Axis and Allies first turns - United Kingdom

[Jennifer]

Realistically, England starts with 3 Fighters.  You have to assume you’ll lose Egypt and the fighter there to the Germans.  It’s also safe to assume that Norway will be empty or very close to empty.  (That’s the problem with debating the round 1 of a nation after Russia, you have nothing in concrete!)

If you go KJF, you have to have an IC in India.  Not to mention it’s strategic location near the front, close to high value targets like FIC, Borneo, Philippines and East Indies is the fact you get a free AA Gun to go with it!

If you go KGF, I highly recommend a full scale invasion of Algeria followed up by American reinforcements, followed the next round with a taking of Libya with more forces moved from England to Algeira.  This gives England 2 more IPC to offset losses.

A fleet idea I’ve seen work a few times is to hit the British transport with your carrier and destroyer, amphibiously attack Borneo with 2 inf from India, amphibiously attack New guinea with 2 inf from Australia, send a fighter and submarine to the solomons to kill the enemy sub and land the fighter in SZ 52.

This, in effect, destroyes Japan’s ability to fight for a few rounds.  Followed up with ICs in India on UK2 and ICs in Sinkiang US1 and China US2 and pressure from Russia with light forces (just enough to keep Sink from falling long enough for America to have a stack there) and you can effectively neutralize Japan in 4 rounds.

[goldenbearflyer]

A fleet idea I’ve seen work a few times is to hit the British [Japanese?] transport with your carrier and destroyer, amphibiously attack Borneo with 2 inf from India, amphibiously attack New guinea with 2 inf from Australia, send a fighter and submarine to the solomons to kill the enemy sub and land the fighter in SZ 52.
This, in effect, destroyes Japan’s ability to fight for a few rounds.  Followed up with ICs in India on UK2 and ICs in Sinkiang US1 and China US2 and pressure from Russia with light forces (just enough to keep Sink from falling long enough for America to have a stack there) and you can effectively neutralize Japan in 4 rounds.

Hmm, I like the aggressiveness of that plan, because if UK tries to run away in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, she’ll probably lose those units anyway, so why not try to slow down Japan?  I never thought of sending the SZ35 ftr over to SZ52, thus adding protection to Pearl.  I had to double-check the map, but voila, it can be done.

Very interesting…  I have always like KJF better anyway (but that’s primarily based on playing the original A&A version), and this is great to see more discussion about it. :-)

[Jennifer]

You can add to that that the Bomber from E. USA can hit SZ 60, a little known fact in the AAR community.

So you have a japan that’s primed to be crippled.  Though, if you go full KJF, I highly recommend forgoing the Borneo invasion and getting an IC in India.

[axis_roll]

@Jennifer:

You can add to that that the Bomber from E. USA can hit SZ 60, a little known fact in the AAR community.

So you have a japan that’s primed to be crippled.   Though, if you go full KJF, I highly recommend forgoing the Borneo invasion and getting an IC in India.

Another little known one is that SZ61 is not as safe as Japan may believe.

If Russia has staged 6 inf in buryatia and Japan opts to leave manchuria to Russia (or Russia is set up to hit it on R2), a UK bomber from as far away as caucasus, Moscow or even crazy spots like Trans-jordan or Italian East Africa.

You could even get a little goofy and land the UK ftrs from London in West canada to follow up that US1 attack(ftr, bmr) on SZ60

[Jennifer]

Good point, Axis_Roll.  Never even looked into that. (SZ 61 for me is a fleet staging area of desperation, if I have to put my fleet there, I’m only dragging my feet in hopes that Germany can pull something out.)

[goldenbearflyer]

You can add to that that the Bomber from E. USA can hit SZ 60, a little known fact in the AAR community.

I have a map out and can’t figure how US bom lands after hitting SZ60.  Could you tell me the route?

[U-505]

It can land in Bury. E Can-W Can-sz63-sz62-sz60-Bury.

[goldenbearflyer]

It can land in Bury. E Can-W Can-sz63-sz62-sz60-Bury.

Wow, I totally missed the small connection between WCan and SZ63 at the top of the map.  That almost seems unfair to bypass Alaska! 8-)  Thanks, U-505.  Off topic, your moniker implies you like playing Germany.  With NA I saw a guy take U-Boat Interdiction and buy subs, taking away something like 16IPCs per turn from the Allies.  Have you tried that?

[Jennifer]

Don’t feel bad, most people miss that connection because they are used to classic where Alaska miraculously grows to the top of the board!

