Greetings, I’m going to make my first post on these forums something worthwhile, and discuss the possibilities of strange strategies. If people enjoy this post, I will update with more that I have found.
When I play games as Germany, I usually ignore Sealion altogether, and go for crushing Russia, which has seemed to work well in the games that I’ve played. As a strategy, I find that building an IC in Romania is a good idea, to shorten the supply lines for the southern front. After playing a game with one of my friends from school, we talked about unorthodox strategies, which got me thinking.
Normally, a war between Germany and Russia is very straightforward. Germany amasses troops in Poland, Slovakia, and Romania, sometimes with the addition of Finland with small numbers of troops. When Germany initially attacks, he has great local superiority, and advances quickly through the first couple of rounds (game rounds, not battle rounds). After Germany pushes further into Russia, his supply lines get longer, and Russia’s get shorter, which will begin to slow the German advance, and possibly even stop it (especially with the extra income from global, is Japan doesn’t attack Russia in the east, which doesn’t happen in my games). If the Allies land in France or Southern Europe, then Germany must divert some of its forces to assist Italy, which essentially spells the end of any possible victory on the Eastern front, which is exactly what happened in the actual war.
Now, after my friend and I talked about unorthodox strategies, began thinking about my typical placement of a Minor Complex in Romania, to alleviate supply issues in the south. I realized something that I believe is an effective way to crush the Russians quickly, and then turn my attention back to Britan, which has been isolated with subs at this point. (Now, I haven’t actually tried this in a game yet, and I won’t be able to for a while, so if more experienced players than myself could tell if it is indeed viable, or perhaps even try it in a game of their own.) The strategy would involve creation of the IC in Romania, and then building transports in the Black Sea (Zone 100), and ferrying troops into the Caucasus, or the neighboring territories, Rostov and Ukraine. This would open up a new front in the south, especially since Italy can’t come through the middle east that quickly, and won’t be there for a few more rounds. This will keep the Russians guessing which territory you will assault, which will force them to spread their forces in the south, weakening their defenses further. Also, the territories in the south are twice as valuable as the others, so the economy would be helped significantly more than a northern push.
Further thinking along these lines has led me to the conclusion that you could also build another IC in Norway, and conduct a similar maneuver in the north, Assaulting Leningrad, Archangel, or any other territory up there. it would also serve to protect Norway from potential Allied invasion. Norway is key, because of its value and the NO.
What do people think of this? Has it already been done, and would it work in practice, not just in theory? What are possible improvements to this strategy to make it more effective?
Thanks for reading, it was a lot.