“The Polar Express”
A complementary strategy from the USA.
Many of those who see the above strategy may well wonder what it does against the famous atalinc wall in northern Europe. the Med is great for attacking Italy, but there is few ways to hurt Germany is the south. This strategy is an American solution to that problem.
Disclaimer: This is a later game plan, so I don’t know what your game will be like, so I can only give some guidelines. This assumes a Germany who has not gone heavy on Navy, and has mostly focus on the continent and the USSR.
The common US plan, from what I have seen, is a relic of GHGs “famous” Middle Earth strategy for G40. The Americans look south, heading to Spain or Portugal, then move on to the Med to punish Italy. Some have remarked that the Atlantic is longer in GW36 than G40, and thus you can no longer reach Gibraltar in one turn. This has completely invalidated the strategy on the Med. The prime goal of any American strategy is to spend the least money on Transports, and to maximise your drop potential. This usually means the shorter your route the better, as there as less empty transports laying about. The best route is the 2 part out and back, but this is impractical in most games as Germany will just allow you to just pound you way slowly through the mountains of Spain and stop you far short of anything important. The next best route is what is used in Middle Earth, the 3 transport shuck. In this, 2 sets of transports take units to a staging point, (Gibraltar) and then a 3rd set goes back and forth form the landing zone to the other side of the staging ground and back to the landing zone (it was southern France) This is the system we will apply.
If one looks at the GW36 board, it is quick apparent there is few good spots for this. In the Med, Gibraltar is too far away. In the center, there is no convenient staging ground. But the north, an oft forgotten route is there. In G40, the map was bably inaccurate in its sea distances. It was faster in go south then north, as the northern sea zones were “smaller” than the ones in the south, due to the projection of the map. This mean an route north took 2 times a long. In GW36, we have an accurate map. (at least as far a sea zones in the Atlantic) Thus the shortest route along the great circle is also the shortest route to Europe. Starting in NYC, one can move your fleet to Halifax, then the Labrador coast, then to Scotland in the magnificent large sea zone of the GIUK gap. Scotland then is our staging ground. While 2 sets of transports go back and forth taking units to Scotland, out last set will be in the North sea. Form there, they will move for any adjacent sea zones to SZ 11, pick up the next load, and drop it off on Europe. They can hit anywhere from Normandy to Narvik in this way, a total of 9 territories. (That does not include the UK) In those territories is Western Germany, the gateway to Berlin. If you can take and hold this land, the Germany must worry about a factory on Berlin’s doorstep, and a shipyard as well. This forces Germany to put large forces to hold this. Another possibility is that of a final decapitation strike into the Baltic after a UK assault on Denmark of W Germany. This can hit anywhere from Archangel to Spain, or even East Prussia, so is a good option at the end of the game. However, it ruins the shuck, so make sure is works and Berlin will fall quickly.
Another huge bonus in this is easy air cover. From London, Fighters can hit anywhere on the channel, and even run a carrier swap to hit farther afield in places like Germany or Norway. Add in Long Range Aircraft and that instantly extend you range farther. Bombers can also help out, as well as pound Germany to a pulp in SBRs. Also, this is only one turn away from NY, either to the Midlands or Scotland.
you can also bring in Airbones to drop from strategic bombers or Air transports, giving more striking ability.
A very important thing in this is to guard your transports. This is best done by destroying any German planes on the coast, but can also be done by a large fleet. And guess what the US has? Another large fleet with plenty of things that bombard! If parked of the German coastline, the Germans will be hard pressed to take out your transports, having to fight a large fleet as well as any scramble depending on the location.
Overall, The Polar express is a powerful strategy to hit where the UK hasn’t - Western Europe. If combined with a lockdown of Italy, then the European axis might be in big trouble. Even alone, it gives the fastest route to Europe, as well as nearby support from your Allies .
Again, feel free to critique anything you see here, as I have actually not tested this.
-Trig
Edit: Here is a map displaying the main moves of the Polar Express- https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1LAQrgB0GLbBh-bW-8QqAa948RKHqQGUE&usp=sharing
