Posts made by rmcbride

@Eggman:

@rmcbride:

…US can still have its entire Pacific complement of 7-warships & 2-Subs & 3-fghtrs located on the Philippines & its sz35 by J3 & ready to pounce w/ or w/o a DOW by Japan, I think this is what I was meaning by this, but I guess my statement was a little confusing w/ “awakening the Giant”.  Sorry   :wink:

Not quite, since the Philippines and Hawaii are more than 1 move away even with the Naval Bases, the starting US Pacific fleet won’t be completely collected at Manila until US3, after the attack on India has already taken place.  This means you still have J4 to make some move to deal with this attack force, which you can usually do by having the Japanese fleet relocated back to Malaya or Kwangsi.  If you were super-worried, you could collect the Japanese fleet and place Air Bases on both Kwangsi and Hainan, giving you your massive combined fleet with 6 air on your starting Carriers plus a further 6 air available from scrambles.  There’s no real danger of the US doing anything in the short-term even with a combined fleet.

EDIT: I should also mention that it would probably be very unwise for the US player to try and park their ships off Manila so quickly, since Japan can make such a good fleet defense that covers the DEI J4, any forward-deployed US fleet is likely to simply die J5.

My bad, I meant to say US3.  I’m thinking US would move fleet & planes, US1 from sz10 & sz26 to sz31 (also build a Naval base there to add to the Air base & build some bombers for western US).  on US2, move Bombers to Wake Island & move planes & fleet to Guam & sz21.  Then US3, could have everything on Philippines & sz35.  Then w/ japan being in sz39, adjacent India for that invasion they could only get back to sz37 (Malaya) by J4 & by US4 they would be in position for some damage along w/ the ANZAC fleet that would there or w/i one sz as well.  But then again, you’d have to see what Japan buys & places in response to these advance US moves, that wouldn’t deter Japan from its original goal of the India Crush 1st?

I’ve seen other threads where several players said there usual was to take the US fleet to sz54 (Queensland) thru US 2&3 & lay there in wait for out come from Japan’s J1-3, but never really understood or explored this move with them @ the time.  Seems like its 1 or 2 rounds removed for where the US would want to be by J4 & US4.  If you had any thoughts on this also it would be great to hear :-)

@elzario:

@rmcbride:

@Spendo02:

Take the DEI, subdue China and deny Calcutta resources via taking their islands and convoying them.

Ok, this sounds interesting. So a couple Q’s here–-
� � �1) in taking the DEI, you’ve now awaken the “sleeping Giant” & are now @ war w/all the Allies.� who will probably start steaming towards that position–so how many rounds does it take to

Taking the DEI (and attacking UK/ANZAC) does not result in war with the USA.� Only attacking USA will result in bringing them into the war

Your right, I misread that one.  So I guess I don’t have to worry about the ships in sz35 for a couple rounds, but the Jig will be up by J1 & the US can still have its entire Pacific complement of 7-warships & 2-Subs & 3-fghtrs located on the Philippines & its sz35 by J3 & ready to pounce w/ or w/o a DOW by Japan, I think this is what I was meaning by this, but I guess my statement was a little confusing w/ “awakening the Giant”.  Sorry   :wink:

@Degrasse:

Here’s another version

1.  Turn 1 buy a navy base for Kwangsi, spend the other 11 as you like.  I like to buy a fourth transport and artillery.  Move everything that floats to sea zone 36, stack aircraft in Kwangsi.  Take the normal 4 Chinese provinces.  Be careful moving land units around, it’s easy to move the wrong way and not have units available for the transports.
2.  Turn 2 don’t declare war on anyone.  Continue slogging through China.  Move the fourth transport to sea zone 36 and leave a destroyer or two to guard it.  Move everyone else to sea zone 39 off the coast of India.  Take four land units from Kwangsi and pick up the other two infantry from Siam.
3.  Turn 3, take India or Iraq depending on what Germany is doing.  Ideally the UK panicked on round 2, DOWed Japan, and you get a free round to pick off the UK without US involvement.

