What Country do you have the most fun time playing? My favorite is the U.K.

Man, that’s hard… they all have their upsides… well except one… if there’s one country I find BORING to play, it’s the USSR.

[knp7765]

I like to play Germany.
They start off militarily strong and in pretty good position, but you still have to be careful not to overextend yourself.  If you get too bold, you could end up leaving yourself too thin in too many places and good Allied players can take advantage and leave you in a bad position.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be too timid.  In that case you end up with all this nice military power but not making enough money to support it.  Then the Allies build up around you and end up overpowering you while you don’t have enough to bounce back from it.

[Nippon-koku]

Very tough call.  When I first played Global it would have definitely been Japan; about six months ago I would have said U.K. (and still might).  Ultimately, I think the US is currently my favorite.

[StuckTojo]

In all previous incarnations of A&A Japan was my favourite.

However, I’m finding when playing G40 2E - at least against experienced higher tier players - Japan just gets kicked around and squeezed. It’s like being stuck in an ever-tightening vice. But that might be just because I’m NOT an experienced, higher tier player  :-D

So… I guess I’d have to vote for Germany, since they make good coin and start with a lot of toys.  UK is fun, too.  Even the USSR can be fun if your allies are playing competently and are helping you out.

[RougeOne]

@Young:

Japan for me.

I love your YouTube channel YG, you do a great job

[Young Grasshopper]

@RougeOne:

@Young:

Japan for me.

I love your YouTube channel YG, you do a great job

Thanks RougeOne, I’m hoping to post some new content soon… things have been crazy busy.

[MarshmallowofWar]

All the countries except France have their moments. China is probably the least fun to play, followed closely by Russia.

Here is my list from least to most favorite:

1. France
2. China
3. Russia
4. Italy (very much depends on how competent the Germany player is)
5. ANZAC
6. India
7. US
8.Germany
9. Japan/UK

Every country except France has its moments and unique opportunities though. China can be very interesting in certain situations. Italy can be downright fun in certain situations too.

Marsh

[Kreuzfeld]

I usually gravitate to whatever country is most “difficult” to play. By Difficult, I mean “Hardest to make the correct desicion”. For this reason, USSR is not difficult under this definition. USSR is limited to deciding on the ration between inf/art, how many mech/tanks, how many planes and if he should try for the middle east.

The two most difficult to play IMO is US and UK.

UK has a lot of places to build and a lot of theaters that should be balanced against one another. However, the troops get to the front very fast.
US has to build now for what the map will look like in 3 turns. That is difficult to predict

That is why I say

US, then UK, then Germany, then Japan

[seancb]

First this thread should be called “What country is the most fun to play?”. No such word as “funnest” but maybe that was the intent. Now, that out of the way, I must agree with Kreuz. USA is by far the most fun. It is also the most challenging which IMHO equals most fun. You have no room for error due to your proximity from the action. You also have the most options further clouding the judgment of most players on the first turn, including myself sometimes. I have tried numerous strategies with the USA and some have been successes, leading to “standard move” and some have been utter failures. We call these “experimental games”. My group isn’t pretentious, no one really cares if they win or lose because in real life the good guys won and that’s enough for us. We pretty much just drink a busload of beer and talk a bunch of smack, or as we call it “game table propaganda”.

Least fun country probably China, the entire turn cycle averages less than 10 minutes in our games. USSR always plays China in our group.

[cyanight]

I love playing all the powers in Axis but I think when the opportunity arises or in a Balanced Mod 2.0 I enjoy playing Italy.

I remember one of my league games when I had an economy of 50 for Italy on turn 3. Now that was entertaining to say the least. Most of the time Italy never has the chance to shine because it gets bid out of the war but when the bid falls apart or does not concentrate on Italy it can be a lot of fun playing them.

[RougeOne]

@cyanight:

I love playing all the powers in Axis but I think when the opportunity arises or in a Balanced Mod 2.0 I enjoy playing Italy.

I remember one of my league games when I had an economy of 50 for Italy on turn 3. Now that was entertaining to say the least. Most of the time Italy never has the chance to shine because it gets bid out of the war but when the bid falls apart or does not concentrate on Italy it can be a lot of fun playing them.

