Spring 1942 - German Operations

Fortunes of Victory
Mr. Andersson’s House Rules for Spring 1942 2nd Edition

Victory Cards

Once you have played a few games of Axis & Allies: 1942 2nd edition, you might want to add this card mechanic to the game in order to get more complexity or variable elements. The following rules for victory cards can be used in addition to the standard rules. If you decide to use these rules, Draw Victory Card becomes the last phase of the turn sequence.

Each turn you have captured at least one new territory, you may roll the victory die during your draw victory card phase. The victory die has two of each of the following three different symbols on it: Research (weapon card), Star (tactics card), and Clover (fortune card), two sides for each symbol. For every one of those symbols rolled, you may draw a card from the equivalent deck.

Players may not have more than seven cards in their hand at any time and no more than five of any one type. A card may not be played in addition to any other type of card that affect one and the same unit, i.e. you cannot play two tactics cards in one and the same battle. All cards that affect combat are played after the attacker finishes combat move phase, but before conduct combat phase. The attacker always plays the cards first, giving the defender a chance to find the optimal way to play the cards in hand. All cards are kept face down until they are played. If you have seven cards in your hand, you must discard one card of your choice before you may draw a new card.

Each draw deck is to have its own discard pile. A used card is removed to a discard pile, except for weapon cards that may be played once every turn. A played weapon card is turned face up until the draw victory card phase of your turn, in order to mark its status as unavailable for immediate play. Then at draw victory card phase, all weapon cards that a player holds are turned face down, making them available for play again.

Yellow-backed cards are weapons cards. These cards come with a development cost. Once you draw a weapon card, you may wish to develop that weapon. You do so by buying research dice that give you a chance for a scientific breakthrough. Each research die you buy costs 1 IPC. Buy as many as you wish, including none. If you roll at least one “6”, you have successfully made a technological breakthrough and you may keep the weapon card on your hand. If your research fail or you choose not to research, that weapon card is removed to the weapon cards’ discard pile.

Blue-backed cards are tactics cards. Tactic cards represent new maneuvers that give you an advantage when attacking or your enemy a disadvantage when you defending in a combat. Each card takes effect just once. You are never required to use a tactics card. Since they are one-use cards you must judiciously determine when they are to be used in the game.

Green-backed cards are fortune cards. Fortune cards represent good luck effect or misfortune of your opponent. With these cards, your opponent will be forced to change tactics at a moment’s notice to overcome or take advantage of events beyond your control. Each card takes effect just once. You are never required to use a fortune card. Since they are one-use cards you must judiciously determine when they are to be used in the game.

Weapons Cards

Rail Gun No of cards: 3
Before general land battle takes place you can choose to use one of your AAA units as a rail gun, to conduct a one-time bombardment from an adjacent territory. This AAA unit may fire up to three times, but only once per defending unit. For each “2” rolled, the defender must choose 1 unit as a casualty. These casualties are removed from play without being able to return fire.

Rocket Strike No of cards: 3
During the SBR step of your conduct combat phase you can choose to use one of your AAA units as a rocket launcher, to make a single rocket attack against an enemy industrial complex within 2 spaces of it. This attack does 1D6 of damage to that industrial complex. Rockets may not be fired over neutral territories.

Atomic Bomb No of cards: 2
One of your bombers rolls 4D6 of damage on a strategic bombing raid. If the bomber is shot down by antiaircraft fire, this card has no effect.

Super Bombers No of cards: 3
When attacking, whether in a regular combat or a strategic bombing raid in one and same battle, you may designate up to two of your bombers as super bombers. Roll two dice for each of your superbombers and select the best result. In addition, these bombers’ range is increased by 1 space.

Jet Fighter No of cards: 3
When defending, whether in a regular land combat or intercepting during a strategic bombing raid, one of your fighters may fire twice (roll two dice) in each round of battle.

Long-Range Fighters No of cards: 4 - United States starts with one card
This card turns up to two of your fighters into long-range fighters. These fighters can move 6 spaces instead of 4. The fighters must move to the same space, but must not leave from the same space.

Radar Fire Control No of cards: 4 - United Kingdom starts with one card
One of your antiaircraft artillery units or industrial complexes, hit air units on a roll of “2” or less in a battle or a strategic bombing raid.

Heavy Artillery No of cards: 4 - Soviet Union starts with one card
In each round of play, one of your artillery units may attack OR defend on a “3” or less. For each hit scored the opposing player decides either to remove two infantry units as casualties, or one other unit as a casualty. This artillery unit does still support an infantry on attack.

