Posts made by WILD BILL

@Young:

@ABWorsham:

The German Battleship is like a freshly cut vase of flowers; wonderful to look at but bound to die.

Ya, and the argument for buying a new one on G2 has its fair share of critics.

Yea, but wouldn’t you be a little pissed if you brought home a nice bouquet, your wife looked at them and said “those are nice” and tossed them right away lol. The thing is I like to keep it around for as long as I can, maybe add other flowers to the arrangement making the allies look at how petty it is.

I don’t think I’ve ever replaced a sunk German BB on G2. I have lost the German BB G1, sometimes by design, or sometimes by a strafe that backfired.  I don’t think I would replace that 20 IPC unit though regardless. With that said I often buy a carrier G1 (or later) to accompany or replace the BB, and it is helpful even if I loose the BB in the first turn. A naval presence/carrier up there effects the game by protecting my transports, extending the reach of a couple ftrs, and applies some threat to the allied fleet (makes them spend more on surface war ships, less on tpts/men). If it delays them from making landings for just one round it’s worth it IMO.

Sorry for the screw-up re posted.

Just saw this new game “War Room” over at Larry’s site. Probably should have posted it somewhere else, maybe announcements, but thought it would reach more people here. Looks like it will need it’s own heading, so the moderator can move it later.

Link to Larry’s site:
http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=46

Yea, way off topic (sorry YG)……

A J1 3 tpt, or 2 tpt and ic are both pretty standard J1 buys IMO (even before bal mod). I have just recently discovered bal mod too, but it seems that you need a couple factories in Asia more so just to keep the flow of units going, otherwise you are forced to play wack-a-mole (setting the frame work J1 w/the first ic seems right to me). Doesn’t a J1 ic buy free up your tpts to take stuff, rather then ferrying units to Asia. I have been buying an inf, mech and tank for a couple Asian ic’s so i have a flow of inf going all the way to the Russian border for the occupation, so I have inf at the front w/faster units.

I like the fact that you need to keep those inner Chinese territories occupied to keep the little green men from popping up. I think a partisans rule for occupied Europe/Russia could also be interesting, but a very daunting task for the Euro axis. Could give Italy a new role, instead of can-opener they could just follow the Germans being the occupation power (freeing up German inf for the front).

@simon33:

Following from wild bill, a 75% battle plus an 80% one are 60% to win both. Too tight with the consequences.

Exactly, I wouldn’t do it either. Was just pointing out what I thought were the best odds w/o using the German BB G1 and hitting both sz’s. Like taamvan said it leaves too much to chance in the early rounds. Much more risk to the Luftwaffe then I would like for sure. With that said I don’t like to sacrifice the German BB either, that’s why often times I just strafe sz111 (not always though).

@taamvan:

If you don’t kill most or all of those UK ships, it is like a whole free turn (or turn and a half) of free positioning/advantage for them if they do a naval build because starting from scratch is way harder than building from a nucleus of survivors.

I agree 100%, that is why I generally over load sz110 to kill those ships quickly, and strafe 111 using the German BB so I have a chance to take out the DD and Cruiser in sz111, leaving just the damaged BB, then retreat back to sz112. Doing this I would look to take out the limped UK BB on G2. I will say though that if there is a J1 attack that the allies have a good chance of saving the UK damaged BB by moving it to Iceland. W/US able to move in the Atlantic they can put a rainbow fleet and air force up there to make it really costly for the Germans to hit it (even if they built a carrier G1).

YG back to the original topic……If you use the German BB in either sz110 or sz111 in a fight to the finish you would most likely not have the “Bismark” on G2. You would either be using it to soak 2 hits on G1 (sink it), or leave it exposed for an easy UK1 kill (you have no air cover).

I think that if you choose to leave the “Bismark” out of the G1 battles and attack both 110 and 111 you are inviting the UK to scramble both battles. This is a dicey situation IMO, with a huge risk/reward factor. You are exposing the Luftwaffe to the possibility of heavy losses against a scramble, but also get the chance to take out most of the RAF. This first battle could determine the game IMO.

Things to consider if you intend to hit and destroy all UK ships in both sz110 and 111 (w/o using the German BB). You have 4 subs that can hit (2 subs each battle because of placement and range), and 8 planes at you disposal. You will want to keep your firts and tacs paired for maximum attack power (in the first round anyway).

So say you go into sz110 with 2 ss, 2 ftrs, 2 tacs, 2 bmrs you have an 75% chance of winning the battle if they scramble their 3 ftrs (they would have 2 cruisers, 1 bb, 3 ftrs). This isn’t too good, because if you win the battle on average you would have 3 units survive (out of the 8’).

