First impressions

One thing I would like to add:

Of course Japan has the option not to attack UK/Anzac and USA the first 3 turns, but I really don’t see why you wouldn’t. You can kill off the planes on Philippines and the UK BB at Malaya on J1. Very juicy targets. Of course, you get into war straight away, but leaving those targets alive and then moving them to safe spots will get you intro trouble later on IMHO.

Also UK will impose a big threat on Southern Asia if you keep those trannies at Malaya alive on J1 and I think UK will attack Japan before Japan does so herself.

But as John said, time will tell. Maybe in a few weeks it proves better to leave the allies alone until J4, you never know.  :-D

I am absolutely praying and praying that this game is balanced.  A very good number of people in my play group refuse to use bids or anything the equalize the game, and also do not recognize anything that doesn’t ship with the game (no rules errata, etc., if its not in the rule book that ships, its not in this playgroup), which kind of sucks.

@Veqryn:

I am absolutely praying and praying that this game is balanced.   A very good number of people in my play group refuse to use bids or anything the equalize the game, and also do not recognize anything that doesn’t ship with the game (no rules errata, etc., if its not in the rule book that ships, its not in this playgroup), which kind of sucks.

I can understand the no bids part but not recognizing errata or clarifications/FAQs seems a bit much. To each is own, I guess.

On the Hawai subject : With a naval base, the US are at a striking distance of japan from there, so keeping a fleet there also tell Japan : If your not careful, we are invading!

@JohnBarbarossa:

One other thing. There was some talk (by Larry?) that the USA had a motive to keep a large fleet based at Hawaii (so Pearl would be re-lived again). Our US player thought differently and kept the fleet safely at the west coast to build it up first. But when we finised our test game we saw that there was a route from Japan to Hawaii of only 3 spaces (with a naval base). This means that Hawaii is constant at risk and this is probably the reason why you have to base a fleet there (or at least make it a deadzone for Japan).

Regarding Hawaii, is it possible for Japan to get its victory conditions very early. I heard it needs 6 vc. Can they get the other 5 then hit Hawaii for the 6th, forcing the US to build up there?

@Veqryn:

I am absolutely praying and praying that this game is balanced.   A very good number of people in my play group refuse to use bids or anything the equalize the game, and also do not recognize anything that doesn’t ship with the game (no rules errata, etc., if its not in the rule book that ships, its not in this playgroup), which kind of sucks.

Most of my players are of this same opinion. And I personally, think it’s lame to have to introduce bids and ‘bandaids.’ If a game needs too much of those - then it fell short of the mark in the first place (incidentally, we don’t use bids in AAA50th - and it’s been fairly balanced).

Most rules errata are not rules “bandaids”, but simply mistakes that were made in the production of the rulebook.  A missing word or sentence can make a big difference in the interpretation of a rule.  Personally, I would rather play a game the way the designer(s) intended it, rather than based on an error in the rulebook.

I’ll warn you in advance, this one does have a few errors.   :oops:

such as?

I dont care as long as the global game is gonna be balanced and perfect.

@Krieghund:

Most rules errata are not rules “bandaids”, but simply mistakes that were made in the production of the rulebook.  A missing word or sentence can make a big difference in the interpretation of a rule.  Personally, I would rather play a game the way the designer(s) intended it, rather than based on an error in the rulebook.

I’ll warn you in advance, this one does have a few errors.   :oops:

I did not directly refer to erratas as “bandaids,” you did.  To reiterate, I personally don’t like it when bids and “add-on rules” are needed to balance a game.  An “erratum” or errata, is a list of errors or corrections in regard to a body of text.  These are prone to happen (though too many makes me think that the company needs to hire competent or more editors).  But introducing new rules in order to balance a game… well, that shows flaws in the game mechanic itself - which to me is a much more serious issue, and one that shows poor workmanship.  Typos or bad sentence structure - eh, no big deal.

There are several reasons why the A&A games are not balanced like chess. But the designers and playtesters could come pretty close if they choose to use veteran A&A players using a software utility, (i.e. TripleA), or something more “advanced”. This is much more effective than 5-6 players playing the boardgame version regardless if the players are experienced or not.
You can play 5 games at the time it takes a playgroup to finish a single game.
There is also differences between 1vs1 games and multiplayer games. 1vs1 games are much more effective in regards to the different tactics and strategies players choose throughout a game.

@Driel310:

One thing I would like to add:

Of course Japan has the option not to attack UK/Anzac and USA the first 3 turns, but I really don’t see why you wouldn’t. You can kill off the planes on Philippines and the UK BB at Malaya on J1. Very juicy targets. Of course, you get into war straight away, but leaving those targets alive and then moving them to safe spots will get you intro trouble later on IMHO.

Also UK will impose a big threat on Southern Asia if you keep those trannies at Malaya alive on J1 and I think UK will attack Japan before Japan does so herself.

But as John said, time will tell. Maybe in a few weeks it proves better to leave the allies alone until J4, you never know.  :-D

Keep in mind: Not attacking as Japan for 3 turns mean allies get 120 less IPCs. You could spend those three turns better positioning yourself to wreak even more havoc on your first assault, and if UK does attack you before hand then all the better. Mind you if US started off with 50 IPCs instead of 10 when it’s at peace there’d be little reason to wait.

@JohnBarbarossa:

One other thing. There was some talk (by Larry?) that the USA had a motive to keep a large fleet based at Hawaii (so Pearl would be re-lived again). Our US player thought differently and kept the fleet safely at the west coast to build it up first. But when we finised our test game we saw that there was a route from Japan to Hawaii of only 3 spaces (with a naval base). This means that Hawaii is constant at risk and this is probably the reason why you have to base a fleet there (or at least make it a deadzone for Japan).

I don’t like the idea of Hawaii within a single move (with a naval base) from Japan and vice versa.

Since US goes to war at beginning of collect income phase turn 3 then there will only be two turns when US can make the 10 rather than the 50, not 3.  So Japan might as well attack whomever on J3.

@ksmckay:

Since US goes to war at beginning of collect income phase turn 3 then there will only be two turns when US can make the 10 rather than the 50, not 3.  So Japan might as well attack whomever on J3.

Oh yeah, still. 80 IPCs is nothing to scoff at.

Anyone got the total starting IPC for Japan and combined allies?

I’m trying to figure out the starting situation of the game and cannot wait for my copy to arrive.

From what I’ve seen and heard so far, Japan can choose to do a fast or slow game by choosing when to start the US machine.

@JohnBarbarossa:

We got the game yesterday. We did not have time to schedule in a full game but we played a short game of 2 rounds.

Only playing 2 rounds you only see the massive potential power of Japan. You fail to see the downside, which is getting spread too thin too fast. You just cannot cover the entire Pacific and Asia with your supply lines. Something will be missed and it gives the USA the chance to move in and dominate.

In my game, I probably didn’t attack fast enough but I still was stretched thin. There’s just not enough boats to keep all of your transports safe. But to rapidly expand to get the National Obective bonuses, you need to use all of those transports.

In my opinion, I think it is a false to say the game is unbalanced after 2 rounds of play.