@domanmacgee Game History
Round: 2
Puchase Units - Americans
Americans buy 1 submarine and 3 transports; Remaining resources: 0 PUs;
Place Units - Americans
1 submarine and 3 transports placed in SZ 1
Turn Complete - Americans
Americans collect 20 PUs; end with 20 PUs
Combat Hit Differential Summary :
Have a family gathering today so might not get to R3 until super-late tonight/tomorrow.
I don’t Larry was cashiered–I think he makes plenty of money off his association with AxA and Hasbro and he also makes fine new games. Why mess with that?
I don’t think it’s a “WOTC fired Larry thing”. I think it’s a “Larry doesn’t want anything to do with WOTC anymore” thing. As much as I personally don’t mind the zombies in AAZ I doubt someone like Larry would have accepted them and probably opted to leave WOTC/Hasbro and pursue his own thing with Nightingale Games, which I think is great. It’s just a shame he couldn’t get the rights to the A&A license on his way out.
I also dont think it behooves us to shit on the products or people who design them–its extremely unbecoming for people to look at a work or art or product they would never and could never create themselves and cynically dismiss it
Not sure if this part was directed at me specifically, but I defended AAZ from the people who mindlessly bashed on it for having zombies in it for ~6 months back when the game was coming out. I bought a copy and played a few games of it. The game is simply not good and after going to bat for it to the point where I alienated myself from most of the community here I think I’ve earned the right to say that game is simply not a very good product.
You don’t buy them, they represent the Minor Axis Divisions (Romanians/Italians/etc.) that were with the 6th Army at Stalingrad. You just use the ones you get at the start of the game.
@Imperious-Leader is correct in his assessment that they are meant to be useless nuisances. They are meant to impede Germany, not to help them.
If you have enough money with UK to fill 4 transports you may want to consider 1-2 FTRs + fill 3 transports instead. This lets you slowly-but-surely accumulate a stack of air units for UK that can be staged in West Russia/Moscow with the purpose of picking off small stacks of 1-2 German/Japanese land units in Russian territories. That way, on Russia’s turn, the Soviets don’t have to commit as many units to retaking the now-empty territories. This puts less strain on the Soviet economy, as instead of sending 1-2 INF + air support to retake 1-2 IPC territories, you’re instead just sending 1 INF, or even a TANK while it blitzes to a different territory (or back to the stack, even!). The reduced strain on the Soviets means that they’re free to either make additional attacks/trades, or build up their main stack more quickly. Both make for a stronger Soviet force that will take a longer time for the Axis to break, if they can break it.
tl;dr your UK navy alone can only hit Norway/Finland/Karelia/Baltic States/Northwestern Europe/France. Adding an airforce on top of that lets you threaten/strafe all of the inland Russian territories (Belorussia/Poland/Ukraine/West Russia) + Moscow’s “back door” (Kazakh/Novosibirsk/Ural/etc.).
@the_good_captain It’s a favor from one stats/math nerd to another I guess. The history tab gave the total punch/hits so getting the averages from there was pretty easy.
@8d88 admittedly I don’t play this version much but one idea I’ve seen floating around is to not build INF outright as a way to dodge the zombies. That does kind of forestall there being a point where zombies occupy enough IPC value to prematurely end the game but it’s very resource inefficient as INF are generally the best unit (as with all A&A versions).
I’ve also toyed with the idea of just house ruling the entire zombie mechanic out of the game and play the map as a sort of “41 +1” edition but that kind of defeats the point of the whole game…
@JuliusBorisovBeamdog Ah, so it’s just ELO. I’m already familiar with the concept thanks to Chess.
I’m guessing my progress slowing is probably because, now that I’m about 7 games in with each faction (not counting placement games), I’m no longer gaining/losing as much rating per-game, in addition to players having naturally high ranking. I’ll just keep chugging along, then.
For vanity’s sake, do you have a rough estimate of what the ELO Thresholds are for each league/segments of each league? I’m currently ~#180 as Axis and ~#89 as Allies.
