Global 1942 Scenario by Larry Harris

What is a good purchase order for Germany, to really stabilize the Russian front, and then to really dominate the drive into Russia where they have to pull back? There is no Italian can opener option in this turn order. Do you do 2 turns of slow walkers…art/inf mix, and then mech/armor, or 1 turn of slow walkers then fast movers. Which is a good route, north to Leningrad or the G40 style drive south of the Prippet Marshes?  In G40 with a G3 declaration of war a more experienced player than me can hit Moscow G6 or G7 usually no problem. But this game is much more difficult. Anyone develop a strategy for G42 Germany? I’m almost at the point of thinking that the Axis side should get a small bid.

Germany can conquer Russia, but it is not easy.
You need to build ground only. Japan will cone up the rear for you. The US will have problems spending too much in Europe, for fear of a Japanese  victory win. This will help you.
But remember that this is tournament game set up. Time is a factor here. A winner is decided differently than normal. (I imagine.)
I agree that more German units and fewer Japanese ones, might have worked better, but this is what we have to work with.

@wittmann:

But remember that this is tournament game set up. Time is a factor here. A winner is decided differently than normal. (I imagine.)

Could you tell me what these tournament rules are? Because the setup Young Grasshopper refers to in the 1st post has the same (awful) victory conditions the original 1940 setup has. I’m willing to take any alternative to that.

I played my first 1942 a week ago, and liked it. Quicker, and more agressive. Can’t really comment on good strategies since I’ve played so little.

Smorey Swamp Origins/Gencon/Tennessee Tournament Rules for G42:

Event Sponsor determines which teams will play which teams based on who your team has already played this tournament.
Roll for first bidder
Bid for teams
Place Bid units 1 per territory where you already have like units.  No cash kept, any IPCs left are lost.

Agree on Time to play/Number of turns.    This can be based on agreement at the beginning of the game, or based on the time when all the games must end per event rules.  All Players are free to agree that the game will go until a stipulated time/turn at any time.  Most of us were quite tired after 8-10 hours of daily play so we typically agreed on T6 to end the game on either T7 or T8.  The Allies wont have time to win the game if you play only until T6, or 6-7 hours.  On days 1-2, there was essentially no time limit but we still ended most games by capitulation or stipulation.  On days 3 and esp. 4, there was a 10 hour and 9 hour time limit based on the event closing time.

At the agreed upon end of the game, or when time expires, count all of the territories held by the Axis.  No NOs or bonuses will be considered, only points printed on the board.  If the Axis have a total of 125IPCs or more at the end of the final turn, they win.  Otherwise, the Allies win.

This is not that difficult for the Axis to accomplish in a no-bid game.  Even if the allies lose London/Moscow etc the allies can still win,  if the Axis lose Japan/Rome the Axis can still win.  Knowing when the game will end is critical to all players because your strategy has to culminate in an epic confrontation on T7 or so in order to deny/grab all of the required money, but as long as everyone is playing with the same game end in mind, it makes for a great, “short” game.

Great, thank you for the comprehensive reply!

My group tried the G42 setup this past weekend and all agreed it was more fun that G40. The slow buildup before all out war never was fun for us. The German player had difficulty pushing back against the Soviets while holding off the UK, I played Japan and had a strong hold of the Pacific board. The US built a factory in Alaska and ferried troops into Asia with ease while bombing Tokyo, this was hard to keep in check while taking the rest of Pacific board. This game ended up being called after 6 hours and an Allie victory.

In the event anyone would like to see it, I was inspired by the great guru Young Grasshopper and shot a video looking at the setup for my youtube channel.

Hopefully, I’ll get to try this with a real life opponent sometime!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7vD8J4rQ_0

Great job on the video, ChromiumAgeCollector! I like how you included your ammo box and all of the other player aides that you have accumulated over the years. I have been picking up some camera equipment this week and was going to make a video as well. Maybe I should display my equipment too.

The game itself looks interesting. I had downloaded and printed setup cards for 1942 but I haven’t tried it out yet.

Have not lost as axis yet, been giving allies 12 bid to Russia to smooth out their first attack.

How are you guys losing?

Okay, right off the bat I give you Germany guys a big hint, mechanized infantry, instead of focusing on taking Russia go for the money, Caucasus etc. The minors you take along the way make artillery, you get a very cost effective army that can move around and not get trapped. Also you have superior air so many small battles will statistically yield better results for germany and if you do invest in more air, bombers are great, you can always bomb the Russians if there aren’t many skirmishes.

So…. Who wants a J1 opening guide? And Germany guide? The Germany guide will probably consist of Germany losing the 3 or 4 spots to Russia off the bat in order to have something that makes sense.

@Cow:

Okay, right off the bat I give you Germany guys a big hint, mechanized infantry, instead of focusing on taking Russia go for the money, Caucasus etc. The minors you take along the way make artillery, you get a very cost effective army that can move around and not get trapped. Also you have superior air so many small battles will statistically yield better results for germany and if you do invest in more air, bombers are great, you can always bomb the Russians if there aren’t many skirmishes.

What do you mean by “the minors you take along the way make artillery?” I think in the G42 setup, Germany starts with all of the minors (Greece, Yugo, Bulgaria, Finland).

