Medit sea and other economic based Germany strategies.
~ A little bit of a Gambler approach (I forgot who did this):
purchase 1 carrier 1 dd and 1 submarine.
non combat:
air in 109->holland
air in 111-> carrier/ west germany
2 aa gun from west germany -> holland
move an aa gun from germany-> west germany if necessary
Germany units -> poland
1 inf romania->bulgaria
3 inf norway->finland
cruiser transport -> 112
2 inf denmark->norway
2 hungary inf->poland
1 fighter yugoslavia->Southern Italy
1 tactical fighter france -> west germany
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If UK scrambles 109 you should be able to kill the RAF and walk out with a bomber (in low luck you generally walk out with 2 air units, sometimes 3)…. You may sea lion successfully with a dead RAF in front of you. Scramble most likely to happen in 111, usually you lose 2 air units and the bship, which is fine (or just the bship if no scramble).
With the cruiser out of the picture UK is unlikely to attack sz 97 (Italy’s stuff).
the 110 naval may merge into sz 92 with sz 98 units going there as well (Italy has 50/50 to sink it if no airbase was bought). Attack if you plan on doing sea lion. Do not attack if airbase was bought and 2-3 air can scramble. You can just clear sz 93 of France stuffs, huddle sz 97 or shuffle units to cyprus/syria.
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Pitfalls:
Naval merge must be dealt with on round 2 or 3. Usually this is a viable strategy in a Europe only board as USA stays out of the picture for a longer duration. May be a viable strategy if Japan likes to go to war on round 3 in global.
May end up doing sea lion instead of medit play.
**The Gambit Play**
In low luck games you can reliably send exactly 6 hits to France. On round 2 you should score 5 hits (sometimes you hit on the 1 or 2 scoring 6 hits and end up taking France). Then you retreat.
A) UK defend it with fighters against Italy, in which case you strafe it again on round 2 with Germany and take it with Italy on round 2.
B) UK lets Italy have it and just proceeds from there.
In a dice game if you attack France and there is just a fighter left, this is an option to consider… If UK does defend it with fighters, you will need a bit of luck to not score too many hits taking France in one blow.... at the same time you do not want the worse scenario which is failing to score enough hits.
That is why it is called a gambit. The income gained from France to Italy is not exactly the greatest thing in the world in scenario A, but it may provide just enough to make something happen with Egypt.
The super serious Egypt play: Do basic G1, instead buy 2 bombers and a sub. G2 buy more bombers. fly air to Alexandria on top of Italy stuff. Then attack Egypt on round 3 with mass bomber and all your air! Clear the way for Italy!
Wheatbeer (I always read it as Wheatbear) and others strategy.
G2 clear out uk naval with germany (unless Italy did it like a boss).
If the egypt naval went to gibraltar, have italy take algeria, hit it with Italy then retreat, then blast it with Germany.
If an airbase was bought then do one of two things A) have Italy sink french naval with 1 sub 1 dd 2 fighter 1 bomber, land 2 fighters to holland and move an armor there, land bomber in france, then do sea lion on G2. ~ Italy bombs london airbase if it gets repaired B) Forget sea lion, buy some destroyers and carriers. Next turn you take gibraltar. Then you are in business in the med sea. You may as well bomb london since it is empty of air while you are at it.
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The advantage of normandy is that you can buy and place naval there round 2 just like southern france. This is done to swing the baltic fleet over to the med rather than getting a separate fleet.
Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia
Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia
Something like that I thought.
yes he did. I will use that.
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Thank you grasshopper. I will post a screenshot of what that combat would look like visually for people to see.
Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia
Something like that I thought.
yes he did. I will use that.
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Thank you grasshopper. I will post a screenshot of what that combat would look like visually for people to see.
Thanks Cow. Other players have different methods like, an aircraft carrier purchase, or strafing Yugoslavia, but this is the blueprint that I have had for a long time, and had success with.
I’ve never actually attempted a G3 Sea Lion. If I go with a G1 purchase that threatens Sea Lion, under what circumstances should I proceed to buy all transports G2 and actually go for it?
Your G2 buy should go through with sea lion (attack on UK):
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If your G1 buy was 2 transport 1 AC
Your G2 buy will be 1 dd rest transports
If your G1 buy was 1 sub 1 dd 1 carrier
Your G2 buy will be all transports.
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You need 1 destroyer, very important against potential sub buys.
Also it is important that Italy keeps his bomber. Should UK repair his airbase, Italy bombs it. Also position Italy fighters on france if possible (1 or both) for escorting. You really want to make sure the airbase is disabled (which is at 3 damage). So that way you can get all your units on london.
I edited my first post to reflect my preference to G1 DoW. I added the link to my Japan playbook as well.
Why in all that is holy, do you NOT attack the British Battleship (from your first post) in the english channel? If I were britain I would love to have that asset.
Young grasshopper I am curious about the air buy for g1. what is the deal with that?
I also noticed people have different G1 DOW openers. I am curious what the overall consensus looks like on it.
