Are bombers broken? : Axis bombers lead to allied dismay.

[knp7765]

James Aleman,
I finally got to try out some of your Axis bomber strategy on a Global 40 game. We have only gone through 4 rounds so far, but results have been interesting.
1 > German bomber attacks on UK facilities has been devastating. AB in Scotland has 3 damage, NB in UK has 5 damage, AB in UK had 6 damage but was just repaired, IC in UK had 20 damage but repaired to just 6 damage now. UK didn’t even bother repairing facilities at home for 2 rounds due to German bomber presence. Rather they produced in South Africa and Canada. Cleared Africa of all Italian units and sank all Italian navy, both with a little help from French. UK rules Middle-East including Iraq.
NOTE: Looking back now, once the UK factory was maxed out, I probably should have bought transports and did Sealion. Got too focused on bomber buys and preparing for Barbarossa.
2 > German bombers stationed in W. Germany is keeping the US fleet at bay and out of Europe. US Atlantic fleet not large enough to withstand a fleet of German bombers. At present I have 15 German bombers (lost 1 in SBR Leningrad IC). Started Barbarossa G4 (actually I3). Right now 11 bombers in E Poland, 4 in W Germany. Will SBR Moscow next round. Moscow has 4 fighters/possible interceptors but with 11 bombers, like you said I will trade a few of my bombers for Russian fighters.
NOTE: Moscow will be tough. Russia did odd thing. Stacked guys in Leningrad and Ukraine then as soon as I attacked, retreated everything towards Moscow leaving 1 infantry blocker in each territory behind. Leningrad & Ukraine will be easy but Russian stacks will reach Moscow before I can reach them, even with Italian can openings. Moscow will have A LOT of men there, but perhaps German SBRs will do enough that they won’t be able to build much more.
3 > Japan is doing fair with their bombers. Most of their effort ended up chasing the Russians across the north, which does help cut down Russian income but doesn’t do much for their efforts in the south. China and India is actually causing problems on the mainland. Most of Japan’s fleet is gone – 2 CV, 1 BB and 3 transports left. Large US fleet hanging out by Iwo Jima, which makes for a good US bomber base to SBR Japan. US subs ready to attack Japan’s convoys. Still, Japan has 10-11 bombers plus 3 fighters on Japan and 2 fighters, 1 tac on Korea. Maybe a huge air raid against US fleet may do some good. Japan struggling to get DEI 1 island at a time because of dwindling navy. India/ANZAC has been making very good use of their air force by picking apart the Japanese navy. While Japan is making gains down there, it has not been easy.
4 > I went against your purchase plan for Japan round 3 and bought a minor IC for the mainland. Japan was losing too much ground to China and India. Hopefully a few mechs/tanks with air support will ease things up there.
Overall I think this strategy is a success. A lot depends on how the final battle for Moscow turns out. It looks like he plans to just turtle up and let me come to him. If he uses his fighters as interceptors, I think that will be better for me. If not, then the battle will be a little tougher but my SBRs should do great. As for Japan, I guess their main job is to hold out long enough and cause the Allies enough headaches for Germany to get the 8 cities in Europe, right? I guess as long as they don’t lose Tokyo, they have done their job, right? Italy has a modest force in Russia taking a few Russian territories, which has been easy for them only fighting 1 infantry each time, but they won’t be much help getting Moscow with that huge stack of Russians there. They also won’t be much help getting Cairo since they have been totally chased out of Africa. Perhaps if they start heading south through the Caucasus and Middle-East, but that is a long ways to go and UK may be able to stop them before they get there. With my W Germany bombers keeping the US fleet at bay, things are going all right. I just hope US/UK doesn’t find a way to counter that because my European defenses are pretty thin.
Probably won’t get to play any more of the game until my next weekend, which will be Monday night. I’ll let you know what happens.

