Axis & Allies 1941 First Preview

I keep wracking my brain in terms of how to balance the need for both air and sea power when you’re the allies. Especially in regards to needing to do amphibious assaults but keep in mind unguarded transports.

If playing the allies, are there for sure Do’s and Don’ts?

@Nowhere-Man said in Game Balance & Capturing Capitols:

@Midnight_Reaper:

Lack of cash hurts both ways, though - it takes a while to build a navy at 12 IPCs, whether it’s the UK or Germany rebuilding their fleet from the first turn battles.

Lack of cash hurts both ways, but what I was getting at, building a fleet from nothing (for Germany) is very expensive and easy to spot coming, while defending England from a Sea Lion doesn’t require a fleet, it only requires far cheaper ground units (a bunch of English soldiers is a lot cheaper than trying to build a big German fleet)… it’s far easier for England to build infantry than for Germany to build a fleet with capital ships transports AND the ground troops to fill the transports, when all England has to do is build ground troops to defend against Sea Lion… yes, Britain will need to rebuild their fleet at some point from initial losses, but if Germany is trying to go Sea Lion before Moscow in 1941 (which was the initial question I believe), the money situation far favors the UK over Germany… unless the UK player is just daft and doesn’t defend England while Germany builds a fleet. As zooma pointed out, the more realistic method for the Axis to win would be to eliminate Russia first, then, using the funds from a dead Russia, build a fleet to attack the western allies.

I’ve played this game a few more times and I’ve come to the conclusion that - contrary to what I expected - the Axis player’s best bet to win the short game is to invade North America, starting in Alaska, and march to Washington. Japan needs to grab some cash and some factories, either from Asia (India and Siberia) and / or the Pacific (Australia, et al) and then start up the invasion fleet. If the US has focused on Germany for the first part of the game, they may have their hands full beating back “Dai Nippon Teikoku”…

-Midnight_Reaper

A&A 1941 is a 2 to 5 player game… no matter how many players you have, there are always two teams/sides… Axis… and Allies (hence the name)…

The game is won when one team or the other reaches its victory conditions… like taking the enemy team’s capitals (say the Allies win if they take Berlin and Tokyo).

By the rules of the game, its team vs team… there is no backstabbing your allies by the rules. Of course in your own home you can modify the standard rules all you want if everyone at the table agrees, but since you’re asking a straight up question on an A&A forum… no… it’s not a free for all, there is no double-dealing across team lines… either the Allies win or the Axis wins. Victory conditions are stated in the rules, but by the rules, there is no backstabbing or “free for all”.

I did watch it, thanks Wolf. Also the lego war movie you posted earlier, which lead to me watching some of the others - they are very well done. Am considering selling all my A&A and using the money to start a lego war collection ….

Here are some pictures of the game. I took them approximately once a round, after the US turn. I was playing the UK. The reduced income and factor production really hits hard in this game: being able to build only one unit in India per turn was frustrating, and I was careless and lose undefended transports and even my fighters in the Caucuses because the Japanese player decided to attack it using his carrier fighters (and thus abandon his navy to be killed by the US).

The Russian player lost her capital to Germany due to this 2-front pressure (and the fact that the US was mainly focused against Japan), and after that happened, the German player used her units to start mopping up Eurasia. The US player tried invading Japan once, but he lost, with one Japanese fighter surviving. At the end of the game, when it was approaching midnight, he decided to try a last desperate invasion of Japan, but it was easily repelled, and so an Axis victory was declared.

Now, I’m not sure if I would conclude that the Axis have the advantage in this game, but I certainly think that it’s harder for the Allies to play optimally and they have to be more careful and fight cooperatively.

Thanks for the responses guys.  NIce to know the pieces are interchangable between games.  I have played another game since and we all seemed to make lots of mistakes.  An experienced player would smash a new person at this game.

smanifesto I will probably do exactly as you have done and get a pieces from other games.  It was getting frustrating having to constantly look for new units and swap chips around.  I’m also with you on customizing the game a bit.  We already have a house rule that battleships have to return to a factory to be repaired at the start of your next turn when damaged.

whole new beginner level game.

GIVE ME MY 2 DOLLARS.

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