In turn 2–you forgot about the BB in sz37,  or are you simply bypassing it going thru the sz37 to get to sz39 1st, during combat movement, since your not @ war yet, only to then DOW after you get to sz39?  Can you do that?  Thought you had to DOW @ start of combat move, which would make sz37 impassable due to the BB?  Maybe thats a matter of semantics??

@variance:

This is what people usually mean when they say “J3 India crush”:

J1 build 3 transports. �Take Chahar, Anhwe, Hunan, Yunnan. �Land all planes in Kwangsi and all fleet in z36 with transports loaded. �Leave FIC alone for now.

J2 Declare war on all Allies. �Build airbase and naval base in Kwangsi. Sink destroyer in z37 and any other ships that could attack z36 or block transports route from z36 to z39. �Dump 3 transports and 2 Siam guys on Shan State. �Airstrike Burma or Malaya if necessary to stop any attack on shan. �Put fleet in z38 and 3 loaded transports in z36.

J3 take India and land planes in shan state. �

(or you could do what Spendo said and starve them while you walk down thru china)
�

Hey Variance, I respect your play alot as I’ve read these threads & thanks for answering this one, so I would love to try this scenario also but have a few Q’s for you if you could expand on this––You were very detailed in your steps for this, so I’d like to be as detailed in my Q’s that this has prompted as well   :-)

J1) 1)–when you say “land all planes in Kwansi”, I’m counting, for just land based units Japan starts with;8-fghtrs, 5-Tac’s & 2-Bombers. So these planes only or are you also talking about CV based fightrs as well?
         2)–all fleet in sz36;  do you mean EVERY available Sea unit?  & what about the units in sz33, as they obviously can’t make it on J1, as well as that would leave Caroline Island & its resources open to US invasion on US1?
         3-transports loaded; I only count 3-trnsprts that Japan starts w/on the board; 1-sz6, 1-sz19 & 1-sz20.  So if I’m taking all my eastern China units to take out the 4-China territories you listed (that leaves the trns in sz20 w/o available units). So are you talking about just he one in sz6 or are you also loading the one from sz19 w/ units from Manchuria or Korea, which would make only 2 w/4-inf?

J2) 1)–DOW on Allies—thats a Big One!  The US is definitely gonna come a runnin  :?     Which would beg the question–with all that loot now, what are the Germans & Italians gonna do to divert the Pacific attention  away from the US so the Japs can grab the Victory cities before US gets to big in the Pacific, since I presume that w/ the “Crush India” strategy, thats what this is about?
         2)–build Air & Naval in Kwangsi; I’m guessing that you have no fear of Kwangtung walking in w/one or 2 inf to Kwangsi to capture the unprotected Air & Naval just placed for a one round disruption of the plan (because then Hong Kong could just be taken on the next round anyway, Right?   & speaking of HK, when or what is the plan there?
         3)–when you say "sink DD in sz37 & othr ships that could attack sz36; the sz37 is actually a BB–but ok.  Then there’s the US-DD & SS in sz35, are you just diverting 1-DD from the sz36 for the SS detection & then hitting them w/CV fighters for the wipe out?  & is this coming from the 1-CV from sz33 or what is your thinking there?
         4)–dumping 3-trns & Siam inf on Shan State; I presume those are the trans that were w/ the fleet from J1 (although I only had a possible count of 2-per my previous assessment, unless I misunderstood) & their going into sz38 to unload w/ the balance of the fleet?   Then the 3-loaded trns to be in sz36 were the ones purchased during J1, coming from sz6?

