Posts made by zanetheinsane

We have plenty of chips from HBG, so we use the same chips you would normally use under your units: grey = 1, green = 3, red = 5, etc. (we also have blue = 10). On big rounds, like Germany v Russia showdown or Japan v American navy you just toss the appropriate number of chips into a pile on the table somewhere as you rack up hits. At the end of the round just count them up.

We have orange and purple chips specifically for facility damage, makes the board look awesome and colorful.

They were having a sale on these, $2.50 for 50 and they’re the exact same shape and size as the Global 2nd Edition chips.

For me the silliest part about Cruisers is you shouldn’t even buy them for bombardment. If you aren’t strapped for unit cap, just buy a transport and an artillery for less than a single cruiser. Now you are rolling an extra die on the ground battle every round (that the unit lives) and not just the first round.

With a 3 plane scramble on Southern Italy (Germany flies one down), attacking Italy’s navy becomes somewhat trickier. If you send the house, which would include the fighters from Gibraltar and Malta and the bomber from London, you can still get upwards of 80% odds and you may have 2-3 units remaining on average, which means your planes usually which are going to get amphibious assaulted right after they land on Malta.

If you pull back just one plane to send one plane after the destroyer/transport outside of Malta, your odds quickly drop to what amount to a 50/50 against Italy on who has the last unit left. This still leaves Italy with probably no planes and just the Cruiser/Destroyer/Transport.

Other options: send the Gibraltar fighter to London for scramble defense against Germany or just basic offense and use the bomber alone to go for the destroyer outside Malta. Risky but good payoff. The problem with only sending two planes to SZ97 is that with a 3-plane scramble your odds plummet to around 14-15% and even if you win the boatsmash it is very likely Italy will have all of their planes still.

At the start of the game you make 3x the money that Italy makes. If your London navy survives you can send some or all of it to clean up what it left of the Italian navy, along with any navy you build out of South Africa, which is only one turn from being within striking distance.

If Germany doesn’t land that plane in Southern Italy you almost have to take that boatsmash. With just a 2-plane scramble you can send just 2 planes for the 50/50 shot, which means leaving Italy with only 1 transport. Italy with only 1 transport is a tough climb back. If you sent “everything” to SZ97 with a two-plane scramble you would have about 95-97% odds but out of your 3 boats and 4 planes you would still likely lose 3 units.

So the key isn’t saving your UK boats, it’s killing Italian transports and just trusting in the fact that you make so much more money than Italy that they’ll never be able to get off the ground. That means less forces in Africa and almost no chance of Italy taking Egypt.

Sometimes it’s simply safer to just pull back your Navy through through Egypt where Italy can’t get it and simply outbuild their navy while protecting Egypt. Come back with a bigger navy before Italy can start making 20-25 IPC a turn.

Scenario: There are ships in a sea zone belonging to a nation, for example US boats in SZ 112. The UK performs an amphibious assault on Denmark from SZ112 with only transports.

If Germany scrambles fighters do these fighters simple blow up the transports? The transports are technically attacking and multinational forces cannot attack together, therefore the US ships could not participate in the fight.

@DaddyK:

Is there something that can be done with a US bomber build that would help London or sink his invasion fleet after the fact?

The only thing you could really do (preventative) with the US is purchase 4 bombers on US1, and then if a J2 declaration brings US into the war you could land 5 bombers on London on US2. But that hinges on a J2 or early DOW. If Japan does J1 DOW then you are really set to go as US.

After-the-fact you could really only hit a German fleet in 111 with bombers and only if you had them stationed in Iceland. You would do Iceland->123->119->111->125->126->127-> Land in Russia. Once London has fallen Russia will be in the war so they will be a valid landing point. The only other real landing points will be Normandy or Southern France and those aren’t very attractive options.

If UK or Scotland aren’t taken yet, you can fly bombers from EUS and hit fleets in various places around the UK and still land. Ff the US were in the war, a G2 landing party in scotland would not be safe since American bombers can hit Scotland and land in the UK. You would only be able to send 5-6 bombers though against infantry. You would probably win but it would be ugly. Sadly the German fleet in 111 would be safe because Scotland is the only landing zone for the US if you bomb there… unless as US you buy an Airbase for Greenland and station your bombers there, but the earliest you could hit would be US3.

If an allied player attempts to amphibious assault from a sea zone that can activate kamikaze and the assaulting player only sends transports (no surface warships), is the literal reading of the rulebook that you can never attack non-surface warships correct?

I.E., you cannot kamikaze in this situation because a kamikaze attack cannot target transports.

I understand the balance of this rule is so that you cannot pick off transports out of a huge attack force, but should that hold for lone transports? Lone transports already can’t ignore submarines without a surface warship and they also activate scrambles, it seems weird that this would be the only optional defense not to allow this.

