Optimal German path to Moscow

Here is my way of attacking Russia (and the allies).

1. Treathen to win in the Pacific side.
   Dow Japan early and capture money islands and/or India early. Force US into fighting you in the Pacific so Germany can focus on killing Russia. I very often kill India round 3. Its a complex move, ill send you a saved file if you’d like to see it.

2. Sink both the big UK fleets and the small fleet outside Canada.
   You dont want to be disturbed by a big UK fleet with many transports, so your best of removing it.

3. At least try to get Egypt with Italy.
   Use luftwaffe to help Italy out. Clear all ships in the med, land some Germany fgt in Alexandria to protect your stack. If you can take Iraq thats also great. The more cash Italy gets the less preasure there is on Germany.

4. Dont waste your German cash and units.
   Dont waste troops attacking Normandy or Southern France r1. Dont loose more of the luftwaffe than you have to. Build raw groundforce every turn until Russia falls. Last turn you’ll buy some planes to maximize your odds.

5. Be mobile.
   R1 its possible to buy inf and art, but after that you should og all mobile units. Remember that mobile units pay back their costs by taking more Russian land faster. I find a combination of mec’s and tanks to be most effective.

6. Annoying can-opener.
   Send the one Italian tank in Albania to can-open for Germany, considder building more mec’s with Italy.

7. Bombs away :)
   Use Italian and Japanese bombers to soften up Moscow. Dont lose your valuable German bombers.

Joker) Optional: Force UK to buy all defencive by buying nothing as Germany round 1.
Then buy 10tank, 8mec and 2inf round 2 OR kill UK if he goes to soft on defence.

Axis playing agressive can make Moscow a Death trap forcing the allies to neglect other vital fronts to defend it. If Russia only controll Moscow they are a bird in a cage, no need to push your luck attacking to early as you should be earning 80-100 IPC every round.

And finaly, there is no such thing as a guaranteed Moscow G6 or G7.

There is a North Road and a South Road.

North goes East Poland, then Belarus, then Smolensk, maybe wait a turn, then Moscow.  The nice things about North are that sometimes they strafe/retreat in order to evacuate Novgorod but at heavy cost, and secondly you can make them pull right out of Bryansk by going to Smolensk.  At that point all the Southern side opens up.

South goes East Poland, then West Ukraine, then maybe wait a turn, then Bryansk, then Moscow.  The nice things about South are you get 2 ICs (I build one), and if they see you coming at them this strong they should evacuate Novgorod by way of archangel.  At that point the North side opens up for you.

Stick to the plan and don’t get distracted.  Kill the odd straggler, but keep your forces balled up into one tight fist marching East.

If you want to pressure Moscow to the absolute maximum, I agree with everything ErwinRommel and Variance posted. Except for a small accent on points 2) and 3) that I’d like to emphasize stronger:

2. Rommel pointed it out already (point 4) but it should be stated here as well: do not loose more of the luftwaffe than necessary. So, if playing 2nd edition, be careful about British/French Scramblers! You can remove their naval forces in the channel and at Scapa Flow by attacking them with a mighty overkill so they won’t dare to scramble. This leaves the transport fleet outside Canada a gamble with even odds. Sending even 2 of your submarines to Canada leaves you with 1 sub and a battleship to prevent German aircraft losses in the Channel. If the UK feels lucky or is just a bit of a gambler, he might scramble, causing 3 Me-109’s to go down with his 3 Hurricanes/Spitfires. 1 on 1 trades like this are always favoring the Allies.

3. Same accent as in point 2): use your luftwaffe but be careful with it! Every plane lost diminishes your chances of Russia even to start sweating.

Again, Rommel already pointed out to be careful with your Luftwaffe but I like to emphasize this very strongly. The reason is that Russia has teeth as well. Once the Russian “siberians” returned to Moscow, you need every unit, including your aircraft, to not only threaten Moscow but also to defend the deathball it is in. I once calculated that the Russians were in a good position to attack my deathball and destroy it Ru6 and again Ru7. That means if playing with Low Luck system. He didn’t attack because we were playing with dice and he didn’t have the guts ;-). I stuck/focussed to everything Rommel and Variance have pointed out and had not lost a single aircraft. But now imagine you are 2, 3, or even more aircraft of your luftwaffe short…

And I would like to add one thing to Rommel’s final statement (about Moscow not being guaranteed):

There is even no guarantee of even an Axis win by pursuing this strategy!

