Axis and Allies MB edition: inquiry form included in the box

Personally, I prefer MB GameMaster Edition.

Results of testing…

Interesting idea, but not viable against a good opponent.

UK re-taking of reinforcing Egypt throws a major monkey wrench in getting those aircraft to Europe.  Best I could do in almost all cases was get them to Germany for use in J5 instead of J4.  By that time, the volume of transports alone was so great that even without capital ships also in the UK sea zone, Japan would have probably have lost most of their aircraft on the first attack.

Also, the number of aircraft is wrong.  If Russia strikes Manchuria on R1, then Japan loses a fighter.  Although a Russia attack on Manchuria in R1 DOES make it easier for Japan to still move against Russia without air support.

However, if Russia consolidates in Yakut in R1, then the lack of air-power makes Yakut way too difficult for Japan to crack for SEVERAL rounds.  Every test I ran showed that Russia holding Yakut and NOT going after Manchuria (or re-taking SFE) was a superior strategy for Russia.  It kept Japan’s navy out of action against Russian forces.  Any move by Russia to a coastal territory improved Japan’s ability to function without those fighters (actually, Russia does far better against Japan even if the fighters are kept for use against Russia’s eastern territories if Russia keeps their forces away from Japan’s navy.)

India is the stumbling block to this Japan strategy.  If the Japan AF consolidates in Burma, UK abandones India and reinforces/re-takes Egypt.  This takes away Japan’s transit LZ, trapping those fighters in Asia for additional rounds, and out of position for flexible use in potential Asian combat theaters like Yakut (they can reach Yakut, but the European transit is set back to square 1).

Lastly, on those occasions when those fighters were able to move into Africa to stage for the last flight to Europe, it left the US with a wide open Pacific to tear through.  A couple of subs and tranny’s and US started to gobble up islands quickly.  The remaining Japan capital ships (2 BB’s, a sub,  and a carrier with no fighters) were destroyed engaging a VERY cheap US fleet; a fleet that was followed by a couple more tranny’s and subs that proceeded to take the Pacific AND Burma virtually un-opposed.  Two subs in that fleet is all it took to break through the unguarded Japan tranny’s that were shifted to attempt to reinforce their soft positions in southern Asia.

I’ve played the WWII scenario in Civ2, but it takes too much micro management. I love all the civs, but usually don’t play the scenarios.

…rules that is historically accurate and even makes sense…

Ummm……there is no way that Stalin would have put his forces under the command of the US or UK, or vice versa. Remember, after the Germans surrendered a large portion of the US military wanted to keep going to Moscow. Wisely they decided not to.

As far as the factories go, they are one of the most unrealistic parts of the game. The UK builds a factory in Persia and starts cranking out armor, not to mention aircraft carriers and battleships? Not an easy task.

Not playing by these rules is essential, as SUD said. I remember using them back in the dark ages and I could beat the axis without using the US at all. Russia holds off Germany while the UK pounds Japan and then turns back west and Russia and the UK run over Germany.

@MacArthurFan:

I’ve been playing A&A for quite awhile now. Has anyone else tried the strategy (while playing the Allies) of having Britian and America buy nothing but bombers, and sending them all to Germany (I’m not talking about heavy bombers, but just plain old bombers). I have tried this numerous times, and by the end of the 3rd round, Germany usually can’t buy anything. Even when Russia falls to Germany, and Japan gets really strong, if UK and US keep buying bombers, Germany and ultimately Japan simply can’t make enough money to buy anything. AA guns have proven to my satisfaction that they are not able to combat this strategy. I am very interested to know if anyone else has tried this.

amen to that brother but its stupid

There is - look for them (Axis and allies, and Iron Blitz) - prolly find them on ebay.

Ah, forgot the “additionally” clause. Overall, this seems pretty sound. When I play Russia, usually I focus too much on Germany and sometimes forget how quickly the Japanese can creep up in my back door. On average, I may shift 2 inf now to Nov, and I’m sure another 4 would help me out without jeopardizing my Eastern Europe Operations. However, what I like about Russia is accessibility. Even if I forget to place 4 inf. in Russia early on, I can do so later due to fact that Nov is only one space away, making supply lines a minimal concern.