I guess I just get too fixated on taking Moscow.
This has lost me many a game as Germany and is probably the one key point that any German player has to be very aware of. Trading stacks is one thing, but standing triumphant at the gates with only a pistol to defend it with isn’t a viable strategy.
There IS a viable route to taking Australia, but it requires some serious planning that generally incorporates trading economic gains in Asia and the DEI with a Moscow content on not DOWing on you.
I’ve pulled off taking Hawaii on J2, Sydney and Flip on J4, but it felt more like luck than anything else.
The only transports in range of hawaii are in sz6 right? If they are, then US just blocks. Why do you land those planes in siam when you dont need to? Also, since you are not blocking him or protecting it, the borneo transport will likely be killed by the UK. The earliest you can take hawaii is by turn 3, which the US will have enough to knock you back by then. All the while, the UK and china are stacking yunnan making it a pain in the ass for Japan to do anything on the mainland.
Technically, you can do it J2 but you sacrifice much in doing so as you forfeit economic gains in the DEI and China.
Try an industrial in Egypt to keep Italy under wraps.
Use the Union of South Africa factory (two mechs or tank/mech, you reach Egypt in 2 rounds).
Use the Canadian factory for ship building.
Airbase Gibraltar for US Air Force.In the PAC - survive.
Something to consider is the Iraq minor build if you are thinking about the minor. It gives much more flexibility in where the UK IPC’s in Europe can come into play - which includes reclaiming a lost Calcutta and basically ending the game for Japan in the Pacific.
I don’t really see the UK dominating the game. That is generally the American’s role.
UK is:
The enabler of US interference in Europe
The grinder against Italian expansion, and
The gatekeeper of Japanese expansion in the Pacific
With that being said, early in the game the UK wants to make Germany take as many losses as possible. In conjunction the UK wants to disable/weaken/delay any Italian control of the Med. Usually that just requires trading UK ships for Italian ships and then hopefully having remaining aircraft to prevent Italy from moving transports undefended to expand. If Italy only has 1 transport, she is not going to sacrifice it with UK aircraft capable of sinking it. Italy may not even move the TT without multiple ships to defend it - forcing Italy to stay in port for multiple turns.
Later in the game, once the threat to London has mostly passed, UK would be well served to build ships off of Canada that will be able to move off of Gib to support American transport rotations. Generally getting 1-2 carriers with the 4 Aircraft you plunked on London earlier in the game and a few DD screens is going to be enough to deter a German suicide run trying to sink transports. The US will have her own ships, preferably a few Cruisers with DD as screens to lie in wait to support landings in Europe.
Once the support is established off of Gib, and the US has moved some bigger ships in to replace your carriers, you can plop down 4-5 TT in the English Channel in one turn and dump the UK forces onto Normandy to reinforce the US units that survived. This may include UK aircraft if they won’t be exposed to being lost from an axis counter attack.
If you’ve gotten that going in Europe, unless Germany took Moscow with relative ease, Germany will end up losing as it cannot defend everywhere all at once.
For the Pacific, the UK is basically subject to the whims of Japanese aggression. Japan’s best play is to control the DEI and then convoy the UK out of the Pacific theater. Knowing that, forcing Japan to fight for each island is valuable in slowing the advance down. Doubly important is being in position to keep the Burma Road in China’s hands. Its more aggravating than anything because Japan does NOT want to funnel income into China, but Japan is obligated to do so or face losing income in the northern territories. This is why I prefer Mech early on for the UK Pacific, because it can be in India and also be 1 move from keeping the Burma road open.
UK in the Pacific rarely dominates unless Japan loses badly to the US or misplays itself out of position (which happens a lot). Just focus on being a thorn in Japan’s side early, defending Calcutta if Japan is full steam KIF and force Japan to take massive air unit losses so it cannot leverage simply replacing carriers and flying aircraft onto them.
Italy’s job is threefold:
1: Keep the UK spending to crush Italy
2: Assist in Russia
3: Lure the US Fleet past Gib and into the Med
With that being said, the Italian Navy is important to protect, requiring a DD to be purchased in Round 1. This will draw more UK attention to the Med, which gives Germany more breathing room to advance on Moscow. Provided your fleet was not decimated in SZ97, ferry units into Yugo with the TT and at least 1 Armor, possibly 2.
