"And if you screw up just this much, you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog [crap] out of Hong Kong!"

James Tolkan, "Captain Stinger" to Tom Cruise, "Maverick" in Top Gun (1986)
___________________________________________________

Effective Use of CAP

Don't worry. While Maverick's captain may have threatened him with cargo plane duty, no such penalty awaits you if you make a mistake while using CAP and by the time you've finished this essay you should be well on your way to using CAP as one of the tools for victory in AAPacific.

Purchasing for All Occasions 

Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war,
where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots,
as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand
mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them
a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front,
including entertainment of guests, small items such as
glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor,
will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day.
Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.

"No one starts a war-or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so-without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it."

Karl von Clausewitz
__________________________________________________

One of the challenging things about playing Axis and Allies generally is the relatively complex rule systems when compared to other board games. While A&A is much simpler to learn and play than many classic hex-based war games such as Third Reich, Squad Leader or Gettysburg, it is much more complicated then a typical board game. Learning the rules of A&A is made more difficult by the numerous versions of A&A and various sets of house rules that contain subtle yet important rule differences.

This essay will attempt to list all of the rule differences between AAPacific and AARevised. I chose AARevised because I expect that this is the version of A&A with which players will be most familiar.

The Australia Capture - The Invasion that Wasn't

In February of 1942, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto proposed an invasion of Australia. The invasion plan, calling for landings in both the north and south of Australia, required the use of 10 Japanese Army divisions and because resources where stretched thin, the plan was rejected by Tojo and the Imperial General Staff.

AAPacific is a great game and, in my opinion, an underappreciated member of the A&A family.  I have played many games of AAPacific against what I believe to be some of the best players in the world (in no particular order, Tordenskjold, El Ravager, KittenofChaos, AndrewAAGamer and Andycool) but interest in the game appears to be waning.  Over the next few weeks, I propose to post a series of essays on some of the tactics of AAPacific in the hopes of generating some discussion and interest in this great game.  It may be a bit of a false hope and perhaps a bit presumptuous of me to assume anyone would like to read my musings on the game but the only cost is my time and I'm prepared to make that sacrifice. Discuss this article in the forums.