Posts made by Weekend Gamer

@Imperious:

He should not have attacked Karelia on G1. Big mistake IMO. He cant get good odds until G2. If he went to Karelia he would have to bring his planes and since he used them elsewhere he lost alot of infantry. Russia cant do anything to prevent it but can even win the battle on G1 if he tries it.

He has to plan the targets with more care and may even perform a number of leaching operations on Caucasus or Karelia. So hes just killing enough and not taking and retreat back to a position where he can strike both north and south. He would take provided he gets support from Japans planes or Italian forces. Only in Karelia this is not really possible.

Good point about Karelia, IL.  He definitely spread himself too thin, which gave Russia the time it needed to bulk up on infantry.  Also, by “leaching”, I assume you mean “strafing”, which is not a bad idea either.  I also think, upon reflection, that Germany should still buy SOME infantry.  Not a lot, but at least enough to support strafing as a strategy.  Because if I strafe, I’d much rather lose infantry and save my expensive tanks until I’m ready to move in in force.

@TG:

Thanks for your review Gamer.

Japan goes BEFORE UK?  That’s insane. 
Can someone please inform me of the proper turn order in A&A:50?

If Japan is indeed that powerful, this puts a huge crimp on the game.  Not from a balancing standpoint, but because I was really looking forward to the Pacific theater opening up.  As it stands, USA has no reason to go after Japan even if it wanted to because Japan’s Navy is so strong.

So, in summary, the biggest change, the map aside, is the fleet rules, and they suck for the Allies, period.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Allies compensate.

What are these fleet rules?

The fleet rules are as follows:

Cost differences – subs cost 6, transports cost 7, DDs cost 8, cruisers cost 12, carriers cost 14 and BBs cost 20.

Battle differences – subs can’t shoot at planes AND planes cannot shoot at subs, period.  Subs attack on a “2” and defend on a “1”.  Transports die automatically if attacked and have no offensive OR defensive value whatsoever.  Their ONLY function is to transport land units.  So in the case of Germany’s Med transport, I could attack it with the Egypt fighter and automatically kill it without risk.  So what this means in practical terms is that you still have to buy transports as the Allies in order to set up D-Day, but now that purchase does NOTHING for you in terms of fleet defense.  Nor does buying subs, for that matter, since they cannot be taken as losses against air attacks (the most likely kind from Germany in particular).  So you are buying DDs as fodder IN ADDITION TO buying transports.  But the DDs attack and defend on a “2”, so that doesn’t get you any true defensive punch.  For that, you will have to buy cruisers, carriers and planes.  So, without any additional income for America (you start with 40 IPCs), and with a carrier in lieu of a BB from the West coast, you either go KIF/KGF, as always, while constantly watching your back for the stab from Japan – OR – you go on a MASSIVE spending spree buying fleet to try to compete with Japan.  Say, a carrier and two fighters on US1 (34 IPCs total) off the coast of LA and moving your existing carrier and fighters up to the same sea zone.  That MIGHT survive J2 depending on how Japan stationed her fleet after J1.  But now you’re still 2-3 turns at least from seriously threatening Japan.  Meanwhile, Japan is cashing out well over 50 IPCs, assuming it hits its NOs, which it should.

Oh, and your question about turn order, it is as follows (in the '41 scenario):  Germany, Russia, Japan, Britain, Italy, US.

A couple more points:
1.  Even though they are cheaper at 20 IPCs, BBs are not as good a deal in this game.  They nerfed the BB by only allowing you 1 shore bombardment per attacking amhip unit.  So you no longer have the option of dropping one guy in France and getting 6 bombards.  The rules prohibit that, which makes the expensive BB much less attractive as a purchase when you can buy a cruiser for 12 IPCs and get almost the same benefit (attacks, defends and bombards at 3).

2.  The quality of the plastic pieces in this set was VERY disappointing.  It was almost of the quality of the old Xeno Games W@W set – piss poor.  For $100, I would have expected something more on the order of the quality pieces that came with A&A: Europe, which cost HALF as much as this game.  In fact, IF I buy this game, I would be tempted to throw out the pieces that came with it and buy up odd sets of A&A: Europe pieces on e-bay or whatever to replace them.  The map and counters are too nice to be played with with such crappy plastic pieces, IMO.

