Going to try Bright Skies strategy in my current game

[Fatespinner]

Hi all,

in our current game (just started) I am playing US + ANZAC + France. I plan to try to Bright Skies strategy. That mean building multiple bombers as the US. The goal is to disrupt Italy and Germany and help UK to get a hold in Europe and hopefully save Russia.

In the pacific I will also use submarines. Here I plan to station the bombers Iwo to use the to threaten SZ6, Japan and the mainland factories and ground forces to support northern China. My fleet will be located in the waters around Iwo, where I will also buy an airfield and station 3 fighters for improved defense against the Japan.

Also I think that there will be no JDOW1, but we will see.

Can this work? Are there any problems that I should be aware of? I am playing US only for the second time and that all strategies can be countered by a good opponent, but as this was never tried in out group before, I might have some success.

First round buy will be carriers and bombers for US.

[KGrimB]

@Fatespinner:

Hi all,

in our current game (just started) I am playing US + ANZAC + France. I plan to try to Bright Skies strategy. That mean building multiple bombers as the US. The goal is to disrupt Italy and Germany and help UK to get a hold in Europe and hopefully save Russia.

In the pacific I will also use submarines. Here I plan to station the bombers Iwo to use the to threaten SZ6, Japan and the mainland factories and ground forces to support northern China. My fleet will be located in the waters around Iwo, where I will also buy an airfield and station 3 fighters for improved defense against the Japan.

Also I think that there will be no JDOW1, but we will see.

Can this work? Are there any problems that I should be aware of? I am playing US only for the second time and that all strategies can be countered by a good opponent, but as this was never tried in out group before, I might have some success.

First round buy will be carriers and bombers for US.

Your bomber stack can also importantly land in Moscow from Scotland which will allow you to provide extra units to take hits during that battle. I would concentrate at least 40% of your bombers in the Pacific because without a large US navy Japan should be able to hold the money islands for a long time. You have to have a lot of bombers so that you can exert overwhelming power when you attack. Western US is the most flexible place for your bombers while you wait for the board to develop.

[weddingsinger]

What Grim said.

If Japan skips J1, you may need to be ready for Sea Lion.

Without much of a surface fleet, Japan will almost certainly have and keep the money islands.  A bomber group in ANZAC’s Queensland can hit Japanese ships on any money island or Malayan coast, then land in India if they need to.

If you’re able to take and hold Iwo, you probably don’t need an airbase, but it might be usefu.  Maybe be ready with Russian infantry to take Korea/Machuria, and support with U.S. fighters.

[Ichabod]

I believe US bomber stacks are more effective when used against Japan. There are more targets to take out or threaten. I play against aan opponent who uses this plan well. Sometimes he wins, sometimes I do.

When used against Germany, you could be forced to just bomb factories or cannon fodder Infantry which are more easily replaced. Whereas against Japan you could threaten their expensive Navy or kill a ground stack which then permits China to be over ran. Once that happens of course then US switches to primarily go against Ger/Italy.

[aagamerz13]

Heh.  The US should never be able to completely switch to ger/italy without losing west australia permanently the next round against a good Japan player.  Alot of people post allied strategies here that work against weak players or if they get lucky against good players.  It should take a long time to beat a good axis player.

[Ichabod]

Let’s play a game! I’m a weak player like you mentioned, but I may be able to show you what you don’t see. You say a lot of players post allies strategies that work against weak players, ect…I’ve played against this plan several times so I’m not speaking to a theory but experience (which doesn’t count until we play).

I’ll do the US bomber thing against you with a reasonable bid of 17 IPCs. The point is to demonstrate the plausibility of the plan. The guy who uses that strategy doesn’t always win, sometimes he does. It’s a viable strategy.

PM me if you accept the challenge.

[Cow]

Not used to seeing bombers going to Russia from the europe route… usually the pacific route.

But the advantage of bombers going Europe route: From Scotland you can land moscow or in two turns you can make it to egypt flying anywhere africa.

The whole point of this is to use Russia early on and get advantages, because you have USA flying in to defend Russia with bombers (cannon fodder factor and the fact that bombers attacking tanks produced on ukraine or bombing the minors or whatever.
~

Bright skies is supposed to be a pacific play. You bring Russia in to the pacific… the goal is not to lose India during the game and get China going so that Japan can never take the VC win on the Pacific.  The bombers fly into russia along with fighters from uk before Germany can take Russia. That is why it is called bright skies. The bombers save Russia.

[Cow]

bright skies is supposed to be a KJF.

Bombers Early in Europe are only useful if Germany / Italy is building naval. In which case you are threatening something. Otherwise you can only bomb Western Germany and Germany doesn’t need to produce there rounds 3-6. It is also a response to G1 dows on Russia… why? Because Russia needs bombers fast since Germany is doing an all in Russia or bust strategy. 5 bombers defending Russia along with all the other rolls… is a big difference.

