Posts made by BigBlocky

As for the original thread, I think the troops should leave Germany, what are they defending against? Besides, the Germans are really being un-cooperative on the Iraq thing. They are within their right to sit by while the world goes to hell, but don’t stop others from putting out the fire.

As for guns being required to prevent a police state…… There are few guns in the EU and none are police states to my knowledge. I think having more guns in a nation then citizens is scarely, the US gun culture is scarey. I can say that and NOT disrespect the US. Not all disagreements imply disrespect… My sister thinks the US gun culture is scarey, she has lived there for nearly 20 years, has a US citizen for a child and a US citizen for her husband and I am fairly sure she respects them… :-)

I agree with Xi on that one, I just hate letting the Japs get India without a fight, make 'em use a fighter or two to ensure victory. Mind you, with a German Tank and 2 Inf on Egypt…… ya gotta do what ya gotta do… Fighter, bomber, and 3 Brit infantry stymie the German advance with a crushing counter attack…

I agree with ya Ozone, the game seemed so wide open back then, the ebb and flow. I must admit, we’ve NEVER played with bids for playing the Axis, it’s always flags from a cap, sucks to be Germany again…. I think the Axis has won about 10%, that usually occurs around 4 am and is more the ability of the Axis to out-drink the allies… I’m new around here… How exactly is that handled, I see IPC bid #s, you can place the units anywhere?

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Damnit, I hate replying when not logged in, I’m the target of any flames for the above post :-)

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Go Leafs Go!!! I’m down the QEW (and 406) in Port Colborne, there are 5 other guys from Hamilton and Welland that play. We’re all mid-30’s guys who still find time for AD&D and various board games. I’ve got a good gig working from home so my time is fairly flexible.

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The strategies were fairly different but there was no rush for the bomb, as awesome as it was, it’s still hard to get a tech. You had to build it, it was an actual cardboard piece, I can’t remember if it took a turn to load it onto a bomber but at best, you build it on say T6, use it on T7, since you could only have 1 at a time you’d have to wait until T8 to build a second. There was a 50/50 chance an AA would knock it out under the old rules so ya tried to line the flight path with AAs but yeah, once somebody had it it sucked for the enemy….

Production in new factories was unlimited (we might have had that wrong but we’re an anal bunch, the manual is always in somebody’s hands so…). We had epic battles where the brits build a factory in gibralter and the USA helps defend or the US builds in China. I’m sure to the seasoned players of the day thought our stragies were a bit cooked as we were all just learning. Come to think of it, a US factory in China with unlimited production would result in some short games…

As for an A-bomb in this game… Maybe it just has a chance of killing every unit in a territory, a die roll against each unit? Perhaps a cap on the number of units destoyed as well, a few knobs to fine tune this with…

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I agree with Xi RE: # of units. I often see Germany (myself included) building an extra transport to get more to Africa only to see on Turn 3 that they don’t do a thing except perhaps a prickshot via suicide run on Caucus if the opportunity is right. The allies always have navy on T3 to harass the German coast.

I’m a fairly strong player I must admit, if I wasn’t after 100+ games over 20 years I should give it up :-) But seriously I do worry that since it’s the same group of guys we’re stagnating and missing ‘new blood’ as it were…. Anybody in S. Ontario up for a game? :-)

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RE: $$ in Pacific taking away from Asia (you mean Europe right?) :-) I agree that if Germany was failing then don’t take your foot of her throat by switching to the Pacific via the “Japanese Overload”. This strategy is used if a hiccup develops in the US supply route AND the opportunity presents itself. In this case the Germans had a small Med. Fleet around T5 (Brit bomber was lost on T1 trying to take out the Med fleet) and had moved it in the SZ south of Gibralter. The Germans still had 5 fighters and a bomber, brits had to hit the fleet (BB + 2 transports and a sub!) and moved their navy to that SZ, the USA had to follow or split the fleet. Not only was 1 complete US transport cycle wasted but was also a waste to drop off 10 transports worth of equipment to Africa to kick out the 4-6 german forces left. Since Japan had just built their second factory in asia it was time to spring the “Japanese Overload”. It’s really a situational gambit more than a strategy one sets out on T1 to follow, besides, it’s constraining to fixate on one stragegy. After the first point of contact between opposing forces…… all strategies go out the window…

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I used to tend to want to try a particular gambit

I played it 20 years ago at a local games club, got my assed kicked, swore I’d never lose that badly again and bought the game the next week. First version I played had a paper map, cardboard pieces and instead of heavy bombers tech it had the A-Bomb…… Costs 5 IPC, load it on a bomber, it flies out alone on a ‘strategic raid’, ie against a fleet there is no AA so no defence, please removed the entire fleet… Against land there was a single AA shot (back then it was a hit on a 1-3 but only 1 shot against the entire air force (ie 1 shot on 1 plane, 1 shot on 100 planes), if you missed please removed all pieces on that territory, factory, aa gun and all… Sucks to be germany and be nuked…

