Morrison Games

[stepdogg77]

peter-

great jobs on the vids and articles... i've 'wasted' too much time at work watching and reading them, but they're enjoyable nonetheless. 2 points--

1- i disagree with your recommendation of placing a factory in south africa so soon in the game. it's a safe bet that jerry will dominate the mediterranean and hold egypt by the end of his first turn. with one transport, jerry can reinforce egypt at the rate england reinforces south africa. if jerry decides to build a factory in egypt, or build a second transport, then he will eventually over-run the continent (and take the factory based in s. africa).

2- probably not the proper forum for this discussion, but a house rule that i have found to add longevity to capital ships (and ultimately make them worth the investment)... carriers take 3 hits, battleships take 4 hits.. in order to repair, damaged ships must spend an entire turn in a sea zone adjacent to it's nation's factory. damaged ships also suffer movement penalties (1 sea zone as opposed to 2). i am not happy with the optional house rules proposed by the game publisher, and i noticed that there is scant discussion of specific house rules in this forum. would you mind starting a thread on this topic? thx-

mvs

[Peter Morrison]

Your house rules are a good idea. I've created a new topic that you can specifically post it in.

Battleships definitely need something more if they're to be purchased, and I don't think 2 hits is near enough!

About the Egypt factory. The first turn may truly be too soon. I guess it kinda depends on what the Germans have been able to accomplish and how the German player is playing. If the German player is putting maximum pressure on Africa (buying transports, etc), then it might be better to wait a turn or two and see what unfolds before getting the S. Africa factory built.

[Damo]

Mr. Morrison:
I just read your suggestions on the question of whether to build factories and generally agree. One exception: The Japanese can build a factory in the first two turns assuming a couple of conditions. First, the British have not invaded Kwantung but have instead taken the transport from India to Africa. Also, the Russians have not attacked the first turn. Then, the factory MUST be used only for tank building, except possibly for the first turn it comes on-line. The reasoning being this: three transports cost 24 IPCs. A factory and AA gun cost 20. As long as the tanks are being built in Manchuria or Burma (I don't recommend India or Kwangtung), the Japanese are getting pieces directly to the action. I grant you that the transports give you flexibility to invade other islands; however, I have found it advantageous to build tanks in Asia bolstered by the infantry from Japan. Since the first turn has seen 2 extra Japanese transports appear on the board, this gives you the capacity to transport 8 infantry while building 3 tanks before you must increase capacity (so as long as you are making 39 IPC's or less, this tactic can make sense.)
Since the Germans are the pivotal Axis player in the Russia campaign, and since the Allies can get massive force in Europe in a matter of only a couple of turns, the faster the Japanese can get tanks to pressure Russia, the better. By the time the Japan player is 'on the gates of Moscow,' the combined onslaught from the Axis pincer is the surest way I have found to defeat the Allies.

[BobbyChicken]

I don't understand your math concerning not strategic bombing. 0.4 IPCs to your advantage? Plus an additional 3.5 with heavy bombers? That's a huge advantage and can be used to completely annahialate Germany's economy. What other kinds of battles consistently raise your IPCs as compared to your enemy's? The Japanese player may be able to come up with a few tricks, but Germany can always be reduced to nothing economically, no matter how good the player. 40 IPCs for US= 8/3 Bombers per turn, allowin sustenance of 6X8/3 or 16 bombers in the UK to hit the Germans every turn. If that does kill them off, nothing will, as 70 IPcs comes at a mere 12 heavy bombers. How is this not bombing into submission? Granted, I've taken some liberties in simplifying this, but any advantage that can be had by U.S. units over German ones is a good thing, as a brief look at the IPCs per turn will testify to.

[Peter Morrison]

It all depends on what you mean by strategic bombing. What sort of bombers do you have, regular bombers, rules-out-of-the-box Heavy Bombers, modified rules Heavy Bombers??

Heavy Bombers rolling two dice worth of damage is phenomenal and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Regular bombers and modified rules Heavy Bombers are still okay, but there is an opportunity cost that has to be taken into account with using them, whereas Heavy Bombers with two dice of IPC damage is just unstoppable.

[BobbyChicken]

I play with the out-of-the-box rules since I can't stop tampering with the rules after I start. Under tournament rules, I still go with them, although I make sure to do some damage in Africa as well. I've never played without tech, but I think I'd stick with the bomber strategy. The U.S. is just too far away in my opinion. I just had to protest to that anti-strategic bombing article you wrote. Even if it is the wrong way to go, the reason is that it is too slow to make a difference, as the IPCs still sway to the Allies advantage, even without tech. That's pretty much all I have to say on Axis and Allies though. Every time I think about the game, I think my heart rate slows to about thirty beats per minute. It's like war in slow motion. I'd rather play the Japanese in A&A Pacific and watch myself go 20 IPCs up the first turn. Better to go down in flames than live in a turtle shell. Still every once in while, it's time for me to get out my inner turtle and strive for quantity, quantity that has a quality of its own.

So anyways, this has absolutely nothing to do with A&A, but how much did it cost you to get the plastic pieces for Viktory produced? I'm thinking of getting a mold done for my game of Polynesian warfare, and just wondered how many of those games I'd have to sell to break even. It'd have a total of six different pieces. So pretty simillar to Viktory I would guess.

[Gray Fox]

Out of the box I'd say the best advantages are:
Russia : lend-lease (assuming your allies will give you units)
Germany: nothing is clearly best imho
UK: Colonial Garrison (unless your allies can actually use joint strike well)
Japan: Banzai (because infantry is the best unit)
USA: Superfortress (automatic victory by turn 6 even w/o tech)

With the LHTR rules....

Germany gets 1 incredible adtantage with the revised Luftwaffe dive-bomber.
Even with lend-lease reduced to 1 UK & USA unit per turn it is still the clear choice. The superfortress advantage is still probably the most powerful (bombers are only hit on a roll of 3 or less on 2d6) unless technology is disabled. If you can't get heavy bombers, then I would pick either chinese divisions or the marines advantage.

[Josh]

Have you ever thought about the other advantages. I'm always seeing the same things being used over and over. To me I think that using the same things over again would create a huge disadvantage for you over time. Change the way your game is played. Use the french resistance advantage, especially when Germany is tied down with Russia. If the Germans don't force you out of europe right away the allies will have a huge advantage over the game. As I stated in some other posts, bombers get to be the norm with most players. Yes they are always useful in some situations, but they do have a disadvantage. the enemy will most likely take the hit with an infantry (loss of 3), and causes you to lose bomber ($15 loss). If you can get some BS's and dest. with combined bombardment, you can just send 1 inf in and weeken the enemy drastically and lose only that 1 unit. If you use rockets along with this, The enemy can get limited in options. This is how games get won or lossed. Take away options, dictate the flow of the game, and avoid the back and forth pounding of each other. Numbers won't win games, options and income does. Think about it and try it. You may be surprised at the results.
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JOSH BRIGGS