New and returning players with some questions

[Roman Sandal]

Hey Guys,

A group of US are just getting back into Axis and Allies and we also have a few new players. I have a list of common questions that I thought I would share, any help would be awesome as the older players are hopeing to excellerate the new guys skill levels.

Russia: Viable first turn purchases/combat moves?

Germany: What should Germant do with their Fleet if it manages to meet up in SZ 13 or 8?

UK: Is not puttting an IC in India viable? If so whats the alternative?

Japan: Is attacking India J1 possible and how is it done without being left exposed?

US: Best purchases and movement to get the US involved Atlantic/Eurpope was asap?

Rule: Can a player place a naval unit during the placement phase in a hostile seazone?

Some of these quesion may seem basic however, including myself the returning players have not played for years and we want to help the new guys as best as possible. Asking for some different options will do this as some of the older players are stuck in their turn 1 ways.

Thanks

[fyllefanten]

These are my point of views based on my few years of experience of both online and board gaming, and I always play dice and not low luck.

RUSSIA R1:
I like to go abit on the offensive with Russia, but it depends how well the german opponent responds to it. Nevertheless, I usually switch between these two buys:
3 inf, 3 tanks
2 inf, 2 art, 2 tanks
I attack Ukraine with everything possible and retreat if Im looking to lose figs (odds are in russian favor).
The rest attack West Russia, and with bad luck here you can end up losing abit of infantry. You may also consider having an extra tank in WR at the expense of Ukr.

If all goes well Ukraine is captured but set up for a counter attack by germany. If they try stack it you have a nice offensive purchase to compete with. If you bought the 2+2+2 place inf and art in Caucasus, so that they can reach Ukraine in addition to the 2 tanks from Moscow. I also land fighters in Kazakh and inf in Sinkiang for a possible counter vs the Japanese, and I never leave more than 3 inf in Buryatia. It sucks having a stack of 6 killed in R1.
Never leave a big russian army exposed for an easy kill though. If you are stacking WR, Ukraine or any other territory, make sure it has decent odds should Germany go all-in with help from fighters.

GERMAN FLEET:
Don’t necessarily do anything, but the strategic advantage of having a competitive fleet in those zones is huge. In either case you should support it with a carrier landing 2 figs on it. In sz 8 this will enable you to not having to worry about a Berlin naval invasion, in other words you can place more troops in SE at the end of each turn to keep SE protected. In the med sea it helps you compete for Africa, prevents SE naval invasion and it adds a long distance threat to Caucasus.
But most importantly, it forces the allies to spend precious money on buying boats that will have limited impact on the war when (or if) they destroy your fleet. In other words: you get more time to slap russians.
The dream scenario is taking Africa and a few other UK territories (help from Japan) leaving UK pretty broke and simultanously forcing them to compete with your fleet in sz 8. It buys you lots of time to fully focus on Russia, because USA is a slow starter.

UK IC IN INDIA:
Yes its viable not getting it. If you get it you basically force Japan to take it and you HAVE to buy troops there every round, meaning less pressure on Germany. Imagine having lost Africa in this scenario, German fleet is big in sz 8 and UK is making 20 bucks a turn.
Not getting the IC gives you flexibility with several options:
a) Retake Africa and move troops towards Persia and Anglo Egypt. Make Persia a buffer territory to protect the Russians. Russia is welcome to provide counter attacks should the Japanese capture Persia.
b) If you don’t retake Africa and leave that task to the USA you could go gung-ho on the Japs. Use UK destroyer off India vs the Jap transport. Capture New Guinea with two inf. Capture Borneo with 2 inf. Kill Jap submarine with UK submarine. Use the UK fighter off India to join with either the UK sub and land on the US Hawaii fleet, or the UK destroyer and land in China (or together with AC help capture Borneo). If most of these attacks succeed and Japan gets unlucky with Pearl Harbour or China they might be in a world of shit.

Basically, with all the UK troops that are spread around on the map you should either go gung-ho and attack everything possible, or go defensive and try hold territories like India, Anglo Egypt and gather the India/Australia fleet. Either works if implemented well and the main point with India if you don’t have an IC there is to just slow Japan down a bit.

As for UK IC India is really only the viable option in R1 if you ask me. Norway is a good option later on, and Anglo Egypt in some rare cases.

