Tank Purchases R.I.P.

I for one cant wait to try out these different strategies!!! Bring on Tuesday!

The new cosring is going to create more combined arms forces. More exciting game play. It is more necessary to bring a cheap infantry screen now to cover your tanks.

Even early in the war germany did not go in only with tanks.

But can enough infantry get to Moscow in time?

The battle will already be decided.

WARNING! : The following is just my opinion based on what I have read.

turns 1 and 2  germany should be building loads of infantry to defend against Overlord, a few aircraft, and some navy so the rest doesnt get sunk too early and gives the uk something to worry about and leave the med alone, and a few transports will help keep them honest too.

Anyways, after this I would be building tank/mech combos so I can keep them racing forward. Maybe a amphibious landing in Russia to help keep them split on where to defend.

But since I play Japan usually I figure Germany can do whatever it wants and I will just send 12 tanks at some point into russia to really screw with them.

And before anyone says anything about 18 infantry, they wont last long if Japan makes 1 concentrated effort to kill them. Unlwess I misunderstand some neutrality rule or something.

@gredert:

And before anyone says anything about 18 infantry, they wont last long if Japan makes 1 concentrated effort to kill them. Unlwess I misunderstand some neutrality rule or something.

A good opponent won’t group the 18 infantry together where you can kill them.  More territories = harder to kill.  Also, USSR goes before Japan on turn 1, so the 18 infantry will be safe J1 (except for the 2 or 3 that pre-emptively took over Korea, possibly)

Like you I may be completely wrong because I haven’t played global yet, but based on my experience and assessments, I think Japan’s gonna have a helluva time succeeding.  They can’t take a money island or attack ANZAC or UK without bringing the USA into the war in the first couple rounds like they could in P40 (that’s gotta be a bad move in G40 any way you look at it), and with 5 enemies….  well, it’s not gonna be easy at all.  I don’t think you’ll be able to send one turn’s purchase into Russia to “screw with them” and even if you did, it’s an awful long way there, and probably won’t have air support (at long last - a much more realistic simulation of this front)

USSR and USA are gonna be complete beasts.  Complete beasts.

Way too early to say this, but I can’t resist.  I predict that with skilled and experienced players who are equally matched, the Allies will have a significant advantage (win 60-70% of games) when played 1v1.  When Allies are broken up among 3-5 players, then this advantage should drop quite a bit.  I would list all my reasons and analysis, but it will take too long.  I’ll just throw this prediction out there (since I can’t play the game yet!!!)

@gamerman01:

@gredert:

And before anyone says anything about 18 infantry, they wont last long if Japan makes 1 concentrated effort to kill them. Unlwess I misunderstand some neutrality rule or something.

A good opponent won’t group the 18 infantry together where you can kill them.  More territories = harder to kill.  Also, USSR goes before Japan on turn 1, so the 18 infantry will be safe J1 (except for the 2 or 3 that pre-emptively took over Korea, possibly)

Why take Korea? The convoy is blocked so you lose 3 inf for 2 inf.

@calvinhobbesliker:

@gamerman01:

@gredert:

And before anyone says anything about 18 infantry, they wont last long if Japan makes 1 concentrated effort to kill them. Unlwess I misunderstand some neutrality rule or something.

A good opponent won’t group the 18 infantry together where you can kill them.  More territories = harder to kill.  Also, USSR goes before Japan on turn 1, so the 18 infantry will be safe J1 (except for the 2 or 3 that pre-emptively took over Korea, possibly)

Why take Korea? The convoy is blocked so you lose 3 inf for 2 inf.

That’s a great point about the convoy (and is a great example of why I don’t understand why the convoy rules are the way they are).  So you’re right, people probably won’t.

I’m not too sure about the ally advantage in global.  Yes Russia will be a beast, but Germany will be as well, and italy may actually be useful!  Other thing to keep in mind is the US are out 40 IPCs that they would have in the seperate games, and all NO money for UK goes to UK, not India.  Thats 5 IPCs first turn, and on turn 2 without a war dec 10 more that India does not get that they would normally get.

I actually fear a UK pincer in global with both India and London getting taken out, or at least be something that forces the allies to play a specific way to avoid losing them both on turn 3ish.

@bugoo:

I’m not too sure about the ally advantage in global.  Yes Russia will be a beast, but Germany will be as well, and italy may actually be useful!  Other thing to keep in mind is the US are out 40 IPCs that they would have in the seperate games, and all NO money for UK goes to UK, not India.  Thats 5 IPCs first turn, and on turn 2 without a war dec 10 more that India does not get that they would normally get.

I actually fear a UK pincer in global with both India and London getting taken out, or at least be something that forces the allies to play a specific way to avoid losing them both on turn 3ish.