This would leave the sz111 battle with 2 ss, 2 ftrs, 2 tacs vs 1dd, 1 cruiser, 1 bb, 1 ftr (scrambled). You would have an 80% chance of winning, but again on average it leaves you with only 3 units surviving out of 6.

Now you could make the sz110 battle a little stronger swapping some planes around, but that makes sz111 weaker (and would probably expose you bmrs more). So if you do make these attacks I think there is a very good chance that you pull out before the job is done in one of the battles, which would leave the Brits with a damaged BB anyway. So in light of that wouldn’t it make more sense to hit sz 110 hard (so they don’t scramble), and strafe sz111 w/Bismark. Would be less risk to the Luftwaffe IMO. Maybe your intention is to take out the RAF, and you set up some dicey battles to entice the UK to scramble?

YG, generally you put things like this out there because you are trying to develop some sort of strategy, so what gives…

I did have another thought about using the German BB in the sz 110 attack, and building an AB for Holland G1 so you could scramble when the UK attacks your damaged BB UK1, but that is an expense way to try to hold on to it. However if they do attack it, the Italians will probably be pretty happy lol.

@Young:

@WILD:

I agree w/Shadow that using the Bismark in a hit and run on sz111 seems to be the most effective if you intend on keeping it around. For this reason I went with 80% in the poll because there is a chance that you roll better then expected in sz111 and kill the Brit fleet in one round (maybe they didn’t scramble). So your damaged BB can’t retreat to the air cover of sz112 and gets caught for an easy kill UK1. Even if that happens though you probably take a DD or plane down with you. I also like to add a carrier to sz112 G1 to give the English something to think about, and to cause the allies to over build in the Atlantic.

I don’t quite understand everything about this… if the UK doesn’t scramble into 111, there is literally no chance of retreating the German battleship without leaving at least a damaged UK battleship… Right?

I realize now that this hit and run w/Bismark on sz111 is a bit off topic. After re-reading you were looking for a way to kill off the UK ships in both sz110 and 111 w/o using the German BB so you would have it G2.

With that said, I think it is fitting to mention a hit and run on sz111 using the Bismark. The goal that Shadow brought up and I agreed with is to use the high power Bismark and its ability to soak a hit by doing a one round attack on sz111, and retreating back to sz112. Yes you are looking to leave the Brits with a damaged BB in sz111. The thought is you can kill the damaged Brit BB on G2 because the UK doesn’t have a naval base for sz111, meaning they can’t repair the BB on their turn, and they can’t run too far (only 2 spaces).

So in a best case scenario you are looking for 3 hits (4 if they scramble) in a 1 round battle. Depending on the dice sometimes they get to keep more then the damaged BB, and sometimes you kill them in the one round battle and trap the Bismark in sz111 (which sucks).

If things go according to plan they really only have a couple options. To use the damaged BB to attack you in sz112 (depends on if you built any ships). Or to run by moving to sz109 or sz123 (Iceland) where they could bring in other ships available and get air cover. Depending on your G1 builds (carrier?) you could hit the Iceland sz on G2 with carrier planes, bmrs and any subs/ships that you have. Sz109 can be hit with your entire air force.

Like I said it is a bit off the original topic, but it does allow you to hit both sz’s using the Bismark with a good chance of saving it. The down side is that the Brits will probably be keeping 1 BB alive but you have a chance to kill it G2.

I agree w/Shadow that using the Bismark in a hit and run on sz111 seems to be the most effective if you intend on keeping it around. For this reason I went with 80% in the poll because there is a chance that you roll better then expected in sz111 and kill the Brit fleet in one round (maybe they didn’t scramble). So your damaged BB can’t retreat to the air cover of sz112 and gets caught for an easy kill UK1. Even if that happens though you probably take a DD or plane down with you. I also like to add a carrier to sz112 G1 to give the English something to think about, and to cause the allies to over build in the Atlantic.

Yep, I even suggested a carrier buy in my above post (#1). Would either be built in S Africa or Egypt (if you built an IC).

As pointed out UK landings in the Balkans won’t flip the income tracker very much, but could be a good diversion of axis resources. Sounds like the UK is probably doing this Greece mission on its own, so a couple things would need to happen for it to be effective (as short lived as it might be).

1. Italian navy sunk (probably UK1), so they can’t use it to quickly respond by hitting your fleet, or transport units over to crush your landing party. Being you probably lost your UK Med fleet in the early rounds, you might consider adding a new carrier to your make shift fleet so the Luftwaffe bleeds if they hit you a second time.

