Dont have alot of time and will elaborate later, but SZ 113 is NOT safe for german transports at any time.
All UK needs to do is purchase a carrier, then SZ 110 becomes a legal landing location for 2 UK planes, with the airbase in UK that means transports in 113 go boom.
Now if UK can block SZ 112 in some fasion, or threaten it in a meaningful way, I do not know.
True, but you can add your surviving planes then.
6-8 planes will outdo the extra 5 inf. Now an AA gun purchase could hurt…
why is everyone so obsessed with saving the Italian boats. Oh noes, Italy looses a BB, Cru, and Transport (39 IPCs worth of stuff) at the cost of UK loosing a loaded carrier (36 ish IPCs worth of stuff). I’m just not getting it.
Adding to that, it means the UK cannot get another boat safely into the med again until turn 3, more likely turn 4, or any navy near Europe for that matter.
The italian player can always buy a DD turn 1 (8) take south france + greece and purchase a carrier turn 2.
I will second that, if the US can atleast distract Japan where they need to spend money countering the US fleet buildup, and ANZAC stays secure, then Japan’s options become fairly limited in the rest of the world.
I think the best plan will be an air buildup at Pearl with some ships, around 30-40 IPCs a turn, along with an operation torch buildup to begin a shuck into africa and threaten Italy, will be the typical US strategy in the future.
I just worry about how long Russia can last against a German player who forgoes sea lion and uses Italy to help with can openers and defending the beaches. I don’t see Russia lasting very long in that scenario.
Honestly if your in it for a beer and pretzels game, stick with 42 and print a huge ass version of IL’s map with the money.
If you want a little more depth, without going overboard, get it. Yes its a bit more complex but nothing major. All the rules are very simple and common sense once you get used to them, the only pair up is with the new tac bomber and mech inf and they are pretty easy to remember.
Even the NOs are easier than in AA50, there are no two out of threes or anything that require you to remember more than one thing or territory.
And I’m sure someone hint hint will come up with a '41 and '42 setup to shorten the length of the game and remove the political rule crap.
Um, i can think of a few reasons not to ignore Japan.
-14 US IPCs a turn from convoy raiding
Egypt falling to Japan around turn 5
Stalingrad falling to Japan around the same time
20+ Jap planes in Europe around the same time
10+ Japan units from India pouring into Europe
20-30 Japan units landing in Alaska each turn.
Japan won’t be easy to use in a relevant way at first, but give everyone some time and i’m sure they will become scary.
Its not a matter of quickly taking over america. If the US is 100% devoted to building units to defend against Japan, the Germans should finish off Russia.
And really, if japan can just place 1 more unit in alaska than the US can build, eventually…
Only if there not allowed to invade eachother for NO bonus monies :evil:
Or, just wait for Japan to take Egypt around turn 5, land 20+ planes and secure the med as well!
I think the real question is, will London falling on turn 3 (I just can’t see it happening turn 2, it would require insanely good dice on G1 and G2) mean the end of the game? Or will the red monster just start crushing the Germans at that point?
US makes around what, 80 in global? Japan makes around 70+ with DEI/India/Pearl? And that can be done by turn 4 at the latest. Add in the convoy blockade at the west coast and those incomes are nearly equal. I think given enough time the US will fall to Japan in this scenario.
I’d personally go for a turn 2 war dec, with a J3 India crush, J4 at the absolute latest. If UK pulls back planes/whatnot eat up more of the DEI on turn 2/3. You still want India to fall on turn 3. If the US ignores you at least get Pearl and some boats doing some convoy disruption and start working on ANZAC while pushing after Africa.
As far as China, just take Yunnan turn 1 and place a crapton of planes down there. On turn 2 retake Yunnan and air strafe China’s inf stack in Szechwan to kill there inf stack. At that point china is reduced to nothing dangerous.
After that decide on hitting the US hard with a ground invasion, or going after africa/russia hard in the middle of the board. With 4 IPC mech inf, and a 70 IPC income russia is going to cry, as far as the US with a naval base in Alaska and a major IC in Korea and/or Manchuria your talking a 20+ unit shuck, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.
If the allies go hard after you, then you just need to stand your ground using Phi and Japan as staging zones to keep hold on the DEI/India. If the US spends less than 40-50 a turn they cannot compete and you can smash them and continue with the other objectives, if they do spend 50 a turn then pray the Germans/Italians do something good.
I think it looks just fine Func thanks a ton. Only one thing, you have a major IC placed in East Germany, it should be a minor I believe. Thats the only error I’ve noticed.
It comes down to a trade, a trade of 1 UK carrier, cruiser, destroyer and 1-2 planes to kill an Italian BB, Cruiser, and transport, and the german planes used in the counter attack. It is a trade because Germany should kill that fleet on the following turn at the cost of some planes. Is it a good trade? I don’t think so, as it means the Germans have no fear of any landings until turn 4 at the earliest in Europe.
