Posts made by 88 Millimeter

There is another choice that I have never seen posted. I like it because the British (theoretically) lose no pieces. It used to be my opening British move every time.

Use the British Fighter on the Indian Ocean Carrier to attack the Japanese Transport. Land it in Buryatia with a stack of 6 Russian Infantry. It serves two purposes- it leaves nothing to be counterattacked and destroyed, saving a Destroyer, and it makes the 6 Russian Infantry much harder to kill if Japan decides not to do Pearl.

The British Fighter can fly to India or the Caucasus next turn.

Crit- never checked this thread again, sorry no reply-

Absolutely- I’d land round one if only confronted by 5 German Fighters and a Bomber. Battleship, Dest, 4 Trans, Sub vs. Luftwaffe? A great exchange. Considering I’d buy a U.S. Carrier/ 2 Transports + Dest from Panama for second wave, + 2 Transports/ 3 Inf + Arm for Britain UK1.

Back to the battle- Germany gets 3 hits (BB, Russian sub, US Trans) vs Allies 2 hits (2 German Fighters) round 1
                           Germany gets 2 hits (2 Trans) vs Allies 2 hits (2 more German Fighters- ouch!) round 2
                           Germany gets 1 hit (remaining Trans) vs Allies 1 hit (last German Fighter- what have I done?) round 3
                           Germany gets 1 hit (US Dest) vs Allies 1 hit (Bomber dead, end of Luftwaffe, end of Germany, end of game)

Facing me you would never have the Ukrainian Fighter if you were wondering why only 5 German Fighters. I’m an aggressive M-f-er with Russia. Dead Ukraine, dead W Russia, nice Armor reserve (3 Inf/ 3 Arm R1 purchase).

I’m also assuming no bid. I never play with one (FTF player, my only PC’s at work, I like being employed so gaming bad idea). So unless you’re a wild man and leave Egypt alone, and bring your Med fleet + 1 Inf to Gibraltar, I’ll happily land in Algeria every time!  :-P :-D

I never, EVER bought German navy. All land (mixed with air) always felt right to me. Kill my navy and see if I care. My Infantry will overwhelm you…

But Octo, I have joined with the Evil Empire (not the NYY  :-D) of those who purchase a G1 carrier. sob  …I never thought this day would come…

The northern economy lasts longer with the Baltic fleet around. Good Allied play will kill your fleet around turn 4, but precious time was bought for 16 IPCs.

The trick is to not spend any more money on navy whatsoever. The carrier is a delaying tactic only. And I fly my Fighters to safety when destruction is imminent, rather than losing them in an attempt to take out a couple more ships.

Economy is the issue. Every time W Europe is taken it’s 6 IPCs (most likely) for Britain. That adds up fast. And Britain can up the ante by continuously bringing a greater number of troops, and thus requiring a greater response from Germany each round. It bleeds Germany, and lets Britain focus completely on Europe- they’re making up for the IPC losses of the African/ Pacific theatre with a 6 IPC country.

As Germany I’d rather not have to worry about France- stay just ahead of the Allied ability to invade with an Infantry stack. Once you are able to defend all of your units can go east. Eventually, if compromised, you pull your forces back and bait the trap. Fighters based in France are actually quite versatile if you put them into a rotation with a few parked on the front. And if you need them bad enough you pull them out of France anyways.

James- the last part of your post was right on- I like to always keep Germany under pressure on as many fronts as possible. I know that when I play Germany I’m relieved when I only have to defend either the top or the bottom. Having to defend both slows down the push into Russia. Think of it this way- how many times as Germany have the Allies moved one of their fleets, and suddenly your Germany based troops or S Europe based troops can move east? Since I know the feeling, when I’m the Allies I never like my opponent to feel comfortable. Even if I know the whole time that it’s only a threat- my adversary doesn’t.

Crit- good point about the north- 3x3 is strong up there. I usually play against people who continually threaten Africa with Japan, so I like to keep the upper hand economically by putting 6 U.S. ground units a turn into Algeria, and walking them across. Eventually they become a factor that can’t be ignored by the Axis. And if you really need to, your navy can move forward and they’ll be in the Caucasus in 2 rounds. But as a general rule- the north is better strategically, as the troops see action much sooner.

You nerd.

Actually, I painted my pieces too… umm…  :oops:

Use the old set- use the old Battleships as Heavy Cruisers (Scharnhorst anyone?). 18 IPCs, Attack 3, Defend 3, two hits to kill, bombard on a 1.

The old set Fighters are also cool for carrier based aircraft- make your own variations for TDB planes.

These are just some starters- get as creative as you want then playtest. You’ll usually know pretty quickly if you’ve tipped the balance too far in one direction, then you can tweak the rules.

Sorry if this doesn’t completely address your question, but the group I play with got rid of Heavy Bombers entirely. Problem solved.

If a bomber gets shot down we allow a 1-3 IPC final bombing as a consolation prize- it lessens the sting of losing it a little. We figure that realistically the whole 8th Air Force can’t be shot down before dropping some bombs…

The bombing on a 3  is something to take a look at. Nice idea.

3 cats, an active 8 month old, and a wife who’d rather play D&D keeps me from doing the same thing, otherwise mine would be set up in blissful perpetuity as well…

I’ve been lucky enough in a couple of games to be able to set up the shuck you speak of Switch. You end up being able to defend the west and keep a steady flow to Europe.