Heavy Tank No of cards: 4 - Germany starts with one card
In each round of play, one of your tank units may attack OR defend on a “4” or less and require two hits to destroy. If a heavy tank is hit once, turn it on its side to mark its damaged status. If it survives a combat having taken one hit, return it upright to the game board.

Powerful Torpedoes No of cards: 3 - Japan and Germany starts with one card each
On the first round in a sea battles, whether you are attacking or defending, one of your submarine and/or destroyer units may fire twice (roll two dice) against enemy surface warships. Your submarine is still eligible for Surprise Strike if no enemy destroyer is present.

Tactics Cards

Air Supremacy No of cards: 5
if there are no defending fighters present, when you are attacking, your fighters hit on a roll of “5” or less on the first round of combat only. In the second round of battle this special ability is lost.

Combined Arms No of cards: 4
On the first round of combat, for every combination of infantry, tank and fighter (matched one-for-one), you receive an extra die roll at “3” or less on attack. In the second round of battle this special ability is lost.

Mechanized Offensive No of cards: 4
Up to three of your tanks gives one matching infantry unit one additional movement allowance and an increased attack value of 2 on a one-for-one basis. The infantry unit can blitz along with the tank, but the movement of all units must start and end in the same territories that can be friendly or hostile. Not eligible for non-combat movement.

Combined Bomber Offensive No of cards: 2
You may declare a joint bomber strike with a fellow player of your choice, on your conduct combat phase. Your bomber units may not conduct combat during your turn, but may move on your noncombat move phase. On your fellow player’s turn, the fellow player can move any of your bomber units during his or her combat move phase and conduct combat with them, as if they belonged to the fellow player, but weapons cards have no effect on these bomber units.

Airborne Assault No of cards: 3
Up to 2 of your infantry units can be assigned as paratroopers and move into a hostile territory 3 or fewer spaces away that is being attacked by your land units from adjacent territories and/or by amphibious assault. If attacking along with land units from adjacent territories, paratroopers may retreat as normal. If the territory being attacked has AAA units, the paratrooper infantry units are subject to AAA fire in the same way as air units.

Scramble No of cards: 4
You may scramble up to 2 defending fighters from one adjacent territory into the space being attacked. Surviving scrambled fighters must return to the territory from which it was scrambled. If the enemy has captured that territory, the unit can move 1 space to land in a friendly territory or on a friendly aircraft carrier. If no such landing space is available, the unit is lost.

Fortification No of cards: 4
On the first round of combat, when you are defending, only half of the hits rolled by the attacker (rounded down) counts as a “destroy” hit. In succeeding cycles of combat, you assigning hits as normal.

Entrenchment No of cards: 4
Each of your infantry units in a territory of your control defends on a 3 for the first round of combat. In succeeding cycles of combat, your infantry fire as normal.

Hidden Factory No of cards: 3
One of your industrial complexes only receives half (rounded down) of the total damage points rolled in a strategic bombing raid. Play before damage rolls against your IC.

Signals Intelligence No of cards: 2
You may move any number of your units from a space being attacked into an adjacent friendly space, but you must leave at least one unit behind. This special move otherwise follows the rules for a noncombat move.

Fortune Cards

Fighter Ace No of cards: 5
Choose a friendly fighter during conduct combat phase that scores a miss and change it to a hit.

Fog of War No of cards: 4
When an opposing player scores a miss in a battle, that player must choose one other unit from their force as a casualty from friendly fire. That casualty can fire at the normal time in the combat sequence.

Supreme Excellence No of cards: 2
When attacking with a fire power that is at least three times larger then the defending enemy’s you will automatically win the battle, but all defending units fire once before being destroyed. After the first round of combat any casualties are removed from play along with all defending units.

Donation No of cards: 4
Roll two dice, select the better result and collect that many additional IPCs during your collect income phase.

Foreign Legion No of cards: 4
Place one infantry for free during your mobilize new units phase. The free infantry may be placed on any territory that you have controlled since the beginning of your turn.

Military Support No of cards: 3
Place one additional unit at no cost during your mobilize new units phase as per normal placement rules. Roll one die:
1-2: You get a free artillery unit
3-4: You get a free antiaircraft artillery unit
5-6: You get a free tank unit

Merchant Marine No of cards: 2
Place one additional transport at no cost during your mobilize new units phase as per normal placement rules.