[JamesAleman]

@knp7765:

James Aleman,
I finally got to try out some of your Axis bomber strategy on a Global 40 game. We have only gone through 4 rounds so far, but results have been interesting.
1 > German bomber attacks on UK facilities has been devastating. AB in Scotland has 3 damage, NB in UK has 5 damage, AB in UK had 6 damage but was just repaired, IC in UK had 20 damage but repaired to just 6 damage now. UK didn’t even bother repairing facilities at home for 2 rounds due to German bomber presence. Rather they produced in South Africa and Canada. Cleared Africa of all Italian units and sank all Italian navy, both with a little help from French. UK rules Middle-East including Iraq.
NOTE: Looking back now, once the UK factory was maxed out, I probably should have bought transports and did Sealion. Got too focused on bomber buys and preparing for Barbarossa.
2 > German bombers stationed in W. Germany is keeping the US fleet at bay and out of Europe. US Atlantic fleet not large enough to withstand a fleet of German bombers. At present I have 15 German bombers (lost 1 in SBR Leningrad IC). Started Barbarossa G4 (actually I3). Right now 11 bombers in E Poland, 4 in W Germany. Will SBR Moscow next round. Moscow has 4 fighters/possible interceptors but with 11 bombers, like you said I will trade a few of my bombers for Russian fighters.
NOTE: Moscow will be tough. Russia did odd thing. Stacked guys in Leningrad and Ukraine then as soon as I attacked, retreated everything towards Moscow leaving 1 infantry blocker in each territory behind. Leningrad & Ukraine will be easy but Russian stacks will reach Moscow before I can reach them, even with Italian can openings. Moscow will have A LOT of men there, but perhaps German SBRs will do enough that they won’t be able to build much more.
3 > Japan is doing fair with their bombers. Most of their effort ended up chasing the Russians across the north, which does help cut down Russian income but doesn’t do much for their efforts in the south. China and India is actually causing problems on the mainland. Most of Japan’s fleet is gone – 2 CV, 1 BB and 3 transports left. Large US fleet hanging out by Iwo Jima, which makes for a good US bomber base to SBR Japan. US subs ready to attack Japan’s convoys. Still, Japan has 10-11 bombers plus 3 fighters on Japan and 2 fighters, 1 tac on Korea. Maybe a huge air raid against US fleet may do some good. Japan struggling to get DEI 1 island at a time because of dwindling navy. India/ANZAC has been making very good use of their air force by picking apart the Japanese navy. While Japan is making gains down there, it has not been easy.
4 > I went against your purchase plan for Japan round 3 and bought a minor IC for the mainland. Japan was losing too much ground to China and India. Hopefully a few mechs/tanks with air support will ease things up there.
Overall I think this strategy is a success. A lot depends on how the final battle for Moscow turns out. It looks like he plans to just turtle up and let me come to him. If he uses his fighters as interceptors, I think that will be better for me. If not, then the battle will be a little tougher but my SBRs should do great. As for Japan, I guess their main job is to hold out long enough and cause the Allies enough headaches for Germany to get the 8 cities in Europe, right? I guess as long as they don’t lose Tokyo, they have done their job, right? Italy has a modest force in Russia taking a few Russian territories, which has been easy for them only fighting 1 infantry each time, but they won’t be much help getting Moscow with that huge stack of Russians there. They also won’t be much help getting Cairo since they have been totally chased out of Africa. Perhaps if they start heading south through the Caucasus and Middle-East, but that is a long ways to go and UK may be able to stop them before they get there. With my W Germany bombers keeping the US fleet at bay, things are going all right. I just hope US/UK doesn’t find a way to counter that because my European defenses are pretty thin.
Probably won’t get to play any more of the game until my next weekend, which will be Monday night. I’ll let you know what happens.

Thank you for the review. You really don’t need all bomber builds with Japan…I like to have 3-4 to bomb India…then I go navy to drag out the Pacific and tie up America. If you can get 3 German bombers to Asia by turn 5 or 6, it really hurts the allies in the Pacific. With 3 German bombers that never need to fire a shot, the allies must block with 4-5 ships to assure they can block, thus effectively eliminating blocking in mutli-sea zone route situations. Worse, Germany/Japan can bomb Indian/Anzac naval bases to slow America to 2 movement. Against an ill prepared Anzac, staging German bombers on an air base in Kwangtung/Malaysia/Philippines permits Japanese navy to move to West Australia, German bombers kill anzac blockers in middle south sea zone, and Japan amphibious assaults Anzac capital.

