Posts made by the admiral

Doug, I thought the same as you when we first got the game. How many games have you played so far? I think that as time passes and Japan works out all the myriad moves of first turn, you will find that the allies can easily blow the game by one false move, whereas Japan can choose its battles. Japan was winning so steadily in our group that we took up bidding VP’s to see who got to be Japan. 25 to 30 victory points is not unheard of.

I agree with the second post, except that if you do commit troops to midway and take it, then whatever ships are left there are probably safe. If you fail to take it, however….

Japan attacks with just about every piece it has on the first turn, due to the rolling advantage it enjoys. Japan must at least destroy the two american battleships, the british malayan battleship, the american phillipine fleet, and as many allied fighters as possible.

Japan is well served to remember its destroyers can move one infantry. I generally try to take both midway and new britain on the first turn, both of which are anchor ports. Thus I generally hold back the japanese battleship off the mainland from any battles first turn so I can move it to midway or new britain, whichever seems appropriate. Yes, you can take advantage of the anchor ports during non-combat movement on the same turn the ports are taken in combat. Japan is also well served to set up a shuttle system of transports to and from the homeland and the malayan anchor port, which allows dropoffs to either FIC or siam.

the allies strategies depend on how the first turn comes out and what japan is doing, but I generally buy the australians a carrier, the indians a bunch of men (maybe a tank or two if the japs suffer badly down around there first turn) and the americans load up on subs and bombers early, slowly build the invasion force.

that’s the great thing about AAP, though, you can’t really devise a sure-thing-every-time strategy because the game can be very different every time.

Well, I played AAP the other night as Japan, and it was the worst ass-whipping I ever had the misfortune to endure. We have had Japan winning so often, we have started bidding victory points to see who is Japan. So I had to get to 27 VP to win. Never got close. The first turn was disasterous, unprecedentedly disaterous. I lost 4 fighters, failed to take Malaya, failed to take midway, and the American phillipine sub survived to do much damage. Couldn’t roll a dice under a 4 to save my life, and the allies were throwing ones like mad. We could have just packed the game up after that first turn, it was all over.

I guess that’s why I prefer AAP to the other versions though. No two games have turned out the same way yet.

Just thought I’d vent on a painful experience. Miserable.

Just a suggestion for any folks out there who own or have access to all three games. We played the other night with the new pieces from AAE and AAP on the original gameboard, incorporating all the new rules possible, and it was a blast. We plan to do some more tinkering with the rules, but it worked surprisingly well.

I think that the most crucial advantage the Japanese have (except for the first turn advantage) is the ability of destroyers to carry one infantry. It is also the easiest to forget. Many are the times I have played as the allies and had to bite my tongue to keep from reminding my opponent of the havoc he could wreak if only he used his destroyers and transports in better coordination.

Pacific is a much shorter game once you have digested the many rule changes. The reason is that Japan accumulates victory points at the end of every turn, and once it reaches 21 the game is over, no matter how close the allies are to overwhelming Japan. In our experience, a game of AAP now lasts approximately 3.5 to 5 hours. The most time is taken up on the first round when Japan has so very many options. It can be very hard for the Japanese player to work out his whole strategy. A first time player can easily spend a half hour to 45 minutes, or more, working out Japan’s initial attacks. With the Europe game we had some that lasted upwards of seven hours, because the only way to win is the capture of a capitol.

Oh yes, Pacific is fun to discuss. I won the last two games I played, first as allies, then as Japan. The way we play, Japan almost always win purely due to victory points or the allies win because Japan overextends in the pacific and loses too much navy. We’re gonna play tonight. There may be four players though, so it may have to be Europe tonight.