@Luftwaffles41
Ok. I finished it.
First of all. Mega mega props to General Handgrenade. The customized pieces and customized map, the very thoughtful series of videos. And, lets not forget, the endearing Canadian accent… that guy is amazing. Truly amazing.
As to his strategy. I would say, in general, that is exactly what the US needs to do in the Pacific and Atlantic. This to me, would be the traditional way of winning for the Allies. The US is the anaconda portion of the US Civil War Strategy, with Russia and UK being the primary field Armies. The US secures the oceans and then starts squeezing Germany- which is the best of the two opponents to focus on. The Russians are DC/Army of the Potomac; UK is the West/ Army of Grant (the Tennessee?).
A quick look at the opposite strategy, KJF, what does that release for ultimate victory? Not a lot. Maybe a bunch of planes from UKA/ANZAC. Some Chinese good will?
I would modify the buys a little; drop the Battle Ships and add destroyers in the Atlantic and a fighter in the Pac. And lets be honest, the US will need four relay teams (shucks), one way or the other. But his basic idea is correct, build enough navy to protect the transports no matter what and build the waves bigger and bigger until Germany finally cracks.
In the Pac, I like the idea of 2 infantry and 1 fighter every turn and fly those fighters down to Australia. Once the Japanese finish up with India and turn towards Hawaii/ANZAC, things need to be ready to hold them off. I could be way wrong about this, but here goes.
In ANZAC- In a J1DOW, where Japan goes for India, more than likely, the Japanese will be hard pressed to hit them with more than one big wave of 10-12 guys and a crap ton of planes; probably 16-18. ANZAC starts with 3 planes and 5 land units, and will meeting Japan at turn 6 at the earliest. So the challenge is how to have 35-40 units available to defend? So, 3 turns of infantry purchases puts you at 14-15 land units and the rest has to be made up with air units. +3 fighter purchases in rounds 4-6 puts you at 15 land/ 6 air- which means your still short 14 planes. Unless, you can add US Infantry or US planes.
So add or be ready to add , what the US has in the Pac at the beginning plus a fighter every turn and now, turn 6-7, you are only short 6 planes. One big air purchase and ANZAC can be saved long enough for the US to crank out the Navy it needs to block Japan.
Better yet, that Air Force of 14 planes can be sent to either Hawaii or ANZAC depending on which is more threatened. And of course, it will be obvious what Japan is planning on doing so you can bump up the purchases when needed.
If one wants to get fancy, you can add an airbase in Western Australia and extend the plane shift to/from India.
So, again, General Handgrenade has this right. The forces on both oceans need to be big enough to flex to a crisis in either ocean. Tp protect ANZAC/Hawaii in the Pac and to pressure/defeat Germany in Europe.
On the Atlantic side, things are trickier. Unless the Southern France opening is an option, one really does have to make enough transports for four relay teams. Which means the US will be dropping 6-8 guys each turn on Europe. That’s a drain on Germany but not a war winner. A weakened Italy can match almost half of that every turn- which gives Germany a breather from knocking back the invasion every 3 turns. So Germany is spending 18-24 IPC to keep the US at bay, that still leaves a lot for making mischief in the East.
This is why its so important for UK to be stacked and ready in the ME. They’ll have to, clear out Italy, back stop India when that Army falls back, and support Russia from the South. Meanwhile, they’ll need to be ready to be the coups de gras in Europe. Meaning, at some point the US landing force has to be defended from a successful counter attack. A second landing of UK troops/planes from UK could do the trick at the right moment. Too early, and they get crushed along with the US landing force. But the UK is going to be hard pressed to have those units/transports available and ready when the time comes;
Plus if they go all in on Normandy /whatever the Japanese flood gates are opened from India and/or Russia loses its support. So their support of the US in Western Europe really needs to be a one time thing- just enough to allow US landing forces to survive and be reinforced by a second US landing force so they can build that snowball. Then Germany is on the back foot.
Another note: Norway looks like a juicy target for the US, but I’m not a big fan of invading it. It throws off the rhythm of the relay team (Shuck) and even if taken in force, it’s 4 turns away from liberating St Pete. Southern France, Normandy, Belgium seem like the best targets, unless you can land a death kill on Italy. Germany/Italy will have to keep 3-4 counter attack armies ready if they want to hold both counties and keep the US at bay.
SO once again, a lot of noise from me without much experience to back it up. Currently I’m finishing up Test Play #4. The Axis win again, but this time I retook India, chased the Japanese Navy back to FIC and gave the Germans some hard knocks on their end.
