Posts made by goldenbearflyer

@General_D.Fox:

My “friend” didn’t give a damn about the Pact and in the third round hit Novo. Non-aggression pact my commie-red backside! :-D :x

Right. gotta watch the backside! :-o

@newpaintbrush:

I usually trigger Non-Aggression pact J3-J4 ish with overwhelming hordes from Japanese transports.

You will eventually want to invade Russia, and when you do, it’s a lot better to force Russia to lose those infantry to a coastal invasion than having thse infantry in, say, Novosibirsk or Kazakh, or even Caucasus.

My son has 5inf in Bury.  I was thinking of being tricky and triggering the Pact in Kaz or somewhere and then crushing Bury the turn after, but I’m not sure that will help.

@newpaintbrush:

That isn’t another way to ask the question. That, sir, is threadjacking. Which as I am sure you know is a proud tradition here.

But by all means, let us call a spade a spade!

–

Baltic transport, Mediterranean transport, French Indochina infantry, Manchurian infantry, Japanese transport. All bids worthy of consideration, I think. Not to say that Ukraine infantry doesn’t have its charm, but I’ve tried that variation enough to believe that I wouldn’t go for it unless I can put at least 2 infantry there.

OK, it’s a spade.  Just trying to keep the thread going… the masses have spoken:  13-0 against 2inf in WRus.  :lol:

So it begs the question, what other moves do you like.  Yeah, those sound like good ideas.  Funny, I hear so little about bid units for J.  Inf in FIC seems very helpful.

@DarthMaximus:

Here’s one of my games, with the KJF variation that I like use.
I will also use a 2 AC, 1 ftr purchase on US 1. In the game below I went BB and AC.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=8741.0

Thanks, Darth, I will check that out.

@squirecam:

@newpaintbrush:

Oh yeah, one more thing.

A destroyer WOULD be fine, but the thing is - fighters are pretty useful, and I don’t see that the UK spending its turn on 3 x fighters really HELPS Germany a whole lot.  Yes, a response of 3 UK fighters does delay UK building its transport chain, but on the other hand, not only do you delay the German ground unit production in turn, but ALSO, you will have to contend with the UK air being used to trade territory on the UK turn.

Im not sold on a UK 3 fighter buy. USA, ok. Not UK. I see 3 fighter buys from UK as Germany, I’m happy.

Squirecam

Yeah, um, what squire said.

Squire, it’s entirely possible I will never question your judgment again (unless you advocate buying lots of bombers or something)!  I’ve tried out some moves with the G1 naval buys, and I see now how they can be beneficial.  Also, after testing out J moves (against a mostly KGF allied plan), I totally agree on your projections of J IPCs; sorry I doubted you!

Hauptmann-Jager, at least give this G1 buy a chance:  3trn, 2inf 2arm.  Put the 3trn in the Baltic.  From there you have quite a few options.

I have only played with a bid a couple of times so far, and I have placed units in Libya both times.  I vote thumbs down on WRus for the reasons others have said.  But here’s a another way to ask the question:

What other bid placements have you tried other than Libya?

Surprise, surprise, I didn’t have to threaten or bully my son to get him to play!  But after he scraped himself away from his D&D books, and given his sloth-like pace of play, we managed only another 1 round of play.  He ended Russia’s turn with about 30inf + other stuff on WRus.  I left my Karel stack basically intact and strafed Arch, took back Belo and Ukr which he left undefended.  However, US did make its first real move by landing in Algeria.  At this point I have to commit more infantry to WEur/SEur, as he is threatening invasion SOON, like maybe next turn unless I’m careful.  But since he said he was thinking KGF but used Colonial Garrison in India, he is splitting UK’s efforts.

It’s like many of you have pointed out, though, with that IC in India he’s got to DEFEND it, which in all likelihood is impossible against J; I have about 8inf and 6+arm in range to attack India next turn.  Difficult to have IC in India unless pure KJF, right?  We’ll see how much he reinforces it.  (Don’t forget, he took Non-Aggression pact, so it’s a better choice for me to go the southern route anyway.)

@Jennifer:

@goldenbearflyer:

@Jennifer:

@ncscswitch:

If you want the REAL poop …

I have two young boys, I don’t need anymore real poop, sham-poop is good enough. (aka shampoo, get it?)