If you’re going with the Japanese blitz before India and the US can really mobilize then you’ll want to set up shop with a minor industrial complex on Kwangtung or more riskily French Indo-China. This allows you to start cranking out infantry to protect China without having to keep heading back to Japan. This moves your theatre of operation much closer to Southeast Asia where you can protect the DEI or prepare for a possible strike against Australia or India.

I am very grateful for this list. I doubt I’ll ever try to sell it, but if I one day decide to part with my copy I’ll need this.

I make absolutely no attempt to keep the US and UK Europe and Pacific pieces separate because it’s just such a ridiculous headache while you’re playing, so we just throw them in one of the boxes.

@wittmann:

…any power could build a Major on a territory worth 3IPCs. We all found this rule too much and Larry amended it.

Also known as the “US major IC in Norway / S. France” rule change. Other than forcing the US to go Pacific, there was very little you could do to stop the US from doing this by Turn 6/7, which was sort of a “doom clock” for the Axis if it happened.

When an Anti-Air gun is already loaded on a transport with an infantry unit and that transport takes places in an amphibious assault, what happens with the AA? Is it stuck on the transport until you can unload it next turn?

My interpretation was that it can’t unload because it can’t take place in the combat move and you can’t unload the transport during the non-combat move because it unloaded during the assault. Is this correct? Or can you unload units during the non-combat move even after an amphibious assault?

Most people on the forums will be using military designations for ships. Sometimes you will see some posters use different ones for the same ship, but you can find a lot of ones listed here: http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/index_ships_list.htm

AP or TT is common for Transports
CV for Carriers
BB for Battleship
CA for Cruiser
SS for Submarine
DD for Destroyer

Did I miss any?

Also you’ll see tanks called “armor”.

Instead of thinking of it as the planes “moving with” the carrier, remember that the planes take off from the carriers into the air at the start of the combat move. Then the planes and the carrier actually move independently of one another.

It just happens that usually that more often than not your planes are going to land on the carrier and they will move the same number of spaces.

Excellent heads up, thank you! Went ahead and got the new 7 Wonders expansion just to make it free shipping. Can’t beat that.  :-D

The general strategy of “1 inf blocking, retreating stack behind it threatening counterattack” is the basic building block of Russia’s defense against Germany.

The thing to keep in mind about 1940 Global is how ridiculously large the distance is from Germany to Russia. The closer Germany gets to Russia, the more dangerous the Russian counterattack becomes simply because Germany can’t replace lost units with any relative speed, even if they’re using transports to ferry troops to Leningrad.

Any chance to strike back with good enough odds to strip Germany of their infantry cover means by the time they get to Moscow they risk naked tanks and fighters against a large force of defending infantry. Having enough artillery within your counterattack forces will be key.

Just moving your forces back toward Moscow every turn and waiting for defeat will almost always get your capital sacked.

Yeah, I loved the intent behind the NOs but in practice it just means US does KJF so they can protect their production.

If America even helps Europe anymore it’s either sending bombers to UK or helping Russia from the Japan side.

@wittmann:

US not having a big At War bonus is not right in my opinion.

If it’s like Alpha 3.9 the US gets the same amount of “bonus” IPCs, just from National Objectives. I think the balance intent was to give US some actual incentive to do “American things” like protect Hawaii or the Philippines.

Before the Axis were able to win on any map you could theoretically just ignore the entire Pacific map with America with relatively no consequences and still receive your bonus production. In this one they still want to give you the money, you just have to work for it.

Hell, in OOB you could pull all of your USP navy to the USE board and screw Hawaii and the Pacific islands and just build up and crush Italy. Keeping the US on the Pacific board (when not doing KJF) has always been a tricky balance with the rules.

The main problem is one of logic. The UK or America is usually always in a position to take Normandy and Southern France. Being on the coast and farther away from Germany and Italy’s major factories, they are almost impossible to fortify to prevent America from taking it if they want it. Fortifying Normandy and S.France means no offensive (or a weak one) against Russia.

As the Allies, if you are in a position to take France and hold it, it means your assault force is enough to hold off West Germany and Italy, which means you should probably just take West Germany or Italy. Otherwise you’re liberating Paris and turning around and handing a fistful of IPC back over to the Axis.

As America, Normandy’s factory is supremely important because it allows you to produce naval units in Sea Zone 110. This allows you to directly protect the UK (if they are in a weak defensive state) or produce capital ships for bombardment against Germany if you need them. You can effectively take Germany completely out of the water. I have had my navy ready to take Italy in the Med and successfully stopped a German re-invasion of the UK by performing Operation Instant Navy in SZ110, allowing me to not have to split my naval forces to defend the UK.

As far as IPC gain is concerned, that’s a no-brainer. With the rules in regards to occupying friendly territories and gaining their IPC, you really only stand to lose IPC as the Allies. As I posited in the FAQ thread, I think you could execute an Axis strategy that involved taking France and not capturing Normandy and Southern France. In the long run, you lose out on 5 IPC a turn for the brief time before an Allied power almost inevitably invades those two countries, but you save the IPC from not suffering casualties taking those two countries.

