Blocker Question

Yes, if there is a possible scramble there. Is probably a good idea sometimes.
If you are landing a unit amphibiously, yes it would take the territory unopposed. But you have too clear the Sea Zone first, of course. You fail and the unit stays on board.

My mistake was not sending my two move units to Romania the previous turn as Germany. I just played out turn 9 and US was able to stack Northern Italy. Italy is out of the game now, but on the other side of the board Japan is making 105, and he is bombing Russia with 5 bombers every turn. He has more than UK in the south and he can now start landing in Africa taking the money away from Russia and UK. I do agree that US is going to eventually take Germany, but could he do it before Moscow falls? Probably :/

Our group has had this discussion many times. It seems unrealistic that a country would develop something that is not useful.  In one of our games Russia bought a non-disposable tech dice and actually rolled a 6 then rolled on the chart and got “War Bonds” which was cool for them but if you look at the list there are very few that Russia can benefit from.  Mostly depends if they are on the offensive.  If they are on the defensive then only “War Bonds” and “Increased Factory Production” seem to be worthwhile.  “Radar” would also be good but its on a separate chart with tech that would not benefit them.  Most would say that Russia should not even consider rolling on tech and I tend to agree unless they are on the offensive and have a massive economy.

Another thing you could do for the Chinese fighter if you would prefer it to be the same color as the Chinese troops is get one from Historical Board Gaming. They have these Allied Supplement sets in several different colors. One of them is called Celery Green which is the same color as the British pieces in old copies of Revised. This color is very close to the same color as the Chinese infantry pieces. The Allied supplement sets include P-40 fighter planes. You don’t even have to get the entire set because HBG sells these pieces individually. You can pick up 2 or 3 P-40s and there you go! Your very own Chinese fighter unit.
As for Artillery, HBG also has these Neutral sets in several colors and one of them is a yellow-green color. That color is a little brighter than the Chinese infantry, but it works okay with them and certainly is different from the US artillery. The Neutral sets have an artillery piece called a “75 Veld” which I think is Polish or Belgian but works fine for Chinese since they mostly had older stuff anyway.

Yes I was very hesitant to liberate it, but in this case Germany and Russia were at a standstill, both trading back the Polish territories and the Soviets making the occasional excursion into Romania/Balkans. In this particular game Germany was able to take France right back, but at the expense of a giving up troops against the Soviets. It lost more in units than the 17 IPCs it gained from taking it. The Soviets captured Berlin two turns later with Paris still under German control. As the US had Japan blockaded, convoyed and strategic bombed, the game was over.

@kcdzim:

In addition to what was already stated by Moralecheck -

While the game engine may sometimes allow it, you are not technically allowed per the game rules to load during the combat phase if those units cannot or will not be used for an amphibious assault during that combat phase.

Yes, I understand. I was assuming that they could be offloaded at some point that turn, but either way it would have ended up being the same if I loaded them in combat move or non-combat, since they could do nothing either way.

Ah, I recognize that philosophy:  “There are few submarine problems that can’t be resolved with a suitable application of depth charges”.

I’ve been lurking on the boards for a good while now and been trying to figure out different strategies that would make the game fun. I’ve only played a half game and against myself at that. I’m still in the middle of that game and I’ve noticed the following thoughts:

It seems like Germany almost always has to build a CV, a TT, and likely a sub. I feels like if one doesn’t then the Taranto attack will occur and Italy will be in a bad position.

As a tangent: What comprises this Taranto attack and what does it attack exactly? I see that 4-5 air and sea units are available to attack the Italy navy, but is the intention to simply kill both italy navies or just the western one? Likely I think it means smiting the Italy BB because that really hurts Italy in Africa.

Otherwise, the above attack really hurts Italy to the point where it has a hard time competing effectively. I realize this is intended but it almost forces the G1 player to always invest in a sea and destroy the British navy if they want Italy to grow quickly. An effective sea force is necessary to even add the treat of Sealion as Germany can toss down 10 AP the next turn and smash England G3. If Germany ignores sea units then England can do other things like do the Taranto attack and build units in South Africa. All things bad for Italy.

The thing only reason I could see to ignore the above is if one plans a G2 attack on Russia and use plane to wipe out France while moving units east enmasse. (I would suggest killing the British APs though). It does seem like Germany’s first turn feel scripted but maybe I’m not thinking outside of the box.
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Regarding the 18 USSR units in eastern Russia. It seems to me that its best choice is to pull back near Yakut and hold position there. If one stacks the units in Siberia or the one to west of Siberia then it can be trapped by a move north with the Manchurian army (which ironically is even stronger in Alpha). A counter attack by those 18 units is going to get them wiped out and and if no matter where that stack goes unless it retreated back on the first turn then it’s likely dead (if that’s what Japan wants to spend it’s resources on)

Mind this is Global and I don’t see much benefit for Japan attack any earlier than J2 or J3.

I like the game quite a bit otherwise though will be interested to see if there will be a need for a Alpha setup for AAE40 too.