Playing as Germany

[77stranger77]

There was a thread for Japan so I figured one should be made for Germany. Their generic role is more obvious than Japan and America’s - Hold the fort and go for Russia! But what are they doing, any naval builds, steady Luftwaffe increase, everything to Russia? Stack WE, buy planes, and play the trading game? Western Europe is an interesting dilemma for Germany. It is easy to defend the first 2-3 rounds and makes the Allies protect their transports - a no-brainer in most games. At some point in a game of Revised, I often to turned WE into a deadzone in order to push east against Russia. I see two options, one is play about the same as Revised and push east even if it means abandoning WE. The other is to steadily stack WE and continuously buy planes in order to contest the Atlantic.

In Revised I didn’t like to defend WE forever, so now I’m trying to make the transition to Spring 42. With defenseless transports and 12 IPC bombers, contesting the Atlantic is feasible to some extent and holding WE would be pain for the US and UK shucks.

[Col.Stauffenberg]

We’ve played a handful of games now with 42 and an almost always standard rd1 move is to take out the British navy with a sub, plane and bomber. It almost always works. No one has tried the Russian attack on Norway yet but I understand a lot of people on here favor that attack. I think it’s crazy as it’s still hard to win, and you’re losing a plane and armor in the process.

Getting into Africa right away is a must. The new strategy of a rd 1 russian sub build off caucus can cause Germany huge problems. I don’t know the answer to that move yet.

If West Russia has roughly 6 pieces or less than that’s definitely attackable.

I think the AC build in the baltic is even more feasible in 42, if you still have that navy (since Russia can take it out now with one fighter).  So if you get to keep it on you turn it really slows down UK and puts them on D right away.

In summary, I favor -
-attack the UK navy/Russian sub with 1 sub, 1 bomber, 1 fighter
-attack West Russia if it’s vulnerable. Also caucus, if it’s empty/very weak for some reason
-attack karelia with whatever you feel like. Should be an easy fight.
-If you still have Norway, leave some guys there to protect your bomber from the UK transport off Canada.
-take out UK Cruiser with 3 planes
-take out UK destroyer off Egypt with battleship.
-take Egypt with 2 guys, 2 tanks and 2 fighters.

NCM -moves subs in the baltic out, move guys from Algeria up, move stuff towards russia, make sure France is defended adequately.

Buy an AC if you still have Baltic navy and 8 inf. If you don’t, buy all men.

[77stranger77]

@Col.Stauffenberg:

We’ve played a handful of games now with 42 and an almost always standard rd1 move is to take out the British navy with a sub, plane and bomber. It almost always works. No one has tried the Russian attack on Norway yet but I understand a lot of people on here favor that attack. I think it’s crazy as it’s still hard to win, and you’re losing a plane and armor in the process.

I agree, that’s what I tried my first game and it went well. Sure, attacking Norway would kill the attack but it would also mean either a weak West Russia or a poorly defended Caucuses. Russia shouldn’t be losing a fighter in the attack though. It’s a little dicey so I don’t think this will be popular.
@Col.Stauffenberg:

Getting into Africa right away is a must. The new strategy of a rd 1 russian sub build off caucus can cause Germany huge problems. I don’t know the answer to that move yet.

I think the answer is to attack Egypt anyhow, if you’re comfortable building more navy go for it, I’m not. The other piece is to try to take advantage of the units they didn’t buy because of the sub. Can Karelia be stacked?
@Col.Stauffenberg:

If West Russia has roughly 6 pieces or less than that’s definitely attackable.

Are your opponents attacking West Russia only or that and Norway, Ukraine, or Belo? Just 6 units in Wrus, is a good counterattack.
@Col.Stauffenberg:

I think the AC build in the baltic is even more feasible in 42, if you still have that navy (since Russia can take it out now with one fighter).  So if you get to keep it on you turn it really slows down UK and puts them on D right away.

It hasn’t dawned on me to attack it with Russia on R1. I don’t think I will since they’ll lose the fighter half the time and I think I would WANT them to build naval units.
@Col.Stauffenberg:

In summary, I favor -
-attack the UK navy/Russian sub with 1 sub, 1 bomber, 1 fighter
-attack West Russia if it’s vulnerable. Also caucus, if it’s empty/very weak for some reason
-attack karelia with whatever you feel like. Should be an easy fight.
-If you still have Norway, leave some guys there to protect your bomber from the UK transport off Canada.
-take out UK Cruiser with 3 planes
-take out UK destroyer off Egypt with battleship.
-take Egypt with 2 guys, 2 tanks and 2 fighters.

