Allies are OP

Yes 2 tanks might not be enough…I find it is important for Russia to have some tanks as well so when necessary, it can run to India for temporary support. Just UK and US planes alone are not enough to support India at first few rounds.

Bombers add counterattack but they don’t sit on the seazone and so they don’t defend you (except in the sense that they threaten whatever japan has left once its your turn).

In 42.2 (and 42.3) unless you kill Japan’s Java Fleet or it makes some serious money mistakes, it can build against you 1:1.  This means that if you buy subs or bombers (or other junk like transports that do nothing to protect your fleet in place) japan will have more hits on both offense and defense (its usually about 14 Japan Naval hits to 16-17 USA and allied hits if the allies play super-optimally) when we are talking about a face to face confrontation in a classic naval battle.

The USA is just really hampered here;  in 42.3 they need to spend 100% atlantic to even try the KGF.  In 42.2, they can buy optimally (bbs, dd, carriers and every fighter) and still only match, not beat Japan.

Many times whether the USA steps up on defense or it uses the bombers etc to attack, they lose it all during that fairly even battle and then Japan can do whatever it likes.  this makes KJF even more suspect, in these editions.

I’ve played about 30-40 games, and won against some other pretty experienced players. Axis is favored on this map. My personal view is that a bid of around 7-11 is fair among experienced players. This is a newer game, so it’s not surprising that people haven’t come up with an exact amount.

Among beginning players, this bid probably needs to be bigger because players don’t recognize deadzones and leave pieces in the open. Germany has many more offensive pieces than Russia, and Moscow is at serious risk of falling early if Russia loses a stack. This is less true if Germany loses a stack because 1. germany starts with more pieces (compared to Russia), and 2. UK and US aren’t a threat until round 4.

There’s already great threads on bid placement to have the most impact. I won’t go into depth, but inf in cauc, karelia, egypt ; uk sub off egypt or india are likely have the most impact per IPC bid. Among beginning players, I would probably give uk 1 inf in egypt and ~6 infantry for russia in moscow. That’s my suggestion for a dynamic game among beginners of approximate skill.

Or how about this as another possibility. Instead of the Bid, Allies can move 1 factory to a new location.

For example, Russia could move the Karelia factory to Vologda. UK could move the factory from India to Eastern Canada, or Egypt, or South Africa.

Might work as well, for producing new strategies without breaking the first round battles.

One thing I don’t see being said is that the allies get a bid. Where did their bid go? Also don’t go all out against Japan with allies if Japan builds all fleet first turn. If Japan builds an industry and transports, then I’d say KJF is very viable. Russia can’t stand alone against Germany, so what you need to do is build 3 infantry and 2 fighters a turn with UK. On UK’s turn when you see that Moscow will fall in 3 turns pull out of India. You will reach Moscow before Germany attacks, and with your 15+ infantry added to Moscow for defense means Germany can’t hope to take it. The key is going to be having US take out Japans fleet, or take and hold one of the main islands by turn 4. Germany is going to be a bloody monster, and so you shouldn’t build any fleet with UK. Just build fighters for UK and units in India. There is no way India can fall to Japan unless Japan compromises his fleets power by building transports and ground troops, which means that the islands will be easy takes.

UK sending fighters to Caucasus seemed quite helpful to me!

Agreed. Awesome video Dave but you’ve got to set it all up again. There’s nothing worse than an unfinished game of A&A.