In Europe I personally attack Russia turn 2 every game, you don’t want Russia building 2 more times by waiting until round 4…I bomb Russia 1-3 times beginning on turn 4 and if Russia holds factories, I bypass units and plunder Moscow turn 5. If they retreat to Moscow, beginning turn 5 I build 13 mech a turn for 2-3 turns, then go bombers and grab Moscow turns 9-10. Realistically Europe falls turns 11-13 to victory cities against a strong allied player. This gives you time to redeploy to secure Volgograd/London/Egypt for the final cities. Avoid letting UK distract you. You don’t want to trade units with UK while Russia holds their capital unless the bait is really juicy…No bombing UK, as it puts bombers out of position to bomb Russia, ignore thier fleet in the Med and only keep enough land units in Europe to trade Italy if required…(not saying give it up, but as long as Germany takes it back, Italy does not collect income if UK grabs it a second time). Once Moscow is yours, you will be in the 60-80 IPC range, then you build even more air and deal with UK for the win.

With a strong Japan, German air force, and Italian land units (that garrison Europe for Germany), you should win against bids as high as 20 (assuming they don’t put all of that in China).

I am looking to add 3 more active games to bring my total to 6 games, my opponents are taking a day or two between turns now as it really gets hard for the allies mid game as you draw nearer to 8 cities. Any volunteers? I hope to post 12 game results to this thread plus any other games others play in the forums. This should be a large enough sample to determine if this plan is any better than other plans.

[MistuhJay]

Hey, JamesAleman.  I’ve been following this thread on your bomber strategy for sometime, and admire its creativity.  This last weekend I was able to play my second game of Global (face to face), and got to play Germany, so I gave your Dark Skies a go.

While it wasn’t perfect, the threat projection of my bomber stack worked rather well.  The Allies evacuated the Mediterranean of every ship (other than subs) due to the threat.  It also slowed down his attempt to drop a fleet in the channel.  At the end of seven hours of play, I had a decent stack outside Moscow (though not nearly enough to definitively take it.

Mistakes we made:  Japan did not commit to fighting only Russia and China, but rather went for a traditional DoW turn 2.  I feel this would have helped Germany pressure Russia earlier.  Also, I made the mistake of strat bombing Moscow turn FOUR instead of turn THREE, allowing him another full infantry buy.  To compound matters, I was struggling to get my Italians to the front line (though I’m not sure I was coordinating them with the Germans properly…).

One question I do have, is how do you defend Germany’s Western front, if you’re devoting so many troops to the east right off the jump?

Also, what is the best use of the Italian fleet?

Thanks for this strategy.  It definitely helped this noob a lot in his second game of Global.  =D

[JamesAleman]

@MistuhJay:

Hey, JamesAleman.  I’ve been following this thread on your bomber strategy for sometime, and admire its creativity.  This last weekend I was able to play my second game of Global (face to face), and got to play Germany, so I gave your Dark Skies a go.

While it wasn’t perfect, the threat projection of my bomber stack worked rather well.  The Allies evacuated the Mediterranean of every ship (other than subs) due to the threat.  It also slowed down his attempt to drop a fleet in the channel.  At the end of seven hours of play, I had a decent stack outside Moscow (though not nearly enough to definitively take it.

Mistakes we made:  Japan did not commit to fighting only Russia and China, but rather went for a traditional DoW turn 2.  I feel this would have helped Germany pressure Russia earlier.  Also, I made the mistake of strat bombing Moscow turn FOUR instead of turn THREE, allowing him another full infantry buy.  To compound matters, I was struggling to get my Italians to the front line (though I’m not sure I was coordinating them with the Germans properly…).

One question I do have, is how do you defend Germany’s Western front, if you’re devoting so many troops to the east right off the jump?

