Global 1942 Scenario by Larry Harris

@LincolnHawk:

I would love to hear some G42 opening strategies.  This is my set up of choice.

Not played so far,
The setup allows only predefined games (scripted turns).

Germany could put an airbase in Greece, to try and protect the nucleus of some future Italian or German fleet, but this approach is too defensive and ended up dedicating most of Germany’s resources to a defensive formation that eventually gets overwhelmed by the Allies.

Germany spends its first turn re-consolidating its position so any plan has to be based on the outcome of those battles/moves.
Germany should take Gibraltar or Crete to disrupt the british NO for as long as possible.  Have seen several sacrificial battles occur where Italy takes Gibraltar and the only job of the forces down there is to block the Allies from crossing into the med.

After these early moves, your objectives are the same as in G40, Germany needs to conquer Leningrad long term and establish its money base before the Western Allies can tear it apart.  This G42 version is the only one where KGF is straightforward and an early strategy;  buying bombers with US increased income gives you a powerful attack/bomb force much earlier than in G40 and you only need a few transports to use the 8th/12th airforce to lazer apart Germany’s strongpoints.  KGF remains difficult however if Germany doesn’t lose its airforce;  if it successfully consolidates then it has the 12+ planes it needs to pick off one of the 3-4 allies fleet nodes necessary to support a real threat.  Losing one allied fleet and its transports is a disaster.

The much more straightforward open to this game as the Allies involves a hailmary/shotgun play with the US, similar to G40, all the US stuff flows south leapfrogging with the little buddies (no battles or gambits, just a slog to the moneyzone).  UK PAC is not easy to take in this version, it is much easier to reinforce though it starts with zilch for income.    When all 3 of the tan, grey and green navies are on top of each other, by turn 5, you own the spice islands and japan is using all its resources to counter your $$ take and its china front is pretty much empty of reinforcements.    The route between queenland and the islands+malaya+phil is where all the money is and Japan can’t simply concede this area to you;  except unlike G40 you are holding him off the bonus because you have java or borneo as a giant, untakeable base and he can’t achieve threshold income.

I have only played this setup a few times, but from my experience I have found that Japan is nearly unstoppable. They seem to be in great positioning right off of the bat and have ease moving through the mainland. Has anyone had a great strategy for defending against Japan?

Its been a year or so but IIRC Japan has very few land troops in this version, and already is holding a lot of the money it is going to have until turn 3 or 4.    I played Japan 5 times and once you get your big monster fleet together, by J3 you have a real empire back together, but not India.    Smart Allied play is to build in Persia and get some UK fighters over to india such that the less organized and powerful japan fleet and air fleet cant defeat india without going to the odds and losing a bunch of stuff.  Uk pac has virtually no money, but UK atl does and its doesn’t have to worry as much about getting invaded by Germany since Germany is reorganizing during the early game.

I’ve lost a pile of Japan’s assets to a wimpy mock up army of allied stragglers in china, and lost SE asia to them before once all my original land guys died.

The middle of the map didn’t feel as open to the Axis as in other setups and editions, Japan doesn’t have tons of money to power factories to build mobile units, if you go that direction you cant build a robust fleet.  Later in the game, its harder to get stuff into the action, so I only put a factories in Hong Kong… this is an AWESOME defensive base for Japan later in the game and you can lay 3 battleships right into your fleet in some cases, saving the day…

The USA can’t cross direct early (as G40), so they get diverted south, but the tournament game is about holding income–eventually there are 4 powers (france, uk, Anzac, usa) with 7-10 transports and ridiculous fighter cover.  They had Java and traded borneo, phil etc. with me.    Then, with Japan facing south against a monster fleet, they started to bring smaller fleets north to Russia, threatening Japan and its north.

So Japan does get rage in this edition, but its weaknesses are a harder road to india, and a more dynamic and confused money zone where the allies are taking and holding the Money Islands and threatening all your income.  You have to build threat,  you don’t start with crazy numbers of planes as G40.

