Posts made by gsh34

Funcioneta,

I don’t think Japan can possibly do everything that you stated they can do.  How can they take Sydney (killing Anzac), take Calcutta (killing UK Pacific), and permanently engage the US (there by giving the Europe Axis a chance) all within  a reasonable time frame (say 5-7 rounds)?  Having played just a few games, they simply don’t have the resources to go in three distinct directions concurrently.

Here is the reasoning I use when looking at this from the US players perspective.  As the US I ask myself, if I spend all my money in the Atlantic, how much and how easily do I affect the game?

Answer:  A lot and it is relatively easy.  Compared to Japan, Germany and Italy start with a much more limited Navy and much, much smaller air force.  The US can spend much less on planes and capital ships and correspondingly more on transports and ground units.  Also, if Germany does Sealion, which seems to be a common occurrence, I don’t know how they don’t respond forcefully to that?
If Japan goes 100% against the US, they only have one major complex, the one in Japan.  Even if they set up a shuck-shuck convoy from Japan to Alaska and it has a minor complex and a naval base, the US has three major complexes that it can build out of in order to boot Japan out of North America.

Question:  If the US spends all of its money in the Pacific, how much and how easily do I affect the game?

My answer:  I don’t know and not very easily.  Japan has a huge fleet and 20 planes (at least in the Alpha setup).  America starts out with a relatively meager fleet and air force. To gain parity, they would need to spend a lot.  Now granted, if the US comes into the Pacific, it will open something else up for either the UK or Anzac but at what expense in the European theater?

In my mind, I keep falling back to the idea that Japan can’t possibly do everything you laid out for them in a reasonable amount of time.  Maybe they could, but I guess I would have to see it.

Kungfujew,

I agree with what you say.  Europe is the easier theater for the US to affect change in and I think that is why most players do it.

This is not a criticism of you two personally.  It is just that I don’t see this in my mind.

Karl,

I’m confused.  If you attack UK and Anzac on J1 (which I just did in a game), America is immediately able to declare war.  This has horrible consequences for the European Axis powers so early in the game.  I suspect that if you are winning as the Axis even with a J1 attack on UK/Anzac, your opponent is not of comparable skill as you.

What is the US doing when it is brought into the war so soon?

@Dark_Destroyer:

You guys are trying to hard to figure out what’s wrong with balancing issue of Global A&A1940.  They screwed up with USA.  2 step fix:  USA can declare war at the very end of turn 4 (after collect income phase) and Japan attacking Anzac and India doesn’t bring USA into the war.  PROBLEM FIXED lol…   :wink:

This is a powerful statement.  If something must be changed for balance’s sake, and I’m not sure we can totally say that yet, the simpler the solution, the better.

I just conceded a game in which I attacked with Japan on turn one.  On turn three I captured Sydney, Philippines, and Hawaii collecting a total of 72 ipc for J3.  On successive rounds, Japan would’ve collected 65+ and I already had a major complex in Kwangtung turning out 10 units per turn for the mainland.

The problem is that in order to get Japan this big, this fast, you must attack UK and Anzac on J1.  That was a catastrophic success for me because it brought the US into the war on US1 and they were quickly able to crush Germany before they got going.  Now, some of that was do to my mistake as Germany of doing a major complex in Romania on G1, but even if I had done a successful Sealion, having the US in the war on US1 is crushing.

This Nenetsia move has been rattling around in my head for a few days and I think I have found a killer modification to it thanks to being pounded by a US complex in Norway.  Why not have Germany build a major complex in Norway?  See what you think of the new modifications.

Round 1
Germany1
Purchase is the same as before: carrier and two transports for SZ 112.

Naval combat is the same.

For non-combat, make sure to land the bomber in Norway. Non-combat move two infantry from Poland to Norway when going to SZ112  Move everything away from the Russian boarder.  I want his units to feel safe in advancing away from Moscow.

Unit placement is the same.

You should end with 68 ipc for income

Japan1
Same as before.  Make sure to take Chahar.  Even bring the mech from Manchuria.  Position all planes so that they can land in Chahar on J2.

Italy1
I’m not sure anything Italy does has an effect with my changes.  However, they may need to do something after we begin to fully hash this out.

Round2
Germany2
Purchase 5 transports and one major complex.

I don’t think there will be any combat.  At the minimum, nothing major as the UK should have turtled up after my G1 build.

