Berea Ky, still playing Tuesday at 6pm.  We are playing 1940 Global now (alpha 2, awaiting alpha 3 rule changes), we have 4 consistent players (couple years now I have been playing since 92, and two of the others since 96, one since 2004).  If you are in the area and would like to join us please contact here, I will shoot you my phone number and directions.  I generally cook food for everyone involved, but it is byob hope that doesn’t offend anyone.

Also, games are very casual and generally take 2 weeks as we only play till 10pm, some times 11pm if we are burning the midnight oil. I have a room devoted to the game so it isn’t disturbed.

I may not be very adaptive, but ahhh…

also I don’t play with NO’s (they are a optional rule), and I don’t really like to throw money away on tech.

I still say men and tanks win the war, I generally build 3 tanks and 5 men on R1.  then proceed to build my best 8 from there on out.  t2 is usually 2 tanks 6 men (oh yeah, arty’s aren’t a unit in my book, one too many bad experiences with them  in the past), turn three… well it’s adaptive but it depends where the Germans have got themselves. turn three is where I take stock…

am I gonna be alone, are the allies set up to start landing on France, how much longer till japan shows up?  T3 is usually when I start to take Russia on the offense if she is gonna have one.  if everything is in play the Germans have got themselves in deep enough into russia that she won’t be able to retreat fully.  The UK and USA are making demands for the german affection, this is the turn I would probably build all tanks and start pushing out… as for as the turns after that… back to superior men builds with a few tanks… let’s not forget the japanese are prolly only 2 turns out from being a sever threat…

anyways, men and tanks are very boring but in my opinion the most effective.  I mean can russia ever have enough men?  also nothing beats the hitting and defensive power of a tank dollar per dollar… so yeah just men and tanks, lots of both, but mostly men.

also turn one… while it is pain full, it generally helps save American fleet … I like stacking all 7 inf in the far east.  I call it bait, I mean what Japanese player would pass on eating up all those tasty Russian infantry?  it usually changes up what japan would  like to do otherwise… if you roll well you can sometimes get a fighter… but generally your gonna lose and lose bad in that bait fight.  also if your lucky you can draw japan up from the southern route to your capital, to the northern one which is a 5 territory track for her infantry.

just got the anniversary edition last month… we have a group of 3-4 players on a constant basis, but would like to get a full 5-6 player game going on.  anyway, if your in the central Kentucky area and would like to join us on Tuesday nights (approx 6pm) just drop me a pm… I will get you directions, and some contact info.

WOOOT only slightly more difficult than KJF… I have personally tried this several times just to do it  (I really can’t think of anyother reason except to lose the game…) In my weekly 5 player game… It almost worked the first time I tried it… but the next time my opponents saw it coming and started screening me off from my target destinations right from the get go…

Anyway, I have even done crazy stuff with it like throwing down a industrial complex in france… that didn’t help much except the ability to throw down subs in SZ7 is kinda nice… you really need to get the bid for 12-15 to even contimplate that one, and have a national advantage like wolf packs. kinda fun to try and destroy all the allied fleets, if you can get them to seperate.

oh, and if you are trying something this crazy you force your opponents off balance… america never gears up on transports they gear towards subs and destroyers, or atleast that is what I have noticed when I’ve done it, oh but japan has to be pushing on russia … otherwise your dead as Gemany early cause russia will just keep pushing on you since your not producing enough men to maintain a trading line and are falling back slowly while trying to compete in the atlantic… but hey couple lucky rolls and you might have a chance at fending off the russians as germany. not likely though

Wow,

I really think the only thing that is off with the game as far as navies are concerned is the Japanese fleet, I mean really only two transports to start the game, and I can’t remember the last time I got to start my turn as japan with more than one.  While I hate to agree with switch, The little fleet germany gets to start with is more than enough… Adding one extra piece is too much, and if it wasn’t people would let the axis go for a bid of 8… and the German player would add a transport / sub to the fleet depending what they wanted to do to the British or Russian player ( I personally like the extra trans in the med… The Caucasus falls fast…)

Secondly, dropping the price of any naval units would eventually bode well for the allies… but could be horrible for Britain on turn two assuming germany just felt froggy on turn one, and decided to load up with tons of transports and subs and then link the med and Baltic fleets on ohhh pick any coast of Britain … then the game is a two turn waste of time … I mean It takes longer to set up the board.

and as far as units no one ever buys… well that just isn’t true, I love buying destroyers to procect my british fleet one a turn for a bit while america covers me with carriers… then industrial tech combined bombardment… Its just fun, but again its never won the game for me… just ticked off the germans mighty fierce.

Adventure, excitement, A Jedi craves not these things. However, Britain has all kinds of fun stuff to do to japan If they are feeling frisky.