@the_good_captain NP. Fixed it in the middle of the British turn, which I’m gonna be a bit on as it’s less autopilot than the French turn.
If Renegade is limiting themselves to WW2, then a purely Japan Vs. China game would be an interesting one. Most WW2 games focus on USSR Vs. Germany (or the European theater in general) and the few that don’t usually devolve into USA Vs. Japan unless it’s on a huge scale.
As you know, I’ve been playing since the beginning.
It really is a marvel to think about how far the game has come in such a short amount of time. From the game literally crashing over the slightest of issues and turns taking 40+ minutes to a smooth experience that’s more-or-less ready for actual launch.
Good work, guys. Hoping for more maps to play on in the future.
@the_good_captain Game History
Round: 4
Puchase Units - Russians
Condition TankProductionRussians: Russians has their production frontier changed to: lateWarProduction
Russians buy 2 artilleries and 3 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs;
Combat Move - Russians
Turning on Edit Mode
EDIT: Removing units owned by Russians from Ukraine: 14 artilleries and 1 infantry
EDIT: Adding units owned by Russians to Ukraine: 2 artilleries and 18 infantry
EDIT: Removing units owned by Russians from Ukraine: 2 artilleries and 18 infantry
EDIT: Adding units owned by Russians to Tatarstan: 1 artillery and 14 infantry
EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
2 infantry moved from Moscow to Karelia
1 battleship moved from SZ 10 to SZ 9
Combat - Russians
Battle in Karelia
Russians attack with 2 infantry
AustroHungarians defend with 1 infantry and 1 port
Russians roll dice for 2 infantry in Karelia, round 2 : 0/2 hits, 0.67 expected hits
AustroHungarians roll dice for 1 infantry in Karelia, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.50 expected hits
1 infantry owned by the Russians lost in Karelia
AustroHungarians and Russians reach a stalemate
. Battle score for attacker is -3
Casualties for Russians: 1 infantry
Combat Move - Russians
Turning on Edit Mode
EDIT: Adding units owned by Russians to Ukraine: 19 artilleries and 5 infantry
EDIT: Removing units owned by Russians from Tatarstan: 1 artillery and 14 infantry
EDIT: Removing units owned by Russians from Moscow: 1 artillery, 1 factory and 4 infantry
EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
Turning on Edit Mode
EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
Place Units - Russians
Turning on Edit Mode
EDIT: Adding units owned by Russians to Moscow: 1 factory
EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
Turning on Edit Mode
EDIT: Adding units owned by Russians to Moscow: 2 artilleries and 3 infantry
EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
2 artilleries and 3 infantry were produced but were not placed
Turn Complete - Russians
Russians collect 10 PUs; end with 10 PUs
Combat Hit Differential Summary :
Russians regular : -0.67
AustroHungarians regular : 0.50
My edits got SERIOUSLY screwed up on that turn while I was trying to get the battle in Ukraine to not fire (but stay contested). I think I got everything set back up right correctly but double-check my work.
@Narvik First of all, apologies for going through and liking every one of these posts. I just liked your thread that much.
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to create this project. The idea of actually recreating WW2 on the actual board was a really good visual experience and it’s exactly this kind of thing that helps keep learning about history interesting. When I one day have a kid, I hope to use a similar idea to teach them about historical events in a way that can be visually represented easily.
Thanks again!
@Brian-Cannon If you’re having problems winning as Germany in this version (aside from atrocious luck which is certainly a factor), it’s probably because you’re not being aggressive enough with Germany.
In Classic (the game from the 80s, what you call “the initial version”), Germany is weak and needs to play defensively. In this version, that is not the case. You should be building 1-2 Tanks each turn, and spending the rest of your money on Infantry and Artillery.
Your path on the Russian front should be 2-pronged.
Path #1: Germany -> Baltic States -> Karelia -> West Russia (paths converge) -> Moscow.
Path #2: Germany -> Poland -> Ukraine -> West Russia (paths converge) -> Moscow.
