The perfect game…

I’ve done some 10 games of AA1942 (plus hundreds of Revised) and so far I think it is pretty much balanced (I’ve started playing with LL, which should confirm/disprove this claim).

The balancing factor are the new rules for planes and subs. G can sink the UK BB and transport on G1 and if it buys 1-2 bombers it can keep the Allies off Europe for the first rounds. The Allies need to invest more on naval protection, before you only needed 1 BB and 1 AC to protect the transports, now you need 1 DD for each transport.
G’s Med fleet can be sunk on R2 if the Russians buy a sub for the Caucasus but the fleet could already be sunk on Revised during UK2 and 1 Russian sub is less 2 inf on Europe plus the fighters won’t be available to retake German territories.
In general UK is weaker in Europe (but stronger in Asia) because of the naval rules. Japan starts also with a weaker position and a KJF strategy seems more likely to succeed than in Revised but it will still be hard.

i do not feel that allied winning is inevitable. 
Once Japan reaches the borders of russia, Germany can spam infantry to its heart’s content, while still pushing its stack of 15 tanks around eastern europe.

I believe the perfect game is one where everyone has a good time!  What fun is it to work out the perfect formula that works 100 percent of the time.  Or what fun is a perfectly balanced game where if everyone does everything 100 percent correct it always ends in a draw.   If that is what we wanted, we would all spend 10 hours playing tic tac toe instead of AA. LOL.  I am not that good, but getting better all the time and I ALWAYS enjoy playing and trying new things.  Sometimes I have to be happy with my own personal victory instead of destroying my opponent.  I can be very happy delaying the win of a superior opponent instead of falling to him in round 4-5.  :)  As long as there are dice rolls and human opponents we always have a chance to win and can ALWAYS choose to have a great time.

@habs4life9:

Hobbes, I have tried a bomber purchase on G1 and by G3 I was already feeling the heat from Russia and my territory was shrinking rapidly. I coudn’t help but think that if I’d bought the 4 inf instead it would’ve slowed that down. 4 inf can make all the difference when Russia is going all land.

G3 bomber really depends on how things are going. I’ve only been buying 1 bomber for G because of Russia on my games.
If the Allies are going KFG then send all Jap planes to Europe at once. Since J’s turn is between UK and US, they can use a 5 fighter, 1 bomber force to sink any ships that are left unprotected after the UK moves. That can really mess up the Allied landings.

I must say that I am a new player to Axis and Allies and have only played this 1942 version, but my group of, again, new players have been commenting on the apparent Axis slant of this game as far as they’ve seen it.  Karelia is hard to defend, as is India, so as long as Germany gets to Moscow while the Allies are still setting up, the Axis has won.  I’m sure we’ve been missing the Allied coordination and strategy, but with Germany mostly gunning straight for Russia, the Axis has won all 5 games we’ve played.

@SilverAngelSurfer:

I must say that I am a new player to Axis and Allies and have only played this 1942 version, but my group of, again, new players have been commenting on the apparent Axis slant of this game as far as they’ve seen it.  Karelia is hard to defend, as is India, so as long as Germany gets to Moscow while the Allies are still setting up, the Axis has won.  I’m sure we’ve been missing the Allied coordination and strategy, but with Germany mostly gunning straight for Russia, the Axis has won all 5 games we’ve played.

If you are keeping track of Victory Cities I’d say to ignore them. The game is decided the moment Russia or Germany (or Japan) falls. If G is heading straight for Russia then the Allies need to be able to keep trading Karelia, Ukraine and Bielorussia with Germany, while at the same time to take advantage that G’s forces are on the East to take and hold Western Europe.

@Hobbes:

@SilverAngelSurfer:

I must say that I am a new player to Axis and Allies and have only played this 1942 version, but my group of, again, new players have been commenting on the apparent Axis slant of this game as far as they’ve seen it.  Karelia is hard to defend, as is India, so as long as Germany gets to Moscow while the Allies are still setting up, the Axis has won.  I’m sure we’ve been missing the Allied coordination and strategy, but with Germany mostly gunning straight for Russia, the Axis has won all 5 games we’ve played.

