Technical Question: Collecting IPC

@Panther oh lol duh, me! Thank you for taking the time to read and answer, Panther. I appreciate it greatly. Thanks, and have a great day and/or game if you’re playing!

@Druss Okay. Shame for us!!! Hopefully there will not be a border in the Irish Sea any time soon!

That’s part of why I still play 1942.2! For all its many flaws, there are some very interesting tactical puzzles around how to optimize the shuck that I am still wrestling with and still enjoying.

Like, on turns 1 through 3, you can unload some troops in Morocco or Norway, to sort of chip away at Axis income. You can unload them in London, to help prepare for a larger ‘D-Day’ later in the game. Depending on how and when you make these runs, you might need to risk (or sacrifice) transports, or you could wind up with a transport that’s temporarily out of position, or with some troops that are isolated and unable to link up with the main body of your invasion force. You can try to run a ‘triangle’ for the first few turns, from the Eastern US to Morocco to Eastern Canada, so that you’re unloading troops in Africa on the first few turns, even as you’re setting up your main shuck from Canada to France. If you do run the triangle, you have to decide when and how to pull the plug on the triangle shuck and convert to a 100% Canada <-> France circuit. And of course you don’t have to go on any of these ‘side quests,’ but if you don’t do any of them, then you risk Germany getting too big to stop when the main force does show up. So there are all these case-by-case trade-offs that are really interesting (for me) to try to optimize each game.

Do I paint over the plastic pieces that come with the game?

You can but the small, soft plastic miniatures aren’t ideal for taking paint.  The ones like the boats with flat surfaces should do fine.  You can prime them first, but its hard to do detail at this scale unless you’re really good.  Another consideration is that you will have to mass produce quite a few minis in order to have full sets for most of your games, otherwise you’ll end  up mixing painted and unpainted stuff which is kind of confusing to the eye.

-What if I mess up? Do I just wash the paint off and start over?

Not after things dry.  You can use the technique of wiping wet paint (I use cotton gun cleaning rag) away from unintended areas, this works like an eraser.  If you recoat/re-dip a small mini like these all your detail will be lost in layers of paint.

-What is the purpose of buying the expansion miniatures?

for fun.  FMG sells a lot of cool sculpts but they are not universally used in AXA, primarily in other similar games (eg Global
War)

-Are expansion miniatures already painted?

No, unless you buy them that way eg Axis and Allies Miniatures Game

-Can expansion miniatures be used to play my 1942 2nd ed?

Yes, but they are only variant sculpts (eg different halftracks, different tank models) or house rules.

Game questions:

-Is it difficult to learn?

Yes, though not for a wargame.  Rules are fairly simple though subject to much interpretation if not read carefully.  Should take 3-5 games to get good then 3-5 years to get awesome.

-How long does a came last on average?

42.2; About 4 hours to surrender, a bit longer until victory conditions.  G40/G42 take more like 10 hours-14 hours.  WW1 5-7 hours.

-How does A&A compare to say, the hexagonal war games of the 70s and 80s?

It is much less complex than a chit game.  Logistics and “rock-paper-scissors” unit balance aren’t in AxA.  Combat and movement are dramatically simplified.    Where chit games (aka Avalon Hill) games are a detailed, complex and abstract slog, axis and allies is a lighter, more “army men” sort of game with the depth coming from repeat play and learning from mistakes.  The quality of the pieces and the layout of the map are a huge draw in comparison to large paper maps, hundreds of similar, boring pieces and rules that are incomprehensible outside the context of each game.    Games like Memoir 44 and AxA try to capture strategy, tactics in a more playable and engaging format than a realistic, unit by unit, “order of battle” style game, but try to be much more in depth than games like Risk where there are no unit types and every team is essentially the same.

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.

the reason i asked is becuase i have adopted the same "straights and canal rules from global into this game to try and keep it uniform  and a bit  more challenging…as  Nwestern europe in this game is like denmark in global,so i treat it as u cant pass thru the straight without holding Nw europe…in this edition…as well as subs only thru Gibltr unless ur the owner like global…so this was why i wanted to know.just for a house rule

Thank you for the quick response!!

I always play a new A&A game the same way. First time through I play the new game as the old rules with a new setup and a new unit or 2. Second time I read the rulebook first and play through checking the rulebook on every move as I go. Takes forever but I normally only do this for 4-5 rounds. Third game is playing the game start to finish trying to remember the rules without checking the rulebook but if I have to then oh well. All 3 of these games are a me vs. me games just to learn the rules.

This learning tactic is what made Battle of the Bulge and D-day such a pain in the ass to learn.