Posts made by habs4life9

Yes, the one flaw in the take out UK navy strat strategy is that if the dice don’t go well for you you’re screwed for the rest of the game. But it’s still great if it works out, and the odds are in your favor that it will. I’ve got another question about the G1 Z2 battle: so it’d be a sub, a bomber and a ftr against UK’s BB and the Russian sub. Let’s say the sub rolls its surprise strike, and hits. If the Russian sub is chosen as a casualty, does it still get to conduct its defending surprise strike? I have been playing under the assumption that it does, but I’m not entirely sure about it. The rulebook isn’t clear on it either. If that is the case, then isn’t it the wisest thing to do to let Russia’s sub die to the surprise strike, so that the air units will still need two hits on the BB to sink it? If you assigned to surprise strike hit to the BB, then only one air unit would have to hit to kill the BB, since their hits cannot be assigned to subs.

Doesn’t KJF just about guarantee and Axis victory though? Germany can reach Moscow much faster than Japan, and once they take Moscow they’ll basically be unstoppable. Japan just needs to hold on and keep its navy alive for as long as possible. I was under the impression that you only go KJF if the person playing Germany is a noob…

I like Germany-US vs. the rest, that seems viable.

This is why I always play with the Black Sea strait closed. With it open, Russia can get involved navally and the Med fleet is toast no matter what. This makes it easy for the Allies to hold Africa as opposed to the continent actually being contested throughout the game as it is meant to be. Also with the Med fleet alive it makes things MUCH more interesting as the UK and US must coordinate their navies, which leads to even more strategic thinking on the part of the Allies. If Russia is allowed to build navy and send it into the Med the Allies basically get a free pass in the Atlantic and the Med, making Norway, W.Eu., and S.Eu. much more vulnerable. I think the strait being open favors the Allies far too heavily. You should try playing with the strait closed because that way you really have to think for Allied strategy.

is that the AA42 map? Why does mine look different? I’m pretty sure I own the Spring 1942 edition…

@Fleetwood:

As a side note, not attacking z2 doesn’t mean the Allies get a totally free pass in the Atlantic. Say Germany commits a sub and 2-3 fighters to the Med cruiser. 2/3 of the time the sub lives. If Germany builds a bomber G1 and the med sub lives and the Baltic subs escape, they will still be able to kill a round one Allied move to z8 2/3 of the time. That’s 3 subs, 4 fighters, 2 bombers vs 2 destroyers, 1 sub, 1 carrier, 2 fighters, 1 cruiser, and 4 transports using this calculator. http://www.dskelly.com/misc/aa/aasim.html

Are you saying that Germany should buy a cruiser and a destroyer for the Med on G1, and not use the Z8 sub to splash the Canadian transport, but retreat it into the Med (Z13 is as far as it can reach)? This takes away half of Germany’s income, which means it can only commit 20 IPCs to the land battle with Russia, and allows UK to retain both of its Atlantic transports. I don’t know if that is a good move…

@c64:

So how about buying 1 AC and 2 Destroyers on UK1 ? You could place the AC and one DD in SZ8, which are joined by the american Cruiser on US1. The other British destroyer could be used to block the 2 subs from the Baltic Sea.
This way you sacrifice one DD but on Germany’s second turn it would come down to
1 sub, 2 ftr, 2 Bmb  vs   1 AC + 2 ftr, 1 DD, 1 Cruiser

Maybe Germany might rethink attacking that fleet.  ( success is about 50%)

I’ve been thinking it over and I realize that an AC and two destroyers is by far the best buy on UK1, especially if Germany has destroyed all your European navy, which a smart German player will have done. Now if the dice turned out well for Germany, they will have 2 ftrs in W.Eu., and 2 ftrs and a bomber in Norway (assuming that the bomber was used to take out the battleship in Z2 on G1, and is only eligible to land in Norway). But they will probably only have 2 subs, assuming the battleship hit on defense and took one out. If the Baltic subs moved to Z6 or Z7 (or maybe even 1 in each) they threaten all four SZs into which UK can build. Building into Z6 and Z7 are out of the question in such a situation, because you are open to an attack by 2 subs 4 ftrs 1 bomber and (if it is still alive) 1 destroyer. So Z2 and Z8 are your options; 2 ftrs can still reach you in either of these zones, but 2 is better than 4. Building into Z8 is probably the best, because the US cruiser can move to this zone before Germany gets to go again, and the Russian sub will link up on R2 assuming it submerged during the Z2 battle on G1.

