I consider Europe my personal favorite in the Axis & Allies franchise. But I may be biased because it happens to be the first one I bought & it is the one that got me hooked on these games.
In our game Germany ALWAYS wins- help us
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There is no way Russia can ever generate 60+ infantry. I mean, if Germany is industrial bombing Russia while attacking it with most of its forces for 5 to 6 continuous turns, Russia will never amass such an army.
As for your continual harping about your “combined arms” doctrine, it makes sense but it is hard to apply to a board game and to certain countries with specific objectives/tactics/limitations (i.e. IPC income).
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Russia must of luck and tenacity. strategic bombing is rough going with fighter cover & AA to fly through and as a player not a combatant I can be less tied to land. You can return the favor as well for Germany is an easy target from Leningrad (ftr covr), the Soviets must make the Germans pay for every inch. As the germans move in without air cover the fist of the soviet army and air corps must be able to punch and hard. Whether you think I can have that many infantry doesn’t matter, you start with 44 and the allies provide all air power ( and later ground units. The Allies job is to harass the flanks of the germans and threaten invasion of Europe ( pulling resources from the soviet front). The ocean protects the U.S. & Britain (w/ infantry for England in #'s to deter quick attack.The germans can certaintly defeat the allies but luck and poor play by the allies are essential for victory. Germany is certaintly the power “easiest” to win with simply due to their massive force at the beginning of the game. The novice will stand and fight while the more experienced will simply fight to cover retreat while planning always planning counterattack. Perhaps the flaw is you play to fast. These are wargames and wars (in these days) occured over years. To take time to plan and map out NEW strategy during play is for me not only the most accurate part of play but the most fun. The posting previously about looking at the board for hours is correct only do not simply ponder before play do it during. Yes I know this makes games last forever but they will be great games and no won will lose for making a rushed decision(this is NOT battlefield tactics this is large scale campaign strategy)for no one enjoys a hollow victory.I believe there is untold innovation on history possible the bigger a field(board) we can play on. Speaking of which what big boards are out there or have some of you made your own?
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Russia must attack :evil: If Russia just retreats and defends, game over. Germany takes out the fleets on his first turn, and cripples uk’s ipc (convoys). By the time the US and UK can create a fleet large enough to threaten Germany, it is too late. Germany concentrates all its power on Russia, with the stack principle. To do anything else is folly. Russia must hole Leningrad so that reinforcement fighters and bombers can come from the US and UK. By building infantry and artillary, Russia has a substantial attack force and defence with low cost. The converted aircraft support the attacks, making them quite effective, but because they can’t land on newly conquered territory, they are always out of harms way.
All and all, this still comes down to a dice rolling match. If the dice are good, Russia can win, but it is tough.
Every time I’ve played this, with the standard rules, Germany wins. All other forums with good players agree, even Avalon Hill agrees that the game favors Germany.
You can try things like introducing research tech, cause that can make a world of difference (especially if russia gets industrial tech).Have fun :P
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Every time I’ve played this, with the standard rules, Germany wins. All other forums with good players agree, even Avalon Hill agrees that the game favors Germany.
hmmm… strange. I don’t think the game favors germany. In 60% of the game i saw with standard rules the Allies win… only by removing Allies starting 12 IPC or by inversing it (Allies put the IPC first, Germany second) it is well balanced.
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the americans can always move planes and bombers over the bockade to lenningrad where germany can use them in defence. fighters will have to stop in ireland or britain to make the trip
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The game is totally in favor of the Axis. I just finished a game last weekend and once again Germany dominated. In the end it was:
Russia
-48 inf.
-7 tanks.
-7 arty.
-2 fighters
-1 bmbr.But all said and done germany still had a stack of 16 tanks and 6 fighters, everything else had been whiped out but that didnt matter after he took Moscow. The funny thing was a couple of times the Allies won outstanding battles, but it never mattered in the end.
I suggest (as I will try in my next game) that the Allies pump Russia full of troops and air power. Send transports up north and drop men off, fly airplanes and hope Russia can hold out against the Axis final attack.
