Posts made by bugoo

this is why we need a battlemap module!  Stoney please save us lol.

Couple of things i think people are missing as options.

1. Control of Gibralter.  There are many ways for germany to get boats into the med.  If both G and I have boats in the med and transports, they can continually trade gibralter to prevent the allies from entering the med.

2. Airpower.  With the airbase in france the germans can hit nearly any of the med sea zones.  You start with 8 planes vs 1 US boat, and a handful of UK boats (even less if they send the carrier into the med).  You should be able to purchase around 3 planes on G2, and continue to purchase atleast 2 a turn if not more afterward.  This will prevent the allies from coming at you in force.

3. Victory conditions.  Axis need 14 VCs.  Japan can easily have 7 by turn 4 or 5 if ignored by the allies.  The germans/italians start with control of 3 and gain a 4th from paris.  That leaves 3 remaining.  Japan should be able to secure Egypt and possibly even stalingrad or even LA if ignored, meaning germans only need to take leningrad for the win.

4. Good for the goose, good for the gander.  Japan has more planes to send to europe than the UK. Sikang to Romania is the quickest route i can see, and should be doable by turn 5ish I would assume.  Japan can also simply build nearly 7-8 a turn to continue to do this.

I’d worry about a potential can opener threat in the south from germany and Italy.  It also seems that the north is going to be tough to defend, if not impossible against a determined Germany.

I think for my first game i’m going to try and get as many artillery into Belarus and Bryansk as humanly possible, along with a good quantity of infantry in the first 2-3 turns, then switch to primarily mech infantry for the mobility.  I won’t try to hold the line as much as i’ll try to kill as many German units as I can.

Upon futher reflection on the map, I could see a major IC purchase for Romania being worth its weight in gold.  Buying mainly mechs from it, then moving to Ukraine with a small force of Italians will allow you to use the classic can opener threat from AA50.  Could be a good buy on G2 with the spare funds, or even on G1 if you really wanted to for a strong push on Russia G3.

You make a good point, toolbar is good too.

The extra 6 units france buys is more than offset by the 10 extra Germans that can get there.  I think it depends on when you want to attack Russia, but I could see taking only one or two of the French territories to gain overwhelming odds on the attack.  And that doesn’t even count the armor that could make it.

I’ll add my votes for the following

1. Neutral token as per Funcioneta’s suggestion
2. All NOs in a singular location for each nation near there capital.
3. No auto for any NOs.  If half are not auto then it will just mess people up in my opinion

And this is why the inane pacific half setup just causes issues in global.  Why wouldn’t the UK just send its crap into africa to force Italy to go stillborn.  At that point either Japan a) activates US early or b) UK has no consequences for doing it.

Now as far as US builds i’m uncertain on how they should go, but I can see absolutely no reason not to send the UK India fleet and planes into africa.

I mean, there are more planes in India than in England proper!  That makes no sense to me and I will revise the pacific setup when I play (-2 figs UK/ANZAC, -1/2 US, -6-8 Japan) or it’ll just drive me nutty.

And as far as Polar Express goes, its a bit more difficult for Japan to earn its income in this, and Russia/China can potentially become a huge PITA for Japan so i’m unsure on how that will play out.

I dunno about that, Germany can easily get into the high 50s low 60s, and so can Japan.  US is going to have its hands full splitting there builds effectively, and the US is the only one who can go toe to toe with those two.  Ignoring either theater will result in alot of pain for the allies with the way the NOs are worded.

Look at it this way, atleast to me.

I can build a minor IC to build 3 inf on the front line a turn for 12, then in following turns buy the inf.

OR

I can buy 3 mech inf that turn, and each following turn.

The minor IC will save me 3 IPC a turn for an equal value unit that will hit the front line at (roughly) the same time with less mobility when it gets there.  Without mech inf, I could see building them.  With mech inf, no, i doubt I would other than possibly a major in southern france for some med fleet action with the Italians.  Between G and I trading Gibralter the allies would have a really hard time getting in there.  Or a minor in the other territory with Mediterranean access.

While i love the pretty and detailed Abattlemap modules that do all the calculations for you and all that, for the alpha i’d be thrilled with a map and unit pieces.  I would offer to do it, but drawing and artwork are not my strong suit.

I’m not too sure about the ally advantage in global.  Yes Russia will be a beast, but Germany will be as well, and italy may actually be useful!  Other thing to keep in mind is the US are out 40 IPCs that they would have in the seperate games, and all NO money for UK goes to UK, not India.  Thats 5 IPCs first turn, and on turn 2 without a war dec 10 more that India does not get that they would normally get.

I actually fear a UK pincer in global with both India and London getting taken out, or at least be something that forces the allies to play a specific way to avoid losing them both on turn 3ish.

What I mean by that is i could buy 2 mechs and a fighter for 18, or three tanks for 18.  I’ll take the mechs/fighter any day of the week.  And i’ll still have more units than russia because of my income being nearly double his, and I won’t have to waste as many units defending my coasts because UK/US need more surface ships to protect there transports.

Inf, art, mechs, and planes will win the day in russia for germany.  You don’t need tanks when you can afford to buy a fighter for every tank your opponent purchases, along with a mech.

