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My son received Europe 1940 (2E) for Christmas…been playing it non-stop ever since (just finishing up our fourth game).

We’ve really enjoyed the hell out of it…previously we’d only played 1941 (the shorter game) and A&A Zombies. The additional units and complexity have really raised the bar/standard for us. Just can’t say enough good stuff about it.

Okay…my question:

It appears that the Axis is a bit underpowered compared to the Allies in this game. I’m (nominally) the better player between my son and I, but he’s no slouch…he has beat me before in earlier A&A games, and our learning curve has been about the same (I had never played A&A before we started together).

The two times I’ve played the Allies in Europe 1940, I have absolutely CRUSHED him…and quickly. The Americans’ ability to bring wave after wave of attackers (assuming UK and USSR can both hold on) is overwhelming.

On the other hand, while I won my first game with the Axis, it took THREE DAYS OF PLAY to secure victory, with Italy basically having to land ships in the Caribbean and march into Central US to force concession (Moscow never did fall).

As I wrote above, we are on our 4th game and, again, I am playing the Axis and (again) it’s taken three days (!!) of play to take eight victory cities. And that’s AFTER taking Paris on G1, Moscow on G6, and maintaining a stranglehold on Europe and Asia.

The problem is Italy and their complete inability to do more than send sailors to the bottom of the ocean. Both games I’ve won (well, I’m about to win the one we’re playing) it has taken Germany doing everything itself. Italy can’t take…or hold…Africa or the Mediterranean against a well-played UK/USA combo. South Africa and India become perpetual thorns in the side of the Germans, while Gibraltar and Morocco get taken and retaken by US forces. Italy ends up starved for IPCs without bonuses, ending up a punching bag to remnant French ships before the USA arrives to really slap 'em around.

This game…well, I figured it was in the bag after I took ALL of Asia and Europe by…mmm, turn 7 or 8? Rather than concede, my worthy opponent decided to fight on. That was two days ago.

[update: he just retook Egypt via a convoy from South Africa; with cruiser and air support…the war continues]

It feels like the game is balanced in the favor of the Allied forces in the Europe edition. Without Japan to draw and occupy the USA’s attention, the Germans end up fighting a war on three fronts, with the fall of the Soviet Union hardly guaranteeing victory…so long as the UK maintains its presence in West India and Africa.

[even later update: it took another two hours, but Cairo…and the Allies…finally fell. Had to take it three times before it held]

I understand folks may simply concede games after London or Moscow falls to the Axis. Played out, it’s not that easy (in my first game as the Axis, I took London TWICE and it was still liberated by the end of the game). World domination with only the Italians for support just seems…extremely difficult.

Or maybe I’m just doing this wrong? Is there a faster way to victory for the Axis?

@superbattleshipyamato

As I wrote, we’ve owned (and played) other editions of A&A that utilize the entire globe on a single board. Europe 1940 is our first experience with a limited theater of operation.

As such, I suppose I’m just used to having Imperial Japan as a strong power for the Axis side…and its absence is sorely missed. The addition of France and Italy are wonderful…love ‘em…but while the UK, USA, and USSR are much the same as in the “smaller” game, the lack of Japan to coordinate with Germany really makes the Axis a challenge to play in Europe 1940.
)
In my opinion. But we’ve only had the thing for a couple weeks. Just wanted to get the opinion of the folks who’ve been playing longer.
; )

Is it possible for the Allies to come back from losing the Mediterranean to Italy?

Due to some painful events, the Italians were able to retain much of their fleet AND take Cairo. The Germans just closed the door in Gibraltar, as well as wiping out French resistance in North Africa. Sub-Sahara has seen contested fighting, and the UK continues to hold South Africa. We are about to enter Turn 5.

I’m just trying to figure out if the Allies have lost the war, or if there’s a viable strategy for coming back.

Japan is a long way from Victory in the Pacific: she’s still messing around in China, but the bulk of her fleet has been destroyed and the Allied forces are gradually constricting her. The Germans JUST declared war on USSR in turn 4, and there are huge stacks in Leningrad, Moscow and Ukraine. London is fairly safe at the moment from assault as the northern German fleet consists of three subs off the Normandy coast and a single destroyer in SZ125.

The Mediterranean, however, is a different story:

• German AC (ftr, tac) + 2 transports in SZ92
• German Battleship + transport in SZ94
• Italian destroyer + transport in SZ95
• Italian battleship + transport in SZ98
• All territory from Morocco to Syria controlled by Axis

UK still holds Malta (fighter, inf, art).

I confess that I am at a loss for how to go forward. The Allies are still ahead on IPC income in Europe (if the USA focuses) by 30-40, but unless they can take back Gibraltar, my opponent is going to be in a position to stack transports in the Mediterranean to take London…or even the USA! I have the landing troops to take Gibraltar…unless he reinforces it in G5…but I don’t have the fleet to do an amphibious assault if he moves his capital ships to SZ91.