Yep, I’d agree with those. “Should be an easy fight.” Are your opponents defending Karelia? The most I ever see left there is one infantry. You can’t count on having two fighters to attack Egypt with, Ukraine is a popular attack.
@Col.Stauffenberg:

NCM -moves subs in the baltic out, move guys from Algeria up, move stuff towards russia, make sure France is defended adequately.

Having the subs around to threaten Allied shipping makes things a lot harder for the Allies than in Revised. France can be left fairly empty as long as the transport is killed in z2 and you have at least 1 sub in z7, the only things that can attack France are 2 fighters and a bomber.
@Col.Stauffenberg:

Buy an AC if you still have Baltic navy and 8 inf. If you don’t, buy all men.

Unless things are a lot better than Revised, I don’t think I’ll be buying a Baltic Carrier. Who knows, maybe after a few games I’ll be eating my words but I think a carrier gives Russia too much breathing room and any money spent on boats would be better spent on troops, tanks, and planes.

I think I’ve got a good grasp on the first round moves from Revised. What’s more in question is the midgame decisions and purchasing strategy. What has greater strategic value? Holding WE for a fighter base against Allied shipping or advancing against Russia at WE’s expense? What should Germany’s Luftwaffe look like, whatever they have after round 1, or a steadily built up AF of 6-8 fighters and 2-3 bombers?

[Col.Stauffenberg]

We played a game last night where Russia tried the 2 sub move again. I was Germany again so I tried ten men and one fighter. This worked really well. His attacked failed and later, two UK fighter missed, and two Russian fighters missed. That navy survived 3 attacks :). After that I just bought land stuff and Russia surrendered around round 5. Having seven fighters was nice as Germany. I think I might forego Navy in the future.

[Veqryn]

Generally i like to play with the long game in mind as germany.  I buy about half and half inf and tanks, and i protect france while still trying to keep as much of the eastern money as i can.  I do not make any push until Japan has built up some forces.  Also, first turn i take out the UK BB, Cruiser, and destroyer, as well as landing in egypt for as many turns as i can.  I don’t ever buy fleet.

however, there are other good strategies:

buying a bomber first turn will threaten the newly weakened allies fleets.  buying a bomber first and second turn will stop any landing by the allies til the 3rd or 4th turn.  i would not go overboard though, you need boots more than you need air.

buying 4 inf, 4 tanks, 2 art the first turn, THEN buying 100% tanks for a couple turns.  You can push into russia and may even take moscow but its really risky

[Zhukov44]

Anybody have solid numbers on SZ2 strike odds?  Roughly calculated I’m guessing it’s 25% that the German fighter lives.  I think, in general, this is an excellent attack for Germany if the fighter survives.  But if the fighter dies, it may be debatable whether it was worth it, given that those 2 planes could have been used elsewhere and the Kraut sub could have gone for the defenseless transport.  The 25-30% chance that Germany gets the BB without losing any planes makes this eminently tempting.

Anybody aware of a web-based calc for the new rule-set?

[Col.Stauffenberg]

@Zhukov44:

Anybody have solid numbers on SZ2 strike odds?  Roughly calculated I’m guessing it’s 25% that the German fighter lives.  I think, in general, this is an excellent attack for Germany if the fighter survives.  But if the fighter dies, it may be debatable whether it was worth it, given that those 2 planes could have been used elsewhere and the Kraut sub could have gone for the defenseless transport.  The 25-30% chance that Germany gets the BB without losing any planes makes this eminently tempting.

Anybody aware of a web-based calc for the new rule-set?

The only problem with that is the US destroyer and a plane and bomber can take out the sub. It would be a sittin duck. If I wasn’t going after the battleship, that sub could go for the cruiser by Gibralter, that way you don’t risk losing a plane. Or I wonder if it would be wise to try a conservative approach and keep the subs together for a round two attack. You could get three subs and a whole lot of planes for a round two attack in the Atlantic.