My personal favorite, attack Borneo with two men from India vs the one… nothing else (this is not a great battle but ahhh Its not really about winning its about controlling japan on the first turn). Take the fighter from the carrier and go get the transport in sz 59. Use your Australian sub and go fight the Japanese sub (if your lucky you kill theres and yours survives or both die… if your unlucky oh well). Use that transport off Australia and take two men from Australia and go get new guinea (again not a great combat… but like I said, If Brittan is feeling frisky)

Ok those are the combats… hopefully you got the transpot off Manchuria with out a loss… where to land? ahh I usually pick china but hey you can land on the carrier your non combating to sea zone 49 (this serves two purposes 1st it keeps japan from being able to take the one transport they have left to Borneo, 2nd it give the Japanese battleship a target it can’t ignore)… then non combat the two British fighters from the capital to western Canada. take the British destroyer from SZ 35 to 36 (WOOT! now the Japanese fleet in SZ 37 can’t be anywhere that it wants to be.) Of course you should take the bomber to Yakut… Now you have a threat on the Japanese build that is hella good, and you have made the British The new prime target for Japan and let the American fleet get away…

After this first turn you should get back to focusing entirely on Germany… I mean really, that British pacific fleet is now gone, so you won’t have to worry forgeting any non combats to get the fleet back to a useful place in 5 turns or so… Side note there is alot more to this strategy that the us should do on turn one and Russia needs to do, also you don’t give up on Africa the first turn you should land in Algeria with you fleet and US joins you… and of course my first turn purchase is usually 5 men 3 tanks to secure the mainland from germany… build fleet on turns 2,3,4, and so on, and get into germany fast… while japan tries to get that turn back you just stole from her.

After wasting what i would call a long month on it….

I would call it fair… Civ 4 while is better and worse than civ 3 which rocked out … for every point they added to the game i feel they took one away… Its a little too graphic heavy IMHO… i mean its civ… has it ever looked good? hence longer loads between turns… so not worth it…

The multi caliber political system… while it looks more complicated and more involved … ahh i feel its rather bah after i played a few times…

the effects of land bonuses… ahh i simply think they over did it this game… ahh but it does add to being able to trade with your neighbor…

The AI well its still cracked out … so that’s the same…

anyway those are my humble opinions on the game… At least they didn’t go Masters of Orion 3 on it and ruin a good title… gawd that blew…

you can do some cheap moves turn one to set them back a round… take out the transport off manchuria round 1 with the british destroyer, ahh take borneo with the british… take the one spot next to it with the british transport from australia and two men if your feeling lucky. go toe to toe with the japanese sub with your british sub

Send the bomber from eastern us and the fighter from hawai to take out the japanese transports if they are on the outside of japan… or If the pearl harbor attack goes poorly for japan make a counter attack … ahh short of that I ain’t got any great ideas… I have tried KJF and had it tried on me… but it just doesn’t work fast enough…

You can say what you want to about my friend lowell, but he is good. And most weeks brings something new to the table. And anymore me and he have a 50/50 win ratio against each other…. Which side doesn’t really matter cause were bidding…

So yeah i am talking about back in the day prolly 4 - 5months ago when we decided it was unbalanced in our games, and we decided this cause we were just getting to the point where everyone was acctually fairly good/we had seen each others moves developed our own, and were adapting to bad rolls incredibly well for our over all strategies… and we were all taking advantage of japan when ever the option was there… atleast for the first turn… I just love seeing japan with only one transport to start her first turn, when i am the allies…not so much when i am axis

I personally thought it was stacked for the axis the first 3 times i played… then again i had only played axis and won all three times…

Next 3 games i played allies won all three times. first game I took advantage of the Suez Canal as the brit’s and lined america up for a southern attack totally threw the new axis players for a loop, because they hadn’t seen it … and i had spent the game before dreading it possibly happening… cause the dice took advantage of me and i lost my battleship to the british destroyer in the med…

Anyway the more games we played the better we have gotten… first off this isn’t the old version… and russia is a formidable power even making 24 to start… As the allies you just gotta get out of the old school of thought, like 8 men is a standard purchase, in the first three games i played that is what the russians always did… I usually build atleast one tank a turn… I personally like the 1 ftr, 1 tnk, and 3 men as a starting purchase, but sometimes i just go 3 men & 3 tanks depends on who i am up against and what i think they are gonna do with the axis powers…
@Octopus:

it just sounds like people just don’t know how to play Germany….and Japan for that matter.

And lastly i reckon your about right on that one… cause this was the turning point in our games… The last game where we didn’t see the imbalance in the game against the germans… we just saw the 9 tanks / 6 fighters on the european mainland and were all to happy to play germany casue it was stacked a helluva lot better than the older version of axis and allies, But you have a longer supply route to russia for both japan and germany… and a more formidable russia if played correctly… oh dear. all she really needs is just a little help on the germans back side and she can break them …

Listen,

I use to never bid, I would play either side at random and i would never lose… Oh the good ol’days of revised… back when it was fresh and I would waste hours and hours just looking at my moves, the ones that i had made the week before, and make counters for the next week when me and my group of five would step back to the table…

Then one week i drew allies (in a solo game the night before our weekly game)… and i made a foolish mistake… and britan was lost on the second round… D’oh (homer couldn’t say it better) well regardless of my 2nd round folly i made it back to britan with the americans… I looked at the board… realized that the germans had but one fighter left… and a wimpy navy; america could deal with that… and start landings in norway… while the british recouped for the next two turns… so i decided even though the future looked bleak i could still win as the allies… the next two rounds for germany are text book, she bought 10 tanks and 6 men for a turn then 10 men and six tanks and barreled into russia… luckily i had been playing aggressive with russia and had turns to give… one thing leads to another… and germany is back in the horrid spot she always is… (trying to defend far too much coast line without any fodder so to speak) Anyway allies Russia and america creamed germany before japan could do much of anything so to speak …

needless to say from that moment on we decided that bidding would be apart of the 5 person game every week… and in solo games aswell… usually are bids will go for as little as -2 or as high as 15… we play with one of the optional national advantages at random for each country so that effects the bidding considerably… (without national advantages usually germany will go for 8-7 ipc’s) gotta have a extra transport in the med…