J3 1)–take India & land planes in Shan State;  Got that one!    
So now w/ India out of the picture, w/ maybe another round of clean-up, is the strategy to take out China’s threat entirely or just keep them @ bay while you start gearing up for the US & ANZAC?  Because by my count, including Hong Kong, you should have 4-Victory cities, 5-soon counting Manila.  But the US fleet should be well on their way, if not already there.  So 1-more VC to get, but is it going to be Sydney or Honolulu?  Seems like the way it should play out is that Sydney would be the more unprotected, but I don’t know?  After J3 & since you hadn’t discussed the DEI, that they’ll be trying to acquire for more IPC & to help the UK, that 6th VC could be a pretty hard get???  But after J3, who wants the game to end that quickly anyway   8-)

Should be a fun play!!!  So if you could please refine the above Q’s with some further detail, that would be great!   I’m all about playing & figuring it out, but with someone else’s idea of a whole new strategy, I don’t want to screw it up 2-3 times just trying to get to the way it should have been played for the 1st 3-4 rounds, after that—its anybody’s game anyway based on the counter moves & how the dice fell :roll:     So thanx again, look forward to the follow-up.

@Spendo02:

Take the DEI, subdue China and deny Calcutta resources via taking their islands and convoying them.

Ok, this sounds interesting. So a couple Q’s here–-
    1) in taking the DEI, you’ve now awaken the “sleeping Giant” & are now @ war w/all the Allies.  who will probably start steaming towards that position–so how many rounds does it take to starve them out til you take them over & don’t have to deal w/ them anymore so you can now devote attentions to the US & ANZAC?
    2) when you say “subdue China”–how much are we talking about here?
    3) the issue w/ taking their islands & convoying them—I’m assuming we’re taking Borneo (4ipc), but are we also taking Malaya (3ipc) & Hong Kong (3ipc)?
    4) Then there’s the Philippines-- w/ the US now in the war, are the US Air & Sea units there anything to deal w/ usually & what are they likely to do once you’ve made this move?
    5) are all your ships in the SE Sea for this maneuver, as it will take them a couple rounds to get there–then the jigs up? Or are some held back to deal w/ the US & ANZAC?    IE; what about the CV (w/fghtrs) & the DD in sz33?

As I said, this all sounds very interesting & I’m gonna give it a whirl, but if its not too much trouble, could you give me a more detailed “round by round” of How, Where & w/ What you normally do this w/ the factors & Q’s listed above?

I’ve seen posted a brief mention of a J3/J4 India crush.  I’m wondering how this goes?  I usually play the Japanese player (Axis) & the India thing is always a thorn in my side for the Burma road issue, allowing UK-Pac a launch point to push thru the Middle east & either help Russia or plague the Italians, always tying up my Jap units in SE Asia for what seems like little to no gain & prevents me from really focusing on the Pacific theater (IE; US & Anzac’s) til too late.

So I’m wondering if this is a basic strategy & how it would play out? Do you avoid the Chinese & Russia all together & go for India with Amphib (troops & transports), BB, CC & CA’s w/fighters? Or do you have to kinda punch @ the Chinese & hit them from the land & Sea? Is India your main focus from J1, or do you kinda work towards it???

@Eggman:

@rmcbride:

When you say “If Germany drops a Naval base into the territory, it can contribute ships”  Doesn’t Germany also have to have an IC there before it can place ships in the SZ during ‘Mobilize units’ phase?

Yes, that is a misstatement.  I should have written drops an IC into the territory.  You don’t need a Naval Base in Yugoslavia since you can make use of the ones in Italy proper from the same SZ.

Ok thanx, that clarifies & now makes sense.

Kind of my thinking as well, but had to be sure because the question came up with other players in one of our games.  Thanx

@Eggman:

It’s tough to say since you need a holistic approach that incorporates all the Axis powers.  Clearly there is nothing really Italy can do by itself against the US and UK if it is sitting with 10 - 20 IPCs a turn.  Generally I’ve seen a few approaches:

• Have Germany take Southern France so that it can trickle in some ships.

• Have Germany take Yugoslavia so that it can build an Air Base there.  Combined with Italian-based air power this gives you a 6 unit scramble which should help a lot to protect SZ97.  If Germany also drops a Naval Base into the territory, it can also contribute ships that way instead of using France.