Spoils of War No of cards: 3
Place one free tank in a territory you captured this turn during your mobilize new units phase, if at least one enemy tank was destroyed in the contested territory.

Severe Weather No of cards: 3
Enemy units involved in a sea or land battle must all retreat after the first round of combat, unless all of your defending units are destroyed.

Force Majeure No of cards: 3
Place 3 damage markers under an enemy-controlled industrial complex of your choice during your combat movement phase.

Eureka No of cards: 2
You gain a free weapons card during your collect income phase. No need to roll research dice to get the technological breakthrough.

Up for grabs
Anyone who wants to design and sell these cards and/or the victory die can do it. I give this away, because I am too busy to make it my self.

I like that scenario and try to set myself up for just that, perhaps a round of delay.  But after being able to sit in Caucus for awhile I found it a task to keep Caucus reinforced enough to stave off a combined attack from the allies.  Rushing tanks in helped but I often become a bit tank heavy.  I suspect it was because I was moving my navy against Australia and Africa too quickly as Japan.

Early co-ordination with Japan is key, wait too long and British tanks/airpower can pin the combined axis force in as the Jap air-force is a sitting duck without the Germans.

I also agree many axis players fail to realize the flexibility of having the Japanese airforce fly in for around of defense and to fly in reinforcements in the case of a combined Brit/US attack against the Germans.  Being able to factor in 4+ Jap fighters to one of several German defensive points against a 1-2 Brit/US attack really lets Germany lean forward.

bump to get rid of spammer post

Re: Spring 1942 - Fortress Europe Axis StrategyI remember one game I played as axis I built nothing but submarines with Germany and japan and it helped to secure the coastal territories from attack I also used the German subs had like 7 of them at one and 3 bombers and targeted the British fleet and in the pacific with japan I built up to 9 subs and had a huge air force with them and scared the Americans out of the pacific and my armies were victorious in Russia about to collapse even protected my transports really good

Shouldn’t this be on the mods/house rules section instead of the articles?

Please note, this is the complete article in one post.  I posted it in parts in the Revised forum and further discussion is taking place there.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=14410.0

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The German Lurch:  Revised Edition

The Lurch is a mid-game stack based German strategy that is used to coincide with a strong push on Moscow by Japan.  The goal of the Lurch is to gradually move your German stacks East eliminating trading territories for Russia as you continue to get stronger while Russia gets weaker.  You are playing for control of Wrus and Cauc, which aren’t easy to get, but using a Lurch strategy you can attempt to claim them without a fight by manipulating your stacks such that any Russian advance can be easily countered, while your advances can’t be stopped because you are able to merge multiple stacks into a single targetted territory.

Unlike Classic where the Germans Lurched from EE to Ukr (to Cauc) and then to Kar, in Revised the Germans have 3 initial avenues to consider:
1 - EE to Kar
2 - EE to Belo
3 - EE to Ukr

Each one has its pros and cons, but all should result in the same conclusion, a German stack in Wrus or Cauc.

Before we get to Germany lets first talk about Japan briefly.  If you are planning on using a successful Lurch you will need Japan, so they should be focused on Asia and getting to Moscow.  You’ll likely need a few of Japan’s fighters in Europe so take Aus early (round 2 if possible) and make sure you always have ftrs in range of Ukr after J3.  Your goal should be to have Chi, Sin, Bury, Sfe, Yak by the end of J3, one factory on the mainland, and 4 trns running your shuck from Japan.  A 5th trn is a great bonus which you can use to pick up Aus/NZ/Hi.  I think these are modest goals and definitely achievable in the vaste majority of games.  The only issues that may arise would be an ultra aggressive UK 1 open and/or a possible KJF strategy, but then again if the Allies are going KJF you do not want to use a mid-game Lurch with Germany, you’d want to be much more aggressive.

As for German bids, you can use the Lurch with most land based bids, whether it is placed in Africa or Europe, but the Power Africa bid (2-3 units in Lib) tends to be a little better since it is vital that you are able to blitz Africa and gain its IPCs.  You have to make sure you can take Egy and hold against any UK 1 counter.

Now to the Lurch.  The theory of the Lurch is to leverage your initial IPC gains in the early rds (1-4) into a sizable attacking force that can be put into motion from round 4 on.  You are ulitmately playing a position game rather than an IPC (or economic game).  While there are periods where the Axis can out earn the Allies, it is very difficult to maintain this advantage against quality opponents.  Time is typically on the Allies side, so the Lurch is designed to maximize this effect before the Allies can block the threat to Moscow and begin to close in on and cripple Germany.  Your targetted time frame to take Wrus/Cauc should be between rds 6-9.  Anything much later than this and it may be too late.