Make sure you have 8 inf and 8 tanks in W. Germany that can load onto the transports for G3.

Place transports in SZ112 and major complex in Norway.

Japan2
Build air base in Chahar and land all planes there.

Italy2
Again, I don’t think they have a critical role.

Round3
Germany3

Build 8 tanks for Norway.  Load transports in S112 from W. Germany and land 16 units in Nenetsia.  Position all planes in Norway.

Japan3
All 20 planes (alpha set up) can fly 5 spaces from Chahar to Nenetsia.

Italy3
Not critical

Round4
Germany4

Build…I don’t know.  At this point it is hard to plan out.  It could depend on where the UK and US will be able to land in Europe on this round.

Advance 16 units from Nenetsia to Vologda.  I think Russia could have a good counter attack here, but that is ok.  If they do, they will most likely have to commit a huge amount of their ground units.  Even if they do win, Japan will have 20 planes in Nenetsia that can clear out Vologda because Germany will non-combat move the 8 inf and 8 tanks in Norway to Nenetsia.  The 8 tanks just placed in Nenetsia could blitz through to Moscow.  Along with the tanks, all German planes will fly from Norway to Nenetsia on G4 so that they can contribute to the G5 attack on Moscow.

The G5 attack on Moscow would be at minimum 8 tanks plus 6-7 planes (assuming they took Vologda and Japan then cleared them out).  If Russia doesn’t attack the 16 Germany units in Vologda on R4, then on J4, Japan could use its 20 planes to attack Moscow and soften them up if needed.  On G5, Germany would then be attacking with 8 inf, 16 tanks, and 6-7 planes.

A plus for this strategy is that the whole time it will preserve the chance of doing Sealion AFTER Moscow has fallen.

If you are named Rick Bunnell (my opponent) and you are reading this, STOP.  I will be using this against you in our future game.

Alright ladies and gents,

I have thought this KRF strat through in much more detail (I am using the Alpha set up).  Let’s see what you think….

Round 1:
Germany:

G1 purchase:
1 carrier
2 transports
(total: 30 ipc)

Combat:
SZ 112- battleship, cruiser, sub, 2 fighters (average outcome: tipped battleship or tipped battleship and sub lost)
SZ 111- 2 tacticals, fighter, sub (averages 2 tacticals left)
SZ 110- fighter, tactical, 2 subs (averages fighter and tactical left)
SZ 109- bomber, sub (averages both remain)
France-  all available ground units (averages 2 mechs and five tanks left)
Yugoslavia-6 inf and art from Greater S. Germany, three tanks from adjacent territories that can make it. (average loss of 2 inf)

Noncombat:
Two fighters remain in SZ 112 to land on new carrier.  The remainder of the air force lands in W. Germany.  One inf from Romania actives Bulgaria.  One inf from Norway activates Finland.
Two infantry in Poland moves to Slovakia.
6 infantry from Germany move to W. Germany.
4 art from Germany move to Slovakia

Placement:
Carrier and two transports go to SZ 112.

Collect:
68 ipc.

Japan:

I am not going to give every step-by-step move with Japan because it is straight forward what they need to do for this strategy.  What matters most is setting up the most direct route to Russia as possible.  This means transporting fast units (tanks especially) from Japan to Jehol.  The land route here will be to attack from Jehol to Chahar on J1. J2, attack Suiyuyan. J3, attack Kansu.  J4, attack Novosibirsk. J5, blitz through Volodga to Russia if possible. To be honest, I don’t think getting Japanese ground to Moscow is will be the winning move in this strategy.  What will help win it is what the Japanese air force does.

J1 build:
1 transports and 3 tanks.  This saves 1 ipc.

Combat:
Move all ground units that can go into Chahar there.  All ground units from Shantung and Kiangsu into Anhwe.  I think most units from Kiangsi should go to Anhwe also, but you could use some to attack Hunan along with airforce to kill the Chinese ground units.    Attack Yunnan as you see fit.

Noncombat:
Transport in SZ 20 moves to SZ 6.  Transport in SZ 6 moves inf and tank from Japan to Jehol.  Position all planes so that they can land in Chahar on J2.

Placement:
Transport in SZ 6 and 3 tanks in Japan.

Collect:
about 30 ipc depending what you do beyond the critical stuff.

Italy(I1):

For this strat, I think the only thing that Italy must do is move both of its tanks to Romania

Round 2:
G2 Purchase:
8 transports and 2 tanks. (This spends all 68)

Combat:
I don’t think there will be any combat this round.

