So if new changes are Final.. when will Larry update his site?

@scotth409

I also play this with my gaming group. I agree with squire - Allies have the advantage.

Japan can grab Indian rnd 3 (naval base in French Indo rnd 2) and if you’re playing to win, that’s the way I would go.

If you want to create more play in Africa/Med you can try a German airbase in Greece rnd 1. Britain can attack with fig, tac, bmr, cruiser for an even fight with the destroyer and 3 figs.

If you want to try something a little crazy with Japan, have a look at the following;

1 bomber, 1 fighter and 1 tactical_bomber moved from Japan to 26 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 tactical_bomber moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 battleship moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 destroyer moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 submarine moved from 49 Sea Zone to 62 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 42 Sea Zone to 62 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 42 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 cruiser, 1 destroyer and 1 submarine moved from 47 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 33 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 cruiser moved from 33 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone

If all goes right you won’t be in bad shape. However, there is a massive whole in this opening that can be exploited by US/Anzac. If they choose not to scramble in Pearl Harbor they can attack the BB and loaded Carrier in sz 54 with 3 fig, tac and bmr then have Anzac clean up, if anything is left. You can prevent this by bringing in an extra carrier and landing the 2nd fig from the attack on sz 49. BUT, you can only do this if you’re not forced to provide landing for the surviving fighters in Pearl. All in all pretty messy and not a very good opening. Let me know if you take the plunge and how it works out.

Best move for Britain IMHO is an airbase in Gibraltar. I don’t use the US fig to attack the 2 German des, just 2bmr and a des, this gives you an extra fig in Gibraltar. The idea is to park your cruiser in sz 92 to prevent Italy from getting thier NO. They can attack, but have to cover the scramble and will have their fleet wide open for a counter attack.

@taamvan:

You could even do a house rule for that, such that 1-3 US destroyers would be able to cross ATL and join/protect UK/ally fleets during defensive combats on turns 1-4.

I am currently working on a house rule where one can do that with Lend-Lease that US can transfer equipment.

I am also trying to set up a different rule for declaration of war where you can declare war but if you don’t have just cause, then you take a penalty for attacking but if you have just cause, then of course you’re free to declare war.

I was going to changed the let up of all units, try to get it to reflect actual WWII in 1940, for example USSR will actually have a Pacific Fleet as an example.

I was going to something crazy like put in merchant ships for Lend-Lease that will make convoy zones more useful and for pain in the A$$ to disrupted. So I had an idea setting up fighter units closer to real numbers ( I am making this number up to make an example) Let’s say I put ten fighters on London, I was going to make one of them a US fighter to represent Eagle Squadron, US will be neutral however because Eagle Squadron is in London, this is a “just cause point” for Germany and Italy to go to war with US.

I have other examples but this makes the point.

Now we have our game running. This is what I did:

I mailed him the first turn and explained how to start the game. He then made his turn and started to play a solo game. I will also send him turn two and three and hope that will show him how the game works. Afterall he still has to move the units and conduct combat. Until now it works quite well.

Only 10% believe allies have an advantage, maybe I am not so crazy after all for thinking axis advantage.

@Boyardee:

Is Mr Harris suppose to publish an up to date version on the rulebook in pdf?

WotC (Wizards of the Coast) generally publishes a pdf available to download some months after the release of the game.  I would look there, but not until the release of the 2nd addition.  Until then, you’ll have to use to the OOB rulebook in conjunction with official FAQ/Errata and the Alpha 3 rules.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Unfortunately my friends don’t come over enough, so I end up just testing out different strategies. Right now I am trying really hard as Germany to bomb the living heck out of Britain. And it’s working: at the end of G2, ALL British facilities on the island (except for airbase Scotland) were gone. The whole Royal Navy was gone as well (but so was the Kriegsmarine). I figure with the bombing and the subs I’m throwing at Britain it’s almost better to just bomb them. Because I think I could even when the US came into the war. Russia is going to die, and I think Germany is going to do really well.

As for Italy, they’re in major trouble with Africa. On UKE1 I tried out taking Tobruk. I succeeded (albeit at the cost of not having my Med. AF available to pound the Italian Navy), which has thrown Italy on its heels. Also, I landed 1 loaded trans. from GB (with 2 inf.) and if it survived the U-boats G2, it would’ve grabbed Brazil.

Japan is probably going to crush India/China, but since Russia is under so much pressure to retreat they’ll probably leave each other alone and not trigger the Mongol infantry.