Also, what is the best use of the Italian fleet?

Thanks for this strategy.  It definitely helped this noob a lot in his second game of Global.  =D

I typically use Italian troops to defend the Western Front, Germany’s focus the first 4 turns is bombers, but you can make 3 mech infantry instead of a bomber as needed if there is significant threat of a landing.

I use the Italian fleet to engage the French fleet in z93. I’m not sure how much fleet you are left with, but you will be able to sink them. After words, I like to take whatever the UK leaves open. In most games, I see UK focus on Italy in the Med, so you likely lose your navy. If  you can get Egypt, that makes the game easier.

Once you back Russia into its capital, around turn 5 you will want to produce all mech infantry, this typically gives you the ability to seize Moscow turns 9-10. Remember to grab Volgorad and Caucasus while you wait for Moscow to fall. Germany’s income should be in the 60’s-80’s before you know it.

[zanetheinsane]

@JamesAleman:

Once you back Russia into its capital, around turn 5 you will want to produce all mech infantry, this typically gives you the ability to seize Moscow turns 9-10. Remember to grab Volgorad and Caucasus while you wait for Moscow to fall. Germany’s income should be in the 60’s-80’s before you know it.

A friend and I have been running a “cooperative” strategy session using the “all bombers” strategy and the biggest problem is that because of the weak G1 naval purchase with no credible threat of Sealion the UK decided on a UK1 Iraq, pulling the India transport over instead of going for DEI with it. Turn two and three saw minor factories in Iraq and Persia. The extra Indians in Iraq thus went to Africa turn 2 and along with a couple of trucks they easily eradicated the Italians in Africa. Now Germany has to contend with a large number of UK tanks and trucks as well as planes all over southern Russia but thanks to the large amount of bombers, Russian is pretty much damage-capped on all their factories every round.

Italy got slammed hard by Taranto round 1 and despite Germany cleaning up the med with planes and reinforcing Tobruk as well as gifting Italy a few territories to keep them in the 20s all game, they are now facing naval eradication by the US/UK and are going into full-on turtle mode.

Japan is doing their thing, having completely eliminated China and despite a disastrous failed first attempt at the Philippines (second try was a charm, the first try was a very risky hit) they are trouncing the US navy, have two production facilities on mainland China, and although they haven’t taken India, it is certainly closed for business (I think after three rounds of saving they still just barely had enough money for a single purchase). Japan decided to start the Russia party early so they’ve eaten up a massive chunk of the northern Russian territories. Anzac is being a plucky thorn in Japan’s ass though, setting up Java with an airbase and four planes. Japan has been spread too thin to do anything about this but now that Japan is rising fast it is demanding immediate attention now.

Japanese reinforcements into Russia are going to contend with UK fast-movers with their huge assortment of planes. The game easily belongs to anyone at this time and it looks like the bloodbath between Germany+Italy+Japan and UK+Russia that will take place in the Russian heartland will probably decide the fate of the game.

[knp7765]

Well, we have gotten to the end of round 11 now and it is looking very bad for the Axis.
The US took Northern Italy and UK took Rome, so Italy is all but out of the game now. Germany failed in Russia and the Russians are starting to get strong. It turns out their steady retreat to Moscow worked, even with heavy German bombing. By the time the Germans reached Moscow, Russia had 1 Tac, 4 fighters, 2 tanks, 2 mechs, 4 artillery, 5 AA guns and 58 infantry. Russia resisted using their fighters to intercept German bombers pounding the factory. Even after 2 large German attacks and 1 small Italian attack, I never got through all that Russian infantry (at the end of the 2nd German attack, Russia was down to 1 infantry along with the artillery, tanks, mechs, fighters and tac). Axis forces were depleted in Russia and the US/UK were causing problems in the west.
The US also employed the bomber strategy and it has worked very well. Japan’s IC and airbase are maxed out on damage. West Germany’s IC and airbase are maxed out as are all three minors in France. They also keep maxing out the Germany IC so I have to keep repairing it just to buy men for my capital defense. France is totally open. The only reason the Allies haven’t taken them is lack of transports in the Atlantic thanks to German bomber operations. Also, UK really concentrated on taking out Italy.
Japan has done somewhat better. They managed to take all of China, although it took some work. They have all of Eastern Russia and are hitting hard against Indian troops in Burma, trying to get to Calcutta. They have taken some Russian pressure off of Germany since Russia has to answer the small force encroaching in Central Russia. However, Japan is getting convoyed silly due to US and ANZAC subs all over the place. The US and ANZAC are trying to make progress but keep losing transports due to Japanese bombers (they still have 5 or 6).
Overall, I am not so sure that heavy bomber buys by Germany and Japan work quite so well. I might have made wrong choices, mainly not doing Sealion, but the Axis ground forces just got wasted after a while. The threat of Axis bombers did keep the Allies at bay for a while, but the Axis just couldn’t seem to conquer enough before the Allies managed to find ways to pick them apart.