The game after that I think Ill try the Russian initial attack, otherwise we’re doomed.
Gd’luck.
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Thats well put. If you continue to win or lose as the allies or germans either you suck or the people your playing suck. The germans are strong, but they face an allied force. My first game I played my cousin (whose first game it was also) and I won as the allies. Had I played as a germany I most probably still would have won.
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My buddies and I have played AAE only 3 times now, and each time Germany was slaughtered – we were beginning to think the game was unbalanced in favor of the Allies! These postings give me hope that the game truly is balanced.
I agree with what has been said above: Russia should attack. Lure Germany into stretching itself too far forward into weakly held positions, then charge in with tons of infantry and artillery. I would buy chiefly those two units, and after Turns 1 & 2 maybe a couple of tanks to give you some extra mobility – it’s nice to be able to send one or two tanks to the Mideast if Germany invades there.
And definitely take advantage of the Soviet Patriotic War rule. That is huge, as far as I’m concerned. US and UK should donate fighters, and after a couple turns, sending transports with inf to Archangel or Leningrad shouldn’t be any problem. And if Germany truly does ignore the Africa continent, UK could send those troops north from the Mideast.
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I would say at first that Germany was much stronger because of the amount of tanks and the lack of UK and USA support for the Soviets :cry: . Now I think is it even :D . Last two times I played the Allies I invoked the “Shell Germany back to the stone age method”. All the Allies (USA and UK) need to do is build all destroyers and a few transports that will carry one tank each. I would just beach land on Germany with one just one transport carrying just one tank and bombard with as many destroyers as possible. By round 5 I had UK shelling the Germans with 7 destroyers and just one tank. I did the same with the USA. The reason why this works is in a bombard your destroyers will shoot only once at a 2 for cover support and the one tank that costs only 5 ipcs will fire at a 3. Now this is where Germany gets screwed :D because they can only kill the tank. So in that battle the Allies will only loose one tank while the Germans will lose more (simple economics). This is a good tactic for two reasons one being the simple number losses for the Germans and two and equally as important is that is forces Germany to buy infantry to defend Germany rather then the speedy tanks that attack at a 3 and can be used to aid the down fall of the Soviets. Keep doing this and keep adding destroyers to the attacking group. USA will need at least 3 transports and the UK will need two transports to provide a constant stream of one transport carrying one tank to the German coast.
Now the Soviets can’t run and hide they must attack the German tanks at the right time. Which is when they are defending at a 2 and don’t have allot of infantry that can used for fodder. This is a common tactic with A&A. So the battle between the Soviets and the Germans boils down to who can kill whose tank force first.
The only thing else I can think of is use your 12 ipc at the beginning to match what ever the Germans do. Just to play it safe.
Ultimately its the random rolls of the dice that decides who wins the battle. All you can do is play the percentages.
Hope this helps :D
SEI
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I’ve read quite a few strategies for German victory on this website, and I am grateful to all the posters. I have one burning question: what should Germany buy on the first turn? Some say, “Nothing but tanks!” Some say “Infantry and artillery!” What’s the best way to initiate this march on Moscow?
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Yeah, that’s also been a problem. Usually I go with with a combination of arm and inf. But I know other players that tend to buy an extra transport or sub. I guess it depends on your preference. :)
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Hello. I only today watched these forum. And the replies here astonish me completely?
I think myself pretty good strategist and good player in A&AE. And I think the game is balanced pretty good, it really depends on dice and what the players do.
But lately, it has been hard going for the germans in our group. We have about 6-7 players who want to play almost every week. Me and my friend explore the possibilieties for the germans mostly trying to come up with new tactics and new ideas on how to win with the germans…
But as usually there are couple of things that decide the game.
- Germans can’t make mistakes where they lose high cost troops, fighters&bombers and tanks in large numbers…
- Soviets either can’t waste his beginning tanks and planes. If the soviets lose their planes in our games, they usually lose
- British must try to hold the africa from the germans, 8 IPC more for germans is a huge advantage and usually brings the german close to winning.