That is somewhat disillusioning for certain members of the forum, namely everyone not named Jennifer, namely men. :-o :cry: :lol:

To be disillusioned, you must first be illusioned, dear.

Damn straight.  And don’t you dare ever change that “picture” of yours! :-D

If I say my brother was in Air Force ROTC, does that get me back on topic? :roll:

@newpaintbrush:

Tell us more about this “persuasion”.

“Luuu-ceee!  Do I hafta ‘splane ev’rythin 2 u?  If u dunt play d’ bort gem w’ thme, u dunt gettallowance!!!”

“Uh-ewww!  Can I still be in the show?”

“How many times I hafta tell u, u can’t be in d’ show, an’ I dunt wanna talk about it no more!”

In some ways it’s harder playing a 12-year-old newbie, because he WON’T always make the “logical” or expected move.  That’s why I wonder if my lone tank is safe in FWA; my son doesn’t care if it makes sense to destroy that.  Does he care enough to keep playing, that is the question. :wink:

Last night we did not play.  My fault entirely; we went to our local game store to have fun at “game night”, where we try out lots of different board/card games, etc.  For some reason there was a guy from Hero Games teaching some weird game called Cyberspace, IIRC.  It was fun, but it took longer than I expected, so we couldn’t even finish one game.  :-(

I challenged one of my friends to try A&AR, I would take Axis, but he thinks the game takes too long.  I tried to convince him we could save time by using TripleA, but he is not sold on it. :cry:  I’m persistent; I’ll think of a way to get him hooked.

Meanwhile, tonight I have to “persuade” my son to play…

@Jennifer:

@ncscswitch:

If you want the REAL poop …

I have two young boys, I don’t need anymore real poop, sham-poop is good enough. (aka shampoo, get it?)

That is somewhat disillusioning for certain members of the forum, namely everyone not named Jennifer, namely men.  :-o :cry: :lol:

@newpaintbrush:

@ncscswitch:

Actually, Allied control of the Med CAN prevent Germany from being a seriosu therat to Moscow… unless they want a Phyrric Victory and lose Berlin in the process.

A strong Allied fleet in the Med forces Germany to defend Norway, Western, Southern, Balkans, Ukraine, and consider Allied reinforce of Caucuses.

Germany pushed hard to Moscow, I snag Southern and start building there…
Germany goes for Caucuses and Allies interdict the forces in Ukraine, or jsut reinforce Caucuses.

If you have spent that many IPCs on naval units, you won’t have much in the way of invasion forces, unless it’s quite far into the game, by which point the Axis should already have made their crucial run on Moscow anyways.

If it’s early in the game, Germany can just push the Allies right back out of Southern Europe.

I disagree, npb, only because in my current game US threatens SEur with 6inf 1art 1arm on US4, and G has like 1inf there!  The big stack is in WEur with new builds in Germ, but the new builds are slated for Russian front.  If WEur forces re-take SEur, then UK threatens Normandy with 4inf 1art 3arm on UK4.  All of this is AFTER the big naval battle that G supposedly won by sinking lots of Allied navy!  US was busy building more stuff T1-2.  Yes, G can take back SEur, but then forces have been diverted from the Russian front, which has been my point all along.  G has not the ground units to defend everything.  What gives?

btw, I did NOT attempt fleet unification in the game against my son.  I had no bid, so I really needed the Med fleet to support my attack on Egypt, which went well, and of course my tank is running amok in Africa.  Just to test him, I left the tank alone in FWA after a blitz move.  US is within range to take FWA and kill my tank, but I doubt he will see that move.

Meanwhile, I am using Baltic trannies to build up a big stack in Karel, making Russia nervous!

Different question about tanks:  IIRC, in Classic (and I don’t see a rule against it in LHTR), tanks could move 2 spaces when boarding a transport during a combat move for an amphibious assault.  For example, a tank in WEur could move first into SEur and then into a waiting trn in SZ14.

Is this correct?  The reason I ask is that in TripleA, the program does not seem to let me move tanks 2 spaces into trn.

@squirecam:

You are not going to take WR. That is not the point at least not for the first 3 rounds. Without blocking, UK is adding 8 units per turn into Norway/Africa. This is from UK 2, or at least by UK 3.