If the allies know what they’re doing, exploiting your weak spots. For example: poor defenses of all of Italy, West Germany and even Berlin. So be prepared ;-).

I think this is the best available strategy for the Axis and the hardest one to counter for the Allies, but by no means impossible.

It’s not so much a guarantee that Moscow falls G6 or 7, as it is a “Force the allies to react and protect Moscow with everything possible” by G6.

As mentioned above, a G1 buy of 6 inf 3 art, followed up by a miniumum of ten fast per turn the next 2 (or 3) turns will put far more troops in Stalin’s face than he can handle alone, leaving him no choice but to turtle in Moscow.

March directly to Ukraine, capture and hold of that IC on G4 is crucial, and fairly easy w all that fast, in addition to the 9 inf up top taking novgorod.  If russia attempts to defend Nov, that is a massive benefit for Germany, as those units will not be able to reach Moscow in time for your stacks’ big hit.

The key turn is G4, you need to figure out if you have a resonable chance to take moscow on G6 or not.  This usually depends solely on how many Planes the Brits can have in position to land in Moscow on UK5.  Most good players will be able to take a G6 capture away by having a persia factory which cranks out 3 ftrs, and the Med air, all able to reach Moscow at that time.

If u feel that u have a G6, the buy is G4 u buy all air in W ger, then G5 u buy 3 fast in Ukr, 3 tacs in Nov, and strats in W ger, for max attack potential.  This is obviusly fairly innefficient and should only be done once u feel you have the capture above 90 percent 2 turns out.  Otherise arty in ukr and in nov and fast from back home will work, as that Western fast reaches moscow in 3 turns, the same window as the nov arty.

Fast purchase in the West on G4 (or even G5) is still very reasonable, as even if you cant take Moscow quite yet, it will guarantee that Russia has no choice but full Moscow turtle while u stack bryansk, AND tale the heavy money terr of Cauc and Volgo, putting your income north of 70.

From here its essentially only a matter of time, as unless UK can bring double digit air (which does often happen)  Moscow will not be able to be strong enough to hold, even if it has a hundred units on it.

In the rare case that Moscow is strong enough to live through this turn 6-8 phase, the optimal play is usually to push down to the middle east with your huge stacks of fast units and change the dynamic down there, while also blitzing around Moscow to take all of his backside money away from him.

Regarding your last post,

What is fast mean in “then G5 u buy 3 fast in Ukr”

And do you mean by “Otherise arty in ukr and in nov and fast from back home will work, as that Western fast reaches moscow in 3 turns, the same window as the nov arty”

3 fast means 3 mech or tank, depending on what fits your money.

The idea is to put the maximum possible unit count on a Moscow hit on a given turn that you choose.

So what you buy where determines which turn you are trying to maximize your swing.  Arty bought in Ukr is designed for 2 turns out, fast bought there is designed to hit the following turn, arty bought in novgorod is timing for three turns out, fast is 2, and so on.  Fast purchased in Germany reaches a moscow hit in 3 turns, matching the speed of arty bought in Nov.

So if you are not sure, or do not think that you are close to a winning swing, u keep buying 6 arty in the forward factories and all Fast from Germany, until you feel that you are near to a successful hit, as that will keep streaming a maximum of efficient unit count towards Moscow.

The point is to decide based on map position (namely the position of possible allied air reinfocements, and Russian inf coming home from the East) exactly when you have the best chance to capture moscow, and purchase accordingly.

If you decide that 2 turns out is your window, for example, you buy arty in ukr, fast ground units in nov, and short range planes (usually tacs) in W Ger, then the following turn its fast in ukr, short range air in nov, and strats in W ger, to maximize the unit count and punch on the turn you choose to take the swing.

I hope thats less confusing……i get a little wordy now and then.

@Demandr3d:

I hope thats less confusing……i get a little wordy now and then.

I support this claim.

This is helpful. I am just starting a game as Germany and will make a DoW on Russia turn 2. This is the first time we have played with NO’s and that changes the dynamic. I am thinking of taking the southern route for the 2 IC’s and options for the Caucases NO, possibly the Persias/Iraq NO, or possibly helping Japan with India. We’ll see how it goes…