1. less set-up time
2. faster play (at least in my experience)
3. less complicated rules/simpler play (less units, less special circumstances, one standardized rule set)
4. ???  i’ll add more as i think of them

:-D

jen - yes i’m playing classic, and yes i meant bunker as a verb, as in “to bunker down”.  and if the axis bid 22 then germany can easily have 10inf on ukr and 33ipc for an 11inf purchase on germany 1.

maddog - the calculator says my odds of whipping you any time soon are 0%.  but only because i’m too damn busy to play.

:-)

my odds calulator shows that germany has about an 11% chance of holding karelia if they only took with 3inf, 3arm (and captured an aa gun) when the uk attacks with 3ftr, 1bmb, 2inf, 1arm, 1bb.  so as long as uk takes it back with 1arm (sacrificing air to do so if necessary, which, i admit, could be costly), then usa can land a bomber there and russia can build 9inf there, move in the 2inf from russia that originally came from eve, and the 1arm from nov (and maybe move in the infantry from cau if he’s still alive and not doing anything important).

that leaves 11-12inf, 2arm, 1bmb, aa to defend against a best case scenario of 4inf, 5arm in eeu (if russia doesn’t get any defensive hits) and whatever air germany has left (probably 2ftr, 1bmb at the most).  unless germany bought 6arm in g1 then uk will always be able to effectively counterattack karelia (5-6inf, 1arm, 1-2bb, + whatever air they have left).  if germany did buy all armour then uk and usa should be able to move as many as 10inf, 2arm, 2ftr, 1bmb to weu by usa2.  then, when germany does take russia on round three, BAM! the allies storm berlin and raid up to 60ipcs.

the 7inf ukraine bid ain’t that tough - many players are now bidding 24 and are perfectly willing to face 6inf, 1arm or 8inf in ukr.  here’s what i do as allies:

turn: russia 1
purchase: 8inf
combat:  3inf, 3arm, 1ftr vs eastern europe; 1ftr, 1sub vs bal sz

results:  russia has an ok chance to win all three battles (about 50% by my estimation), and if it does the game is basically over for the axis.  taking eeu cuts off much needed armour in seu and ger from the round 1 karelia assault by germany.  wiping out the german navy ensures that either both uk transports survive or that the germans have to divert airforce from the karelia battle to take them out.  if eastern europe turns into a great strafe opportunity (say, 4 attacker hits to 0-1 defender hits) then leave that ftr alone, retreat, and stack karelia.  in that particular case germany won’t be able to crack karelia without spreading itself way too thin.

noncombat: unless there is an obvious dice disaster (you don’t take eeu, or the german trn in bal sz survives) then place everything in karelia and send the siberian units west.  karelia should have 16inf, 2ftr, aa; russia 2inf, aa; nov 3inf, 1arm; yak 1inf; sfe 1inf; cau 1inf  move your trn to hud sz to help out the canadian trn.

turn: germany 1
purchase: depends on how russia did.  maybe 10-11 inf and bunker, or maybe 6arm and go out in a blaze of glory. 4inf, 4arm is a good purchase for moderation
combat: ??  if russia has won all three of its attacks i welcome the german assault on karelia.  an attack of 13inf, 3arm, 4ftr, 1bmb (everything) wins about 75% of the time, but doesn’t take with enough land units to defend against the uk’s counter attack of 2inf, 1arm, 3ftr, 1bmb, 1bb.  germany can sacrifice planes to take with more ground units, but that’ll get them in trouble quickly.

turn: uk 1
purchase: ?? likely 2trn, 3inf, 1arm
combat: ?? with 8 (maybe even 9) or less german units in karelia attack with everything (2inf, 1arm, 3ftr, 1bmb).  taking the territory is critical because you want russia to be able to build there next turn.  if the germans sacrificed air to put more in karelia then eeu, f/n and weu should be ripe for the picking (killing any armour that germany used to retake eeu from russia).  in that case i move all my air to russia and build boats and infantry quickly to pressure germany asap.  even if russia and uk lose their entire airforces but russia holds karelia at the beginning of russia 2 i think they hold it for the rest of the game.

turn: japan 1
purchase: ?? likely 2trn, 3inf
combat: ??  japan can’t make really significant gains too quickly with out a bid.  they will attack china, but if they go for all those attractive targets (chi, ind, haw, haw sz, yak, and sfe) they will do more damage to themselves than to the allies.

turn: usa 1
purchase: ?? maybe 4trn, 1inf; maybe 3trn, 4inf
combat:  this should be a fun turn.  usa gets to take whatever uk left over in europe (f/n or weu).  there might also be a really good chance for a counter in pearl if japan attacked lightly so they could send more units into asia.

well that’s about it.  can’t strategize more than one turn out.  and i probably forgot something so fire away at my strategy.  but i think that if everything goes average (and by that i mean that half the scenarios are better for the axis and the other half are better for the allies) then i think the allies have about a 55% chance of winning this game.  and if you are making a bid as the axis where you only expect to win 45% of the time then you are making the wrong bid!

no, it doesn’t happen too often (almost never), but when opportunity knocks you have to be ready to open the door no matter how unconventional it might seem.

jennifer - in germany’s combat they violate mongolian neutrality with a bomber for 3ipc leaving it empty but controlled by germany.  if england can’t occupy it with a ground unit then japan can blitz armour through and support with air to bypass a stacked yak.  neat trick if you can get it to work.