You are eliminating that 8 unit buildup. But not so much that WR should be taken. Your goal is to hold EE. Trade Karelia, belo, Ukr, and possibly Norway.

AFTER africa is yours, your income will be enough to crush the russians. Africa income is pretty important to the plan.

As for UK taking Africa back, UK has 6 units available. 3 India, 1 transj, 1 persia, 1 SA. Germany’s bid should allow Germany to conquer Egypt G1, and retake G2, which should only leave possibly 2 inf left. Remember that if India is abansoned, use the japanese to sail to Africa if needed. It doesnt matter WHO takes africa, just that it IS taken. As expediently as possible.

UK should not be able to move into the med given G1 and G2 control of Egypt.

Also, if G loses too many troops G1 (or russian attacks go bad), dont bother buying a fleet. Punish the russians with ground units.

Squirecam

Well, don’t forget the UK ftr from the Indian Ocean can help attack Africa.  That is why I agree it’s important for part of the J navy to head west and try to eliminate the UK navy east of Africa.  So, yes, if that happens I can see that whole plan working.

Of G loses too many troops, don’t bother buying a fleet?  I thought we’re talking about a G1 naval buy, before you really know how it’s going, without regard to what Russia did R1?

Next week is Greg’s Spring Gathering…  Cincy, Ohio

I would love to be there, but I’m in CA.  I’ll be in Cincy in July visiting family.

Remember that the USSR starts with several infantry in the east, which need time to walk to Moscow and then the front.

Germany has most of its troops already at the “new front” by holding EE and trading UKR/Belo/Karelia.

You dont need to be “ahead” in Ground units. You need to have “enough” to swap these territories and gain Africa.

As to Africa, if you destroy the allied transports, Africa SHOULD be yours for these first 4 rounds. The allies wont have any transports left to have landed in Africa.

Also, The point of the Navy is FLEXABILITY. You can merge. Get London. Nuke the allied fleet. Contest Norway. Or just defend and cause allied pain in the cost to sink you (which they have to do to open Germany/EE to amphib attacks).

It might happen that the fleet dies and you can only wait for Japan to save you. But with a UK fleet and focus vs Germany, there is NO UK IC in India. This usually results in a rapid Japan advance.

Moreover, Japan can swing a transport or 2 to Africa to speed its conquest if needed.

Squirecam, don’t get me wrong, I’m with you on the flexibility of the navy.  If the Allies make a mistake, yes, some of those cool options are there.  I am coming around to the idea that NOT building navy leads to a worse situation for Germany.

I know you are correct in what you say, because you must be having those results in actual play.  The disconnect for me is, I don’t know what types of numbers your Russian opponent is putting up against you.

As long as we agree that Germany is not ahead (although I say significantly behind) in ground units, I’m fine.  But what I’m saying is that if the G big stack is too small to take WRus, and Russia adds about half of its ground unit production to Moscow each turn, by the time the Japanese reach the outskirts of Moscow, the Russians have a big enough stack to hold off the Japanese.  In my experience.

As for Africa, perhaps Germany has had bad luck in several games, but I kid you not, I have seen UK take it back T1 and/or T2 several times, especially if Med fleet moves west!

And what is the UK Indian Ocean fleet doing all this time?  That’s the point, if Med fleet moves west and UK actually takes back Africa, UK can move into the Med T2 if it wants!  I saw it happen.

To sum up, it appears that EVERYONE is correct, because every move and strategy is viable depending on the circumstances!!!  Germany CAN build naval units and win the game, period.  After that, the exact buy can take many different forms.

The strategy talk in this thread is helpful; all the talk about die rolls and odds is interesting but not so useful, because the proof is in the pudding, or actual games!  But this is all old news to most of you who have played a lot.

I seem to be one of the few people actually playing at the moment and testing out the ideas (not a criticism, just an observation), and I want to say (a) I see now the benefit of the G1 3trn 2inf 2arm buy.  It definitely slows down UK/US and causes problems for the Allies.  Many different possibilities present themselves after G1, but one consistent truth, in my experience, is that Russia builds a significant lead in ground units and should be able to take 4-7 IPCs away from Germany [Edit to add:] each round 1-4, at least (WRus, Belo, Ukr, or some combo of those).  This makes it extremely difficult for Germany to close the gap in ground units. With respect to Africa, in my experience it is NOT a given that Germany takes IPCs in Africa that make up for losing ground on the eastern front.  It is possible for UK to defend Africa; I know because I’ve done it.  (b) I do see the benefit of the AC buy, but I like it less than trannies, because the trannies move ground units to the front while still providing defensive value and useful fodder if a large naval battle ensues.

