basic game results

[m7574]

So we've played this thing maybe 10 times now.  We've had the last 4-5 games come down to the last two turns.  Very exciting!   Holding the last 10 VP is awfully difficult for the Axis, no matter how well the game has gone for Germany.  The Allies just need to hold on and not get clobbered too badly in 1940-1942.  The most popular strategy in Europe of late has been to all but ignore Africa while building a massive Barbarossa army to siege Moscow and move south in order to activate Turkey by capturing the Caucusas.  Russia is pushed to the brink, holding at or just in front of the Urals and behind the Volga.  German airpower is immense!  Russia can not hope to go on the offensive, or even hold her ground, until the luftwaffe is redeployed to the west.   I have found it very difficult to play Russia well. 

[John D.]

Well that is great  news - going to the last 2 turns  - I love nail biters. It sounds like you have some great strategies worked out on both sides - so good playing to make it this far consistently!

[m7574]

Our games are real chess matches.  we both play it pretty safe and don't take big risks.  Objectives are usually withdrawn from rather than fought for once an overwhelming force is at the gates.  -at least where large armies are concerned.  We play with limited airbase capacities and give Japan a factory on the "2" box to start the game. 

[Mark]

So - the Germans push the Russians all the way back to the Urals and still the Allies are able to come back and win?  I think in most of our games, if the Russians are pushed back that far and if Turkey gets triggered for the Axis it is about over for the Allies. . . how does the North Atlantic, Western Europe and the Med typically play out in your games?

[m7574]

Once Germany turns its luftwaffe back to the west Russia gains ground back quickly.  Russia withdraws to the Urals often times without a fight, preserving her army for the fight later.  Yes, Turkey is usually triggered.  The Istanbul objective becomes a forted down stronghold until the end.

Western Allies have obviously taken Africa and forced Italy to submit.  They usually land in France a little early, as soon as air superiority is gained.  Germans have elected to turn the entire luftwaffe against the Western allies in order to delay said landings as long as possible.  This spares the russian factories and keeps the red army pumping out tanks, which they will need to move fast enough to race to Poland, Berlin and the Balkan objectives.

Keep in mind if Germany is making this hard of a push deep into russia, very little can be spent on other fronts, so the allies are not troubled.

[m7574]

I have told my opponent that his flaw in defending the Reich has been his reliance on Axis and Allies tactics.  He holds objectives with overwhelming numbers or pulls out.  I told him if he makes them a attainable yet expensive it makes the allies job much more precarious.   We'll see if he learns his lesson this time!

Scott has mastered the art of the blitzkrieg.  He has had trouble defending the collapse of the Reich.  He was one of the best ever in Axis and Allies.  Its only a matter of time until he masters this too.

The last game we played the Axis should have won.  But a push to hold enough objectives in spring '45 wound up being a dissaster.  60 german armor units wound up cut off from supply in Paris as bold allied counter offensives captured the needed VP's to stay in the game while moving on Berlin. 

winning in spring 1945 is much more attractive than a pyhric victory of 10VP's on the final turn.  He wanted a decisive victory!  lol

[Citadel]

60 armor?

OMG

[m7574]

Our games are more of a chess match.  As soon as one side has the upper hand, the other side withdraws and avoids an engagement, fearful of decisive dice.  Until 1945, anyway.   So 60armor in late 1944 was the result.

[m7574]

Axis are now doing much better in our games.  A full throttle Barbarossa can be devastating.  We have been playing with a factory in japan's "2" box at game start.   Pulls a lot of allied attention to the Pacific.  We really like the extra economic punch it gives Japan.  If the Axis are determined to have the advantage I'd prefer to add a little help to the Allies in some way rather than remove the jap factory.

[Yoper]

I am glad that you guys got past your earlier troubles and now see how much fun this game can be.

[m7574]

The pendulum has swung significantly.  We are seeing nearly certain victory for the Axis in 1943 now.  If Germany purchases all its fts, Mech inf and armor every turn, as well as the paratrooper, Russia collapses to the Urals every time.  30arm 30mech inf and 25 aircraft in the wide open eastern front is unstoppable.   

[m7574]

One strategy i have not tried is to NOT try and slow down the whermacht.  Concede Moscow in the Fall of '41 and try to stack stalingrad.  Fort down there and behind the river.  Set my defense behind the Volga immediately.  That seems like it makes things too easy for the germans though.

The problem I am having on the eastern Front is that the mechanized whermacht can encircle my army to easily.  I have to hold my ground in two territories.  The germans can hammer my army when its split in two.  not to mention the fact that any territory that is not defended by a pile of AA guns can be straeffed by 25-30 aircraft.  Can't afford to lose 6-7 infantry to one german inf every german turn.  Having 5 forts there makes it a wash, so my thought is that by forting down early in rear positions I could neutralize the straeffing issue.

One would think that if germany is putting this much effort into the eastern front that they would be vulnerable in other areas.  But when the luftwaffe can get anywhere in one turn but the RAF needs two turns or more, its not the case.  We play with airbase rules, btw.  The airbase rules make it so much more difficult to weed the Italians out of Africa.  And impossible to eliminate their fleet. :/

[John D.]

What's happening on the West - the Allies should be aggressive with everything focused vs Russia...

[m7574]

This is all happeneing before the USA has mobilized.  1941 and early 1942.  UK is busy trying to hold as many objectives as they can.  They can execute a couple nuicance raids in Western Europe, but that is about it.  If every single RAF fighter ever built is kept in the British Isles, you could try and land and hold, but without the USA being ready you'd get pushed off quickly.  Risk losing ground in other front and be unable to hold objectives necessary to stay in the game.  Its not like you are going to take Paris.  Russia just crumbles too fast.

[John D.]

Hard to judge without seeing things - sometimes if France is weakly held - Allies land just to draw forces away and buy time...

Many times - after the Axis reaction - we just pick up and leave...