Posts made by GGleize

@Midnight_Reaper:

The only thing I would add to the Baron’s input is that the America First (or turn A0) option calls for production AND non-combat movement. The reason for the non-combat movement is to allow the Flying Tigers to move to safety and to give the US player the choice to reinforce Pearl Harbor or to withdraw the Pacific Fleet back to the west coast.

You don’t get combat movement or combat, but you do get the option of adjusting the American setup.

-Midnight_Reaper

We will first play it with NO MOVEMENT AT ALL > Them after a few battles if the Allies are still underdog > We will allow non-combat move by USA

Hello!

To teach the game (1942.2) to my son (12) who, like many kids, isn’t very patient > I created on my kitchen table a simple map to play 1vs1.
Each square is a territory / Their value is written on them / No diagonal moves / Both side begins with a single Industrial Complex and no unit.
So both side starts with 16 IPCs / That is their total starting points (1 territory of 10 + 6 territories of 1) / First to reach 40 immediately wins.
My son enjoyed … And won!

To be said: I didn’t draw any map but just used the white sides of 36 nation tokens to place at the intersections.

@Baron:

Give Axis to less experienced players and Allies to more experienced ones.
This can be a way to balance things without requiring other twists.

If Allies lost, give Red Bomber to Allies.

After 3 games, if all Axis wins, then goes to America First.

IMO, dicing might occurs one way or another.
It will probably become tight.

TY very much!
GG from France

Hello,

After reading many answers from different vets on this forum about balancing 1942SE and knowing that we don’t want to play any bid, my friends and me are finally hesitating between two last solutions proposed by some of the most experienced players:

1. THE RED BOMBER: Simply add a bomber in Russia (This seems to be very efficient to balance but only in the hands of a well experienced player).
2. AMERICA FIRST: The USA play first before Russia but only to product units so with no movement nor combat (For fast help toward east and west).

Both solutions are said efficient to balance the game close to 50/50 by the most experienced players of this forum.
We think about trying the second solution first because it seems more easy to manage for new players?

Your advices? (Only about those two - No bids nor complicated settings please)

GG

About history I agree but my point is absolutely not to make many rule changes - In fact we hate house rules but sometime we “feel” obliged to introduce some very few. And we are really happy when some experienced players or our own experience shows us later that the official rules were better! Lesser and simpler the rules better the game!

If it were only about 2 hits against a fleet like 1xBB + 1xAC + 2xFighters > We wouldn’t need any house rule because 1xBB damage and 1xFighter destroyed stays a reasonable response … But …

When 2 hits against 2xBB + 1xAC + 2xFighters > We HATE the 1xBB + 1xBB damages for many reasons explained elsewhere. Worse with 3 BB (for ex. we experienced the 2 first Japan BBs surviving and regrouped with a third one) > That is a shield of 3 hits! And that’s what we want to change with a house rule as SIMPLE as possible …

Clarification for the vets like Elk: Total respect for your stats and very precise calculations - And if our house rule makes players buy less BB in the futur … Well … Let’s say it’s the historical decline of the BB that started in the middle of the WWII! (Remember we are in 42) … And be sure some newbies (like me) will keep on buying BBs sometime to time because we don’t play maths + to overawe our opponent and finally because WE JUST LOVE BBs lol!

To be said in the last example: With our rule the defender can choose 1xFighter destroyed + 1xBB damaged (because last hit) … But the next hit (if any) should be on the BB.

To be said: The point si not to weaken the beautiful BB and this house rule would even not be useful when facing a single BB. The point is to avoid the “strange shield” case of 2 or 3 BB cancelling the 2 or 3 first hits upon a full fleet with absolutely no losses. The point is to go back to the classical A&A and WWII way: The very first hits are better taken by the little units around them.

Let’s add this house rule would not change the situation that much by the end of the battle: 4 hits needed to kill 2xBB in both cases! They are just gonna shoot back a total of 3D4 before sinking instead of 4D4 … Thus rewarding the enemies for each round of hits instead of the frustrating “You finished rolling and hitting? OK nobody’s dead and I shoot back!”

Hello!

Your American Free Production option is very interesting.
I like it because simple + following the logic turn (America before Russia) + fits to the historical American powerfull Industrial production

Last questions:

1. Does it really balance around 50/50 or does it “overbalance” toward the Allies?
2. Does it balance the final result but still leave Russia being erased at the start by Germany?

GG

@Argothair:

18 IPCs is well within the range of “normal” bids for the Allies in 1942.2. So there’s nothing crazy about giving Russia 6 extra infantry. The question is whether that pushes your game in an interesting direction. With more infantry, Russia will be able to hold out longer against German/Japanese attacks, and they may have some more flexibility to purchase some tanks or fighters, on turn 3 or 4. Russia would still want to make conservative purchases (infantry + artillery) on turns 1 and 2 because it will take some time to gather those extra 6 infantry and march them over to the front lines.

With no bid and less-than-heroic support from the US/UK, Moscow often falls around turn 6 in this game. So your “swarm of infantry” rule would keep Moscow alive for an extra couple of turns, maybe until turn 8 or so. Meanwhile, the western allies are still going to have a very hard time in the Middle East and in the Pacific. Egypt will usually fall on round 1, the US Atlantic fleet will almost always fall on round 1, the bulk of the US Pacific fleet will usually fall on round 1, the British Pacific ships will usually be dead by turn 2 or 3, China will usually be dead by turn 2 or 3, and India will often fall on round 4. Can the western allies rebound from these “predictable setbacks,” build a dominant fleet, build an adequate pipeline of loaded transports, and seize enough key territories to balance the loss of Moscow, all by the end of turn 8? Typically this means conquering either (France + Italy) or (Philippines + Borneo + East Indies + Kwangtung). Anything less, and the Axis will be able to take the income they get from looting Moscow, turn their tanks around, and drive the Allies back into the sea on turn 11 or 12, seizing a permanent economic advantage that will ultimately end in Allied defeat.