Question about Neutrals in this setup…

Some of the neutrals have already been invaded by the opposite side (e.g., Greece, a pro-Allies territory, has German units in it). Does that mean the rest of the neutrals on the board are aligned with the Allies at the start of the scenario?  Or do you continue to follow the rules for neutrals until the next time one is invaded?

@Dajokr:

Question about Neutrals in this setup…

Some of the neutrals have already been invaded by the opposite side (e.g., Greece, a pro-Allies territory, has German units in it). Does that mean the rest of the neutrals on the board are aligned with the Allies at the start of the scenario?  Or do you continue to follow the rules for neutrals until the next time one is invaded?

There are indeed some (but not all) Pro-Neutrals either activated or captured in this scenario. However the strict neutrals are still strict neutrals.
So the “Neutrals-Rules” still apply.
The main difference to the original setup is, that in 1942 all powers begin the game at war.

Ah, understand.  For some reason I conflated the rule for capturing unfriendly neutrals and the rule about invading a strict neutral (which turns all the others friendly to the other side).  Thanks for the response!

BTW, played this scenario for the first yesterday with a new group.  Only one other guy had played Global before, and I thought this was a fantastic setup to teach the game to new players.  They all had some familiarity with the franchise having played other versions, but they left super-excited to play Global again.

@Dajokr:

BTW, played this scenario for the first yesterday with a new group.  Only one other guy had played Global before, and I thought this was a fantastic setup to teach the game to new players.  They all had some familiarity with the franchise having played other versions, but they left super-excited to play Global again.

Glad you had fun. In case you’re not aware of it here’s ozteas 42

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=30862.0

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/20575/oztea-s-1942-global-setup

This is great! I love Global 40, and am excited to try this edition out! Can’t wait to try it!

@Cow:

So…. Who wants a J1 opening guide? And Germany guide? The Germany guide will probably consist of Germany losing the 3 or 4 spots to Russia off the bat in order to have something that makes sense.

Hi Cow.

Yeah, what does Germany do? They can’t stack Eastern Poland even on the second turn, depending on what USSR does. Do they just trade Baltic States/Eastern Poland/Bessarabia for the first few turns? Seems like a losing proposition to me.

I agree that Calcutta looks like it shouldn’t live long but it seems that Moscow will have a high income. Allies should hold the Middle East and Egypt too.

@barney this link doesn’t work anymore. What is a better one?

@17Mark71 Look here: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/20575/oztea-s-1942-global-setup

@barney I have edited in that link into your above posting to point to the new forum link.

@Panther
right on. Almost missed this as I had to change names : )
I’m gonna add it to triplea some day. Add his 39 too. Make for a nice oztea package : )

Hi there, anyone know the name of the TripleA version of this setup of G42? I am trying to set this up to play with a friend. Thanks in advance.

@AAGamer

World War II Global 1942 2nd Edition

It’s included with the Global 40 triplea DL’s. On a side note, will have Oztea’s '42 up soon : )

@barnee Thanks Barnee!!!

Hi,

I’ve got two questions

Is Celebes really still British or is that a typo?

And will this setup also work for Europe/Pacific alone?
It sounds like the Europe side leans very much towards the Allies, whereas Japan is favored in the Pacific-

I thought its japanese but you’ll have to look the setup has been out for years.

No, though you could port it to 1 board.
Agree with your last statement most of us play Global only after a few intro games of the split boards

It says so in the setup, just seems a bit weird, as well as the Japanese sub together with the US fleet starting in the same sea zone.

Another question, does the Sino-Sovjet Pact still apply or are Japan and Russia at War. The rules state
“ALL Powers begin the game AT WAR. Both the Soviet Union and the US may attack anyone from the onset of the game.”
which doesn’t sepcifically adress this, but it reads like no penalty for attacking JAP/USSR