Can't win for the Germany

[bloodies]

After one week of statistics (50 games / day)

Axis faction win the game: 50.77
Allies faction win the game: 49.04

No comments.

The statistics echo my gut feeling

[Calmon70]

After one week of statistics (50 games / day)

Axis faction win the game: 50.77
Allies faction win the game: 49.04

No comments.

I think the problem is: when you new at the game, axis will win more. When you played some games and on high level: Allies will win more. Of course it's my personal opinion after just 15-20 games.

[dygw]

For Axis,I think it has some disadvantages, but not many.In the early stages, it benefited from a larger number of troops and more aggressive cards.You must achieve rapid advancement and occupy 2-3 VP regions before the winter of 1941, which is usually easy.Occupying specific areas such as Leningrad or Sevastopol would make it difficult for the Soviet Union to play specific cards and threaten supplies.Keep occupying these areas until 1943, then shrink defense and play cards that directly earn VP during this period.Then you will win.

[Granse]

Would it be possible to play two games per match (one for the pact, one for the allies) and then add up the victory points (as in Memoir 44)?

[Lunalol]

Not yet, but I repeat win rate are near to 50/50.

[Xander_]

It's easy to win with both sides if one player don't know the game well and it looks like the game is broken. Take some practice. Get some lose with better player and see how and when they use cards.

[Goodgulf]

This game is *very* deep. The fact that there are players with 500+ rating that just cannot be beat tells me that skill plays a *HUGE* factor. I am about 200 rating now and play a lot of games against a friend of mine who is 250. He is 4-2 against me, we have both played both sides. There really is an enormous amount of skill involved. Yes, the cards you get are random, but that makes it such a great game. I have played 30 games or so and every game has been very, very different. The skill comes in knowing and balancing so many deep things:

is it time to exchange/anti-air, or hold defensive card for deploys?
what units should i retreat and when?
it it time to attack/advance, or build up/turtle? if you turtle are you in danger of not getting enough vp in time?
where should i attack?
can i break a line and go from moscow to berlin in one turn (or smolensk to gorki down to caucus for the germans)?
do you abandon territory to make a push somewhere else, possibly breaking enemy supply?
do you use that card as a defensive response (less powerful, generally, but saves you an action to use on something else?)
should i go for VP, or supply?
is it winter, and now you can't sustain? great time to hold fast as a defender. maybe you shouldn't attack? but you need those vp! what do you do?
is it spring, and now you can't advance? did the soviets play general mud right when you were planning to tank into moscow next turn?

... and then all of these choices (and hundreds more) are influenced by the current score (i.e. how fast germany advanced), the cards that have been played, the cards in your hand, and how good your opponent is. and then sometimes, as soviets you get deploy 3 to volog and cauc in the last 10 cards and you never quite have the material to mount a counterattack. but maybe that was on you for not cycling cards early enough? etc. etc. etc.

I'd say this game is so deep and complex, that it is ludicrous to even start talking about balance. You would need to find two players of *exactly* equal skill, and have them play 100 games, 50 as both sides, to even start to understand if the game skewed one way or another.

and then that doesn't even talk about the mulligan. it'll take you 15-20 games to even start to understand if that starting hand you are looking at is good enough, or needs to get tossed. you will toss many times and get worse hands before you learn.

[Goodgulf]

For Axis,I think it has some disadvantages, but not many.In the early stages, it benefited from a larger number of troops and more aggressive cards.You must achieve rapid advancement and occupy 2-3 VP regions before the winter of 1941, which is usually easy.Occupying specific areas such as Leningrad or Sevastopol would make it difficult for the Soviet Union to play specific cards and threaten supplies.Keep occupying these areas until 1943, then shrink defense and play cards that directly earn VP during this period.Then you will win.

This is only one way to win of many, and as I just said, a lot depends on the cards on both sides. I have been absolutely overrun straight thru Moscow in the first couple turns, and before I can deploy, the tanks are down the east side of the map and I'm out. I have had guys go slow and steady, 1 space a turn, but in a way that I couldn't slow them or stop them. They didn't need the "corners" they just held strong up the middle, playing a lot of VP cards along the way to quicken victory before I can get back in it. Again, experience will teach you how to use what you're given.

Also, I will play as Axis against anyone who wants to send me a table. I seem to only roll soviets in arena, it's kindof annoying.

[Goodgulf]

Here's one of those games I was talking about I played against a -250, he as axis.

https://imgur.com/a/uLHrml5

I basically ran out of time. I was one turn short. At a certain point, I had to decide to go for VP or supply, and I nearly had the supply, but a couple good moves on his part bought him the extra turn he needed. Flipping 2 VP at any point during the game would have given a tie (which I *think* Axis wins but I don't actually know the tiebreaker).

Notice: we are both out of cards by this time. most contingencies are gone. It was a *battle*.

[waddball]

After one week of statistics (50 games / day)

Axis faction win the game: 50.77
Allies faction win the game: 49.04

No comments.

I think the problem is: when you new at the game, axis will win more. When you played some games and on high level: Allies will win more. Of course it's my personal opinion after just 15-20 games.

I have the opposite opinion: I found it easier at first for the Allies. Just so much more margin for small mistakes.

But I've seen some Axis wins and am only now after over a dozen games starting to understand how to play them. I think the Axis has a narrower path, and you can't really see it after the first few games. Or at least, I couldn't. Throwing troops in the way stacked deep and playing for attrition is simpler (and I think a bit less draw dependent) than going on the attack. So to me, these stats are surprising.

Speaking of stats, Lunalol, do you have any updates on the win rates? I don't know how to gather those stats or I'd happily update this myself.