• i’ve had it with all these rules preventing sealion
    germany must and should be able to take london
    alpha 2 is fine, there was even a way for italy to overcome the dreaded tarantoraid
    but now, alpha 3
    no NO for london  (how can london not be a national objective??)
    the aa guns that can take hits (shooting per aa gun 3 figs is great rule btw)
    and even france is stronger, making taking normandy, which is always very risky, even harder…


  • ABUSE REMOVED.

    Watch yourself Mantlefan.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Sea Lion was too easy, it almost always succeeded with the right German purchases.  You could even get up to 40 ground units to England reliably.  That was insane.  So making it a little (and I emphasis little) harder is a great boon to the game.  You can, and probably just as reliably, take it on round 4.  I have twice now and with England dumping everything into homeland defense.

    Germany can, and maybe does not have too, take London in Alpha 3 as they could in Alpha 2 and OOB and Revised and Anniversary.  The difference is a matter of degree of difficulty.  It’s no longer assured on Germany 3, now it’s plausible on Germany 4.

    Alpha 3 is fine.  There’s still a way for Italy to avoid the dread of losing all their boats in the Med.

    Because Larry didn’t want Germany focusing on London as their be all end all goal.  He wanted ground combat between Russia and Germany.  It’s why he allowed Russia to attack Germany if London did fall.  It makes the German player more honest, in my book.  You can’t just strip all your guys from Germany leaving a clear path to Berlin so you can take out London, because Russia will just blitz into Berlin and win.

    Yes, I like the AA Guns.  They cannot fire at 40 aircraft anymore, now you need at least 13 guns to shoot at 40 aircraft.  ANd it’s still just one shot each in opening fire, so it’s not as drastic as some people thought originally.

    Yes, Normandy should probably be given up.  France is not really all that much  harder, most players do not even use any aircraft in France (neither did they in Alpha 2).

  • Customizer

    I am in the middle of a new Alpha 3 Global game, just ended round 4 last night.  Will pick up with round 5 in a little bit.
    In Europe, Germany decided against Sealion and prepped for Barbarossa.  Purchased Major IC and put on Romania.  Took France, Normandy and Yugoslavia plus got Bulgaria and Finland.  France battle was tough but Germany left with 4 tanks.  Normandy unusually easy, lucky dice I guess.  Killed all Royal Navy except for SZ 110, lost 4 planes but also cost British/French 4 planes in scrambling.  Brits killed Dest/Transport in SZ 96, did not attempt Taranto and moved BB/CA from SZ 110 to Med.  Italy attacked British Med Navy and killed, 1 damaged BB and 1 CA left.  French ships in Med tried to attack and failed.  Moved Tobruk force to Alexandria.  Brits then killed that force on UK 2 with help from Indian planes.  Italy and UK have exchanged Egypt 3 or 4 times now.  Germans used subs and planes to finish off British fleet.  Germany attacks Russia G3.  Russia tried defending with stacks of infantry along border with tanks and artillery in reserve.  Bad choice, infantry got mauled with little German casualties.  Germany also purchased airbase for Romania and put transports in Black Sea.  Took Caucasus G3.  Russia did NOT attack with reserves because all German armies just too big.  On G4, German armies attacked Russian reserves and crushed them.  Germany has Ukraine now , Stalingrad and Leningrad surrounded.  I think Russia made some bad choices and is in pretty bad shape now.  German build-up was excellent though.
    In Pacific, Japan has killed all of Chinese forces and rules China.  Landed troops in Shan State and Burma for invasion of India.  UK had enough troops on Malaya and India, attacked my invasion force and destroyed it.  Now carriers and transports heading back to Japan.  USA send large navy down to Australia and clashed with Japan navy by Philippines – destroyed each other.  Japan took Hawaii but USA building new and powerful navy on west coast to challenge.  Will probably take Hawaii back USA 5.  Japan has lot of territory but spread very thin.  ANZAC being usuall small pain in the a** in just the right places.  While Japan has 5 VCs and it was looking like a Japan victory, now may have to simply hold out for Germany to finish off Russia.  Japan and Russia both adopted a defensive stance.


  • @Cmdr:

    Sea Lion was too easy, it almost always succeeded with the right German purchases.  You could even get up to 40 ground units to England reliably.  That was insane.  So making it a little (and I emphasis little) harder is a great boon to the game.  You can, and probably just as reliably, take it on round 4.  I have twice now and with England dumping everything into homeland defense.