Assisting with Russia being your second goal pretty much requires that Italy activates Bulgaria on Round 1 and Italy either reinforcing the German Flank in Romania on I2 or if there is no immediate threat, clearing out Greece before the Brits activate it. If Italy purchases a Bomber on Round 2, it puts 2 Bombers and somewhere in the range of 6-8 Inf plus 2 Armor in range of Eastern Poland, or Bess. You even have a shot to can open Western Ukraine at this point, or if Russia is really incompetent, Ukraine MAY be open via an Armor Blitz (provided 2 Armor went into Yugo on Round 1, and reinforced Romania on I2.) In any case, Italy can stand to gain some IPC and really create problems on the German Southern Flank in Russia.
As for the last goal for Italy, you need to continue to engage the UK into the Med through the time the US enters the war. Usually this requires naval investments, I prefer to try to get at least 1 DD in every round. At some point you’ll need to redirect your Bombers back to Rome / Southern France. You’re goal is to force the Allies to defend SZ91 and interrupt the US TT rotation. You need to be very opportunistic here and wait for the Allies to expose TT as lightly defended. This doesn’t always happen, but it is devastating when it does and you can fly 2-3 Bombers and a send a few SS to potentially sink the TT rotation and buy breathing room. If this doesn’t look like it could happen, you just have to turtle up and encourage the US to land on Rome and not Normandy or S.France. The whole goal being to keep the US fleet in the Med and out of reinforcement for multiple turns outside of the 3 units it can place on whatever complex it takes.
J1 DOW that gets diced and US1 has a heavy Atlantic Purchase?
Rememer that as Germany you want to take Novgorod as fast as you can after dow on Russia as it gives you the economic edge especially if the Russian player scoops up middle east territories, you should be in a position that you never have to withdraw and lose ground.
Germany can to good effect make use of a 3-4 TT purchased on G2 along with the remaining going towards Arm/Mech in Berlin to support an attack on Novgorod. Particularly if G1 consisted of a CV, DD and SS.
The Russians will probably not scramble to prevent a CR and SS from being sunk, and it clears the way to land 5 Inf, 5 Art on Novgorod the same round that the Armor and Mech arrive. If the Russians retreat out of there, you now have a ferry to move more units back and forth than the 3 you can produce in Novgorod.
All in all, I think the G2 purchase of 4 TT is almost mandatory because there will always be a threat that Germany purchases 5 more TT and challenges for London at a moment’s notice.
The J2 attack on Pearl is always entertaining, particularly with the US fleet consolidated there.
Unfortunately, it accomplishes very little because by the time you get back to Japan, the US has generally replaced her fleet and you have accomplished very little towards expanding your income in the Pacific while India probably has added +7 IPC to her economy, added a 5 IPC NO and ANZAC has added two 5 IPC NO’s and probably +3 IPC to her economy which nearly doubles the Allied Economy in the Pacific.
The cost/benefit of considering Pearl as an early move is pretty terrible for Japan. Stick with the DEI and shoot for collecting 55-65 IPC by the end of J4.
How would that be agreeable to everyone? It makes even less sense than the other rules and changes absolutely nothing. I actually liked the idea that a unit could kill only 3 defenseless transports but don’t think it goes nearly far enough and wouldn’t change anything in that form. If each (remaining) unit could auto-kill one defenseless transports before combat ends it would at least solve the problem of a single (or a few) fighters taking out a whole fleet with no risk.
Lets detail out the concerns:
Side A: TT in bulk create a problem of balance if they defend @1 because those add up and effectively act as screens because they are sinking ships that will no longer be able to attack.
Side B: It is poor form to decide that anything in a dice rolling game is auto destroyed by the mere presence of a hostile offensive unit.
So we give TT a chance to defend themselves, but limit the dice they roll. It effectively eliminates them as a screening unit because no matter the quantity, they only roll a single die when in combat, at the lowest possible odds to “hit”. However when left undefended, they are not free kills because there is a risk, albeit small, that they could shoot down a fighter or ram a ship and cause it to sink.
I’d even be willing to go as far as once a hit is scored against the TT (which are always the last remaining naval units), the entire flotilla is lost but they can, as a whole still roll a single die @1 to defend themselves.
Some tough calls with the European Fortress. I found the best option is to actually stop the Allies from landing on Europe to begin with. This centrally focuses around holding the SZ’s around Gibraltar.
