Is there a limit to how many ICs can be placed in the game?

@Bunnies:

I wonder whatever happened to this game.

Re:

So what makes you say it’s completely over?

If you’re trying to go KGF, and Germany controls/contests Africa on the fifth turn, and you’re asking for advice, it’s probably an uphill battle.  You would only be asking for advice if you were unsure that you could protect Moscow / crack Berlin, and with Germany fueled by African IPCs, and without a veteran’s perspective on how to run a tight logistic game with the Allies, I would guess probable loss for the Allies.  All the Axis need to do is pump out a bunch of tanks and run a bit of interference with Germany’s airforce, which as you mentioned was quite strong.

It sounds like Japan is screwing around (no industrial complexes by turn five), which means you may have a chance, but again, I lack context.

If US was building some Pacific fleet, and Japan went infantry with very light naval/air support (pumping IPCs into 1 destroyer, then subs and/or fighters to match the US threat) then the Allies really are in  trouble, because then probably Japan has some idea of what it’s doing.

If Japan was unopposed in the Pacific and built battleships and carriers, though, the Allies are probably going to win because Japan can’t just lay back and make Germany do all the work.  Same if Japan used its transports to screw with Alaska/Hawaii/Australia/etc. instead of establishing a fast hard unit core in Asia/India to help support Germany’s push against Caucasus.  You might see Japan doing both (i.e. hitting island targets plus hitting Asia/Africa) with five transports, but four transports on turn five with no industrial complexes built means SOMETHING weird is going on - like I said, either Japan was prepared to meet some unusual threat, or Japan was screwing around.

Yeah - what happened in the game?
I agree with Bunnies analysis - against a decent axis player, this game is probably over. But against novice players anything is possible, they may perform unfeasible or uncoordinated moves. In that case it is all about putting yourself in the position to exploit this. By this I mean armor for Russia, establish atlantic navy to threaten Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

@Krieghund:

The setup chart on page 6 shows that each power receives a number of IPCs with which to start the game.  This number also happens to be that power’s initial income level.

Ah, I always thought that meant what your starting production capability, not on hand cash.  I read a rule saying the the capability is the same as your “starting ipc’s” so I guess you do in fact start with money.  Thanks everyone for your time!

sorry we quit because were gonna try to play a forum game

just picked up another copy at Target.  they had them on clearance at 50% off, or $15 each.

@wmman09:

I believe the perfect game is one where everyone has a good time!  What fun is it to work out the perfect formula that works 100 percent of the time.  Or what fun is a perfectly balanced game where if everyone does everything 100 percent correct it always ends in a draw.   If that is what we wanted, we would all spend 10 hours playing tic tac toe instead of AA. LOL.  I am not that good, but getting better all the time and I ALWAYS enjoy playing and trying new things.  Sometimes I have to be happy with my own personal victory instead of destroying my opponent.  I can be very happy delaying the win of a superior opponent instead of falling to him in round 4-5.  :)  As long as there are dice rolls and human opponents we always have a chance to win and can ALWAYS choose to have a great time.

I second this notion.  We added tech to the game as well for more variance.  The fact that it can throw everything out of balance and new strategies have to be formed around the technology you have.  We are using AA50 Tech trees.  Can anyone say heavy bombers and paratroopers.  Pretty sick.

Uhm, one thing i liked that we do as a standard was that bombers could be used as a transport.  Only 1 friendly infantry and it can be dropped off into friendly spaces.

I don’t think that the purpose of placing an IC in India is to hold India. It deters Japan from walking straight into Russia an dallows the allies much more time to get into Europe. Also with India only having a value of three I don’t feel like the IPC drain is a huge commitment. Also when you couple this with a IC by the US in China you turn Asia into a back and forth contest between for those middle terrorities similar to how Russia and Germany treat Eastern Europe.

As the UK in this strategy I usually build a sizable air force to keep Germany from amassing a navy, which with help from the U.S. this is not a problem. That frees me up to put a combination of units in India and to attempt a pipeline of units into Archangel. I feel like the goal with the India IC on UK1 is to stall Japan and harass them when you can. This leaves Russia to devote a much larger force to Germany and with a little luck I have been able to to attack Japan with Russia as well.

I’ve played games yesterday as allies and won them against the other player. We had played before using the same sides and I lost. Here’s my impressions of what happened and what you described:

The initial Russian opening is pretty much standard, he should have lost 3 inf according to probabilities but G will lose 2 of the following 4 territories to R on the first round: Ukraine/West Russia/Bielorussia/Norway. G has to push Russia back on the first or second turn. Buying only inf for G on round 1 is not the best choice (the allied player did it on both my games). Ideally, if you buy 5 tanks you can be able to make Karelia impossible to take by the Russians (depending on the number of russian casualties and their initial purchase). If that’s not possible then you will have to take and hold Karelia or Ukraine somewhere on the following rounds. What you do regarding the Brit fleets really depends on how much you want to risk sacrificing your air force. Taking out the UK Battleship and the Transport with the sub, fighter and bomber gives some breathing room for G on the Atlantic, along with killing the Cruiser. And don’t forget to move the G subs. Regarding J it really depends on what R and the UK have made. If they are playing aggressive then you’ll have 6 inf on Buryatia, UK controlling Borneo and New Guinea, UK fighter on US carrier on Hawaii. Your first buy should be 2 transports and 1 destroyer, in any case. You’ll need the DD do deal with any allied subs, while the factory can wait a little longer. With Japan I’d say that the US fleet is the biggest target, followed by China and Borneo. If R moved to Buryatia leave 1 inf behind in Manchuria and land as many fighters as possible there. If the US goes Pacific (like I did on my games) and starts building a fleet, then your focus is to prevent the US fleet from invading either East Indies/Borneo/Phillipines and building an IC there. You’ll need some infantry to drop on Asia using the transports available but combat ships and planes have the highest priority. On Asia focus on taking India, the Chinese territories and the 3 Russian territories. Don’t leave your ground units where they can be destroyed by allied  counterattacks.