Okay, I played the '41 Scenario last night.  My first impressions, much of which will be old news, but some may not, are as follows:

1.  Germany – On G1, he attacked Karelia, Baltic States, East Poland, Ukraine, my sz9 fleet, and my sz2 fleet.  He did not attack the sz12 fleet, the sz6 DD or Egypt.  Purchase-wise, he bought all tanks (for the most part) and did tank dash.  It was not as effective as I might have thought it would be.  The Soviet player bought almost exclusively infantry, and with only tanks to counter (after the first couple turns), the German player got bogged down into some expensive trading with Russia.  He probably should have focused more on taking Karelia or Caucuses (Italy was largely irrelevant in the game), and he did take Karelia on each turn.  However, Russia re-took on R1 and Britain re-took on B2 and B3.  I/o/w, Germany never took it in force.  I’m not sure he could have, without exposing his flank in the south.  He also burned through his airforce pretty quickly, which left him with only tanks for offensive punch.  He should have taken out my sz6 DD and probably attacked Egypt.  Instead, he used Germany’s sz13 transport to amphib attack Ukraine.  That was a mistake.

2.  Russia – buying all infantry still works, apparently.  Russia used his lone tank to re-take Karelia on R1 and promptly lost in on G2.  After that, he had exactly 1 artillery for offense.  But since he was facing mostly short-stacked German tanks, it was not really a problem.  The play reminds me a lot of A&A Europe – there is a wider front for Germany to defend, only in this game, each territory counts toward IPCs.  Germany gets a big push early, but can’t sustain it in the face of 10 new Soviet infantry per turn, especially once the Allies get the SBR campaign going (discussed below).  The real threat to Russia came when Japan absolutely tore through China like tissue paper.

3.  Japan – my GOD is that Japanese fleet massive.  Three carriers, nine fighters, five transports, plus a BB, a cruiser and a destroyer or two.  This is definitely not revised where Japan is reduced to one transport on turn 1.  Far from it.  Yes, Japan must conquer all the islands it already owns in Revised, but with all the fleet at its disposal, and basically no one standing in its way, that’s hardly heavy lifting.  He also gobbled up China by J3.  His only mistake was not bringing a fighter into the attack on the Phillipines, which delayed his taking the Phillipines until J3.  That was seriously the ONLY bright spot for the Allies in the Pacific.  (That and he needlessly burned through his transports by moving 2 of them forward, unprotected, so that I could kill them both very easily).

4.  Britain – okay, they nerfed the India fleet, leaving Britain with very few options indeed in the Pacific.  I used my DDs to kill his transports off East Indies and New Guinea, and I amphib attacked New Guinea from Australia and re-took it.  Might as well use that fleet before I lose it, because that transport will not live to see action on UK2, that’s for damn sure.  The good news was, since Germany foolishly left his German transport exposed off the coast of Ukraine, and since I still had my Egypt plane, I killed his transport automatically, ending any further Germana amphib attacks in the Med.  I also went ahead and stacked Egypt, pulling troops off of India, leaving me with a healthy stack of around 8-9 pieces.  I built a South Africa IC, some fleet and two fighters to fly to Russia eventually.  My biggest mistake was not hitting that stupid Baltic fleet.  I’m still used to Revised where that fleet has some survivability on UK1, but in this game, only the Cruiser shoots back and neither the sub nor the transport can be taken as fodder vs. my planes.  So all I needed to do was kill the stupid Cruiser and his Baltic fleet (except the sub) was history.  Live and learn.  I’m not sure the South Africa IC was the way to go, but I damn sure wasn’t going to put it in India, with that massive Japanese fleet floating around.  It was simply not sustainable, IMO.

5.  Italy – he really missed the boat with Italy, IMO.  First, he bought 2 tanks a turn.  That’s not the best use of Italian money.  He’d have been better off with buying a fighter a turn or troops to take Africa.  He also foolishly tried to take Egypt on I1 even though I had it stacked taller than the forces he had available to attack it with.  So he promptly got slaughtered.  On I2, I had pulled out of Egypt (basing my troops in Persia to counter India if Japan attacked it), so he dropped a tank there, again to no real effect on the game.  Too late he realized Italy’s highest and best use is in a support role to Germany vs. Russia.  Especially since I had built the South Africa IC, there was no way he could effectively contest ownership of Africa.

