What's the first thing you'll do upon getting Europe 1940?

You get to spend all of your starting money at the start of your first turn. At the end of your first turn you get the IPC value of all of the territories you control (plus the value of every National Objective met). That money from the end of your first turn will be your starting money at the start of your second turn. Continue until game ends.

-Midnight_Reaper

Afraid not. The two are separate economies.

My recommendation is to hit him hard in Normandy and see about landing only a couple infantry in Norway.  Taking Norway loses him those IPCs plus the Scandinavian trade bonus, which will hurt his economy by at least a Panzer purchase per turn, and he can’t afford to split his attention so many ways.  Just like he is trying with Russia, give him a death by a thousand little cuts.  If you can convoy raid him (if you are playing with raids, that is), then you can knock him down even more.  Of course, I may just be a bit overaggressive– I can’t see what all you can, but anything to stop the Scandinavian bonus is a good thing for beleaguered Russia.

@Rednalyn:

It would be nice if one could by the 2nd ed rulebook

Yes it would, printing out the set ups can get messy and lost easily, it would be nice to have a proper book…also a shame about missing out on all the awesome pieces.

@Krieghund:

Welcome, drmckool!

NO stands for National Objective.

thank you very much, I should have figured that’s what it was, I actually love the national objectives, particularly Lebensraum; even though the historical link between lebensraum and the actual launching of Barbarossa is slightly tenuous. I found as a historian the national objectives (NO) really adds to the game because it really grounds the action in concrete history.

@LHoffman:

Interesting, yes… but I don’t think the similarity between the A&A game and Axis pact you reference is intentional. By that I mean it was a total coincidence. Taking into account all of the other errors in Pacific and previous versions, there is no way that the designers paid that much attention to detail. I bet it just looked like a logical place to split the board for them.

Yeah. I think they just split it where China ended, and that happened to be there.

Besides, 10 degrees is a large error.

@Whackamatt:

but the axis would probably never want the US able to focus only on one theater of war

Depends on which Axis player I’m controlling.   :lol:

It could be a good thing.  I won’t really know until I see the set up.  Perhaps America being unable to aid in Europe would spell the end for the UK or possibly Russia.

Pretty sure that Larry said that a US that doesn’t spend income both ways to a degree will usually result in an Allied loss. Probably Germany is powerful enough that if the US goes full steam toward Japan, then Germany can keep less men in France and bust through Russia easier.

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?