• Have Germany use its Air Force to clean out all Allied ships that make an appearance.

• Any combination of the above, obviously…

The biggest thing to remember, is that if the US is making enough of a problem on the Europe board that Italy can’t handle it even with German help, then Japan is clearly not doing enough on the other board to attract the Allies’ attention.  The Pacific board is grossly weighted to an Axis victory.  If you skip the early DoW, at the end of J3 you should be able to have just about every Chinese territory in hand plus most of Siberia, or, if you went with the early attack, you should be parked off Malaya with the fleet and hold the DEI.  In either case, the US will be forced to ease up on assisting in the Med or risk losing on the Pacific map.

EDIT: I should mention that I’ve lost a couple of league games as the Allies even with having Italy down to collecting around 7 IPC a turn, because I couldn’t do that and keep Japan down enough to prevent them from turning the tide to the Axis` favor.

When you say “If Germany drops a Naval base into the territory, it can contribute ships”  Doesn’t Germany also have to have an IC there before it can place ships in the SZ during ‘Mobilize units’ phase?  Or am I totally missing where the ships Germany is contributing are coming from?

Same thing w/ S.France statement???

Unsure exactly on this one?  In combat phase, step 4 (attack land units &/or airfields) the rules state “For each of your Air units & Sea units participating in the attack (not land units), decide whether it will attack land units or airfields. It can’t do both”.

I’m ok with the air & sea units have to decide, but does this mean that the other land units you have on the island can only attack enemy land units, or can they attack an airfield also instead of land units?

Seems the way it reads, land units can only attack land units on the island.  But if thats the case, why aren’t they able to attack airfields, especially in the case of artillery if not the infantry?

@Cow:

strafing is attacking one stack with a bigger stack and then retreating after a round or two of combat.

For example, a bunch of units land on normandy, so you attack it and retreat after (that way you don’t take the territory and become vulnerable to the allies second attack).

Ok, awesome!  Ya, I was assuming strafing was used literally, as meant when a plane would strafe soldiers on the ground with their machine guns.  So I thought it was all about planes against troops.  But now know I’ve been strafing all along & didn’t know it.  I called it  “hit & run”.  Thanx also to Variance for the additional detailed explanation & likely outcome scenarios.  :-)

@stroutqb22:

Actually on page 9 of the Europe 2nd edition rules it says the only one you need to control is Gibraltar the north african territory (which I think it Morocco) doesn’t matter at all.

So if Britts control Gibraltar, Axis power can’t move ships thru the straight & if Axis powers control Gibraltar, Allies can’t move thru––it that right?

If an Axis pwr holds the N.Africa territory & the Allies hold Gibralter on opposite sides of the straight, is access blocked to & from the Med. for both?

I see in alot of threads, you guys talk about strafing troops to weaken the front, especially like Germany strafing southern territories to soften them up for Italy to walk in & Germans strafing the Russian front lines instead of going all in to take the territory.

So I want to understand this strategy, because my 1st thought is why would you risk the IPC value of fighters that fire @ 3, just to do a strafing run on a bunch of inf that defend @ 2.  Seems like a gamble/waste of fighters for such a strike w/o the benefit of fodder troops to protect the fighters from the defenders hits?

Unless your inferring that your bringing in inf w/fighters, but to me thats a normal battle/attack, not just a strafing run as it sounds like in your threads?

Got it, thanx so much  :-D

concerning the aircraft on the base cards–-are they allowed to move during step 7 & 8 of “phase 1-movement” or do they have to wait until step 4 “deploy” during phase 3?

This question is for existing units placed there during setup, as well as units acquired during phase 3 -step 4 (reinforce, repair,deploy).

Thanx, was a little fuzzy in the rules on that one, but clear as a bell now :-D

Its been awhile since I’ve played this one.  In reading the rules thru a question came to mind referencing page 10 of the rule book “hitting units the enemy doesn’t have”.