Noncombat:
All the tanks and mech infantry can make it to W. Germany.  This will give you 6 inf, 8 tanks, and 2 mech.  Position entire air force (except for the two fighters on the carrier) so that it can land in Bessarabia on G3 (for this to work, Italy will attack and take Bessarabia with its 2 tanks and 2 fighters on I2).

At the end of G2, Germany will have 11 transports in SZ 112 which can be loaded with 5 inf from Norway/Finland, 6 inf from W. Germany, 10 tanks and one mech from W. Germany.

Placement:
8 transports into SZ 112.  2 tanks into W. Germany.

Collect: 49 ipc

Japan (J2):

The critical thing that must be done here is build an airfield in Chahar and have all 20 of your planes land there.  Advance all other ground units toward Russia on the route previously described.  Buy tanks to fill up your transports and continue to shuck them to Jehol.

Italy (I2):
Italy must take Bessarabia on this round with its tanks (and fighters if needed).

Round 3

Germany (G3):
At this point I don’t think the build will matter much.  Now it’s time for the action!!!

Load transports with 11 inf, 10 tank, and 1 mech as previously described.  Move naval force to SZ 127.  Land all units in Nenetsia.

For noncombat, all planes land in Bessarabia.

Of course after seeing this, Russia will fall back to protect Moscow and probably place blocking units in Vologda.  However, I don’t think it matters how many units they place there because…

Japan (J3):
All the planes in Chahar have a five movement due the airfield built there on J2.  This means all 20 planes can clean out any units in Vologda and land in Nenetsia with the German ground units.

Now, the only thing that could mess this up is if the UK had built a bomber.  On UK3 it could fly to Volgda from London.  However, seeing the German build, how many UK players are honestly going to build a bomber?

Italy (I3):
edit-Italy must build and airfield in Bessarabia. Other than that for this strategy, I think Italy has done its key job already and can do what ever else it needs to.

Round 4:
Germany (G4):
To be honest, I don’t know exactly what Russia will have in Moscow, but the blitz route will be open from Nenetsia, through Vologda to Moscow with 10 tanks, 1 mech infantry, and everything that remains of your air force in Bessarabia.  My idea in conjunction with this strategy was have only one unit (maybe even none) in Poland and Slovakia to entice Russia to advance its unit to the front.  This way, the bulk of the units will be too far to turn back and recapture Moscow.  The plus with the Japanese planes is that if Russia is unable to immediately retake Moscow, the Japanese could land their entire air force of 20 planes (depending on the battle in Vologda) in Moscow for defense.  This would virtually lock it down on round 4.

One other thing to do if Russia simply has to many troops in Moscow would be on G4 to advance only to Vologda.  Then on J4, the entire Japanese air force could soften up Moscow for a G5 attack of 11 inf, 10 tanks, 1 mech, ~3 fighters, ~3 tactical bombers, and 1 strategic bomber.  Of course, the drawback here is that Russia will have had two rounds to turn its troops back and try to recapture Moscow.  On the flip side though, by now, Japanese ground units will be ready for an attack on Moscow either on J5 or J6.

Thoughts or comments from anyone please?

Can someone point me in the direction of a good odds calculator for the Europe or Pacific game rule set?

Thanks

Well, well, well, I had been looking at my board and contemplating a Sealion attack, and another path on the board magically appeared to me on how the Axis can capture Moscow!  This is a somewhat thought out plan, but I do not have a complete x,y,z, step-by-step instructions yet.

Without further ado….

If Germany builds a big transport fleet (something like 10+) in SZ 112 to prepare for a Sealion assault, they could instead use their three naval movements and go to SZ 127.  Once there, land all units in Nenetsia.  It is worth nothing, but Vologda is the only territory between Nenetsia and Russia (Moscow).  Most likely, Russia will have the vast bulk of its forces as infantry and art and too far away from Russia to turn them around to either: 1.)  Attack your landing forces, or 2.) Make it back to Russia before you attack.

On those transports, load all the tanks you can.  Preferably every transport will have one tank.  When you land in Nenetsia, Russia will know what you are doing and place some units in Vologda in order to block your movement.  Here is where you can use Japan for the can opener.  Japan, early in the game, can build an air field in Chahar (or similar territory).  With Japanese bombers there, they can do one of two things:  1.) Clear any blocking units in Vologda so Germany can blitz it’s tanks to Moscow, and/or 2.) Bomb Russia’s major complex (five movements from Chahar) and land in Nenetsia.

