Mechanized Infantry for Germany

That’s what I always do when I’m going all against Russia.
If I’m not doing a Sea Lion feint on round 1, then my purchase is 7 Artillery.
Every purchase after round 1 is half tanks, half mechs pushing towards Moscow.
Of course, might have to change it up a bit as the game progresses, but I find Mechs & Tanks my most common German units.

I’m not sure. Never done that.
Entering the units into the Battle Calculator now…

Results: Building 21ARM before the attack on Moscow gives the exact same result as building 31MECH instead. Building 11ARM + 15MECH however (~50/50 IPC allocation), gives slightly better results.

Good question! I usually build very ARM-heavy with Germany into Russia, but that was merely out of instinct. Now I’ve got proof that a mix is slightly better. Moscow will no longer survive  an assault with ~18 units but with ~16 units instead ;-). Thanks!

Downside is that you now have much more MECH than ARM, so, much less units will be able to Blitz, if ever they can.

@rjkesq82:

ch0senfktard - VERY interesting concept with the artillery…upgrades all those 1 infantry to 2 or les infantry…that’s nice…I will run some mock battles through the battle calculator later using that concept…I like it…

Yeah, I used to do all tanks when I first played.
Then I decided that having artillery instead would be a hell lot better than tanks, as long as you got infantry to upgrade.
But that’s battle performance, I like units getting to the front lines quick, so I stuck with tanks after turn 1.
Then at some point I incorporated Mechs and I personally found it to be more successful than just using tanks.
If there was an option for SPG units, I would probably use a Tank/SPG/Mech combo, but eh.

Since Artillery are slow moving, I found them best for round one, since I don’t usually invade Russia until Round 3. But even if I invade in Round 2, those Artillery will just be 1 space behind my main army and its just a turn away from reinforcing a stack before it goes to Moscow.
@ItIsILeClerc:

Results: Building 21ARM before the attack on Moscow gives the exact same result as building 31MECH instead. Building 11ARM + 15MECH however (~50/50 IPC allocation), gives slightly better results.

Try doing 13 Tanks + 12 Mechs.
Thats 126 IPCs like your examples give, see how it goes. I remember doing 1-1 buys instead of 50/50 IPC buys when I used to play Germany.

@rjkesq82:
My opinion on building ALL ART GE1, then splitting into ‘fast units’ is that this is excellent. I do this all the time because I am a GE3-barbarossa fanboy ;-).
The slow units can march to the border GE2 and attack GE3. Perfect. It also makes Germany save 2 IPCs so that it has 70IPCs GE2. Perfect for a surprise buy of 10TRS if the UK is making a ‘mistake’.

@ch0senfktard:
I entered some MECH/ARM variations in the calculator. Below I post the results of the absolute maximum number of units both sides can have during a GE6 assault on Moscow, if both sides suffered only minor casualties (Germany 1INF in Yugoslavia and 1INF in Russia for grabbing Ukraine, Russia looses 2INF for taking Ukraine back 1turn to prevent Germany building there for 1turn)… Russia has not taken Iraq.

GE6 attack on Moscow. Germany has used 100% of its income on land units, GE4 & GE5 also aircraft. Germany has in Western Europe: 3ART…

• GERMANY: INF28, MECH20, ART13, ARM20, FTR7, TAC7, STR6

• USSR: AAA4, INF68, MECH5, ART11, ARM5, TAC1, FTR12 (10 RAF units)

Result: no AAA-hits, RUS wins with 9 units. Expected 2 air losses for GER due to AAA-fire: RUS wins with 17 units.

GE6 attack on Moscow. Germany has used 100% of its income on land units, GE4 & GE5 also aircraft. Germany has in Western Europe: 3ART…

• GERMANY: INF28, MECH35, ART13, ARM10, FTR7, TAC7, STR6

• USSR: AAA4, INF68, MECH5, ART11, ARM5, TAC1, FTR12 (10 RAF units)

Result: no AAA-hits, RUS wins with 11 units. Expected 2 air losses for GER due to AAA-fire: RUS wins with 18 units.

GE6 attack on Moscow. Germany has used 100% of its income on land units, GE4 & GE5 also aircraft. Germany has in Western Europe: 3ART…

• GERMANY: INF28, MECH5, ART13, ARM30, FTR7, TAC7, STR6

• USSR: AAA4, INF68, MECH5, ART11, ARM5, TAC1, FTR12 (10 RAF units)

Result: No AAA-hits, RUS wins with 14 units. Expected 2 air losses for GER due to AAA-fire: RUS wins with 18 units.