If instead you retreat that carrier/destroyer to canada, combine it with some more ships built turn 1 (possibly another carrier, transport, and possibly a destroyer) and turn 2 you may have enough fleet to threaten a drop in Europe depending on the sea lion threat. And on turn 3 you should be able to nab Norway. Not to mention how many fewer warships the US will need and the larger quantity of transports/troops they can build.
Yes you slow down Italy, but in that area of the board Japan is the real threat, not Italy. In addition, Italy is already vulnerable to begin with against the US. And lastly, even without expanding beyond a 15 IPC income Italy is still a huge help as that’s 5 men helping to defend the coast, potential can opener troops, and acts as a magnet/stall for Germany.
I really think the can opener threat is not being truly appreciated in the game. With 4 IPC mech infantry the Germans can really bring the threat. A stack in Ukraine threatens both Stalingrad and Moscow. Combine that with Leningrad falling early, which it should, and you have a huge German income.
The DD/AC at gibralter can reach the german boats, or block the strait. That gives the UK atleast 1 DD, 1 AC, 3 fig, 1 tac vs the german fleet.
They can also just park the dd and/or ac in the SZ near GB to soak the shore shots and to draw some of the German airforce away (possibly).
Bah, better use would be to simply have the Germans build 2-4 air a turn. This will really limit US/UK options as far as navy goes. Add in a handful of subs to force them to trade destroyers to take them out. Combine that with Japan going after the allies in this priority order (assuming allies ignore pacific).
DEI - you need the money, on the turn you war dec or turn after these should all be captured.
India - 8 IPCs and a factory/bases to stage from to hit africa
Pearl - 6 more IPCs and makes the VC win a bit more of an option.
LA Raid - You can deny the US 12 IPCs with 6 subs alone. This is going to put the US income a bit closer to germany’s.
ANZAC - Take 'em all. Use your overwhelming airpower to do this quickly and efficiently.
Egypt/South Africa - Gives you a good chance to help Italy get more money.
Polar Express - You should have income advantage on the US once you take your 3 VC NOs, plus a major in Korea and you can even leverage almost the same number of units. Might not take the US but it sure will pressure 'em.
DEI can all be taken turn 3, probably pearl as well with the war dec and possibly even India depending on where the planes are. ANZAC should fall turn 4, 5 at the latest and around this time your subs should be built. Then its either africa or US, up to you.
Wait, the US has a single destroyer to start, with your expenditure of the UK carrier/DD the Uk is down to possibly 3 boats left on that half of the board. Germans should have atleast 6 planes left after turn 1.
My guess here is your german player is going balls to the wall against Russia doing a war dec on turn 2. The german player, a 60+ IPC monster, has only the UK to worry about until turn 4. Why are they not building an airforce of boat sinking doom? And how is the US shucking that many men that fast when you would need a 5x5x5 set of transports to do that each turn. Thats 15 boats! 15x7=105 IPCs, leaving not enough to even defend them from the starting german air.
As far as Japan getting nutty, yeah, they just explode income wise, esp if US is ignoring them.
How about we let this thread die till a battlemap module is released and then see what happens. No matter what everyone here is playing with a small group of players and that limits how many various strats/options you can see.
One thing i’d like to try in the south is the mass up in ukraine with mainly mechs and some arm/air thrown in along with a few Italians. Use this to threaten both moscow and stalingrad.
I think a strait rush/push type strat will fail, you must go more slowly but keeping mobility to threaten multiple locations. Just try to take every dollar off of them you can to slowly wear them down. There is a 5 IPC swing just for starting the war, but the border nations add up in value quickly, esp if you can hit them hard in the south. Russia’s income is much smaller than yours, and they have to deal with Japan on the other side. Also bombers will be your friend, as they can threaten both navies and Russia with a 7 movement (with ab). From berlin they can hit every city, and most of the sea zones.
And what is japan doing while the UK completely abandons the pacific? Or are you just using starting boats to kill the Italy navy off after T1? Because I can easily see Japan taking India, Pearl, and ANZAC around J3, J5 at the latest if India is abandoned.
And even if they loose that half of there fleet, that means the UK will only have a handful of boats on the board after G2, and will be incapable of doing anything out of London until the US gets there, or watch it go down to the bottom from German air.
Also, they still have a dd/cru/trans left, they can add another dd, take greece and southern france, and on I2 drop a carrier if its really needed. They also start out with a unit advantage in northern africa to begin with. It will be at the earliest UK3 that the brits have any new units in the med to hit them with anyway.
I like the choice that is available for the UK in the early game, do you waste a carrier to slow down Italy, or keep it to threaten northern germany much quicker.