This is why I prefer the G1 Purchase of a CV and DD that merge with the CR and TT. Each successive round I add 1-2 SS and keep my Strategic Bombers on WGr. Unless UK has a DD in the Channel, you can shoot a few SS as fodder and your Bombers to the SZ outside of Gibraltar and sink TT’s if they are defended lightly.
I’d rather try and sink the US landings before they create many problems than try to defend the mainland from a 1-2 punch from US and UK at multiple locations that I don’t have enough units to defend with. And if I don’t have the capability to sink them they may have to delay an extra round because they have to beef up their Atlantic Fleet to defend against 3-5 SS and 2 StratB. This does not count anything Italy may have lurking close to soften the fleet up first.
In effect, Gibraltar in my opinion, is the lynchpin to defending the European fortress. Either disable the port there before the US goes (with Italy in the prior round) or take it for yourself forcing the Allies back a round before it becomes useful for US landings.
Granted they can take the Northern Atlantic route, but that delays them a turn as well, which you can then either contest the Channel, build an AB there to scramble aircraft, or whatever other traps you can think of to delay that first landing while you finish up in Moscow.
OR
Just make it that no matter how many TT you have, you roll a single die @1 in defense each combat round.
I think that would be pretty agreeable for everyone?
Might as well just eliminate TT’s all together then and allow naval warships to transport units, no?
Simple fix, really:
TT only roll@1 when at ANY point there are no friendly warships present, and cannot be taken as losses until all friendly warships have been sunk or submerged.
TT cannot be forced into defensive combat in conjunction with scrambling aircraft from an AB. However TT can be defended by scrambling aircraft if no amphibious assault has been declared from that SZ.
Example 1:
BB, CR and 2 TT are attacked. CR and BB roll until sunk. Normally, once they are the TT are just picked up off the board. Instead it flows to this: When TT are the only remaining surface ship they get to roll @1 to defend against an attack.
This could mean you only needed 1 hit to sink the BB, however you scored 3 hits during your attacker roll phase. The defender would roll 1 die @4 because the BB was present when the hits were scored on the TT as well.
If 2 hits were scored to sink the BB, the defender would roll @4 and remove a BB and TT from the battle. The following turn the attacker would roll and the lone TT would roll @1 to defend.
If you only scored the single hit to sink the BB, which missed on its defensive roll. You’d follow up with a second round of rolls against the 2 TT, which now get to defend @1 until sunk or you withdraw.
Example 2:
2 TT were left undefended against 2 Ftr and 1 Tac. The 2 Ftr roll @3, the Tac @4 scoring 3 hits. Both TT would roll @1 to defend scoring a single hit. Both TT are sunk, and one Ftr is lost.
Example 3:
2 TT are blocking a SZ you wish to move though - even though they defend @1, you can ignore them and sail straight past without having to stop for battle.
Example 4:
You attack 2 DD and 2 TT with 4 BB. The BB scores 2 hits and the defender none. The defender has to take the 2 DD as losses first per the rules after they rolled and missed. The BB would then roll again and scores 1 hit. Both TT then roll @1 and both score hits. 2 BB are tipped and 1 TT is lost. The BB roll again and sink the final TT, which misses, and the battle ends.
Example 5:
3 TT and 1 SS are defending against 3 DD. Due to the presence of the DD, the SS cannot submerge to avoid combat. The 3 DD roll and score 2 hits. The SS rolls and misses. One SS and 1 TT are removed. The 3 DD then roll against the 2 remaining TT which defend @1 now that the sub has been sunk.
Example 6:
3 TT and 1 SS are defending against 3 CR. The SS elects to submerge to avoid battle. The 3 CR roll against the 3 TT, which roll @1 due to the SS submerging and not being present in combat.
Example 7:
There is an AB on Norway and WGr with 6 Ftr capable of scrambling. Germany has 10 TT in SZ 112. The allies are attempting to land on Denmark via an amphibious assault with 3 BB, 2 CR, 2 DD and 5 TT and elect to ignore the German TT. Germany elects to scramble and places ONLY the 6 Ftr as TT cannot be forced into defensive combat due to a scramble caused by an Amphibious assault being declared from that SZ.
Note if you change a German TT to a DD, you could still not get the TT into the battle as TT cannot be forced into a sea battle due to an amphibious assault being declared from that SZ. The DD, however would be included in the defenders scramble.
