2011 Tournament discussion (AA50-41)

@DarthMaximus:

Also the anniversary board has been slow in terms of strat talk too (since G40 came out).  We should probably try and get that going to.  Infact I think I’ll put up a topic on Slowing Japan.

Sure has.  Part of the reason is I’ve been busy playing games.  (I used to start a lot of threads and comment on a lot of stuff)

Best way to slow Japan is to PLAY THE !1942! SCENARIO, PEOPLE!  :-)

1941 is not as popular as it looks.  For instance, I only play it because I have to, to get in on the action.  How many others are doing the same thing?  I have always viewed it as a novelty, fantasy scenario.  I do NOT like seeing Japan at 80 IPC’s every game and USA at 40-50.  That’s just stupid.  Larry thinks so, too, because in 1940 he gave USA that 30 IPC bonus in OOB rules so they would be earning 80-90 automatically.  (Hopelessly unbalancing the game in favor of the Allies yet again)

I know the Allies were hugely favored in Classic (even though I was a 16 y/o kid playing it against myself) and heavily favored in Revised.  I’m sure people got tired of the Allies winning.  Well how many years and how many Axis wins will it take you all to be happy?  I don’t like how Russia starts out with NO offense in 1941, how China has FOUR infantry and starts C1 with TWO and a bunch of territory for Japan to claim like the Oklahoma land grab.  (Just ask Func) And do you guys realize that the first two rounds of 1941 is often like just getting you to where the 1942 scenario starts?  Don’t you get tired of grabbing all those islands on J1?

@Yoshi:

The 41 version begins with a lot of battle - thus dices - on round 1.

@DarthMaximus:

One issue also is the inclusion of NOs.  It s very hard to balance a game like this where you are trying to balance it for the “base” game with no NOs but then also if you want to include them.  They probably should have been considered NOs as the “base” game and balanced play strictly for that.

Definitely!

  That way if a future imbalance occurs you can scale them back.

I used to play with NO’s being 2 or 3 IPC’s each.  If you had 1, you got 3.  If you had 2, you got 5…

On that issue, I think Japan’s 3rd NO is too easy (in most games) to get.  Maybe it should have been hold two of the 3 (or all three).

Great idea, especially for 1941.

I could probably go on with potential changes to 41 or even 42.

I know, right?  We who have played dozens and dozens of times could make the game much better.  But the problem is most people won’t adhere to our changes.  I used to house rule stuff, like that you couldn’t build IC’s on islands (another thing Larry fixed when going to Global), but then I got used to a different game than everyone else!  I used to close the Dardanelles.  But then I wasn’t as competitive against everyone else who didn’t!  So unfortunately I had to learn to adapt to the crusty OOB setup and rules, because then I can play the standard game against anyone, and get better at it….  :|

I forgot about closing the Dardanelles!  That alone helps balance 1941 and would keep bids down, so we’re not getting all the weird stuff from 12+ bids…  But everybody won’t want to do it, and again, a lot of us don’t want to get used to both ways…  Changes the game a lot, when Italy can’t threaten Caucasus…  (Which is why closing it is a great idea.  There’s a reason Italy didn’t bombard Stalingrad with battleships and cruisers in real life)

@Gamerman01:

I forgot about closing the Dardanelles!  That alone helps balance 1941 and would keep bids down, so we’re not getting all the weird stuff from 12+ bids…  But everybody won’t want to do it, and again, a lot of us don’t want to get used to both ways…  Changes the game a lot, when Italy can’t threaten Caucasus…  (Which is why closing it is a great idea.  There’s a reason Italy didn’t bombard Stalingrad with battleships and cruisers in real life)

That change alone would drastically improve the Allies chances! Not a bad idea at all  :-D

I am not in favour of house rules, although some of them like Dardanelles are option in the rulebook.
I agree that in Anniversary 1942 there is more variability than in 1941 and both sides can play many tactics.
First of all In 1942 Usa can fight in both Oceans.
In 1941 always goes like this: Japan conquers Asia and Oceania and can get as much as 75 ipcs.
Axis struggle in Europe and win if they are able to keep four/five key territories in Europe before Japan arriving in Moscow.

1941 is quite variable.  Otherwise it wouldn’t be so popular.  I guess the other reason it’s popular is its different from revised/classic.

KJF and Pacific tactics are arguably more viable in 41 than in 42.  In 42 Russia is in deep trouble from the outset and needs rescuing.  Certainly USA can beat Japan in the Pacific in 42 if it wants to, but in that case Allies might lose the whole of Eurasia.

Going back to 41 bids, it’s been awhile since I saw a bid of less than 8 on these boards so I don’t think the 41 bid will go much higher.  8-12 for dice/nt is about right.  Low luck/nt should be 13-15, or possibly more.  People resisted higher bids for Axis for awhile but not anymore.

What about making a AA50-42 tournament ?

I’m sure there would be some players, and you do not need so many as for the league (starting from 8, you can play).

That could be a way to see if people are interested into discovering / playing this scenario or not :)

@Yoshi:

What about making a AA50-42 tournament ?

I’m sure there would be some players, and you do not need so many as for the league (starting from 8, you can play).

That could be a way to see if people are interested into discovering / playing this scenario or not :)

There was a team tourney, but there were no bids, and Axis won every game.

It’s a good idea.  There would most likely be 8 players for a 1-1 bid dice/nt tourney.

@Gamerman01:

@The:

The 1942 map looks like the Earth decide to get obese and Russia massively increased in size at the top, Africa looks like a drunk painting by Picasso and southeast Asia…well, to me, 1942 is just a fancier version of Revised with the 1941 rules put in place.

Dude, we are NOT talking about Spring 1942.

Don’t you know that AA50 comes with a 1942 scenario??  :lol:

Whooops!  :-o :oops: :oops:

(And yes, I knew AA50 came with a 1942). I guess I thought you were talking about Spring 1942 when on another page it had been mentioned).

Don’t be embarassed, Desert
Just wanted to straighten that out

As always, appreciated the input, Yoshi and Zhuk

IIRC KJF was my method of choice in AA50-42
But if you get very bad R1 dice you’re toast (happened to me in League championship 2010) no matter what

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=25806.0
Yoshi over Gamer(8) in semi-finals

Darth - who starts the bidding for the 3rd place game?

this is an exciting matchup.

It’s always a good matchup between the two.

Zhukov and I need to play for 3rd, don’t we?  We’re working on finishing the league championship game first, I guess.  We can both play a lot more now that school’s out.