If Sun Tzu played Axis and Allies….

@LHoffman:

@Der:

• Keep tucking away 5 IPCs every turn under your reference card - then buy a boatload of units all at once.

This is kinda shady and something that would be frowned upon and scrutinized in my group. Generally, incomes and expenditures are public knowledge and hiding money away is kinda shifty if you ask me. Even if you can prove how it got there.

One way to solve the problem would be to create a new unit type: the Swiss Bank.  Players could keep IPCs hidden in secret numbered accounts in this bank, then whip them out and spend them all at once at a critical moment of the game.  This would also have the advantage of bringing more action to the neglected Switzerland territory on the map, if we create a house rule which says that any player who invades Switzerland can capture all the player IPCs stored in the Swiss Bank unit.  Players contemplating this move would have to decide whether the potential financial gain would be sufficient to offset the effect of having all the true neutrals join the opposing side.

Yes, I’m kidding, just to make that clear.  :-D

I thought you were quite serious.

The deception comes in the mastery of threat potential and power

Having your opponent fear what you “could” do, as opposed to what you actually choose to do.

To clearly understand the concept, throw 4 German or Japanese bombers on the board, and see how that limits the allies options instantly.  And then see how many times you calculate for those bombers in different locations on the same turn.

You cant hold Yunnan because he could attack with ground troops and 4 bombers.

Your fleet can’t make a stand at Okinawa because he could attack with everything, but the 4 bombers swing it in his favour.

You can’t stay at Hawaii for the same reason.  etc.

It’s not that he has 12 bombers that can do all these things, but the deception is that you are calculating for those bombers at the same time. Â

The effective response is what we call dog piling, or flooding, or as some prefer “Dog Flooding”  where you just do all of the above, and force your opponent to choose, because either way you make progress on 2 of the 3 fronts.

@LHoffman:

I thought you were quite serious.

Ah.  Well them, to carry the joke one step forward, here’s a little marker I’ve just devised.  I’m sure it would look good translated into acrylic by the good folks at HBG.  :-)

@Gargantua:

It’s not that he has 12 bombers that can do all these things, but the deception is that you are calculating for those bombers at the same time. �

The effective response is what we call dog piling, or flooding, or as some prefer “Dog Flooding” � where you just do all of the above, and force your opponent to choose, because either way you make progress on 2 of the 3 fronts.

In the face of a no-win scenario, just reprogram the computer.

@Der:

@LHoffman:

This is kinda shady and something that would be frowned upon and scrutinized in my group.

Well we always check the math openly on our purchases, so if you are paying attention you’ll know the guy isn’t spending it all.

We tend to do the same. Saving up is one thing, but deliberately hiding it I don’t really like. However, as you said, people can do the math. In a high stakes game I tend to be pretty diligent about that anyway.

The audiobook version of Art of War is a perfect companion in the car driving. The British guys voice is amazing and gets you going….to war!

It’s better with British, not unlike listening to blokes in the Death Star on Star Wars.

here is the one you want, trust me. David Warrilow has the best voice for this type of thing.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/1590305477/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418086181&sr=1-1&keywords=audio+book+the+art+of+war

General Tzu would build

1  a sufficient amphibious navy from the UK sea zones, and
2  bombers.

Such a force enables rapid vectors for attack against many Germans targets. More than they can effectively defend.