I think the 20MECH + 20ARM gives the ‘best’ results ;-).
Please note that the German number of units is much more than they should ever be able to throw at Moscow GE6, as this leaves them with nothing in the West. At all. A smart USA/UK should have pretty decent invasion forces by turn 6. Much like 12INF, 7ART, 1ARM, 4MECH, 4FTR, 3STR for the USA alone… Germany must subtract its defenses against this from the attackers at Moscow. And then there is also the UK synergizing with the USA.

The Russian number of units however, is more of what they are Always supposed to have in Moscow GE6. Apart from the RAF, but the UK would be wise to have it ready always!
And then there are the Siberian Hunters… They should arrive in Moscow now. 21INF for free (3 mongols should be able to make it). And if the allies play a perfect game, Germany will have to put major reinforcements in the west, not east, to prevent them from getting ashore in force. Dilemma. Face the west/face the East…

Oh yeah, I buy a lot of Mechs for Germany. Same with Japan once they have ICs on the mainland.
With Germany, I will usually buy 1 tank for every 2-3 mechs. It really works well if you still have a good amount of air power to back them up. Then you will have your “hard punch” units with a lot of mechs for fodder.

The Siberians take 6 and 7 turns to reach Moscow.

The Mongolians if they survive and if they are activated take…
2 inf Olgiy - 4 turns
1 inf Dzavhan - 5 turns
1 inf Ulaanbaatar -6 turns
2 inf Buyant-Uhaa - 6 turns (very unlikely to make it)

With those number I assume your taking a full economy for Russia?  No accounts for Strategic bombing on turns 4 or later?

Mechs w/Ftr, Tac and SBR support is a great idea. If you can throw in a few tanks that doesn’t hurt either. I’ve seen other players build mostly Art w/few Inf on Turn 1, then mostly Mech. Check out the games in the League section.

Keep in mind aside from the actual attack on Moscow itself. Mechs are a much cheaper unit to use to trade territories with Russians. Russia can buy 2inf for 1 of those tanks which makes trading terr a very expensive proposition for Germany. Granted they do start out with quite a few infantry near or on the Russian border. But they won’t be around forever. And sometimes it’s worth it for Germany to send mech/arm + air ahead to capture a factory (Ukraine or Volgograd) even if Russia has a counter in place somewhere.

@rjkesq82:

I think Russia makes a lot of mistakes allowing themselves to be taken in several “smaller” battles when they would be best served in LARGE stacks of infantry for one final stand.

Thoughts?

Yes and no. They shouldn’t allow any large stacks to be taken out before Moscow. But I see no problem with making smaller attacks, ie 2-3 inf + air. Especially if they are over a factory, 2+ IPC terr, or kill German tanks. Stalling Germany from using a factory for a turn or two could have large consequences in the course of the war. Force them to build 2-3 turns from the front instead of directly onto the front. But Russia needs to be careful of how much they fritter their strength away, too many small attacks means they won’t have much for the big one.

@cyanight:

(…)
With those number I assume your taking a full economy for Russia?  No accounts for Strategic bombing on turns 4 or later?

If that question is directed at the numbers I posted: Indeed. I took the middle ground, sorry ;-). Russia can have a (much) bigger economy by taking Iraq RU3 and possibly Ethiopia RU5, or an equal one by taking Iraq + being bombed, or an equal one by taking Iraq + loosing extra territories because Japan eats them, or…. many variables. And with ~10FTR in Moscow (from turn 5 and on), bombing becomes a tricky proposition. Moscow always has more dice to roll during the combined dogfights + ensuing AAA-fire. The axis have ~5/6 chance to loose more aircraft there.

So Russia Usually has a few more units, but if it’s a few less, UK can spare another FTR or 2. Plus, like stated above, If Germany Raids and looses 1 or more bombers more than the allies, the bombing was meaningless because Russia can buy a few less units, but Germany has less aircraft as well. If Japan does the bombing (a quite dastardly trick I might add), its quite a drain of blood for Japan in the Pacific, but once again, if Russia did take Iraq/Ethiopia, it should equal each other out.
And remember, I calculated the maximum possible for both sides, which may prove impossible or (mainly in the case of Germany), outright unwise to achieve for either side or both, from game to game ;-).

(…) But Russia needs to be careful of how much they fritter their strength away, too many small attacks means they won’t have much for the big one.

Indeed. This cannot be stressed out too much! As long as Russia kan keep its losses within a ~1:1 ratio things will be fine. Unless that is a lot of INF:INF only, because in that case Germany will loose a value1 (attacker) versus a value2 (defender) for when ‘the big one’ comes. In other words: don’t bother with small attacks over meaningless territories if you can only kill INF, but never hesitate to heed A&Aplayer’s advice to kill German ARM/MECH and liberate Ukraine for 1 turn on a ~1:1 ratio with your INF.

