Carrier and planes: who must die?

They can attack, too. But you need to ensure that your attacking fighters are able to land safely either on the AC or on a friendly territory. What the rulebook meant is simply that combat and non-combat moves of the AC and the fighters are dealt separately.

I’ve played against two in the last month or so.

Game 1 -

R1 went badly - I had to retreat from Ukraine with the German fig still alive, and I took higher than usual casualties in WR.  G1 took out of the British BB in SZ2, and pretty much otherwise threw everything else (including the Med fleet) against the Russians, with slightly better than average dice.

On UK1 I built 3 figs, figuring that would be enough to (A) check against any Sealion and (B) take out the German Baltic fleet on UK2.  I took out the German Med Fleet with the UK med destroyer, the fig from Egypt, and the UK Bomber.  I decided to gamble on FIC with the Indian garrison, and got very good dice.  J1 was subpar, he took China, but with heavy casualties, and though he went somewhat heavy into pearl, he took several casualties, and was left with a bb, cv, and 1 fig there.

It was at this point that my brain literally fell out of my ass, and I said, “Let’s go KJF!”  (But only with the US!)  Long story/short, the US only KJF was doing okay, but slower than it needed to be.  Germany continued to spend most of its income on reinforcing the med fleet (bbs, more cvs, more destroyers, etc…), while the UK continued to build build build an airforce in the UK.  It took longer than anticipated to get a strong enough airforce with the UK to take down the German fleet.  When I finally got 80% odds, I went, and got horrible dice, and had to retreat after the first round.  Meanwhile, thanks to the R1/G1 results, Germany is pressing Russia.  Germany is sending all of its starting troops, plus a few scattered ground buys East.  Even though Europe is largely ungarrisoned, the allies can’t do anything about it, because the US is ignoring the European theater, and the UK can’t put a fleet down, allowing Germany to maintain a very healthy income.  Japan is slowly getting locked out of the islands by the US, but has overcome mainland Asian resistance, and started pressuring Russia.  Eventually Russia falls.  I feel like this is one of my worst losses in 1942.

Game 2 - R1 goes normal (took UK with a tank left, 3 fatalities taking WR).  G1 builds heavy into the Baltic, otherwise typical G1 moves (UK BB killed, takes AE with 2 tanks.)  As soon as I see the Baltic build, I slap myself and say, “Ignore Japan completely, KGF all the way.” UK1 buys 1 fig and nothing else, counters AE, and sit.  US retreats from the pacific, and makes a big naval buy on US1. ( R2 buys 4 tanks (+3 inf), and moves aggressively West.  UK2 drops huge fleet, reinforced by US2.  G3 tried to reinforce the Baltic fleet, but it was too little too late.  The UK reinforced on UK4 (while dropping troops into Norway), and was strong enough to take out the G fleet on UK5.  Pretty soon Germany is surrounded.  Japan advances quickly through Asia, but by the time it can secure Novo, Berlin has fallen to the British and the Russians are headed back home.

I don’t think the strategy is a long term winner.  It worked against me in the first game because I played very poorly, and even then had very bad dice in the key battles.  I was intimidated into some early ground buys with England early, which made the race against the German fleet tough for England to do alone.  Even so, had I just spent a turn buying fleet with the US, the allies could have easily secured the Atlantic.  Silly me.  :?

@NDfan:

How come there seems to be 3 kinds of planes?  Or are there two different sizes for the bombers or fighters??

In the 1942 edition there are only two, but as others have explained they are represented as historical models of fighters or strategic bombers for each nation.  These aren’t necessarily the most representative types each nation used, but are distinctive.  While the primary fighter types of the major combatants were single engine, the U.S. twin engine P-38 modeled in the game is a fighter.  (It wasn’t used on carriers, so I would have liked a single engine plane instead…thought most likely it would have ended up being another USAAF fighter rather than USN anyway.)  The axis powers primarily used twin engined bombers even for strategic bombing.  That is why Germany and Japan both have twin engined bombers.  The German model is a Ju-88, and the Japanese is a “Betty.”

Allied powers used a mix of two and four engined bombers for heavy bombing with the latter type being used for the bomber models in the game.  The UK gets a Halifax, and the US gets a B-17.  The Soviets, fighting for survival on the homefront didn’t have much need of 4 engine types during the war, and instead relied on twin engine types.  The four engine model in the game looks like the Pe-8 with gun positions in rear of inboard engine nacelles.

Other fighters in the game are UK’s Spitfires, Soviet Yak-3’s, and German Bf109’s.

In the A&A 1940 games there are three types:  fighters, tactical bombers, and strategic bombers.  So for A&A Pacific 1940 the U.S. has a twin engine P-38 fighter, a single engine tactical bomber (the Dauntless dive bomber), and a four engine strategic bomber (B-17.)  The Japanese have a “Zero” fighter, a “Val” (dive bomber) tactical bomber, and a “Betty” strategic bomber.  The UK has the Spitfire fighter, the Mosquito tactical bomber, and the Halifax strategic bomber.

If you want realism, man up and join the military  8-)

@coorran:

Also, this link. It was on another topic in AA42. It seems like the guy used nail tips and small magnets. Neat job.

http://s436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/yvestraversy/aircraft carrier/

thats interesting… i might try this.

would gorilla glue or crazy glue work?

@Manitobajay:

If my carrier is holding one of my fighters and one ally unit does this one move rule apply to the other allies fighter as well?

Yes.

Any defending fighter that loses its carrier (even if an ally’s) gets 1 movement to land safely.  It does not matter that there are multi-national fighters on the same carrier.  But if some but not all of them can land safely and 2 or more players are controlling the defending fighters, then you will have to agree on which ones are lost and which are saved!

Looks great, I was thinking of having the 1942 map printed onto a plaque about the same size.

Nice work.

Hobbes is correct.  The destroyer must be in the battle, not just in the sea zone.