@General_D.Fox:
Is there anything anyone might do differently during a game if they don’t play with bids? My friends and I don’t play with it, and things turn out pretty well sometimes. Would you approach the way you play a game differently if you had no bid? I know that would mean taking Egypt would be slightly harder, but what else or how else would you come at it?
I will use my Secret Techniques if I am playing Axis in a game without bids.
Secret Technique Number One! Free beer!
Secret Technique Number Two! Rent a movie the other players haven’t seen yet and play it during the game!
Secret Technique Number Three! Bribe the hot girl across the street to undress in sight of a window that players can look through during the game!
Secret Technique Number Four! Free food! (Players think less efficiently on a full stomach.)
Secret Technique Number Five! If doom is imminent, summon a Cat of Instant Destruction with a well-placed tank miniature that has been hollowed out and filled with catnip!
There are more Secret Techniques that I use, but they are Really Secret. Also, very shameful.
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Or I might go for high-risk maneuvers if out of the box rules are being used. Long range aircraft for invasion of London first turn! Rocket research for Germany! Three transports in the Baltic first turn! Two Mediterranean transports first turn! Tank dash to Moscow! etc. etc. etc., I have a lot of 'em.