Just finished a game of Global after two days. I controlled the Allies and my opponent took command of the Axis.
My opponent had Japan go for an India Crush from the start. I sent the US into the Pacific first in response. Japan crushed India turn 3 but lost most of it’s air force. While Japan crushed India it opened up a window for the US to get a very large Navy into Sea Zone 6 and capture Korea. The Russians then declared War on Japan giving them some points but reinforced Korea with 17 Russian Infantry and an AA Gun. I had Australia build tanks and inf to insure I did not lose Sydney and allow the axis to gain the needed 6th victory city in the Pacific. China meanwhile began to grow strong as Japan lost its airforce and many ground units going into India.
Meanwhile on the other side of the board my opponent built the Baltic fleet G1 and took France, Southern France, and Normandy. He allowed the Royal Navy to live. On UK1 I bypassed attacking the Italian fleet and rallied together all the UK starting Navy in sea zone 92 inside the Med touching Gibraltar also landing some fighters on the airbase there. I left the Battle Ship and Destroyer from Scotland as blockers so that the Baltic fleet would not land units in Gibraltar. Russia built mostly artillery and tanks early to try and hold the Germans out of Russia as long as possible. Italy took Greece turn one but was a little starved for points with the sizable UK navy in the Med. On G2 my opponent built some subs and prepared building large amounts artillery for operation Barbarossa. UK2 I moved my very sizable Navy to block Egypt from being taken over and then built a minor there.
As the game progressed my opponent sent the German air force along with the Baltic fleet into the Med and defeated my UK Navy but sustained sizable losses in the battle. The US sunk the rest of Japans Navy as it tried to come back up to sea zone 6. China went viral and drove the Japanese out of the mainland and captured two victory cities. Between China and the US they had ended any risk that Japan might win the game for the axis in the Pacific. At that point my opponent starting mass producing tanks in India, West India, and Persia with Japan and peeled points off of Russia. He still had owned the money islands so his economy was strong enough to do this.
Germany moved into Eastern Poland all in turn 4 and I attacked his stack with Russia as I had massed all my starting inf and bought art and tanks. The battle resulted in just about mutual destruction for both sides. I realized at this point that Russia was on a timetable for being eliminated by Germany and the tanks from flank from Japan.
At this point the US mounted up to save the day on the Atlantic side of the board. They also moved to capture the money islands from Japan with the help of Australia. They produced a large fleet of carriers, destroyers, transports, bombers and headed for Africa.
The remnants of the Baltic Fleet captured Egypt and it was reinforced by Italian planes and Japanese tanks. Both of us built up for a couple of turns and then my opponent staged himself to kill Russia. At this point I set myself up to take back Cairo because with the capture of Russia my opponent had all the cities he needed to win on the Atlantic side of the board.
Russia was hit by a one two punch by the Germans and then fell to Japan. In my US turn I had to retake Cairo or I would lose the game. Thankfully I had 22 transports full of US troops to attack Cairo with supported by 9 bombers 3 fighters and 1 Tac. I defeated the multinational force in Cairo handily and had it on lock down with fighter patrol on the way next turn.
At this point my opponent offered me his hand for an Axis concession as he did not see a way to get the last victory city on the Atlantic side of the board. The US, China, and Australia had conquered all of the Pacific side of the map aside from the island of Japan itself. I did not liberate UK Pacific because I recaptured West India from the Axis and had a US factory there. I had also liberated several UK Pacific IPCs from Japan and decided to keep them for the US.
After I examined the map I concluded it was a draw because while my opponent my not be able to get his last victory city I had no plan to destroy a 100+ point Germany even though my US was also 100+ points. It is also worth mentioning there were over 30 infantry in London and I had a careful eye on that should he choose to Sea Lion at that point.
It was a very fun and close game. My guess is it is probably better to head for Africa first as US so Germany doesn’t crush all of Russia but I had a lot of fun messing up Japan’s day as the allies.
Final Economies
Axis
Germany 100+ points
Italy 15 points
Japan 20 points
TOTAL 135 points
Allies
Russia 0
USA 100+ points
China 26 points
UK Atlantic 25 points
UK Pacific 0
Australia 29 points
TOTAL 180