However, those TT WOULD be included if no assault was declared and the Allies moved into the SZ to solely attack the ships present.
They hybrid approach of 8 IPC transports, defending @1 but have to be taken last as casualties is probably my preferred approach.
I don’t care much for defenseless units. Particularly when a Bomber from Hawaii can swoop into Japan’s SZ and blow up 3 TT and land in Mongolia with no risk of dying. Granted Scrambles can defend that but the point is still the same.
I think it is one of the biggest issues with Japan taking all those unprotected US islands, because it is not worth the investment to take a non-value island when you have to divert a fleet to defend from the US arbitrarily sending aircraft to swoop out and clear all those TT with zero chance of escape or defense.
You’ve got two moves for Japan, possibly 3:
1. Take the DEI which effectively denies allied income and improves your own and puts you into a position to win the Pacific.
2. March across Russia and fly your aircraft on a suicide mission to soften Moscow or reinforce an advancing German army. This gives up the Pacific win and takes a long time - the US will probably ignore most of the Pacific because its nothing more than an IPC sink for them unless Japan holds the DEI and threatens a pacific win as Japan cannot take Western US with only ships.
3. You could possibly try sailing Japan to Africa and take Cairo before the Allies can effectively reinforce it - but India would be keen on that likely mobilizing mech/Armor to march through persia and Iraq. Without Minors to reinforce Japan and slow up India I’d expect you’d have to time it perfectly with the fall of Moscow.
Anything outside of that and you pretty much hand the Allies a significant advantage as the US puts all its income into the Atlantic and hurts German advances into Russia.
I’ve looked at the pluses and minuses of taking a very weak ANZAC early. These are my conclusions:
The US fleet, if staged at Hawaii can easily trap your fleet.
ANZAC doesn’t play a major role early on and doesn’t provide much strategic position.
The money just isn’t there to make it worth it.
You’re much better off denying the NO’s to keep Anzac at 10 IPC / round than actually trying to take them out. They do their damage already with planes to reinforce other Allied moves, so theres little point in removing them from the game early.
The same can pretty much be said about Hawaii - leaving Hawaii and/or Anzac as your final VP battle ground - not your first.
Stick with China / Flip / India / DEI control early.
We could just make this game even more complicated by:
1: Treating each nation independently for unit purchase prices
2: Changing those prices for early/mid/late game rounds
AA gun solution is a simple one:
Change price to 7 IPC.
When enemy aircraft are present:
AA guns fire before every round against opposing enemy aircraft.
AA guns as a whole can only roll 1 die per aircraft present and no single AA gun may roll more than 2 die.
AA guns score a hit for every “1” rolled.
When no enemy aircraft is present, AA guns defend @1 in the normal course of combat.
As it stands, AA guns are basically just free casualties you start the game with as in 99% of scenarios I’d rather pay for an Inf at 3 IPC and get to roll with it each round for 2 or less than pay 5 IPC to get to roll 3 die only once and hope one of them show up at a 1.
Long story short, you have to react as the Allies early. There is no single blueprint - the closest thing you have is the 6 Inf 1 Ftr on UK1 for London if you scrambled, 10 Inf if you didn’t. The US fleet build in the Pacific is pretty straightforward on US1: CV and BB at a minimum. Everything else, including those purchases are dependent on the Axis moves.
I agree with your entire post except for this. Perhaps against a newer player in a face to face game the BB has an ‘intimidation’ factor, but 9 times out of 10 I think it is better to buy two DDs for 16 and use the 4 left for something else- or buy a DD and a Cruiser (gives 5 Pips vice 4). With two ships you have potential for two hits and they can be used for blocking/being in two different SZs if need be. 20 IPCs for a big BB that needs protecting seems like a waste for me. Yes, they can take damage, but a lot of the time its not sitting at a Naval Base, so you have to either live with the damage or retreat it to a Naval Base.
I have played every official A&A game available and I think the last game where I bought a BB was the original Pacific with the US, and I regretted it even then.
It may be a bit antiquated, but I still believe in matching Japan’s Navy ship for ship if theres no early DOW. So that CV and BB puts 3 allied BB in the Pacific and 2 CV with enough aircraft with Anzac’s to replace any lost early.
I will give the nod to DD’s (And SS) after the early purchases, but theres definitely some value in having a BB to take hit for you while you’re still outnumbered in naval ships - even if you’re rolling one less die.