[JamesAleman]

@knp7765:

Well, we have gotten to the end of round 11 now and it is looking very bad for the Axis.
The US took Northern Italy and UK took Rome, so Italy is all but out of the game now. Germany failed in Russia and the Russians are starting to get strong. It turns out their steady retreat to Moscow worked, even with heavy German bombing. By the time the Germans reached Moscow, Russia had 1 Tac, 4 fighters, 2 tanks, 2 mechs, 4 artillery, 5 AA guns and 58 infantry. Russia resisted using their fighters to intercept German bombers pounding the factory. Even after 2 large German attacks and 1 small Italian attack, I never got through all that Russian infantry (at the end of the 2nd German attack, Russia was down to 1 infantry along with the artillery, tanks, mechs, fighters and tac). Axis forces were depleted in Russia and the US/UK were causing problems in the west.
The US also employed the bomber strategy and it has worked very well. Japan’s IC and airbase are maxed out on damage. West Germany’s IC and airbase are maxed out as are all three minors in France. They also keep maxing out the Germany IC so I have to keep repairing it just to buy men for my capital defense. France is totally open. The only reason the Allies haven’t taken them is lack of transports in the Atlantic thanks to German bomber operations. Also, UK really concentrated on taking out Italy.
Japan has done somewhat better. They managed to take all of China, although it took some work. They have all of Eastern Russia and are hitting hard against Indian troops in Burma, trying to get to Calcutta. They have taken some Russian pressure off of Germany since Russia has to answer the small force encroaching in Central Russia. However, Japan is getting convoyed silly due to US and ANZAC subs all over the place. The US and ANZAC are trying to make progress but keep losing transports due to Japanese bombers (they still have 5 or 6).
Overall, I am not so sure that heavy bomber buys by Germany and Japan work quite so well. I might have made wrong choices, mainly not doing Sealion, but the Axis ground forces just got wasted after a while. The threat of Axis bombers did keep the Allies at bay for a while, but the Axis just couldn’t seem to conquer enough before the Allies managed to find ways to pick them apart.

Typically, if I have to choose, I hold N. Italy over Rome…Here is the logic. I can conserve Italian land units and strike all of Europe first, to can open for Germany. I can trade Rome with German units, thus not collecting income with Italy, and Making Rome a 3 IPC target that consumes allied effort. Also, N.Italy can easily be garrisoned with Italian and German units (typically mech along with air force). How disappointed are the allies, when they stage for a capture of Rome, get it, and then lose it the next turn? The only way Italy will collect income for additional plunder is if the allies wait 2 turns to trade it…a lot can happen then.

I agree that Japan does not need bombers anymore, I have moved beyond that using German bombers for India now. I find the German can opening in the Pacific unbeatable against an allied destroyer build, but less relevant against an allied carrier strategy.

Also, I believe it a mistake to attack Moscow unless you are able to win easily, just move around Moscow, take Volgorad and focus on London. You have choices in this strategy. If they go all in, in Moscow, they have left openings elsewhere and your air power can redeploy.

