Dave,
Great meeting you again. Didn’t get a chance to play 1914, but I did get to see your “industrial production” poker chips in action–cool stuff!
Greg,
Fantastic job as always! Can’t believe another year has come and gone. The day went fast. Some great door prizes, too, by the way. Diplomacy, Ikusa, signed AA 1914, signed set of AA 1940 global, just to name a few. Thanks for making it all happen yet again.
Played 3 games of 1942 (4:45 rounds, instant win if 10VC (Allies) or 9VC (Axis), otherwise most VC at end of time wins)
1. Played Axis (6 IPC to Allies ) - Allies conceded after fall of Moscow in round 5, Leningrad having fallen earlier, with US having chance to take one VC in Pacific but not two. On pace for a 7 round game.
2. Played Allies, accepting a 20 IPC bid - barely got a 5th round in, at start of which Axis held Leningrad and Allies held Shanghai; in round 5, Axis conquered Moscow while US conquered Tokyo for a narrow 7-6 VC win. However, had the Japanese distributed fighters more evenly between Manila and Tokyo, this game could easily have gone to the Axis.
3. Played Axis (6 IPC to Allies ) - Allies conceded in round 6 (11 tnk/1bmb German build in Russia/Caucasus), Moscow having fallen in round 5 (sensing a theme?); on pace for an 8 round game. Japanese fleet was able to resurrect time and again to keep the US fleet at bay.
First time playing 1942 2nd edition in a tourney. Seems a bit limited in strategic options, certainly for tournament play but I’d venture to say also for out of the box victory conditions. Nearly all the Allied Atlantic fleets are demolished on G1, and every SZ surrounding Great Britain is within range of the German Baltic fleet plus at least 5 aircraft on the coast, not to mention any remaining German subs. So, KGF seems out of the question, and it’s KJF or bust. This is a one-track game that reminds me of the original AA Europe, which boiled down to a march on Moscow–everything else was a sideshow. I’m resigned to this version being the “mainstream” tourney at Greg’s events this summer, but the “side” AA50 games will be more enjoyable, I’m sure.