6.  US & China – first, China is screwed if Japan is paying any attention to it.  I don’t see how the Chinese hold out more than 3 turns, tops.  As for the US, about the only GOOD things are:  (1) you get a carrier in the Pacific that the Japanese PROBABLY won’t attack (he didn’t in last night’s game); and (2) you get an extra bomber.  That’s it.  You are otherwise screwed because, as America, (1) you MUST build fleet to get “in the game”, and (2) building fleet is very expensive in this game.  To get the same impact from buying an 8 IPC transport in Revised – a unit that transports AND shoots back at planes and other boats, you now must spend 15 IPCs – 7 for the transport and 8 for the destroyer, which now defends on a “2”.  And with Japan tooling around with 3 carriers with up to 6 planes on the carriers, you don’t have the option of building slowly – which I found out the hard way.  We decided to deal with Germany through a strategic bombing campaign (you start, after all, with two bombers), so I figured I’d build a bomber a turn and fleet.  But even with 12 IPC bombers, it still took too long to build a sizeable enough fleet to screw with Japan while also building bombers.  You pretty much need to buy fleet only for at least 2-3 turns.  And ignoring Japan and going after Germany didn’t seem to be a viable option, again, because of the expensive fleet building problem.  By the time you get to Europe with enough troops to take France and hold it, Russia is probably already overrun from behind by Japan.  So the dilemma for US is, there is no one else but you to stop Japan, but how do you do it?  And IF you do it, Japan is going to require all your efforts, leaving Britain alone to deal with Germany and Italy (except for the US bombers, of course).

Overall, I think the new rules for the '41 Scenario favor the Axis for several reasons:

For Japan:  (1) it’s fleet is already built, unlike the US and UK, which must rapidly built fleet to contest with Japan and Germany, respectively, (2) Japan goes BEFORE Britain, not after, which means Japan gets TWO rounds of attacks in before UK can place its first build in an India IC, which effectively means that strategy is DEAD without serious Soviet support or Japanese neglect, (3) Japan’s economy gets huge (to 50+) very quickly, allowing Japan to replace any losses quickly, slowly and steadily build up your invasion force versus Russia, AND screw with the United States, if you feel like it, or just go swallow up Africa whole.

For Germany:  All you need to do is focus on Russia and keep it tied down until Japan comes in from behind.  You don’t really have to seriously worry about a D-Day-type invasion before maybe UK4 or 5 at the earliest (if then), because Britain is desperately trying to keep you out of Karelia, if it can.  Britain must buy the transports and troops in the interim to try to assault you, but that must wait until they build sufficient fighter cap to help Russia hold its capital.  Since you’re probably not buying any fleet, the expensive fleet problem doesn’t really affect you.  In fact, it’s a blessing.  Your only worry, and there’s nothing you can really do about it, is American and British strategic bombing coupled with your limited IC capacity.  As Germany in AA50, unless you take Karelia, you will only ever be able to build 10 units per turn, because the Southern Europe IC is no longer yours to build in – it belongs to Italy.  And if the Allies bomb you, chances are you will be buying 8 tanks (or, God forbid, only 6 tanks) per turn instead of 10.  That seriously slows down your offensive against Russia, because Russia can basically build 10 infantry per turn, no problem.  So all you can do is keep attacking, with Italian help, and hope that:  (1) Japan comes to the rescue, as usual, or (2) Russia screws up and you manage to pick her off yourself.  If neither of these two happen, then the likely result is: (3) the Allies come up your tailpipe with the D-Day invasion, which you are powerless to stop, once they build up enough transport capacity, because all your production has been going to fight Russia.  My sense is, once you turtle in this game, you’re dead, barring a miracle.

So, in summary, the biggest change, the map aside, is the fleet rules, and they suck for the Allies, period.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Allies compensate.

@Ducky:

Credit to hey_yu on the official boards for finding the list.

CANADA
ef01 Ram Kangaroo

FRANCE
ef02 Hotchkiss H-39
ef03 Hotchkiss MG Team

UK
ef04 Churchill IV
ef05 Entrenched Antitank Gun
ef06 Sherman VC Firefly
ef07 Staghound

USA
ef08 Jeep
ef09 M12 GMC
ef10 M3A5 Lee
ef11 Lend Lease Half-Track
ef12 M5A1
ef13 U.S. Engineer

USSR
ef14 76.2mm Model 1942
ef15 BA-64
ef16 Fanatical Sniper
ef17 IS-2 Veteran
ef18 ISU-122
ef19 KV-85
ef20 PPSh-41 SMG
ef21 PTRD-41 Antitank Rifle
ef22 Soviet-Polish Infantry
ef23 T-34/76 Model 1942
ef24 T-34/85
ef25 T-70 Model 1942
ef26 Valentine VI
ef27 Veteran NCO

FINLAND
ef28 Finnish Infantry
ef29 Finnish MG Team
ef30 Finnish Officer
ef31 StuG-III Ausf. G

