Balance without using alpha

You can find these outdated rules here:

http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=6149

knp7765

Axis and allies has changed over the decades I have been playing. Probably 30 years. But one thing has not, the basics. And it makes sense since they are trying to stay true to what happened, in the sense of what the situation really was at a given point in time. Thereby, the fact remains that the real action is in Europe and whoever wins Europe wins the war.

Britain and Russia cannot, unless playing a weak German player hold off the Germans long enough for Japan to be neutralize much less defeated. And if they could, then the resources spent on neutralizing Japan only means the allies would have won much earlier if those resources were spent in Europe.

Now before everyone goes crazy on me and makes arguments that you just can’t completely and totally ignore Japan and give me all kinds of examples on how the old KGF strategy would not work in the newest editions, understand, I am not arguing a complete ignore of Japan, only enough resources to help Anzac, India, and China slow them down. Essentially, defensive in the Pacific and the offensive in Europe.

That part of the game has not changed EXCEPT, that with the Victory cities only requiring Japan to hold 6 of them, forces the US to go offensive in the Pacific.

That is why I do not like it. It forces in unrealistic and ineffective strategy.

@variance:

Use the second edition rules and setup.  You can download them here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=28703.0

Here’s the history in case you care.  What happened was they released the first editions of 1940 Europe and Pacific a few years ago but then people immediately figured out that if you put those 2 together to make the global game it was hopelessly screwed up.  So for the next 2+ years all the experts played and played and talked and talked and talked and the company every so often put out new versions of the rules and setup that were called alpha 1, alpha 2, and so on until FINALLY they released the second edition, which is just about perfect.

"Thanx for the input, much easier to understand now  :-)  So I’ll use 2ed rules, but some of the player aides & charts for +3 & +3.9 look like an easier read & are cool.  So I’ll compare them to the 2ed rules & set-ups & should be able to use those ok.  Thanx again.

Alpha 3 is an evolution of what originally started as a setup change to address imbalances in the Pac1940 game.

The original setup change addressed Pac 40 only, and was called Alpha, and was meant to be used in Pac alone as well as Global.  Imbalances noted in Global began to influence the alpha revisions, going from Alpha, Alpha +, Alpha + 2, etc.  As these changes were made to address global, there was still a desire to use these modifications for the theater specific games, but this was not a playtesting priority (most people has transitioned to Global only as their primary game - alpha began before Europe 1940 was released).  As the theater games became less of a playtesting priority, the national objectives were revised, and this is probably the primary driver of theater imbalances at this point (particularly US objectives in the pacific theater & Russian objectives in Europe theater).

I would recommend using the Alpha 3 setup and rule changes.  I would recommend using OOB national objectives until official objectives that apply to the theater games are released.  Alternatively, use national objectives from Alpha 3 for all countries but US (use OOB for those) in theater specific games.

The one hanging option that’s been noted many times for the Europe theater is that the Siberian reinforcements should be abandoned and instead Russia ALWAYS collects 9 additional IPCs each turn that represent the eastern provinces not shown in the Europe theater.

PM me,. then.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, back on topic please.

Ghr2 is right mantle, you need a turn before russia attacks!  Use the london money to prep for russia or the american fleet… whichever is more threatening!  Like I said earilier, have Italy set it up so it’s appealing to attack them (aka keep the UK fleet in the Med).

Hopefully you understand a little bit better Zcion.  The Sealion is different in all the games of Global.  One time I was Germany, and was prepping for a Sealion and I failed my France attack!  Italy had to pick it up!  I was so mad, but went for the Sealion anyway, my UK player thought that since I didn’t have enough cash for a Sealion… he thought I was going for Russia.  Boy was he surprised lol.

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.