A&A Revised Edition - Game 1 Round 34: Finally an Ending

Axis & Allies - Revised Edition

Game 1 Round 34: Finally an Ending

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

Finally, an Ending

Round 34, and UK finally falls to German forces.

Victory Conditions (Major Victory +4 Victory Cities):

Allies: -4

Axis: +4

1. Calcutta (captured by Japan 1)

2. Moscow (captured by Germany Round 11)

3. Leningrad (captured by Japan Round 15)
4. London (captured by Germany Round 27)

And while Germany and Japan both took 2 Victory Cities, that doesn't really tell the tale of the game. Japan was the big hero, getting off to an early start and helping to secure and defend Europe late in the game when Germany overextended their own forces.

Lessons Learned:

 

Russia: Attacking and retreating was a great way to keep Germany busy and chip away at their weak spots. This will prove useful in future games, but they must also find a way to send additional forces to help China and Eastern Russia without thinning themselves out too much.

 

Germany: Weapons Development worked well, but they did get lucky and didn't have to waste too many IPCs chasing this tactic. In future games, Germany should probably be more cautious -- if the Allies hadn't lost so many early battles, Germany would have needed those IPCs for units to attack with. 

 

Attacking Africa and the Middle East worked well, but Germany didn't do a good job of securing all of their borders with USSR. They stretched their forces out so much and allowed the capture of Berlin (3 times). In any other game this would have lost them the game. They have to learn that it's okay to let Japan take on the heavy lifting and capture more victory cities. It's a shared victory either way.

 

UK: Early reinforcement is essential. Rather than attacking so much on round 1, it would have been better to secure key territories like India and add naval units that would help open up the North Atlantic sooner. The factory in South Africa worked well, but the game was mostly out of hand and it only helped UK hold on instead of taking new territories. It might be interesting to try a factory in Australia and challenge the Japanese islands. This would only work if the USA was also committed to a Pacific first strategy.

Japan: Basically everything went Japan's way. Luck and good dice rolling don't always last, but in this game Japan didn't have to scramble or take many chances.

USA: Focus. Splitting time and IPCs between both coasts proved ineffective. It took too many rounds to establish a helpful strategy in the Atlantic. USA should have concentrated early on getting units to Africa, UK, Norway and USSR. Their weak strategy in the Pacific cost them units and IPCs that could have been better spent in Europe.

 

The Allies relied too much on the fact that they were earning more IPCs than the Axis and they failed to develop a consistent and effective strategy in the early rounds. By allowing the Axis 9 rounds of growth, they sealed their fate. If they had been able to strike and Western Europe and Germany earlier than round 12, they might have had a real chance in the game.