The question is–using the battle box w/dice,  say for a sea battle, I have only a Sub & a transport in the sea zone, the enemy has a battle strength of 5 dice & scores  2 hits in position #1 & #3.

Ok, I dont have a destroyer  so does that die hit keep marching up the box until it hits the transport?

Then hit on position #3, I dont have a battleship, so it drops back to position #1 & starts marching up the line, my transports already been hit & gone, but my sub is in position #6 & he only had a battle strength of 5, so if there’s no sea units left to take hits W/I his battle strength of dice count, does that mean he can’t hit the Sub @ all, or does the #3 hit just keep walking up the line until it finds the next sea unit regardless of how many hit dice he had?

Can someone answer this if it makes sense???  I’ve looked thru the frequently asked questions & can’t find this one.

With Alpha +3 rules & global;  When conducting SBR w/excorts–-how exactly does the battle go?    IE; attacking an IC w/ 2-Strat bombers, & attacking airbase w/2-Tac bombers, escorting w/4-fightrs.    The enemy is defending w/ 4-fightrs & a strat bomber.

The A+3 rules state that Air battle is 1st, all escorts & bombers (strat & tac) fire @ 1 & the defender puts his casualties behind battle strip casualty line.  Then the interceptors (defenders fighters & tac’s assigned to intercept) fire @ 1.  all casualties on both sides after this air battle are removed from play!

Then says all surviving escorts retreat & I assume all surviving interceptors return to base?

Then surviving bombers are assigned to targets.  So even though both Strat bombers & Tac bombers fought in the air battle, they can still proceed to bombing raids on the IC & the Airbase?

Then the IC & the Airbase both get defending shots (1 dice per plane attacking it) & hit on a 1?

Then surviving strat’s & tac’s can proceed.  It states the Strats bombers roll 1 dice per bomber  (1d6+2) does this mean if it rolls a 3 it would add +2 to that & make the hit a 5?

Then states tac’s roll a 1d6, per plane, so I assume just the number of the die = the number of hits?

Then looks like the hits scored are only against the complexes production rating only & not any IPC’s of the defending power?  So all you’re doing is limiting the # of production units that can be placed on the “mobilize unit” phase.  & the only IPC damage comes in the form of the damage having to be repaired/removed by the power having to buy the damage tokens off of the complex during the purchase unit phase of their turn?

Do I have this all right

Well guys, I bought my 1st A&A game over 20years ago & have, I believe, every version that they’ve made.  I have 4-boys & when I started playing the 2-oldest were 4 & 8. So I started off teaching & playing to loose to keep it fun for them. & of-course I always took the Axis.

My oldest boys are now 28 & 32, with one 23 & one still in the house @ 15 & were still playing.  But I’ve always been the Axis player, ALWAYS.  & I keep explaining to my 28 yr old, that by now always wins as the USA/UK player,  that its hard being the Axis player & winning, because he’s a good Allies player by now!

I tell him its because, & it should be obvious to him, that the Allies simply have more IPC’s & better economics & the Allies pretty much have to make some mistakes for the Axis to win against a good Allies player.  & I never mind loosing because I LOVE playing the game & I get a “kick” out of watching them do good!

But now my 28yr old wants to play the Axis this weekend, because to him–-it doesn’t look that hard, especially with the great set up the Axis start with.  But now I get to play the Allies for the 1st time in over 20+ years & I haven’t got a clue what to do with them???

I want my son to finally experience the difficulties of playing the Axis player, but also have a good game.  But @ the same time—I want to win this one with the Allies not only to prove my point of the Axis difficulties but to play a good game with the Allies & not give my son the satisfaction of thinking that “if I loose as the Allies player to him, that he’s just the better player”.

So with that said—since I’ve only watched what unfolds on the Allies side from the Axis players perspective for the last 20+ yrs,  I’m looking for some good input & strategies from you guys to get off to a good start & win with the Allies, especially as the USA, UK & China player—as I will be this weekend.  Thanx in advance.  :-D