[aagamerz13]

Ichabod: I accepted and sent a PM to you.

[Fatespinner]

I will poat hiw it works. Russia will poay agressive in Europe. As i said this was never tried in our gaming group, so it might surprise my opponents.

True Japan has better targets, but bombing the European factories helps uk to get a hold in the europe mainland and Russia can keep Scandinavian. And maybe there is the occasional unprotected aircraft stack or tank stack to attack and save Russia.

The goal of the plan is to help the other allies to sefend against the axis. In midgame i will switch to a more conventional strategy, if my opponents adapt to my plan.

To keep an eye open for sealion isna good tip.

[weddingsinger]

Bright Skies in Europe can finish off the German and Italian fleet, and thus protect London and Africa/Middle East.  But if Germany goes hard for Russia, it means that unless you can land in Norway/Finland/Novgorod and bomb Berlin OR be based in Moscow to hit Leningrad/Ukraine, those bombers are much more useful in the Pacific.  A couple of subs and bombers in Guam or Iwo Jima can absolutely punish Japan.

[Fatespinner]

@weddingsinger:

Bright Skies in Europe can finish off the German and Italian fleet, and thus protect London and Africa/Middle East.  But if Germany goes hard for Russia, it means that unless you can land in Norway/Finland/Novgorod and bomb Berlin OR be based in Moscow to hit Leningrad/Ukraine, those bombers are much more useful in the Pacific.  A couple of subs and bombers in Guam or Iwo Jima can absolutely punish Japan.

I build a small fleet to support the bombers. This should enable UK to build transports and a landing force. There is still the danger of german bombers and aircraft. I hope to enable UK to fight Germany themself by disrupting Germany and Italy at every chance.

[aagamerz13]

Ichabod and I played the experimental bright skies game where he bought bombers only for the first 3 rounds for US.  The bombers definitely slowed Japan down as UK had Kwangtung and china had almost all the land from manch to fic and to the west at round 7 when the game ended.

The problem was that Germany and Italy combined to take Moscow on round 7.  Italy also moved strong into nw persia round 7 with German planes ready to reinforce it on round 8.  The game ended here.

Without US pressure, Germany and Italy were way too much for UK and ussr to handle.  Although Japan was weakened, they still had income of 43 from islands, fic and ne ussr lands.  Tokyo was under no threat to fall.

This was just one game under bright skies and the next game under these rules might be different.  But, without US pressure, Germany and Italy can steam roll USSR, which is what I’ve said earlier.

Also, if I had played Ichabod under normal rules where US can apply pressure in europe, the results might have been different and he could have very well beat me as his base strategy seemed solid.

[Fatespinner]

My strategy is to spend 30ipc on the Pacific side (currently round 3) and the rest on the other side.

30ipc aretwo bomber and one submarine. Until now this works great. My bomber are stationed in Guam. I can use them to attack and threaten japan and help china in the north.
Japan did a j1 attack on Hawaii, so the Japanese fleet is weakened and this works great. If they attack my bomber and submarines, then they loose the money islands.

For Europe i build ships to secure the channel and hope for uk to invade Europe, while my bombers hinder germ and take out their fleet and air force.

[aagamerz13]

The fact that your opponent did a J1 attack on hawaii says it all.  That’s not the top opening for japan. 
if you want to see how your strat fares against an experienced axis player, we can schedule one.

[Ichabod]

@aagamerz13:

Ichabod and I played the experimental bright skies game where he bought bombers only for the first 3 rounds for US. The bombers definitely slowed Japan down as UK had Kwangtung and china had almost all the land from manch to fic and to the west at round 7 when the game ended.

The problem was that Germany and Italy combined to take Moscow on round 7. Italy also moved strong into nw persia round 7 with German planes ready to reinforce it on round 8. The game ended here.

Without US pressure, Germany and Italy were way too much for UK and ussr to handle. Although Japan was weakened, they still had income of 43 from islands, fic and ne ussr lands. Tokyo was under no threat to fall.

This was just one game under bright skies and the next game under these rules might be different. But, without US pressure, Germany and Italy can steam roll USSR, which is what I’ve said earlier.

Also, if I had played Ichabod under normal rules where US can apply pressure in europe, the results might have been different and he could have very well beat me as his base strategy seemed solid.

Good sportsman!

You played Germany and Italy very solid! Well played.

[Fatespinner]

I play to have fun with friends and not to win.

[aagamerz13]

The challenge of playing a tough opponent is fun.  Also, you might see some different ideas you can use in future games.

[Fatespinner]

I bet that it will be fun and that it is possible to learn a lot. But honestly I don’t have the time to spare for another game.

We play with four people via mail with about one turn per week. So it is a quite slow game. Some people play and test their turns a lot, but I mae my turn in 30min without double checking.