StrafingRunGames
12-02-2006, 09:14 AM
OK, got the first battle under my belt last night - it was a surprisingly quick victory for Germany. More on that in a sec.
Box, pieces, board, instructions - everything is as beautiful as usual from Larry and the gang. I am not a fan of the U.S. aircraft, preferring the p-51s or something a little more "tank-killerish" but easily fixed using pieces from other games.
I ended up with a TON of extra artillery, which concerns me because maybe something got left off the placement icons during printing? Those extra 3 dice can make a huge difference so hopefully it was just a piece surplus...
Did not get enough pieces to make the chips unnecessary (again, easily fixed by adding parts from other A&A games) I am not a fan of the chips at this level of combat, preferring to line up all of my pieces in all their glory.
Love the new combat system - movement and reinforcement systems seem to run OK. It's a lot of fun to adjust the front line markers and see your progress - only 2 shapes are used so its pretty easy to line them up.
All in all, as far as set-up goes I had to find extra parts and double-check the operations manual to make sure everything was there as far as trucks and aircraft. This will not be a problem in future games since its all boxed up together now, but I would recommend it the first time.
On to game play. Germany won by the end of Turn 4 with 27 or 28 points. Now this WAS a solo game, and also my first (maybe I did something wrong) but somewhat disappointing. Supplies were NEVER an issue at any point for either side and I feel they will definitely need to be adjusted. The Allies always have so many trucks and piles of off-board supplies that you end up leaving enough reserves to run an entire other battle in another part of Europe. The Germans can grab at least 2 hexes worth of supplies during the first 2 turns and keep a steady stream going with no problem (at least in my game).
As far as combat, the Germans WIPED OUT almost every single Allied unit on Turn 1. 3 units ended up retreating but were not a factor on Turn 2. The small groups of Allied reinforcements, facing 4 or 5 "stacks" of 12 German armies, could do nothing to slow them down. I had at least 2 groups of 5-6 tanks almost to the western edge of the map, each having their own supply truck assigned to them and yes, I was stopping at each Allied city to end movement.
So maybe my Allied strategy was lacking but they never had a chance to scramble a single fighter to stop the German onslaught. Again, maybe I did something wrong.
But I have to say it WAS fun, the just under 2 hours of set-up and play was well worth the time and money and I WILL play again. I now have the task of figuring out how to slow them down next time and that in itself is fun to me. I would love to hear your thoughts and see how your games went.
Steve
Box, pieces, board, instructions - everything is as beautiful as usual from Larry and the gang. I am not a fan of the U.S. aircraft, preferring the p-51s or something a little more "tank-killerish" but easily fixed using pieces from other games.
I ended up with a TON of extra artillery, which concerns me because maybe something got left off the placement icons during printing? Those extra 3 dice can make a huge difference so hopefully it was just a piece surplus...
Did not get enough pieces to make the chips unnecessary (again, easily fixed by adding parts from other A&A games) I am not a fan of the chips at this level of combat, preferring to line up all of my pieces in all their glory.
Love the new combat system - movement and reinforcement systems seem to run OK. It's a lot of fun to adjust the front line markers and see your progress - only 2 shapes are used so its pretty easy to line them up.
All in all, as far as set-up goes I had to find extra parts and double-check the operations manual to make sure everything was there as far as trucks and aircraft. This will not be a problem in future games since its all boxed up together now, but I would recommend it the first time.
On to game play. Germany won by the end of Turn 4 with 27 or 28 points. Now this WAS a solo game, and also my first (maybe I did something wrong) but somewhat disappointing. Supplies were NEVER an issue at any point for either side and I feel they will definitely need to be adjusted. The Allies always have so many trucks and piles of off-board supplies that you end up leaving enough reserves to run an entire other battle in another part of Europe. The Germans can grab at least 2 hexes worth of supplies during the first 2 turns and keep a steady stream going with no problem (at least in my game).
As far as combat, the Germans WIPED OUT almost every single Allied unit on Turn 1. 3 units ended up retreating but were not a factor on Turn 2. The small groups of Allied reinforcements, facing 4 or 5 "stacks" of 12 German armies, could do nothing to slow them down. I had at least 2 groups of 5-6 tanks almost to the western edge of the map, each having their own supply truck assigned to them and yes, I was stopping at each Allied city to end movement.
So maybe my Allied strategy was lacking but they never had a chance to scramble a single fighter to stop the German onslaught. Again, maybe I did something wrong.
But I have to say it WAS fun, the just under 2 hours of set-up and play was well worth the time and money and I WILL play again. I now have the task of figuring out how to slow them down next time and that in itself is fun to me. I would love to hear your thoughts and see how your games went.
Steve