In my blueprint, I will be expecting a scramble into sz111, and I will surly lose a couple of air units. I need to replace those units immediately because I use the German Air Force to attack the British boats that attacked the Italian battleship. I don’t scramble for Italy, I use their Air Force to hit the French ships, and the British cruiser off Malta that maybe left after the attack on the Italian destroyer and transport. Two major air battles for Germany without reinforcements is devastating. Germany can manage without a fleet, but operating with less than 10 air units will cost them the game IMO.
Lots of people have different methods to attacking G1, but the reasons for attacking G1 are usually the same among those that support the strategy.
Why in all that is holy, do you NOT attack the British Battleship (from your first post) in the english channel? If I were britain I would love to have that asset.
Because if I did, allies scramble everytime and it requires more air to do.
If I am going to G1 DoW, I am going all in for Russia, I do not care what navy any country has, they are boats in oceans. I got guns rolling cities.
The whole point of a G1 DoW is to take Russia round 5. You stop that and it is over. G1 dow is just a real crap barb if it does not deliver a G5 take of Russia.
That is my honest opinion. It is fun and you get a solid crack at Russia on round 5.
With a G1 DOW, what prevents UK from flying RAF over?
US Turn 1: Build 2 carriers atlantic side + a destroyer to form backbone of an Atlantic fleet. Expect to spend heavy later in the Pacific for a couple turn to catch up with Japan.
Turn 1, leave RAF to protect home waters and hit Italy.
US Turn 2, move on two American Carriers in 91
UK Turn 2, land UK fighters on US carriers
US Turn 3, the combined fleet moves in the med (presumably strong enough to weather an axis counter attack). UK build airbase in Gibraltar if necessary where US fighters can land.
UK Turn 3, land the UK airforce in Egypt.
UK Turn 4, move planes to Persia
UK Turn 5, move in to Russia
Keep feeding planes until the stack from Siberia arrive and use UK ground units from middle east to contest the South.
Once Japan is under control, the US shifts back to the European theater.
Stratbombers and Dark Skies are so flexible and effective, that buying up to 6 is optimal play. Strategic bombing is a bit too powerful OOB because Russia has little defense. But on top of that, the 6 range and cheap cost makes them a bit overpowered–they are one of the few units that can consistently reach some interesting target the turn after they are built.
After almost 200 games in the last 3 years, I need to try new things.
Its starting to feel like this guy is just trolling us with these “essays.” I mean come on, man. Many of these statements are way too out of touch. Can’t be serious.
I would hesitate to jump so far so quickly. He/she probably is just discovering this forum and/or other sources of strategies, and their game group has probably been disconnected, if you will, from the most effective strategies that the wider A&A community takes for granted.
I will note that in his first essay (the Barbarossa one) he mentioned how G40 had recieved “little attention on this blog”, which I take to mean the main axisandallies.org website (which most definitely does have a lack of G40-related articles, last I checked) as opposed to the forums. I knew about axisandallies.org the site long before I knew about the forums, so maybe that is what happened here.
I didn’t mean to be harsh just speculating. I get it. This game is special because it has a lot more nuance than one would readily perceive. I have no problem with the thread just made me scratch my head.
I say Germany always because Germany is your powerhouse as far as income, and the more income you can bring in for Germany the better chance you have of taking Russia since you can spend more, while I do like to bring an Italian Force into Russia this force is there to support the German force, take the first hits in counter attacks and keep my German units around much longer, Southern France also allows the Germans to build their own fleet to transport units to africa which can give you a big boost and can usually bring an Axis victory in the Med.
It’s great that the Axis can try all these crazy strategies and likely succeed against Allies who haven’t seen them before; I just wish the Allies could do similar things…I find it a bit unfair that the Axis get to have all the fun.
I think that is just the way the game is, the Axis are the “aggressor” and need to attack to win; while the allies are the defender and need to react to the situations while keeping the big picture in mind. I think the allies are a lot of fun as well; with the UK being a lot of fun and involved everywhere and very important to the overall allied success.
Hi Ike.
Territory has to be worth 3, yes. Also, in 2nd Edition rules, only the original owner can make
a Major on a territory worth 3 or more. So they couldn’t, no.
Was I just playing against someone who wasn’t very good at playing Germany?
Perhaps, but not necessarily. You might have been a little extra good at playing Russia. Maybe the dice were a little lucky for you or unlucky for Germany. I remember a game where Germany went into Russia with four huge thrusts – Finland into Karelia, Poland into Baltic States, Slovakia/Hungary into E. Poland and Romania into Bessarabia. All four armies smashed the Russian early defenses with a lot of stuff left. Then strong Russian counter-attacks end up decimating half the German force. After that it was very slow going for the Germans. The Russians managed to keep putting up strong defenses and whenever a particular German army was whittled down enough, a Russian counter-attack would wipe it out and the German drive was set back again. I think the Minor IC in the Ukraine was exchanged between Russia and Germany about 4 or 5 times.
So your German player wasn’t necessarily bad, maybe just inexperienced. Perhaps he learned his lesson and will take Moscow from you next time. He seemed to do pretty good at taking London.