I’m in a world of hurt, and would gladly take any suggestions. The only thing I can think of is building strategic bombers that could nuke SZ91 and land in London (and hope Italy continues to focus on their raiding of Africa). Thoughts?

@slip-capone

Huh. Well, under those rules, the Allies had 20 VT at the end of our last round (we’re still playing…Japan is making a last ditch push to land in a…poorly defended…Los Angeles).
; )

Do you have a link to the WBC tournament rules? Or could you tell me where to find them?

Thank you!

@superbattleshipyamato

The Allies attack began with taking Siam on UK1. Having only one transport in position to attack amphibiously made it an issue of getting through a wall of Chinese to root British tanks and mech infantry out of the jungles. I took Calcutta around J5(?) but it was quickly liberated. My air support had been moved out to the ocean for other battles or were lost in retaking Chinese territories. It was just a mess.

The idea to build ICs in Asia didn’t even occur to me till late in the game…having played nothing but E40 the last 3-4 weeks, I’ve found so few places where an IC was actually helpful (based on both A) location and B) territorial IC value). Having a major IC in southern Germany, for example…not very useful considering France is dead after G1; and building one in Norway is begging for the Allies to use it against you. So I wasn’t even considering it until the Chinese infantry started snowballing (and my forces were tied up in a hopeless quagmire). That’s one of those “newb mistakes” I’ll rectify in the future.

I was pretty disappointed about the loss myself as Japan is, hands down, my favorite power to play in the smaller game and I usually handle it well. But the expansive Pacific, the additional powers, the unusual (new) rules, and the political negotiation aspect all combined to put me off my game. I don’t doubt Japan is just as effective in Pacific 1940 (and Global)…just need to learn the system and polish up the tactics.
; )

@seancb

Welp, Pacific should be arriving in about 5 days, so we’ll see how that changes things.
; )

@superbattleshipyamato was curious about how the first game of Pacific 1940 went for me. Pretty terrible as it turned out, though it was a learning experience. For the benefit of the curious, I’m posting about it…perhaps the P40 veterans can offer some candid notes that will help other (new) players trying to learn from disaster.

Some background:

• This was our first game of Pacific. Mistakes were made (China capturing French Indochina; the USA receiving its 30 IPC bonus even though its DOW was “unprovoked”). I do not think they contributed much to the Axis defeat, other than to hurry the result.
• While I know a bit about WW2 history, I know very little about the Pacific theater (little more than the average movie-goer might). While I realize A&A is “ahistorical” I’ve found that there is enough emulation baked into the game that some strategies (or abstaining from some bad strategies) work well when applied in-game. All that being said, my knowledge of the IJN is pretty weak.
• I purposefully avoided reading any Japan strategies or “playbooks” prior to play, wanting to see how the game went “out of the box.”

Long story short: Japan was crushed and the US was marching in Tokyo by turn 10.

In retrospect, a lot of the difficulty (on my part) came from not having a clear plan/approach to winning the war. My original thought was to honor the political situation, work on taking China, while maneuvering my fleet to be in a position to attack the USA by J3. Unfortunately (for me) my opponent decided to take the initiative and DOW UK1, taking me completely by surprise.

When I say “by surprise” I mean it: I had completely failed to consider the possibility. I hadn’t even invaded French Indochina, figuring that the 10 IPCs per turn from peace with the USA would be more efficient while shoring up Asia. While I still had forces in range to bring a retaliatory counterattack, sinking ships and whatnot, I was far, far out of position for bringing the full might of Japan down on the UK and ANZAC forces. And as I had to backpedal on my first turn maneuverings (in order to deal with the threat/opportunity provided by their unprovoked DOW), I ended up wasting precious time that could have been used securing my position in the Pacific.

Finally: China. What a pain in the ass. Every turn I’d spend precious resources taking one or three lowly 1 IPC territories, only to have four infantry pop up in the worst possible location the next turn. I had no strategy for pacifying a power able to spawn any number of dug-in partisans at will…no target objective to eliminate besides the Burma road. And no ability to keep that supply line broken what with the UK involved from the get-go. If I killed Chinese, the UK would liberate Yunan from southeast Asia; if I killedthe UK, the Chinese would march in from Szechwan, ensuring those bonus IPCs (and artillery pieces) kept coming. It was only late inthe game (circa J6) that I thought to build ICs in Kwangtung and Kiangsu, in order to pump out my own stacks of infantry and artillery.

By that time, however, it was far too late. I had found a way to tame China, but the US had been able to destroy the bulk of my fleet, ANZAC was no longer confined to their little island (was building ships of their own) and the two together were looting my IPCs from the south Pacific. I went from getting more than 60 to less than 40. I could not hold India. My transports were destroyed. My land forces were too slow (or too tied up) to conquer the many territories of southeast Asia. My air force was destroyed trying to slow down the march of battleships. I exhausted my entire cadre of kamikazes in a single turn and they still failed to stymie the invasion force.

Rough. A really ugly defeat.