So, how do we go about employing the Lurch and leveraging these early gains to a positional advantage?

Lets start with the Purchases.  Buy Infantry.  Buy infantry early and often, an upgrade for an armor or 2 is also recommended, but with excessive Rt purchases you may be limiting your effectiveness.  If you like to buy Rt, buy it early (rds 1-2) b/c you’ll need the mobility of armor later.  8 inf, 4 rt in rd 1 is a good foundation as is 12 inf, 1 rt, however you can’t go wrong with the Inf + Arm buys.  Remember you aren’t really interested in attack you just want to project force to prevent an Allied stack and then you want to move your stack into the vacant territory, so you are more concerned with the cheap defense of Infantry and added defensive muscle of the Armor than the added attacking power of Rt.  Armor is also vital to your initial defense of WE, so again don’t go Rt crazy with your buys.

Okay we know our buying strategy, what about the layout of Africa and Europe?
Africa is easy, use your bid in Lib and take Egy heavy.  Surviving Armor should immediately blitz everything insight, while 2 more units can land in Trj in round 2.  In round 3 you have a few options, positioning your fleet to help in Europe, getting out of dodge to take Mad and then perhaps a combination of Ind/Aus/NZ/HI, going around Afr to take Bra, reinforcing Perisa, or just safely remaining in the Indian Ocean and re-invading empty territories in Afr.  While blitzing Africa you want to keep as many of these units alive as possible so you can ultimately get them to the Middle East as well.  You’ll probably need to get them back Trj by round 4 otherwise they risk being trapped, which isn’t terrible since you can still cause some trouble in Afr, but it is always nice to have the extra threat to Cauc from Per.

Europe is a bit different and requires some patience.  You aren’t planning on blitzing to Moscow so you need to set up your initial defenses and get into position to trade Kar/Belo/Ukr with your infantry and airforce.  You also want the bare minimum of defense in WE b/c you want to maximize what you are sending East.  This is where tanks come in handy, you usually don’t need all of them to deter a Russian move so you can spare a few for WE and their 3 on defense is enough to make any UK landings highly unlikely.  How many units should you have in WE?  You want just enough inf to survive the first wave of a UK attack and enough arm/ftrs to wipe out the entire land based attacking force.  So if UK can attack with 3 inf, 3 arm, 2 ftrs, 1 bom, you’d want 4-5 inf with 8-9 arm/ftrs.

Now that we’ve got a basic plan for our early WE defense, lets get busy Lurching.  First your EE stack, move everything that isn’t needed elsewhere to EE.  SE can go to Blk if they aren’t needed in WE.  This is the foundation of your offense, you will be using your infantry and ftrs to trade Kar/Belo/Ukr.  Standard trading logic applys (2 inf + planes vs. 1 inf), however in trading Belo and Kar you can feel free to match inf for inf, so if you have to attack 2 inf, only bring in 2 and overload planes.  You do not want to bleed off too many inf and you do not want infantry out of place depending on where you plan to lurch first.  For example, a few too many infantry in Kar may hurt the potential to Lurch to Ukr and vice versa.  You aren’t likely to be able to Lurch anywhere for the first 3 rds, infact I’ll work under the assumption that G4 is your first potential chance to move out.  Side note:  If at any time in the first 3 rounds you can safely move to Kar/Belo/Ukr please do so, it may require an extra “build-up” turn later but you’ve denied Russia a trading zone.

Okay, so we’ve got our stack of Infanty in EE, a few Inf/Arm/Ftrs in WE, and our arm are done blitzing Afr and heading back to Egy/Trj while Russia has a stack in Wrus trying to prevent further German aggression.  How do we proceed?  First, find the path of least resistance.  I’ll go through each possible Lurch but you ultimately want to pick the easiest one or one that fits in with your Japanese strategy as well, and I’ll touch on that within each Lurch.  These are listed in no particular order and I’ll give pros and cons for each so you can decide.

EE to Kar

Here you are lurching from EE to Kar.  You are confident the Wrus stack cannot kill your stack, while you will still be able to tade Ukr with either Blk inf or EE reinforcements, while Belo can be handled from EE or your new Kar stack.

