The Age of the Aircraft Carrier: A&A Revised Edition - Game 1 Round 12-15 (Mistakes Made)

Axis & Allies - Revised Edition

Game 1 Round 12-15 - Mistakes Made

Game: Axis & Allies (2004 – Revised 20^th anniversary edition)

Why Won’t This Game End?

The End is Nigh. Japan controls the Pacific, China, India, Australia and most of USSR. Germany has just taken over Moscow. But if the end is here, then Why Won’t This Game End?

Well, besides the fact that I’m playing this out until there actually is a bitter end, this game won’t end because of Mistakes Made.

Rounds 12-15 – Mistakes Made and the Very Near Collapse of Europe

After taking Moscow, Germany is spread out with too many territories and not enough infantry. Their forces are in the wrong places and they are in no position to mount any sort of proper defense.

And what happens when forces are out of place and spread thin? Opponents attack.

UK thins out the German capital and USA is able to invade Germany.

The lesson here - Protect your capitals!

The Allies can’t help but wonder if they could have tried this sooner and perhaps prevented Moscow from ever falling. Perhaps they spent too much time trying to hold Norway and Karelia and should have been looking for this sort of attack several rounds earlier. But regrets won’t help them win this game and they’ll never know what could have been. Right now, they have to focus on taking full advantage of Germany’s IPCs.

Lesson learned by the Allies – always be on the lookout for key opportunities, and try to identify them sooner.

Germany was too overeager to take Russia and Moscow. The Allies not only gain 53 IPCs from Germany, but if they can keep this up each round they can now prevent Germany from building new units. If this can last, then this game will be about Japan vs. USA and UK with both Germany and USSR having been knocked out.

Germany may have accidentally let the Allies back into this game. Things have become very interesting, all because Germany wanted their own major victory in Moscow and didn’t want to let Japan have all of the glory of victory.

Lesson learned by the Axis – don’t get too greedy or impatient.

Round-by-Round Fight for Germany

Round 13 – Germany tries to take back its capital and hold onto most of its territories. They leave themselves too thin and UK / USA are able to take their capital again. Perhaps they will have to wait and let Japan eventually liberate Berlin. One problem is, if they don’t keep fighting and trading the space back and forth, then USA can build in Germany and strengthen their grip.

At the end of the the round, USA has once again taken over Germany and their saved IPCs -- this time for 48 IPCs.

Round 14 – This time Germany brings in all of their forces to take back their capital. They will leave Western Europe totally empty and let UK land there unopposed. Losing 6 IPCs is far better than losing their capital over and over.

Round 15 – Germany is once again weakened by UK.

Germany is too weak and USA is able to take Berlin AGAIN. Germany knows they have screwed up. They know this has to stop. Their best bet is that Japan can bail them out by providing much needed units in Europe and by taking away UK IPCs elsewhere on the board.

For the Allies, this makes 3 successful invasions in 4 rounds and it also means the Allies have gained 151 extra IPCs they wouldn’t have had otherwise. In any other game when the Allies control Western Europe, Germany and Norway, you'd assume the Allies were just about to win.

What will these extra IPCs do? USA can reinforce the Western US and Alaska, preventing Japan’s invasion. The North Atlantic navy will grow stronger, and perhaps this means USA can keep the war situated in Europe, and most importantly, keep their dim hopes alive.

Rounds 12-15 – Japanese Expansion, Japanese Victory

Japan could panic and worry only about Germany and Europe. Instead, Japan plans for the future and slowly spreads their power.

They focus on Africa and eventually take away the remaining precious UK IPCs there.