GERMANY
ef32 88 w/ Gun Shield
ef33 Flammenwerfer 35
ef34 Hummel
ef35 Jagdpanzer IV/70
ef36 King Tiger
ef37 Marder III Ausf. M
ef38 Nebelwerfer 42
ef39 PAK 38 Antitank Gun
ef40 Panther Ausf. A
ef41 Panzer II Ausf. F
ef42 Panzer IV Ausf. E
ef43 Panzer IV Ausf. G
ef44 Pioneers
ef45 Sd Kfz 234/4
ef46 SGrW 34 81mm Mortar
ef47 SS-Jagdpanther
ef48 SS-Panzergrenadier
ef49 Tiger I
ef50 Wehrmacht Oberleutnant

HUNGARY
ef51 8mm Huzagol 35M
ef52 PzKpfw 38(t)

ITALY
ef53 Brixia M35 45mm Mortar
ef54 L6/40
ef55 Veteran Carro Armato M13/40

ROMANIA
ef56 Antitank Grenadier
ef57 R-35
ef58 Romanian Infantry
ef59 T-4 Medium Tank
ef60 Vigilant Lieutenant

Guys:  Pictures of the pieces I highlighted in bold are posted on the A-H forums.  Here’s the link to thread:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1100778

Enjoy!!!

@Craig:

@Cmdr:

I don’t know why Larry has it in for the Russians.

Russia always had a strong military, the problem wasn’t lack of equipment, it was lack of experience, lack of motivation and last year’s technology.  So why is it they almost never get equipment and this is the first time they’ve been boosted in income?  (not like you have a prayer of collecting that income twice mind you.)

The problem is that there is no way in which to represent these issues in a game of this level other than to give them less equipment.

Unlike other games in which you have different quality of units for the different powers, this game has generic units.  As such the only recourse is to reduce the set up to get the play out that one wants.

Craig

That, plus the fact that a strong Russia in A&A would = Axis NEVER wins.  I agree with Jen that, in reality, Russia’s army was by far the largest fielded in WWII.  But as IL said once (I believe it was IL), this is a game, not a simulation.  Who wants to play a game that one side always wins?  And that’s what you would have if you gave Russia an historically accurate army size.

I don’t have the game yet, but it does sound like this one accomplishes what you would hope it would – i.e., the problems and challenges of the game are different than previous editions.  This is no mere re-print of Revised.

@mateooo:

is there a place to see the expanded rules online (without paying)

Mateooo is cheap that way, you understand. :wink:

Thanks guys! :-)

Hey guys – over on the AH Boards, I keep reading about something called “overwatch”.  I suppose it’s part of the “Advanced” rules that neither Mateooo or I have bothered to purchase.  I don’t have a profile over there, so I though I’d ask here.  Do any of you have idea what that is and how it works?

Thanks,
G

Flamethrower

@Woodstock:

@Gamer:

@Woodstock:

Thanks. Changes the German meditarrean situation quite a bit …

Not really.  The Allies have been given more fighters and fleet to compensate.  Notice the sub off Egypt is now a Destroyer?  Notice the Indian Ocean fleet?  And so on . . .

Yeah, I noticed the enlarged UK fleet, but I meant that the 2 hit kill applies to both offense and defense for the Battleship makes a difference.
The UK wasn’t attacking my Med fleet, as he thought “Well, he is weaker in attack then defense, so let him attack me.”…and I was holding off my attack on his Battleship for the same reason…

Well, it’s sort of obvious to us that have been playing Revised a while.  But when you think about it, why would the extra hit only apply to defense?  The extra hit is to reflect the fact the Battleship represents a MUCH larger set of surface ships than a destroyer, and that is true whether the fleet is attacking or defending.  And as for NOT attacking it, why on earth would Germany use the Med. fleet to attack, unless the likely result is annihilation of Allied fleet?  If you wait for the Germans to attack another fleet with the Med. fleet, you should be waiting quite a while in most cases.

@Woodstock:

Thanks. Changes the German meditarrean situation quite a bit …

Not really.  The Allies have been given more fighters and fleet to compensate.  Notice the sub off Egypt is now a Destroyer?  Notice the Indian Ocean fleet?  And so on . . .

Oh my, I TOTALLY overlooked Crazy Ivan as an option. :roll:

Mr. Poll taker, please rescind my vote for sz26 and replace it with a vote for Crazy Ivan – there is NOTHING more useless on (or over) an A&A board than Comrade Ivan. :-D

I forgot about Gibraltar – Switch should know the value of that particular territory. :roll: :lol:

I voted:  Greenland, WCan infantry (which virtually NEVER gets into the action, unless Japan attacks WCan) and sz26.

