@jbriggs:
I have been playing the game for over 15 years and I have seen many things done with both sides. I can win with both sides, but no matter what stratagy you use, you have to have teamwork from your ally. I can usually criple germany in 3 rounds with Russia and use the rest of the allies to clean up germany by round 6. The key is to be smart and aggressive. Let me explain, and see if you can adapt this to your style of play……
This game to me is a game of options… You always have options with what to do every round. The trick to winning is to limit the enemy to options that they have and increasing yours. Basically the stratagy that you have played with by bringing your pacific fleet to the atlantic is limiting the amount of options that you have to choose from and making your stratagy 1 dimensionable. You are basically giving the pacific to Japan and not challenging them. This leaves Japan the opportunity to focus on the Asian mainland, and that will not do well for Russia and Britian. No matter what you do in the Atlantic you will not be able to beat the Axis powers.
So far so good, except that I’ll argue that America often should leave the Pacific. America challenging Japan in the Pacific is at the expense of America challenging Germany in Africa and Europe(in force). Not sure who you’ve been playing, 6 rounds to kill Germany seems way too fast against a good player unless they had some major dice jobs.
@jbriggs:
This is where teamwork comes in. Most people I have played against, see’s russia as very weak, and they play them defensively. I can’t play that way. My first round purchases for Russia is 6 artillary. This will do a few things for you……it creates options. Doing this for your first 3 rounds along with attacking Germany every turn will make you stronger. Buying the artillery adds an offensive option to you your stratagy. First round combat movements should consist of attacking Norway with 2 fighters and 3 infantry from karelia. You will limit the fighter from norway from attacking the british fleet, and it gives you an easy 3 ipc’s. Then attack west Russia with everything else from russia, your tank in archangel, and artillary and tank from caucas. You should win both battles with little loss. Your non combat phase, move 3 infantry from archangel into Karelia and land 2 fighters into karelia. Move 2 infantry from kazakh into Caucasas. 2 infantry from yakut to Buryatia. 2 infantry from novosibursk into sinkiiang. 2 infantry from E.N.O into Novosibirsk. Move your submarine from sea zone 4 to 2. Place your 6 artillary into caucasas. What this does is creates a wall for germany to attack. If Germany goes on the offensive they will be very weak for a counter attack by britian and russia. Caucasas will have 5 infantry and 6 artillery to defend with. Karelia will have 3 infantry and 2 fighters to defend with. West Russia will have 3 tanks, artillery and at least 1 infantry to defend with. If Germany attacks either one of these they will have to attack in force. They will be hurt badly and then you’ll be able to clean up with your other units the next round. Doing this will put you at +5 ipc’s for your next round.
1. The R1 attack on Norway is risky, especially since you don’t send the tank, and that’s putting it mildly. The fact that you send two fighters guarantees you’ll lose at least one of them landing in Karelia but you’ll land BOTH. But There is a 40% chance that Russia doesn’t even come out of there with a fighter(assuming to the death, but you can retreat before that point).
2. Your rationale for doing this is preventing the attack on z2, right? If Russia moves it’s sub over to z2, the attack is not favorable towards Germany in the first place and Germany even attempting this sets them up for losing multiple planes in their first turn and weakening the attack on Egypt. Wait, I just read your UK game plan - you should NEVER be able to assume the Egypt fighter lives. That opens up all sorts of possibilities for the Allies.
3. Never tried 6 artillery build. I will stick with 5 inf, 1 art, 1 tank or 2 inf, 2 art, 2 tanks, or 3 inf, 3 tanks depending on if I attack Wrus/Ukraine or just West Russia and how I’m feeling that particular day. You’re right that Russia needs to buy offense early on to prevent an early German stack in Karelia or Ukraine. However, to do that, you need units that can hit Karelia and Ukraine right away - tanks.
4. You cannot legally build 6 art all on Caucuses, that IC can only build 4 units per turn. The other two art are built in Moscow.
5. As Russia, if you leave you fighters so exposed, you cannot expect to win. Sorry if it’s harsh but I don’t think I could lose to that open. As Germany, what I would probably do is stack Karelia, liberate Norway the 23% of the time you actually take it based on what you send, attack the med Battleship, med destroyer, and take Egypt. I might(depending on R1 dice and mood) counterattack West Russia to destroy some Russian heavy units.