Pros:
You can cut off the other Allies from reinfocing Moscow.
You are now able to trade Arch and possibly Nor assuming that wouldn’t drain too many inf.
You maintain a threat on Wrus.

Cons:
You are vulnerable to both UK and US attacks as well as a Russian follow-up.
You only threaten a move to Wrus, so Cauc can potentially be lightly defended.
Russia could counter with a Ukr stack, so depending on your total forces in Kar (what you estimate could make it to Mos if you went to Arch)  you may be forced to back track a bit.

Japan:
Works well with a northern Japanese push via Bury to Eve or Novo or with Japan placing a major threat on Cauc via Per in an effort to split the Russian defense

EE to Belo

Here you are going to Belo first, and from there you can then expand to Kar, Ukr, or Wrus.  You also maintain the ability to trade both Kar and Ukr.

Pros:
It is typically the easiest lurch to make since it is only threatened from Wrus.  (UK/US can’t attack via amphibious)
You are still in position to Lurch to either Kar or Ukr.
You can maintain Kar as a deadzone, which can cut off Allied reinforcements to Mos or at the very least force them to land directly in Arch

Cons:
Time.  It is usually the easiest Lurch to make, particularly early on, but will usually require a turn or two of build up once you hold Belo.
you won’t be able to trade Arch and Nor is a lost cause.

Japan:
Works with any Japanese approach considering you haven’t committed yet as Germany.

EE to Ukr

Here you are going straight for the throat.  No time to waste up north and you aren’t worried about the UK/US quite yet.  You want Cauc or Wrus and you want them now!

Pros:
If done right, you’ll get Cauc or Wrus.
You can use your Afr forces to help squeeze Cauc.
You can use your Med Navy to help boost your move bring your SE units into play.
SE armor can immediately reach Ukr.
Japanese ftrs can boost defense from Fic (or the India Sz).

Cons:
Subject to a massive counter from Inf in both Wrus and Cauc.
Armor from Kaz/Per are also in range.
Nor and Arch are lost causes for trading and Kar may become a problem area since it would be extremely difficult to deadzone with only your EE reinforcements.

Japan:
Any approach will work but South and Central are extremely effective.  Some ftrs should always be stationed in the Fic/Ind region for added European defense.  You also have the ability for a nice 1-2 attack on Cauc with Germany doing the heavy lifting while Japan can swoop in and claim the IC.

Now that we’ve decided on the path of least resistance, you have to execute the Lurch.  You should have been buying mostly inf your first few turns along with a few armor, while blitzing Africa and waiting for Japan to get going and now its come time to make your move and start your expansion.  There’s a good chance you may have to trade WE at some point since the UK and US have the potential to each shuck 8 units to Europe.  You want to keep those units out of Russia so you can get Moscow to fall.  You will eventually need your armor in WE to move to EE as you lurch beyond Kar/Belo/Ukr and this makes WE expendable.  It is just too hard to try and defend all of Europe and threaten Moscow so you use your armor’s mobility and superior airforce to shift East and now Deadzone WE.  A typical Lurch movement may look like this:

Setup:
EE:  15 inf, 2 rt, 2 arm
Ger:  10 inf, 2 arm, 1 bom
WE:  8 inf, 8 arm, 4 ftrs, aa
SE:  2 inf

Ger buys 10 inf, 2 arm
After Lurch:

Belo:  15 inf, 2 rt, 4 arm
EE:  10 inf, 8 arm, aa
Ger:  15 inf, 2 arm, 4 ftrs, 1 bom
SE:  2 inf
WE: 1 inf
Blk: 2 inf

Now if you can hold WE with just the 8-10 inf + ftrs you can do so, but you have to get as much Inf and Armor East as possible.  But you also want to make sure the Allies aren’t going to be landing in Kar, so a little bait (like 1 inf) in WE can help the over all cause.  Assuming you do deadzone WE, the Allies shouldn’t be able to land a massive force considering the threat you can provide:  17 inf, 10 arm, 4 ftrs and at this point (round 5 or 6) the UK and US should not be able to throw a total of 16 units at you so you can trade WE with your SE inf and planes while still sending the rest of your infantry East.  The Allies may have the overall IPC lead or even army lead, but Russia’s army will not be more than Germany’s and once you add in Japan’s army it becomes problematic for the Allies.