[knp7765]

You know what, I think you just answered another question for me about my strategy. So when they pile up so high in Moscow, with mostly infantry like they did, then I should have went around and took everything else, perhaps while continuing to SBR the Moscow IC. Eventually, Russia only makes 3 IPCs per turn and with their factory maxed out, that means no more builds for Russia while I keep making mechs in Ukraine, Stalingrad and Leningrad.
If Russia decides to attack my front line stacks surrounding Moscow, they do it with mostly 1s and spread themselves out. Even if they wipe out my front lines, they will take horrible casualties in the process, their factory will still be maxed out and they will have very little income. I could have kept hitting them with small groups of mechs along with my bombers (which are out of reach for Russia to attack) and eventually ground them down. And I think I would have still had enough money to keep the Western Allies honest.
Man, I can see it all working out in my head now. Wish I would have thought of that earlier. I guess I just get too fixated on taking Moscow.
We have gotten to round 14 now. The US managed to take Tokyo because Japan waited too long to fix their complex and put up a stack of men. That was a very tough battle but the US won with 1 tank and 1 bomber left. So while the US bomber force in the Pacific is depleted, they can take their time building it back up.
Japan finally managed to take Calcutta, for all the good it did them. They still have 3 or 4 bombers that can give the Allies some headaches, but they will be mostly mopped up from here on by US and ANZAC.
Germany gained a small victory by killing most of the Russian Air Force in Baltic States and they are actually threatening Leningrad again, but only with a stack of infantry and a couple of mechs. The dang US sacrificed all their bombers to wipe out the last German bombers so Germany has no more air force for the time being. The only bright spot there was that they left the German IC alone this turn, so Germany won’t have to repair it before buying more defense, or maybe new bombers, not sure yet. The war is lost for Germany but I’m thinking of a BOTB type last ditch offensive. Sure it won’t win the war, just create more destruction and death. Why not? I’m Hitler and by this time in the war, I’m fully crazy.  ha ha ha ha.

[elevenjerk]

Not to interject on the conversation but….

I actually do what you said. With Moscow, every time I get there and find that I don’t have enough men, I just surround them and make them pick at my guys while I build backups until I can take them.  Japan has to hold their own though.  If they start losing ground then I may push a battle in Moscow that normally I would have waited a round or so to fight.  I figure, Germany can get so big that they can’t spend all their money in the Russian minors.  Buy cheap units that defend and have slight attack power in Ukraine, Volgograd and Mech in Novgorod.  Use the rest to shore up a navy you may have or the air force back home.

[knp7765]

Final update. Got to round 15 and handed it over to the Allies. Germany was down to just the territory of Germany. They had a decent stack of men, about 26 or so, plus a tank, a couple of mechs, some AA guns and a bombed out factory. Hitler was overthrown and Grand Admiral Doenitz surrendered to the Allies to prevent more misery.
The Italian military was extinct by now. The last infantry got pummeled by 6 divisions of US armor in Greater Southern Germany.
The last Japanese units were hiding out in far western China just waiting for the Allies to close in. Japan actually had 3 bombers left.
Going to start another game tomorrow. Got some new ideas to work out. Still think heavy bomber buys are a good plan, just not exclusively bomber buys. Perhaps making sure that I (as Germany) buy at least 1 bomber each round along with other stuff as needed will work better. I won’t get the really impressive stack that I had early in this game, but my bomber force will still grow some and I think it will be helpful.
One thing I really liked about having so many bombers to work with was SBRs. I could go into London or Moscow with so many bombers that I didn’t even need escorts and they still wouldn’t bother sending up interceptors.
By the way, does anyone else out there think that in a lot of cases sending up interceptors is pretty much a waste of time and possibly fighters? Since both sides hit on a 1, I have seen a lot of times they all roll (bombers, escorts & interceptors) and nobody gets any hits. So that little combat round ends up making the game a little longer for no result. In this last game, a US raid of 5 bombers was met by my 3 German interceptors. I didn’t get a single bomber yet they killed all 3 of my interceptors! Maybe that’s unusually bad luck, but it still sucks!