Although you are encouraged to be aggressive, as @Boston_NWO said, you should not be overly aggressive turn 1. For the first turn (or even the first few rounds if necessary), you should focus on amassing units in Karelia and either Poland or Ukraine, based on how USSR is doing luck-wise. Once you’re confident that you can advance (or if Russia falls back to Moscow), start sending small batches of units into Caucasus, West Russia and Archangel. Doing this will pump your income level up to the high 40s/low 50s (based on how Africa is going), while the Soviets will only be making low 20s/high teens.
Side-Note #1: Your Fighters/Bombers should be in Germany or Karelia, as needed. From there they can cover most of your territories.
Side-Note #2: What are you doing with Japan? If you’re having problems closing games out with Germany you can always change up your Japan game to put a greater emphasis on sending land units into Russia. You can’t exactly field huge armies like Germany can but chipping away at USSR’s income will help accelerate their fall.
@the_good_captain Game History
Round: 5
Puchase Units - French
French buy 3 artilleries, 1 fighter, 2 infantry and 1 tank; Remaining resources: 0 PUs;
Combat Move - French
1 transport moved from SZ 16 to SZ 14
2 infantry moved from Portugal to SZ 14
2 infantry and 1 transport moved from SZ 14 to SZ 16
2 infantry moved from SZ 16 to Marseilles
1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from Piedmont to Venice
1 artillery and 3 infantry moved from Lorraine to Alsace
7 artilleries, 2 fighters and 29 infantry moved from Belgium to Alsace
10 infantry moved from Picardy to Lorraine
3 fighters moved from Paris to Lorraine
1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from Paris to Picardy
Combat - French
Battle in Alsace
French attack with 8 artilleries, 2 fighters and 32 infantry
Germans defend with 2 infantry
French roll dice for 8 artilleries, 2 fighters and 32 infantry in Alsace, round 2 : 15/42 hits, 18.00 expected hits
Germans roll dice for 2 infantry in Alsace, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 1.00 expected hits
2 infantry owned by the Germans and 1 infantry owned by the French lost in Alsace
French win, taking Alsace from Germans with 8 artilleries, 2 fighters and 31 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
Casualties for French: 1 infantry
Casualties for Germans: 2 infantry
Combat Move - French
Place Units - French
3 artilleries, 1 fighter, 2 infantry and 1 tank placed in Paris
Turn Complete - French
French collect 30 PUs; end with 30 PUs
Combat Hit Differential Summary :
French regular : -3.00
Germans regular : 0.00
You’re right on the mine question, actually. Now I’m confused as to how the port in SZ17 ever got flipped at all.
@Narvik Well I agree with basically all of your points, but we testers were only allowed to suggest changes about the balance. The “”“core experience”“” is set in stone by the new guy who is the lead designer and unfortunately he is pretty stubborn about his vision for A&A. It’s a pretty radical departure from the “easy to learn, hard to master” style that Larry Harris championed (which, in my opinion, is the reason the early A&A games are much better than anything that came later).
@Brian-Cannon For your defense profile, you should have bombers set to die first. Yeah it sucks losing a 12 IPC unit on the first turn but it only rolls at a 1 on defense. You’re going to lose the territory anyway so you need to maximize your odds of taking more Russians down with you.
@Topmat
I don’t play in person because I’m nowhere near good enough to even bother competing in a serious tournament.
I tried attending one tournament in my area several years ago, but it ended up being an open tournament, so I was utterly crushed by 2000+ ELO players in every round (I’m something like a 1350, and that’s online, so my IRL rating is probably significantly lower than that). Not a fun day.
If you’re attending a larger tournament, those are typically structured in such a way that you’ll play others who are around your skill level. Good luck.
@the_good_captain You can’t move the Ottomans out of Sevastopol and into Ukraine:
Pg. 15 of the rules (under “Land Units”):
“Land units that begin the turn in contested territories can only be moved to territories that are controlled by your power, or to territories that are also contested and already contain units belonging to your power. If they are moved by transport, they may also remain at sea.”