And if you’re worried about those forces coming back to attack you, the forces you didn’t use attacking them are the same ones you’ll use defending. You can always throw 1-2 infantry at those two and strafe them with aircraft or have Italy help. Altogether those two countries only account for 2 infantry and 2 artillery. Since they’re French units they can’t jointly attack you alongside another nation. The worst they can do is suicide against you to try to soften you up for a UK or US offensive.

I think in the short run it looks like a bad strategy but in the long run you ultimately deny 5 IPC and 2 minor factories to the Americans (most likely). Those 4 troops that you’re possibly leaving in the territories more than make up for the 6 tanks that America will be pumping out every turn once they land. Since the Americans won’t have factories in Europe they’ll need to spend more on transports at 7 IPC apiece. Without having to spread forces occupying Normandy and Southern France (and possibly moving them back) you can instead concentrate on fortifying Holland or West Germany.

If I’m Axis in my next global game I’ll definitely try it out.

I always found that silly, because nobody ever liberates France. Even the NO for North America isn’t worth it, because if you have say Normandy, Southern France as America (which is very easy to do), you already have 5 IPCs and the minor factories.

Liberate France and you’re not really gaining any IPC, you lose those factories as America, and you give Germany or Italy a good chance at grabbing France’s IPCs with a recapture.

Not sure there’s really a good upside there because you can possibly also have the three French territories in N.Africa very easily for another 3 IPC. At that point you would just be losing IPC, even with the NO.

I do like the France Troop Bonus but 12 IPCs worth of troops really might not be a big enough incentive. Does anyone liberate France in their Global games?

I realize it’s silly to give up 5 IPC, but has anyone played as the Axis and captured France but ignored Normandy and Southern France? Because technically if you never captured them as the Axis then they would remain French, thus the Allies could never land there and “capture” the factories, giving them that foothold in Europe. You’re also denying the Allies that future 5 IPC. You may not be getting that 5 IPC for G2-4, but it’s offset somewhat by the cost of any units you would lose taking those two territories (which I realize isn’t a lot, but it does factor in).

You could either leave the French units or strafe them with aircraft and 1-2 infantry and retreat (risky because you could either take the territory accidentally or lose planes).

We actually had this come up in the FAQ recently. Even if that carrier has planes on it, it would be the same situation. But interestingly enough, if you scambled one fighter you would bring the sub into the fight and since planes can’t hit subs and carriers have no attack values, he would end up having to retreat or the sub would just keep rolling against his carrier with no repercussion until he sank it.

@EasyGoing:

Germany built a carrier in the Med to help protect the Italian transports, and later received Italian aircraft aboard. Now, the Soviets at the beginning of the R4 combat movement have the option to declare war on any or all Axis powers. They choose to DOW only on Germany. After that they move their aircraft to attack the sea zone with the German carrier in it, along with the Italian planes and any other naval units that happen to be there. Is it not that only the German navy fights? Italians are still not at war with the Soviets! Now, if the carrier is damaged and Soviets retreat (or are destroyed), what happens to the Italian air? I know it has been said repeatedly that only attacking foreign planes may be trapped inside a carrier, but how to resolve this situation?

Aircraft from another country are normally treated as cargo when they are on board another power’s aircraft carrier, but that is usually on the carrier owner’s turn. Defending carriers are another story:

Pacific Rulebook:

Air Defense: Whenever an undamaged carrier is attacked, its aircraft (even those belonging to friendly powers) are considered to be defending in the air and can be chosen as casualties rather than the carrier. However, aircraft on a carrier cannot be chosen as a casualty from a submarine hit, because submarines can attack only sea units

Air units based on a defending carrier must land on the same carrier if possible after the battle. If that carrier is destroyed or damaged in combat, they must try to land on a different friendly carrier in the same sea zone, move one space to a friendly carrier or territory, or be destroyed. This movement occurs during the Noncombat Movement phase, before the acting player makes any noncombat movements.

But since Italy is not at war with Russia in this scenario, you raise an interesting point.

The real question here is if attacking cargo is seen as a declaration of war or just an unfortunate loss. If the Sea Zone contained all Italian ships and a single German carrier, then it was a very clever plan to strafe the carrier with only a DOW against Germany.

Must you declare war on a power if you attack a ship that is carrying that power’s planes? Do the Italian fighters launch as normal but then not attack the Russian planes?

This applies to transports, but here is Krieg’s ruling on those:
@Krieghund:

Of course the Soviet units die - they are cargo.  Germany need not declare war on the USSR in order to attack UK ships.  The Soviets take their chances when they board a ship that’s in danger of being sunk by an enemy.

I’m still looking for more and digging up older threads.

EDIT: Rewrote some confusing and incorrect bits.