Help a rookie out…advice....

[Deutschland_Pwns]

OK, I’m lucky to have the luxury of 5 man games. Friends at work get together once a month and play and they allowed me into the fold. Here is the plan for our next game as Axis. Give me advice please.

Note: no national advantages. standard rules.

I’m playing Germany. My plan is simple as can be, no doubt. I’m starting turn one buying all tanks. As well as turn 2. Planning on moving things around a bit to keep Allies on their toes. Take control of Med, destroy UK ship in Gibralter, and NOT pressing into Africa. At the very best, I’ll just try to hold on to what I have in Africa. On G3 I plan to attack the main Russian force, either in Caucus or Moscow, wherever it may be, and then (hopefully) winning and mopping up resistance. All the while trying to keep a respectable force in West Europe to hold off invasion.

Japan is going to try to take Sinkiang and China asap. He’ll try to take India first turn, with good odds I think. He will likely avoid a Pearl Harbour and play defensively with his navy. He plans to build up navy over time, not necessarily because he will use it to invade U.S., but mostly as a distraction. We are reasonably sure, given past games, that Allies will go with KGF policy. Past games have oddly been a KJF policy and have ended in a stalemate. The idea is that if the japanese navy is threatening enough, U.S. will be afraid and spend money for pacific theatre and buy Germany time.

I’m reasonably sure I can attack and destroy most of Russia on G3-G4, even with British reinforcements. I figure, if I lose Norway on UK2-3, it will ultimately be negligible due to victory over Russia. Japan may lose Borneo and East Indies to U.S., but will pick up U.S. China, India, and parts of Russia. Japan may also go for a more direct attack on U.S. if he tries to ignore Japan for Germany. Japan may attack Alaska and Canada, smply as distractions, again to buy time for Germany. After G3, I plan on focusing on ftr and subs (assuming Russian defeat is inevitable) to threaten UK.

Any thoughts?

[json17]

Taking Russia is almost impossible for Germany to do w/o taking any Ipc’s away. I would buy men first b/c  it takes them longer to get to Russia and you need a ton of fodder for your tanks and planes to be effective. Russia will probably buy a ftr, and 4 men on the first turn. It will be able to spend 29 on the t2 if russia takes the ukraine and west russia back. So expect Russia to load up men, and they should have plenty of men by the time you can actually muster up a force.

I would switch my plan to the uk w/ bombers and reseach for rockets. It’s easier to take land away from the uk with hardly any forces at all in Africa. If you build a AC and a Transport on the first turn you have a better navy than \what the uk has to offer.

Once you deplete the uk of money Germany  and japan will be able to work as team to conquer Russia.

[trihero]

Why not go into Africa?

The first turn you could send 4 fighters + sub against the battleship in the med, then send a transport with 1 inf 1 tank + battleship + 1 fighter against the destroyer in the med, and then also send 1 fighter + 1 bomber + the troops in libya to attack anglo-egypt once the sea battle is won. I’m not going to spell out exactly which fighters from where go to where but it can be done easily; just look at the board a bit. Once you take anglo-egypt the UK navy cannot sail through the canal, and you have destroyed a fighter that otherwise could have been used against you elsewhere.

If you can manage to get into Africa early, you cause the Allies headaches because they have to march all the way down there to free the IPCs.

I understand the lure of mass early tanks, and have done it myself, and it is effective in some situations, but just bear in mind that Russia can withstand this assault if he’s wise with his troops, and that in building so many offensive tanks early on, you have very little to offer to defend your coasts against invasion. And like the guy above me said, eventually you would like to have infantry as fodder; 5 inf + 5 tanks > 8 tanks for the same IPC cost because you lose less attack power as you lose units; since infantry take so long to get to the front it’s nice to have them early on. I would advise against looking for Russia’s strongpoint like you are; it is disastrous against good players who mass their troops well.

Something is very weird about your Russian friend’s play if he’s dying on G2-3. Played right usually Russia can easily hold out for many turns and usually victory goes to the Allies in my games. Maybe the UK/US isn’t pressuring Germany enough? Or Russia is splitting his troops up and getting slaughtered?

I understand where your Japanese strategy is coming from, but really the best way to take pressure off of Germany is to attack Russia, not to distract the US. Japan has a great backdoor into Russia which you can exploit early on if you start with a 2 complex build and start churning out mass tanks. If the US goes after you then you have helped Germany out a lot; get Germany into Africa quickly as the UK is in a hard position to defend it alone. If the US didn’t go after you then quickly roll up as many Russian IPCs as possible and force him back; meet up with the Germans if possible and beat up Russia. I would only advise beefing up the Japanese navy if a KJF is very apparent; against good US players any distractions you put up will be quickly countered by some land troop buys on the west coast which has just wasted your time with your navy at not much cost to the US; in fact he would like you to build a navy as to give Russia more time.