Indeed!  The Axis can really gang up on the poor British to leave them with nothing but ANZAC at the beginning of Round 4!  However, looking at the cost to the Axis war effort, that’s about as far as they’ll get if that’s all they do.  Germany will need to buy so many TRNs to make Sealion an effective tactic, that unless the USA is completely stupid, the Sealion fleet can easily be blown out of the water US4 with England liberated as well.  You can still make hay out of threatening a Sealion if Britain insists on ignoring Germany UK1.

I’m thinking more realistically that India will be the first major power to fall (less chance of major reinforcements), hopefully followed by either the Soviet Union or ANZAC.  If the Axis can’t get India to fall by Round 5, I’m thinking that with Russian help added to the British stack that taking India will be impossible.  Remember, the Axis historically did not prepare for long, dragged out wars like in WWI!  The Allies also have the biggest swing on the board, in the form of an 82 IPC Godzilla USA lurking in the background.

With an 82 IPC USA in this game, the gameplay shouldn’t drag out quite so much as previous games.

I dunno about that, Germany can easily get into the high 50s low 60s, and so can Japan.  US is going to have its hands full splitting there builds effectively, and the US is the only one who can go toe to toe with those two.  Ignoring either theater will result in alot of pain for the allies with the way the NOs are worded.

@bugoo:

What I mean by that is i could buy 2 mechs and a fighter for 18, or three tanks for 18.  I’ll take the mechs/fighter any day of the week.  And i’ll still have more units than russia because of my income being nearly double his, and I won’t have to waste as many units defending my coasts because UK/US need more surface ships to protect there transports.

Inf, art, mechs, and planes will win the day in russia for germany.  You don’t need tanks when you can afford to buy a fighter for every tank your opponent purchases, along with a mech.

Ugh, watch Russia move in some AA guns with the infantry stacks and I’ll watch you cry.

The opponent could also buy 1 tank/1 mech for the cost of one of your fighters.

I think with A&A Global 1940 tanks are an even more important purchase than ever.  Being able to project force is key to winning any conflict.  With Tanks being able to to move two, you can certainly project farther than any other land unit (Mech’s must be supported by tanks of course).  With there being double the land territories as in anniversary there is certainly more places to project force.  Keeping your opponent guessing as to where the attacks will actually go is nearly as important as winning the battle. If your opponent must defend an extra two or three spaces because you have 3 or 4 tanks in a group (vs just 1 lets say), he’ll have to guard against flank attacks.  Of course any tank attack must be supported and Mech Inf seem to be great for the job.

By increasing the cost to 6, you will have to use tanks much more sparingly.  Infantry, artillery and Mech Inf will form the back bone of your army in Germany and Russia, but I think a wise general will use tanks as the fist.  Not to mention that Tac. Bombers add a bit more to attack as well.

I like the direction that Larry has taken with making the game more “combined arms” oriented.  This seems to me to be one of the more historical things to be added to the game.

Also, the tank pieces are the coolest looking ones, so you will want to buy more to make your army look cool……

Our play group has added a new twist to tanks to make them a little more useful.  Tanks are now allowed to BLITZ into unoccupied territoies during the NONCOMBAT MOVEMENT PHASE…  As long as they did not move or attack during the combat phase.

We love what this new capability adds to the game. It allows the tanks to perform like they did in the actual war. It makes them even more dangerous if you dont keep an extra layer of defense. It allows them to get behind the front line and cause some real problems.  Now they are worth every penny of the 6IPC’s and we find it just adds another demension to the game.

I should clarify that we allow tanks to blitz into enemy territories that are unoccupied during the non-combat movement phase.  We are testing it now…see what happens.

@Gravy:

I should clarify that we allow tanks to blitz into enemy territories that are unoccupied during the non-combat movement phase.  We are testing it now…see what happens.

I think that will help the axis more than the allies

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Gravy:

I should clarify that we allow tanks to blitz into enemy territories that are unoccupied during the non-combat movement phase.  We are testing it now…see what happens.

I think that will help the axis more than the allies

I think so too. Italy would normally clear pickets, and that’s hard enough for Russia to account for. If Germany can do it on it’s own, Russia won’t be able to hold a line very well any time there are tanks on the border.

In all our games Moscow has only been taken once. It is a tough nut to crack because it is so far away…we are finding that Russia is tough to take down…we have yet to even see Stalingrad fall.  How can the Italians help in Russia when their hands are tied in the Med…if you lose the Med quickly Italy is done and hence game over.

Mind you we have played alot of Europe and only a few global games so maybe things are a little different with global.

@Gravy:

In all our games Moscow has only been taken once. It is a tough nut to crack because it is so far away…we are finding that Russia is tough to take down…we have yet to even see Stalingrad fall.  How can the Italians help in Russia when their hands are tied in the Med…if you lose the Med quickly Italy is done and hence game over.

Mind you we have played alot of Europe and only a few global games so maybe things are a little different with global.

Fortunately for you, Larry has added a Major IC in Berlin, which should help.