I’m not very concerned with the US moving the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic. I’m part of a hard-core group of about 7 guys, over the years we’ve gottem fairly vicious and efficient. The brits and USA can’t afford to wait, it would be the Brits fourth turn by the time that carrier got to England, too late. The brits must have a navy by turn 2 maybe 3 that is tough enough to prevent the Germans from attacking it. At best it gives you a luxury of perhaps splitting the US and Brit atlantic fleet later on but why would you need to? Perhaps it might make sense to have them on the coast of the atlantic to protect newly built transports, but if Germany doesn’t put their bomber on Western Europe on turn1, you build all the transports you will ever need, the newly built Brit carrier with your fighters and the combined transport force (4-5 Brit and 4-5 USA) is enough navy.

As the USA I have a strategy I call the “Japanese Overload”. As soon as possible the brits build a carrier, the USA supplies the fighters, any pacific fleet swings towards the Atlantic, perhaps delaying as it’s really not needed there. Obvioiusly keep an eye on Japanese, they should concetrate a few rounds on the continent…… You start a long supply line to Canada, the USA transports of England pump from Canada to Karelia. The Brits and USA out-build the Germans leaving the Russians to fight the Japs. Since Russian losses are re-built on the Continent rather than many turns away this works well. Overwhelming allied air-power combined with 1-2 allied infantry/round in moscow helps re-take Russian territory, the rest park on Karelia. The Germans must defend against perhaps 10 British infantry with airpower attacking any coastal territory then having 10 more USA infantry with air before the German next turn. The navy acts as a force multiplier… you must defend against this on Western Europe, Eastern Europe AND Germany. Anyways, at some point the Japs over-commit to the continent, maybe building 2 factories. The remaining Pacific fleet swings back, all US builds goto subs maybe a carrier all on the Pacific side. All air power swings to the pacifc. In the meanwhile your built-up supply line runs for 3 rounds in Europe. If it works, the Jap fleet has not been improved, why should it, they own the Pacific and the USA ran away… But now Japan can’t build navy, if they do those factories on the continent are wasted. You can outbuild the Jap navy, push them off Japan it’s just a matter of time…

I agree with Ozone, by the time it’s feasible to take Brazil you’ve all but won already. The game boils down to maximizing the utilization of equipment. If that transport helps you hold africa (or any fraction) a bit longer it’s worth more than brazil. The allies should always have at least 1 bomber to pick of lone transports to it’s really a moot point already. That 1 german transport might place 4 infantry and 1 tank in africa, that will tie up way more allied equipment than 2 infantry in brazil. Africa is worth 11, but you should think of it as a 22 IPC swing/round……

Russia: Nothing but Infantry unless you would end up with 2 IPC’s left. If no-attack on round #1, then everything but 1 Infantry into Karelia and pull all out of the soviet far east save 1 INF for a strong counter attack. If attack on round #1, attack the german navy for sure, make him lose fighters for sinking the brit navy.

Germany: I’ve found that lots of infantry pays off towards later rounds, depends on the foe. I’ve played 200 times over 20 years, the germans and the russians stalemate, the brits and the US threaten the german coast while bring troops via finland. Lots of infantry means low value targets along the coast with high defense. Sink the Brit navy on turn 1, go all out. A varient, build 1 transport south, hit egypt with battleship, transport maybe air support and hope for victory against the brit sub, take egypt so allied air can’t attack navy and land, keep fighter in range of gibralter if the bit bomber needs to land there to kill german transport…… If all goes well it’s too costly to sink the german south navy, get some forces into africa and nurse it for IPCs. By T3 or so no more forces to africa unless cake walking in europe. Long term goal is to survive long enough for the Japs to crush. Keep bomber in western europe to smoke undefended transports on US coast.

Brits: You should end up with 1 transport off Canada and 1 off India, the rest is sunk and hopefully you took some german air with it. Either build 1 carrier and 1 transport, move in transport from Canada, move in US transport on US turn, USA flies 2 fighters to brit carrier. If the german position is too strong, save all your cash and build a bigger navy next turn. I’ve waited until turn 3 to build the brit navy and save all my cash the prior 2 turns. This requires the US to commit 50-75% of her resources.

