I love Alpha 3, thanks so much for the hard work.

Just some feedback,

I love the new AA rules.  As well as the strengthening of Germany and calming of Japan.

Bear in mind between my friend and I, he is the stronger player, he played axis against me as allies both times and always attacks J1 on all Allies except Russia.  We played with a house rule that Japan or Russia gives 12 IPC bonus to the enemy when they attack each other.  We never play a game where japan attacks on a later turn, so just accept this as a critique in the event that Japan begins fighting and Germany waits till GR2 to attack the Soviets.

After game 1 we had UK invaded by GR turn 2, London fell, game over.
The second game I played much better as the allies in both Africa, the middle east and the pacific holding india till turn 4.
At this point though, I really feel that assuming the axis strike fast, the  allies don’t get enough bonuses/and or income for our style of play.  The US having only minor factories really slows you down and England can do little other than build inf to defend London.  at turn 4 Germany is at the gates of Moscow with 18 tanks and japan has gobbled up most of its land it needs and is ready to defend and receiving 55-10 ipc per turn making it a really tough win for the allies.

Again, I will continue using this setup because I love it, and will incorporate strategy, but I would perhaps like to balance it out with an additional bonus for the UK, for India especially, and for the Soviets and Americans.  I think that the Americans could get a bonus for having a land unit in the Solomon, or maybe new guinea, and maybe a +5 for Hawaii.  Thoughts?

First off, I really like the Charts, My buddy and I have played 2 turns of the game so far.  Before I start raising questions about the gameplay of a 1 on 1 game, are there any threads already on here for discussion of the Alpha +2 setup?

Thanks for all the hard work!

Discovered that an All Naval build for Russia (provided that they aren’t at war yet) is a great deterrent to sea lion.

I still think an infantry/armor build, and moving the Canadian forces to the home islands is the better deterrent to Sea lion.  I also try and reinforce Gibraltar as fast as I can and pull the fleets back.  I don’t enjoy playing so defensively, believe me, but The Luftwaffe will smash your fleet if you don’t get it somewhere safe (like Newfoundland) and build it up first(that is if Germany is going for Sea Lion Strategy).  This is especially hard if they (GER) builds heavily on subs and airpower.  I think it is actually better for the German player to hit the Soviets and not get involved int he pipe dream that is sea lion.

Well Van, you can always declare war on the USA on Germany1 and Italy1 to give em more cash!!!

I have thought about the Turkey idea, but I still haven’t had a chance to pull it off.

Van Trump, had an interesting time reading about your game.
However:

Germany upgraded Berlin IC to major AND had the money to buy 23 inf (10 in London,

How were you able to buy 10 INF in London?  Did you upgrade to a Major IC in London, because when you take a major IC, it immediately becomes a minor IC as stated in the rulebook.

OK Clyde,

Because waiting, especially in the east, totally ruins you as Japan, that’s why.  You guys are way too scared of the US’s money, so scared.  Why don’t you play like you got a pair.  I still think that if you pussyfoot around in Asia to have this all precious sealion strategy pan out, your gonna end up getting clobbered after the Brits, ANZAC and US can reposition and build up in the Pacific.  Just my opinion.  I always take Hong Kong on turn 1, so only Japan would ever place an IC there if I was playing.

Also, your right about the shore bombard rule, I checked the rulebook.  However, didn’t it used to be allowed?  As long as the Battleship didn’t participate in the sea combat, couldn’t it still bombard?? or was I playing it wrong the whole time??

ALRIGHT,  One more time  :?

How does this sealion strategy that you are all so in love with affect your situation in the east???  What happens with Japan if you wait till turn 3 to attack everybody???

This is about Axis and Allies GLOBAL isn’t it???

The DD is killed by my Carrier and aircraft that accompany the battleship.

It sounds like a viable strategy,

If you were my ally as Germany, and I was Italy (or Japan) and you told me you were going to do this, I wouldn’t be like “that’s stupid”.

That being said, I think you NEED to build a carrier or I agree, your fleet is gonna get toasted.  Also, you mention subs as “Naval Defense”??  Subs suck at defense.  They can be fodder, but much better when they are fodder in an attack instead of defense.  They can’t fire back at air units, which is going to be the biggest threat to your German navy.  Therefore, destroyers would be a better investment for two dollars more.

I also think the counter strategy would be for the Russians to wall off the north of Moscow and give you the Northern territories but at the same time threaten your southern flank.  That Southern Flank is what I would worry about because every dollar you spend on another transport or destroyer in the Baltic (and you’ll need plenty), that’s several men and tanks you won’t have in the Southern/Balkans front.

In addition to hitting you in the south with Russia, I would probably hit Norway and Finland with the US and UK and try and knock out your flank.  So in that case, you could rush troops from the mainland to Scandinavia to defend it or counter attack, but only if your fleet still survives.

I have had good luck building a factory in Norway as Germany and building lots of tanks there.  It gives you more options in both defense and attack against Russia and USA (who you definitely don’t want coming into Norway and building a factory of their own).  It also does this without sacrificing so many IPC’s on naval units.  Germany isn’t really a naval power in this game, and although I do think that building a CV on G1 is almost a gimme buy, other than that, it is risky to build heavy in the sea as Germany.