@axisandalliesplayer:

Keep in mind aside from the actual attack on Moscow itself. Mechs are a much cheaper unit to use to trade territories with Russians. Russia can buy 2inf for 1 of those tanks which makes trading terr a very expensive proposition for Germany. Granted they do start out with quite a few infantry near or on the Russian border. But they won’t be around forever. And sometimes it’s worth it for Germany to send mech/arm + air ahead to capture a factory (Ukraine or Volgograd) even if Russia has a counter in place somewhere.

Smart comments, I like it :-). And agree. If the allies are played strongly, I consider it very rare for Germany to be able to ‘win’ an attack on Moscow GE6. Or even GE7 - GE9 for that matter. Basically because the Western Allies should demand German reinforcements to be placed in the west. Germany should carefully calculate if/when an attack on Moscow could be done and plan ahead for that time window. The ‘maximum numbers’ I posted earlier should (can!) only be pursued with Germany if there is NO USA commitment in Europe at all. And even then it is best done only for quick capture of Moscow if Russia & UK made the mistake of poorly defending it.
The best way to go is to keep building defenses in West Europe for as long as possible, keep building ART + INF in Russia and funnel some of the fast units built in Germany itself into Russia if that’s possible (due to the strength of the Western allies).
The aim should be to produce 10 units per turn that can go into Russia either immediately or a few turns later, but the Western allies may disagree and hinder it >.<

I understand. I kinda wondered about Iraq, Ethiopia, etc. Taking the middle ground was a great idea to create those results.

@cyanight:

I understand. I kinda wondered about Iraq, Ethiopia, etc. Taking the middle ground was a great idea to create those results.Â

Hehhe, yes imagine that post being 5 times as lengthy… Even I have limits to writing ;-).

@ItIsILeClerc:

If the allies are played strongly, I consider it very rare for Germany to be able to ‘win’ an attack on Moscow GE6. Or even GE7 - GE9 for that matter.

A concerted strat bombing campaign can really improve the axis chances in Moscow. And if the allies (UK) are shipping in so many air that it precludes strat bombing or hitting Moscow than they’re likely weaker elsewhere. Don’t meet the enemy’s main strength head to head if you can help it. Find where he’s vulnerable and hit that instead. Or at least force him to stop sending the air into Moscow and send them elsewhere if possible.

@axisandalliesplayer:

@ItIsILeClerc:

If the allies are played strongly, I consider it very rare for Germany to be able to ‘win’ an attack on Moscow GE6. Or even GE7 - GE9 for that matter.

A concerted strat bombing campaign can really improve the axis chances in Moscow. And if the allies (UK) are shipping in so many air that it precludes strat bombing or hitting Moscow than they’re likely weaker elsewhere. Don’t meet the enemy’s main strength head to head if you can help it. Find where he’s vulnerable and hit that instead. Or at least force him to stop sending the air into Moscow and send them elsewhere if possible.

I had a game like that once a while back. Normally, as Germany, once my main force gets to Moscow, I attack. In the rounds preceding, I usually send bombers and pound Russia’s IC in Moscow. However, this one game Russia had this huge stack of infantry, something like 60 or more, plus a couple of tanks and artillery with 7 fighters. Also, there was 2 UK fighters, 1 ANZAC fighter and 1 US fighter. So, I was not able to SBR them because they had so many dang interceptors and I only had 4 or 5 bombers.
So, I ended up taking Stalingrad and the Caucasus and had two very large armies sitting there staring at the Russians (Smolensk and Bryansk).
Even with both of my armies, I wasn’t sure about getting through that huge stack of infantry. However, since Russia had mostly infantry, they couldn’t really attack either of my armies either. They could have destroyed one of them, but that would leave them weak in Moscow for the other army to attack along with all my Luftwaffe (except for the few planes I kept in the west). So we basically just sat and stared at each other.
Meanwhile, Japan had taken all of the northern and far eastern Soviet territories. So Russia was only making around 5-6 IPCs per round. They wouldn’t send anything out to try and take any territories back because they didn’t want to weaken their capital force.
As Germany, I was making enough money that I could keep adding infantry from the Ukraine and Leningrad and Stalingrad factories, plus a few tanks/mechs racing over from Germany each round. In addition to that, I had enough to have some Luftwaffe and U-Boats to keep the US and UK at bay and do some convoy damage against England. I also did a little SBR damage against England, but they also did some against me in Paris, Normandy and W Germany. Italy was taking most of UK’s attention and they were almost evenly matched income wise because of my convoying and SBRs.
Japan held most of US attention in heavy naval builds. Most of what US contributed to Europe was in bombers and fighters. They did give me a really hard time in SBRs. While I pretty much left my French factories bombed out, I had to keep repairing the W Germany factory to keep pumping out U-Boats and my own planes.
Anyway, it really took a long time, something like 12 rounds or so, but I eventually attacked and took Moscow. It was one titanic battle.