6. Seeing how rough things went for Russia on Germany’s turn, I might even smash Buryatia on Japan’s turn. Or I might play it safe and play a more traditional clear the Pacific and take China turn.
@jbriggs:
If I am Germany my focus is to keep britian land locked. I usually will use 1 sub from zone 8 to attack 2. Fighter from Norway and bomber from Germany to attack sea zone 2 also. Sinse Russia took norway, Germany no longer has that fighter. So you limited Germany on its options. Germany lands a tank and an infantry into Norway and captures it losing the infantry. Germany loses the sub and bomber leaving the battleship and troopship for britian. German bomber hits the Russian Sub for fodder. germany then attacks your battleship in gibralter and you lose that, at a cost of 1 fighter for them. Basically your British fleet is still intact for future assaults on Europe.
1. Why attack the UK ships in z2 if it costs you a bomber and a sub and you still fail? If you have a fetish for killing British boats, a safer alternative is attacking the Canadian transport with the sub in z8. I tend to send it against the med battleship to minimize any chance I have to lose planes.
2. So by your summary, two turns in, Germany is down 3/7 planes, almost half their planes are gone.
3. You forgot to mention what’s arguably the most important battle on Germany’s first turn - Egypt.
@jbriggs:
Britian…… Purchase 1 IC to be placed in India and 1 troopship, 1 infantry, 1 artillary to be placed with northern fleet at Sea zone 3. Combat moves should be bringing a tank from canada and infantry from britian to land in Norway. Bring BB from sea zone 2 to 3 for bombardment with troopship carrying 1 tank and another infantry from britian for support. You can use your 2 fighters to attack German surface fleet in the baltic. Your bomber can support the fighters, but Taking more money from Germany is more important. Use sub from australia and attack Japanese Sub in sea zone 45. Use carrier fighter to attack transport in 59. You want to maximize your limited naval strength in the pacific for defense. Don’t attack the Japanese fleet. But make them chase after you. I’ll explain later. Non combat moves…land fighter back on carrier. Bring fighter fromegypt and land it in india for support. Move infantry from jordan to egypt. Infantry from persia to india. Infantry from S. Africa north. Land fighters from baltic back in britian. Bomber the same. Move destroyer from sea zone 15 to the rest of the fleet in 35. Place new units with fleet in sea zone 3. New IC in India. Britians goal is to attack Japanese interests in Asia, limiting their options for attacking Russia. Build 3 tanks in India the next few turns and keep putting 1 infantry, artillary, and a troopship in the atlantic. The next round you should still have Norway, so britian could build an IC in Norway so they can keep building tanks and moving them into the Russian lines later in the game. Britians purchases for turn 3 should be 6 tanks. 3 for Norway, 3 for India. Basically with tanks in india you should take Burma and kwantung by the 3rd round. British units should be mixed in with Russian units in Europe.
1. Without Americans in the Pacific and/or heavy Russian support, the Indian factory isn’t that hard for Japan to take.
2. Are you assuming that your ships in z 3 are safe? If I’m playing Germany, I probably have 4 fighters in Western Europe and may have submerged my subs. So you have a battleship, sub, and 3 transports and I have 2 subs and 4 fighters and I’ll at least strafe those ships, there’s a good chance I will sink them all.
3. It’s more efficient to transport troops from London than to build tanks in Norway. Plus, tanks on Norway can only go to 4 territories while transports can land or threaten any coastal territory. Sometimes if British income is high, an IC there is good.
@jbriggs:
Japan has to build an IC in Asia to match the brits, otherwise They will starve to death and britian will overwhelm the pacific. Japan most likely will not attack Russia this round. If they do they will be very weak for the british armor onslaught that will happen in the next few turns. The Japanese fleet will have to respect the US fleet as well as the British fleet. Japanese options are limited at this point……
1. Japan should eventually build an IC, but I don’t like to until J2 or J3. As long as you can protect them, I greatly prefer transports over complexes in the early stages.
