I like at least one there to completely deter a German player from taking a chance at it; it allows the UK fighter to be used else where immediately and potentially survive for later rounds. However, I’ve been starting to see some others make the point that 1 inf could change a lot in that region and that is somewhat of a shame. For a bid I’d favor Russian units or maybe even a DD for E.US. I just don’t want to loose that many Atlantic units from the outset. I still want to see the Allies win without a bid; I’m working on getting my group to lower our bid for the Allies, but let me not get too distracted from the original post or questions. How about 1 inf in East Africa? I know action occurred there in the earlier in the war around 1941, so it’s worth a thought.

@Private Panic, I was back pedaling against the hard AI on triple a at first, but eventually I made it pay for its weaknesses, which I feel are the Manchuria complex it likes to build on J1 and the fact that disregards any US take over of the cash islands. I’ll give it some credit since it likes to go after Moscow quickly and makes decent use of good tactics–choosing smart calculated battles and fair position of units/stacks.

Wow!   This is all very well put together and thorough!  Thanks a lot Black_Elk!  It’s nice to know that there are other possibilities out there for Russia. Can’t say I’m into ditching Caucasus so early on, but I’ll have to try it sometime and see how the German player reacts.  Yeah, Szech and Bury moves make sense.

I think I got a good feel for Russia now. I’m working on different moves with US1 and UK1 now. For UK, I’m not referring to purchases.  I’m trying different tactics with the their navy in Aus and India. I consider the following :

If bid (Egypt and/or SZ35 SS probably) then I’ll be tempted to hit EI and open up with a KJF.

If no bid, then I’ll be inclined to try a KGF. With my first choice hitting SZ61 and sending the rest to the Med. Depending on the board I might go full Med. Not so sure how it goes if I send it south around Africa or even trying to combine on SZ30 yet. As for the Australian fleet, I’ll probably send them east instead of combining them with Indian Ocean units in SZ30; another option I haven’t attempted is hitting Solomon with the Aus fleet (and maybe in conjunction with a risky Borneo–probably not.) The US could go Solomons as well in that case.

I’m sure that are plenty of alternatives, but right now that’s what I feel like I’m working with.

For USA…well, perhaps for another topic post.

I’ll give it a look. Thanks a lot drsnidely and to everyone who voted.

Yes. I meant Ukraine. Not E. Ukr…sorry, that must be AA50 talking.

Earlier in these threads it seemed like W.Rus (stack) and E. Ukr were the main targets to hit and best option. Now it seems that more people have opened up to W.Rus stack and Baltic States combo. Do you guys still hit E. Ukr at all when you hit Baltic?

I haven’t been active on these threads, but I’ve read many of them. My friends and I just started placing 42.2 again. I’m looking to optimize or refine some of my strategies or just get an idea of what some of the more experienced players are doing now. We’ll start with a common topic and I hope to move to others as well. Thanks!

Well crap. I’m assuming naval builds are a dead end, so maybe fleeing towards the Med (or attacking German BB) is feasible after all.

Did everyone already give up on putting the game on the line on the E.Indies UK/Japan fight in UK1 (66%)?  Leaving that Japan fleet alive just seems to be a bad idea to me.

With respect to the original poster, I like this map because it made me reinvent my strats…mainly for the allies though. The 42.1 map was starting to get predictable in certain situations…not to mention it had those hard to see lines in the German\Russia front. (if you are using the actual board and not playing online.)  Another notable difference is that US naval forces can’t get to UK in on move, it’s three spaces now…and to make it worse, any German naval units in the Baltic can strike at any UK SZ.

Due to noticeable changes this map feels like halfway between 42.1 and Anniversary map…I like it.

@Hobbes:

I agree with 42.2 favoring a KJF (but at the same time choosing that option weakens Russia because of sending the fighter to Egypt) but then the hard challlenge is to stop Germany from conquering Russia.

I still feel committed to a KGF on the 42.2 map, because I don’t see how a KJF strategy will act fast enough to work before Germany pummels Russia. I suppose the stack W.Rus and Ukraine opener on R1 will help, but in a KJF I feel as I have to put the the US 100% in the Pacific. If I do that, UK can’t get a solid Atlantic drop to ship troops over to help Russia make a stand or make a solid attack on France/Norway territories fast enough. Do you guys island hop or win in E. Asia first in a KJF?  With island hopping, it seems to take a bit longer on this map mainly because the US can’t hit the East Indies anymore from the Solomon Islands and Japan can counter a Borneo or Philippines take over…so more fleets are needed. With E. Asia, Japan still takes China and a Buryatia capture is even easier. How are players quickly recovering from that or how do you counter that in a KJF?

@Cow:

Like I said if you want a real war game with real options.

Like obviously 2 subs is hitting the usa transports or the uk transports, everytime. obviously landing on europe don’t happen till uk3 or uk4. obviously india stalls japan from taking russia. obviously the allies losing africa is big, because if the allies send stuff there, it is not in europe. obviously germany does not buy armor till 2 rounds before it attacks caucasus. Usually when you start going for caucasus, the allies will see exactly how many men will attack it ahead of time, and india moves toward caucasus to defend it. thanks for playing.

One of the few obvious things that isn’t so obvious to me yet is how to make USA highly effective in the Pacific. I’m dedicating so much into the Atlantic to address the nerf. Borneo or Philippines sounds good, but it just seems to me that Japan can easily counter.