I’ve now played 2 games against an opponent. Though it was his first time playing Axis/Allies, he’s a good natural tactician and learns quickly. He’s a wargamer. Both games lasted 3 hours. We played with the official setup changes: 3 inf in Moscow, DD in SZ11, 1 inf in NW China. We also allowed nations to build artillery units, which gives this game that little something it is missing. I commanded the Allies and won both games, only because of more A/A experience. He didn’t attack Egypt on turn 1 with Germany in either game, but I recommended researching opening moves online for the next time we play. He wants to try Axis again.

Here are my opening moves for game 2. Game 1 was similar. With the inclusion of artillery, this game plays like a mini version of Revised. It’s a good time.

Russia 1: Russia bought an inf and an art and placed those in CAUC. Attacked W. Russia w/ 1 inf from KAR, 3 inf from ARCH, 1 inf from MOS, and 1 FIG. Sub moved to SZ 6 to restrict German fleet movement, and moved 3 inf from Siberia to Urals. Russia stacked CAUC w/ 1 FIG, 2 Tanks, 9 inf, and 1 artillery.

UK1: Bought AC for SZ 6. German landed a tank in GIB, so FIG was lost when AC went down. Attacked German BB and Sub in SZ6 w/ BB, DD, FIG, and Bomber. Attacked SZ31 w/ DD, Sub, and FIG. Took NAFR w/ 1 inf from Egypt. Moved tank from ECAN to London. Moved inf from AUS to IND. Moved SAFR inf up one place. Moved IND trans to SAFR area. Moved tank from EGY to India and 1 inf to MidE. Placed FIG on new AC.

US1: Bought a trans for SZ 11 and DD for PAC. Moved FIG to UK AC. Bomber to London. 2 inf and 1 tank for EUS to ECAN. 2 inf and 1 tank from WUS to WCAN. DD and trans from SZ 11 to ECAN area. 1 inf took CENCHI from SZECH. Japan left that open, but had taken NWCH.

It is more difficult for USA to land troops in Norway/London in this game, because of how the sea zones are setup. The Atlantic shuck takes longer to setup, if it ever does get going. In both games, the US focused more on the PAC than I’ve done in previous games of A/A Revised. I like this, because historically the US had to deal heavily with Japan’s navy to win the war in the PAC. I was able to keep Japan in a naval construction race in both games, which led to my victories. I did make some rookie mistakes, because I’m still rusty from not playing for a while, which prolonged these games. But my opponent is a smart guy and did some nice moves that he came up with on his own. Aside from me giving him advice a few times. Good game, but it needs artillery to make it great.

Good post. There are several ways to skin a cat, and people have to rethink things. One point I would raise is: a good German player would attack Egypt w/ 2 inf, 1 tank, 1 fighter, and the bomber on G1. Would you still attack Japan’s DD and Sub? Or would you use the fighter to retake Egypt on UK1?

I’ve been reading these posts with great interest. I wanted to share the results of my first solitaire game. Hopefully, I can find a couple people at the local game store who want to play this simpler version.

I played w/ USA at 15 ipc. I just made Hawaii and Alaska worth zero. I figured there was a mistake somewhere, but I hadn’t read the official changes announced by Krieg before I played. But, I did immediately include artillery in this game. It seemed glaringly apparent that Russia, at least, needed that option. It helped, because Germany had to march their artillery from Berlin. I played hundreds of games on GTO and used many of the opening moves for A/A Revised in my solitaire game. Here were the opening moves:

R1 - Attacked W. Russia w/ 5 inf and the fighter. 1 inf from Kar, 2 from Arch, 2 from Moscow. Russia did pretty good, wiped out the Germans, and ended up w/ 3 inf occupying W. Russia. If Germany had rolled well, I would’ve retreated to Moscow. I then abandoned Caucasus, because there was no way to hold it without losing all of Russia’s tanks and the plane to a German attack. Attacking UKR on R1 just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. I also moved all 3 inf from Siberia west to help counterattack Cauc, or to go where needed. Letting Japan wipe out those 3 guys on J1 just seemed like a waste.