I agree that Italy is extremely fun to play, but only if the U.K. player fails or ignores Italy. In a game last week i was playing against a new player and he did nothing with U.K. in the Med. I ended up taking Cairo turn two. by turn three i was making 40 IPC’s

[SubmersedElk]

@seancb:

in real life the good guys won

The more I learn of history the less I believe in the existence of ‘good guys’ at all.

[Wolfshanze]

@SubmersedElk:

@seancb:

in real life the good guys won

The more I learn of history the less I believe in the existence of ‘good guys’ at all.

You’re confusing current-world issues with 1940s realities… trust me… there were good guys then… you wouldn’t want the Nazis winning and continuing the deliberate genocide of the Holocaust.  If for one second you doubt the good guys won, you’ve got issues.

[CWO Marc]

Personally I like this little speech (a sermon from an American chaplain to some men from the 101st Airborne) from the movie Battleground, which is set during the Battle of the Bulge:

“Now it’s nearly Christmas, and here we are in beautiful Bastogne enjoying the winter sports. And the $64 question is: “Was this trip necessary?” I’ll try to answer that. Let’s look at the facts. Nobody wanted this war but the Nazis. A great many people tried to deal with them, and a lot of them are dead. Millions have died, for no other reason except that the Nazis wanted them dead. So, in the final showdown, there was nothing left to do except fight. There’s a great lesson in this. Those of us who’ve learned it the hard way aren’t going to forget it. We must never again let any force dedicated to a super-race or a super-idea or super-anything become strong enough to impose itself upon a free world. We must be smart enough and tough enough in the beginning to put out the fire before it starts spreading. My answer to the sixty-four dollar question is yes, this trip was necessary. As the years go by, a lot of people are going to forget. But you won’t. And don’t ever let anybody tell you you were a sucker to fight in the war against fascism.”

I agree that WWII wasn’t a simplistic black-and-white conflict between good guys and bad guys (few if any wars are), and it’s true that WWII – as some people hoped at the time – didn’t usher in an era of global peace and good fellowship (no war ever has), but by the same token I largely agree with the assessment given back in the 1970s by Stephen Ambrose (some of whose credibility has since, I admit, been called into question) when he said that the fundamental outcome of WWII was the crushing of fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany and militarism in Japan and that “surely justice has never been better served.”

[StuckTojo]

@Wolfshanze:

@SubmersedElk:

@seancb:

in real life the good guys won

The more I learn of history the less I believe in the existence of ‘good guys’ at all.

You’re confusing current-world issues with 1940s realities… trust me… there were good guys then… you wouldn’t want the Nazis winning and continuing the deliberate genocide of the Holocaust.  If for one second you doubt the good guys won, you’ve got issues.

Very true, Wolf.  However, there’s nothing the NAZI’s did that the Soviets didn’t also do, often to even greater extremes (~50 million murdered under Lenin and Stalin; countless neighbours invaded; the largest slave-labour program in human history; etc., etc., etc.).  In fact, the Germans borrowed their model of the concentration camp from the Soviets.

If you think the Soviets were “good guys” then I’m afraid you, sir, also have issues.  It was convenient for the Western democracies to let them do the bulk of the fighting for us, but that’s where it ends.

[Wolfshanze]

@StuckTojo:

If you think the Soviets were “good guys” then I’m afraid you, sir, also have issues.  It was convenient for the Western democracies to let them do the bulk of the fighting for us, but that’s where it ends.

The Soviets weren’t nice guys either… but the world is better off that Hitler didn’t win… anyone who doubts that, also has issues.

[MarshmallowofWar]

Getting back to the original topic…

If you think of fun as being actively involved in the game each turn, then the US does not make the top of the list. Germany, Japan, and the UK would definitely be the most fun because their actions are crucial each turn.

The US would not make this list in many games where a J4 attack is used. Please don’t take this as an assertion that the US is not important to the Allied effort – it is simply referring to the US being rather dull and even frustrating in that J4 situation.

Marsh