Why an Alpha3 ?

I wish we could just agree on one version

I meet your criteria on table top only, with both experienced individuals and a group of 6.

I say Alpha+2 replaces OOB as the base foundation for Global 1940, and Alpha+3 should be veiwed as optional. My opponents and I have agreed to play the latest, and most recent Alpha rules, many times before deciding our final preferences.

I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that, Larry and his team believe that Alpha+2 is unbalanced, and therefore rebalanced by Alpha+3.

I playen over than the minimum games u’r asking for.

Alpha2 is balanced, the only thing I don’t like it’s that as Germany I kinda feel the attack or fake attack of London became a scripted strategy.

Our group likes the ALPHA+2 the best we’ve played 35+ games and its the one that we all have a good grip on the rules.  The +3 (only a few games played) seems more beneficial to the allies and the +3.5 we’ve yet to try.
  In all our games I would say were about 50% , the last 5 weeks the record has been Axis 3 wins Allies 2 wins. There are 4-6 players every weekend.
  Next weekend were going to start one on one, we multiple own boards, then we can tally up who wins from where
  Nothing like getting 4 wins just to get beat by the person who hasnt won one  Dice ,tactics ,strategy and did I say dice
  France held out this last weekend for one round its been about 15-20 games since thats happened and the U.K. fell on 2 Germany had one Trans with a Tank and an Inf and 2 planes, London pulled things off the mainland because Germany bought land pieces. Good game I was able to hold out in Russia and the Allies won. More next weekend

dang suprise, I wish I had a good group to play face to face like yours :(.

@BigBadBruce:

Sure Alpha+2 is not perfectly balanced… a fully balanced game is call Chess, where both side starts with exact same units at exact same places.

Actually, Chess is not a fully balanced game as all time stats show that White pieces overall win more often than black pieces (something around 5% if i recall).

Now back on the topic.

The question was : Why an Alpha 3 ?

Bruce, you might have lost sight of a simple fact: the game is designed for the largest public possible, NOT SPECIFICALLY for AA total freaks like you (and me  :lol: :wink:).

My best guess is that for the average player, winning with Allies in Alpha + 2 is a bit too complicated.

The biggest change from Alpha 2 to Alpha 3 is : UK is better equiped to face Sealion.
At first, i was shoked and disapointed, but now, the more i think about it, the more i find it very reasonable. I mean, i can’t recall a single game that i have lost when taking UK on G3 or even G4…is this normal ? I don’t think so…

For that UK beefing, Germany has received another bmb, and has a MUCH MORE easy battlefield in Fra, Wfr. They can now take Fra, Wfra and Sfr on G1 very easily and at minimum risk.

So, with Alpha 3, the game is going back to the traditional Barbarosa. That is what the creator of the game wants, and i’m ok with that.

Sealion is still there to punish any inacuracy in Allies play, and a new funny device is also there : a G2 Sealion Gamble for those UK players who like to build a Mic or other foolish things on UK1, can also work against heavy Taranto fans(of course, one has to build some transports on G1 for that).

New monglian rules are fun, it’s always good to get to play on territories that were never used before. AA guns changes are also fun (good for UK, bad for India).

Our real life Group is willing to play with Alpha 3.

The only change we’re not very enthusiastic about is : new convoy rules dice rolls. But again, for the ocasional player, it’s fun to roll more dices.  So, it’s no big deal.

I like Alpha 3, but haven’t played it enough yet to say that i like it more than Alpha 2. Still have to explore it a lot more before i can decide if it’s better or worse than Alpha 2.

I agree, Alpha 3 makes sea lion much harder, and probably ultimately a loser unless UK is totally inept.  This is too bad because now Germany’s only reliable strategy is to roll the USSR.  The USSR is and has always been far too weak in all versions of this game, and its defeat under concerted German attack is assured.  Thus the US has no choice but to rush the western European coast – no more KJF. Alpha 2 was better because it allowed for much more strategic variance, not just the rehash of the actual war which Alpha 3 is now forcing.

The only way you are going to make the Axis more competitive in global under any version is to push out the entry of the USSR and US, say to turn 5 and 6 respectively.  Imagine what Germany could do with 2 extra turns in the Atlantic!  It maybe could even get some real forces into Africa.  Under the current time schedule, the margins are too tight and allow for no mistakes or side ventures.

@Karl7:

I agree, Alpha 3 makes sea lion much harder, and probably ultimately a loser unless UK is totally inept.  This is too bad because now Germany’s only reliable strategy is to roll the USSR.  The USSR is and has always been far too weak in all versions of this game, and its defeat under concerted German attack is assured.  Thus the US has no choice but to rush the western European coast – no more KJF. Alpha 2 was better because it allowed for much more strategic variance, not just the rehash of the actual war which Alpha 3 is now forcing.

The only way you are going to make the Axis more competitive in global under any version is to push out the entry of the USSR and US, say to turn 5 and 6 respectively.  Imagine what Germany could do with 2 extra turns in the Atlantic!  It maybe could even get some real forces into Africa.  Under the current time schedule, the margins are too tight and allow for no mistakes or side ventures.

You and I think alike, However, I don’t believe the cure is to push the Russian and American war entry back even further (not fun for those nations in a 6 player game) . I would re-implement the $5 German NO for controlling London, and keep both Russia and America out of the war for their respective time lines, even if London falls.

If the turns are not pushed back, I would get behind giving Germany a special discount on sub contruction, say at 5 instead of 6.

BTW, whatever happened to the national advantages of revised?  I liked those a lot.  They made the game much more interesting, and you can see there was some itch in Global to go that way with the special convoy rule for U-boats.  I think a couple national advantages could go a long way to setting global right, like:

USSR gets one turn can buy inf at 2 once at war (patriotic war)
Germany can buy subs at 5
Japan can pay 5ipcs to bank to keep US out after turn 4, with a 5 ipc increase every subsequent turn (oil embargo)
etc…

@Karl7:

If the turns are not pushed back, I would get behind giving Germany a special discount on sub contruction, say at 5 instead of 6.

BTW, whatever happened to the national advantages of revised?  I liked those a lot.  They made the game much more interesting, and you can see there was some itch in Global to go that way with the special convoy rule for U-boats.  I think a couple national advantages could go a long way to setting global right, like:

USSR gets one turn can buy inf at 2 once at war (patriotic war)
Germany can buy subs at 5
Japan can pay 5ipcs to bank to keep US out after turn 4, with a 5 ipc increase every subsequent turn (oil embargo)
etc…

The time lines within each political situation, don’t really have anything to do with the cost of units. your solutions are crossing different elements in the game. I totally agree about the absence of National Advantages, I miss them and they should co-exist with the National Objectives in Global 1940 IMO.

@Karl7:

I agree, Alpha 3 makes sea lion much harder, and probably ultimately a loser unless UK is totally inept.  This is too bad because now Germany’s only reliable strategy is to roll the USSR.  The USSR is and has always been far too weak in all versions of this game, and its defeat under concerted German attack is assured.  Thus the US has no choice but to rush the western European coast – no more KJF. Alpha 2 was better because it allowed for much more strategic variance, not just the rehash of the actual war which Alpha 3 is now forcing.

The only way you are going to make the Axis more competitive in global under any version is to push out the entry of the USSR and US, say to turn 5 and 6 respectively.  Imagine what Germany could do with 2 extra turns in the Atlantic!  It maybe could even get some real forces into Africa.  Under the current time schedule, the margins are too tight and allow for no mistakes or side ventures.

i completely agree! i’ve always wanted an african corps, but germany can never get enough men to africa on time (atleast round 3, if using Sfrance IC) and to them become quite usefull…