I’ve had a couple games in which I set up a 2x2 chain to Norway and a 3x3 to Algeria. Friggin’ devastating. Once the infrastructure is in place you just let the Infantry roll with the occasional tank or two for punch. And the northern chain gets its Inf from the W U.S., walked to W Can, walked to E Can. Japan never feels too comfortable approaching the coastline.

The board is a thousand times more fun than PC play.

I have alot of painted pieces (nerd alert), and my friends and I always use my set because it’s so f’ing good to look at. Black German Armor and Fighters with Iron Crosses on the turrets, Japanese Battleships, Trannies, Fighters and Infantry painted. Holy crap.

The flow of the game is so much better with the board as well. You can take it all in with one glance.

I meant to add that… the fun ends for the German navy pretty quickly…

The Carrier is a nice addition. After years of resistance I’ve dropped my pride and in my current game added one. Although I lost my Baltic fleet on U.S.4, it allowed me to control the north against determined Allied play through G4. I could have devoted more IPCs and held it longer, but I cut my losses and pulled my Ftrs. More meat and potatoes were needed.

So I’ve finally seen the  light- the G1 Carrier/ 8 Inf build is solid…damn you all…

Exactly Switch. I’m in a game now (hope he’s not reading this) in which Alaska’s undefended, and W Canada has 1 Brit Inf. Next turn (J5) I’ll simultaneously hit Hawaii (with my troops who just finished mopping up NZ) and slip one tranny from SZ 60 to Alaska w/ 2 Inf. Since he has nothing in W U.S., he’ll have to respond to 4 units parked on his doorstep. Of course I have no intention of attacking. On J6 I’ll pull back. As you said, for the cost of 2 Inf (temporarily) in Asia I’ll get 2 IPCs for two rounds, and he’ll have to retake Alaska as well as build.

There’s no way, however, that I’d divert those troops if they were going to be destroyed in a counterattack or if he had previously defended the area. When I play the U.S. I aggressively tithe Inf to W Canada with a small offensive component to make sure the backdoor is always guarded. Then I’m sure I can maintain my focus on Europe.

I think that Germany’s the most fun b/c it’s the most intense. There’s never a dull moment for the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, or Kriegsmarine.

It will divert U.S. economy.

The price you pay for that, however, is getting out of position for Japanese expansion to Africa or Australia/NZ. It also slows you down in Asia, which allows Russia to breathe easy for a few turns and focus on Germany.

I feel that the Alaska/W Canada backdoor is better as a threat, and if undefended perhaps a quick economic strike later in the game with minimal troops, just to be a thorn in America’s side.

Exactly Malus. IMO you should always play to your carrying capacity. For Germany it’s 16 units per turn, or 48 IPCs worth of Inf. It’s pretty rare to carry that many IPCs, and even more rare to only build all Inf (unless you’re an Infantry loving madman, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

Only in a silly game where you were consistently averaging enough money to place 3 more units would an extra IC make sense, and that would just be icing anyways.

What I’ve done with several players I taught was to play several practice games first. This is best if you’re trying to foster long term interest. It’s not easy to get creamed and crawl back to the board for more if you’re just starting out.

So what I did was explained things as we went along, with no pressure of the game counting towards anything, so that the player could get a feel for logistics and some simple strategy. The player got to play the Axis for a game, and the Allies for one. Once we started playing for real the learning curve had been accelerated, and not as many newb mistakes were made.

Even though I talked alot of strat, I didn’t reveal everything so that they could come up with their own ‘best’ way of playing.

It worked well for me and the people I play with.

Of course, if you like the feeling of crushing someone, or don’t care about the long term, just pound the crap out of 'em and let them learn the hard way…

I agree with Switch. 3 Inf 3 Arm allows counter attack potential into either Karelia or Ukraine on R2. My usual stack at the end of R1 in W Russia is 5 Inf/Art/2 Arm, so the extra 3 Armor makes a huge difference.

Sometimes the appearance of having teeth matters as much as your actual willingness to commit them to battle.

After that purchase you settle into a more typical Russian purchase every round of mostly Inf and the occasional Art or Arm. The extra Armor early also gives you great flexibility in dealing with the Japanese.

I agree- small changes here and there shift the game dramatically- a territory losing one extra Inf can have ripple effects throughout the game. I do agree that from a philosophical standpoint there isn’t a great deal of variety, unless you’re willing to go out on a limb and face a loss. But from the standpoint of the round to round battles, etc. I feel there’s a great deal of variety.

Also- house rules are good fun. A friend and I are soon going to be playtesting a d20 variant (nerds, aren’t we?). Hopefully we can continue to approach realism while still having fun. Special units, etc. can also spice it up pretty well.

Absolute total agreement with switch.

I like your attitude.

My mistake in that game was protecting the center a little too much with Britain. I should have built a few more trannies and forced Germany to stay at home. The game looked over to me after about turn 6 and I needed to not take for granted a victory.  I liked your carrier move- it forced me to deal with it, which meant less allied ground forces once I finished off your naval power. I was impressed, you dirty b$#*%rd.

The thing that sets you apart is your ability to have a plan and see it through ferociously. Woe to others when your experience matches your will to dominate.