Obviously you would sink atleast one of the battleships, maybe even two.  My point is if UK buys inf heavy you would avoid sea lion, if they build boats and/or big time in africa, send in the sea lion.

I mean really, if UK buys 9 men on turn 1, why even bother facing them as there no threat, its time to eat some russia!

I think I personally will purchase 1 trans, 1 DD, or two trans and 5 inf on turn 1, hiding atleast the trans in the baltic maybe even the rest of the boats while sinking all the UK boats I can without huge risk, probably leaving 1 BB, 1 Cru in the atlantic.  Then on turn 2 if the UK builds say, a minor IC, or 3 tanks out of south africa, move up the fleet drop more boats and dance in London on turn 3.  Keep in mind too, you don’t need all transports as your airforce is larger than the UKs, not only that but 13 IPCs gets you two inf and a trannie, 10 gets you a fighter.  Yes the inf are better but the fighter is more versatile after you take London.

What I’m saying is, going hardcore sea lion isnt that great of an idea, but the threat of it forces the UK to react and gives you an advantage.

Sorry mates, i’ll stick with my mech inf with art and a crapton of planes as backup.  Germany can afford planes and they serve a dual purpose at keeping the US/UK honest.  Russia cannot afford to waste IPCs on tanks as they have a limited income and should try to maximize build quantity or risk being overran by unit count alone.

With this setup I foresee a slow german infantry push being backed up with air and mech as they get further from the home factories.

To make a long story short IMHO 41 navy works if the allies do not counter corretly.

THe correct counter is for an aggressive Russia pushing hard, esp in the south, with the US gunning for Italy, along with the UK going heavy sub/air.  Its not hard to spread the subs out a bit, or to use a US dd as a blocker.  In that case, as early as turn 2 the US can block the baltic, in combination with a UK navy buy in SZ 8 which should be possible without the additional purchase of a bomber on G1 depending on how the dice go.  Subs+air slaughter navy.

Um, to me it seems that a turn 1 buy of navy is foolish for a sea lion.  You would be better served to place your BB/Cru out to kill the two cruisers with some air help, make sure no brit DDs survive, then purchase a fighter or two, and some subs while hiding the transport in the baltic.  Then if UK leaves itself open with there purchases, as in they buy navy or squander it in the med, then on G2 you should purchase enough boats to keep a fleet alive in 112, and a crapton of not just transports, but planes.  Planes can hit UK, and help to keep the US at bay.

And if the UK wastes its air killing your ships, so be it.

I don’t know, I think threatening it will be the norm, and then using the fleet to shuffle men up north or to get gibralter and go after africa.  Think about it, with G/I and a large enough fleet you could stall/deny the allies access into the med, and that is the easiest place for the US to strike.  Granted by doing that you may open up the north to the allies (norway/finland).

Shall be interesting to say the least.

@Dylan:

Yeah I don’t like that. They have a 50 percent chance of hitting (or more with the Tac)

Like you need something strong on the ground

You can’t roll 2’s all the time.

For the cruisers same idea. Despite having special abilities Subs and Destroyers can’t always roll 2’s, Cruiser are more helpful, like for the destroyer do you really need planes to attack something defending on 1?

It may feel better mentally to be rolling a handful at a 3 then a ton at a 2, but statistically the 2s on average will give more hits, and, since your rolling more will tend to roll closer to average than the 3s will.  On top of that, there is a higher threat of a really good roll screwing your opponent.  I would never fear attacking 4 cruisers with 4 subs and 2 planes, as I know if the dice really crap on me i can lose the subs and run, but against 6 destroyers I could possibly lose planes on the first roll of those dice.

All Russia has to do is build as many inf/mech pairs as humanly possible, with a few art and fighters sprinkled in if germany goes all out tank happy in E40.  Now that may be the general concept behind the change, to reduce tank buys, but now you’ll just see insane quantities of mech inf being purchased.  For a good smash russia strat you’ll see germany buy mostly art turn 1&2, followed by mechs and planes.

Depends on how much german air lives if the UK should go after that fleet or not.  Germany can easily replace her lost boats, the UK cannot, and honestly I would be tickled if the UK put its entire fleet out there like that.  Personally though I would go 1 DD, 2 SS, 2 inf, 1 art.  Put the subs in the baltic.  As long as a good amount of air survived G1 the UK will be between a rock and a hard place navy wise.

In global games tanks have only ever been purchased for two reasons, speed and lack of build slots.

Well in this there is absolutely no shortage of build slots compared to IPC (like 50th) and the mobility is countered by mechs being better bang for the buck, even when attacking, if backed by air.  The only thing tanks have left is blitz, and while that is useful in a can opener setup, the can opener has been greatly reduced from what I can see.  Sorry mate, tanks ARE overpriced.

As a house rule, my tanks will be a 3/2 two movement for 5, but for each inf paired up there defense is increased to a 3.  Much better IMHO.

Also cruisers are a bit weak for there cost, I’m debating between a 2/3 for 10 with bombard, or a 3/3 for 12 with 3 movement, or adding a transport role like NWO, or possibly a better convoy raiding ability.  Not really sure what to do in there case.