Your next move should be coordinated with Japan.  As Germany sends its massive stack to Ukr (combine the EE and Belo stacks) and Africa corps to Per, Japan should move its stack to Kaz (Per + Chi) or Novo (Chi + Yak) while landing supporting aircraft in Europe if needed.  As much German armor as possible should remain in EE to maintain the threat on WE.  You shouldn’t move your armor out of range of WE until you can take and hold Wrus or Cauc.  Russia now has a huge decision to make which will likely cause them to vacate Wrus or Cauc since they should now be facing a German stack in Ukr as well as the prospects of a possible merger of a massive Japanese stack off the boarders of Mos/Cauc.  If Russia leaves Wrus, then Germany can stack that (with J ftr support) and once again deadzone Kar, meaning no Allied reinforcements and if the leave Cauc you gain an IC which gives you more freedom to defend WE or Kar with your Ger and EE units since you can place new units directly into Cauc.

At this point, with Germany holding Wrus or Cauc, your only concern is holding Berlin and making sure no Allied land units get to Mos, while you wait to make sure Japan has enough to finish off Moscow if Ger starts the attack.  If you’re looking for a Magic number to take out Russia’s stack you need Germany to have a 4:3 advatage in TUV and if you are planning a 1-2 attack you need Ger + Jap to have a 5:3 advantage.

Good Luck, and Happy Lurching!

Grundlagen für Deutschland

• Deutschland

Eingestellt von DarthMaximus am 10. Juli 2007 – 19:59

Übersetzt von Ranor

Genau wie Russland brauch Deutschland Hilfe von seinem Alliierten um zu gewinnen, aber im Gegensatz zu den Alliierten ist es für Japan nicht so einfach Truppen nach Europa zu verschiffen, also abgesehen von einer möglichen Jägerunterstützung liegt die wirkliche Unterstützung für Deutschland darin, wenn es Japan gelingt Druck auf  Russland auszuüben. Wie lange braucht man dafür? Realistischer Weise wahrscheinlich 4 Runden bis Japan den Russen zwingen kann ihn zu beachten. Was bedeutet das nun für Deutschland? Es bedeutet, dass man nicht auf Moskau zustürmen muss oder sich bereits früh zu weit hervorwagt, jedoch muss man auch in Europa und Afrika einiges gewinnen sowie seine Stellung festigen, damit sobald Japan den Druck auf Moskau erhöht man selbst auch Druck ausüben kann. Obwohl es möglich ist Moskau mit einer der Achsenmächte auszuschalten, ist es immer gut im Fall der Fälle den 1-2 Schlag ausführen zu können.

Wie sollte sich Deutschland daher aufstellen und was muss es tun?

Zuerst einmal mach ich einige Annahmen:

Jedweder Bid wird in Lybien plaziert Russland hat Wrus und Belo oder Ukr angegriffen

Darüber hinaus werde ich mich nur auf den Einkauf deutscher Landeinheiten in G1 konzentrieren. Es gibt durchaus brauchbare Strategien, die auf dem Kauf deutscher Marineeinheiten basieren, aber ich denke es ist besser erst einmal ein Gespür dafür zu entwickeln was sich in Europa abspielt, bevor man Ressourcen für Schiffe verwendet.

OK nun zurück zu dem was Deutschland unternehmen sollte. Nach dem russischen Zug muss man bevor man seinen Einkauf tätigt das Spielfeld betrachten und seine Angriffe planen. Dies muss man tun um sicher zu gehen, dass die Einkäufe zur Strategie passen. Kauf nicht einfach irgend Etwas und arbeite dann darum herum, ich denke dies trifft auf alle Nationen zu, für Deutschland jedoch im besonderen Maße, da es dass wahrscheinlichste Ziel der Alliierten ist und sich einfach keine Fehltritte erlauben kann.

Nachdem man das Spielfeld betrachtet hat sieht man meist Wrus in der Hand des Russen und wahrscheinlich auch Belo oder Ukr. Wrus ist zu Beginn eine aussichtslose Sache, von daher kann man wahrscheinlich jeden frühen Gegenschlag abschreiben und muss sich nicht wirklich damit beschäftigen. Nur in seltenen Fällen kann es hier eine Möglichkeit geben, da wir jedoch über die Grundlagen sprechen denke ich, dass wir uns diese seltenen Fälle für einen anderen Tag aufheben.
Belo oder Ukr auf der anderen Seite kann man begegnen, aber bevor wir uns diesen potentiellen Schlachten zuwenden schauen wir doch erst einmal welche Angriffe Deutschland unbedingt durchführen muss, welche es anstreben sollte und welche in die Kategorie fallen „würde ich gern, wenn ich die Ressourcen hätte“.

