Problems with this game

@all-encompassing-goose said in Ways to make the game better?:

@cernel I do have a bad track record for accidentally making posts in the wrong topic but I got Spring 1942 from Ebay. Unless the seller makes a mistake and gives me the 2nd edition, I know I’m receiving Spring 1942. Also, you cannot get 2nd edition anywhere in new condition for less than $60 which I state in the post I ordered SE for $30 (with all the shipping added)

Definitely worth the money (assuming it’s like new), but your decision to pick the 1st edition does not make a whole lot of sense to me. If you wanted a game that could take less than the 1940 games and still have the Axis&Allies experience, I would think the 2nd edition of 1942 is the most obvious choice (unless you are still playing the first edition of the 1940 games).

This said, one thing that Spring 1942 has going for itself is balance: the game is fairly balanced (being only very slightly unbalanced in favour of the Axis) and can be reasonably played with no bid (and no optional rules picking) at any skill levels, which is rare or even unique for any Axis&Allies world games.

My suggestion, however, is to alter the starting set-up by relocating the American destroyer into the sea zone next to the Eastern United States territory: it near-to-perfectly balances the game (by giving a very small advantage to the Allies) and avoid the very dicey attack by the German sub in than zone on round 1 (being either a +26 or a -6 swing value for the Axis).

Hello, Krieghund!

I didn’t realize that transports couldn’t be destroyed in amphibious assaults with no sea combat. That information actually saves me a lot of IPC each turn, since I thought I needed to buy three new transports every turn when offloading units from the transport during an amphibious assault in the previous turn.

Thanks for all of the detailed information. This should help make the next game I have with my cousins more challenging for them!

Yes, the AA50 sub rules are a bit muddled, but the FAQ helps immensely.

There are no official rules on undoing a mistake, so you’ll have to work that out with your opponent.  However, many on-line clubs have procedures for such situations.  Maybe one of their members will suggest something here.

By the way, this is the AA42 forum, so questions about AA50 are off-topic here.  Please post further AA50 questions in the appropriate forum.  Thanks.

It’s an attractive game board though. I’ve seen some of the original AA boards and they were hideous. I think it serves the purpose of getting people into the series well. We’ve added D-Day to the game list. The games get very heated and the players are very competitive, this last game was sort of a buzz kill because it was over in only 3 rounds and seemed too easy, I was convinced we must have been doing a lot of things wrong, and I think I’ve realized all of those things now. =)

@Bunnies:

J1

J1 strategy:  14 IPC of transports moves up to 4 units from islands to Asia (as opposed to a 15 IPC industrial complex that can only produce 3 units). 
Transports let Japan hit any number of targets on the Asian, and later African coast, making it very hard to defend against Japan’s attacks.  As a final dealbreaker, Japan’s infantry on its islands are pretty useless, and it has 10 of them - that’s 30 IPC worth of unused material, that Japanese transports can bring into the game.  For all these reasons, transports are Japan’s answer to pretty much anything and everything.

There’s a little more to that math. 2 transports are more cost effective than 1 IC for Japan, if they are used to offload units to Buryatia/SFE/Kwantung/Manchuria (transports move nothing or 1 SZ to pick up units and land them). In the case of FIC you really need to have 4 transports to be able to land 4 units on FIC each turn (using a shuck shuck with 2 transports each on FIC’s SZ and SZ60).

And 4 transports is the bare minimum if you are planning on delaying an IC purchase until you really need it (i.e. Japan’s production is above 40 and you want to spend all money on land units). If you want to hit other targets (Australia, Africa) then you’ll need even more transports if you want to keep those 8 units flowing into Asia.

@GrizzlyMan:

It’s really important for the allies that US is in the game. Russia can’t survive long unless Germany is threatened by US/UK to its west, and Japan can have free reign in the Pacific without the US to quell its expansion

My oldest son was both US and Russia and when Russia fell so did his spirits, especially when my uncle, the UK player, was not able to do anything against Germany or Japan. I struck UK and Russia early and often and it was too much for either one to handle. Next time we play I am taking the Allies so I can see if they will try what I did with Germany. They will be in for a surprise since I know what to do with the US and UK to help Russia and defeat Germany.

email sent, c64.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=23325.0