We played a good long game of Axis and Allies Global over the weekend. I played the Germany and Italy. The Axis lost on turn 9. While the game was great fun, I experienced a number of frustrations and disappointments. Do the game creators have any comments regarding the following?
I was barred from conducting amphibious assaults on Russian occupied Finnish territories while Russia was still neutral. My opponents were adamant that this would be a declaration of war against Russia (I was out-voted). My inability to conduct amphibious assaults into Finland with German troops was instrumental in my permanent loss of Scandinavia. My understanding of the rules is that Germany and Russia may fight it out in Finland without declaring war on one another. This includes being able to conduct amphibious assaults onto Finnish territories. Since the Russian destroyer is neutral to Germany, the seazone occupied by the destroyer is considered neutral allowing any German ships to move freely within. Thoughts please?
By turn 9, the allies had control of the Atlantic. The Axis was in control of the Pacific and Mediteranean. The Allies had bunkered up in Sidney, Calcutta, and Cairo, with significant armies of infantry, rendering capture of these key cities virtually impossible. Likewise, Germany had effectively created Fortress Europe with huge armies easily able to repel any large scale amphibious assaults along any coast. Russia was very close to being overrun as it was losing the war of attrition with Germany and was fighting Japan to a standstill in Western China (and had lost all Russian territories East of Novosibirsk). Italy had a production of 51 and was transporting troops to Gibraltar to keep the American fleet out of the Meditteranean, and to conduct amphibious assaults on Russian territories around the Black Sea (Turkey was under Axis control). With one strategic bomber and a commando (both flying from the Cairo airbase) the allies dropped a paratrooper on Rome, and landed in the only non axis-controlled island in the Meditteranean - Corsica. I capitulated at that point as up to that point, the game was in the balance. No Allied fleet was present in the Mediterranean. Five axis destroyers and two axis transports were in the sea zone adjacent to Rome. Over one dozen Italian troops were in Turin as the Axis preferentially built in Turin every round. Were the rules designed to allow paratroopers to drop into enemy territory and capture a capital? This does not seem reasonable, unless the drop is part of an amphibious or land assault on the capital.
Last question. We had another disagreement in a naval battle. Three destroyers and two strategic bombers attacked six axis submarines. In the first round of combat, the allies scored four hits. I argued that only three submarines could be hit as they were undetected prior to the first round of combat. The allies disagreed stating that three submarines were initially detected. When the first three submarines were hit, the allies argued that the destroyers could detect the remaining three submarines to allow further hits. The allies also argued that the undetected submarines were unable to retreat from combat stating that only the attacker may retreat. I believe the rules allow all undetected submarines the ability to retreat from a naval battle, regardless of whether they are defending or not. Please clarify.
I still love this game!!!
