Bids

Well there are two ways for the axis to win; either take two capitals or get an economic victory.  Yes, my plan would be to go after Russia.  I think 21 ipc might be a bit low to do this (I might give it a try for fun though).

Taking the US or UK isn’t realistically going to happen without acheiving what would be an economic victory anyway; so what is the best way for the Axis to do this - Russia or Africa?

In my opinion, Africa is not rich enough to justify a massive Axis attempt to hold in the early game - especially as the US/UK are always going to be able to send more resources there than the Axis.  They generally take Africa back before Japan gains enough in Asia for an economic victory. Additionally, if Germany sends too much resources there, the Russians become problematic.

If Russia falls however, then the Axis will soon have all Asia and for an economic victory then the Axis can take a look at Africa again.

I shot you an email, I hope I put it in right and you just haven’t gotten to it yet. I sent it to lfrank87@gmail.com.

Read this whole thread for a comprehensive explanation:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=7927.0

In a nutshell, bidding helps to even out the playing field.  If you played on a soccer team and always beat another soccer team by a large margin, you might “spot the other team 2 goals” to even up the playing field.

Bidding accomplishes the same thing in axis and allies.  The team that (almost) always wins without a bid is the Allies.  So the Axis are spotted some extra money at the start of the game to help even up the sides.  They can either use that money to immediately purchase units and place them on the board before the game even starts, or they can save the money and add it to one or both of the axis’ coffers.

How much money is spotted is up to the players.  Hence a “bid” format was created where player A and player B both bid to play the axis with $X extra.  Whoever bid LESS (less money going to the axis) gets to play the axis with that money.

Eg. Player A “I’ll play the axis with 8 IPC extra.”
Player B “I’ll play the axis with 6 IPC extra.”
Player A “You’re nuts!  The 6 IPC is not enough extra IPC to win as the axis.  I’ll let you play the axis with your extra 6 IPC and I’ll blow you out of the water with the Allies.  Game On!”

Rus can easily afford to lose a few inf if it kills Ger arm.

Yeah, well that’s what you get when you face against Russian tanks and artillery. Poor Japs. :(

(though it is impressive when you look at what the Japanese still held after the war was over)

Also, a bit more detail on ranges etc here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1146

Xi kindly clarified for me in another thread that you couldn’t build an IC with money from the bid. Are there any other bidding related tournament rules?

what happens if you’re bid doesn’t divide exactly into new units? which country gets the remaining IPCs? axis players choice i presume? can you buy tech rolls with the IPCs? what about AAs (not that you’d want to, but still)? Can you place newly purchased fighters on ACs? can you place german units on japanese starting positions and vice-versa?

thanks for any info! :)

I asked the same basic question under Player Help. Look there and see if the answers I got help you.