Yesterday, my gaming group played its first game of Axis and Allies 1942 Second Edition. I would like to pass along a “game report” for this session and provide some of my observations about the new setup.
We played 1942.2 as a 2 vs 2 game with two players controlling the Axis and two taking the Allies. Everyone in the group has quite a bit of experience with the original 1942 game, so for purposes of this review we’ll say that all players are of roughly equal experience.
I was on the Allied side and played Russia. My ally and I agreed that we would adopt a “Kill Germany First” strategy to start off the game.
Early Game
Russia – During the opening turns of the game, Russia purchased mostly Inf and Art. The German starting position is pretty strong in 1942.2, and it was hard to go on the offensive with the Russians without leaving one of its three factories exposed to attack. In this version, the Russians have 3 factories (Moscow, Caucuses, and Karelia)… the Karelian factory is separated from Moscow by an additional territory on the new map. As the Russian player, I found it difficult to re-take Karellia after round 2.
Germany – On the first turn of the game, the German player sent his all of his air force and navy against the UK fleet in the Atlantic/ Mediterranean. With decent rolls, he was able to sink every UK in the opening round with the exception of the UK pacific fleet. For the next few rounds the Germans bought mostly ground forces (inf and tanks) with the occasionally plane and sent these against Russia. The Germans were able to capture the factory in Karelia and used that to pump out infantry right next to the Russian line.
Uk – The UK player, with his navy decimated, mostly saved his money in the opening rounds. He did purchase units in India (an inf, art, and plane) for the first couple of rounds to keep the Japanese in check. With the Pacific fleet, he sent the carrier, cruiser, and transport to the Med to counter the Germans in Africa, and sent the Australian fleet around South America into the Atlantic… this fleet later dropped off troops in Africa and joined up with the UK’s newly built Atlantic fleet in the mid game.
Japan - The Japanese player purchased a factory and some transports in the opening turn and clearly had his sights set on capturing India. In the initial turns, he quickly expanded into China (took very few losses) and moved south to set up an India crush. He kept his fleet mostly together in the early game and bought an occasional ship to supplement the navy.
United States - The US had a tough decision to make in the early game… with the Germans having sunk the UK navy and Russia clearly needing help, the US had to mostly ignore the Japanese in the first couple of turns. On turn 1 the US bought a carrier an a couple of other surface ships, moved that fleet off of Greenland on turn 2, and finally to the UK/ Europe on turn 3. On turn 2 the US bought more transports (to start a caravan to Europe) and then on Turn 3 bought more ships on the Pacific side.
Mid Game
Russia – In the mid game, Russia mostly turtled around Moscow and awaited allied reinforcements. There was a lot of back and forth fighting in the Caucuses. The Japanese took most of the Russian far eastern territories and began a southern front through China.
Germany - The German player continued to put pressure on Russia… he sent tanks to the front from Germany and continued to pump out infantry from the captured IC in Karellia. Seeing that the US and UK where in the process of landing troops in Western Europe, Germany began to put more emphasis on protecting the Western front.
UK – After the sinking of the UK fleet on the first turn, the British where finally back in action around turn 4. The US fleet arrived off of the cost of England on turn 3, and the UK did a massive fleet buy into the sea zone occupied by the US. From there, the UK and US began to do multiple landings: Western Europe, Normandy, and most importantly Finland/Norway. The Japanese kicked the British out of India, however, the Brits where able to sink the German fleet in the med (but lost their fleet in the process) and where able to defeat the German ground forces in Africa.
Japan – By the mid game, it was clear that Japan had become a tremendous threat. The Japanese had captured the Soviet far east, advanced through China, and took over India. In addition to their ground gains, the Japanese player had been adding to their navy and was a power house in the Pacific.
US – In the midgame, the US made some gains in Europe… the US was able to hold Norway and set up a minor IC there. They also helped the UK with landings in Western Europe and put more pressure on the Germans in Western Europe. On the Pacific side, the US captured some of the minor Japanese islands near Australia and re-took the Philippines (but were not able to hold them). The problem for the US was that the Japanese where making more money than the Americans, and there was no way to gain naval superiority at this point in the game.
End Game
Russia – After taking India, the Japanese moved a significant force into the Caucuses. The Russians attacked with almost all of their forces from Moscow and repelled the Japanese. This proved to be a fateful decision.
Germany – After the Russian attack against the Japanese, the German player decided to go “all in” against the Russian stack and attacked the Caucuses with all available forces. Though Russia had a slight advantage in defense, the Germans won the battle with a couple of tanks remaining… the main Russian force was destroyed. In addition, the Germans built a carrier and transport in the med, and began to dump tanks and inf into N Africa.
UK – The UK with the help of the US, opened a front in the North by re-taking Karellia. The Uk did a good job putting pressure on Germany by landing forces in Western Europe, but where unable to ever put real pressure on Germany itself.
Japan – Japan was in a dominant position in the late game… the Japanese where pumping out tanks from their IC’s in India and Manchuria, and landing troops in Asia. With Russia having lost most of its forces in the German Caucuses attack, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese would have taken over Moscow.
US – Despite making gains in Europe, the US clearly was unable to overcome the Japanese in the Pacific. Having dumped so many resources into Europe to halt the Germans, the US was not able to overcome the Japanese IPC advantage in the late game.
Yea you really have to decide to either go all Atlantic, or all Pacific with the US. You try to do a little of both and it just doesn’t work.