Does that sound like an interesting challenge for your play group? If so, give your bid a try. If not, maybe try a different bid. There’s nothing ahistorical about a Russian bomber corps in 1942 – the Soviet Union manufactured tens of thousands of modern bombers in every year of the war, and actually had quite a large air force for the era. The Russian navy was smaller, but still played a significant role in operations in the Baltic (preventing the German navy from re-supplying the Siege of Leningrad by sea) and the Black Sea (evacuating tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers from encircled positions in Ukraine and safely withdrawing them to the successful defense of Stalingrad).

Hello Argo!

Thanks for the answer and advices.
If I get you clearly: You agree with our amount of 18 IPCs but you think that obliging Russia to spend all of them into Infantry is another limitation? It’s not enough to balance the game? Notice that they will have the units AT THE VERY START of the game (so sooner than any classical spend IPCs) and that they still benefit of the 24 official IPCs to spend! Plus to be honest we always add a AAA in Karelia!

But OK I respect your experience of numerous battles and you are certainly right that it may not be enough to help the allies.

So imagine that my group want to balance this game with a permanent rule but DO NOT WANT ANY BID SYSTEM: What would you do to re-balance the allies?

• Give them 24+20 IPCs? 24+30 IPCs?

And what if we even don’t want extra IPCs but directly extra units on the setting? What would you give them?

• Give them 3 INF + 2 ART + 1 TANK?
• Give them 3 INF + 1 TANK + 1 BOMBER?
• More?

@wittmann:

Nice idea , but I fear that would be too much help for the Allies .
Have you tried it out?

Nope this is just an idea … We will try soon.

But as a single visitor I saw several 42SE battles with a bid of 20 IPCs in favor of the allies with those same allies being smashed 50% of the time by the Axis … So I imagine those 6 infantry should not overbalance the game!. But I agree that only the experience will tell us!

GG

Hello vets!

So using your experience: What is for you the overall balance on the long range for this 42SE? … 50/50? … 60% Axis? … More?
I saw some bids (witch is clever but not simple) going between 10 to 20 IPCs for the Axis …

What about this try: EACH RUSSIAN TERRITORY STARTS WIN A MINIMUM OF 2 INFANTRY

Why this choice:

• This is a 18 IPCs reinforcement BEFORE the start of the game witch seems to be reasonable to balance it.
• This respect the historical huge reserve mostly in MEN the “Mother Russia” provided to its generals.
• The Russians cannot use those 18 extra IPCs in non-historical bombers or ships or whatever.

Your feelings? Don’t hit me please … At least not on the head!  :-D

Moderator’s edit: Added tag [1942.2] to title.

Better players than me will give you some … But you did point out the main default of this game: SAME STARTING SITUATION EACH TIME!

I think about creating some new non-historical maps to balance 50% 50% two countries (or more) and to play with my children too!

:wink:

TY Elk!

We just though two BB in the middle of a fleet can cancel the 2 very first hits and we felt that It often makes a big difference by the end of the battle!?

Our “house rule” is just that the 2 hits on the BB must still be taken when the defender wants but IN A ROW! Meaning that if a BB is damaged and the battle not over: The very next hit (if any) must be on him!

GG

mmm … We did try the “Battleship must be hit twice but in a row” house rule and … For the moment it works well!
Now the fleet owner feel obliged to protect those big BB & AC with little units like in the “old AA days” and during WWII

I stop here because double post on this subject –-> https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=35629.msg1753059#msg1753059

Thank you for the answer and time spend!

OK It was just a question - I don’t want to change this rule … Was just hoping it was this way … OK no lol!

A screen of destroyers? … mmm … I may have stupidly ignore this idea because of my (also stupid) idea of “fight like a man” with flat tops … But my (behatred) Japanese enemy overrun me by the end!

But TY for the advice and I will better play with my brain the next time instead of my “nuts” (if I may)!

Regards.
GG

Hello,

New player (of this edition) I have 2 questions please:

1. A battleship hit by a single submarine (so only damaged and on his side) can defend and battle back right?

2. A friend of me with a good Japan and still with its two starting battleships in a simple fleet composed of: 2BB + 2AC + 4Fighters –-> Kept on coming to me and was always taking the very 2 first hits as battleship damages and the few next hits as fighters killed —> But could always respond (before the death of the fighters) with 2D2 + 4D4 and MASSACRE me … Then easily rebuild each turn the losses (like 3 to 4 fighters) and so on …

We found it was unfair if to compare with the previous editions about the SHIELD of big units! I mean to protect the big units LOSING some little around (like destroyers or subs or whatever) is fair and in the spirit of the WWII but to go “Wait: my 2 battleships take those 2 hits and everybody even the destroyers are safe even me after the battle!” is … well … Strange!?  I accept that a battleship could take 2 hits because of its price and historical importance but to take ANOTHER damage hit on ANOTHER battleship when a first one is already damaged should be forbidden IMO!