Other things to consider but I don’t have completely figured out…if Germany can somehow capture Bessarabia, E. Poland or similar territory and build an air field on it, any planes it lands on that territory during the same round it captures Nenetsia will have enough movement to be included in the Moscow attack and land in Nenestia.

One negative that I could potentially see is that this is a one shot attack.  Even if the bulk of Russia’s forces are too far away to beat Germany back to Moscow for defense, they most likely will have a good shot in one or two subsequent rounds to attack Moscow and try to retake it since the Moscow major IC will be downgraded to a minor IC.

Of course, Russia could always buy a destroyer at the start and move it to SZ 125 or 126 in order to block this potential move, but how many Russian players are going see this move coming?

Ok, chew on that idea!!! I’m actually pretty proud that I’m first one to have seen and posted this route to Moscow.

You should meet up with James Cameron and teach him some tips on picking better movie material.  Avatar?  Blah!  Now that’s a video!!!

Krieghund,

Didn’t you say somewhere the Ireland could be walked to without transport from the UK?  I thought I remembered something about somewhere.

Thanks for the answers.  That one about getting a round to roll dice against naked transports is interesting.  I don’t think it will ever come up now that I know fighters can be scrambled against naked transports though.

Ok, on to my next question.  SZ6 surrounds Japan and borders Korea.  If SZ6 had no Japanese naval units and the US did an amphibious attack on Korea, is Japan still allowed to scramble the fighters from Japan even though the combat is in Korea?  My impression from the rule book and your previous clarification is that as long a combat movement ends in a SZ which contains an island with an airfield, the fighters can be scrambled for defense no matter where the amphibious attack would be.  Correct?

We had a Convoy raid question last night and I want make sure we have this right.  For example, take SZ37 which borders UK Malaya (3 ipc) and UK Shan State (1 ipc).  Japan puts two subs in SZ37.  That would result in a loss of 4ipc because it is the sea zone that is attacked and not the individual territories being raided.  That is what we ruled.  However, we also saw the point of view (a la an amphibious assault) that the raid may have to be split between the two territories.  Then only 3ipc would be raided, not the total 4.  That is not how we read the rules though.

I need some clarification on scrambling.  Can fighters and tacs scramble from an island airbase if they would be the only units defending in the sea zone or must some naval vessel be present to initiate combat first?  For example, can a fighter be scrambled against naked transports that are trying to do an amphibious assault against the island there by sinking them before the units could offload?  If enemy units are passing through an air field sea zone during combat movement can fighters scramble to intercept them?

It’s flexible.  You want to protect Wake and Guam enough that Japan has no realistic chance at taking them. Even falling back to Wake if needed.  If you start this out on J1 because Japan allows it and then they turn and go 100% against you, then yea, you probably would need to buy a destroyer and all aircraft for their scramble ability.  If they ignore you for a time and go to India, then you could do it for less.  Basically, I see them spending 38-41 ipc/round in the Pacific on the cheap side.  Some rounds they may spend more if the player sees it fit to do so.  The good thing about this is that once the war bonus kicks in, it may give you a chance to split your income almost 50/50 so that you aren’t totally ignoring either theater.

@calvinhobbesliker:

Obviously, this strat would not be done if the bulk of Japan’s fleet is in Z6 or 33, but otherwise it seems good. I may try this in my upcoming game

Correct.  It depends how and where Japan positions its fleet on J1.  I don’t necessarily think that it would work if it was begun on a later round.  Say round three or four.  By that time, Japan will be a much larger power and have its fleet in order (unless it is maybe by India or something).  The whole point of this is to get the US going in the Pacific immediately before Japan has its act together.  Once the strategy is up and running, it is imperative that Wake be kept or else you lose the scramble ability for at least a round or two.  Same for Guam if advancing that far works out.  The whole point is to create something similar to a European schuck-schuck that will deliver units into the Pacific every round (and quick).  If Japan chooses to concentrate on the US, then other things should open up for what the UK and ANZAC navies can do.

(side note: I had been tabbing back and forth between TitusAndronicus’ high res map and this post and accidentally clicked the ‘X’ and closed the post tab and had to start over when I was almost done….I really hate when that happens.) :x

Ok, let me try this again.

