Posts made by PGsquig

@Glamorboy A big load of subs can definitely be useful, and if you aren’t trying to protect transports at all, it is a good option. True, one carrier and 2 fighters loses to 5 subs. Typically though, your navy will be much more expensive than $34 and the fighters are also relevant on land. Also, subs are not good at defense while fighters defense kings.

When I play against friends who are new, I just give them a bid. If they win, their bid goes down and if they lose, their bid goes up. I never spend money on both coasts as US because I feel like I can never get anything going at all and it seems like all the money is wasted. Also, I think it is more helpful to use viable, typical strategies against new players so that they know what to expect. I have learned a lot more about the game through losing than I ever have by winning.

@Glamorboy Cruisers and Battleships aren’t worth the cost. Certainly you should use the ones you start with, but I have literally never bought a cruiser or a battleship.

For a defensive fleet, focus on carriers with fighters and destroyers. For a more attacky fleet, use subs as well. You are correct that fighters and bombers are fantastic, especially for Japan. The range of bombers is unbeatable.

When you are playing US and going after Japan, be careful to not buy too many transports too early. Your first priority should be building up a navy that Japan absolutely cannot mess with. Once you have a large enough navy to crush the Japanese navy and withstand any attack from fighters/bombers that might be within range, you can control the Pacific- you’ll have a free hand to ferry men on transports anywhere you wish.

@cmmiles Yes, units can move after unloading from convoy in phase 1

@dazedwit When Calcutta falls, there is often no naval battle whatsoever. You would be better off spending the money on more infantry which will help your land defense rather than investing in infrastructure which will likely not be used. Any Anzac fighters can be used to defend the land territory of Calcutta and will have much more utility than if they were used in a sea battle.

Even if there were a naval battle before an amphibious assault on Calcutta, only if the UK Pacific’s navy is large enough to nearly win a battle against the Japanese navy would a second airbase be useful. If your UK Pacific navy is strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with the Japanese navy, either something disastrous has happened to the Japanese navy (in which case the Allies probably have the game in the bag) or you have nearly no UK Pacific land units (in which case the Japanese army will walk their way to Calcutta and ignore your boats).

@dazedwit
One time I was playing my roommate, who was playing the Axis. At the end of his turn, he had two giant German stacks next to Moscow. If I did nothing but buy and place units with Russia, he would have a 90% win on Moscow on his next turn.
I strafed one of his stacks with a huge stack of infantry and got super lucky dice. Then with UK I did a nearly suicidal run into his barely protected German air force.
On his next turn, he had only a 25% chance on Moscow. The game went on for a long time after that, but his troops never recovered, and his morale was crushed entirely.

@Tamer-of-Beasts I totally agree. If France is buying units, Germany has already lost.

Hey everyone, good news! Renegade are releasing a new Stalingrad game!

Here’s the link to the video announcement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jWRGFMx7hQ

It is meant to release in August of 2025.
I am a fan of North Africa, so this is has got me really excited.

They are also reprinting Battle of the Bulge.

@SuperbattleshipYamato I believe it is important for us to support Renegade so they can continue to reprint old A&A games and make new A&A games. The best way to do that is to pony up and spend the extra $10 to get it from them.

@Imperious-Leader
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that you are trying to say that you don’t like these house rules or that you don’t think they are well thought out because they place an Italian infantry in Italian East Africa.

Regardless of the historical reality, don’t you think that, if you were playing with these house rules, the game would only become more interesting if you give Italy “Italian East Africa”?

Adding an Italian infantry there only serves to give both sides more interesting options and keeps an entire continent in the game as a theater of war.

We shouldn’t throw out house rules because they aren’t completely historically accurate. Even the OOB setup isn’t completely historically accurate. This mod for 1942 SE isn’t trying to nail everything exactly as it was on a specific date. In fact, a completely historical setup would be incredibly boring as the Allies would win 99% of the time.

@SMichael23 even put in the second line of their post that the aim of this setup is to encourage players to fight over Africa. That is what the Italian infantry in Italian East Africa does.

@cloud7707 I dig this. I like how you added it on the real rulebook, that makes it so legit. I definitely want to try it out, but gosh darn it Russia deserves that bomber!

In your games, do the Allies still generally do KGF?

@SMichael23 I wonder how it would go if Italy focused all its income on building an epic navy- just try to shut the Allies out of the Med entirely. Like you said, that 3 production limit makes it so tough to crank out infantry.

Does the German player ever complain about having to give up the income from converted Italian territories? I know the guy who always plays Germany in my group hates Italy in g1940 and always wishes he had that income as Germany haha.

@SMichael23

Yeah the US would for sure have to do a Torch. Does the US player often go for Italy? I would imagine the ipc boost would be pretty nice from capping Rome. My US strategy is generally to dump as many infantry as possible into Finland but I would definitely consider going after Italy first since they are the weakest power.

@SMichael23 I love getting to play offense with Russia.
What if the German bomber started in Libya?

