How to Counter Axis Attack on UK Economy?

[ANALYT1CS]

I just played back-to-back games against my nephews as the Allies in the 1941 Scenario with national objectives. In both games I got rolled, because Japan and Germany used its first turn to focus on breaking the UK economy. Both times Germany took out most UK ships on turn 1 and took Gibraltar to take away a national objective bonus, but still rolled everything else heavy into Russia. In the first Japan turn, it went south and took 11 undefended IPCs from the UK on turn one. The second game they changed it up and took the Phillipines to break a US national objective and 7 IPCs from the UK. In both cases, there was no way to defend the UK income on turn one, and no way to reach Japan in time to stop them taking either India or Australia on turn 2, which further tilts the national objective bonuses. From that point the UK is getting about 25 IPCs per turn, and with all the national bonuses broken, the whole premise of the Allies having the better economy is flipped. The US couldn’t reach Japan before turn 3. By then Japan had as much money as the US and was able to buy to defend it’s capital and Germany was earning almost as much as UK and Russia combined.

I tried a couple different ideas, but ultimately couldn’t see a way to stop an attack that starts with more weapons, gets to move first, and by the end of Round 2 also has more money.

[DoManMacgee]

Welcome to AA50. What you just described is the entire point of the 41 Scenario, and to a large extent it showcases the exact horror/despair that the IRL Western European Nations (Netherlands/Belgium/France/UK/etc.) must have felt when Germany/Italy/Japan rolled out at the start of the war in the 39-41 period.

In all seriousness, there’s not a ton UK can do against the initial assault. Your priority needs to be on rebuilding/maintaining the British Navy against repeated German Air Attacks while you wait for the US to build a navy and get in position.

For the Pacific, you have it rough. You’re not getting Indonesia (The combination of “Borneo”, “Dutch East Indies” and “New Guinea”, we call them “the Money Islands” for short) back anytime soon, and Australia is likely going to fall as well. Your best bet there is to buy land units in India and try to hold the line until the US Navy can arrive in force.

If you still find yourself getting crushed with this (admittedly vague) advice, try either playing without National Objectives, or adding some units to the initial Allied setup (this is called a “bid”. You can mutually agree how much free stuff the Allies will be getting).

I don’t know how new you are to A&A, but here’s some general advice just in case you are a newer player:

• Buying cheap, expendable units is typically best. This means INF/ART for land units and Destroyers/SUBs for Sea Units.

• Buying Bombers, Cruisers, Battleships and other expensive units is generally not advised. Just use the ones you start with to the best of your ability.

• Focus on killing Germany/Italy first. They’re typically the far more threatening Axis Powers. Clean up Africa/Scandinavia before you go for Europe proper. This will cut off Axis National Objectives/secure your own.

[ANALYT1CS]

Thank you for the advice! I was definitely doing several things wrong, including investing in expensive ships. I was also pushing to Japan with the US navy to try to “punish” them for moving everything south, but couldn’t get there in time before they had enough money to buy defensive units. I was also trying to get the UK into Europe before the money ran out, rather than making a serious push to get the money back first. Looking forward to the next try.

[DoManMacgee]

You’ll find that the best approach to the Allies is a slow burn. The Axis start off with way more stuff than you, and the 41 scenario just takes that divide to the extreme. It’s best to stay back and slowly accumulate advantage before making your big push. In most cases, defense is stronger than offense in A&A (i.e. INF attack at 1, but defend at 2, and FTRs attack at 3, but defend at 4), so try to use that to your advantage when possible.

One more note for USA. Rather than go straight for Japan’s jugular, try parking the fleet in the SZ that contains the “Solomon Islands” Territory. It’s a nice territory to camp out in with your fleet, as it:

• Puts you within 2-moves of Australia, New Guinea, Borneo, Dutch East Indies, and Philippines, the Pacific territories that are either worth a lot of money, are part of NOs, or both.

• Keeps you within 2-moves of West US, your spawn point for new units, so new reinforcements will always be on the way and you always have a safe point to retreat to if Japan is too strong for you.

• Keeps you more than 2-moves away from SZ63 (Japan’s spawn point for new units), so Japan will never be able to send a large amount of units your way without first spending a turn moving their units towards you (and thus, giving you a hint that Japan is planning on attacking you).

Just food for thought. Of course, Japan has ways to play around you basing your fleet in the Solomon Islands, but that mini-game of fleet positioning is part of the fun of A&A’s Pacific Theater.