Baron Munchhausen's 1941 alternate setup for 1942.2 based on AA50 1941

I saw that it was based on AA50. Much as I dig that game, I wish that the 41 opener had a more high stakes Barbarossa script, where the Luftwaffe is used there primarily instead of for destroying the British on the water or in Egypt or wherever.

Just for example, in the OOB set up for AA50, all the round 1 battles on the Eastern front have Germany facing off against Russian infantry. In reality like half the red airforce was destroyed on the ground in the opening hours of the war.

This could easily be modelled by having some fighters (lightly defended) parked on the front lines, or even a naked fighter or two one tile back from the front lines. Like something that could be airblitzed by German aircraft and destroyed in the opening round. (The game doesn’t really teach players how to airblitz, which is unfortunate since it’s kind of an important move to learn.)

The German opening could be scripted in such a way that instead of using British warships to “tie down the luftwaffe” you could use Soviet aircraft for this purpose instead. It would create I think a more interesting flavor to the Barbarossa opening, with German fighters squaring off against Russian fighters (and destroying most of them) instead of just pretending that the Red airforce wasn’t the largest on earth at the time, and giving the Russians only a couple “safe” fighters way behind the lines.

You could even do something similar with armor, where the opening script has German panzers destroying a bunch of red tanks in frontline territories during the first round. These could represent the T 26s that just got smoked. Then leave the second round  (with Russian armor deeper behind the lines) representing the introduction of superior T 34s and KV1s. You don’t need a bunch of different sculpts to depict this stuff, but just using starting position and strength to showcase German superiority in the outset, by allowing them to destroy heavier hitting Russian units in the first round.

That would be a much more interesting way to draw down German aircraft than using British ships. It needs to happen somewhere for gameplay (for game balance), because the Axis need to start with lots of air units in A&A. They need high value targets to keep them preoccupied on the first turn, I just think why not do this on the eastern front instead vs UK? Put more of the soviet front line hitpoints as tanks and fighters, so G has to really commit to an epic opening invasion. One that befits the largest invasion in human history. Where they have to make deep coordinated attacks across a wide front and even punch behind the lines to pick off exposed red fighters or tanks using the airblitz move.

It would also give the Soviets a chance to perhaps see an extra fighter or a couple tanks survive the opening, instead of just stack trades that are easy to calculate at overwhelming advantage.

The airblitz is an inherently more dynamic play than a stack trade or even a strafe. It would be cool if the opener had one scripted in.

Imagine for example that the Russian starting set up showed like just a single Red fighter parked naked in Belo, and another in E. Ukraine. (In 1942.2 you could do it in Arch/W. Russia). Say Germany has 5-6 aircraft in range. The advantage of destroying Russian air whenever possible is clear, so G calculates that it’s a smart play to airblitz in this first turn. Now you have an interesting decision. Do they split the Luftwaffe and go 3 v 1 or 2 v 1 to attack naked Russian fighters. Or go with just 2v1 in each tile and hold a fighter or two in reserve to support other more conservative attacks. Or do they go all in with their airforce to airblitz a single tile and truly ice it in the first round of combat, make sure to kill at least one of the two red fighters behind the lines.

Stuff like that would be cooler I think than having them dedicated to sinking a British battleship.

Thoughts?

ps. here is a quick drafting of what I mean. Using the OOB AA50 1941 situation as a point of departure.

You can see from the edit history where I switched out Russian front line infantry for more powerful units. Its basically the same number of hitpoints, but with more TUV at stake, and a more epic feel to the German invasion. Something that looked more like this would be cool.

It wouldn’t take any longer to set up than the OOB starting units (since it is using pretty much the same number of sculpts), but it would make for a German opener where they really have to hit Russia hard. You know, like its the largest ground invasion in world history.
:-D

For the German fighters, you could reorient more of these to be in Poland (instead of the OOB position shown in the image below, where they’re all positioned west), so they’re within striking distance of the Soviets… In other words have the Luftwaffe positioned to airblitz the Russians instead of for air attacks against the Royal Navy, and design a script that encourages this.

Or at the very least, make it a tough opening decision. Destroy the Red Airforce on the ground? Or destroy the British Atlantic fleet at anchor? With not enough air to do both at the same time. That way there is at least a built in balance for either play.

AA50 Barbarossa set up.tsvg

Yup, this is fantastic reasoning! Something has always bothered me about the 1941 openings, and I think you’ve just articulated it perfectly.

I favor giving Germany the choice to sink the British Atlantic fleet or to take out the Soviet air force on the ground, but not both. It just leads to more interesting strategic variety. I will work on that design tonight for 1942.2.

For clarity, an “airblitz” is just when you send a bunch of fighters and bombers to attack a territory even when your land units can’t reach, right?

Hey Baron,
just finished a game with your AA anniversary 1941 set-up on the 1942.2 board.  It was long and enduring but really fun! I thought for sure that the Germans were going to steam roll the Russians, but the Russian D stiffened at Stalingrad and the Germans were never able to push farther east.  Also the western allies were being a pain for the Germans with landings on Norway, north Western Europe, France and eventually Africa.  Time was running out for the Germans and they had to eventually pull back there units from the east and transfer them to the west to battle the western allies.  Meanwhile Japan was very strong on the Asian campaign.  The Americans went all out pacific and both navies were playing a cat and mouse game until the end when Japan knew it was already licked.  Japan did take Moscow, but it didn’t matter because the Americans took Berlin the next turn.  After that the western allies basically used there economic advantage and started taking back Japanesse holdings on the pacific islands and Asian continent .  I tried the turn order you recommended Germany, UK, Japan, USA, and Russia and it played out well.  I really appreciate the work you and Argothair and Black elk put on here for alternative set-ups! I always enjoy trying something new.

I played a solo match using the boardgame.  I don’t think things would have changed if Germany held one more round.  The western allies were putting a lot of pressure on them from France, Italy, Western Europe, and Norway.  Germany was on full defense mode and pulling every man and material back to the fatherland lol.  Japan would have moved into western Russia and other territories on the eastern front, but once USA got the German factory operating Japan was in trouble.  I played allowing China to move into Russia.  Two Chinese inf were able to escape to Stalingrad. The rest were wiped out by the Japanese forces during the Chinese campaign.  I guess adding national objectives is always nice.  It gives a little more spice to the game.  I thought the set-up was good and pretty even on both sides. Yes I have been following the SF experiment.  I also live in the SF area lol.  Overall though I thought the game played out really well.  If you ever make a 1942 anniversary set-up for the 1942.2 map I would defiantly be interested.

That would be great! Keep me posted.  I’m actually seeing Arogthair next weekend for a big 1940 Global game.

Yeah we have about twenty guys in our Bay Area group.  Black Elk is also in our group just haven’t met him yet lol. Hopefully soon though.  A great group of guys who love A&A. :)