Need help with my Barbarossa

Regarding the photo:

1. What does 1 yellow chip represent?
2. Russia is getting too much $$ right now–they’re taking up too many resources.

I like to take the money won from the fall of France and invest in a major complex for the eastern front.  Build a large infantry force that will march north towards Lgrad once Barbarossa begins.  Force Russian player to decide between defending Lgrad or Moscow with infantry.  If I can get the Russian to split off some infantry it helps.  Concentrate all German forces into one attack.  Sometimes the Russian doesn’t split and I’ll take Lenningrad.  I send a smaller force south towards Stalingrad, but they veer north after the marshes to merge with main force right before the attack on Moscow.  I try and push a lot of infantry forward knowing that I can get armor and fighters forward later just prior to an attack.  I keep a lot of my aircraft in Germany to ward off allied invasion in the west and slowly build up a defense force there until I withdraw the Luftwaffe.  Has anyone else invested in a major IC for eastern front with success?

Basic outline.

1. Protect your fleet and Atlantic flank with your G1 purchase.

2. Use Norway during G2 & G3 to pool infantry into Finland.

3. Purchases reflect your desire to crush Russia - which is not done with expensive units - starting G2, purchase a healthy dose of infantry (8-10 per round), sprinkle in some mechanized, an air unit, a naval unit. Stay balanced in your purchases. Be a machine.

4. Through G4 - G6, choke back (somewhat) on infantry, build more armor/mech (I like 2 armor for every mech as a general rule).

5. Use Italy to walk through the Balkans and toward the Ukraine in a continuous flow (3-4 infantry, steady and unyielding), and can-open the front whenever Russia gives you the opportunity. Reninforce newly taken Italian territories with large stacks of Germans. You’ll be surprised how few Germans you lose this way, and how many Italians you save.

6. On G2, start adding 1-2 German infantry per round to Normandy. Always stay ahead of the Allies in defending this flank!

7. With a northern force pooled in Finland (via transport shuck to Norway started on G1), and large infantry armies pooled in the Baltic area, Russia faces a crippling pincer attack in the Leningrad area. Mech units lurk behind the lines, ready to go north or south depending upon Russian defensive positions.

8. When you are on Moscow’s doorstep, buy tactical bombers in Novgorod and Strategic bombers in W Germany, as you can afford. Tacs are brilliant with your armored forces, and Strats can reach from your capital.

9. Enjoy the show. The details are far, far too many (and way too variable) to go into, but if you take this basic strategy you can create an absolute monster.

As a post script - never, ever abandon your infantry purchases. I disagree with others who advocate straight mechanized purchases at any point. I never buy less than 6 infantry per turn, and my optimal purchase is 10 infantry per turn. If you do this, and don’t deviate, you will pulverize Russia in time. If you don’t, you might just show up ready for the kill shot and realize you don’t have enough boots on the ground, or that your flanks are dangerously exposed.

elwell - my issue with a major IC, let’s say in Romania, is that for the same money I could have purchased 10 infantry and walked them in the same amount of time to the same space. Instead, I try to concentrate on making sure I have no break in my supply line.

Nothing is more intimidating to your opponent than seeing a steady, continuous flow of 6 or 8 infantry, unending, unyielding, coming straight at you. Especially when Germany has a slowly growing force of 10, then 12, then 14 armor ready to pounce right behind the infantry. Not to mention a lethal Luftwaffe! As Russia, when you see this, you realize you can kill one, or two stacks of infantry, but after that, you will fall back, and you will die.

Germany has all the buying power it needs to start the game, in my opinion. You can build armor in Moscow, once it falls :evil:

Stalingradski - I think my approach is nearly the same.  I purchase the Major IC to save time in turns needed to march the infantry forward.  Would it not take two extra turns to move your stacks of infantry from Germany’s closest Major IC to Moscow?  I favor the heavy dose of infantry purchases that you advocate with the sprinkling in of more expensive units, but since I don’t spend any money on additional ships for Atlantic fleet (combined with French money) I think there isn’t a break in flow of infantry.  My opponents have always gone all in to sink the atlantic fleet and over time I adapted to building a large defense force in the west as a deterrent.  I have not ever attempted the sea lion invasion unless it was later in the game and Russia had fallen.

