MY review

what were the allies doing in your Sprimg 41 Axis massacre games?
Could they/should they have done something differently to help stop the Axis victory?

Of course the game is balanced, you just have to learn to play it right. Now playing the Allies take som planning, you cant just strike here and there just on impulse.

What did USA do except invading UK?

IL, it seems that the big problem in your games was that Germany took over Russia too easily and too quickly by buying only tanks in the first 3 (?) turns. Is that right?

If so, I wonder how you defended France + Berlin itself from invading British fleet and starting from turn 2 invading USA fleet… The Italians can clean up a bit, I know, but they can’t clean 4 loads of UK trannies + 2 loads of USA trannies from France…

How can Italy (1941) land fighters on newly captured territories when Russia moves first?

Last night we just finished a monster AA50 '41 NOs and tech game ending with a very narrow Allied victory. Here’s some points from the game:

The Allies went all-out KGF. UK shucked units into Karelia for the first three turns, after which Germany succeeded in bombing their navy to pieces, but then US took over the amphibious invading and UK focused on SBR. UK built a South African IC that helped to keep Africa. US invasions of Algeria, France and then Italy made things difficult for the European Axis. USA built cruisers, transports, land units and bombers after a first turn buy of a  carrier on the East coast. Japan mopped up everything and ended up grabbing Moscow AND Western US in the same turn (the second conquest was due to a mistake in builds due to fatigue on the US player part but didn’t really change the game). But by then Italy had already fallen and Germany fell to a US tank and bomber attack. Germany did dominate the Russians for most of the game, but was very hampered by a Heavy bomber SBR campaign and due to limited production narrowly failed to take back France which in hindsight was a gamebreaker since USA could then build an IC there. Techs was rampant: UK got Heavy Bombers on turn 1, US on turn 4 or 5 (as well as Super subs and Improved shipyards), Germany got Paras and Japan Jets and Long-range air. We concluded that the game was very difficult for the Allies and without Heavy Bombers it would have been hard to conquer Germany. But techs are now so easy to get that is actually not that random but rather a part of strategy. We can’t see right now how anything else than KGF is the way to go in the '41 scenario, but we might be wrong (?).

So, IL, yes Germany buys hordes of tanks and uses the air force against Russia, but UK should invade on the East front and USA be very aggressive with amph invasions, and SBR also helps to even out things. Italy is not that dangerous since once their navy is destroyed they are sitting ducks. In our game, the Axis had 12 VCs at one point and would have a won a VC victory if they hadn’t just lost France. We think a KGF is the best way to stop a 13 VC victory since stopping Japan in the Pacific just seems too expensive!

(We still haven’t tried the '42 scenario which looks very different. We hope it allows for more varied strategies for the Allies. Another possibility would be to play the '41 scenario without NOs and techs, not sure the balance consequences of that but probably overall in Allied favour since NOs are a major part of Axis dominance in the beginning.)

This is the second review I read where UK got heavies on UK1….

I would like to see a few games with no tech but with NO’s. And see how that turns out it if the allies go all out KGF. Tech is better than in the old games, but still it is very hard to judge playbalance if tech can swing the balance either way.

Still, keep up the reviews it’s a nice read!  :-) Especially since we are still waiting our copy over here…  :x

Good to read that the revised Japanese strategy worked for you IL. Thanks for the reviews, like Driel said we are still waiting for ours :x

I really think a tweak in the NOs will be needed. Japan has got to be toned down, it’s like the USA is fighting a mirror of itsself. KGF strategies seemed more of a “lets not fight Japan because they are too strong” strategy.

Tweaking NOs will be where we find balance and realism.

Better making China a true playing power, not a sparring who can be killed J1 in 1941 scenario  :-P. Heavy bids for China would aid

@Imperious:

I render this game heavily slanted toward Axis in a way that is unimaginable. I am truly sorry but its true.

for starters:

IN 1941 Germany can create quite easily a tank drive straight toward Moscow. The Soviet factories are huge problematic points that prove a weakness in the Soviet position and make it much harder to “give up land for time” because frankly nothing can stop German tanks from taking Karelia factory, while the Soviets by even trying to defend Moscow or the factories face an unmitigated task of stopping the Panzers from multiple defensive points.

So the Soviets are divided by protection of her factories, which weakens the overall structure of her defense allowing either the Italian and or German to choose which weak point to pick off next.

Italy is like a ‘can opener’ or an elite commando team that can follow the German player in with her fighters ( she can build one fighter a turn) and also attack and prep by landing troops in the black sea or following the German victors by placing her fighters in recently captured territories…something that Germany didn’t have before.

Further their is a game breaking uber “can opener” feature where Japan brings in 4 fighters easily from FIC after Germany takes Caucasus.

