Global Team game when it comes out!

I agree with a post that Mashmallow posted earlier, there is no guarantee that you are going to get that NO for a clear med, you should not even rely on that one. The Italians have so many uses, on the ground, with actual IPC earning territory’s that those planes can be used for, you need to weigh out their impact in the med versus potentially taking Egypt, steam rolling Greece, building an actually strong can-opener force in Russia, and even Protecting Rome.

The last few games that I have played, when I am the Axis, I get my Italian partner to seriously evaluate the Taranto raid force. If it is the max force possible, and the UK is totally on point, I say scrap the scramble, focus on more attainable objectives. As a German player, I sure as hell don’t want to burn the Luftwaffe on an air vs naval clean up battle G2, where I can lose guaranteed safe hits against Russian ground troops once Barbarossa commences. On the other hand, If the UK doesn’t bring the max force down, or they don’t make a move to middle east with SA and India navies / units, and Italy looks like they might have some time to maneuver for a few rounds, then scramble all the way. I have seen games were Italy won the Taranto raid, and from then on became unstoppable in the Med, which in turn leads to Germany being able to achieve their full potential, and results in an Axis victory.

Italy unfortunately has to play the game, or at least start the game, being completely on board to support the Germans in whichever direction they plan to strike. A strong Afrika campaign with Italian air power can lead to Italy generating sufficient IPCs to gain a bit more control over their destiny. A successful Italian campaign in the middle East, or as a can-opener can have the same impact. Italy with zero navy, and zero air force, means they might as well stockpile Rome and prepare to defend Europe, there will be no expeditionary force.

Ah man… it’s not looking so good. The US fleet off Hawaii looks like it can take you, and in my experience that’s never a good position to be in for Japan. Unfortunately, you have fallen into the trap that is China. For future games, don’t go all in for China until you’ve taken Calcutta. It’s just a huge cesspit that devours Japanese ground units and does nothing to help you win. There are no victory cities there for you to grab, and because there is no capital China is the easiest Allied power to bring back into the game. Also as Japan you want to grab SOME, not necessary all, of the money islands the turn that you go to war. I prefer a J2 DOW and grab Borneo, Kwangtung, and Malaya, as I’m a firm believer of storming Calcutta as soon as you possibly can.

In your current position, I would finish off China since you’re already so deep and there’s very little Chinese units left. I would focus all of my ground efforts in southeast Asia with the ultimate aim of taking Calcutta, and going on the defensive in the Pacific. For me this would mean huddling everything I can into SZ6, with a full scramble waiting to go on Japan itself, and then basically waiting for the opportune moment to strike. You’re definitely in it for the long haul at this point, it may be too late to get the money islands. Good luck!

Just have fun. These games can be very long… Which is why I like to go wild in live games.

prepare to invade london with germany, remember to buy a carrier and 2 transports for the first round or carrier destroyer sub. Second round if you have not purchased a destroyer on the first, buy one and the rest transports. prepare to invade!

Have italy kill the french naval or ram into the stuff by gibraltar, because you don’t want that defending london.

Sea lion is real fast, you get london on germany round 3 or you don’t. Russia pushes in europe and you kick him out or you don’t. Simple as that.

As far as Japan goes, that is up to you.  The simplest strategy is to draw an imaginary line from Japan to calcutta… and take everything along the way and the dutch islands.

Respect

I agree with the thinking here that we should stick to OOB rules for at least a little longer. I don’t mind a few official changes here and there. I always use the errata and FAQ’s that are released after a game comes out due to misprints in the manual or an obvious balance problem (AAP). However, these sweeping changes are too much too fast. Its almost like a few influencial people screamed too early and no one else was able to say, “lets slow down and take a more methodical approach to the changes.”
It seems like we are being caught up in a rushing river and can’t get out. Alpha is evidence that the squeaky wheel gets greased.

I will stick to OOB rules until something official comes out and then evaluate it. If there are a few reasonable changes I will use them, but if it is anything like these Alpha changes, I most likely won’t. I never used LHTR for the same reason.

You misunderstand my post - there are only ever four powers, with the neutrals acting just like OOB, but with different alignments.

It really should be:

1939- June 1941 Four Power game (Allies[UK & F], Axis[G & I], USSR, Japan)

Becomes three power game after June 1941 (i.e. USSR joins the Allies)

Becomes two power game after December 1941 (Japan joins the Axis)

It’s reasonable to assume that the USA only ever joins the Allies, and that (before June 1940) Italy only ever joins the Axis.  The position of China is tricky, since we don’t want to exclude the possibility of an Allied/Japanese alliance, but where does that leave China - a neutral that the other powers (i.e. not Japan) can send aid to without it being a DOW on Japan?

iphone/ipod app updated. looks good so far. well done.

I like to at least give everyone a list of their national objectives.