JAPAN:
It all depends what UK did in its turn. If they built an IC they probably stacked everything possible there, making it pretty hard to capture on R1. I would rather look to capture it in R3 like this:
R1: Make sure you end your turn with 4 transports, capture Sinkiang heavy and win Pearl Harbour with a destroyer, submarine, bomber and fighter (good odds and if/when you win the battle there is usually nothing left for USA to counter kill).
R2: Transport max number of Jap land troops to FIC, enabling them to attack India next round. Make sure your fighters can reach. Move a good number of inf who won the China battle into FIC.
R3: Capture India with everything necessary. Could use the 2 inf from East Indies as well together with naval bombardment from battleships.

This also depends abit on what Russia and US are doing. Typically USA may move to Solomon Islands with its fleet and build more boats in Pacific. Ignore it for now and focus on gaining control on India, China/Sinkiang and Buryatia. Once done you can consider getting fighters and possibly carriers to defend against the US fleet, but don’t forget to build those troops and put pressure on Russia. Im sure the free IC in India helps:) Rule of thumb: never buy subs, destroyers or battleships with Japan - the sole reason for USA to hassle you in the pacific is to get you to spend money on that shit.

If USA and UK commits to attacking Japan like this, make sure to get on the offense with Germany.

USA:
Move your stuff to Algeria and start building transports and troops. Build whatever possible to gain control around sz 13 and protect your transports. Usually it takes a carrier and maybe some fighters if you choose to abandon the Pacific, but don’t buy more than necessary. Get those transport/troop numbers up.
Consider sz 9-13 your main route for moving troops. Place troops in Eastern US, move them to Eastern Canada for pickup. It will enable your transports to move from sz 13 to 9 for troops pickup and back to 13 for offloading in one turn. Have 4-6 transports for this move. Have a surplus of transports moving around in the med (2-4) to hassle Germany and keep Africa protected at the same time.
This requires some logistics planning, especially in the buildup phase. Any given turn you might consider going all-in on WE or SE, messing up your system:)

I hope this atleast give you some ideas. Nothing is set in stone in this game as Im sure you know. Im an opportunistic kind of player and I try stay open for a change in strategy during the game. For example with Russia on R1, I usually leave some troops in both Yakut (4-6) and Sinkiang (3-4) who, with support from fighters from Kazakh, can be a possible threat to China and/or Buryatia. Always have counter attacks ready, because who knows - maybe Japan loses 3 out of the 5 inf that attack China?

[Demandr3d]

As fylle noted, it is very hard to give definitive plans for J onward, and sometimes UK, because of how much variance there can be in prior powers’ turns.

As to your question about Russia and Germany, I can give some tried and true plays that are extremely well accepted by some of the best players I am aware of on the Net.

Russia:
basically two options, with some flavor to one of them.

Either A) use the above Ukraine hit with the 3 inf 3 tank buy (I go into ukr w only 2 tanks usually, but your risk tolerance will decide that for you).  This is my preferred play for getting Germany hacked down early, but it is a mutual small stack trading type of play.

Or B) buy 5 inf 1 art 1 tank, hit belo with 3 inf 2 ftrs and put everything else in WR.  Place the 4 inf in Cauc with nothing else but the AA gun.  This makes Cauc takeable but rather inefficient for G to capture, and very easy for Russia to take back.

As to the Eastern (Japan) front, I am a big believer in using all ten inf to put up a slow retreating wall against J, with 6 in bury and 4 in sink.  Also land 1 R Fig in kaz, this creates a strong opportunity to counter China, which is a big play for slowing the J wave.  If J hits bury, so be it that plus China means he has likely skipped sz 52, if he does not slowly retreat the bury inf deadzoning as you pull back.

As to Germany plays:

DO NOT BUY A CARRIER. EVER NEVER EVER NEVER NEVER.

G fleet buys are plays that only work against weak players, and they serve to only slow down your advance on Russia.  A good Allied player will simply combine UK and USA fleets, build up their air, and crush your puny combined fleet somewhere around turn 4-6, with minimal losses, and minimal gains on your part.