2. I read the American section and it mentions the Chinese fighter. China is a MUST ATTACK on Japan’s first turn.
3. It’s not often that Japan leaves the US ships alone on their first turn. They’re easy targets and most players will attack them unless they want to attack Buryatia or a large concentration of British ships on the first turn.
@jbriggs:
US…… purchases- 2 troopships, 3 infantry, 3tanks, All to be placed in the eastern US. Combat moves… Move 2 transports, 1 destroyer, 1 tank, 1 artillary, 2 infantry, and 1 bomber and attack algeria. If you still have China use fighter and attack any troopship of the japanese. If you still have your fleet in hawaii merge them with your transport and battleship. You can meet them in wake and attack wake island using 2 fighters, bombardment, and 2 infantry. This will basically show Japan that you are there and you will attack anything open. They will have to put some energy towards your fleet. Don’t attack their fleet, let them attack you. Carriers defend best and a fully loaded carrier will wipe out a small fleet on defense. This fleet is basically there to keep Japan honest. They won’t be able to divert all there attention on mainland asia and if you don’t lose your fleet, you don’t have to build anything else until Germany gets wiped out. This will allow you to focus shuttling units into Europe. Germany will most likely lose interest in Africa by round 2 because of the russian advance and the british buildup in Norway. Non combat moves… move destroyer from sea zone 20 into 10. land bomber in egypt. Move fighter from E. US and land it in britian. Fighter from W. US lands in Hawaii, or on carrier. Fighter in China should stay. Move infantry from sinkiiang into China. Place new units in Eastern US. Your purchases for the next few rounds should be the same as your first round purchases. If Germany doesn’t attack your transports in sea zone 12 their next round, you can send them back to the US to bring more units later, or you can keep them around Europe and land them in places in europe to help with taking it. Doing this constantly will keep Germany pressured from 3 sides and you will limit their options.
1. With America in the Pacific, my policy is go big or go home. Either retreat the leftover Pacific units towards Europe and Africa(usually just the Battleship and transport) or challenge Japan for the Pacific. Are you taking into account that Wake Island is probably a Japanese deadzone, meaning that they can kill your ships at relatively low cost?
2. You may have the right idea for America, troops and transports marching through Canada. Lots of logistics going into the purchasing strategy.
3. You should NEVER be able to assume that the Chinese fighter lives. If that happened, the Axis should probably concede.
@jbriggs:
After you get Germany weakened by round 2, try and develope combined bombardment, with Britian and the US. This will give you more firepower later on. If you get combined bombardment, you can buy 2 destroyers for every one battleship. Thats twice the amphibious firepower for your money. If you build a fleet with at least 2 fully loaded carriers, 4 destroyers and, and at least 4 transports, you will have a powerful navy that has alot of bite. Play with it and see what happens. I promise, you will never purchase a battleship ever again.
The key to this stratagy is teamwork. There will be times that Britian and the US will play a supporting role to Russia. Russia will have to do alot of the dirty work, but during the British and US turns, they will reinforce the Russian lines. The British and Us bombers should strategic bomb germany every round. For every dollar germany loses thats one less tank or infantry that they can buy. Every bit helps.
Stick to the gameplan I set up, and the allies will have Europe captured by round 5 or 6. Japan will be weakened drastically and will fall by turn 10.
Try this out, and let me know what happens.
1. Yeah, a fleet of 2 loaded carriers, 4 destroyers, and 4 transports is pretty menacing. The question is, what are they fighting? Beyond their starting pieces, the Allies shouldn’t normally need more than a carrier for fleet protection against the Luftwaffe. All the money that went into developing the technology and building the destroyers would have been better spent on more transports and troops.
2. Trust me - I won’t be buying battleships.
If you have TripleA or ABattlemap or are just willing to type up moves, keep unit summaries, and use physical boards, I’d be open to an online game to demonstrate some points. If you’d like to play a game, let me know. I don’t mean to be condescending(I hope I haven’t come off that way) but I think you have a lot to learn and would benefit from playing a fresh batch of opponents. A bid for the Axis is necessary for a balanced game between fairly equal opponents usually ranging 6-10 IPC’s in any combination of extra starting units and income. I’d play either side, your choice.
(Whew. Long post.)
