Oztea AA Balance

@Mursilis

All the best to you. Maybe a good suggestion would be to have copies of 42.2, AA50 and Global and then set up the board that fits with the time, players and space you have. Many people can’t leave a big board set up over multi sessions and so a shorter, lighter game would be appropriate for new players or shorter meetups.

I still keep my playbook for this version in mind, as it is consistently the best attended and largest tournament at Gencon–you get to play 3-5 games in just over 2 days so its alot like a chess/bridge/cribbage tournament…busy and having fun all day with a variety of opponents.

What is a standard bid?

I agree the problem is a very weak middle for the Allies. Have to play with the Bosporus Strait closed. Generally I like a bid of around 12-17, although I have sometimes beat my friends at 9.

A Russian fighter for the bid helps a lot, you can attack Baltic States and West Russia, and then land them in Egypt, Transjordan (with a tank) and Evenki. You get a pretty big opening, hold the Suez canal, put yourself in position to counter Japan for a single crucial turn, and lay a trap in the Caucasus while stacking W. Russia to receive British fighters. This is nice because it lets you help the British in the beginning but you end up with a Russian fighter, which is the unit which gets the most action in any game, making or breaking a lot of trades and adding a lot of defensive power. Also if you convince Germany to buy navy round 1 then you at least spare Russia through round 5.

Once you get over 15 with the bid you can start doing stupid stuff that totally changes the game… which can be very fun.

I spent just as much on 1941 from Toys R Us.  Took that back and ordered 1942.2 off of Amazon for around $60.

So yeah,  grab one now!

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.

@Uncrustable:

USA lost the 1 move Canada chuck
Now it both costs more and takes longer for the USA to make a real impact

This cannot be understated. It REALLY slows down the America. I didn’t used to mind US making about the same as Germany, but now it is hard for them to have an impact. Add to this the fact that Germany can sink the US Atlantic fleet on turn 1, and America just got a lot  harder to be effective.

:(

Yes.

Actually, I have come to reverse my previous position on the aesthetics of the map. It’s not that bad. Just a few things stood out to me initially, like mongolia, or saudia arabia’s nipple.

But I got a refresher of an old pic from an ex (MB and even Revised). And I’m quite happy with this new picece of tail.

Glad I produced a chuckle or two.