BY turn 2 Karelia falls, this weakens Caucasus because the Soviets need to now defend Moscow… that’s where the “can opener” Italy starts working by softening up Caucasus, then Germany takes…then japan brings in fighters.

Soviets losing 2 factories will soon lose Moscow.

I also played the Soviets in 1942…

I barely beat back the German Panzers that took Caucasus and Karelia. He had 4 tanks vs my 2 tanks and 2 Inf. I should have lost. UK had to bail me out by hitting 6 tanks in the Baltic states. This was a placement error on my opponents part. If he used his strategy with more precision the result would have been different. The Soviets basically cleared out all the German land units by exchanges. IN that game Italy didn’t play the “can opener” and they basically didn’t coordinate well with Germans.

The Soviet player needs to be have some air units: 1 bomber in 41 and 1 fighter in 42

Also, the Soviets should be able to move her factories so she does not have to protect them if she cant. Germany used this point to prove that she cant.

Placement rules need to change for home territories like Moscow.

Germany can elect to follow my strategy for 2 bombers and then use 3 bombers against Moscow and make it impossible. Thank god nobody tried that.

The Soviets need some kind of reserve force that they secretly place and consists of offensive units.

ok, so the Soviet Union is still a lame duck … for what you wrote here it seems even worst than on Revised…
dam! I haven’t got my game (ordered by mail) yet and I already want my money back!  :cry:

@Driel310:

I would like to see a few games with no tech but with NO’s. And see how that turns out it if the allies go all out KGF. Tech is better than in the old games, but still it is very hard to judge playbalance if tech can swing the balance either way.

I really enjoyed playing AA50 last night – we hammered on it for 9+ hours.  Some of the best fun I’ve had in a long time.  Not all of are old timers so buys and planning took longer than average.

The thing that jumped out at me was the tech.  With all the huge sums of money flowing around the board, it is just too easy to drop money on tech.  Especially when it is more of an investment than a gamble.

Japanese long range aircraft on T2 hammered the US fleet – over an over again.  They start off with so many aircraft it just seemed that they were everywhere – just when you didn’t want them to be.  Japan was a MONSTER.

US got improved shipyards, but Japan got it the next turn as well.  So, as much as I love the tech I think we’re going to have to play some games without tech to get a real feel for the game.

Thanks for the reviews, they’ve been very helpful in patching together some strategies and tactics.  It’s just all so new it’s hard to figure out where to start.

So, the OOB gameplay of this AA game is imbalanced: what’s new with that?  :-D
Remember 2nd Ed or AAR !
Whine & curse about it´- then get over it , and suggest your solutions!

@Imperious:

If so, I wonder how you defended France + Berlin itself from invading British fleet and starting from turn 2 invading USA fleet… The Italians can clean up a bit, I know, but they can’t clean 4 loads of UK trannies + 2 loads of USA trannies from France…But in all games invasions of 4 units was revoked by Italy and made it hard unless UK had more transports which they did build. But remember the game lasted like 3-4 turns so the Soviet factory crush was deciding the game…

4 units in France? What the hell did UK do? They should at least have 3 transports, maybe even 4 on their turn 2 invasion.

Germany plays after the Soviets. Germany takes a Soviet territory and Italy shadows with fighters and other stuff landed by transports in Black sea. The Soviets have to fight 2 nations.

In 41 Germany plays BEFORE the Soviets.

Very limited experience here, but…

I am looking at the game board ('41) and wondering why Russia only has 1 tank and 2 artillery, but has a worthless little submarine still???

I like the idea of restoring Moscow to 8 IPC, no reason it should be significantly less than everyone else’s.  I think the eastern blocks shoulda been grided out, not spun like a wheel like they are.

Italy seems really menacing if they take out Africa.  That’s +11 IPC a round for Italy, not insignificant!  Outside of that, yea, I don’t see why they shouldn’t focus on keeping the Allies out of Europe while Germany pounds on the underpowered nation of Russia.

Remember, Russia had a massive army in World War II.  Between Russia and England, Germany and Italy should be stalemated, it was the addition of American forces that turned the battle.  In Classic and AAR this is the case.  UK/USSR can hold their own against Germany without American support and they can win with American support.

Just from what I see, I’d say Russia should get +2 Fighters, -1 Industrial complex in Karelia and merge a couple of the Territories with Moscow eliminating their IPC values (hence raising Moscow to 8 IPC value).  This won’t change much in the way of Russia’s income, but it would at least give Russia something other than artillery and tanks to trade with.

If not two fighters, one at least.  They DID have an air force!

Well, for starters the Black Sea should be closed for sea transport like in AAE. This will stop the ridiculous Italian invansions in the Ukraine and Caucasus.