@krieghund Thanks again!
Rule clarification re: moving tanks in non-combat move.
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Hi,
So imagine the Russian power was going to attack West Russia on their first turn with tanks, infantry and fighters, and captured it successfully. Now, obviously, the infantry have only one movement point so must stay there. The fighters aren’t allowed to land on a newly captured territory, have movement points left so retreat to a friendly territory. But let’s say the tanks have only moved one space from moscow - we’ve played it so far whereby you can retreat the tank back into moscow on the non-combat movement phase, as the tank, which has 2 movement points, has only moved one space to conduct combat and so has one movement point remaining. However, when I try to do this on tripleA, it won’t allow me to move the tanks anywhere, even though they’ve only moved one space to conduct combat, whereas it does allow me to retreat my planes. Is there a feature I’m missing in tripleA? Or am I genuinely mistaken about this rule and once tanks have moved only one space into an occupied hostile territory, they must stay there once it’s been captured?
Thanks.
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Once combat are resolved, land unit which made a combat move cannot move again.
A back and forth Tank move can only be done on a blitz when enemy’s TTy is empty and you make the second move point into your own TTy. -
Thanks.
So does this apply to naval units too? If ships are attacking an adjacent square, they must remain in that square once combat is completed? (unless they retreat.) So they cannot attack an adjacent square and then move in the non-combat movement phase too?
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Exactly.
Same case. -
Units that fought are exhausted and committed, and stuck there. Â This is a huge part of AxA; Â air can’t stay in newly captured territory, but the TANKS that fought MUST.
This means that every battle is subject to a counterattack and so you need to be a true maestro at committing exactly what is needed and no more, to every combat that you cannot stack so high as to deter a counterattack.
Here is a tip; Â Tanks that did not fight can still noncom into newly captured territories (or anywhere else). Â Leaving units in reserve lets you decide what the best place to put that stuff is after you’ve seen the results of all those combats. Â If you want to bolster a defense, you can do it during NCM. Â
when you are declaring combats, don’t bring extreme overkill unless you intend to stack. Â Overkill is sometimes appropriate but in the case that you take a territory guarded by 4 infantry with say 3 infantry and 6 tanks, Â that is not a very tough stack on the defense and you risk losing your entire spearhead. Â Â Attacking with 3 infantry 1 tank and 2 fighters would be a much stronger move because you are still likely to win, but only risk losing 1 tank (and 0 fighters) during the counter.
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Thanks for the help.
And taamvan, that’s a good tactical point. My only small concern (which is probably misguided because I haven’t played with the proper rules so far, and therefore haven’t seen the implications of these rules) is that it will make Russia’s game more difficult. In the games we’ve played Russia is essentially already in defence-mode, hanging onto moscow, losing caucuses and leningrad. The only way they’ve usually made attacks in our games is by sending in lots of infantry into, say, West Russia, and using tanks/planes as “overkill” as they can retreat back and preserve the tanks to defend moscow and then only lose infantry on the counter.
Is it the case that the games rules that you describe make moscow’s life more difficult? because by sending in tanks and them having to remain, it potentially leaves moscow quite vulnerable, or, at least, they’re losing valuable units on the counter attack which they can’t really afford because they can’t reinforce at a quick enough rate. (like I said, I’m probably missing something, like the implications these rules have on the German assault)
Thanks.
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We’ve talked about this a lot, Axis and Allies is what I term a “decisive battle” game.
Defender can’t retreat,
everything you commit on offense has to risk death during the counter if they take the land (this is what leads to the strafe/retreat after killing all but 1 unit tactics)
everything (good) you commit on defense has to survive the next turn or it can’t live to fight another day (this is why its really good to own land because fighters can come and bolster your stack)Lets face it; in order for the game to be exciting and also realistic, Russia is just on the ropes. With equally good players, Russia cannot guarantee its survival (regardless of openers, buys, battles chosen etc.) against 100% of what Germany has to give. Russia in almost every game will be a whipping boy, getting smashed and surrounded from every side.
The key then is to understand that survival, and not much more, represents victory. The “more” is forcing Germany to
- advance slowly and blocking key squares (archangel is this in almost every edition)
- lose tanks because infantry are dying; to wit;
- suffer unsustainable attrition that means the Moscow final showdown is less than 50% odds in Germany’s favor, which is to say;
- using luck or lack thereof to your advantage, knowing that Germany can’t sustain the maximum force at length if its losing air and tanks throughout the game, or if its buying navy or bombers it will run out of numbers and meat shield guys.
You want to make Russia’s fall so costly and pyrrhic for Germany that they lose by winning. Losing Moscow really sucks because Axis get all that $$ and income, but in some games that’s just going to happen and you need to figure out some way to either distract Germany’s focus right before it delivers the coup de grace, bolster Moscow with every allied piece that can come, or kill its partner to avoid that outcome being the end of your game.
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You want to make Russia’s fall so costly and pyrrhic for Germany that they lose by winning.Â
This is all you really needed to say right here… best summary of the Russian player you can state.
Perhaps follow it with a little Wagner music… Lohengrin… then show Germany’s expansion and collapse in Russia… a Pyrrhic victory indeed…
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Yes, and though they wish to lure High Command East into the greatest Kessel of all time,
in we come,
riding with our legs astride the 88s of our personal Konigstigers with MG42s blazing from each hand!!!
The game may have some flaws but man it really grabs the themeyness of WW2.
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The point of the Russians in A&A is to get the German player to say “any more victories like this and we’ll lose the war!”
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