One table top playing this game, I attacked the neutrals on G7/I7 to collect the remaining IPCs due to the tournament rules; Sweden, Spain, and Turkey were all taken no sweat…sadly we still came short due to my Japanese player losing high 4 IPC islands on rounds 6/7. I told to land all of his air on the islands, doesn’t matter if they die in place as long as 1 remains holding the island.

Minor industrial complexes. Karelia and Ukraine.

I would love to hear some G42 opening strategies.  This is my set up of choice.

@LincolnHawk:

I would love to hear some G42 opening strategies.  This is my set up of choice.

Not played so far,
The setup allows only predefined games (scripted turns).

Germany could put an airbase in Greece, to try and protect the nucleus of some future Italian or German fleet, but this approach is too defensive and ended up dedicating most of Germany’s resources to a defensive formation that eventually gets overwhelmed by the Allies.

Germany spends its first turn re-consolidating its position so any plan has to be based on the outcome of those battles/moves.
Germany should take Gibraltar or Crete to disrupt the british NO for as long as possible.  Have seen several sacrificial battles occur where Italy takes Gibraltar and the only job of the forces down there is to block the Allies from crossing into the med.

After these early moves, your objectives are the same as in G40, Germany needs to conquer Leningrad long term and establish its money base before the Western Allies can tear it apart.  This G42 version is the only one where KGF is straightforward and an early strategy;  buying bombers with US increased income gives you a powerful attack/bomb force much earlier than in G40 and you only need a few transports to use the 8th/12th airforce to lazer apart Germany’s strongpoints.  KGF remains difficult however if Germany doesn’t lose its airforce;  if it successfully consolidates then it has the 12+ planes it needs to pick off one of the 3-4 allies fleet nodes necessary to support a real threat.  Losing one allied fleet and its transports is a disaster.

The much more straightforward open to this game as the Allies involves a hailmary/shotgun play with the US, similar to G40, all the US stuff flows south leapfrogging with the little buddies (no battles or gambits, just a slog to the moneyzone).  UK PAC is not easy to take in this version, it is much easier to reinforce though it starts with zilch for income.    When all 3 of the tan, grey and green navies are on top of each other, by turn 5, you own the spice islands and japan is using all its resources to counter your $$ take and its china front is pretty much empty of reinforcements.    The route between queenland and the islands+malaya+phil is where all the money is and Japan can’t simply concede this area to you;  except unlike G40 you are holding him off the bonus because you have java or borneo as a giant, untakeable base and he can’t achieve threshold income.

I have only played this setup a few times, but from my experience I have found that Japan is nearly unstoppable. They seem to be in great positioning right off of the bat and have ease moving through the mainland. Has anyone had a great strategy for defending against Japan?

Its been a year or so but IIRC Japan has very few land troops in this version, and already is holding a lot of the money it is going to have until turn 3 or 4.    I played Japan 5 times and once you get your big monster fleet together, by J3 you have a real empire back together, but not India.    Smart Allied play is to build in Persia and get some UK fighters over to india such that the less organized and powerful japan fleet and air fleet cant defeat india without going to the odds and losing a bunch of stuff.  Uk pac has virtually no money, but UK atl does and its doesn’t have to worry as much about getting invaded by Germany since Germany is reorganizing during the early game.

I’ve lost a pile of Japan’s assets to a wimpy mock up army of allied stragglers in china, and lost SE asia to them before once all my original land guys died.

The middle of the map didn’t feel as open to the Axis as in other setups and editions, Japan doesn’t have tons of money to power factories to build mobile units, if you go that direction you cant build a robust fleet.  Later in the game, its harder to get stuff into the action, so I only put a factories in Hong Kong… this is an AWESOME defensive base for Japan later in the game and you can lay 3 battleships right into your fleet in some cases, saving the day…

The USA can’t cross direct early (as G40), so they get diverted south, but the tournament game is about holding income–eventually there are 4 powers (france, uk, Anzac, usa) with 7-10 transports and ridiculous fighter cover.  They had Java and traded borneo, phil etc. with me.    Then, with Japan facing south against a monster fleet, they started to bring smaller fleets north to Russia, threatening Japan and its north.

So Japan does get rage in this edition, but its weaknesses are a harder road to india, and a more dynamic and confused money zone where the allies are taking and holding the Money Islands and threatening all your income.  You have to build threat,  you don’t start with crazy numbers of planes as G40.

Question about Neutrals in this setup…

Some of the neutrals have already been invaded by the opposite side (e.g., Greece, a pro-Allies territory, has German units in it). Does that mean the rest of the neutrals on the board are aligned with the Allies at the start of the scenario?  Or do you continue to follow the rules for neutrals until the next time one is invaded?

@Dajokr:

Question about Neutrals in this setup…

Some of the neutrals have already been invaded by the opposite side (e.g., Greece, a pro-Allies territory, has German units in it). Does that mean the rest of the neutrals on the board are aligned with the Allies at the start of the scenario?  Or do you continue to follow the rules for neutrals until the next time one is invaded?

There are indeed some (but not all) Pro-Neutrals either activated or captured in this scenario. However the strict neutrals are still strict neutrals.
So the “Neutrals-Rules” still apply.
The main difference to the original setup is, that in 1942 all powers begin the game at war.