Alpha??

Japan actually won on turn 5

Well yeah, that is what happens when usa builds stuff in the atlantic when Japan is snatching up NOs. Like you said the -38 does not kick in till round 4 when you are parked off east usa. Plus it is not -38, because you gotta roll your convoy damage and very rarely does that max out.

Sure USA makes -38 or whatever, but from a big picture of the long run… it is really insignificant when Japan flops out.

@Young:

@edfactor:

When Japan grabs the money islands, malaya, hong kong, FIC and the philippines its income nearly doubles, with a little push in China - Japan can outporoduce the US.  Japan only starts hurting when Japan plans poorly and doesn’t make a massive land grab on its first turn of war with the allies.

To be honest, I’m not sold on the idea that Japan can do all that plus hurt China. That doubled income may not last very long.

Depends on the Chinese player, mainly moving their stacks from air attack range.

However, if the Japanese player is consistent in striking Yunnan, denying China materials, it can be done. Trust me.

The real problem comes if Britain decides to do a can opener with tanks and mechanized infantry.

@techroll42:

Got both for $70 each.

Well some of us get to school late via the shortbus :P

@Cmdr:

Spend 6 IPC to take out the Russian NO, Wrath.  A submarine in SZ 125 takes away the objective as well as a destroyer does.  It also requires the allies to send a destroyer to go kill it, instead of using only planes.

A submarine isnt a war ship according to our definition of the rules but I wont argue about that. The price of 8 ipc is still worth it.

Russia was buffed in Alpha 2 because many Axis players blew their strength on England, dedicating all of their power to taking it out and thus, not having enough to hit Russia with.  Now that England is no longer a prized posession, but more of a “well, I need one more VC to win, and it is underdefended” move, Russia is getting really easy to take out.

Dont care if russia is buffed, Germany is so much more buffed with their extra planes and units, thats why I find that theather a bit balanced.

Looking ONLY at the game board for the first 3 rounds (bringing you to Germany Round 4, Purchase New Units) one can see that the Axis are more than double Russia’s strength with more than double their income.  That means England and India need to be focused on sending reinforcements to Russia to prevent them from falling (and thus, negating the need to block SZ 125).  With the NonAggression arrangement being virtually nullified, there is no reason not to invade early and heavy with Japan and more reason TOO do it, to remove even more IPC from the Russians. 
So yes, Wrath, I agree, Barbarossa is probably the better avenue and makes Victory more assured, not assured, but more than attempting Sea Lion.    I don’t see Russia ever getting their Objectives (any of them).

If you go after russia on round 4 as germany you are to late imho, you are better off attacking round 2 (with a fake attack on yugoslavia) or on r3.

Since the U.S. does not start with one of the objectives: (5 of the 7 islands one) They are likely to collect 77….then factor in that when they do take one of the islands to get the 5, they typically have lost the Philippines objective, so they will be at 75-77 (if they have Brazil). I haven’t seen them reach 82 in 4 games of Alpha 2.

Yea that was a poor example that I made and poor argument in what I was trying to say.  I’m going to regroup and state my case again……  thanks for all the feed back…

I build A CV and 2 Ftrs each turn. 3 tech rolls first turn (using AA50 tech tokens) netted me Jet Fighters  :-D.  By US4 I had 3 (soon to be 4) CVs outside SF with 5 Ftrs and a Tac.  2 CVs with 4 Ftrs in the Atlantic.  When I ramped up to 82 IPCs then comes the simultaneous transport build on both sides (more on Atlantic, KGF, imo) along with inf for a USA 5 or USA D-Day.  This way you ensure fleet support for your transports.  Learned my lesson a long time ago in AA50 when my opponent sacked his air force but completely decimated my D-Day fleet setting me back 3 turns.

I’ve also considered doing an Strat Bomber/Ftr build, but the new Alpha+1 rules kind of change that.  The idea would be to knock out Germany’s ability to produce frankly anything, along with killing the Luftwaffe exactly how the US actually did it: using the 8th Air Force to ‘escort’ (in quotes because they were really hunting the Luftwaffe) the bombers and take out the German fighters.  Haven’t tested this though cause it has 2 downfalls: longer time until USA gets D-Day going, and also practically leaves the USA in the dust fleet wise against Japan, which you CAN NOT do now with the new VC rules.

@allweneedislove:

@Kobu:

Try it with the approved setup.

all the games i have been playing have been.

You’ve clearly been playing with the proposed changes to the Med. Apples and oranges and I’ve addressed both.