Hi guys, first time playing- couple of questions

Hi Bomber

I don’t play 42 but you’re in the right place. :)

Morning Bomber.
You can make as many Factories as you like. Either move the obvious ones (Germany, UK or Washington) or use something else to represent a Factory.

AA are rarely bought in the game. Most will agree with you there.

We don’t use any rules to speed up the game, but usually the loss of Moscow, with a stack of Tanks remaining or some other thing on the board, will give you a good idea of which side had won, before the Victory Conditions cut in.

You did the right thing buying 42, over 41. Enjoy it and make up your own House Rules!

AAA can be useful in defending a territory when your opponent has a huge armada of aircraft.  Remember that AAA fire first and casualties don’t get to return fire.  Normally airplanes would be the last casualties taken or more likely the attacker would retreat before that point.

I like to buy AAA to defend India and maybe Moscow.  But yes, their use is very situation specific and we don’t see many purchased during games.

@Bomber:

2) Is it really worth it to buy AAA? Tanks seem far more versatile for +1 IPC in cost, as AAA can only move one space at a time, can’t attack, and die if they encounter combat units without support. The only pros I see for AAA is:
**-**They may hit more than one unit. However, this assumes the territory is being attacked by 2+ air units, and even at 3+ the probability of hitting at least one is only about 42% when a tank’s chance to hit is 50%.
**-**They have preemptive strike.
Is it really worth?

You have touched a good point.
Many threads on AAA issue.
Here is two links which can lead to other threads on this subject:

Two simpler and balanced ways to handle AAA unit (Antiaircraft artillery)?
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36277.msg1433338#msg1433338

Exploring cheaper & weaker AAA guns unit to promote much more buying
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=33118.msg1254008#msg1254008

Hope it will give you some starting ideas for your own House rule on this neglect and unoptimized per cost unit.

I agree that the AAA unit is overpriced and as a result I don’t think I’ve ever bought one.

That said, I’ve found the existing AAA units you begin the game with useful.  If you’re desperately defending Moscow, having two AAA units to knock out one (or hopefully two) German aircraft before the main battle begins can be very helpful - particularly as aircraft are usually the last casualties taken and that aircraft might otherwise deliver 3, 4 or more ‘hits’ in a long battle.

For Germany there is little prospect of Berlin coming under conventional air attack (i.e. not strategic bombing), so I will often move my AAA units (in non-combat move phase) eastwards to protect any stack I’m building to try to conquer Russia.  Russia only starts with two fighters and in my opinion, the presence of AAA in your German stack makes it largely untouchable (if the Russian player has any sense!).

Also AAA can be taken as casualties in a battle, which adds a little to their value. Even so, as others have said, an AAA purchase is rare except in particular circumstances such as they have described.

Welcome to the forum Bomber. Hope you enjoy 42.2 as much as many of us do! :-)

I personally find AAA provides the kind of psychological threat, making the opponent think twice before flying a bunches of fighters and bombers in a battle, as sometimes losing a fighter and 2 in the long run becomes critical, particularly for Axis.

And so the initial AAA is very important as you might not buy another one for a while.