Med Battleship G1

I got tired of seeing the Axis win, so I thought, frak it, have the Brits buy carriers, and I support with nothing but fighters and bombers (since fighters can’t provide escort into Germany)….so the mo’fo brings all 6 Japan fighters to Berlin when I had Bombers into position.  At least the nuclear blast in S. Europe was beautiful. 
Done the 2nd Bomber.  I like it.
When I buy fighters, I stop buying subs…understand that the Brits can block it, but they’ll be expending cash they can’t afford…Besides, if they’re spending money to block my subs, who the hell is going to take out the BB?  The Russians?  They can’t afford to lose fighters.

I’ve played against two in the last month or so.

Game 1 -

R1 went badly - I had to retreat from Ukraine with the German fig still alive, and I took higher than usual casualties in WR.  G1 took out of the British BB in SZ2, and pretty much otherwise threw everything else (including the Med fleet) against the Russians, with slightly better than average dice.

On UK1 I built 3 figs, figuring that would be enough to (A) check against any Sealion and (B) take out the German Baltic fleet on UK2.  I took out the German Med Fleet with the UK med destroyer, the fig from Egypt, and the UK Bomber.  I decided to gamble on FIC with the Indian garrison, and got very good dice.  J1 was subpar, he took China, but with heavy casualties, and though he went somewhat heavy into pearl, he took several casualties, and was left with a bb, cv, and 1 fig there.

It was at this point that my brain literally fell out of my ass, and I said, “Let’s go KJF!”  (But only with the US!)  Long story/short, the US only KJF was doing okay, but slower than it needed to be.  Germany continued to spend most of its income on reinforcing the med fleet (bbs, more cvs, more destroyers, etc…), while the UK continued to build build build an airforce in the UK.  It took longer than anticipated to get a strong enough airforce with the UK to take down the German fleet.  When I finally got 80% odds, I went, and got horrible dice, and had to retreat after the first round.  Meanwhile, thanks to the R1/G1 results, Germany is pressing Russia.  Germany is sending all of its starting troops, plus a few scattered ground buys East.  Even though Europe is largely ungarrisoned, the allies can’t do anything about it, because the US is ignoring the European theater, and the UK can’t put a fleet down, allowing Germany to maintain a very healthy income.  Japan is slowly getting locked out of the islands by the US, but has overcome mainland Asian resistance, and started pressuring Russia.  Eventually Russia falls.  I feel like this is one of my worst losses in 1942.

Game 2 - R1 goes normal (took UK with a tank left, 3 fatalities taking WR).  G1 builds heavy into the Baltic, otherwise typical G1 moves (UK BB killed, takes AE with 2 tanks.)  As soon as I see the Baltic build, I slap myself and say, “Ignore Japan completely, KGF all the way.” UK1 buys 1 fig and nothing else, counters AE, and sit.  US retreats from the pacific, and makes a big naval buy on US1. ( R2 buys 4 tanks (+3 inf), and moves aggressively West.  UK2 drops huge fleet, reinforced by US2.  G3 tried to reinforce the Baltic fleet, but it was too little too late.  The UK reinforced on UK4 (while dropping troops into Norway), and was strong enough to take out the G fleet on UK5.  Pretty soon Germany is surrounded.  Japan advances quickly through Asia, but by the time it can secure Novo, Berlin has fallen to the British and the Russians are headed back home.

I don’t think the strategy is a long term winner.  It worked against me in the first game because I played very poorly, and even then had very bad dice in the key battles.  I was intimidated into some early ground buys with England early, which made the race against the German fleet tough for England to do alone.  Even so, had I just spent a turn buying fleet with the US, the allies could have easily secured the Atlantic.  Silly me.  :?

1.  You can transport units from S Eur to Libya and consolidate so you have 6 German ground in Libya at end of G1.  This allows Germany to make a serious play for Africa regardless of the fate of the Mediterranean battleship.

2.  If Russia wants to spend precious precious air on a shot against my German battleship, they’re welcome to it.

3.  If Russia screws around with anything but inf/art/tank, it opens the door for early German control of Karelia, particularly if Germany abandons Africa.  (They don’t HAVE to abandon Africa, but if they DO, it’s much harder to stop Germany).  One or two units can make a big difference in the balance of power.

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Re:  German control of Africa:  German control of Africa and preservation of the German Mediterranean fleet can be a big plus.   Germany has more income.  Japan doesn’t need to devote as much power to Africa, leaving it to put more pressure on Russia - and with a KGF in play, Japan’s will be the main attack.

That isn’t to say the Germans HAVE to be in Africa.  But if the Germans can get into Africa without giving up too much position in Europe, it’s something to think about.

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To answer the OP - if Russia buys any non-ground units on R1, I’m immediately thinking about ways to make major major nasty attacks.  Like “Break West Russia with Germany or secure Ukraine, build 8 G1 tanks, build 2 ICs with Japan, and tank tank tank east and west” - that sort of thinking.  It might not be possible to smash Russia up real fast, but things can be REAL nasty real quick if Russia leaves 6 infantry on Buryatia, or bled strength off towards Africa/India, or did anything else not along the lines of a UKR/WR open.

Do you mean a landing in Caucasus? Or landings around the med in general?

Neither should really be a big problem, Caucasus should be covered (over land) by taking (and retaking) Ukraine (and W.Russia) as Russia. Land your planes in Caucasus and build enough units there to be sure.
Landings in Africa / Middle East are abit of a pain, but should be fixable in a few turns with some US help (and those are germans not going to Russia)

I don’t really try to keep up with the US’s navy, I usually have the two AC’s and two BS’s that  Istart with post in the pacific, ready to pick off any new additional US naval units.  If they start building a fleet, I buy more fighter and bombers to hit them at range.

In short I use the Japanese to clear Asia and assist in Germany’s destruction of the Soviet Union.

A huge navy is great if you plan a landing, however there have been numerious games where I have an enormous navy and still to manage to lose massive numbers of land squares.

Occupy his time in the Atlantic, force the US to aid the UK.

It will be hard to get afloat after you take a hit from both the soviaets AND the tommies, so massing lots of infantry and subs like you said, would probably be your best bet. Also try and salvage as much of the luftwaffe as possible, and station them an your border territories. Hey, I may be a noob, but I’ve had my fair share of bad luck with this game.

@Granada:

I have seen used very similar strategy against me. The Germans sunk my med ships with the planes, purchased AC and a tran. Of course, I was not able to sink AC, BB and 2figs as Hobbes suggests but I was still a happy player because what Germany put on water equaled to 7inf and was doomed sooner or later anyway.

And I suggested wrongly. I apologize because I just realized that I completely misread the post and didn’t account for the German carrier. In that situation yeah, G will have a nice fleet that the Allies won’t be able to do much about for some turns.

@DynamiteChicken:

When a Battle ship is in combat and at the end of combat it has only taken one hit, does it replenish it’s health when you put it back on the board or do you have to keep track of the one hit it has already taken?

It is immediately repaired at the end of the battle.

@DynamiteChicken:

Also, I was wondering can you attack ships with planes, and if so can you use both fighters and bombers?

Yes, both can attack ships.  However, you need a destroyer to allow them to hit subs.