[Spendo02]

@knp7765:

I guess I just get too fixated on taking Moscow.

This has lost me many a game as Germany and is probably the one key point that any German player has to be very aware of.  Trading stacks is one thing, but standing triumphant at the gates with only a pistol to defend it with isn’t a viable strategy.

[knp7765]

@Spendo02:

@knp7765:

I guess I just get too fixated on taking Moscow.

This has lost me many a game as Germany and is probably the one key point that any German player has to be very aware of.  Trading stacks is one thing, but standing triumphant at the gates with only a pistol to defend it with isn’t a viable strategy.

Yeah, I should have thought of this before because it has happened to me before as well. I have also taken advantage of that against Germany playing as the US.
It’s not only flat out losing the battle for Moscow that can doom Germany. I have seen games where Germany actually tromped the Russians with a fair amount of equipment left over but, as was mentioned before, they spent so much in Russia that Europe was neglected and the Americans and Brits came on strong. They end up taking Berlin while the bulk of the German army is thousands of miles away in Russia.

[Spendo02]

I figure if I take Moscow and have 8 Armor left over, plus most of my starting aircraft, I should be in good shape as I didn’t “overspend” taking Moscow.

I’ve been playing with the Bomber purchases for Germany, and there’s something to be said about flying 6-8 bombers home from Moscow in 1 turn to fly over a stack of 10 inf or mech each round to push the Allies out of Europe.

[maverick_76]

Just finished reading this thread, interesting……

Any update on more testing to see how this is going? Are we already on the verge of having another rule change?

[allweneedislove]

operation dark skies is a legit german strategy that should be played and can win against experienced opponents.
it is not a 1 time gimmick that your opponent can learn and then stop every time.

with that said this strategy is not completely overpowering and far better than other german strategies*.
no rule changes are needed.

*such as operation early barbarossa: german first turn attack on ussr and tank/mech purchases for ablitz to moscow
or operation 88s: early artillery purchases

[Eqqman]

@allweneedislove:

operation dark skies is a legit german strategy that should be played and can win against experienced opponents.

But what version of the operation: exclusive Bombers or Bombers + fodder?  I don’t think the efficacy of a mass of Bombers is in dispute, but it seems hard to believe you can get that critical mass built up fast enough that you aren’t going to lose too much territory (with the US and probably UK as exceptions).

[variance]

Wouldn’t the counter to this all-bomber thing be to just build your own giant bomber stack and hit the enemy’s defending @1 with yours hitting @4?  Sooner or later they will have to land somewhere that’s in your range and without infantry, AA, etc to protect them.

[knp7765]

@variance:

Wouldn’t the counter to this all-bomber thing be to just build your own giant bomber stack and hit the enemy’s defending @1 with yours hitting @4?  Sooner or later they will have to land somewhere that’s in your range and without infantry, AA, etc to protect them.

That is EXACTLY what happened to Japan. They were having great fun with their bombers pounding Chinese infantry and US ships. Well, at one point they had a stack of 4 or 5 bombers that went from China to pound some US ships and had to land on Japanese controlled Guam.
Well guess what? The US had also been buying bombers, plus they had the Long Range Aircraft tech and controlled the airbase at Carolines. So, they simply flew their 3 bombers out to Guam and totally pasted all the Japanese bombers without losing one of their own.

[wheatbeer]

@variance:

Wouldn’t the counter to this all-bomber thing be to just build your own giant bomber stack and hit the enemy’s defending @1 with yours hitting @4?  Sooner or later they will have to land somewhere that’s in your range and without infantry, AA, etc to protect them.

I remember playing a match with Axisplaya and he had stationed 7 or so strategic bombers in India. He didn’t even have to use them at all to disrupt the Axis powers. Simply sitting there doing nothing except projecting threat across most of Eurasia was enough to make planning turns far more challenging.

[variance]

A bomber stack can be like an H-bomb.  The threat of using it is more valuable than actually using it.