1. What do you purchase on G1 to defend Atlantic fleet with? Doesn’t this purchase interrupt flow of infantry eastward?

2. Does the use of Italian forces in Barbarossa thin out your ability to hold North Africa?

3. Do you keep any garrison of troops in Norway so as to keep the NO bonus?  Since I usually lose the Atlantic fleet I can’t shuttle more troops as you do to add to a Northern pincer force.

You seem like an experienced player so hearing your point of view on this is appreciated.

elwell - I appreciate the questions.

I can absolutely see why a Major IC works, but I have a hard time pulling the trigger, as Germany already has the purchasing power on G1 to buy 20 units. Before long, that number is 23, 26, or 29 depending on how you partition France. Around G6 or G7, once Novgorod has been taken and held, that number climbs by 3 more… so partly, the decision comes from my desire to save IPCs, and fill the factories I have (which never happens!).

Secondly, rather than 10 infantry = a Major IC - let’s say instead it is 5 armor. I was wrong in my last post about the infantry being in Romania at the same time - the infantry would be one step ahead in your scenario, accelerating your Barbarossa, as you said. But 5 armor purchased in East Germany would be in Romania the same time the factory produced its first 5 armor.

1. I see the Atlantic fleet as a way to save what you start with and set the Allies back in the game of initiative. As an Allied player, if I see no German fleet/air combo threatening naval purchases, I’ll be rapidly applying pressure to the Atlantic seaboard and Med, without as much fear of losing my fleet. Like many people, I choose to buy a carrier and two transports on G1 - when backed up by the airbase in West Germany, and combined with your original battleship and cruiser, it is as close to unassailable as you can get, and is poised to do many things… head to SZ91 and help Italy get NOs, create a credible threat to London (even if I have no real intention of a Sealion, I’d still take it if someone gave it to me), create a real threat to Novgorod over the top, or create the ability to bring your navy into the Baltic to hit (or reinforce) multiple Russian sites at once (Vyborg/Novgorod/Baltic States). Or, do some combination of all of these.

Secondly, if you add a naval piece and air unit (fighter) every turn thereafter, the Allies find themselves continually climbing uphill to overcome Germany’s Atlantic shield. The whole idea is to maintain the initiative - make the Allies react to you - while buying extended time for Barbarossa.

The fleet can also be handy for several early turns parked in SZ109, assuming the US is neutral. Combined with a G2 pulverizing of London’s IC and Air/Naval bases, it slows Britain down considerably in the economic war.

Yes, the naval purchase on G1 thins out the initial push toward Russia by 30 IPCs worth of equipment (the same as a Major IC), but it buys you an incredible amount of time and flexibility. It allows you to continue to dictate the tempo of the Battle for the Atlantic, for a time. Like anything, pay attention to when it is time to back off. The Allies will eventually be able to overtake your navies through sheer spending power. BUT. They have paid the price of losing Moscow.

2. Yes, the use of Italian forces in Europe diminishes the ability to fight in Africa. It is a huge trade-off. I usually wait until just the right moment, and actually pull hardware out of Africa, rather than keep sending more. My Italian purchases are based on inflating economy very quickly with NOs, buying a carrier when I am at the peak, and buying destroyers and infantry from there on out. I park in SZ92, backed up by an airbase and German fighters (remember, buying one per turn!), and forcing the Allies to deal with two fleets.

Africa is a sideshow. With Italy’s help in Southern Russia, the force against Russia is overwhelming. I’m not saying I wouldn’t make attacks of opportunity with Italy, or raid the African coast, or take and hold Egypt if I could, but remember that if Russia falls, the game is trending toward an Axis victory most of the time.

With Germany reinforcing Italian territories as they take them in Russia, you’ll be surprised to see Italy’s economy maintained. N Ukraine, Ukraine, and Rostov are all worth 2 each, and are the gateway to the money in the Caucasus.

3. I don’t keep any troops in Norway, because I depend on my fleet/air in SZ112 to cause headaches for the Allies. Before they can land, they have to deal with a bunch of tough defensive units and still have enough muscle left to land boots on the ground.

If the US goes hog wild to take out the German and Italian fleets - then I guarantee Japan is running wild as well. In that case Germany’s purchases of lots of infantry and a dedication to fighters looks even better.

I also agree with you that Germany needs to dedicate resources to the Atlantic flank. The final challenge the Allies face is that with the presence of credible Axis fleets/air power, they will have a hard time having any follow-up to an amphibious landing in France. It’ll probably be a one way trip.