2. You should probably clear out N Africa so Italy can’t grow its income by pushing into the French territories (depends on what the US is doing, maybe you want that so USA retakes them and gets the otherwise lost French income). Also because you are transporting most of you Egyptian’s to Greece you don’t want the Italians to get any ideas. I know you can easily squash any Italian threat because they can’t get more ground units over w/o navy, but it could distract your reinforcements to Greece. On a side note often times I see the Italians use there remaining transport to get some of those N African units back to Europe where they would be more useful after a Taronto attack.

3. Catch the axis out of position (no mobile ground units in range of Greece), which is possible IMO. You don’t want them to push you back into the sea the same turn you land. Being this could be a solo mission you will need to hold Greece to bring in reinforcements on your next turn. It would be a good Idea to get an AA gun in there too. You can bring in reinforcements from Egypt each turn if you station your fleet in sz99 (tpts move back-in forth), but then you aren’t convoying Italy so you should also probably try to get some subs into sz97 as well. If you station your fleet in sz97 for convoy, then you would need to either split up your trts and only get 1/2 the units in every turn, bring in units every other turn, or have a flow of units moving to Toburk/Syria to shuttle them across in one turn (the later would require some advanced planning).

What is the goal once you take Greece?

Do you want to build an IC to mobilize more ground units or was it strictly a diversionary tactic? I guess this decision might rest on how the axis respond, and it’s unlikely that they just ignore it (although they may not be able to immediately respond). So they will either redirect units already built (which is good because they were meant for Moscow), or possibly build some mobile units which would take a couple turns to get to the Balkans.

So yes I think an allied landing in Greece can make things interesting in the right situation. Besides being a diversion of axis resources UK ftrs can fly directly from Greece to Moscow in one turn. So if it gets to hot you have a several options IMO. Stay there and force them to hit you chewing up valuable mobile axis units (and maybe some air) that even if they don’t die are now 3 turns from Moscow. Could attack axis units that are in range just to remove them from play. Could also do a defensive retreat having some units jump back on your tpts to cause havoc somewhere else (like wack a mole lol), while the others either attack killing axis ground units that are in range, or forcing them to come down to finish you off as your ftrs fly to Moscow.

One other thing that was kinda touched on is if Greece is a safe place to transport over some ground units for 1 turn, then it would be a great place to use as a staging point to attack Turkey as part of a neutral crush. Say you only have 3 UK transports in the eastern Med, you can drop 6 units on Greece from sz99 (if axis don’t have ground units in range to kill them). Then next turn those 6 units walk into Turkey (along w/any units in Syria or Iraq), and the 3 transports are used to ferry in 6 more units from Egypt/TJ for 12+ ground units and air power to quick take out Turkey. It’s similar to having the USA stage ground units on Gibraltar, and next turn walk them into Spain as the US transports head home to pick up units to return the next turn. Doing both of these at the same time would be pretty cool.

OK so to keep rounds around an hour you would need something like major powers to come in at around 8 min’s each, and minor powers at about 4 min’s….give or take, so I chose 6 min in the poll as an average per power.

Total 55 min’s

Axis   –    20 min (plus 3 min grace time)

Germany - 8 min
Japan  –   8 min
Italy –      4 min

Allies  — 35 min (plus 5 min grace time)

Russia –  8 min
USA   –   10 min
UK E —   8 min
UK P   –  4 min
Anz   –   4 min
France – 1 min

So the above scale would be idea, but that is kinda a pipe dream IMO.

Maybe keep it democratic like in Congress (because that is working so well LOL). Trying to keep rounds at around an hour, so get two timers. Axis clock gets 20 min’s, and allies get 35 min’s (or what ever you decide). For the Axis alot Germany 8 min, Japan 8 min, and Italy 4 min (20 min total). Say Germany takes its turn and only uses 6 min, so it can defer its unused min’s back to the pool for another team member etc… Allies would be similar but get 35 min’s because they have more powers. You start a new clock every round, so you can’t save time from round to round.

So just to go through it for the axis you would start their clock once Germany’s turn begins, and end it as they place their units. 8 min’s to do it all (Purchase, Combat Move, Combat, and NCM), then timer is stopped leaving the balance of time to the other members of the axis side etc…of course you could allow the Germans to set-up their battles on the first turn then start the clock (giving the Japs a little more time). Also if you do your purchases beforehand then you have more time for your moves etc…

Not sure what kind of penalty should be imposed if one side goes over. Maybe each side gets a 1 min grace time per powers on their side (axis get 3 min grace, and allies get 5 min’s grace). If they go beyond that the power/player that relly blew it has to pay 1 IPC per min?.