Midway and Wake Island each have infantry, and in a KJF, I frequently grab the Midway infantry with a transport during NCM during a turn that I am building up my Pacific fleet.

SFE is good for 1 IPC per turn.

German WR units and the sz15 Destroyer are each units that must be destroyed, which isn’t always a given, as some of us have learned the hard way.

Finally, I see nothing useless about the US bomber.  It can be used to help kill German fleet or, worst case scenario, strategically bomb Germany or Japan.  It does take a while for the US bomber to get into the regular action, but that’s mainly because it takes a while to get US troops into front line position.  But that’s not the bomber’s fault! :-P :wink:

@Krieghund:

@Gamer:

AA gun shots are directed fire (i.e., shoots at EACH air unit).  Therefore, you roll a specific die for each plane.

Not exactly.  According to the FAQ, you don’t literally roll a specific die for each plane, you just roll for the bombers and the fighters separately.  It’s still up to the air units’ owning player which individual units are hit within that type.  This makes a difference only insofar as choosing to lose a plane that has travelled further to the combat in order to allow more flexibility in where to move surviving planes after combat.

The purpose of this rule is simply to keep the owning player from assigning all AA hits to fighters rather than bombers.

Krieg, thanks for the clarification.  You are correct.  I think Triple A automatically assigns the hit to the plane traveling farthest, which is virtually always what you would prefer.

@mateooo:

@Gamer:

Mateo, point taken about the half-tracks.

my world is falling apart. 2 + 2 = 5. Black is white. People are dying in zebra crossings everywhere. The gate is up. Everything spinning. Gamer has agreed with me.

Yes, but I still think flamers are underpriced.  They should be 5.5 points. :-P

Mateo, point taken about the half-tracks.  If you increase the price of half-tracks, the flamer problem drops considerably. On their own, they can’t land right next to you (from halfway across the map) and fry you in the same turn.

Mot’s point about phases is well taken.  It would be like trying to do combat and noncombat moves at the same time in Revised.  You must complete one phase before moving on to the next phase, and deployment is a distinct phase of the game (even under the special Hero rules).

It figures a Doctor would totally ignore the example put in front of him and come up with a completely different example that no one was talking about . . . but since you mention the Panzerfaust, I disagree for at least three reasons:  (1) who cares about the 6 dice at medium range?  How many tanks have you killed rolling 6 dice?  Not many.  Okay, I can kill the lousy half-track with six dice – the same turn my Panzerfaust dies getting fried by your flamethrower that your half-track just dropped off; (2) your flamethrower is good against troops and tanks – 7 dice at short range vs. 4 for the Panzerfaust.  Again, how many troops are you killing with 4 dice?  (3) instant kill on three 6’s is damn powerful, I don’t care how “rare” it supposedly is.  We’re talking tanks, troops, HEROS, anybody.  And for only 5 bucks?  Come on, the Panzerfaust isn’t anywhere close to being that powerful.  You may only have a 5% chance or whatever of rolling three 6s, but the Panzerfaust has a ZERO PERCENT CHANCE of killing anything instantly with no chance to roll a defense.  And because of the CHANCE the Flamethrower can fry you instantly, it changes how you play the game as the Axis.  You have to take that power into account.  So there’s no way a flamer should cost the same as a lousy Panzerfaust.  You’ll never convice me of that one.  A panzerfaust is basically a slightly more powerful bazooka, nothing more. :-P

AA gun shots are directed fire (i.e., shoots at EACH air unit).  Therefore, you roll a specific die for each plane.  So, in your example, if the die rolled for the bomber is a “1”, the bomber dies.  If the other die instead is a “1”, then the fighter dies.  Pretty straightforward.

I hit enter too soon – I said PANZERGRENADIER, not Panzerfaust!!! (and the Panzerfaust costs 7 points, not 5).

@mateooo:

but panzerfausts are WAY better than flamers, with a medium range vehicle attack, close ASSAULT ELEVEN against vehicles, and they cost 5 too.

flamers can do few things well, and that is kill soldiers and halftracks at very close range, and maybe damage a light tank. Flamers cost 5 and how many soldiers are worth more than 5? you basically have to sacrifice that flamer to get close enough to actually kill anything, and most times you are just killing a soldier.

Ild rather lose a soldier or 2 to a flamer, then a medium or heavy tank to a panzerfaust.

Okay, Mr. Medical School Graduate – do they teach you to READ in medical school?  I said PANZERGRENADIER