Victory Conditions

Global 42 is an official axis and allies game. Some might not be aware of it or the fact it was designed for tournament play. It’s been out for several years now. 7 full rounds at which point you count axis controlled IPCs (not counting NOs). If Axis have 125 IPCs on the board they win.

But the point of this thread is about the balance it provides. Granted, it’s almost a totally different game than G40. And many discussions have focused on the idea of balance. Interestingly, I think the turn order is the main reason. Plus it’s kind of nostalgic (when remembering the turn order of Classic/Revised):
Russia
Japan
America
China
Germany
British/UK Pacific
Italy
ANZAC
France

Japan: Starts with 14 planes as opposed to 21. Has the option to conduct a risky naval opener. It may achieve a head start for limited naval supremacy. It could also get India on round 3 if the UK player isn’t careful. However, Japan could easily fall apart due to having 7 less planes and risky opener battles.

Germany: No longer has the Italian can opener threat. This is huge and really changes the dynamics. Germany gets attacked by Russia first, and has to re-cock. German units are in N. Africa and in the Med is a destroyer n’ transport. However, Germany can’t easily go everywhere like it can in G40.

For 7 rounds, the Axis can rampage and win according to the tournament victory rules.

However, if playing according to the regular OOB rules for victory, I think this setup leans Allies but not as much as G40 leans Axis.
Is this a balanced setup as is or would the axis need a small bid, maybe 3-10 IPCs. I think a small bid would make the Global very balanced and probably more fun for both sides.

@Aaron_the_Warmonger:

@simon33:

Dutch are allies. You don’t need to convert these territories to uk or Anzac control to land fighters on them. The fighters can be landed the same turn as the troops.

Are you sure?  looking at the rules i see under Dutch Territories in the pacific rulebook that They are treated as friendly to allies except for UK/ANZAC guardianship.  under friendly neutrals it says you may not attack a friendly neutral or fly air units over it, but may move land units onto it in noncombat.

I assume friendly meant friendly neutral.  So we assumed that until the dutch territory has been controlled since the start of your turn by an ally, you can’t land on it.  I would love some clarification on this if anyone has it (preferably with a rule’s citation!)  thanks everyone!

I’m sure. Dutch aren’t friendly neutral. Although the rulebook doesn’t make this as clear as I would like. Most convincing bit is here:
@Pac:

These two powers also have an arrangement with the
Dutch government in exile (Holland having been captured
by Germany) and have taken guardianship of the Dutch
territories in the Pacific.

Who are you playing Base2ball? What is your game plan?

Not to mention the capture of the Persian Gulf oil fields by the axis.

That is why I prefer to incorporate the “no more than one unit per territory or seazone” rule.

I think the great variation that bids provide allow for great replayability. Who wants a game that always depends on what kind of dice Germany got G1? Pick sides, set up the board, roll a couple dice, quit. Blech.

To your point about a 12 being too much, though - only 1 game has been finished in the league this year with a bid over 11, and the axis(-15) won.

Most good players are not going to give their opponent more than 10, is what we’ve been seeing in the league results. And among what appear to be opponents of close skill level, the Allies have won at +9, +10, +8, +10, +9, and +8. And the Axis have won at -9, -15, -7, -9, and -11. Yes, that’s a small sample size, but it seems to be pretty even.

I think the best judges of when a game is fair and balanced are the players. As you can see, over half the games have been run at an 8 or 9. And 2/3 of those games have been won by the Allies. You have people that don’t want to give bids too big, people that acknowledge the Axis has an advantage, people that don’t really want to play the Allies - it’s an interesting and fluid dynamic that always seems to find its own level.

As for my most epic comeback. I was axis. Berlin was turtled up with allies surrounding it in aa50. Japan was ready to attack moscow next round, I just had to survive berlin one more round. Rome was American

Allies all in berlin, uk goes first with about 60% odds. uk fails, usa goes with about 80% odds… fails. Germany scores improved artilly and blows up taking back territories. Japan goes to hit russia to end the game, with 1.5 tanks for every russian inf and 6 fighters for his 2… Japan loses hard.

Anyway 5 rounds later the game is still going the battles still raging. Germany blew up in europe to make 10 inf/arty a turn. italy only made 3 inf.

Japan with armor units to match infantry just couldn’t take russia every round 14 armor coming in hot, just no dice. Then the all in on berlin happens one more time… back to back uk / usa. usa draws with germany, berlin was empty.

then finally Japan took russia. uk failed berlin, usa got it. Meanwhile in the pacific. Japan in desperation attacked hollywood 1 armor and LRA that it discovered and took hollywood. USA had two armor on east usa, and japan defended.

that was epic.

I was rolling 3 tech rolls for about 10 rounds with japan and finally got something lol, perfect timing cos I just bought bombers on japan last turn.

@TheDefinitiveS:

So to get the topic back to victory conditions as I have not had a chance to look at alpha setup because im apparently banned from the larry harris website is it 8 out of 11 AND 6 out of 8 VCs or is it 8 out of 11 OR 6 out of 8 VCs

or

Well I guess you could do it another way

Like here’s Europe 40’s Axis and Allies victory:
Berlin, Warsaw, Rome, Cairo, Paris, Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow
Heres Pacific 40
Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Calcutta, Sydney

Now I guess you could take London and not take like Sydney so like taking 5 on Pacific and 9 on Europe.