@Bashir:

Actually let Germany violate neutrality in Mongolia it will open up the way for the Japs.

actually, that can work.  i once had a russian opponent leave armor+air in nov, while stacking yak with inf.  germany overflew mongolia with a bomber (i think it was in aes at the time) leaving a nice open path for the japanese air+armour in manchuria to attack the russian units in nov.  since the british were unable to either retake mongolia or fortify nov the russians lost their entire airforce and some armor for the cost of 3ipcs and a few japanese armour.

oh yeah, one more thing.  i recently got m84 on round two against a good opponent with a big asia bid (1inf man, 1arm kwa, 2inf bur, 2inf lib, 1inf eeu).  rus 1 was terrible, meaning the germans were able to take karelia and hold weu.  still might not have been a done deal, though, without the extra units in asia.  if it had been a power africa, then i think the british and americans in asia might have been able to hold off the japanese long enough to help russia, or maybe even force the germans back to eeu.  seems like when russia 1 goes bad (and most of the time that will happen in europe) then extra units to lock up asia early really helps.

of course russia could hold nov by putting lots of units there, but then that lets germany hold eeu.  and if the americans are diverted into africa, then germany can spread to ukr (maybe even cau) in an m84 lunge.  is it worth holding nov just lose eeu and ukraine?  either way the allies have tough decisions to make.

in a well played game (and with decent dice - can’t win without those no matter what) i see the game going in either one of two directions by turn 3-4:

scenario 1:

germany controls:
ger, weu, seu, eeu, ukr, aes, iea, ken, saf, syr = 35
japan controls:
all japanese original territories, aus, nz, haw, ind, per, sin, chi, sfe, yak, and let’s say three of cau, nov, eve, kaz = 47

scenario 2:

virtually the same, but here the allies choose to keep germany from holding eeu.  the only power that can do this so early is russia, and the only way that they can do it is by letting japan have a good shot at getting all four of cau, nov, kaz, eve (and maybe having an amphib opportunity on ukr from the red sz).  and it doesn’t necessarily matter if russia can do it - if you time it right they’ll never get the chance because the game will be over.

all of these can be held completely safe from american liberation.  and this total (82) doesn’t include the marginal territories, which the allies have to be sure they can liberate just to save the game: con, lib, fea, ala, pan/mex.  when the allies are forced to liberate these areas it takes them out of position, for example they may have to move a transport (or an entire navy) to con sz to liberate congo which means they can’t get land units to europe on the next turn, or they may have to land ftrs in wca after liberating ala, which only weakens karelia.  this is a game of inches, and any small advantage is another increment towards victory.

i’m not saying power asia bids always work, just that i have beaten two high and mighty iaapa generals lately, and i believe power asia to be an equally valid bid to any other, provided it is used properly.  just use those extra japanese units to eliminate the western allies from asia.  then push russia back, and calculate the M84 lunge for the turn where the allies can’t counter you in nov, kaz, eve, cau, ukr, africa, ala, pan all at the same time.  sacrifice your air units, especially with japan, to make sure you take with enough ground units to hold.  and on the last japanese turn throw all tech dice - you won’t be needing any more ground units and it is a wonder what HB, JP, and especially LR can do to bolster an M84 lunge.

i will continue to bid power asia (of course with other bids mixed in for variety).  i think it’s a winner, and also it’s tons of fun to have stacks of japanese troops swarming asia after round one!

only problem is that russia can’t defend against m84 - if japan can take eve, nov, kaz it doesn’t matter if russia can mount a strong counter attack, since the game could be over before they get a chance to react.

can’t say i’d write off the power asia bid that quickly.  i’ve been using it a lot lately with considerable success.  for a bid of 23 you can get some good power asia combinations:

2inf man
2inf bur
1arm kwa
2inf lib

or:

2inf man
2inf bur
1arm kwa
1inf lib
1inf eeu

the armour could also be placed in bur, but i find that it is more useful in kwangtung to deter the russians from stacking yak.  the main benefit of a power asia is that you should be able to completely remove the usa and uk from asia on turn one:  the indian forces counterattack egypt (or else the germans run free in africa) while the japanese take out sinkiang and china, plus whatever other asian territories are easily available (usually two out of soviet far east, yakutsk and india).  on round two the germans retake egypt with 2inf + air that they noncommed into libya, and japan takes whatever it can get its hands on (yak, sfe, nov, kaz, ind, per, syr in asia + aus, haw, nz, mad).  by round three the axis can have a real threat of m84 (since there are no americans in asia to make the game saving liberation).  generally the allies have to be very careful to avoid m84, and often are forced into making suboptimal moves with russia until the first americans arrive in asia about turn 5.  by that time the axis can have the upper hand.