@axisandalliesplayer:

A concerted strat bombing campaign can really improve the axis chances in Moscow. And if the allies (UK) are shipping in so many air that it precludes strat bombing or hitting Moscow than they’re likely weaker elsewhere. Don’t meet the enemy’s main strength head to head if you can help it. Find where he’s vulnerable and hit that instead. Or at least force him to stop sending the air into Moscow and send them elsewhere if possible.

I do so much agree with that! How much Stratigec bombers do you (plan to ;-)) use for that, A&Aplayer?

Personally I plan to have 11STR ready for bombing turn 7 and 14STR turn 8 (assuming no losses).
Apart from that, at the start of turn 7 the allies will also have a combined force in the Atlantic/London/Gibraltar/Norway of 14FTR, 3TAC, 16INF, 8ART, 2ARM, 4MECH, 3CV, 2CA, 3DD. This is assuming some naval losses AND Germany having built up adequate defenses. Adequate means at least 3AAA, 3INF, 3ART, 15MECH, 10ARM in West Germany and a similar force in Germany itself. Else the Axis suffering will have no limits: The USA can take Denmark (it already has Norway), and then the UK can grab Berlin. Or the allies simply land in Normandy unopposed and either Liberate France or start producing from Normandy + South France for a while and THEN liberate France (and conquer Italy). I know I make it sound very easy, but this is the cold threat that Germany is facing.

With the above ‘adequate’ minimum defenses, Germany is still not able to stop Normandy-landings. For that, it needs a total of 3AAA + 6INF + 6ART + 25MECH + 15ARM + 2STR…
Germany can put down this kind of force (after all, it has 6 turns to prepare), but all these German forces will then NOT be active in Russia, putting the German Eastfront in mortal danger (often a very close call whether the Red army can attack or not)… At this turning point the allied fun may or may not begin, but often the very best Germany can do in this situation is to maintain the status quo for a while and then collapse due to the heavy bombing campaing over all it’s ICs, seriously limiting Germany’s production.

@knp:
I think your Russian opponent didn’t calculate any attack possibility ;-), and that the western allies focussed too much on Italy which I assume you had turned into a fortress. From your post I see that you built 2-3STR and had split your forces into Smolensk and Bryansk. Even kept a few planes in the west. Ofc I don’t know the exact kind of force your opponent had in Moscow but, despite it being mostly INF, it is usually enough to project a serious threat even if Germany keeps all its units (including all the Luftwaffe) in 1 area (for example Bryansk). RU7/RU8 (with the Siberians returned), the red army is a borderline case between being strong enough to destroy the german army or not. That is, of course, if Russia builds up like I am used to.
But if the German army is split up (for eaxmple to take and hold on to Stalingrad/Caucasus)… Yes, one of split forces should be destroyed, or, in your game, be at least strafed (after which the other army that wasn’t strafed will also be in danger because of highly unfavorable loss-ratio for Germany).
Maybe the Russians didn’t produce enough, I don’t know but usually building only INF is doubtful for Russia indeed. For a few less INF, Russia should build ~8ART, possibly some more in the turns the Siberians arrive. And man do they make an offensive difference :-).

Last but not least, Russia having only 5-6 IPCs per turn due to Japanese conquests is complete (a-) historical rubbish. Therefore I am happy that there is another complete (a-) historical option open for the allies to balance this: spreading communism in Iraq and Ethiopia + Somalia. It should be more easily gained, for example by just having the allies control Persia to be able to ship an extra NO to Russia. But I guess the designers found that too easy for the allies and I can relate.

Itisileclerc

I agree that Germany while pushing deep into Russia has to Prepare for Normany or Denmark or even Norway has to be on guard but it dosnt have to be alone… Not once did I read that Italy was there to help the burden of combat and it plays a valuable role.

Now I’m sure we can all agree that Italy has a up hill battle with trying to grab as much land as it can before being Either swallowed up or pushed back to the brink of braking, at some point you weight your options and either cut short and build your wall sooner then you like or keep pushing for land.

But if Russia is the prize then I’d have Italy help with the defense around round 3-4 not 100% of its income but little by little.

Also a little dirty trick I’ve seen was If Denmark is heavily fortified and Norway is the easy option. Just start building from Norway to the Baltc sea and really cause hell for Germany!2 carriers and a airbase in Norway will make anyone’s day a pain in the ass for defense.

But as Germany a nice trick I’ve learned is that every single turn build Atleast 1 sub in the Baltic so round 6-7 you have a nice counter punch with some planes and make the allies think twice where to place there Fleat!

Mech. is very useful when you want to have a blitz attack，because of armour’s speed,Inf. can’t protect armour effevtively,but Mech. can do that.(it’s just my personally opinoin) :-)