You could also allow for a 5 min strategy discussion per side each round that doesn’t count against your clock.

@simon33:

You can get the four eastern Soviet territories but if the Soviets still stack Yakut they take a lot to dislodge.

If the Russians stack Yak for a couple turns to slow down the Japs, then the far east troops can’t def Moscow anytime soon. That plays right into the German hands, doesn’t it. Eventually the Japs can take down the Far East troops, or by pass it and crack through China/Mongolia to press the back side of Russia by say turn 5 or so.

I refurbished an old pool table into a G40 Axis & Allies gaming table. I cut the center out of a 3/4" sheet of plywood (a couple inches larger then the game map) to place on the pool table rail, and framed it all in. The game map is now inset on the pool table surface. This gives me about a 6 inches raised surface along the sides for unit boxes and accessories, and 12 inches on the ends to roll dice on top of the rail. Being the game map is inset, I can put a board on the top and use the table for other stuff w/o disturbing the game underneath.

If you do G1 & J1, you might also consider hitting Pearl J1 to stall the USA. There has been a lot of discussion about this controversial move, but removing both the Phil & Hawaiian ships will leave the US fewer assets to work with. You would hit the Hawaiian fleet w/sub, couple DD’s and 4 air units, then bring your capital ships and some support ships to Wake to pick up air (maybe taking Wake too). Must have at least 1 DD survive the battle in sz26 so it blocks the US San Fran fleet from hitting you. By sinking the US Haw fleet they won’t be able to send the bulk of the Pac ships through the canal to Euro side. They will need to build more warships which means fewer tpts. It forces the US into a weaker position, and they have some tough choices to make.

You will be able to hit all the other J1 stuff that normally get hit like the Brit BB, Phil island (using 3rd carrier), Kwangtung etc…, but it will put your fleet out of position. On J2 you then retreat to Caroline’s and you’re back on track. You then use the Phil tpts to take Malaya J2, and money islands on J3 w/tpts built J1 etc… You’ll be a little thin in Asia, but an IC or two can fix that pretty quickly to start pressuring India.

Just my 2 cents WB

Couple games I’ve played the AI on trip A I’ve loaded up the French inf from London and Egypt onto UK/US transports and brought them to Europe so they could liberate Paris.

I like to buy some fast movers for India for aggressive acts of opportunity. My typical first buy for UK Pac (17 IPCs) is 2 mech, 1 tank, and 1 inf. You are still buying to def India, but this allows me the chance to hit Yunnan UK2 if it feels right (or head to Russia). As discussed grinding up Japanese ground units in Asia is #1 priority. Japan will normally have some ground units on Kwangsi with tpts available, but they want use those units to load tpts to take the money islands on the next turn, not worry about Yunnan.

I might use my Pac tpt to take Java with a couple inf forcing Japan to use more resources to invade (as discussed). This will most likely result in losing that tpt in a J2 attack though, so in order to keep my tpt safe it very well may just activate Persia, or hit the Italians in Africa. I tend to pull my UK Pac ships toward Africa to spare/consolidate my UK resources. They may end up as part of a Med or Middle East navy, and possibly return later with some friends. I just don’t think the UK Pac navy can afford to go toe to toe w/Japan in the first few turns. Even if you set up a good defensive fleet and entice the Japanese to hit you, unless you have a counter attack to finish off his capital ships it would be fruitless IMO. Possibly later if the Japanese split their resources it could be effective.

Buying mobile units for UK Pac and salvaging whatever naval assets I can also fits well with a UK Persian IC too. The more mobile the the UK is in that region the better IMO, they may end up covering Russia’s southern flank.

eames57, I’ve been dappling with the AI on TripA for about the last month or so as well playing either hard or fast (fast seems a tiny bit better IMO). Really just trying to get up to speed playing on line before I jump into the deep end. I’m not having any trouble winning (pretty easy), but I do find myself missing little things that would make a major difference in a game with real players, and that is what I need to remedy. Its really just getting familiar with scrolling around seeing only parts of the map, instead of having the big picture laying in front of me.

You’re right in your assessment that the AI’s plays like zombies lol, and the AI playing the US seems to be the worse. The AI US typically ignores the Pac side allowing my Japanese to become the “Orange Godzilla”. They build a pretty nice Euro force, only to hang out in South America sz’s or invade Africa south of the Sahara? When playing the Axis the AI Germans moves into Russia but, switch gears way too early to build up the Atlantic wall leaving the Eastern front lacking punch and are easily repelled. Too me it seems like the AI is programed to build very little high end units and defaults to mostly inf builds, which is pretty boring.

