I like to get up to 5 transports set up in 112 or 113 on turn 2 and then build alot of fast movers (tanks/bombers) The reason I like 5 transports is you can build 5inf/art in germany and land those in either lenningrad OR the UK(london or scotland) from 113. that threat coupled with bomber buys keeps the UK spending money on london instead of africa. If italy is lucky enough to have a MED fleet that can spell disaster for allies, and could allow you to mop up northern africa with italy. my typical cookie cutter build (it varies but this is generally what i do as germany)
G1: carrier/sub/destoyer, strafe yugoslavia and position forces in poland & Romania. Try to retreat battleship in 110 to 112 if possible, hoping UK scrambles into 110 and you can pick off a plane or two lose a plane or two if you have to in order to retreat the battleship.
G2: build 4 transports into 113 5 inf 5 art on berlin, 1 tank 1 mech on west germany. total buy is 70IPC which you should have.
reposition 112 fleet to 113 and clear out any remaining UK ships with planes. DOW on Russia, push in baltic states and clear their navy out of 114 or 115(wherever he has it) set up italy can openers.
G3 if the UK called your bluff and didnt put any money into london well… check the odds you may actually be in a position to do some damage and sack it by G4 or 5, i’ve had success with landing 10 units in scotland G3 which the UK can’t afford to deal with, plus put 20 damage on their factory. This will allow you to hit london with 20 troops and all your planes on G4, i’ve only had the opportunity to do that once and it worked… weak UK player to be honest. Otherwise land your navy into 115. you’ll now be able to build 5 inf 5 art every turn on Berlin and shuck them into lenningrad, while dropping tanks on lennigrad factory or bombers back in west germany to throw at any fledgling UK fleets. Push forward in the south and take ukraine factory as fast as possible.
from here on out i mix in a few bombers here and there and just steamroll into moscow if the UK doesn’t land planes to defend, which works against weaker allied players. Otherwise I just hold the line at two russian factories take as much russian money as possible(caucus area) while drawing allied money away from japan. Every game i’ve played lately italy always gets creamed with taranto raid and crumbles in africa/med by turn 4 or so… i typically just make fast movers in northern italy the first few turns to send to the russian fight.
I like to get up to 5 transports set up in 112 or 113 on turn 2 and then build alot of fast movers (tanks/bombers) The reason I like 5 transports is you can build 5inf/art in germany and land those in either lenningrad OR the UK(london or scotland) from 113. that threat coupled with bomber buys keeps the UK spending money on london instead of africa. If italy is lucky enough to have a MED fleet that can spell disaster for allies, and could allow you to mop up northern africa with italy. my typical cookie cutter build (it varies but this is generally what i do as germany)
G1: carrier/sub/destoyer, strafe yugoslavia and position forces in poland & Romania. Try to retreat battleship in 110 to 112 if possible, hoping UK scrambles into 110 and you can pick off a plane or two lose a plane or two if you have to in order to retreat the battleship.
G2: build 4 transports into 113 5 inf 5 art on berlin, 1 tank 1 mech on west germany. total buy is 70IPC which you should have.
reposition 112 fleet to 113 and clear out any remaining UK ships with planes. DOW on Russia, push in baltic states and clear their navy out of 114 or 115(wherever he has it) set up italy can openers.G3 if the UK called your bluff and didnt put any money into london well… check the odds you may actually be in a position to do some damage and sack it by G4 or 5, i’ve had success with landing 10 units in scotland G3 which the UK can’t afford to deal with, plus put 20 damage on their factory. This will allow you to hit london with 20 troops and all your planes on G4, i’ve only had the opportunity to do that once and it worked… weak UK player to be honest. Otherwise land your navy into 115. you’ll now be able to build 5 inf 5 art every turn on Berlin and shuck them into lenningrad, while dropping tanks on lennigrad factory or bombers back in west germany to throw at any fledgling UK fleets. Push forward in the south and take ukraine factory as fast as possible.
from here on out i mix in a few bombers here and there and just steamroll into moscow if the UK doesn’t land planes to defend, which works against weaker allied players. Otherwise I just hold the line at two russian factories take as much russian money as possible(caucus area) while drawing allied money away from japan. Every game i’ve played lately italy always gets creamed with taranto raid and crumbles in africa/med by turn 4 or so… i typically just make fast movers in northern italy the first few turns to send to the russian fight.
Ferrying troops using transports in the Baltic is nice (because of the optionality you mention), but not an end goal in itself. Slow movers from Germany can reach Moscow in 5 turns / defensive position near Moscow in 4 turns.
The transports get you there in 4 turns / 3 turns instead.
Fast movers get to Moscow in 3 turns and to a defensive position near Moscow in only 2 turns.
I find that getting a stack next to Moscow (defensively strong enough), forcing the Soviets to turtle and taking over the South with the fast movers to be hard to counter.
In the end, it’s a matter forcing Soviets to retreat from Bryansk as soon as possible with either the ability to destroy it (the hardest way), or ability to force them to fall back by walking in into Smolensk (often easiest since Soviets are weaker on offense and help of Italian defence) or having ability to can open with Italy and strike with fast movers.
And once the Soviets are stuck in Moscow, it’s a matter of keeping them there and trading troops in small battles surrounding the capital (“make them pay for their income”). If the Japanese are pushing the other way, time is on your side, there isn’t much that Russia can do offensively at that point. Just make sure to make it really expensive for the US/UK to get to you on your other flank by constantly building your air force, and a land counterattack capability.
Going back to Italian can opening, I like to buy a mech or two It1 and send a tank with them w/bmr to open up some doors for the Germans. The Italians can take territories and have the Germans move in with land and air to stand next to the Russian stack (no Russian hit and run). Having the Italians take out Russian pickets can possibly let German units get to the Ukraine IC or oil territories quicker. Another form of Italian can opening I do is taking out the Russian cruiser blocker in the Baltic w/It air so the Germans can include an amp on Leningrad the turn they attack Russia. Having a small Italian force at the front lines can also head off a splintered UK force trying to come up from the south. If the Japanese are at Russia’s back door, or have managed to push the UK from the Middle East (USA going heavy Europe), then the Italians may be able to break into the Oil territories for income, leaving the Germans intact to push into Moscow. It seems like a waste for the Japanese to get all the oil territories when the Ger/Ital get a bonus, but having the Japanese get Caucasus works for the Euro axis. Also having the Japanese invading the Far East Pac territories to drain Russian income is a must IMO. Invade no later the J2, and don’t fear the Mongolians just have some ground units in place to to chase most of them down w/air power.
On a side note I generally build some combo of ships/tpt/bmrs G1/G2, or save most income G1 to keep the UK honest. By the end of G2 I’ll have at least 3 tpts, 4 bmrs along with some support ships to again make the UK pay attention (even when my intention is to use navy to drop units in Russia). I just don’t like to give the UK the freedom to do what she wants. I have been using SBR more on London/Moscow to force the allies to pay extra for their units. In some games you can force the Russians to build every other turn, but the RAF can make that difficult in both capitals though. I also like to add art to the early German buys to give the front lines a little more bite. Most allied opponents will get some air to Moscow, so the German stack will most likely get stalled allowing art built G2 to catch up as you use the Russian ICs to add more units.
