Posts made by halbower

I’m pretty sure someone here is compiling statistics for which side is winning more games. I cannot find it anywhere, though. Could someone point me in that direction?

@Mach:

@Hobbes:

1. Japan moves first. What was Larry thinking!!! Allowing Japan go first allows one to pre-emptively position 6 Japanese fighters in Burma and 1 bomber in French Indo China so that they are ready to land in East Ukraine on turn 2.

Someone didn’t check if the moves are possible first: you can only land 5 fighters in Burma on J1. The fighter in Japan can’t reach Burma (5 moves required).

I used the exact same strategy last Saturday; admittedly taken right from the original thread.  I saw that post a couple of weeks ago on the BGG site.  We were starting our 2nd game at 2:00 am, so I figured “what the hell.”

Japan can still make several opening attacks.  I still hit the Pearl fleet, but used the fighter from Japan.  The one on the Solomon fleet went to Burma.  I hit the UK fleet off of India (at work-no map and dont recall sea zones; sorry).  That attack didnt go too well.  I ended up having to lose the carrier and retreat both fighters to Burma.  Hit Buryatin too…used the bomber for support before landing FIC.

What were the results? Was the opening move good, bad or…?

This strategy does not use the national objectives. When testing this strategy, keep that in mind.

If the US adopts a KJF strategy, the Japanese simply have to buy infantry and hold off the US for a round or two. How much material can the US bring to bear against Japan by turn 3 or 4?

This was originally posted on boardgamegeek.com. I’ve looked for a discussion about it here but couldn’t find one. If this discussion exists, could a moderator combine the threads?

This discussion was started by Michael Tan who believes this is an unstoppable Axis strategy. I’ve duplicated his results with triplea. Is there a consensus? Or is there a controversy?

By Michael Tan
_I hope somebody proves me wrong because I think I’ve discovered an unstoppable opening move for the Axis in the 1942 scenario. I spotted the potential strategy on our first time playing so it really makes me wonder if they actually playtested this game at all. It’s basically a variation of the Revised strategy of blitzing Russia with every German unit and using Japanese fighters to secure the forward position from a Russian counterattack. There are a few map and rule changes that seem to make this strategy overwhelmingly effective as compared to Revised:

1. Japan moves first. What was Larry thinking!!! Allowing Japan go first allows one to pre-emptively position 6 Japanese fighters in Burma and 1 bomber in French Indo China so that they are ready to land in East Ukraine on turn 2. The only other objective for Japan is to wipe out the American and UK fighters that can help defend Moscow. Don’t waste any planes doing this though - use your fleet including carriers and battleship as entirely expendable fodder. Build 2 bombers and start bombing the crap out of Russia starting turn 2.

2. Leningrad is a FREE factory for the Germans. It’s IMPOSSIBLE for the Russian player to defend all three ICs on turn one. There are just too many Germans units to worry about so he has to give up one of them. Leningrad is the least valuable and hardest to defend. Once the German player captures it, he can simultaneously build infantry in Leningrad and armor in Germany that can attack Moscow in sync. This is just a gift for the Germans.

3. Moscow’s IPC value is reduced to 6. This means the Russian player can only place SIX units TOTAL if he loses Leningrad and Caucusus. Meanwhile the Germany player can produce a nasty combination like 2 infantry 2 artillery in Caucusus, and 2 armor in Leningrad, PLUS whatever he has left over from Germany to relentlessly pummel the poor Russian player.

4. The reconfigured Eastern Front heavily favors a short game. Germany is now 4 spaces from Moscow instead of 3. If it’s a long game where the German player is marching infantry across the map, that might be meaningful. If he’s building only tanks, 4 spaces is no different that 3 spaces. BOTH are two turns away. Meanwhile, the front is now 4 spaces north to south instead of 3. That REALLY hurts Russia because now there is an EXTRA territory that is adjacent to Moscow that he constantly has to worry about controlling. This is disasterous if the Japanese and Italians coordinate efforts with Germany.

5. Italy can be used as Germany’s b!tch. Who cares about Africa. Ship every Italian unit to Ukraine. You can get 1 infantry 1 artillery 1 armor and 1 fighter there on turn 1. Use the leftover Italian infantry to shore up the Western Front after you’ve gutted it of EVERY single German unit. Build 1 transport and 1 infantry. On turn 2 Italy can slam Caucusus with a suicide strike force of 5 infantry 1 artillery 3 tanks 1 fighter 1 battleship and 2 cruisers. Even if the Allies fly every single plane on the map, it’s doubtful they can stop a one-two punch from the Italians and Germans.

Here’s the bottom line: Once the Axis players recognizes Eastern Ukraine is the most important territory in the game, it’s all over. No matter what the Russian player does turn 1, Germany can take it back and hold it. That’s because the 5 or 6 surviving German land units get reinforced with 7 Japanese and Italian fighters plus a 1 bomber. If the Russian player attacks the stack, the fighters unleash so much punishment on Russian units that there’s nothing left to stop the German onslaught on turn 3. If you don’t attack the stack, Caucusus and Moscow, which are both adjacent to Eastern Ukraine, are simultaneously threatened by a sizeable German force - typically 9 infantry 1 artillery 5 armor 5 fighters and 1 bomber. This forces the Russian player to give up Caucusus to hold Moscow. Once the German player takes Caucusus, the 10 Japanese planes (now 7 fighters and 3 bombers) ensure that it remains under Axis control for the rest of the game. Germany now has 6 production right next to Moscow. Meanwhile Japan is pounding Russia with bombers so they’ll be very lucky to place 6 infantry. GAME OVER by turn 4. Sure the Allies dominate both oceans and control Western Europe. It’s irrelevent if Russia is taken out so quickly.

To make matters worse for the Russian player, he also has to take Belorussia and Ukraine turn 1 as well. If not, the German player can land all his fighters and bombers there in non combat. That means there are potentially 12 Axis fighters + 2 bombers right next door to Russia on turn 2. UGLY.     _