Strange as it may sound, Pacific is a very different game from Europe. The ocean expanses make the game very different…especially for a player (me) used to making good use of an air force. The range of ALL air craft is so limited that you spend turns flying in non-combat just to get in position to use them as support for an assault, and they seem more useful for attacking seazones, rather than islands. Carriers extend the range, but limit the number that can be used. Strategic bombers (with their inability to land on carriers) prove far less practical than they do in a war fought mostly on land.

It’s a tough game…very different from Europe 1940, very different from a game like 1942 or Zombies. The limitation of the theater requires one to develop completely different tactics. My esteemed opponent had the benefit of being the Allies, a side that grows stronger the longer the game progresses. Mistakes were made by both sides in the earlier rounds of the game, but while these were mitigated by the reinforcing might of the Americans, they proved exceptionally costly for Japan (me).

I think I’d like to play Pacific a couple more times…both as the Axis and the Allies…just to get a better feel for the game. However, we’ve since jumped right into a three-way game of global (combining Europe and Pacific) which, with a new player, looks like it’s going to take a while to resolve. Fortunately, we don’t need the dining room table any time soon.
; )

To be clear folks, it’s not that the Axis cannot win…it’s just that the win is so much more difficult to achieve.

My last Axis victory was played to the bitter end…eight VCs and the Allies not within range of taking ANY back before the next G turn. Since we’ve started keeping records, I can tell you victory was achieved on turn 21.

By comparison, my last two Allied victories occurred on turns 7 and 9. In both cases, the Axis conceded but the writing was on the wall (most of their units finished, huge swaths of territory left wide open and empty, and the UK, USSR, and USA advancing en masse on multiple fronts). In one case, the only countries left to the Axis were Germany and Italy proper.

I think it’s possible to win playing either side (strategy, dice luck, and reaction/adaptation all playing roles)…but the Europe only game seems to skew in favor of the Allies.

Both my son and I are VERY interested to see how Pacific plays (with Global to follow shortly thereafter, I’m sure).
; )

@superbattleshipyamato

Not sure anyone can learn anything from my thoughts on Pacific (besides “what not to do”) but I’ll post those on the P40 forum.

So…earlier today, I proposed a strategy for helping get the Italians the “head start” they need to fight on equal footing with their German partners. Then I put that strategy into effect.

It worked perfectly…right up until it didn’t.

All Germany’s moves went down, more or less, exactly as planned. Rather than retreat to Holland from France I retreated to West Germany (as I had planes in Holland and had left an infantry or two as well). My opponent had no idea that my retreat was planned, and crowed mightily thinking he’d won a huge blow against the Germans by keeping Paris alive…he had no idea of my planned Italian invasion.

The disaster started on UK’s first turn: he absolutely took the bait of trying to sink my German fleet (as I had intended) taking the bulk of his navy minus destroyers (which were sent to deal with my convoy blasting subs). However, he also took the entirety of the RAF (including the fighter from Scotland) leaving nothing behind. I scrambled my three ME109s out of West Germany but the dice went dead cold and I ended up losing everything, while he retained both his battleships (wounded) and ALL his fighters.

Which he then landed in France.

This completely crushed the Italian move. In order to have any chance against the fighters in Paris, I had to take all of Italy’s aircraft…and ended up losing every single unit. Meanwhile throwing the entirety of Italy’s navy at UK’s Mediterranean fleet resulted in the sinking of all Italian ships (including both transports trying to land in Trans-Jordan and Syria), with never a sniff of the shoreline. Just an absolute shellacking.

It did not help that the dice refused to thaw at all during Italy’s turn, leaving the Allies with plenty of units.

Once again Germany was forced to come to Italy’s rescue. After sinking UK’s two wounded battleships, Germany again “softened” France…this time to the point of capitulation…and used the fighters/tacs stashed in Southern Italy to sink the remainder of UK’s Mediterranean fleet.

But it was too late. An extra wasted turn of wasting precious resources on the western front kept Germany from pushing hard enough in the east. The G2 Barbosa started well, but without air support to bomb Soviet ICs, the Red Army was able to mount sufficient counter-attack to wage their delay/attrition war…and Italy’s lack of IPCs, the loss of their navy/air force, and their inability to close the Suez all meant no help in the Middle East either, the Soviets eventually taking it all.

I conceded after G7, having failed to take back Denmark (lost to the UK in their 6th turn). The Germans could have fought on a turn or two more, but the squeeze was already on from west, south, and east…losing the Baltic (and with a heavy fleet of American transports sitting in the Channel), the inevitable defeat was clearly visible. I was at the gates of Moscow and out of troops…and the USSR was pulling down nearly as many IPCs as Germany. They’d already taken Greece back from Italy.

sigh

Friggin’ Italians.

On the bright side, we did manage to finish the game in a single day, and my son was definitely happy to get his first win in E40…just a day shy of his birthday, too.

[can’t wait till he unwraps Pacific 1940]

; )