AA Europe '40 Box Art

Wittman is right about the importance of taking Paris with Germany.  A couple weeks ago, my group had an interesting development– Germany failed to take Paris due to horrific rolls.  Usually, that would end the game, but the Italian Player ended up taking it, and he went wild with the extra income-- he controlled all the Med and knocked the Allies out of North Africa and was well on the way to South Africa by I5 or I6.  Despite Italy’s success, Germany was never able to get that subtle edge over the Soviets.

Without the income boost, Germany cannot mount a very viable SeaLion, AND the build-up to Barbarossa is too anemic to make the push on Moscow really strong.  It is amazing how vital that 17 IPC boost is for maintaining a good head of steam.

@Hansolo88:

Yes, bring on the 2nd edition review!

The threads below aren’t reviews, but you may find them useful if you haven’t yet seen them.  They include map pictures, sculpt pictures and unit identification tables:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=28201.15

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=28244.60

Tens

IPC_10s.jpg

Yeah but you are trying to just throw a bunch of random countries together to create some kind of Frankenstein country just so that there will be enough IPC’s to make it viable. It is not very realistic and furthermore, we don’t need any more powers.

You your self (Flash) have said many times that the US had control of the Pacific Theater and should be allowed joint ventures. W/Anzac it opens up the door to combined attacks, w/o involving two major (overpowering) countries. I still think its a step in the right direction, with some tweaks you could get more of what you want.

I am with you Sergente!

Meh, really, it simply depends on the Axis’ focus on any particular game.  It looks like Russia only gets a crappy +5 NO once it is at war with the Axis, so compared to pissing off the Americans, war with Russia (only) would be a much more palatable option for Japan.  18 land units, while it is quite a lot, would not be expected to be massed together right at the border with Japan, so they could be picked off a bunch at a time, and definitely doable if Japan gets a major industrial complex in Asia (which it probably will in most games).  Plus, Moscow it so far away that sending reinforcements east is probably not Stalin’s top priority, so Japan could hold onto the Russian IPCs for a long time, gaining back whatever the cost was in killing the units over 3-4 rounds.

Also, it is subterfuge to some extent; forcing the Soviets to respond to threats on their eastern front would pull some attention (and troops) away from the western front, which would help Germany and Italy pull off a successful Sea Lion AND Barbarossa in turn.  Kinda of like not letting your left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.  However, with a Sealion going into action on Round 3 or 4, Japan may be forced to focus entirely on eliminating India so that the UK is incapable of sending reinforcements anywhere else.

I’m wondering what Italy will be required to take in the Med to stop UK air from reaching England.  Definitely Gibraltar and Malta, and all of the African coast, excepting Egypt maybe.  Italy has its hands full.  Maybe it would be best for Germany to ditch Sealion and just go after the Med early and take what it can get?