G1 - Sunk the USA trans w/ sub. Sunk UK carrier and fighter with 1 fighter, dd, and sub. DD and sub sunk. Sunk UK BB and sub w/ BB, sub, and 1 fighter. BB and plane survived. Amphib’d Egypt w/ 2 inf, tank from N. Africa, 1 fig, 1 bomber. Ended up w/ tank in Egypt. Landed planes in N. Africa. Took Cauc w/ 1 inf. Hit W. Russia w/ 6 inf and 4 tanks. Taking Egypt was huge. Killing that UK tank helped Japan. Holding W. Russia strong kept Russia from retaking Cauc.

UK1 - Retook Egypt w/ India fighter, bomber from London, 1 inf from Australia, 1 inf from India. DD and sub went with the 2 trans to Egypt. 1 inf from India fell back to Middle East. India was abandoned.

J1 - Amphib’d Szechwan w/ 3 inf, 1 tank, 4 figs, and bomber. Used BB bombardment, but didn’t know that isn’t part of this game. No losses. Took India w/ 1 inf. Took NW China w/ 2 inf from Manch, since Russia retreated. Took E. Indies w/ 1 inf, trans, and carrier. DD and trans attacked UK fleet off Egypt. Lost both ships. Moved carrier to E. Indies w/ 1 fig. (My mistake. Should have left the trans to its fate.) UK destroyed them on UK2 (Desperate attack, due to situation, UK lost both ships too).

US1 - Moved fleet to Alaska along w/ 1 inf and 1 tank. Built dd and trans in Atlantic. (Lost DD on G2, but got the sub.)

The game then ground out. I turtled Moscow. Russia dead zoned W. Russia w/ Germany, which worked well w/ the artillery. But Russia was slowly worn down. At one point, 3 UK figs and 2 USA figs were in Moscow, but had to use US figs in naval battle outside Tokyo on US3, because US sacrificed trans on US2 to take Manchuria w/ inf and tank. Japan wiped out US troops in Manch on J3. USA and Japan wrecked each others fleets on US3, but USA BB survived. It took several turns for UK and US to get troops on the ground in Europe. German airforce stayed in Cauc for several turns, until they had to fly west. Japan’s army slowly got ground down fighting UK in Asia and a USA amphib in Central China, because all money was spent trying to rebuild fleet to sink US BB. Germany took India to stomp out the UK. Eventually, German BB sunk US BB outside Tokyo. Desperate 1 BB on 1 Axis attack that sealed the Allies’ fate. Moscow fell to Germany the same turn from a massive attack on Moscow.

In the end, I saw that the Axis would win, but it would take a few more turns to build up for Sea Lion. I think the Allies had a decent chance of winning after Japan’s navy was gone, but German BB put an end to that dream. It was fun. I’ll update on game #2, as I incorporate the new setup revisions and give the USA 17 ipcs. The last comment I wish to make is this: artillery, artillery, artillery. Hopefully, the designers will include this in the game. It’s not that complicated to use them.

I love Axis/Allies and picked this one up, because I can’t set aside hours and hours to play. This game forces the players to think through their attacks, because each one is critical due to the lack of money in the game. I did some solitaire play tests to check out the rules, and I agree that allowing artillery to be purchased, but not as a setup, works well. Russia is in a horrible position in this game. Japan can kick in the backdoor almost immediately in Szechwan. The artillery helped stabilize the front and bought time against Germany, because Germany needed to march its artillery from Berlin. Artillery is the key to tweaking this game, IMO.

I played hundreds of games on GTO and used many of the opening turn 1 moves I learned from those excellent players for 1941. They worked. Britain’s Atlantic fleet is doomed on turn 1, but the Indian Ocean and Pacific fleets can really cause problems for the Axis on turn 1. Only having 1 sea zone around Australia gives Britain a lot of flexibility with that transport. It just depends on what Germany does, regarding Egypt. The USA Atlantic transport should be sunk immediately to buy time for Germany. All in all, I found myself thinking through many tactical problems with each turn for each nation. This water-downed game is much better than what veterans may believe.  :-D