@The:
@Cornwallis:
So you bomb London and later in the game Moscow and India.
Do you usually built with germany in order to attack and take Moscow or do you built units to withstand an attack from moscow so you can bypass and take middle east NO’s?
As Germany, I bomb every Soviet IC my bombers will reach. Hit Novgorod and Ukraine on the turn I declare war, then Moscow and Volgograd as I get within bombing range. Don’t let up until the turn you capture them. On the Western Front, I keep 2 bombers busy hitting London every turn.
Rather than Italian can openers, I prefer the Germans initially handle the USSR on their own, while I focus on getting the Italians into the Middle East as fast as possible (An I1 amphibious assault into Syria or Trans-Jordan while advancing on Egypt from Tobruk is key). Once Italy has secured the M.E., they can build a minor IC in Iraq or Persia, assault through the Caucasus and meet the Germans in Volgograd.
For the Germans, I build 1-2 strategic bombers per turn, maintaining a minimum of 5 (2 Western Front/3 Eastern Front) at all times. Beyond that, I build mostly armor and mech infantry until I capture Novgorod and/or Ukraine, then build regular infantry and artillery at those ICs. I find the early armor/mech inf build the fastest way to get ground forces from Germany into Russia, which allows me to rapidly gain territory before the Soviets can build up much of a defense force.
I wouldn’t bomb the minor Soviet factories. Leningrad for pity’s sake!? You can often get this on the same turn you DOW and usually on the second turn after you DOW. Any troops bought there are toast! Similar with Ukraine.
Can opening is an awesome strat for a single territory - Rostov. That opens up Stalingrad and the Caucasus NOs.
Usually you can’t get on Egypt in the first 8 rounds or so without a bit of luck.
J1 and J2 are valid strategies but for me the risk is too great with a J1. A few lucky rolls and your land units in SE Asia are completely gone. I’ve settled on a J2 DOW but with a J1 take down of FIC (IC+2TT build J1). Don’t build a Manchrian IC IMO. Obviously, then an FIC factory J2. Also, I keep the Kwangsi art out of the Yunnan battle. If China rolls two hits in Hunan, that additional land unit is invaluable to prevent a counter attack there and it just dies in Yunnan.
Japan should be threatening or taking India J5. Don’t get side tracked into fighting China much more than you have to. India is the prize in the region. It is different if you have some reason to play a non standard strategy as Axis, like Sea Lion or a G1 DOW. Then you might not DOW until J3 or perhaps not until J4 (which is costly).
In Europe, keys are getting on Belarus in force G4 which should force USSR back to Moscow, then Bryansk G5. After that it’s a matter of some conjecture and could vary with allied actions whether you should go for the Mid East or Moscow. I normally go for Moscow even if it requires a couple of rounds to build up. Strat bombing works great against Moscow especially if you have the silly (IMO) OOB SBR rules.
If you aren’t able to force back USSR to Moscow on turn 4, i suggest you look at some league games to see if there’s a reason why not?
@KGrimB:
Although I wouldn’t recommend them early, Aircraft Carriers for Japan are very helpful because you often don’t need to buy the planes for them. Don’t take any 50/50 fights with the US navy and make sure of there is a big fleet battle that you are the one attacking so that your strat bombers can assist
100% agree. As the IJN, you don’t want to fight USA at all if you can help it, unless it’s with overwhelming odds.
If the IJN get whittled down, even if it’s doing trades slightly in their favour, the UK and ANZAC start to be able to assert themselves and that isn’t good at all!
