AAG40 FAQ

[Cmdr Jennifer]

uk has 2 extra units and 5 aa guns... it is a big deal.

Yes.  So how does that impact the risk vs reward now? 

And for that matter - may I be on record as saying - I don't see the necessity of this move.  England can be liberated later.  Is there really such fanaticism in the community that we're okay with Paris falling virtually without a fight, but we quell at the fall of London?  It could have happened in actual history.  If we were talking Moscow or Washington DC I'd be more inclined to go with the flow, but common, London was a shell.  Sure, it woulda cost the Germans a ton to take it - but then, it did in the game too! 

Oh well.  Pissing into the wind, as my father used to say. 


Anyway...I am not sure i like Alpha 3.9.  I need to play a few games of it first, but I'm inclined to toss it on the scrap heap of history with the amazingly bad OOB and Alpha 2 (yes I feel Alpha 2 was really bad - better than OOB, but not good like AAR, Classic or AA50!).  Course, maybe I'll grow to like it.  Stranger things have happened!

[Cow]

You can still take london, I don't know what you are complaining about. You just don't want it to be a real battle for some reason.

I do not understand why you are making such a big deal of this. You said so yourself axis always won in the older version of alpha 3, so why would you play a game if you know how it turns out? So many people just chucked 6 inf into UK at the start of every game. You're the only person who did not give allies a bid and you are the only person who is complaining about the axis in the updated version.

[techroll42]

No, the fleet move wasnt changed that long ago, I was still pretty darn active over there making sure Larry didnt sneak a change in on me.�  Maybe January the fleet changes moved.�  I've always liked the new AA Gun rules, it makes guns more valuable, less cost and more utilitarian.

The final changes were accepted early February.

http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7989&start=680

Okay.  I see it on his page too, musta missed it first time through, but yea, basically, only the fleet changed?  (Some uniforms, but that's it other than fleet?)

Fleet, +1 AA India, +some UK land

[Cmdr Jennifer]

Attacking London only had a 7 IPC swing in Germany's favor, after I weighed all the pro's and con's.  Now there are "2 extra ground units and 5 aa guns" if those units are just infantry, that swings the benefit to -13 (because they get 2 more hits and that means more fighter attacks on my people, means less hits for me, which means I lose higher IPC amounts.)

Even one more unit in there, just the extra AA Gun, would have made it closer to a zero sum game, and thus, not worth it.  I can get positive values from attacking Russia instead and focusing on Submarines/Fighters to keep England "honest."  


What I'm saying is that I feel it was an over reaction to London/Calcutta falling.  Either put another AA Gun in England OR put another Destroyer down by India.  But more ground units in England tips the scale so far it's not worth attacking London.  I'm sure you can still win, in theory if I aimed a pistol at my foot and pulled the trigger, there would be a 1% chance of missing.  I'd rather not test that theory, and since I have great planes for the destruction of my homeland, I can just use those instead - Larry NEVER buffs Russia without a HUGE push by the community, so my planes there are perfectly safe.

[Cow]

you mean 7 fodder units = 2 more hits only... wow you are nuts.

I still would have liked to seen russia with a bomber added in. sigh.

you just want to play a game where the axis take both uk and calcutta same round and just win or africa gets handed to you on a silver platter. Why not just sit down and say axis win and walk away. Can the allies win after that? sure but it is highly unlikely, axis won 70% of the games in the older version of A3, now it is more 50-55% axis win and you complain?

OOB and A2 sucked for a multitude of reasons already discussed on previous forums.

you are not making any sense. please play the game before offering criticism.
~
I don't play on this forum, because I got to type every move and check unit consistency... also bid rules are different (no 1 unit per territory limit which I dislike, yamamoto dislikes that in regards to aa50). However I recognize good players like yam and zhukov. Garg is entertaining and usually has sound strategies when he does go crazy. The main thing is, I only play live games, the fact that I am about to do napoleonic wars on this forum is so out of the norm for me (and I picked france, because they are usually ganged up on so that should be fun).

I do feel live games at home with friends had an equal impact as this forum. Global is more toward the avid Axis and allies fan than it is to a casual board game audience. Revised / v4 is more toward the casual gamer, it is a smaller map and faster game. AA50 is a middle. global is just too much for a casual group.

Point is lots of criticisms came from all directions. People wanted a more objective oriented game to draw action and people also wanted game balance. Capital battles should not be a walk in the park the opposite faction should be able to respond properly and find success.

If USA has to go full pacific to stop a Japan win there is no liberating london, nothing stops italy from africa, and russia can't hold out forever against germany... you may as well play something different. so the 7 fodder units actually made more realistic losses for germany and you can still take london on G4 no matter what the allies do (though russia is even crazier at this point if he bought aggressively).

Axis players have 2 gripes, one is italy / medit / africa and the other is not gaining an income advantage over the allies (if you do it is because you have the VCs to win the game and it is over anyway).

Allies players have a list of gripes, mostly europe related still... some calcutta gripes and some japan smacking the soviet far east territories up and going anti russia.

