I played two games of Axis and Allies 50th on Saturday.
Both times we played with the 1941 scenario, with techs and NOs, to 13 VCs.
The first game, while exciting and fun, was also fairly standard, and something I expect many people will see. I’ll go through that one first.
I played Japan.
We were playing with some newer players, so Germany and Russia both made mistakes against each other, with the Germans making a little headway, but not as much as they probably could have. The Italians broke into Africa after a couple turns and started getting decent income. I felt some pressure as Japan with the British building an industrial complex in India and the US building fleets, but the US player made an early mistake when he consolidated his fleet (minus the Battleship, which was sunk) in Hawaii, within range of my fleet which had taken the Philippines. I swung around and smashed the Americans and captured Honolulu, and then went south to capture Australia. Meanwhile I was fighting the land war with Industrial complexes in Manchuria and the Japanese territory that borders it, putting down 5 tanks a turn to counter the British builds and continue pushing in China. I needed those ICs, because I lost several transports due to wanting to capture territories and needing my fleet elsewhere, leaving them as easy picking for British ships and American planes. But in the end I think the IPC gain (and cost to the US when I grabbed the Carolines) was worth the loss of those transports.
I felt the need for a Japanese destroyer (I lost mine) when the UK player used his IC to put three subs in the Pacific rather than the expected build of more land units. Ultimately that cost him, I think - while six subs would have been a big threat, I could handle three, and I was able to smash the aggressive British forces on land in French Indo-China, leaving India looking rather desolate. Meanwhile the Germans made the unorthodox move of capturing Canada (for the VC) after they smashed the British fleet (though they lost the entire Luftwaffe doing so).
It was clear that the Japanese were going to get the India IC and finish off China, and Germany turned into a big threat to Russia with the development of Mechanized infantry, which they used to good effect in capturing the Causasus after the Italians cleared the way through Ukraine (though Karelia was still in Russian hands the whole game). Italy was set to grab all of Africa, and the Americans were going full-tilt in the pacific, a costly endeavor after losing all their original ships, and one that I had the income with Japan to build a defense against while maintaining the land war through tanks. With the Axis teetering on 11-12 victory cities and little to stop them, especially after the Japanese got Jet Fighters, we called the game in favor of the Axis so we could play another one.
Boy, am I glad we did.
The second game was one of the wildest and best games I’ve ever played.
I played Italy.
Things began well for the axis. Germany tried building an Aircraft Carrier in the Baltic, took out the UK battleship with subs and a bomber, and invaded the northern part of Russia (leaving Ukraine alone) on G1, and a Russian counterattack failed badly, leaving Karelia sufficiently weak to be taken on G2. The only dark spot became a thorn in our side - Germany didn’t defend France with much, and the UK took France. Through the whole game, the German player preferred to leave a small defense force in France, and the UK took it, got 11 IPC from it (between France and the NO), and lost it to a (Usually Italian) counterattack. This happened every turn that the UK had transports, which was all but two turns.
Japan killed the US battleship and opted to use its fleet and three transports to attack the massed 7 Russian infantry to the North. While taking heavy losses, the attack worked, and Russia’s whole back door was down to two infantry defending it. They retreated as Japan advanced for the rest of the game. Japan also had enough forces left over to still take the Phillipines with air units and a transport, and they grabbed Borneo and Kwangtung as well.
With those moves, China’s constant infantry production was able to slow, but never quite stopped the Japanese advance. The British fleets from Australia and India recaptured Borneo and East Indies before Japan got its fleet down to retake them (meaning the UK production was very high for several turns, combined with its frequent captures of France). The Americans were going full-naval-tilt against the Japanese and attacked two loaded carriers with four fighters and a bomber, sinking two Japanese carriers and a fighter (while losing many planes). They paid for it when the rest of the Japanese navy counterattacked, and the American fleet went to the bottom. Japan was constantly using its transports in Asia, and Sydney and Honolulu remained in allied hands the whole game.
