I was just scrolling through some archives - I know this thread is 2 years old, but BluGerman maybe you’ll get a notice and it might help in case you feel like reliving an old dream.
This is the best plan for a G2 Novgorod crush I can think of, but it works only if the opportunity exists:
G1
Buy a carrier and 2 transports.
Kill all the Royal Navy with subs and planes
I like to strafe 111 with 1 sub, 1 bat, 1 sbom, 1 pair tbom + fig. The bat automatically repairs next round.
Be sure to use 2 subs to kill his des/trans in 106 to keep a sea lion pressure up.
Take Normandy with 1 inf, 1 art, 1 arm
Take France with all remaining available land units
Strafe Yugo with 1 pair of planes, 0 arm, retreating to Romania.
Activate Bulgaria with 1 arm
Activate Finland with 1 inf
1 pair of planes on your carrier, 1 on Norway, 1 on Poland, and the rest on West Germany.
Move your arm from Hungary to West Germany.
Leave your arm in Poland there.
Move 1 art from Germany to West Germany.
Move the rest of Germany’s land troops to Poland and Hungary.
You should now have 4 inf, 1 art, 1 arm in West Germany ready to transport to either Novgorod (via 127), Scotland, Gibraltar/Morocco, or even Nenetsia if you’re feeling saucy, depending on the situation. The rest depends on Russia’s moves. An attack on Novgorod only works if he moves all of his land troops, including his AAguns, down to Baltic or Belarus in order to make a stand at East Poland, which he probably won’t do after you’ve strafed Yugo. G2 Novgorod is only feasible if he has no more than 8 inf/art, 2 fig, 1 tbomb there. You could probably still do it with 9 inf/art, but the odds start declining drastically. If, however, he’s left Baltic States wide open, then you get to throw another tank in the mix. Move your whole fleet up so you can bombard with your bat and cru. Attack with 2 sbombers and 2 pairs of fig/tbomb (from Poland and Norway). Your planes already on your carrier should move into 127 to prevent him from scrambling, and then land in Finland making room on your carrier for your planes from Norway. Press into Eastern Poland/Baltic States. Italy btw should have been building/moving inf and AAguns over to Romania to protect your southern flank.
It’s a devastating move because every inf counts for Russia on a G2, and you’ve just killed 8/9 plus all his planes. (If he didn’t put his planes up there, then you haven’t lost any planes in the attack either, and you might even have an extra ground unit.) Plus he’ll need to use at least 2 probably 3 more troops to retake it in order to prevent you from building 3 more tanks. In which case your 5 inf from Karelia plus planes can retake it in time to build 3 tbombers. You’d almost certainly take Moscow turn 5.
However, this move is easily preventable by leaving your AAguns there on the first round. It also prevents you from leaving a fig on Rome, exposing you to a more crippling Taranto. (You might be able to pull a fig from 110, but if you did that, as England I would find it worthwhile to scramble.) Also, assuming Russia takes Novgorod back, or if you fail to take it, your fleet will be stranded there for at least 1 turn, lest it expose itself to the RAF without the shelter of West Germany’s aircover. A successful G2 Novgorod is well worth these costs, but unfortunately you have to take the risk first without any assurance there’ll be a payoff - and there’ll probably won’t be against a seasoned player. It’s more of a gimmick move - very fun if you can pull it off.
P.S. I mentioned earlier you should take Normandy. Usually I’m all for throwing everything into France. But if G2 Novgorod doesn’t pan out, you’re going to want to use your planes to attack the rest of the British fleet, which might be amassed in 109 under cover of up to 6 scrambling fighters and might be as large as 1 des/2 cru/1 damaged bat, which you don’t want repaired. Normally, you’d be able to land everything in Brussels, but if you’ve got aircraft in Poland and Norway, you won’t have enough to protect Brussels from a UK1 attack, not even with 3AA guns. Which is why taking Normandy is crucial.