I bring this up because I would have done the same thing you did (move most of my units from Sevastopol into Ukraine) had I been allowed to.
I tend to make the call on KGF or KJF (if you can really call it “KJF”, you don’t take Tokyo in any KJF strategy. You usually just clear out their navy, take the money islands, and halt their momentum in Asia before moving on to killing Germany or winning on VCs) on A1 (America’s first turn), after Germany and Japan have both moved. I do this because hopefully, after seeing my opponent handle both Germany and Japan for a turn, I’ll be able to figure out which country they’re better at playing, at purposely go after the one they’re weaker at. It’s entirely possible to make an opening move as UK that leaves both KGF and KJF on the table. Just buy a Carrier for the Atlantic + land units for India. I used to like attacking the SZ37 fleet but with my luck and AAO’s “”“questionable”“” dice, I rarely have any luck winning there (or I totally blow-out Japan and win the game instantly, but I don’t like leaving the outcome of the game down to pure luck like that).
This is a bit of a game-y answer to your question, but I tend to focus on playing against my opponent rather than just following a formulaic plan every single game (outside of the obvious moves you must make in all games, I mean).
Side-Note #1: If Germany builds navy you need to go 100% KGF, as buying navy as Germany is inefficient and unsustainable. Germany’s strength in this version relies on the combination of their having nearly double USSR’s income and their extremely strong starting position. Take away either (i.e. spend Germany’s income on navy instead of units aimed at Moscow) and you suddenly give the Soviets (and thus the Allies) a fighting chance in a game where they really shouldn’t have one. Just keep building Navy as UK/US. If Germany is blowing all their IPCs on naval/air units USSR can build up and start pressuring Germany on the Russian Front.
Side-Note #2: When Japan Pearl Harbors, you send in the fleet from US West Coat + all available air units (including the Bomber from East USA) to counterattack the Japanese fleet. In most cases Pearl Harbor is an over-extension by Japan than can by punished (there are exceptions to this line of thinking, but only when you hit like Platinum top 150 tier opponents).
@Topmat Ah, you’re a much stronger player than I am, then. My Classical is like 1400 (the 1350 score was blitz).
I don’t know if you’ve ever attended an IRL A&A Tournament (or a tournament for any other competitive game), but I can give you some basic general advice for enduring the tournament:
DISCLAIMER: This is general advice. It may not be suitable for the tournament you are going to.
Stay hydrated - Your body is the main thing that’s going to be giving out during a tournament. You’ll probably be allowed a glass of water or some other sort of beverage at your table. Personally, I’d avoid sugary drinks like soda, but more on that in my next point.
Stay well-fed, but avoid overly-sugary foods like the plague - You need to last through 8-10 rounds of play, probably. If you’re playing on Classical Time control that means your games are going to last ~3-4 hours, slightly shorter than the length of your average A&A tournament game (~5 hours). My point here is that you’ll need some sort of nutrients between games, or you’re liable to see a lapse in your play due to fatigue. Make sure to pack food accordingly, as it’s not guaranteed that the venue will offer food that’s to your liking, if they offer food at all. Be sure to stay away from greasy or sugary food, I forget the exact science, but from what I remember, it has something to do with your body burning sugars faster than it burns other types of energy. Instead, load up on carbs, nuts, etc. More natural sugars, like fruits, are also okay.
Stay calm - Losing 1 game will probably keep you off the podium, but this is your first tournament, so don’t worry about it. Online ratings apparently do not mesh with IRL ratings for chess, so take all of your matches seriously. Unlike online play, you can’t just stop and call it a night if you don’t play well in one game in particular, so unwind by playing for a draw in your next round or something similar.
Get good sleep leading up to the tournament - Self-explanatory. If you’re not at 100%, your brain will let you down when you need it most.
I can’t really offer any gameplay tips, as my rating doesn’t even begin to compare to yours, so just do what you do best and try to avoid getting sucked into other players’ play styles. I imagine you’ll run into a bizarre opening line or two, seeing as it’s an amateur division, so you might want to read up on some common opening traps and how to avoid them.