A couple games I’ve played both sides just to make a game of it. Yea you kinda know what your other self is planning, but at least it isn’t zombie-ish lol. I have introduced TripA to a friend, and we are playing against each other on the same computer. This is pretty cool because we get together about once a week to play full around, and don’t have to leave a game set up at my house for long periods of time or scrap it altogether. I will say the one drawback is that I miss rolling dice. When we play FTF the dice kinda become their own entity, and it is hard to trash talk when using a dice server lol.

Your idea sounds pretty cool though playing against the zombie hoards

GHG, I love to play UK, it is by far my favorite power to play too. I like the challenge of playing a power that is all over the map, and has many strengths and weaknesses. I like to gather/build my resources, and make a difference. The Mid East is a great place to focus your energy on because as you said you can interconnect Egypt, S Afr, Persia/Iraq, India and S Russia rather easily. You can get ftrs to Calcutta or Moscow when the time comes, and an Expeditionary force up through Caucasus to keep the axis away from the oil NOs.

With that said, I agree with the others and I don’t see your aggressive Russian strat working in most the FTF games I play in (saw your Russian U-tube video). First off I generally don’t sacrifice  the one Russian inf pickets at every territory on the front unless we are talking about one of my minor ICs, and they can somehow reinforce it (maybe through the Baltic Sea). I want the Germans to blitz through and expose their tanks to counter attack (which they won’t do). I do like to buy some air and art w/Russia as you do for attacks of opportunity, but you really rarely get to do a major hit and run unless certain conditions are met. Say the Germans try a 2-3 prong attack at the front leaving themselves too thin and exposed? Maybe they have no navy in the Baltic to amphib/reinforce, and/or no Italian can openers leaving them w/o air cover at the front then yea you start liking your chops as Russia. This BTW was the perfect storm displayed in your Russian video that allowed you to counter attack the two German held territories and squash the German advance the turn after Barbarossa started (plus you got pretty friendly Russian dice lol).

Most games I see the Italians open up doors for the Germans who then super stack E Poland, and drive one territory at a time towards Moscow taking the lands as the Russians evacuate. Why I buy some Russian air and art is so if the Germans split their forces or splinter off to take the oil territories I might be able to do a hit and run, or trade my former minor ICs keeping them from building there for a turn or two. Of course a strong UK presence in the Mid East can save the day, so I do like that part of your plan.

In your overall allied strat you have the US playing mostly defense in the Pac, and making landings on the Euro side. Have you ever had the Japanese by-pass India and punch into Persia? Our Japanese seem to wander over to the Mid East/Africa if left unchecked lol.

Going back to Italian can opening, I like to buy a mech or two It1 and send a tank with them w/bmr to open up some doors for the Germans. The Italians can take territories and have the Germans move in with land and air to stand next to the Russian stack (no Russian hit and run). Having the Italians take out Russian pickets can possibly let German units get to the Ukraine IC or oil territories quicker. Another form of Italian can opening I do is taking out the Russian cruiser blocker in the Baltic w/It air so the Germans can include an amp on Leningrad the turn they attack Russia. Having a small Italian force at the front lines can also head off a splintered UK force trying to come up from the south. If the Japanese are at Russia’s back door, or have managed to push the UK from the Middle East (USA going heavy Europe), then the Italians may be able to break into the Oil territories for income, leaving the Germans intact to push into Moscow. It seems like a waste for the Japanese to get all the oil territories when the Ger/Ital get a bonus, but having the Japanese get Caucasus works for the Euro axis. Also having the Japanese invading the Far East Pac territories to drain Russian income is a must IMO. Invade no later the J2, and don’t fear the Mongolians just have some ground units in place to to chase most of them down w/air power.

On a side note I generally build some combo of ships/tpt/bmrs G1/G2, or save most income G1 to keep the UK honest. By the end of G2 I’ll have at least 3 tpts, 4 bmrs along with some support ships to again make the UK pay attention (even when my intention is to use navy to drop units in Russia). I just don’t like to give the UK the freedom to do what she wants. I have been using SBR more on London/Moscow to force the allies to pay extra for their units. In some games you can force the Russians to build every other turn, but the RAF can make that difficult in both capitals though. I also like to add art to the early German buys to give the front lines a little more bite. Most allied opponents will get some air to Moscow, so the German stack will most likely get stalled allowing art built G2 to catch up as you use the Russian ICs to add more units.

Maybe you’re just waiting for an earth quake so you get that beach front property