I cannot stress enough how bad the carrier play is for Germany.  Revised is a game of “he who buys the most inf wins”  The German BS and Tranny NEED to go to Egypt, and hold it as long as is viable

My G fleet move consists of 1 sub up to sz 3 to block a UK1 Arch counter, the other 3 boats to sz 7, with the tranny bringing the norway inf down to Paris.  This forces UK to hit the boats right away, either w big risk to the RAF, or with his battleship, forcing an out of position AC buy on UK1, which is not a preferred play as compared to allies going to sz 12 together and pushing Egypt hard right away.

As to UK1, not only is an India IC skip Viable, but India IC UK1 is a HORRIBLE play unless you are going full KJF with all 3 powers.  An India IC with USA going Atlantic is 15 bucks spent to build Japan a factory.  You cannot hold it without comprising your entire Russian trading deadzones in Europe.

ONLY USE THIS IC PLAY if USA is coming full Pacific.

My preferred UK1 play is to buy 2 inf art 2 ftr, and go to sz 12 with 2 loaded trannies and BS, to be joined by the USA boats.  This early africa ground goes a long way to reclaiming Egypt against a strong G player who is committed to hold it with significant J assistance (You do not get Egypt back against me until I let you, even if UK can counter Egypt on UK1, I will often get to 30-50 units holding it in a long slow game)

These basic opening plays (and more importantly the type of thinking about the game they represent) will go a long way to improving your win rate in Revised.

[MarineIguana]

Overall, listen to Demandr3d. He makes excellent points and recommends strong moves.

Sorry fyllefanten, but the suggestion of reinforcing the Germany Baltic fleet or UK India IC are not viable against strong opponents. There are easy ways of punishing both moves.

Germany baltic carrier buy: UK buys 2 fig a turn, and germany has to either commit even more resources there or have the navy sunk in a very uneven battle. Germany’s baltic fleet starts off in a terrible position because any movement option is towards a UK position of strength. The best option is to move out to sz7, force UK to attack, and hope to destroy a uk trans or fighter.

UK India IC: Japan can take the IC by round 2 no matter what the allies do. R1 attack with just enough to destroy US pearl navy and China. Move everything else to French Indo-China (including the remaining japan transport). R2 attack india with everything, and use the tranport to ferry 2 inf from east indies.

@Roman:

Hey Guys,

A group of US are just getting back into Axis and Allies and we also have a few new players. I have a list of common questions that I thought I would share, any help would be awesome as the older players are hopeing to excellerate the new guys skill levels.

Russia: Viable first turn purchases/combat moves?
Purchase: 3inf/3tank purchase is standard. 4tank/1art if germany did not bid any infantry to Europe. The purpose is to deadzone karelia in R1, so germany is unable to stack there safely. On subsequent rounds, Russia should buy almost all infantry.
Combat: Nomally Ukr & Wrus. Ukr with 3 inf, 1 art, 2 tanks, 2 fig if germany did not bid an infantry to Ukr. With an infantry bid, attack with 3 tanks instead of 2. You can also attack Belo instead of Ukr, which is safer.

Germany: What should Germant do with their Fleet if it manages to meet up in SZ 13 or 8?

UK: Is not puttting an IC in India viable? If so whats the alternative?
Never purchase an IC. Japan can always take India R2 without exception. UK1 has a lot of flexibility, but 1car, 1 trans, 2 inf is probably safest. The only required move for UK1 is to sink the baltic fleet.

Japan: Is attacking India J1 possible and how is it done without being left exposed?
Almost all good UK players evacuate India R1 because it’s in a deadzone. R1 Japan can project at least 4 fighters, 1 bomber, 3 inf, and a battleship minimum. I won’t go into details, but I guarantee you that Japan can safely take india R1 or R2 no matter what allies do.

US: Best purchases and movement to get the US involved Atlantic/Eurpope was asap?
2 trans/6 inf/2art optimizes US land deployment. 1 Car/1trans/inf is safer and probably recommended if you’re not experienced. R1 and after, generally buy 1 trans and land units. The first priority for USA is to land units in africa and remove Axis from Africa.

Rule: Can a player place a naval unit during the placement phase in a hostile seazone?
Yes

Some of these quesion may seem basic however, including myself the returning players have not played for years and we want to help the new guys as best as possible. Asking for some different options will do this as some of the older players are stuck in their turn 1 ways.

Thanks