[Deutschland_Pwns]

That was basically the problem in our last game, that U.S. decided to roll up Japan first while UK and Russia simply contained Germany in Europe. UK was never aggressive enough, and this left Germany to fight 2 huge battles with Russia and basically knock him out of the game on G4. I suspect it could have been done on G3 though.

Isn’t building 2 ICs with Japan risky on J1, and a little unnecessary? I could understand building one in Indochina, but where else would you put one and why?

[trihero]

If you have problems with the US, strike Pearl Harbor. Not killing it is inviting the US to attack Japan very quickly. The best defense is offense in this case; I do not advise skipping it and playing “defensive” with your fleet like your friend is doing. Also do what you normally do with investing a bit of navy if you think he is going after you. If he takes borneo you’e usually in big trouble unless you can destroy his fleet after he captures it….if the US builds a complex there Japan is pretty much done, it’s just a matter of time.

I would put 1 IC in manchuria and 1 IC in Indochina. Why is it risky? I do it because it allows you to generate offense very quickly against Russia (who shouldn’t be falling against Germany so soon normally); turn 2 you can have 6 tanks on the board ready to crash deep into Russian territory or build up and take out India if the UK defended it well. The normal build is 3 transports + 1 tank. 3 transports doesn’t let you get enough offense going nearly quickly enough (especially considering the units you offload onto the mainland can’t move until next turn) and limits you since you have to combine infantry in the transport…infantry simply take too long to do anything as Japan. And if you lose those transports it takes you much more time to get things going again…

If the UK/Russia try to detain Germany without US help, then go into Africa. I win a lot of games this way if the Allies split up early like this; I drain 10 IPCs from the UK in Africa then I bust Russia solo then kill Britain. The UK has a very tough time getting into Africa on his own unless he ignores your coastal lines, which is good then you have a freer hand with Russia. With Japan I just build a lot of submarines if the US is trying to kill me because they’re the best naval buy against other naval units on pure math, plus you have 2 battleships/carriers to deal with air assaults anyways. Always be ready to strike solomon islands as the US will very likely pass through there to get your islands. And quickly try to get a lot of territories so you can match the US income; taking China/Sinkiang puts you at 34 IPCs vs 38 IPCs so grab those few Russian east territories and India and you can match his navy every turn that he produces.

[Afrika Korps]

Probably should not leave Africa alone. Make UK and US land troops in Algeria to reclaim it. I also wouldn’t suggest making 8 armor first turn. You should probably make at least one fighter, make sure the allied navy has to worry about your airforce so it can’t just make X inf. + X arm. + X TP each turn and then make one huge landing, and just continue to pump inf. + arm. You might want to use your Baltic fleet early in an aeronaval attack on the Allied fleet, it’s going to be destroyed soon if you don’t develop it.

[ezto]

I think that everyone that plays axis and allies revised should know that the destruction of the british ships in the Med and the taking of Egy in turn one is essential for success. you should also take some IPCs from russia, but you should not commit to the desisive battles just yet. germany should also if possible keep all of its fighters on its west coasts to counter any allied landings. Disperse your Bal navy to avoid total destruction on turn one. The remnants of that navy will hopefully hook up with your med navy. Keep russia commited, but do not kill your troops.

The japanese player should always attack pearl, for it gives them 3 full turns of relief in the pacific. If the british built an IC in india you must take it right away. If not reinforce French Indo and attack india in later turns. Keep builiding arm, art and inf in teh mainland and ship it across to Man, or Bry. Build a Sub or Trn every turn for cannon fodder. Remember, The United States will come with force…

[Patton+]

I have said it before and i will say it again
“The very last thing you need on turn one is a British carrier (fully loaded if you didn’t attack Egypt), transport and destroyer.” gotta at least make a quick run into Africa for the first few turns the rewards are too high with minimal cost…

[Deutschland_Pwns]

OK then, assuming everyone will converge on Germany, what is the best G1-3 build policy to pursue?

[Patton+]

and this is where we all start to argue…. ahh just depends on your opponents… i won’t go into detail… but if you are playing a long game i would suggest buying men early 10 men 2 tanks for the first few (one or 2) rounds…great long term game…  but deviate if you can…