Owen Dawson

Tamer of Beasts · Sep 29, 2021, 10:21 PM

Gotcha. That is a rough Allies game. When you say a solo game, do you mean you played both sides, or that you played Allies against TripleA AI? Just curious. Also, upon rereading what I said earlier, I didn’t mean for my thoughts to come across as harsh, so my apologies. :)

Tamer of Beasts · Jul 31, 2024, 6:15 PM

@LewisClark The UK is split into two economies, not two powers. The UK player, if I understand your predicament correctly, can still move ALL their pieces on both sides of the board. They simply cannot purchase/collect income on the Europe side. There is no Europe/Pacific control of the pieces as all UK pieces are moved at the same time since they share a turn.

Tamer of Beasts · Feb 22, 2025, 6:08 PM

@nishav I don’t know of any designer comments, but this is one of those aspects of the game that is determined by balance and playability rather than pinpoint geographical accuracy. If there were more SZs in the Pacific, that side of the game would take longer, since more turns would be needed to move ships. It would also restrict strategic options, since, if there were more SZs to travel through, units would have less ability to threaten multiple areas from whatever position they are in.

All that to say, I get your point, and a geographically accurate map does have some appeal, but if you’re looking to play a balanced and fun game that doesn’t take up your whole week, the way they made it is well done.

Tamer of Beasts · Aug 16, 2024, 12:23 AM

@FranceNeedsMorePower That does sound fun but you still have the problem of Italy being underwhelming in the first place. I hesitate to add anything to France that could impact Italy in any meaningful way. Doing so would require an Italian change in setup, and if I understand correctly, the goal here is a little more excitement and possibly balance, not redoing the whole game. Changing the Italian setup because you changed France’s (beyond slowing Germany down) is more of an alternate edition than a house rule.

Tamer of Beasts · May 5, 2023, 1:52 AM

Sorry about all the edits. I was figuring out noncombat moves when I just want to reinforce.

Tamer of Beasts · Sep 29, 2021, 5:31 PM

@marshmallowofwar I agree. One of my favorite parts of the game when playing Germany or Russia is looking at the stacks and trying to calculate odds and what moves are best in the turns leading up to the (usually) inevitable battle for Moscow. Really engages the brain!

Tamer of Beasts · Aug 16, 2024, 12:34 AM

@FranceNeedsMorePower My honest answer is that I think you are taking off more than you can chew at once. I suggest playtesting this in phases. Start with making minor adjustments to France (like the ones I suggested or similar). If that makes you happy-great! If not, then slowly add changes.

It seems right now that you are a little too eager to change everything, and I fear you will wind up disappointing yourself and never settling on anything.

Just my two-cents, but those are my honest thoughts. Start simple and give France a low-impact option or two.

Tamer of Beasts · May 9, 2023, 2:56 AM

My bad. I repeated the Italian turn history.

Tamer of Beasts · May 3, 2023, 4:34 PM

@the_good_captain I’m down, though I am not sure how to go about the edits.

Tamer of Beasts · Sep 29, 2021, 5:20 PM

I don’t know how Germany was able to both hold off Russia after giving them 3 turns of buildup and have enough of a fleet to not only successfully defeat London (which sounds like it had built up) and challenge the Americans. Without seeing the game, it sounds to me like Russia needed to poke Germany a little harder (maybe build up along the front to draw more German units and thus IPCs) and the British needed to build up more in London. A prepared UK player shouldn’t lose London on turn 4, IMHO. A stack of 20+ infantry and several fighters (keep the French one there especially if Sealion seems like a threat) should be enough to make Germany suffer. Even if London falls, the German navy shouldn’t be able to outlast the Americans if the German player has put any thought into the Eastern Front. Germany starts the game with a lot of power and potential directions it could go, but to have that kind of stomping sounds more like Allied mistakes than Axis success.

Tamer of Beasts · Feb 22, 2025, 6:08 PM

@nishav I don’t know of any designer comments, but this is one of those aspects of the game that is determined by balance and playability rather than pinpoint geographical accuracy. If there were more SZs in the Pacific, that side of the game would take longer, since more turns would be needed to move ships. It would also restrict strategic options, since, if there were more SZs to travel through, units would have less ability to threaten multiple areas from whatever position they are in.

All that to say, I get your point, and a geographically accurate map does have some appeal, but if you’re looking to play a balanced and fun game that doesn’t take up your whole week, the way they made it is well done.

Tamer of Beasts · Jan 19, 2025, 4:06 AM

@The-Janus In my experience, if the Allies have consistent control of Paris (long enough for France to consider purchases), the game is essentially over. If Germany is weak enough that Paris is taken and held, then France’s economy really doesn’t need a boost, IMHO. I get that it is more fun to buy expensive units, but it simply would be kicking Germany while it is down.

That said, if you have a good European game as the Allies but a crappy situation in the Pacific, maybe something can be considered, but the French really cannot do much about the Pacific.