AAG1940 at Gencon so far

@marechallannes:

Good work, thanks.

Question:

There is no separate setup for the Global Game? :?

there are a few minor additions - mainly 3 sets fo 6 infantry each in 3 of the eastern USSR territs.  I think there’s a couple infantry in just a couple other places.

Is it possible for the Brits to slow down Italay’s African conquests?

Have you had a game where Italy invaded Syria or Jordan to get the 3 Iraq inf and attack Egypt from the rear?

@calvinhobbesliker:

Is it possible for the Brits to slow down Italay’s African conquests?

Have you had a game where Italy invaded Syria or Jordan to get the 3 Iraq inf and attack Egypt from the rear?

I’m interested in both these things, as it seems, from what I’ve seen and heard, that Italy is hugely overpowered. It seems that if they put their mind to it, British/French Africa will fall no matter what.

Quick rules question for you, are subs able to pass through enemy controlled straits?

I recommend taking out the Italian battleship on UK1 with the UK carrier. Or you can just roll the dice really well.

Germany can reach that with 2 subs and a bomber with bomber landing back in Germany.

I was also at Gencon, and literally just got back home. The new game is fantastic, I was able to play both Global and Europe versions. I’m not sure if I saw you there, but I was the one playing as the Soviets during the liberation of Scotland  :-D. I was also playing as the United Kingdom, but that didn’t go over so well haha. Overall the game is fantastic, and the only critic I had was what I noticed and Greg Smorey talked about, which was that when you play Global you’re basically playing two separate games on one board, and most units rarely cross the map dividing line.

First off: regarding IL’s asking about using Spain as an Allied landing zone, the rules regarding true neutrals state that once a true neutral is invaded, all other true neutrals become pro- whatever power didn’t attack, so if you invaded spain you’re giving Germany a massive amount of potential troops all around the globe, which I think makes a lot of sense.

With the French, they’re pretty much useless after France falls, as the Cruiser and Destroyer in the Mediterranean are wiped out by Italy and the Cruiser by Norway is wiped too. I managed to get some use out of the French destroyer by Madagascar though, as its far away enough to avoid the initial onslaught.

With the Italians, at first I assumed that they’d need German help to succeed, so instead of taking Southern France (which doesn’t border any original German territories) on I1, I waited until G2 so I could make a minor there. This ended up not being necessary as the Italians were able to clean house pretty quickly, taking Egypt and the Suez early on and dropping a minor there. I also took Gibraltar and Morocco and kept pumping infantry in, preventing America from doing anything in the Mediterranean with it’s massive fleet due to the new strait rules (Denmark and Straits of Gibraltar work basically like canals). I was eventually able to push through the Middle East, activating the Iraqi forces and destroying the Russian southern army.

When I played as the UK, In Africa I realized I was severely outmatched, So I retreated all my forces back into central Africa, linking them up with the South African forces I had produced and forcing the Italians to split up. The Italian army and navy vastly outnumbers the British equivalents, and the reason I was able to do so well with Italy when I played Axis was because the British player kept the majority of his forces in Egypt. My strategy in the Atlantic however did not play out so well, and I made a large British fleet but I missed a couple of German transports, which were able to take over England, so naturally I started building a Soviet Navy and shipping the massive amount of troops I had built up over the previous 3 turns to Scotland for a counter offensive.

The only other annoying thing is that because it’s obvious that the Germans and USSR will go to war, the Soviet player simply keeps their main army behind the frontline and keeps one infantry per border territory, so that when the Germans finally DO attack, the Soviets can simply counter attack and negate their airforce. In both games I Played, war was declared through NAVAL skirmishes, and the Eastern Front remained largely stagnant as the Germans vied for an opening to drop a large amount of troops behind the frontlines in order to do as much damage as possible (specifically in Karelia). On the Pacific front, in the one Global game I played, on first turn I situated the infantry in a defensive posture, keeping one inf each in both coastal and border zones, with the other 16 divided between the two other territories. The Japanese player ended up leaving only 4 inf in Manchuria and 2 in Korea, so I took advantage of the situation and charged in. I ended up getting pushed back, but the casualties were relatively minor and I still had around 10 inf left in the theater, while Japan had to divert planes that would have been used against the US player (Who spent his ENTIRE income in the Pacific theater, so it’s not completely my fault England got taken) and the UK in India.

America is about as much as you would expect, and plays largely the same as it always does. In Global, like I said they spent all their money in the Pacific, but in Europe they made a large fleet but we had to pick up around the 5th turn so they didn’t get to do too much.

As Germany, as I’m sure you know you spend the first turn destroying France, and also trying to kill as much as the UK fleet as possible. The challenge with this is trying to destroy as much as possible, as while your army navy and airforce are all vast, there’s lots of potential targets. Germany is much like Japan in Pacific, albeit on a smaller scale area wise and more fun in my opinion. You also want to kill France using as few units as possible so you can divert your forces to other theaters. Because Russia had all their forces behind the front lines, a full frontal assault was not a good idea, so I spent a long time making a big fleet with lots of transports and trying to position it to attack, but unfortunately the combined Russian and British fleets were able to deliver a one-two punch and take it out. As this was going on though I was building up a massive southern Army, and attacked in the south (where he had relatively few units) and held firm in North and Central Europe, as while it would be disastrous for me to attack in those places, it was literally impossible for him to, as he had only one infantry in range each and a few tanks/mechs in range, with big stacks of infantry too far away to help. This southern German army, combined with the Italian force that burst through the Middle Eastern Soviet army I talked about earlier, was able to do some real damage and most likely would have taken Stalingrad. That fleet I had made as Germany psyched the British out, and they started building stacks of infantry, which I was more than fine with as I had no plans to invade England and I would rather they build infantry than ships. The American fleet was pressing in soon though, and I wasn’t in a position to assault Karelia (which had about 15 inf plus several tanks and mechs). It was a very close game though, with the Axis plowing through Africa and the Middle East up into the Caucasus, and the Americans prepping to land. I was preparing for that landing though, and was planning on making stacks of infantry at the French Major and Minor Factories, so there’s really no way to say which way it could have gone.