- Americans don’t need to defend and must do damage constantly, first destroying the subs. They don’t need to watch out for their troops, even sacrificing everything they have to destroy the german high cost troops…because america can always build them back, but the germans can’t…
Now I won’t tell at least yet all my beginning moves which work for the germans. But most effective I have found is making with the early 12ipc transport to danish strait. 1 turn destroy the british and american fleets and after that negate their convoys to delay them as long as possible. Why the transport? Because you will make fleet to danish strait to have straight transport route to leningrad + you will get support fire if the soviets defend it from your destroyers…after the fall of leningrad the soviet situation doesn’t look good, because the german fleet reinforces it fast.
There are so many strategies that can be tried and may success and bring you victory or they can be deciding factory why you lose…dice rules this game almost 50%, then comes the strategy…
But if they allies play wisely they can always see what the german player does and then take their counter moves, the axis decide the route where the game will go and the allies always counter his moves…
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I’ve only played one game of AAE but i have played lots of the original so i’m not a complete moron when it comes to this game… i was Russia, and germany took over the Annexed countries first turn. I moved all my troops towards my front lines and retook those countries, but with not a lot to spare. Next turn germany took them again, but on my turn i attacked with a whole bunch of infantry backed with some artilery and some new tanks. This seemed to work well because i had a lot of infantry on my front lines so i could most likely hold out against another german attack. I placed my tanks and was glad… in the original game, as soon as Russia got one turn to build freely it was all over for Germany. The next couple of turns i pushed the German forces back in the north, but a horribly batched attack left my southernly lines kinda weak. The germans got through to some Russain territory and i had to waste time killed them, which took pressure of Germany wich eventually led to my downfall. I’m sure that plan would have worked had i not got terrible rolls in that one attack, and my allies had built some freakin transports! i cannot stress enough how much those assaults would have helped. Also, I also found that a lot of idiots don’t like attacking with infantry, when they are perfect for some situations (namely where territories flip back and forth). In short, I have NEVER witnessed a player win while playing defensive, so i’d rather take the chance of attacking with Russia.
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Fusca you are completely right in that, the germans should not get a hold to any russian front territory easily, if they move in force counter with a strong attack to destroy and at least cripple the frontier attacking army.
If the germans get east poland and hold it for that turn, next turn you can expect it to be reinforced very heavily with everything the german can put there to make a force what you can’t by attacking kill. So the best defense is not to let that happen, so if he comes heavily you attack heavily…
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@Bobby:
I’ve read quite a few strategies for German victory on this website, and I am grateful to all the posters. I have one burning question: what should Germany buy on the first turn? Some say, “Nothing but tanks!” Some say “Infantry and artillery!” What’s the best way to initiate this march on Moscow?
Certainly you need to keep bringing in fresh infantry, mindful that it takes two full moves after placement to get them across the Russian frontier.
I feel strongly about Axis air power. Nothing helps eat up Sov ground forces – and Sov’s got plenty – like Axis Ftrs & Bmrs, wielded in concert with your usual land-based arsenal. Also Ftrs & Bmrs help Axis stay flexible & effective in defensive maneuvers. Of course, you’ve only got enough IPCs to buy one or two per turn, esp. when you consider how much infantry & armor you’ll need to take – and hold – Sov territories & ultimately Moscow.
Like that fellow, DARKSTAR, says, “combined mixed forces” are key. You need the armor, you need the inf & rtl, you need air. Reflect on where – and when – you will need concentrations of infantry to shield advances and hold off counterattacks. You need plenty, and they move slower than any other units.
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@Anonymous:
Now I won’t tell at least yet all my beginning moves which work for the germans. But most effective I have found is making with the early 12ipc transport to danish strait. 1 turn destroy the british and american fleets and after that negate their convoys to delay them as long as possible. Why the transport? Because you will make fleet to danish strait to have straight transport route to leningrad + you will get support fire if the soviets defend it from your destroyers…after the fall of leningrad the soviet situation doesn’t look good, because the german fleet reinforces it fast.
