A few questions to ask. a&a europe 1940

Gott in Himmel, Panther, since I only know about two words of German I can only bow down in awe at your English language skills! :-D

Us Brits just have it too easy. We sit back and let America turn English into the global language. Thanks Yanks! :-D

@SgtPepper:

Thanks for the answers, however the rule is very odd. How can infantry take down a strategic bomber? :)

You’re right, it’s quite unrealistic.  In terms of pure infantrymen, meaning soldiers on foot armed with personal weapons rather than soldiers who are serving heavy weapons, it could be done today using a man-portable surface-to-air missile launcher (as long as the bomber wasn’t flying very high) – but in WWII the only practical method I can think of would be for the infantrymen to wait for the bomber to land and then to launch a ground attack against it with rifles and grenades…a method which naturally is of no use in A&A when a bomber is attacking one of your own territories.

I’m disregarding here the scene in the 1954 movie Hell and High Water in which the ragtag crew of Richard Widmark’s submarine (a salvaged WWII Japanese vessel) shoots down a B-29 bomber (a phony one being flown by Chinese Communists who want to frame the US for an atomic attack they’re about to launch) just after its takeoff, using only about a dozen submachine guns and a single deck gun.  In a nod to credibility, Widmark tells his men before the takeoff that the bomber’s heavy load of fuel is going to keep it low over the water, and that he wants “to see every gun in action.”  They succeed in crippling one of the engines…and almost get themselves nuked in the process when the plane crashes and the plane’s atomic bomb (evidently armed at the time of takeoff, for reasons which are never stated) explodes.  Great fun to watch, but rather improbable.

@SgtPepper:

By the way, I didn’t know where to express surprise about Moscow being the capital in a&a 1914 so I write it here.

Good catch – I didn’t realize that Moscow’s periodic on-again/off-again status as a capital was on its “off” setting during most of WWI.  Moscow apparently gained its status as an imperial capital under Ivan III, lost it in 1712, regained it in 1728, lost it again in 1732, then became the Soviet capital in 1918.  This kind of flip-flop isn’t unique in Russian history: the imperial capital at the time of Nicolas II was called Saint Petersburg when WWI broke out, was renamed Petrograd (for anti-German reasons) a couple of months later, was re-renamed Leningrad after the 1917 Revolution, and was re-re-renamed Saint Petersburg after the fall of the Soviet regime.  The name of Tsaritsyn / Stanlingrad / Volgograd got similarly reshuffled for similar political reaons, as parodied in an old joke about an elderly veteran of the Red Army who’s interviewed by a reporter as part of the annual May Day parade sometime after Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization program got underway.  Asked by the reporter to talk about the medals he wears, the veteran points to some of them and says, “These decorations were awarded to me for my service in the great Battle of Volgograd, our heroic 1943 victory against the fascist invaders.  I’m especially proud of this particular one here – it was personally presented to me by our national leader, Comrade Volgin himself!”

As a Canadian I am impressed by the convenience of using Wikipedia to find information.  :-D  The “Comrade Volgin” joke comes from elsewhere, however.

@SgtPepper:

By the way, I didn’t know where to express surprise about Moscow being the capital in a&a 1914 so I write it here.

This is addressed in the official FAQ by the way:

@FAQ:

Q. Why is Russia’s capital in Moscow? St. Petersburg was the capital in 1914.
A. This was a design decision. While St. Petersburg was the actual capital at the time, Moscow was also
a very important city. Moscow was a hub of military and economic activity. The game simply plays a
lot better with Russia mobilizing its troops in a more central location, plus St. Petersburg is just too
close to Berlin. The capital probably would have been relocated to Moscow anyway had it been
seriously threatened.

http://www.wizards.com/AvalonHill/rules/AAWWI1914FAQ.pdf

:-)