The Neutrals add a really cool dynamic to the game, and allow for much more options. It’s also a ton of fun having money (and a battleship!) as Russia, and the turns your not at war for let you experiment with making lots of different buys.

I took a ton of play by play pics, but I can’t find my cord at the moment and I’m also exhausted so I’ll try to upload them soon. Overall, it is a fantastic game and a great addition to the A&A series.

Based on what I saw from the pics, the French Med fleet can actually be quite useful if the UK does something to save them, whether that means trying to destroy the Italian battleship or move the carrier and destroyer near Gibraltar to the French ships.

Thanks for the summarization, it just makes me even more excited to get E1940!

@UN:

Based on what I saw from the pics, the French Med fleet can actually be quite useful if the UK does something to save them, whether that means trying to destroy the Italian battleship or move the carrier and destroyer near Gibraltar to the French ships.

Thanks for the summarization, it just makes me even more excited to get E1940!

When I played, it didn’t matter because the UK fleet by Gibraltar and the French Mediterranean fleet are both too small to bother the Italian fleet. When I was the UK, I moved them up north to try and defend the English Channel as G1 they literally wiped out the ENTIRE British navy around England. With the UK ships at Egypt, I scooted them out past the Suez ASAP to meet up with the French destroyer so I could try to funnel up some South African troops. First turn is really not a good time for UK to attack, as they’re too busy trying to not die.

@Imperious:

I recommend taking out the Italian battleship on UK1 with the UK carrier. Or you can just roll the dice really well.

Germany can reach that with 2 subs and a bomber with bomber landing back in Germany.

Bomber can’t reach. West Germ doesn’t borderr the english channel sea zone

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Imperious:

I recommend taking out the Italian battleship on UK1 with the UK carrier. Or you can just roll the dice really well.

Germany can reach that with 2 subs and a bomber with bomber landing back in Germany.

Bomber can’t reach. West Germ doesn’t borderr the english channel sea zone

Yes, it does

@bennyboyg:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Imperious:

I recommend taking out the Italian battleship on UK1 with the UK carrier. Or you can just roll the dice really well.

Germany can reach that with 2 subs and a bomber with bomber landing back in Germany.

Bomber can’t reach. West Germ doesn’t borderr the english channel sea zone

Yes, it does

No, it does not border Z110. West Germ-Z91 is 4 moves and there’s no landing within 3 spaces

It cant reach. was thinking the bomber was on German coast by north sea.

So that move is really strong for UK, only that its 3 SZ away from Italian fleet. UK has a port in Gibraltar i guess it can reach them. Thats bogus because its a natural move

But the odds are not good.

@Imperious:

It cant reach. was thinking the bomber was on German coast by north sea.

So that move is really strong for UK, only that its 3 SZ away from Italian fleet. UK has a port in Gibraltar i guess it can reach them. Thats bogus because its a natural move

But the odds are not good.

Whats bogus?

It’s a DD, CA(from Eastern Med), ftr from Egyp, tac from carrier. UK gets 2 hits, Italy gets 1. Then it’s CA, ftr, tac vs damaged BB. ftr and tac will survive and move to defend the French Med fleet with the Brit carrier. Italy can’t attack a DD, CA, and loaded CV with DD, CA and 2 ftrs. If Germany attacks it, it will lose a lot of air power.

Bogus meaning it really hurts Italy if it works out and thats not good to have a setup where you can just take out the fleet with such a natural move. It leads to predicable play, which i was hoping the game would offer more choices than these obvious moves. It also pretty much either finishes off Italy when they attack or if they don’t, the British finish off Italy.

@Imperious:

Bogus meaning it really hurts Italy if it works out and thats not good to have a setup where you can just take out the fleet with such a natural move. It leads to predicable play, which i was hoping the game would offer more choices than these obvious moves. It also pretty much either finishes off Italy when they attack or if they don’t, the British finish off Italy.

Would that complaint also apply to how Germany can destroy at least half of the Royal Navy?

@cond1024:

Quick rules question for you, are subs able to pass through enemy controlled straits?

Only Gibraltar.

COOL. :lol:

I like this rule.

Combined with the A&AP40 convoy rules you can start a german/italian Sub-offensive vs. allied convoy centers.

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Imperious:

I recommend taking out the Italian battleship on UK1 with the UK carrier. Or you can just roll the dice really well.

Germany can reach that with 2 subs and a bomber with bomber landing back in Germany.

Bomber can’t reach. West Germ doesn’t borderr the english channel sea zone

The bomber can reach if you land it in Holland since there is an airbase in west Germany.

*Edit: The bomber is actually located in “Germany” not “West Germany” therefore this move will not work.