• Hi everyone. I have been playing 1941 a couple of times. The problem is the playing time.
    The rulebook says 90 to 120 minutes. Well the first time we played it took over 6 hours to get finished.
    The next timed we played, it took nearly 6 hours. What are we doing wrong? Some playing advice would be great.
    Thanks in advice.

    Staale


  • How aggressive are you playing?  Also, what are the victory conditions that you are playing towards?


  • I´m a complete beginner in playing a&a. So I´m perhaps not very aggressive.
    We are playing with 2 capitol victory condition.


  • @generalsteel77:

    Hi everyone. I have been playing 1941 a couple of times. The problem is the playing time.
    The rulebook says 90 to 120 minutes. Well the first time we played it took over 6 hours to get finished.
    The next timed we played, it took nearly 6 hours. What are we doing wrong? Some playing advice would be great.
    Thanks in advice.

    Staale

    What were you drinking?  Seriously, the same thing happened when my wife gave me Axis & Allies D-Day for Christmas two years ago……we sat down to play after a couple of ‘egg nogs’ in the morning and a couple of glasses of wine with lunch - maybe not such a good idea!  Of course D-Day is card driven and the cards played through in the correct order, not shuffled as we did! :roll:


  • yeah, i agree. if you build infantry and play defensively, the game can last forever….

    Has anyone on this forum played this version of the game frequently to offer any thoughts?

  • '17 '16

    Did you ever try some “strafing” tactics between Russia and Germany?

    The idea is to launch an attack on a weaker territory (with a few Tanks) with a good offensive punch (Tank and planes) with enough Infantry to at least make 1 combat round (or more) and retreat.
    Here, you don’t want to take any territory. It is more a test for luck.
    If you get lucky in the first rounds, you can kill more units than you loose, the sooner, the better.
    Once it reach a “killing blow”, you must retreat or your Tanks (offensive units) will be exposed to counter-attack with not much Infantry to back them up.

    Suppose a territory A) has 3 Infantry and 3 Tanks, another B) have 5 Infantries and 1 Tank.
    You go strafing A.
    And if you are good, you retreat while there is only 1 Tank left (and, at worth, you were loosing your last Infantry.)
    If you lose more than 6 Infantries in this Strafe, it is not a good tactics.
    At 7 Infantries, this means you loose the same number of IPCs.
    6 Inf x 3 IPCs = 18 IPCs (7 Inf = 21 IPCs) compared to 3x3 Infantries = 9 IPCs + 2x6 IPCs 12 IPCs = 21 IPCs

    Either Germany and Russia can do it to their advantage, if they know where to strike and how long, before retreating.
    This can make the game evolves faster, even if you don’t take any territory.
    Two lucky strafe can make you gain territories in a next turn, simply because the enemy cannot supply what he had lost.


  • I started with 1941 as well.  I really believe the only way to achieve a 90-120 min game is with bad dice / poor strategies.  Truly understanding the map, movement rules, and turn sequence is overwhelming.  I believe my 1st game was over 10 hours. stretched over multiple days with monumental mistakes by both players.

    I have since moved on from 1941 to 1942 2nd Ed and 1940 Europe (almost ready for 1940 Pacific then Global!)  I use 1941 to teach anyone that may be interested.  I warn everyone in advance to set aside a good chunk of the day.  We make an event out of it.  Food, drinks, etc…

    To answer your question, you are most likely making mistakes.  We all did it when we first learned.  Hell, I still make mistakes.  I’ve lost the japan capital by accident and the West Coast of the USA just by not paying attention!  But, i’ve also never completed a game in under 2 hours ever.


  • I think the game publishers use the same philosophy as the post office. When I worked there, (very briefly) they would time the absolute fastest guy delivering the mail on that route, and then that’s how many hours you got paid for, no matter how long you personally took.

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