Thankfully, they did away with the W. Canada linkage to the Hudson bay. hehe.  THough, if it were me, I woulda split SZ 1 into the Hudson and the NW Atlantic and kept the linkage.

[goldenbearflyer]

First time I played Revised I was Germany, but game went too long (at a convention). I couldn’t finish it, but I was losing.  My partner playing Japan had more fun due to KGF.  I am hoping to try out Allies KJF when I get the chance.  Details like US bom to SZ60 could be handy.

However, Jennifer, you are totally into calculated risks and trying to kill more stuff than you lose in any given battle.  I assume US bom to SZ60 only happens if J1 does NOT wipe out SZ52, but how often does that happen?

[Jennifer]

US Bomber to SZ 60 happens whenever Japan leaves transports unprotected in SZ 60 and I own Buryatia. :)

Otherwise, my bomber lands in Algeria so i can sink the German med fleet.

[Nix]

If you go KJF, you have to have an IC in India

I would only advise this if you make the atack 3 inf, india to French indo china + 1 fig SZ35 to French indo china, and manages to kill atleast the 2 inf´s there, if you fail put the IC in Australia or Southafrica or it will be lost on J1.

[goldenbearflyer]

@Nix:

If you go KJF, you have to have an IC in India

I would only advise this if you make the atack 3 inf, india to French indo china + 1 fig SZ35 to French indo china, and manages to kill atleast the 2 inf´s there, if you fail put the IC in Australia or Southafrica or it will be lost on J1.

Agreed, but you make your decision whether to buy IC before combat, so let’s say you buy IC and kiil nothing in FIC, where do you put your IC?

[Nix]

Australia or Southafrica depending on what you want to do;

Australia=KJF, US needs to put up shop in Sinkiang and/or build pacific fleet, Ukmoves AC,Trn, Aussies ub+trn to SZ30 (best if this was thought out on R1 so a rusian fig could land on carrier) builds a BB UK2 in australia, and unite fleet if neccesary.

Southafrica=KGF, uses this to stop German advancement in Africa (and might hinder japaneese from conquering it later on)

[polywog]

@goldenbearflyer:

It can land in Bury. E Can-W Can-sz63-sz62-sz60-Bury.

Wow, I totally missed the small connection between WCan and SZ63 at the top of the map.Â

Yeah - I missed this once too. Unfortunately, my opponent showed it to me with 8 INF, 8 ARM in western Canada. Remember to keep a few good defending US units in west US. It’s a pretty embarrassing way to lose.

[Cobert]

I <3 these threads.  Seriously.

Ive never quite been able to get a KJF to work properly.

[U-505]

@goldenbearflyer:

It can land in Bury. E Can-W Can-sz63-sz62-sz60-Bury.

Wow, I totally missed the small connection between WCan and SZ63 at the top of the map.  That almost seems unfair to bypass Alaska! 8-)  Thanks, U-505.  Off topic, your moniker implies you like playing Germany.  With NA I saw a guy take U-Boat Interdiction and buy subs, taking away something like 16IPCs per turn from the Allies.  Have you tried that?

I have yet to play with NA’s. Nobody here really uses them and some are more powerful than others so it can unbalance the game.

And yes, I do prefer to play Germany, or Japan. Each for different reasons.

As far as UK goes, I think it’s wasteful to go KJF simply because you can’t focus all of UK’s income to Asia. Unless England is exclusively used to build aircraft to support KJF once it has been fortified enough to prevent a German invasion.

[Jennifer]

Well, I think NAs might be having a renessaince.  I’m seeing more and more players pulling out NAs just to add some flavor to the game.

[axis_roll]

@Jennifer:

Well, I think NAs might be having a renessaince.  I’m seeing more and more players pulling out NAs just to add some flavor to the game.

What did you think of the Enhanced NA’s?

[Jennifer]

I really havn’t delved much into the AARHE and I’ve only played AARe once.  AARe makes Germany way too powerful.  Mainly because its almost impossible to find submarines in the game which means Germany can float 4 submarines around England and cut their production by almost 100%.

I think the Uboat interdiction rules need to be amended.  Either make it easier to find submarines by giving America and England Sonar Planes/Bouys like they had so that planes can detect submarines without destroyers and then kill them or do away with the interdiction.

Also, Hawaii should not be a VC.  Make it Anchorage, AL.  Hawaii is too difficult for America to defend in a traditional game.  On the flip side, Ukraine needs to be a VC.