    Germany can, and maybe does not have too, take London in Alpha 3 as they could in Alpha 2 and OOB and Revised and Anniversary.  The difference is a matter of degree of difficulty.  It’s no longer assured on Germany 3, now it’s plausible on Germany 4.

    Alpha 3 is fine.  There’s still a way for Italy to avoid the dread of losing all their boats in the Med.

    Because Larry didn’t want Germany focusing on London as their be all end all goal.  He wanted ground combat between Russia and Germany.  It’s why he allowed Russia to attack Germany if London did fall.  It makes the German player more honest, in my book.  You can’t just strip all your guys from Germany leaving a clear path to Berlin so you can take out London, because Russia will just blitz into Berlin and win.

    Yes, I like the AA Guns.  They cannot fire at 40 aircraft anymore, now you need at least 13 guns to shoot at 40 aircraft.  ANd it’s still just one shot each in opening fire, so it’s not as drastic as some people thought originally.

    Yes, Normandy should probably be given up.  France is not really all that much  harder, most players do not even use any aircraft in France (neither did they in Alpha 2).

    ok, good points. but i usually took england round 4. but now, it’s not an NO (BS, pure BS). russia at round 4 is ok, but it does put japan back a lot (UK and anzac declare war round 3 and gain all bonusses, which they have extra now)


  • Right Frontnovik.  Jenn gets her turns mixed up from time to time.  She’s saying G3 when she means G4.  G4 was the invasion round.  Sealion was stopped cold for G3.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    @JimmyHat:

    Right Frontnovik.  Jenn gets her turns mixed up from time to time.  She’s saying G3 when she means G4.  G4 was the invasion round.  Sealion was stopped cold for G3.

    I apologize, yes, Germany round 4 to invade London.  Germany round 3 to invade Scotland.  That is what I meant.

    As for London not being an objective, I think this might have been a mistake.  I wonder if it will appear (magically of course) in the ruleset later when Larry realizes he forgot to add it in.  I might house rule it for myself, if it is not added in.  Again, the jury is still out on the balance of the game, we can speculate all we want, but until we’ve had a chance to play 15-30 different players and experience many different and unique strategies, we won’t have conclusive evidence.

    Think of it, before Sea Lion strategy was figured out in Alpha 2, did people think it was balanced or unbalanced?  Sure.  Did they after?  Of course, which is why we have Alpha 3 and England is harder to get.  Before Smack Japan First was figured out in Alpha 2, did people think it was balanced or unbalanced?  Sure.  Did they after?  Of course, which is why we have Alpha 3 where America’s income is nerfed by 5 IPC and is rewarded for maneuvers in the Atlantic.  Not as much as I would like, but more than they were before.  Same for Kill America First, now Japan cannot get in range of America before declaring war on it.

  • Customizer

    @mantlefan:

    That Italy/Uk battle by big is a surprise. Did UK put a ftr on malta for scramble? What was on the carrier?

    This is what I see there:

    UK CV with 1 ftr, tac, BB cru, DD, 1 scrambling

    Italy: Sub, BB, DD, 2 Cru, Bmb

    If you can remember, was that it?

    You are close.  UK did not have a BB in the Med, at least not in their battle with the Italians.  Also, I think I sent both of Italy’s fighters into this battle.  The bomber was used against Greece.  Yeah, that battle was a bloodbath for the Italians and British.
    We finished this game today.  The Axis won in 7 rounds - 8 VCs on Europe board.  Germany absolutely smashed Russia.  I think our Russian player just got confused with the extra front opened by the transports in the Black Sea.  Made the war much easer for Germany.  Got them a lot of points from the Middle-East NOs way earlier than normal.  In fact, in most of our games, Italy ends up getting them.
    Japan came close to getting  6 of 8 on the Pacific board too.  Held Honolulu for 3 rounds.  Then, in last round they took Sydney but USA got Honolulu back.
    Overall, I can’t say that Alpha+3 is that much different from Alpha +2.  The Axis certainly had a good time of it in this game.  Since Germany didn’t take London, the “Russia attacks after London falls” rule didn’t apply.  The new AA gun rule is interesting.  I think it still pretty much depends on the skill of players and what choices they make.

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