My brother, dad, and I's game of Axis And Allies Europe 1940 second edition

[Sir Twerkington]

My dad and brother have just started a game of Axis And Allies Europe second edition and are asking for some strategy. If anyone has any kind of strategy for Italy in Africa or Germany please tell us. It would help us alot. Thanks in advance.

[KaLeu]

I didn’t see the image attached at first because I didn’t log in…… and my experience with AA Europe is extremely limited, having played the game precisely once.

Having said that, a look at the map situation make me wonder what happened. It looks like early in the game, but what did German do in the west and especially on their first turn? I’m asking this because I see some unusual situations on the board:

1. There’s a very powerful British fleet, plus three surviving French ships. Standard practice for Germany is, to attack the Royal Navy turn 1 and take out most it. It seems like that didn’t happen.

2. I see two French fighters in Algeria, so the Paris fighter somehow survived. Standard practice for Germany is, to conquer France turn 1 - perhaps not all of it, but at least Paris. In the unlikely event that Germany fails at that, Italy can still take it before France moves.

3. Germany apparently spent its resources on factories in Poland, Slovakia-Hungary, and Romania. While there’s something to be said for a Romanian factory (although I’m not a big fan of it), the money on the other two would definitely have been better spent on units. Whatever these factories have produced, and more, could have been purchased in Germany, and would have reached those territories at the same point in time. Also, each factory costs 12 IPC, which is the difference between buying 12 mechanical infantry instead of normal infantry.

4. Germany doesn’t seem well poised to invade Russia in force right now, with a lot of its strength lingering in the west.

About the only good thing for the Axis, seems to be the strong Italian fleet in the Med. I’m not sure how much the UK has left south of Suez, but considering the surviving Italian transports, taking Cairo seems like a viable option. Apparently the UK didn’t attack the Italian fleet in force on their first turn (the “Taranto” raid), which is also more or less standard (though it was probably a poor decision in the only game I played myself).

All in all, I’d say the board situation heavily favors the Allies, mainly due to poor German play (sorry for sounding harsh here, but I hope I’ve explained my reasoning - see above).

[KaLeu]

Ah, and what I should have posted first: welcome to the forum!  :-D

[Wolfshanze]

If I were Germany, I’d be sending Rudolph Hess to England and trying to see if I could arrange some sort of favorable surrender terms… it doesn’t look good for the Fatherland…

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

[Ozymandiac]

Regarding Italy in general terms: use the fleet to dominate the Mediteranean and put troops in Africa. This will mean you can take oil fields in Persia (national objective) + make the USSR nervous. Specifically: you can build infantry, artillery etc. in Italy each turn, and use the fleet to move them from SZ 97 to 99 the next turn. Taking Cairo and moving those troops south will also take points from the UK + take away their national objective. Your aim is to aid Germany as much as possible in taking over the world.

Regarding Germany in general terms: Take France on the 1st turn at all costs. Build around 10 troops every turn to send against USSR. This doesn’t mean you can just march up to Moscow but it will mean your forces will be balanced. Keep pushing the front every chance you get and take away every point you can. Bomb Moscow to smithereens using strategic bombers. Destroy every stack of infantry with as little troops as you can + as many airforce as you have. This will conserve your precious troops. Don’t spend money on factories. It’s tempting and it’s fun to test out , but I haven’t seen it work.

Generally: try not to land airplanes in territories without an airfield. It’s sometimes necessary, but it’s usually more beneficial to put them on an airfield.

On another topic: I see the major industrial complex on Paris hasn’t been downgraded. It should.