Posts made by Dimitri

@Eqqman Think also about it this way. This game is very much balanced around the tension between Germany and USSR. If cared for, those 5 inf can potentially make the difference between Moscow falling or not. I know that whenever I have stacked Bury as Allies and seen it wiped on J1, USSR has this sudden naked feeling.

@Panzerboy0191 I think against a good Allied player, a German navy is a bad idea, and a trap. Allies will build planes and ships anyway to work with transports in the Atlantic, and then Germany is forced into an arms race it cannot win, all the while it has few troops to fight USSR with, resulting in USSR pressing into German territories. Whatever gains Germany might make in Africa, it will give up to USSR in Europe.

In my view, the best German navy, in terms of dealing with an Allied navy, is made of pure planes, where it can be used to deal with USSR at the same time as deterring weak Allied naval efforts.

@Green-Vandago Thanks, it is clearer now!

@J-o-C I agree that pressure on both sides is needed to some degree. Whenever Japan is left alone completely, I feel it always goes poorly for Allies.

@Green-Vandago I am confused about the East Indies IC. It is on an island, so you still need transports to utilize it fully. Why not just use Japan and not waste the 15 ICs?

@J-o-C Yes, in a KJF, Germany takes Russia and then takes over the continent easily. Or it doesn’t and I lose!

@Jofes Well first of all, winning as Axis is not supposed to be easy. If it was easy, it would not be a fair game.

If you are consistently losing big battles, you need to take a hard look at your battle decision making. Maybe the odds are not as in your favor as you thought. But if you are always getting terrible luck with big stack battles, yes, there is often no recovery there, as the battle can be game deciding.

With Germany, against a good Allied player, you probably have to risk having France taken in order to make the final push to take Russia. You often will not have the resources to hold France and take Russia. Retake France after Russia falls.

With India, there are so many factors. If UK gets lucky with the big SZ37 battle, it can be really hard to take India any time soon, especially if USA harasses Japan effectively. The big SZ37 battle is actually a reason I am getting tired of this game. It’s a very iffy battle that can go either way and can decide the game. But not everyone does this.

With Japan, try not building any early IC at all. While you can build 8 units per turn, use Japan only. This is faster and more efficient. So build up to having 3-4 transports and ferry troops over. If USA leaves you alone, 4 is ideal, possibly 5 if you want to make excursions to Australia, etc. If UK and USA are both hounding you, 3 transports is max, as you will be building ships and planes too. You will not take India if UK and USA both gang up on you, just rely on Germany to win at that point. In a KJF, you are playing defense, protecting your money islands, ferrying minimal troops to take Russian territory slowly and keep India at bay.

Try the Steam version of this game, not sure if you are playing it. Lots of players, and you can get experience quickly. Just play the Allies and watch what good Axis players do against you.

@DoManMacgee Killing the japanese sub is not reliable, since it can submerge. Also, why bother to take Solomons? They are worth nothing. I think it is better to just keep the inf in Australia than do that.

I think maybe just trying to shadow the US fleet is not a bad idea.

@DoManMacgee OOB it is very Axis slanted, agreed. But the Larry Harris Gencon rules help with the balance. Allies get extra inf in India and the Atlantic fleets are set up better for Allies at the start. I believe Germans lose a sub and UK gets an extra destroyer. I find the game more or less fair after this. But it does get repetitive pretty quickly, you guys are right.

@DoManMacgee

Thanks for your views! I did not really know it was a poorly balanced map. I have not played A&A in a couple decades, and it seems better than the orginial. More territories and the Atlantic is a bit more fair for the Axis, as there is an extra sea zone to deal with.

I am doing my best not to take it too seriously!

After a bunch of matches, it seems that things come down to a couple of battles first turn. I mostly play the Axis, and against an equally skilled opponent, I find that if Germany loses Ukraine bad (like 4 or more Russian units left), and SZ 37 battle goes bad (the big Japanese East Indies fleet), there is very little chance for the Axis to come back.

Against good players, you do not get that many big battles after turn 1, as people do not put units in disadvantageous positions. This makes these many 50/50 first turn skirmishes so critical.

So the game is getting stale. So much decided on turn 1 by pure luck.