US1
Build one Naval Base, one Destroyer, 2 fighter/tac combo for the Pacific.  Spend the rest as you see fit (mabe a transport or sub or spend it on the E. US)

Move everything to SZ31 and Wake from SZ10 (W. US), SZ26 (Hawaii), plus fly the fighter from the Philippines to land on the Carrier in SZ31.  One carrier fighter and two fighters from Hawaii land on Wake.  Bomber from W. US and C. US land on Wake.

SZ31 would look like this:
1-Battleship
1-Crusier
1-Carrier with one fighter and one tac
1-Destroyer
1-Sub
1-Transport

Wake (with airbase and purchased naval base):
1-Inf
1-Tank
3-Fighters
2-Bombers

If Japan thought about a J2 attack on this fleet, they would have to include the three fighters that can scramble into SZ31.  The US would have a total of 10 units (12 hits total) with a defense of 31.  And, if they attacked and the battleship and carrier survived, they would auto-repair on US2.

Granted, Japan’s fleet and air force is plenty big enough to kill that and have units remaining, but in the games I have played, they are not in position to do it easily On J2.  Most of the time, I’ve seen them go south toward India with the bulk of their fleet and can’t hit it convincingly.  The follow on move to this is to advance to Guam and build a Naval Base there because with three naval movements from Guam you could stretch from SZ5 in the North (Siberia), to Malaya, Java, Borneo, Celebes, Northern Territory of Australia, Queensland of Australia and everything in between.

Something I want to point out about my builds are that they always include a Destroyer plus fighters/tacs in subsequent rounds.  They can travel in tandem from the W. US, to Wake, to Guam.  The destroyer is needed because in order to scramble aircraft, there must be a naval battle.  Should Japan come with subs, the destroyer will allow the fighters/tacs to scramble and sink them, thus, protecting the islands from an amphibious attack.

I’m not saying this is an unbeatable strat.  This is highly dependent on what Japan does.  If they are in a position to kill your US fleet at Wake on J2, keep that in mind.  However, if they are not in a position to kill it on J2, you have the option of moving to SZ6 off of Japan.  This threatens Japan and Korea.  I think this is also a good strat to use when splitting your US money after the bonus kicks in.  One destroyer plus three fighters/tacs only costs 38-41.  Just about a good 50/50 split between the two theaters.

The biggest plus I have found by doing this is it gives the Japanese a headache to deal with immediately in the game should they contemplate starting war with the UK or ANZAC on J2 or J3.

Take this advice with a grain of salt as always.  If something like Sealion was successful, one would then concentrate on the Europe side of the board.  However, if this strat presents itself, give it a try.

Discuss away, I haven’t seen anyone talk about this strat yet and I am curious as to the response I’ll get.

Neutrals, no matter their alignment, can not be blitzed through on their initial invasion/activation.  The rules for neutrals require who ever goes into them must stop.

Krieg,

A question/clarification with Russia in regards to activating Pro-Allied neutrals.  Russia starts at war with no one, so they are not part of the Allies yet and can not enter Pro-Allied neutrals during non-combat movement, right?

If the above is correct, does declaring war on Japan make them Allied and allow them to enter Pro-Allied neutrals or is it only when they are at war with Euro-Axis?

The way we read the rule is that war with Japan fulfills their obligation and allows them to enter Pro-Allied neutrals.

To wit:

pg. 10, under “Friendly Neutrals”, here are the passages we thought were relevant…

“A pro-Allies neutral would be considered a friendly neutral to the US, UK, Soviet Union, and France.”  [side note, why no mention of ANZAC in that sentence of the rule book?  Was that an omission?]

“They [referring to pro-Allied neutral in my case] can be moved into (but not through) as a noncombat move by land units of a power at war (see Noncombat Move, pg. 21).”

I just wanted a clarification that we read this correctly and war with Japan is intended to allow Russia to enter pro-Allied territories.

Thank you,
Dave

That is an awesome idea.  Simply make the game table into shadowboxed coffee table so as to always see the game board!!!  I love it!

A huge thanks for this.  I hadn’t gotten around to making an IPC excel sheet for my group and it looks like I won’t have to thanks to you.  Great job.

I loved being able to pull off Operation Hollywood on each opponent once in Revised and was wondering if it could be done in Global also.  My boards aren’t here yet, so I can’t really comment on any specifics of a possible Operation Hollywood.

Thank you for the answers and clarity.

Dave