In my view, a round 1 attack on Italy is vital, because it crushes an entire 1/3 of the Italian army right away, rendering it impossible for the Italians to group together more units than 14 inf and 4 art in Tuscany. That means no counterattack on the first Italian turn, enabling reinforcement to arrive on AH2.
The key to success on the Italians front it speed, whereas the battle of the East is a lengthier on. I’m very tempted to make the entire Viennese army march towards the Italians (could be in Rome on AH4), while spending almost all earned IPCs on the Russians.
One more thing, two planes – one for each front - is an essential first turn buy for AH. The Italians will be helpless against it, as they don’t have money enough to spare – you are thus guaranteed AS. Â

Sorry, but what does KISS mean?!

I really laughed at:
‘‘He takes a look at the map and announces to the group that he will be in Vienna by next spring. Everyone kind of looks at the map and wonders what the hell he’s talking about. Sometimes, when playing Axis & Allies, smack talk is as important as 10 divisions of infantry. If you don’t have one, you always have the other.’’
That’s totally me, when I’m playing! Scare 'em with your flamboyant words! :D

@Flashman:

WWII was a struggle between two different brands of evil, at least on the eastern front. Some would say the capitalist west was not much better.

Hear, hear! There’s great naivety in calling one side evil and the other (the victor) good. All nations at war try to make the war seem legit by calling the opponents evil.

@Flashman:

All Russian units outside of original Russian territories or Russian-controlled territories are immediately removed from the board.

Say Russia had been successful in the south against Turkey, but been forced to negotiate by Germany and Austria.

Russian units are still in control of Mesopotamia, Syrian desert and Ankara.

Does the above clause mean that Turkey has in effect permanently lost 3 of its home provinces, and there’s nothing it can do to get them back?

What if the Russians had taken control of Constantinople - this would in effect prevent the CPs from liberating the Turksih capital.

I could even see a scenario where Russia takes Constantinople, then deliberately capitulates (by for example evacuating contested tts) in order to trap the Turks into the permanent loss of their capital and all that goes with it, no chance of a comeback.

Say there are also British units in Syria (the tt having been given a Russian control marker when occupied). Evidently the Turks cannot attack these, but the British units can move out to attack the Turks in Smyrna. Life just isn’t fair sometimes.

The Brits could use the tt to build up a massive force on the border of Turkey, without the CPs being able to do anything to attack it. Presumably this also applies if the Russians have long since left the tt, leaving the UK to defend it.

Doesn’t this mean the exact opposite - that all tts conquered by Russia are returned to their original owners?

@Flashman:

@Gargantua:

Shogun is a considerable seller without the U.S. in it.

Isn’t Richard Chamberlain American? It wouldn’t have got made without an American playing then hero.

He is, but plays an Englishman… ;)

I preordered back when first possible - mid January, I think. I wonder if it releases the same day in Denmark as in the US/UK.
Only got one copy, but I might order yet another one, haha. :D

It’s important to note, though, that GB can’t create units in Africa, which means that one of the fronts dies down, when the British army there is defeated - I think it will be somewhat easily done, if the Ottomans put their back into it.

Pretend, then, that the British pour all their money into Indian units - then, yes, they are indeed able to crush the Ottomans because they earn +14 IPCs per turn, but then France/Italy is definetly toast. If they spend around half their IPC-values there (seems fair, right?) then the fight is even - 16 IPCs against 15 IPCs.
There is hope for the Ottomans - furthermore, I think that Bulgaria is worth 3 IPCs (would be fair considering Romania), so they earn roughly the same amount of IPCs as the US after the first turn.

Keep them previews comin’!  :lol:

I have a question about the use of subs in the new game. Larry has confirmed – in one of his posts – that subs are able to submerge in battle and so on, but are they also able to surprise first-strike? On another note, can subs block a SZ, so that new ships can’t be built?