Ich denke die zwingenden Angriffe sind das UK Schlachtschiff in SZ 13, Egy, Kar (da es für die Nor Truppen recht einfach ist hier anzugreifen) und der Konter in der Ukr (wenn Russland hier angegriffen hat). Den UK DD in SZ 15 und den Schlag gegen Belo würde ich als erstrebenswerte Angriffe klassifizieren. Und in die Kategorie „wenn ich die Ressourcen hätte“ würde ich den UK Trn vor der Küste Kanadas einordnen.
Den Anriff auf die englische Flotte in SZ 2 kann man getrost vernachlässigen, dieser ist meiner Meinung nach einfach das Risiko nicht wert. Möglicherweise wenn man eine deutsche Marine-Strategie verfolgt, aber das wäre ein anderer Artikel.

Es sollte keine Probleme geben, die Ressourcen zu finden um das BB, den DD, Kar und Egy anzugreifen. Ich würde folgende Einheiten schicken:

1 Sub, 4 Ftrs zur SZ 13
1 Trn, 1BB, 1Ftr zur SZ 15
Die Truppen aus Lib + Truppen aus SE + Bom nach Egy
Inf aus Nor nach Kar (wenn es leer ist reicht eine Inf, da man die restlichen 2 während Nicht-Kampf-Bewegung nach EE oder WE schicken kann)

Mit einem genügend großen Bid in Lybien kann man es sich leisten den Trn vor Kanada mit dem Sub anzureifen, während das BB und der Trn beim englischen BB helfen und Gibraltar einnehmen, währen dessen nehmen deine Truppen in Lybien zusammen mit dem Bid Egy ein.Dies könnte auch den ein oder 2 Ftr frei machen für einen anderen Angriff.

Ich ziehe es jedoch vor Egy massiv anzugreifen um sicherzustellen, dass ich den englischen Ftr ausschalte und der Kanal geschlossen wird.

Was unternimmt man nun bezüglich Belo oder der Ukr?

Im Falle Belos kann man normaler weise einen Ftr aus der Ukr benutzen und es mit 2-3 Inf zurückerobern, wenn man möchte auch noch ein weiterer Ftr. Auch in SZ 13 und SZ 15 kann man einen Ftr abziehen, wenn man noch wo anders einen Ftr braucht.

Im Falle der Ukr, muss man vielleicht einen Panzer benutzen. Falls Russland nur einen Panzer übrig hat, reichen auch 2-3 Inf mit einem Ftr, wenn es jedoch mit 3-4 Einheiten genommen wurde, muss man schon etwas mehr aufbringen, wahrscheinlich so 4 Inf, 2 Tnk. In dem Fall sollt man auch noch einmal überprüfen ob es nützlich sein kann, alle Bodentruppen in die Ukr zu entsenden. Man muss gucken mit was Russland kontern kann, aber falls sie einige Truppen nach Osten geschickt und vielleicht keine Panzer nachgekauft haben, hat man hier vielleicht die Möglichkeit die Ukr zurückzuerobern und zu halten. Darüber hinaus könnte ein starkes Bid in Lybien dein BB und Trn frei machen um gegen die Ukr zu helfen und zu verstärken. (Dies ist ein weiterer Grund warum man erst seine Angriffe plant und dann einkauft, da ein solcher Zug bedingt, dass mehr Panzer gekauft werden)

Aber zum Wohle dieses Artikels und um bei den Grundlagen zu bleiben nehmen wir einfach an, es währe nicht sicher die Ukr anzugreifen und zu halten oder man fühlt sich einfach nicht wohl dabei. Wie dem auch sei, man ist auf jedenfall in der Lage Russland mit 3-4 Inf, 1 Tnk (oder benutze einen Ftr von SZ 13 oder 15, vielleicht den Bom) zu kontern.

Was kauft man also um diese Angriffe durchzuführen und dies alles zu verwirklichen?

