MOVED: Austrian Economics vs. Keynesian Economics in Axis and Allies

While it certainly sucks to have lost the Western US, that situation isn’t necessarily beyond hope. You didn’t provide a clear picture of your present assets and their locations. If you are able to immediately recapture Western US and hold it, that would return the IPC count to around Allies 82 Axis 84. That coupled with complete control of Africa, the Atlantic, and Med could be a salvageable situation. You did however make some comments that made it sound like your situation probably is/was beyond any realistic hope of recovery.  When you stated that Japan will be able to build ten units on Western US, that sounds as though you do not have the force needed to recapture it. If you are unable to recapture Western US, and you are not already posing serious threat to the German capital, you are toast.

IPC income is extremely important, but it is not everything.  IPC income advantage isn’t always realized.  If you have enough bombers within striking range of the German and/or Japanese IC’s you’d could trash the axis production capacity and possibly buy yourself some time to turn the table.  Granted, all things being equal, I would certainly like the IPC advantage, but an income disadvantage isn’t a death sentence unless it is prolonged and you are unable to keep your opponent from being able to realize a greater production capacity.

Being axis is easier in these newer versions than the previous classic versions.  The three steps it takes America to get to Europe is a HUGE help to the Axis.  But here is my Germany and i can win 5/10 games doing this.  turn 1 buy all infantry YES all infantry then take out the allied navy with German navy and fighters/bomber.  Consolidate all Eastern German forces in one territory.  Turn 2 buy again ALL INFANTRY again.  Move the Infantry you bought turn 1 west so you can defend against Normandy invasion also move your fighters with the infantry in the west.  All the forces you consolidated retreat west closer to Germany don’t worry the German battering ram is coming.  Turn 3 buy all tanks move the infantry from turn two east and consolidate all forces in the EAST.  Turn 4 buy tanks move the massive consolidated force south never separate the infantry from the tanks.  turn 5 move tanks from turn 4 south with the main force.  Turn 6 Russia should be like OMG i cant kill that massive force you should be able to take caucuss now.  With japan my goal #1 is to take India at all costs if Japan has failed to do this use the German army in Caucuss to take India now you can separate the tanks from the infantry to take India.  Russia will take your infantry you left behind but that is fine and retake caucuss that is fine too .  now Japan is free to take Asia at will, Germany should begin to pound Russia wherever avail and take easy territories do not commit to a suicidal battle to Russia. By now the Allies can pose a threat to Western Europe.  But Germany and Japan should be collecting massive IPC’s Russia is doomed here in a few turns they just cannot deal with a mobile Japan and Germany and defend itself on two fronts.  I see a lot of German players go north i do not agree with this  becasue there is nowhere to break out like there is in the caucuss and also if Germany can break out into Asia they can knock the allies out of asia as well. with the defense boost tanks have now they are the most affordable attacker and blocker in one land unit and with some infantry cannon fodder they are nasty on offense and defense.  I go mass tanks with Japan and Germany.  If you cannot win with the Axis in the newer versions you are doing something wrong.  Either not attacking enough or buying aircraft or navy.  Germany really doesn’t need a navy and has enough aircraft to hold the whole game as long as you don’t loose them foolishly.  On paper the Allies have the advantage by getting 3 turns to axis 2 and also should have an IPC advantage.  But Germany is so massive early and it takes Allies 4-5 turns to begin to be effective that’s your window with Japan and Germany about 4- 6  turns after that Allies begin taking the game in their favor.  So you must get your objectives done in this time frame.  If you just turtle forever with Germany you will loose.  And i f Japan leaves India for too long its hard to take especially if UK buys a lot of fighters.

Most people would do it regardless if Ukraine fell or not, but if Ukraine’s FTR is still alive, use the BB to take out the DD, and take the bomber, Ukraine FTR, Libya units and two from Italy.  I don’t have my board, but I think its a tank/inf from Libya, and an inf/tank from Italy, so you have 2(1s), 3(3s), 1(4) vs and inf/tank/FTR (2/3/4)? This is why they may also put the Russian FTR in Egypt to give it that extra 4.  If you lost the FTR in Ukraine AND the Russian FTR is in Egypt, forget about Egypt G1.  Focus on destroying the CA and even the DD (BB for the CA, FTR/Bomber for the DD).  Load up in Libya on G1. The UK FTR and Russian FTR should retreat.

Be wary of one thing.  In an attempt to gain supreme dominance in the Atlantic, I get into a game of toying with the Russians.  Instead of loading my fronts, I actually pull back (I think in E.Europe), and offer bait to the Russians and see if they will land grab all the territories.  This sucks at first because it slows down Germany economy and gives the Russians money, but by spreading thin their lines, you can pour all your troops into one direction (north via Karelia/Archangel or south via Ukrain/Caucus) while Japan comes from behind via China and/or India.

It’s a trial an error thing.

@MrMalachiCrunch:

I think novice players tend to be a bit more conservative.  Being conservative hurts the axis more than the allies being conservative I think.  With the axis having a better opening setup than the allies, they really need to maximize that before the allies can maximize their initial economic advantage.

A good way to learn is to play a game against yourself, but beyond the first few rounds it tends to lose its potential as a learning tool I would think.   It lets you script out the first few rounds of a strategy and counters but sooner or later the next step of learning is how to take advantage of good dice and how to do damage control with bad dice, basically how to take advantage of opportunities.

I completely agree, and playing against myself is exactly how I learned the most, followed by playing 1-on-1 against really good players online.

@SilverAngelSurfer:

The entire basis of the changes to North America in 1942 is to “fix” the ease of conquering North America in previous versions, which in terms of historical accuracy should be nearly impossible for Japan to do.  The above suggestions are the best way to go for Japan in the current game, however.

Fuck that. Japan should break out of the Soviet Union into Alaska and base them self there fight with might for West Canada then take West US

Welcome to the board,

+1 karma to start you off!

Here’s the thread discussing about adding China and Italy dice.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12875.0

Here’s the thread about FMG pieces to be used for AA.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=13894.0

With Germany, I will be attacking the USA atl fleet first turn with a submarine.  I will be positioning my air force to ensure that the allies can not land in Europe or Africa the first turn (easy to do this time, since i will only need 1bomber and 3fighters in range to wipe out any first turn joint allied fleet that decides to move to africa).
With USA and UK, I will be buying shit tons of Fleet Defense, which will delay my landings by 1 full turn.  Russia is going to be in a tight squeeze because of this.

Russia and Japan will be played pretty much the same, except that russia can count on any support through africa being 1 turn late.