So, the Japanese were slowed a bit but growing steadily, and Germany was wearing down Russia with Italian help. The UK developed improved shipyards and built up a scary-looking fleet in the North Sea, but Germany hit it with their Baltic fleet, along with their planes. The entire Royal Navy, the German fleet, and half the Luftwaffe went to the bottom of the English channel. The Axis hadn’t made any headway into Africa despite the UK drawing troops from there to support India, due to the Axis taking troops from there to fight Russia (and an ill-concieved German attack on stonger American forces in Morocco, rather than hitting the single British infantry left in Egypt).
The Russian sub became an expensive annoyance by wandering around in the mediterranian, denying me a badly needed 5 IPC bonus for several turns. I even bought a destroyer to deal with it, and he attacked and sank the destroyer (I should have split my fleet to protect it, I invaded the Caucasus by sea that turn but I could have spared a cruiser).
But in any case, the Axis were slowly but steadily winning. Nothing could stop Japan, and Germany was fairly secure and making inroads against Russia. We were very relieved to see the bulk of the US forces going to the Pacific, as more US pressure against Italy could have been fatal for us.
Then the game changed - the UK rolled Heavy Bombers. This was on a turn after they had France, East Indies, and Borneo, so they had the income to buy four bombers that turn, adding to the one they started the game with.
The axis panicked - we realized that with the UK’s huge income (over 50 a turn with NOs), heavy bombers, and cheap sea units, that Churchill was going to smash us. The bombers and a few transports suddenly posed a big threat to Germany itself even with a ton of infantry there. We realized it was Moscow or Bust, especially when those bombers came in next turn and did maximum damage to the Berlin and Karelia complexes, and hurt Italy as well. Italy flew a fighter can-opener in Belarus to allow 11 tanks a run into Moscow, and took the Caucasus, meaning Russia could only make 6 units a turn. Japan finally broke through on all fronts, felling the last Chinese infantry and capturing India, East Indies, and Borneo on the same turn, drastically cutting the UK’s massive income. The US closed the opening the Italians made by landing a single bomber in Belorus, and bought the Russians another turn. Germany spent a turn repairing complexes and putting purely defensive units in its capital to prevent the UK from taking it, while charging the tanks into Belorus. Faced with losing the Moscow, the Russians attacked the German tanks first with their own tanks (able to only make 6 units, they made tanks instead of infantry). We were pleased to see the German force knocked down to 8 tanks while grieviously harming the Russians, and thought that Moscow would now be very easy to take. Not so, however - the Russian move was a set-up for a two-part attack. The UK air force - two fighters and five heavy bombers - hit Belorus next, obliterating the main German force with two bombers surviving.
The main German attack was defeated, but now we had a little breathing room from those bombers, and Japan loomed large with tanks and fighters ready to make their own assault. The remaining six German tanks moved in from the northwest, Italian tanks closed in from the southwest, and Japanese tanks rolled up from the rear, surrounding Moscow completely with all three axis forces. The UK had built a fleet the turn it lost most of the bomber force, so it couldn’t repeat its destruction of Axis forces in Asia (but it did take France again, and re-took Norway).
Down to the wire - the US finally had an Atlantic presence and was moving to threaten both Italy and Japan. The UK rebuilt its bombers as Germany evacuated every European territory except the capital - Germany had by now abandoned sending more units against Russia, and bunkered down on defense. The US, seeing Russia’s situation, launched a desperate assault on Japan where the die rolls went as expected, and sent the American fleet to the bottom. Germany launched the last of their East front forces in the first of a three-wave assault on Moscow. German forces killed plenty of Russians before dying, and Russia built what it could and pre-emptively attacked the Japanese tanks surrounding the city to prevent Japan from getting a land unit into the fight, hoping that the UK could get a rebuilt RAF into Moscow to stop the Italians. They got every Japanese tank except one, and the Japanese hit Moscow hard with one tank and a mighty air force, seizing the capital with one tank and two fighters remaining.
