1942 Game in Progress

Yes 2 tanks might not be enough…I find it is important for Russia to have some tanks as well so when necessary, it can run to India for temporary support. Just UK and US planes alone are not enough to support India at first few rounds.

@taamvan:

Also, as I said, you must deploy the carrier directly under the planes if they survive the turn; if they don’t you can place it anywhere

You can do the same thing when you declare you’re going to bring an existing carrier up in NCM for fighters to land on after a battle is over. If the fighters die, you don’t have to move the carrier. Reference the “Pearl Harbor light” opening for Japan.

It’s a board game, not a historical simulation.

I like them to start with Russia. Tanks and infantry are much easier to deal with than with all the units like Japan.

Start them off by saying, “Bill is your ally. You really need to listen to him until you get a feel for things. And that will take about 2 games.” The first game is always a wash. Always tell the new guy that the first game is just for fun. Because, really, they need to get through it to get an idea of the end game.

Also, I like to play 2 rounds and then reset. Then play Russia for at least 2 games, but preferably 3. It’s up to them at that point.

And it’s important to guide them while letting them make decisions. Keep things simple. New guys don’t need to know the intracacies of every unit type during the first turn. Set them up for the standard buy, and move on with life. Tell them what moves to make and let them roll the dice (because until they understand how combat works, they can’t understand what units to commit to battle, or buy, or even where to place them).

But again, I think it’s important to keep things simple. Don’t explain EVERY battle the other players fight. Of course, use the other battles as teaching moments. Show them the rule book and show them how the rules apply. “See, it says here that enemy subs can be ignored if there are no enemy surface ships.” And, “See how fighters start their movement independent of their carrier. See how they can move three spaces, fight, and then back one, and land on their carrier?” Just don’t pile on rule after rule.

And for several games at least, don’t let them make stupid mistakes. It’s no fun to win because they didn’t understand that bombers can fligh across the US and attack un-escorted carriers in the middle of the Pacific.

Just replied to your PM. I’ll need an answer before setting up the thread in the Forum…

Yea you really have to decide to either go all Atlantic, or all Pacific with the US.  You try to do a little of both and it just doesn’t work.

We are currently in the process of doing a tournament and we are down to the last semi-final game, but we’ve had 13 completed games so far.  Here are the results:

Allied bid (winner)

16 (Allies)
12 (Axis)
10 (Axis)
9 (Axis)
21 (Axis)
9 (Allies)
11 (Allies)
5 (Axis)
9 (Axis)
15 (Allies)
22 (Axis)
12 (Axis)
20 (Allies)

So we’ve had 8 Axis winners and 5 Allied winners.  The Avg is 13.15.

Obviously, this is a small sample size, but it gives you an idea where bids are coming in for some competitive games.  The Allies have some wins at 9 and 11, but in the more competitive type games your probably going to want to go 13,14+ and get near or above 15 if you can.  The Allies scored 2 more wins at 15 and then 16.
Axis were 6-2 with bids 14 and under.  And then 2-3 with bids 15+.

I must say this is quite humorous. There are many many parodies based on these scenes but none are like this. Stupidity, vulgarity, and profanity dominate the rest but this is literally enjoyable. Great job Hobbes too bad there are mot more like this.

We’re only a few days from the release of Axis & Allies 1942 Second Edition and Amazon has it for pre-order:

Axis & Allies 1942 Second Edition on Amazon