• Customizer

    Despite having the board game for a month, I haven’t had anyone to play it against.  A friend of mine and I finally made some time to sit down and give it a go.  If you want to skip the rest of the post, just read this:

    This is the MOST FUN Axis & Allies board game I’ve ever played.

    We made a ton of little mistakes during our game.  Like mistaking a british tactical bomber for a bomber early on, forgetting to subtract IPCs for convoy raids, and me doing an amphibious assault against borneo, even tho i was UK and already owned it and there was no enemy on it yet (i thought borneo as dutch for some reason), as well as occasionally forgetting that we could move our ships 3, etc. etc.

    Still, it was an amazing game.
    It kind of went like this:

    Japan went all out against China, and resolved to delay attacking the allies as long as it could.  The united states build nothing but destroyers and submarines for the first few turn, turning hawaii in a staging point.  The UK built nothing but infantry plus a couple artillery, while ANZAC built 1 art + 1 sub every turn.
    Japan moved her fleet south and west.  The UK took the 3 dutch money islands, as well as borneo  :roll:, while anzac managed to take the no-money dutch half-island.  Both the UK and ANZAC fleets (minus their transports) + 1 USA destroyer grouped together right above australia.
    Japan saw that the UK and ANZAC both got their NO’s, and decided that would not be good, so Japan attacked on the 3rd turn.  However he tried to do too many thing with his navy in a single turn.  He annihilated the combined ANZAC + UK (+ 1 USA destroyer) fleet.  He took out the 2 uk and 1 anzac transports.  He made landings in borneo and celebes, the philipines, kwangtung, and i think one other place.  He spread himself too thin.
    After that turn, I used a UK bomber to kill 1 transport, the ANZAC’s 3 submarines to kill 2 more transports, and the USA used all 3 of her bombers to take out a further 2 transports, as well as some other ships.
    In the end, Japan only had 1 transport left, and with a major USA fleet threatening anything in the Japan sea, she could not build any more transports.  However, she still played well, using the next 3 turns to kill china down to 2 territories left, as well as using her single transport to take the Australian capitol.  He built a major factory in hongkong on the 4th turn, and pumped out 10 tanks, which would have gone on to take the UK capitol if we played longer.  The USA for her part, managed to retake the Australian capitol and destroy the remaining japanese fleet.  After I retook the Australian capitol, he conceded.

    Some things I learned:

    1. I have no clue how the allies are supposed to “win” by the book.  Yes, the allies will probably win if you did not play by the book rules.  But the rule book states that Japan needs only 6 victory cities to win.  (if you were playing to 7 victory cities, japan would probably not win ever)  BUT with just 6 victory cities, Japan only has to take India, New South Wales (australian capitol), Kwangtung, and the Philippines to win.  If my friend had not made terrible mistakes in his fleet movement, allowing me to take out all of his transports, he would have won the game.  In fact, had he simply built 3 tanks in new south wales, instead of building nothing on the last turn, i would not have been able to take it back, and he would have taken india in 2 more turns…. so i would have lost even tho he lost his transport fleet.
    2. USA needs to keep 2 full transports and some air within range of New South Wales at ALL TIMES.
    3. UK is screwed even if she builds only infantry every round.  I have no clue what to do with the UK fleet also.  If i move it back to india, it might survive but do nothing, If i combine it with ANZAC they both get destroyed at the same time.
    4. ANZAC has 10ipcs per round, and virtually no army to speak of.   Japan was able to take Australia using just 1 infantry and a bunch of planes.
    5. why the hell doesn’t new south wales have a naval or air base?  Why are they 1 territory north of their factory?  I’m going to strangle some australian engineers.
    6. the incredible number of airplanes, plus airbases, make the game board very very dynamic.  you can move your assets literally across the entire board, changing the whole face of things.  AA Revised and 1942 are pretty static by comparison, I can pretty much see what the game is going to look like in 3 turns from any given turn (or at least I can account for a range of possibilities).  But with Pac40, I can not really predict much at all what the board will look like by the next round.  Awesome.
    7. as the USA, I figured I’d build a naval base at midway.  From a base in midway, my naval fleet could threaten the Japanese island with my fighters and tacbombers, something i could not do from hawaii, as well as still have the option of moving 3 spaces.  This ended up being kind of redundant, because Japan was always too well defended for my fighters to make a difference, and because having the possibility of attacking japan always kind of kept me from moving further away than the carolines.  I won’t build that again.  I also did attack and take Korea, building a major factory there the next turn.  However i did not get to see if it was worth it or not, because he conceded before i could place anything there.  The bad part about buying a major factory is that it costs 30 ipcs, which means you won’t be building any fleet that turn.  Then stocking it with guys will remove your fleet purchases too.  Guess I’d have to play that one out to find out if it is any good or not.  I’m guessing it is a good purchase, but I might try just a minor factory next time.