I know there are many other naval buy options and ramifications of each, but there is no doubt in my mind that all of them provide an advantage in ground units to Russia.  The one complaint I have about Axis strategies as discussed on this forum is that they SEEM to consistently underestimate the staying power and possibly even offensive punch of Russia.  I hope that is a somewhat controversial statement; I am sure many folks will point out flaws in my thinking.  However, I am only going by what I see on the board in numerous games I have played recently.  If I have time I will post the actual unit counts in one of my current games, because I want to demonstrate that this is not simply a small unit differential; Russia has approximately a 2:1 advantage in inf, whereas Germany’s arm is better, but overall ground units are such that Germany cannot take out Russia’s big stack and is often struggling to hold back an advance.

The key, of course, is what is Japan doing all the while?  Of course they are advancing (but do not assume I am talking about pure KGF and full retreat in the east – there are many different scenarios that can happen there).  The crux of the issue about a German naval build is essentially:  can Germany hold out long enough until Japan somehow wins the game?  That may be wrong, but that is the way I am seeing it “here on the front lines”.

Fire away…

@squirecam:

Your buying bombers now???

If USA were to be dumb enough to buy them, you would simply hold back the CV from the attack to merge it in SZ7 with the BB, sacrificing a fighter if need be, or retreat after thrashing the UK fleet and leaving the UK BB.

2 bombers is a waste of IPC and wont help the allies much at all.

I cant see how this would be a good allied purchase….

Squirecam

He’s got you there, Imperious.  I agree with much of your analysis, but don’t see why you need 2 bom to make it work.  We need a cage match to settle this.  I love Days of Wonder; it’s possible to observe some of their online games.  Would love to watch you two duke it out, squire as Axis.

Oh, for goodness sake, Imperious and squire should just play this out. :lol:  I would love to see it in action, seriously.

@squirecam:

1. As I stated, this is a pure KGF. Generally, in such cases, the India troops are shuttled to retake Egypt. Which is subject to re-taking by Germany, if the bid was used in Africa.

2. Abandonment of India, leaves Japan with India held (and trading Persia). Thats 3.

3. USSR troops are either dead or have moved east (to swap Novo) by Japan 3. Leaving Japan with Bury, SFE and Yakut. 3 More.

4. Japan should have China/Sink by round 2-3. Thats 4.

5. If 1 transport is shuttled to Hawaii Japan 2. that transport can take NZ Japan 3. Add 1 more

6. If 1-2 transports are outside FIC Japan 2, they can take Australia Japan 3.

With NO pacific involvement by USA (which went to the Atlantic) or the UK fleet (which went west in retaking Egypt) Japan can have all these by Japan 3.

Squirecam Â

OK, granting those ideal conditions for Japan for the sake of argument, then the German side of your equation should not hold.  In pure KGF I see little reason to think Germany will be at 40IPCs.  Even by your own admission, UK shuttled inf from India; did they simply vanish in Africa?  And if Russia moves all forces west, they have likely taken WRus and more.  No decent Allies player will simply retreat on all fronts.

@squirecam:

Germany, (with bid) should be at 40 or over (given Africa). Japan WILL TAKE AND HOLD THE FOLLOWING China(2)sink(2)India(3),Bury(1)SFE(1)(Yakut(1)(Australia(2)NZ(1)HI(1)

That’s 14 IPC.

Now, from 96-70, you go to 82 Allies to 84 axis

Are you going to dispute that in a pure KGF, Japan cannot by round 3 get these territories???

If not, in which case, the “allied IPC lead” you refer to is KAPUT…by round THREE

Squirecam

Squire, you obviously have played much more than I have, not counting the original A&A, so you would know what you have accomplished, but I find it hard to believe that Japan can take all those territories you mention by T3 against a decent Allies player.  How do you have enough ground units to take all that?  I assume you would take some hits to inf somewhere in there.  If the Allies reinforce and make a stand in any one of those areas you should be at least partially thwarted.  I’m not disputing that you have done it, but I do wonder how, because I would love to learn! :-)