Why Nine victory cities

In the other combination, it puts more NATIONS out of the game.

If Berlin falls, the Axis is half out of it.  same for Tokyo.

If Moscow and London fall, 2 Allies out of 2 are toast.

But remeber, with the first 3 cities, INCOME also comes into play.

If Leningrad, Moscow and Calcutta have fallen, and Paris, Rome, Berlin, Sahnhai, Manila, and Tokyo are all still Axis controlled…
Then 24 Allied IPC’s are gone due to the loss of Russian territory.
Add in the loss of India.
That is Axis at +27 effective IPC’s (they may not hold all Russian territory yet, but it still is not producing income for the Allies).  So the Allies are at around 60-70, the Axis is around 90+ (more likely 100+).

A couple of defensive builds, and the UK and US cannot hope to liberate Moscow, or even make a landing that will “stick” in Europe.  A plane or 2 a round as the Axis, and before long thsoe Allied fleets are rusting hulks on the bottom.  A few more rounds and the Imperial Navy has 20 TRN’s plus BB’s and AC’s off the coast of LA, and the Kreigsmarine has 20 TRN and BB’s in the North Sea…

It’s an M84 thing. :)

M84 is shorthand for a way to win Classic.

If the Axis reached an income of 84 IPC’s (a gain of 24 from start) it was an axis win.

Ooops… a gain of 27.

Axis starts with Germany 32, and Japan 25 in Classic.

Yea.  As I always called it, M84 (Magic 84, or when Japan and Germany have a combined income of 84 at the END of America’s turn) is a way to steal victory out of the jaws of defeat for the Axis.

(Basically they pull back and set up a massive land grab in areas the Allies cannot get too to get theri 84 points and hope to all the gods of the world and some of the ones we havn’t seen yet that the Allies cannot get them down to 83!)

Not true.

Both sides still need income.  And that means the south Pacific and Africa are in play.

Ignore your income in a drive for 9 VC at your own peril…

Let me put it this way…

…here at home, we play with 10 VCs…the only time the capture of Moscow (along with Karelia/India) did NOT lead to an Allied concession was the time that America had managed to destroy the Japanese fleet and occupy Japan itself the turn after Japan took Moscow.

With no ability to build, and no ships left, Japan would have had to have been liberated by Germany…and since Germany had no real navy to speak of, and had failed to take Moscow (resulting in it’s capture by the Japanese), there was quite simply no way for Japan to stay in the game…simply lose ground forces slowly until elminiated.

Unless your in a position to take and HOLD an enemy capital in the same round (or possibly the next round), the fall of Moscow is the end of the Allies.

One of the best ways (read only) to win the game as the Axis without bids in classic…

Or you could just say who ever has 8 VCs at the end of 5 rounds.  That’s assuming 1 round = 1 season, 4 seasons/year, Spring 1942 becomes Summer 1943.  By then Lenningrad should be liberated and D-Day well on it’s way to being set up.

Otherwise, in an 8 VC, I’m bidding for allies!  I want 12 IPC, 4 Infantry in India!

I like the victory territories thing, but not the time limit.