    tons of fun,
    veqryn


  • @Veqryn:

    This is the MOST FUN Axis & Allies board game I’ve ever played.

    I agree, although I still think that once you figure it all out the novelty will wear off.

    Some things I learned:

    1. I have no clue how the allies are supposed to “win” by the book.  Yes, the allies will probably win if you did not play by the book rules.  But the rule book states that Japan needs only 6 victory cities to win.  (if you were playing to 7 victory cities, japan would probably not win ever)  BUT with just 6 victory cities, Japan only has to take India, New South Wales (australian capitol), Kwangtung, and the Philippines to win.  If my friend had not made terrible mistakes in his fleet movement, allowing me to take out all of his transports, he would have won the game.  In fact, had he simply built 3 tanks in new south wales, instead of building nothing on the last turn, i would not have been able to take it back, and he would have taken india in 2 more turns…. so i would have lost even tho he lost his transport fleet.

    So far I’ve never seen the Allies winning by the book, only by Japan conceding after it becames obvious that it is on the losing side of an attrition battle. And it is not easy for Japan to win also. Kwangtung and Phillipines are easy to take but Calcutta, Sidney and Honolulu usually require a large effort that will leave openings for the Allies to explore.

    1. USA needs to keep 2 full transports and some air within range of New South Wales at ALL TIMES.

    Depends on the location of the Japanese transports. If they are on Phillipines/Carolines then yes, but ANZAC can be also quite capable of defending Queensland/NSW. You can also block any invasions by moving DDs to the 2 SZs of New Guinea.

    1. UK is screwed even if she builds only infantry every round.  I have no clue what to do with the UK fleet also.  If i move it back to india, it might survive but do nothing, If i combine it with ANZAC they both get destroyed at the same time.

    UK will fall if Japan has its sights set on it. It is a matter of making the process as hard as possible for Japan. I usually deploy the UK navy on SZ37, 43 and 45 (along with keeping the US DD on SZ35) to block Japan from reaching Sumatra and Java during its initial attack on the DEI. Japan will sink all the ships but it will take more time for it to get the NO and meanwhile you can reinforce those islands with UK/ANZAC fighters to make things even more difficult.

    1. ANZAC has 10ipcs per round, and virtually no army to speak of.   Japan was able to take Australia using just 1 infantry and a bunch of planes.

    If J is massing up its fleet on the Carolines pull back everything to NSW and leave 1 infantry on Queensland. Consider leaving 1 DD off Queensland and if J lands there immediately counterattack it.

    1. why the hell doesn’t new south wales have a naval or air base?  Why are they 1 territory north of their factory?  I’m going to strangle some australian engineers.

    At the same time the bases on Queensland allow the Allies to reach Phillipines and more.

    1. as the USA, I figured I’d build a naval base at midway.  From a base in midway, my naval fleet could threaten the Japanese island with my fighters and tacbombers, something i could not do from hawaii, as well as still have the option of moving 3 spaces.  This ended up being kind of redundant, because Japan was always too well defended for my fighters to make a difference, and because having the possibility of attacking japan always kind of kept me from moving further away than the carolines.  I won’t build that again.  I also did attack and take Korea, building a major factory there the next turn.  However i did not get to see if it was worth it or not, because he conceded before i could place anything there.  The bad part about buying a major factory is that it costs 30 ipcs, which means you won’t be building any fleet that turn.  Then stocking it with guys will remove your fleet purchases too.  Guess I’d have to play that one out to find out if it is any good or not.  I’m guessing it is a good purchase, but I might try just a minor factory next time.