Japs: Not a big fan of factories early on nor pearl harbour. Japan has good air power but needs cannon fodder ie infantry on land. A factory becomes an anchor, you must protect it, then build an AA for it. If you build factories, you build tanks with 'em cause you only build 3 units/turn at best with them. Build 2 transports and 3 infantry on round 1. Optimise their use, remember to take 1 infantry off a close island and 1 off Japan. 4 transports moves 8 infantry per turn on the mainland, Japan can’t build more than that until round 3 and latter. Save any excess money after 8 infantry per round then build a 5th transport. Now you are moving 30 IPC/turn onto the mainland. You don’t need any more transports. Your fleet should always move between Japan and Burma, move to burma and drop off infantry, then move the fleet to Japan and drop off infantry in Manchuria. Sooner or later you will see a huge opportunity to move the fleet from burma to africa, even if you don’t, the allies must defend the threat… If you must tie up your transports for fleet defense (cannon fodder) or your transports are in africa dropping off, then build a factory to take up the slack production. Japan must maximize it’s threat potential causing allies to use resources defending your options. Do this while always getting infantry to the contintent via transports. As the game progresses build 1 or 2 factories to get tanks to bare quickly. How often have you seen the japanese use tanks for fodder? If the german player is a rock of infantry stability you can crank you income to silly levels, make the russians defend russia. A huge allied multinational force is great on defence useless on offense, think economic victory…

United States. Logistics, Logistics, Logistics… The main key is bring troops over with british help to finland. You have transports in england, they move to Canada and load, move to england and unload in finland, it’s a long supply line, the sooner it gets going the sooner you threaten the german coast and get units onto karelia then against the Japs. If you build 1 transport on the east coast you must build 2 loads, 1 to go with it and 1 to move to Canada for next turns pick up. Build 2-3 transports on the east coast (watch for german bomber in west europe) and lots of equipment, plan your supply line. Sooner or later the british must move their fleet to land units on africa, you will have to move your fleet as well, a good time to have tanks in Canada to pick up and drop off in Algeria.

Allies: With good allied logistics you don’t need any strategy. Just outproduce, tie up the axis forces with threats, play conservative and avoid mistakes or close battles. Keep an eye on Japanese expansion in Africa, keep a tank or two there as ‘safties’. Build infantry, transports move 2 per round, once the supply line is set up the US brings over 8 infantry and a tank per round, the brits maybe 1 tank and as many infantry per round as IPC’s permit. Slip a few allied units with the russians to open opportunities (knock out the 1 infantry blocking the way to 2 bombers behind…) but stack most of them on karelia freeing the russians to repel the Japs.

Axis: Prayer… All out attack on the brit navy by the germans, milk africa for IPCs stay alive for the Japs. Japs must think expansion always.

I’ve only played AAP 4 times, all as Japan and I am 4-0 with 4 fairly easy victories, 3 from VPs and 1 from getting India via a brutal allied error. As stated earlier, hit the US then slowly give up ground. If Japan ensures that most of the airforce/navy can hit any advancing allied navy you can easily hold them off for long enough to get your VPs. Japan really only needs to build subs and the odd fighter perhaps a transport if most of them are tied up south maintaining VPs. I love it when my American foe looks to a forward sea zone then counts 8 fighters from the carrier to battle to land and 8 more fighters from land to battle to the carriers, toss in 4 destroyers… 20 times 3 is oh my 60 offense in fighters/Destroyers alone, 20 from 3 battlewagons and 2 bombers, 15 more offense from say carriers and subs gives 95 offense, 15 hits on round #1. Since land based US bombers are useless for US fleet defense and with my transports and battleships absorbing US hits the Japs do 15 more hits on round #2. For US bombers to be of use you must get them close to Japan. To do this you have to sail up against the combined Jap fleet and be tough enough to survive their first strike. Since the Japs really don’t need to build any more land units when going for VPs they can build all subs save a few fighters (not as cost effective as subs but are more mobile and can attack land).

It just takes too long to build a navy strong enough to withstand everything the Japs can toss at it and be strong enough to capture convoy routes fast (lots of subs left…).

Both sides start out with 72 IPCs:

Side 1 (S1) buys 3 Battleships (BB)
Side 2 (S2) buys 6 Destroyers (DD)

So. lets run through a manual simulation of the 2 sides fighting, luckily they fight and defend the same.

Turn #1
S1 has 12 offense and should do 2 hits on average leaving S1 with 4 DDs.
S2 has 18 offense and should do 3 hits on average turning on the side all 3 BBs.

Turn #2
S1 has 12 offense and should do 2 hits on average leaving S1 with 2 DDs.
S2 has 12 offense and should do 2 hits on average leaving S1 with 1 BB.

Turn #3
S1 has 4 offense and gets lucky sinking 1 of the 2 remaining DDs.
S2 has 8 offense and gets a bit UN-lucky and only rolls 1 hit sinking the last BB.

With a slight dice advantage to the battlewagons they still lose out against the destroyers in combat. If you expect to have frequent fleet engagements where you only take 1 hit at a time then by all means purchase a battleship. However if you expect to play the US and only lose 1-2 ships per turn you will never win.