Da wir nicht vorhaben nach Moskau zu blitzen und wir darauf warten wollen, das Japan eine Bedrohung für Moskau darstellt, ist es vernünftig eine Menge Infanterie zusammen mit einem Mix aus Art oder Tnk zu kaufen. Auf diese Weise kann man seine Verteidigung aufbauen und während man seine Infanteristen Richtung Front bewegt kann man immer noch Panzer kaufen, wenn man sich der Zeit des Angriffs nähert. Ich denke jeder der folgenden Einkäufe ist gut für eine landbasierte Strategie:

12 inf, 1 art
10 inf, 2 tnk
7 inf, 1 art, 3 tnk
8 inf, 4 art
10 inf, 1 ftr

Wirklich Deutschland hat eine Menge Optionen, aber mit einem ordentlichen Vorrat an Inf kann man auch den Druck auf Afrika beibehalten (so lange wie dein Trn über Wasser ist) und so seine IPCs auf hohem Level halten und dadurch seine Expansion zu finanzieren sowie mögliche Züge die so ab Runde 4 machbar sein sollten.

Nachdem man nun also seine Kämpfe geplant und dementsprechend eingekauft hat, wie stellt sich die Situation nach dem Kampf dar?

Wenn man SZ 13, SZ 15 / Egy, Kar angegriffen und Belo/Ukr gekontert hat, sollte man in SZ 13 nur das Sub verloren, in SZ 15 keine Verluste (wegen des 2 Treffer BB), in Egy ca. 4 Landeinheiten übrig (falls man 2 Einheiten Bid nach Lybien gestellt hat), Kar mit 1-2 Einheiten genommen und Belo/Ukr mit 1-3 Einheiten übrig zurück erobert haben.

Jetzt während der Nicht-Kampf-Bewegung sollte man Europa befestigen, als Vorbereitung für die Offensive im Mittelspiel. I ziehe gern meine gesamten Panzer in EE zusammen um die Bedrohung auf die Ukr aufrecht zu erhalten und so einen Zug der Alliierten diesbezüglich zu verhindern, 4 ftr landen in WE zusammen mit einer weiteren Inf die dorthin gezogen wird, während die restlichen Infanteristen aus Deutschland nach EE ziehen und alle übrig gebliebenen Einheiten aus SE zum Balkan ziehen können. Der Bom und der Ftr können in Lyb landen (oder SE), während die Inf und die Art aus Alg nach Lyb ziehen.

Nun kann man 10 Einheiten nach Deutschland stellen und den Rest nach SE. Man sollte nur sicher stellen, das 2 Einheiten für den Transport in G2 zur Verfügung stehen.

Wenn man also 10 inf, 2 tnk gekauft hat, sieht es nach G1 wahrscheinlich wie folgt aus:

Kar: 1-2 inf
Belo: 1-2 inf (wenn man kontern musste), 1 inf (wenn Rus die Ukr angegriffen hat)
Ukr: 1-2 inf, 1 tnk (wenn man kontern musste), 1 inf (wenn Rus Belo angegriffen hat)
EE: ~5-7 inf, 5-6 tnk (möglicherweise 1 art abhängig von Russlands Angriffen)
Balk: 1 inf, 1 art
WE: ~3 inf, 4 ftrs, aa
Ger: 9 inf, 1 tnk
SE: 1 inf, 1 tnk, 1 ftr
Lib: 1 inf, 1 art, 1 bom
Egy: ~2 inf, 2 tnk
(Ein ftr mehr, je nachdem was Russland angegriffen hat)

Jetzt hat man den Grundstein für eine solide Verteidigung, während man gleichzeitig in der Lage bleibt Länder in Europa zu tauschen, eine Bedrohung für die Ukr darstellt und über die Fähigkeit verfügt Afrika zu verstärken.

Man wird fortfahren 1-2 inf Richtung WE zu schicken, so wie die Alliierten sich aufbauen, den Rest der Truppen schickt man nach EE. Man kann auch weiterhin 2 Einheiten nach Egy/Trj schicken, damit würde ich jedoch aufhören sobald man sowohl Egy als auch Trj kontrolliert und dann würde ich mir darüber Gedanken machen mein BB und Trn aus dem Mittelmeer rauszuholen, bevor die Alliierten sie versenken.

Hmm ok, but that change in the UK starting setup impact the game significantly. In AA42 the only units that can reach the BB, trn and Russian sub on G1 are the Norway ftr, the Z8 sub and the bmr. This makes for a much more risky battle. Is it better to leave the BB alone then in AA42? I have been attacking them on G1 regularly, because the odds are in Germany’s favor to win that battle but Germany is screwed if the dice don’t go well. Same wth the Z13 cruiser, I could send 3 ftrs at it in a separate battle and I’ll most likely hit it in the first round but then there’s a 50/50 chance of losing a ftr…is either battle too risky in AA42 and should I just keep the UK navy alive?