    The Korea move is a nice one but Japan can easily block it (any planes on Japan can scramble to counter the amphibious landing). I haven’t found any use to new naval bases yet.


  • I thought only fighters from islands with airbases except Japan can scramble


  • Japan can scramble her plans too.


  • Yea, but Japan can’t scramble against an amphibious assault against Korea, can it?

  • Customizer

    @The:

    Yea, but Japan can’t scramble against an amphibious assault against Korea, can it?

    damn good question….
    to be safe i escorted with a ton a fighters…


  • Yes it can. Krieg confirmed it on BGG.


  • Makes sense that Japan’s planes can because they are protecting the sea zone rather than Korea herself.


  • @shohoku201:

    I thought only fighters from islands with airbases except Japan can scramble

    On the game Japan is an island too


  • I agree with being its the best game ever.  But i don’t think the novelty will wear off as fast as you think.  I say this coming from playing the revised edition for the past year.  I too have just played my first game and lost as the allies.  I was US and China and my son was UK and Anzac.  I made a fatal error and left S.F. wide open.  But my opponent was very annoying he would digress a lot into ww2 history (and I mean a lot).  Plus he would get up for a soda or talk with other people (we only got to round 4 in the span of 5 hrs!  :x).  We were at a local board game meet at a hobby store.  So my first game in my opinion hasn’t happened yet.  At least your game sounded fun.  Plus my opponent had all kind of other annoying quirks.  Okay my rant is over.  But yes it is the best game of them until the map is complete.  Then it will even be better.  The novelty will not wear off for a long time to come I hope.  Happy gaming to all!


  • This really is a fun game, despite a few annoying problems. They got more right than wrong. Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control as well as Kiangsi and Kwangsi.


  • @Autarch:

    Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control….

    I imagine this will change with the Global game as it depends on what happens to France.

    #501


  • @allboxcars:

    @Autarch:

    Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control….

    I imagine this will change with the Global game as it depends on what happens to France.

    #501

    I read that France and I think Germany start at war. It’s pretty much set for Germany to take France’s capital early. I rhink I read that in one of the stickies by IL about the facts of the 1940 games


  • @Mino1124:

    @allboxcars:

    @Autarch:

    Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control….

    I imagine this will change with the Global game as it depends on what happens to France.

    #501

    I read that France and I think Germany start at war. It’s pretty much set for Germany to take France’s capital early. I rhink I read that in one of the stickies by IL about the facts of the 1940 games

    Agreed. I wouldn’t suggest to the Japanese infantry bordering Siam “take a seat, it’ll be awhile”… but I’m thinking if Paris is in French hands at set-up then Siam should be in French hands.

    #505


  • Now that our group has had a chance to play the game several times we’ve come to the conclusion that Japan should win every time if played by a competant player.  The best strategy for Japan is to attack the Allies on the first turn.

    While this may sound like a bummer, its actually a good thing since once the Europe game is added, the majority of Japanese strategy in AAP40 will be dramatically different and precarious…ie…the USSR factor, and other things as well(UK/India could be stronger, US commitment to the Pacific, etc…).

    Our group is returning to AA50 for now…we cant wait for AAE40!!!
    C


  • @allboxcars:

    @Autarch:

    Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control….

    I imagine this will change with the Global game as it depends on what happens to France.

    #501

    I’m not talking about FIC. Siam had a favorable view of Japan’s opposition to Western Imperialism and their diplomatic assistance in settling border disputes with France, but was not interested in becoming part of the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan landed troops there during the opening days of the war to secure passage into Malaya. Realizing there would be no help from the west, Siam negotiated a truce and allowed Japanese access to railroads, harbors and airfields.

    Kiangsi and Kwangsi were invaded by Japan in 1938 but only in several small coastal pockets at that and were non contiguous. None of these territories should start under complete Japanese control in 1940.

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