to MarineIguana: Yeah its kind of a bummer that more tripleA users aren’t playing this one. I think its actually a pretty fun little board, and has the advantage of still being in print and reasonably affordable for Face to Face play.
The more I play the more I’ve come to appreciate the Germany focus, especially on the Med/Africa. The trick with 37 is that it looks so much more promising than it actually is. The first time you see it, you really want to try it, especially new players who are just settling into the specifics of this map. Like soon as you realize that the Australia ships can join in the fight, I feel like everyone has the same reaction of “hell yeah! lets go for it!” Not least because in Classic and Revised, you didn’t have any kind of long shot hit against a Japanese Carrier or Battleship.
:-D
And then you get absolutely smoked by the Battleship, or watch the sz61 transport push Burma, and it kind of highlights how 37 is really putting everything on the line in one fight. I mean, I suppose if you want to take the gamble, and go nutso Pacific with USA, its still fun. But for the endgame and the best overall chances, Germany focus on this board, same as before. India still gives it a new dimension over previous boards, so the game doesn’t need to be totally absent a Pacific aspect. For the most part I like the set up, my main gripes have more to do with production distribution, since the unit set up and basic map divisions offer some pretty cool changes from Revised.
Curious what you think of the Moscow bomber idea, as an alternative standard bid MarineIguana?
I think it is less overpowered than a UK med bid, while still offering some interesting potential. Like for canal defense at 1 extra defensive pip if the player wants to bring the fighter and hold. Or a sz5 Baltic hit with 1 fighter 1 bomber vs German transport. Or sz 61 hit with 1 bomber vs the second Japanese transport. Better positioning against sz 16 for an R2 air strike 2 fighters 1 bomber. I think its a bit more dynamic than the British sub, without being too overpowered, since it puts the pressure on Russia to play out this advantage rather than UK. Any thoughts? Its the way I’ve been playing all 1942.2 games lately. I might have to hit KublaCon this year I guess if people are around, I’ll try to find time off work. I like in SF
To YG: I think you could go either way ultimately, factory spam or transports, though I tend to favor transports at the outset. Maybe it is just something ground into me after all those years in Revised, where I still feel like if you drop factories before ships you leave yourself open to abuse. And I like to get the max use I can from starting units and production in Japan. Here things are a bit different though, and the pressure to take India for Japan and steal the production is definitely huge. I don’t think its quite as one dimensional here as it has been on some of the other 5 man boards. UK can make some fun sacrifices to shock Japan, and USA can be an annoyance that sticks around, the one element that’s harder to activate against a full pacific press is Russia. Its hard for me not to bring the Evenki units to Archangel, or to use Tanks in the opening attacks, because of possible Karelia stacking, and if you can’t send the Evenki dudes forward against Japan or fighters or tanks, the full triple shock seems just a lot harder.
I’m not sure what I would do to see Japan go forward against the evacuated Australia transport. I feel like even if its loaded some Japanese players don’t want to go after it. If it is unloaded it makes for a less attractive bait. Japan has no destroyer for carrier defense so I think its not worth going after the Australian transport with a cruiser and sub as fodder. Its also possible for that NZ transport to just turn right back on UK2, and stay in the Pacific if you want. Or sacrifice it to reinforce Australia from NZ initially, that’d also be a similar bait to put Japan out of position I suppose. Another place is converge all British ships with floating units into sz30, I guess the floaters are what activates it beyond just “all ships for a max defense” logic. This usually needs both UK fighters, gives up a position on the Canal and allows Japan to Burma push with the sz61 transport, but it also preserves all the naval units in sz30. Floating units put pressure on Japan to either make an ugly attack which they are likely to lose, or else defend south with their fleet. Then you just bounce back to Africa and let USA take over the distraction. That’s a play I’ve seen too, but its painful for India because of that second Japanese transport left alive. The carrier takes less time to round Africa than it might seem, or it can push the med (if canal is held.) Or hang out in sz 33, either as a bait or with a fighter on it. Or other times I just feel kind of crazy, and regard all units that start in the Pacific as “write offs” and just say anything sacrificed is fine, as long is messes up Axis in some way that puts them out of their comfort zone. I kind of look at both transports that way sometimes.
know that Germany is a force and needs to be delt with, but I’m looking at Baron’s numbers and think that the Americans can help in Africa a little while the UK helps in Pacific. Won’t an experienced Japanese player use those ships and fighters to crush India? If they are left alone, won’t they converge to form an untouchable navy?
If I was Japan that’s what I’d try! :-D I guess that’s why its such a hard call for me to make too.
@Baron:
It can be quite funny the first time you see the opponent face when you keep the 6 IPCs Sub and sacrifice a 12 IPCs Cruiser instead, as he understand how his damaged BB is at risk even if it still have his 2 Fgs and already loose the Carrier.
Haha totally! Nailed