Destroyers? What destroyers? Wow! Even if you do beef up your northern navy with destroyers, I find it mind-numbing that the Allies wouldn’t go all-out to sink everything and deny Axis the use of naval power & transport in the Baltic. If German shipping can form a fast shuttle to the front in Leningrad, then this doubles the trouble Sov is in.
Anyway, your points are all interesting and well-considered. Countermoves are the Allies’ stock in trade – and the game hinges on how soon and how decisively the Allies can take the initiative, wheras in the beginning they are largely restricted to reacting. Axis power & position starts out at the apex.
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@Anonymous:
Now I won’t tell at least yet all my beginning moves which work for the germans. But most effective I have found is making with the early 12ipc transport to danish strait. 1 turn destroy the british and american fleets and after that negate their convoys to delay them as long as possible. Why the transport? Because you will make fleet to danish strait to have straight transport route to leningrad + you will get support fire if the soviets defend it from your destroyers…after the fall of leningrad the soviet situation doesn’t look good, because the german fleet reinforces it fast.
Destroyers? What destroyers? Wow! Even if you do beef up your northern navy with destroyers, I find it mind-numbing that the Allies wouldn’t go all-out to sink everything and deny Axis the use of naval power & transport in the Baltic. If German shipping can form a fast shuttle to the front in Leningrad, then this doubles the trouble Sov is in.
Anyway, your points are all interesting and well-considered. Countermoves are the Allies’ stock in trade – and the game hinges on how soon and how decisively the Allies can take the initiative, wheras in the beginning they are largely restricted to reacting. Axis power & position starts out at the apex.
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ZimZaxZeo that was me who wrote that before I signed in. :D
And that was in the beginning, but that buying navy for the germans is pretty surprising effect and makes the soviets lose additional fighters planes. Because the allies do try to destroy the fleet straight away and so sacrificing valuable planes…
The point in building that is that in the first turn the only way the allies can destroy the german fleet is by attacking with air planes, and attacking 2-3 destroyers + transports is to lose all planes.
Haven’t tried that tactic for a long time, but strangely it was annoyinly effective delaying the allies for a long time, because they had to be vary of the fleet there or use all their efforts to destroy it and so giving the germans easy time to concentrate to russia.
Now my opening moves concentrate to the sole best unit in the game. Infranty blocks. Starting in the early turns heavily in infranty you tie the difference with the soviets fast in infranty. Why soviet is hard to defeat is because it can take a lot of hits with it’s massed infranty so that your attack is effective coming strongly with infranty is the way to go…
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it is not right that the only way to destroy the german navy is the airplane.
how are you destroying the subs? and what do you do when germny just builds subs? then your strategy is fuc… up. there is one nice strategy
defeat germany. the west allies build two terms just ships. after the german nvy was kicked out of the west atlanti the USA make a smal invasion of africa with about two tanks which is usually possible. if the british got defeated in africa before the greman invasion the USA need
four tanks to hold it´s position in africa and to move to the east of africa.
that can happen in the first three turns. what are the british doing in this time? they destroy the rest of the germany navy. after that they build bombers and fly bombing raids as long as possible. they have to do that as long as the USA is fighting in africa. after that than the west allies try to invade at two different places in europe. what are the soviets doing between that time. they build infantry and try to counter strike each attack the germans did. if that is not always possible they have to move back and leave one infantry in the country they leave that germany can´t blitz through the country. when russia is doing that they get new units.
that is my plan for the allies how to defeat germany. -
Whyee of course the allies should make ships, transports and destroyers are their only building in the first couple of turns…
The point is that on turn 1, the german navy can be only destroyed by massing planes against them and it should be done, because it makes the german player lose his 40ipc for nothing useful, losing his navy for nothing. What do the british need their planes? they have usually only couple of options helping taking german lands/subs, or giving them to russia…