Also, I have some more questions. This idea has got me very intrigued.
Do you change the IPC value of Italy? or can they only place 3 units per turn?
Does Italy become a problem for Russia by canopening for Germany in your games?
How many turns does China usually last before they’re gone?

@SMichael23 I have always disliked the fact that the German bomber dies on R1. I find it really lame. Same with the flying tiger in China that just gets blown up instantly - like how is it not more fun to be able to use them?! I would expect that might even things out, since Germany could use that bomber to sink UK boats and the UK will be fighting tooth and nail for Africa. Also, that Italian navy would be pretty annoying for the UK.

Allowing a KJF sounds great, I have literally tried it like twice and I much prefer KGF as Allies.

When my friends and I play, we give each nation a free factory at the start of the game but it must be placed on a territory worth exactly 1 ipc. Germany usually chooses Libya and UK will pick Belgian Congo, and this drastically elongates the Africa game.

We also allow the German player to move the bomber out of Ukraine on the condition that Russia gets a free bomber. This is probably more helpful to the Germans than it is to the Russians but I think it is more fun. Every country starts with a bomber, so why shouldn’t Russia get one? I don’t think it is gamebreaking or anything because the bomber isn’t going to help out when it comes time for the battle of Moscow.

@SMichael23 I dig your ideas, this all sounds really fun. I would only be worried that the Allies would benefit too much from this. Does Germany fall more quickly in the games you’ve tried with this setup? Or do the allies usually go KJF? Thanks

Hi everyone,

I have been enjoying using these unique units for 1942 Second Edition Tournament Rules.

Russia:
Cavalry c3/a2/d1/m2, can Blitz. Max 5 on the board at any time.
Purpose: Allows Russia some more attack power. Sometimes it is really difficult to buy tanks with the USSR’s limited income but you need still need the ability to move 2. Since they defend at 1, they won’t make the final battle for Moscow any more difficult for Germany. This unit adds some interesting attack possibilities especially if Russia has a decent air force.
HBG has some pretty sweet cavalry sculpts and they have colors that match nicely with the OOB sculpts.

Germany:
Maus Tank c8/a3/d3/m2, 2HP, can Blitz. Max 5 on the board at any time. Can only be built after Round 4. Repairs for free if it starts its turn on a friendly IC.
Purpose: Gives Germany another hard hitting unit. This one is mostly for fun and I don’t think the stats are very overpowered since I’ve put a limit of 5 on the board at any time. I also wanted to give Germany a bonus since I gave Russia Cavalry.
HBG has a Maus tank sculpt I use. I think Germany only built like 4 of these tanks irl but they’re fun to have in the game. If you prefer you can call them heavy tanks and use a sculpt of a tank that was actually produced in earnest.

US:
Marines c3/a1/d2/m1. Attacks at 2 on amphibious assaults (not supportable by artillery on amphibious assaults) Max 5 on the board at any time.
Purpose: Represent the US Marine Corps and allow Island Hopping to be a bit easier for the US player.
I used HBG’s dark green Marines for these units.

To balance these units, I also play with the “Tokyo Express” rule which gives Japanese Destroyers the ability to transport 1 Infantry. I haven’t figured out a good UK bonus which would balance well with these small tweaks.

My group also really enjoys the “free factory” House Rule, which gives each player (besides Russia, we decided the Russian extra factory does nothing but help the Axis) a free IC before the game begins with the condition that it must be placed on a territory worth exactly 1 IPC. Typically, Germany puts theirs in Libya, UK chooses either Persia or Belgian Congo, Japan places theirs on Malaya, and the US chooses Sinkiang (sometimes West Indies if the US player is wary of Japan producing on the free factory). We enjoy this rule because it keeps Africa interesting for quite a while. Sometimes the US will get to place a fighter or two in China.

As another house rule, we often give each player one tech token at the start of the game as well. Russia is typically excluded because the Axis players in the group contend that a) Russia had a dearth of scientists at the time due to purges, and b) they would rather each side only get two tech tokens, and I tend to agree with them.

@Hansolo88 I saw that video too and I understand where he was coming from but you are right, they are really just unbelievably small. The tiny size and the fact that they are tan and so are the “deep desert” territories makes them very easy to miss/forget about. I have started putting a UK roundel beneath them in order to see them better.
That said, if they made a second edition of North Africa, I am not sure I would want them to change anything at all other than the size of the UK scout car. The map is beautiful. The game is fun and seems really balanced in my limited experience. I’ve only played thrice but two of the three games came down to a final battle on the last US turn and the other game was darn close. I do wonder how the game would go if Germany were given regular bombers (a6/d1/m6) instead of the stukas (a5/d2/m4).

@Steiner This board is so cool! I love the colors and how 3D it is. I’d love to see photos with all the units setup!

@SuperbattleshipYamato I definitely would if I had 1940!

@Witt I ordered mine in July and received it about three weeks later