Checking my rulebook and you’re right, the open strait is default. But the historical inaccuracies are for the sake of balancing the game, aren’t they? Turkey’s strait being open is an historical inaccuracy that swings the advantage to the Allies, I find. Russia is not really supposed to be a factor in the seas.

Thank you, i’ll certainly take that into account. The way the sea zones are drawn in the Atlantic makes me realize the utmost importance of naval positioning. I’m sure this has been studied to death though, I’d really like to see some articles discussing exactly this.

Where do the Russian subs come into this? You know that Turkey’s strait being open is an OPTIONAL RULE, right? Turkey really did close off the strait in the war, so playing with it open is historically inaccurate and it also encourages a Russian naval build in the Black Sea, also extremely historically implausible. It may also be argued that playing with the strait open makes Cauc more vulnerable to German bombardment attacks, but this point is moot when you consider that the Germans also have to contend with the British and Americans in the water as well. In sum, it seems like Black Sea-to-Med accessibility only works to the allies’ advantange, so it is ultimately better to play with Turkey’s strait closed.

Can anyone help? I realize a mistake I probably made on G1 when I moved the entire Baltic fleet to Z3. What I should’ve done was move the U-boats to Z3, but keep the destroyer in the Baltic. This way, if UK wants to send its fighters to kill my destroyer, they’ll have to fly 2 to Z5, meaning that if UK wants to land them on the AC at the end of the turn, the AC will have to be placed in Z6 or Z7, two very precarious positions. UK obviously does not want to be forced to put the AC in one of these dangerous sea zones, so leaving the destroyer in the Baltic on G1 may well save that ship. But now the question is how I use my destoyer after G1, since it wont be in a position to attack on G2\. I realize UK could also kill the destroyer and the Baltic transport with the Bomber on UK1, but this may be a small victory for Germany since itd prevent a strat bomb and prevents the fighters from killing German units on UK1 (unless of course UK is willing to sacrifice AC positioning for a couple kills).

Ok, here’s the scenario. On G1 I used my air force to take out all of UK’s Atlantic navy: Sub Z8 to Z1, splashed UK’s E.Can transport. Bomber Ger. and ftr Nor. to Z2 to take out UK BB (lost the ftr, bomber landed in Nor.). Ftr W.Eu. and ftr Ger. to Z13 to take out UK cruiser (both survived, W.Eu. ftr landed in Nor., Ger. ftr landed in W.Eu.). These are all the units involved in the Atlantic sea combat on G1. In non-combat I moved the Baltic fleet to Z3. UK responded by purchasing an AC and 2 destroyers and using the 2 UK ftrs to sink my destroyer in Z3, and landed the ftrs upon the placement of the AC and the destroyers in Z8, out of range of my Norway ftrs. USA loaded up navally on US1, buying a cruiser, a destroyer and a transport preparing for an invasion of Algeria on US2. Also retreated the Pacific warships into the Atlantic theatre. By the time G2 rolls around in this scenario, I have crucial decisions to make with my U-boats. Remember there are 2 in Z3 and one in Z1. One option is combat: I could send all 3 U-boats into Z8 with the ftr in W.Eu. (originally the Germany ftr) and the Bomber from Norway. I don’t like this idea as it requires sacrificing all or almost all of these units. Besides, I need the air power for trading territories since USSR re-took Karelia heavy on R2 and has a stack there, and a medium stack in Ukr. So this means my U-boats will have to move in non-combat. My question is: where? I am thinking surround the UK navy to force them to split up their sea forces to kill my subs, but there are plenty of options even here. I could move the Z1 sub to Z2, and one of the Z3 subs to Z6, the other to Z7. or perhaps I should move the Z1 sub to Z3, and the others to Z6 and 7? or maybe the Z1 sub to Z9, the Z3 subs to Z2 and Z6/7? I could also move the Z1 sub to Z11/12, perhaps giving the US navy some trouble, and the 2 Z3 subs obviously have various options. It seems like no matter where I position my U-boats on G2, I will lose at least 2 out of 3 to the UK and US navies before G3. Is this a fact one just has to accept as Germany?  If so, is there a method to this? I feel like the U-boat positioning on G2 is very important to slowing down a KGF. Or am I blowing this too far out of proportion?