If you ever see that the Allies have enough threat to destroy your Atlantic fleet, play conservatively and pull back into the Baltic.  No reason to lose the fleet when it helps so much.  You’ll never lose Norway with a good Baltic presence.

Instead of spending $30 on a major IC, 30 of the infantry you build each turn in Germany could be mechanized infantry.  Those replacements will keep your infantry/artillery and armor/tactical combos hitting strong at the front as it marches east 1 territory per turn.  With that moster coming North, the Russians might move units from Ukraine to Moscow and then the Italians mop up the south.

I agree with Vance, OOB Major IC Romania was key to Barbarossa, but in +3.9 the Major Berlin and easily-capturable Minor Ukraine means that you don’t need the production.

@Alsch91:

If you ever see that the Allies have enough threat to destroy your Atlantic fleet, play conservatively and pull back into the Baltic.  No reason to lose the fleet when it helps so much.  You’ll never lose Norway with a good Baltic presence.

Quoted for Truth.  Same can be said about just about any Navy for that matter.  The units are too expensive to throw to the wind, except is the most desperate of measures.

If your playing Alpha +3

Turn one

1. Sink UK ships and build some navy and/or bombers. (like Sub,DD and bmb save4)
2. Dont loose mecanized inf or tanks vs Frace! Mabye drop normandy? (you can still pop out 10 trannies if you save 4)
3. Drop Yugoslavia. Or attack it for one round and retreat to Romania with South Germany stack.
4. Move every unit possible into position to take AND hold baltic round 2

Turn two

1. Take baltic and buy 10artillery and some other land or air units depending on the situation.
2. Take and hold baltic.

Turn three

1. Buy mostly mobile units and air (if needed)
2. Take, hold if possible, Novgorod.

Italy can help with attacking from the south via Iran!

You should be on your way to Moscow soon enough!

@techroll42:

I agree with Vance, OOB Major IC Romania was key to Barbarossa, but in +3.9 the Major Berlin and easily-capturable Minor Ukraine means that you don’t need the production.

I like to call that South Ukraine minor “Germany’s artillery factory”.  Mech from East Poland match up rather nicely with  artillery from South Ukraine.

It’s very similar to in Spring 1942 UK building a Japanese factory in India, or US building a Japanese factory in China or Sinkiang, except Russia is stuck with Ukraine (although it does slow German advances in the south a bit I guess).

If germany is going to build an IC, it should be in North Ukraine.  The pair of Ukraine ICs could spit out 6 artillery per turn until the round just before you plan to take Moscow, when they each build 6 armor.

Someone builds the IC and airbase in Romania to then build transport and secure Caucasus. I have never tried it though.

@ErwinRommel:

Someone builds the IC and airbase in Romania to then build transport and secure Caucasus. I have never tried it though.

Better off just taking the Ukraine IC… For the resources invested (IC, AB, Trn and Ftr to protect them) you could have spent that on units to take Ukraine and have a better forward operating IC with threats for the Caucasus, Stalingrad and Moscow.

Yes I agree with you on that, although an airbase in Greece and minor in Romania is a pretty cool strategy too.

Barborossa first is about 2 things: Speed and complexs.  Don’t listen to old school revised players who point out that two infantry will always defeat one tank.  That maybe true if the units are fightning in a phone booth (no movement), but you need fast tanks and mechs to keep Russia on its heels.  Attacking on G3 in optimal, as it allows you to return your tanks and mechs from France and gives you that large purchase with the plundered French money.  When you invade Russia, secure the Ukraine complex and Lennigrad by the 2nd turn of your invasion.  After that, press south grab Stalingrad, and the rich IPCs of Southern Russia.  Again, speed is essential, mechs and tanks will keep Russia on its heels better than slow ass art/inf.  Those units are better used to defend W-Europe when the allies start landing.

Attack on G2!
Buy first inf art (slow units)
Then buy mec,tnk (they will be able to catch up)

If I’m not going for the G6/7 Moscow bum rush, I prefer to buy mostly inf/art every single turn in Berlin.
It’s not as exciting, but good lord does it get the job done.  And it does it much more cheaply - that is, you’ll be able to buy subs/planes in the west every turn as well.  It’s a much stronger long-term strategy.
Eventually Russia just gets crushed by the waves of German forces.