The fighting in Asia was so brutal, everywhere, that at the end of the game there were about twelve units, total, in all of Asia. Seven of those were Italian. The rampant Axis offense, spurred to insanity by the threat of UK heavy bombers, and the Allied defense and aggressive counterattacks completely broke each other apart, with the Axis barely scraping out on top. If Moscow had gone differently, the Axis didn’t have the forces to try again later. Germany was well defended enough to be impregnable for some time, so with Moscow fallen we called the game.
The game went on for a long time (7 hours), with fighting everywhere, and never a dull moment. It was one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life.
So, a bit of analysis:
Japan has a whole lot of things it can do. With the motivation provided by NOs, I don’t think that too many of Japan’s opening moves will be to crush China outright, or even to make a big push to India - unless you play without NOs, in which case I might have gone right for crushing China. The prospect of doing that is outweighed by the prospect of getting more money early on by attacking places like Kwangtung and various pacific islands.
The Japanese fleet in both games ended up spread out a bit to try to capture as much territory as possible while dealing with various naval threats.
The US probably can’t win going full-tilt against Japan (though both our US players made some early fleet-losing mistakes, so a more savvy player might have a better shot at it), but the US pressure did slow Japan down and make for harder choices for Japan in both games. But even a little US pressure in the Atlantic would have been really helpful for the allies. I think the best US strategy may well be a two-front war.
Africa is nice for the Axis, but not essential. I’m not sure if the Axis is better off with Italy helping the Germans take Russia (and protecting France) or if it should work on taking Africa.
The UK can be truly terrifying if it gets to keep its income high. If possible, the UK should try really hard to build a fleet capable of withstanding a full German assault - that would have saved the UK in both our games a lot of money on transports, not to mention turns where they couldn’t conduct invasions for lack of a navy. As the axis, do not let the UK have lots of income. It very nearly cost us the game. Also, the Australian and Indian fleets really do make a difference in what happens in the Pacific - during the second game where they took Borneo and East Indies back from Japan, that income shift lasted two turns because the Japanese transports were out of position to take them back (they had had to move north, to safety, since the fleet was off dealing with the US fleet).
In addition, the India IC may or may not be viable, depending on how the game goes. In the first game, where it was built, the more or less standard Japanse moves and twin IC’s got to the point where they would clearly have overwhelmed and captured the complex eventually.
In the second game, I think the British would have been served extremely well by building one out there. It was clear from turn 1 that the Japanese couldn’t easily turn around to go for India when they attacked the Russians in the north, even pulling infantry away from India to take Kwangtung. The battle for Asia was a near thing, with Japan taking India with the relatively few forces it had left in the southern theatre (the land units produced by the manchurian IC were taking the northern or chinese route into Russia). Japan was so preoccupied by the US fleet that the British might have held Borneo or the East Indies for even longer, to the point where they might have even stopped Japan in the south (or if they were able to divert Japanese forces to them, then Japan’s assault on Moscow wouldn’t have happened when it did, probably saving Moscow.)
Technology is important and advantageous, and I think that many nations are well served by buying it. German mechanized infantry and Japanese jet fighters really helped the Axis offense in the first game, and UK Heavy Bombers turned the Axis into a chaotic madman of a war machine, desperate to win before the UK turned the tide. Once the UK got heavy bombers, it should never have put its income anywhere else, as it could have spent another turn in Asia destroying Axis forces from the air, meaning Germany couldn’t have launched its part of the final attack.
Germany is probably better served by diverting sufficient resources to hold France (if feasible) rather than counterattacking it after it falls. Trading it with the UK is a lot more advantageous to the UK player, and increases British income significantly. Both games demonstrated that Germany can afford some naval presence to fight the British and simultaneously attack Russia, but it does make Russia a tough nut to crack.