The italy issue, germany can just use air to clear things out for italy, also if you really love african play reserve southern france for germany or buy naval g1 and g2 and sail it in.  It is not hard.

allies can just respond in a manner they do not prefer. like if japan goes anti russia, you could just go KJF and as long as uk pac is making 20+ it can wall off egypt after russia goes or do split income and fly into russia two rounds earlier than you normally would.
~~~~
anyway axis does much better in low luck games axis do more attacks and does not have to compensate for luck. dropping men into europe is difficult because it either A) gets strafed B) has the exact number of united to defend the drop C) if you drop a mid size stack of say 10 guys and 16 air units with 4 inf and an art kills it all in one shot and 1 art is left.

japan also hits things at far less risk and germany clears the medit naval out at less risk. send 2 fighters you kill a cruiser and the cruiser only rolls 1 time where as in a dice game 2 fighters can miss and if the cruiser misses well it gets a second chance at hitting again. little things like that adds up.

the game slightly favors axis, but it is more apparent in a low luck game.

the drawback for allies in a dice game involves the rounds where russia does more than 1 or 2 attacks on germany units (which is why people avoid doing multiple attacks as russia).

[Gamerman01]

This is the FAQ thread for rules questions.

[Cmdr Jennifer]

This is the FAQ thread for rules questions.

Not really a FAQ question, but has anyone run the numbers on London sans America (Cow, I am not letting America land there to help - even if I have to give up Calcutta and play a stalling game with Japan, so don't count them as defenders, it's 1 AA Gun and 2 ground units and that's it) with what Germany can usually bring?  Not sure if we should look at the "extra" units from Canada because I don't know if anyone is going to let them live to bring them.

[Cow]

it depends on how many fighters leave UK round 1. Also you can't control 2 subs losing to 1 destroyer or losing a fighter in 111.

If you do 109 instead of 110  generally uk does not fly any air out of uk, skips 97 and merges his fleet off gibraltar R1 then it merges with the UK pac stuff the next turn off of egypt and if you buy more transports he can send 2 more air units into uk from that carrier.

On the other hand sinking 110 and letting uk run that destroyer transport to pick up canada, forces uk to sink 97. so he has to fly 1 bomber and 1 fighter out, has to use the gibraltar fighter and cruiser for the dd transport off malta. Leaving so uk keeps 2 fighters home (3 actually since french fighter just sits there).

Typically you have 50-80% odds (depending on how many you drop on scotland, 52% if no scotland drop 58% with 2 inf drop on scotland 70 to 80% if you drop 6 land units, but LL games this gets strafed so you kill 2 inf and lose 4). It really depends if germany lost any fighters, did the 2 subs beat the destroyer (even in low luck games the dd sometimes defends 106), depends if you block the shipment from canada or not, I am going to assume you are doing 110 and not skipping it.

Sometimes uk does not get a canada shipment because his destroyer bomber failed to kill 2 subs or because you have fleet to block it. So the odds fluctuate on various dice rolls and germany losing air or not.  I don't usually see 109 over 110, because that simplifies what UK is doing. also depends if your BB makes it out of the first round or not.

You are still the favorite to take UK over in any situation from slight 52% favorite to huge favorite 80% range, assuming uk does not skip over the medit battles.

5 bombers drop your odds down to 18-36% range (3-5 bombers takes hits so that other units can continue to roll every round, it extends that battle, which is why it has a dramatic effect on the outcome, cannon fodder is especially important in big battles)... sooo yeah.
~
In other words your odds fluctuate depending on dice and what UK does, but you will know come germany 2 if you can take it or not. In a typical game you can, but don't expect to win with all your tanks and air remaining in tact.

[Cmdr Jennifer]

Question, if Germany controls Amur and Japan reinforces it, do the Mongolians join Russia?  Or is this an intentional loophole? 

[Cow]

When does this ever happen?

[Cmdr Jennifer]

When does this ever happen?

I have seen a couple games of Alpha 1 where Emperor Mollari got some armor over Russia and blitzed over to take the far east.  I could forsee the same happening even in 3.9.  Maybe not all the way to Amur, but maybe too Timguska (which borders Mongolia at Olgiy).  So what if Germany owns Timguska with 1 armor.  Russia does not liberate (this shouldnt be overly hard to picture if you think a bit creatively.)  Japan has 7 Infantry, 3 Artillery, 1 Mech and 1 Armor in Kansu.  If Japan moves 7 Infantry, 3 Artillery, 1 Mech and 1 Armor from Kansu to Timguska, do the Mongolians become Russian?

[Cow]

No to answer your question.

Russia can also sneak into china backdoor style if it is chinese and still get mongolian infantry should japan attack amur. He can't do this if japan takes the spot before him or he gives up mongolia.

[Axisplaya]

Is it possible to scramble from an AB which has 1 or 2 damages ?

[Vance]

Is it possible to scramble from an AB which has 1 or 2 damages ?

yes.  the airbase is only out of action if it has 3 or more damages.

[Axisplaya]

thanks Vance.