If you are keeping track of Victory Cities I’d say to ignore them. The game is decided the moment Russia or Germany (or Japan) falls. If G is heading straight for Russia then the Allies need to be able to keep trading Karelia, Ukraine and Bielorussia with Germany, while at the same time to take advantage that G’s forces are on the East to take and hold Western Europe.

I figured that’s the general idea, but the main issue has been coordinating attacking on the West side while trying to effectively reinforce on the East, with the reinforcing part being the bigger issue, plus getting my Allied partners to work with me has been challenging…  :-P  Though I suppose that’s part of the strategy/challenge.

Not keeping track of Victory Cities kind of makes sense in that typically by the time Germany, Japan, Russia, or UK falls (I’m assuming US falling is super rare), the opposing side would have 3 extra anyway, but do you not play to the end of the “round” (the end of US turn)?  You don’t play with the chance of liberating a capital?

@SilverAngelSurfer:

I figured that’s the general idea, but the main issue has been coordinating attacking on the West side while trying to effectively reinforce on the East, with the reinforcing part being the bigger issue, plus getting my Allied partners to work with me has been challenging…  :-P  Though I suppose that’s part of the strategy/challenge.

Not keeping track of Victory Cities kind of makes sense in that typically by the time Germany, Japan, Russia, or UK falls (I’m assuming US falling is super rare), the opposing side would have 3 extra anyway, but do you not play to the end of the “round” (the end of US turn)?  You don’t play with the chance of liberating a capital?

Coordination is key to the Allies (and to the Axis as well). If you usually play 4 or 5 players games try not using any bid for Axis if the Allied players can’t work effectively as a team. If you are going KFG then the main Allied objective should be to force Germany to switch their main effort from Russia to dealing with the US/UK. By her own Russia can deal with the initial Japanese thrusts and make them costly, if Russia is allowed to switch its main force from Europe into Asia. The US/UK can also land a few units on Archangel to help out with those initial J thrusts or to lessen the burden of retaking Karelia from the Germans. Sometimes it is the only option if the threat of a German airforce prevents landing on the rest of Europe.

Depends on how the capital was taken. If it was a stroke of luck or bad planning by the defender then it might be possible to retake it and later win the game. Losing the UK on the first rounds is not a complete catastrophe if the Germans lose a few planes on the process and if the UK retakes it on their turn. But when Germany or Russia fall you might be able to reconquer it but most likely the enemy will take it back during their next turn. I’ve played games on Revised where both Germany and Russia fall on the same turn or close and the remaining players decide to continue but I’ve never seen Japan retaking Germany because the US/UK start outproducing Japan.

@wmman09:

I believe the perfect game is one where everyone has a good time!  What fun is it to work out the perfect formula that works 100 percent of the time.  Or what fun is a perfectly balanced game where if everyone does everything 100 percent correct it always ends in a draw.   If that is what we wanted, we would all spend 10 hours playing tic tac toe instead of AA. LOL.  I am not that good, but getting better all the time and I ALWAYS enjoy playing and trying new things.  Sometimes I have to be happy with my own personal victory instead of destroying my opponent.  I can be very happy delaying the win of a superior opponent instead of falling to him in round 4-5.  :)  As long as there are dice rolls and human opponents we always have a chance to win and can ALWAYS choose to have a great time.

I second this notion.  We added tech to the game as well for more variance.  The fact that it can throw everything out of balance and new strategies have to be formed around the technology you have.  We are using AA50 Tech trees.  Can anyone say heavy bombers and paratroopers.  Pretty sick.

Uhm, one thing i liked that we do as a standard was that bombers could be used as a transport.  Only 1 friendly infantry and it can be dropped off into friendly spaces.