Thanks Yoshi, good game! Would have been nice if the dice had been more even and we could go more rounds.
Strategy wise, if I might comment and get your thoughts too… While round 1 favored the axis (I agree that every other game one ought to expect to get diced in an opening battle, didn’t happen this time), in my humble opinion there were a few related decisions that cost the Allies the game.
First, while the sub bid and R1 bmb build takes out a few free trannies, given G1 was solid I think the bmb was a risky buy without R1 land units in the bid. Second, Russia’s difficulties were compounded by the all-Pacific USA1 strategy which made it impossible for the key USA swing power to help out in the crucial Euro theater which was already looking tough by USA1 (and about to get tougher). Third was the killer z12 UK naval mistake where whether I came out a fighter ahead or behind wouldn’t have mattered as the navy was sunk and the ability to shuck land units delayed (which would not have been a problem had USA naval assets been there to reinforce). While that was I think a miscalculation mistake, strategically once the USA navy wasn’t in the Atlantic, had the UK navy gone the more conservative Northern route to bolster and take back Karelia (maybe using air to take out the Italian navy) it’s possible the Pacific USA strat would have had time to work. I think you knew that with my G2 (and G3 though not needed) bmb build and z8 ss move that I was itching to take out the UK navy in z12 as the lack of any Russian land pressure would allow me to trade replaceable air with harder to replace UK navy. Finally, I think the all Pacific USA1 route is generally speaking pretty risky, as it requires your opponent to make mistakes in order to work out well and in my opinion is easy for a carefully played Japan to defend against.
Of course, with bad dice it may have still ended up the same, but perhaps taken 10 rounds.
I’m sure I over simplified the above, as I don’t have that much experience w AA50 (tried to learn AA50 as quickly as possible through test games I played in the 2011 leagues, of which I made many mistakes).
RD
