Standard Bid

@DoManMacgee Hi DMM & thanks for the response… Really appreciate that these forums have experienced players who weigh in on things. It was OOB with a 12 bid.
That’s pretty much what Japan did - eliminate the threats and take back the 2 islands as advantageously as possible while still consolidating the fleet. I was just surprised how long it then took for Japan to have any pressure westward. India, in spite of losing 2 men on the initial Kwangtung foray, stayed around for quite a while (minimal investment for a KGF).
What helped, no doubt, was that Russia traded unfavourably in the initial Caucasus strafe (dice game, lost 3 inf to Germany’s 2, and took W Russia at odds) and the Germans (rather than push hard back immediately), decided to save the Med fleet with a carrier. This made the Egypt / Africa game interesting, but maybe a different buy on G1 and the Germans win sooner. Always tough to say.
But, as many have pointed out here, the Axis have such a strong start in this game it was nice to have a hotly contested battle!

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 still like the idea of the Russia bomber to help even things out.  It hasn’t helped me in my games however it does give Russia a chance to actually win in Ukraine and pose a threat to Japanese transports.

Here’s another fun set up for the Russians: The Vologda expansion!

Russian AI gets 1 extra factory, 2 tanks and 1 infantry behind the Urals. (A set bid of 30 ipcs)
+5 flat rate recurring income bonus to each of the Allies.

The extra tanks give Zhukov more to work with, whether to guard the rear in Asia, or to launch forward against G. The +5 to base income helps the Soviets to maintain, and perhaps to make use of their new production center eventually, which is here mainly as a draw for Axis and an achille’s heel. It’s like an interior Karelia, but one that Axis can’t immediately steal ;)

The income bonus to the Western Allies, allows them to overcome some of their naval goofs, to present a stronger threat over time.

Production expansion games like these might be fun in other areas of the gameboard (like for AI USA), but just thought I’d offer one for the Russians to kick it off. Vologda always struck me as a wasted space on this board, totally empty of units. I always thought it might have been more entertaining and significant if it housed a starting factory, which also gives Russia just a bit more each into the East. Using the AI Bid concept, you could try some fun AI redesigns, using the same essential 1942.2 framework but with just a twist here and there.

Russian Vologda expansion Bid +5 flat rate income bonuse to Allies.tsvg

The  rules for bidding  is whatever the two sides can agree upon. That said, most here would only allow one unit per territory or SZ and only where one of that nation already exists.
Of course you could have a Carrier, but it could be destroyed before you used it, of course.

Or how about this as another possibility. Instead of the Bid, Allies can move 1 factory to a new location.

For example, Russia could move the Karelia factory to Vologda. UK could move the factory from India to Eastern Canada, or Egypt, or South Africa.

Might work as well, for producing new strategies without breaking the first round battles.

Like Hobbes said the games I’ve been in have slight mods but we talk about them first before any bidding starts.
We do bid up for Axis. So the number that is settled on and wins that is the amount the allies get.

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+.