@The-Janus
I agree with most of what Stucifer said. Some additional thoughts (I’m no pro, but I’ve played this game 20-30 times):
Yeah, you defijnitely tried to do a lot. Generally speaking it’s not too bad of an idea to leave Southern France for Italy (especially if you’re going after Yugoslavia), and there’s a credible argument for leaving Normandy Bordeaux. Forgoing a G1 and a sea zone 91 attack (I find that too risky) frees up enough air and naval units to hit both fleets, even with a full Allied scramble (you might need to also sacrifice the sea zone 106 attack, but the transport won’t be able to do much in the first few turns while the British consolidate their naval position).
The “Yugoslavia ping-pong” where Greater Southern Germany units retreat to Romania through Yugoslavia is really important if you’re doing a G1, especially when you’re engaging in so many high-risk battles. I’d like to leave Yugoslavia for the Italians.
Italy seems to have been played okay. I think it really helped that the Brits weren’t very aggressive in the Mediterrean on the first turn (the Italians in East Africa should generally be considered low priority-if Egypt is well defended and you’re pumping tanks and mechanized infantry in Union of South Africa they’ve got nowhere to go).
Also, what on earth were you thinking with that sea zone 102 attack on G2? The submarines off Gibraltar could’ve joined the Italians in the Mediterrean and the one in 106 could’ve joined in the attack in 118. I don’t see the logic in that 2% attack.
I’d like to share a series of solo Europe 1940 games I did:
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/41133/how-to-win-as-the-axis
Files 2024-8-21 and 2024-8-22 are Sealions gone wrong, demonstrating how Germany has to strike a really fine balance if they pursue this riskier strategy. Files 2024-8-25 and 2024-8-26 are Dark Skies gone wrong. 2024-8-28 is exactly how not to do a G2-moving too slowly, allowing the Soviets to be relieved by the British and Americans. In Europe 1940 (less so for Global 1940, mainly because the Axis have such a huge advantage), speed is absolutely essential to have any chance of victory.
2024-8-29 is the most informative. Partially adapting from Cow’s G1 opener, sending most of the ground units in range to hit Paris gave a 99.5% chance of victory, with little threat from Southern France or Normandy Bordeaux. While admmitedly I didn’t hit sea zone 110 (or do the Yugoslavia ping-pong, though it wasn’t that big of a deal since moving the Greater Southern Germany units to Slovakia Hungary enabled them to engage on the Eastern Front), I was able to destroy all the British transports in range, which is what really makes the British being able to keep a navy so devastating (and clearly hindered them in subsequent rounds). For some reason, I was able to chug along with mostly mechanized infantry, enabling me to move quick enough to gobble up the IPC-rich territories in the south of the Soviet Union and the Middle East before the British built up a menacing enough force with a semi-Middle Earth strategy to halt any German advance to Egypt via a land route. I’ll admit that the main thing that made this victory possible were the Americans not going for Rome and instead opting for targets along the Atlantic, preserving Italy at a critical point. I wrote a more detailed analysis of this game in the thread itself.
Hoped this (at least kinda) helped!
