Which Country To Cut Off?

Axis neutral crush only makes sense when the Axis need to take back Gibraltar via land.  Otherwise, attacking the neutrals open up Europe to too many fronts for the Allies.

As for cutting off a country, I’d say Japan is a reasonable target.  If the US destroys Japan’s fleet the US can convoy Japan to death.  Of course, if the US does this, it must be careful not to allow Germany to run wild.

@drummerinheat:

The basics of this game played by either side can be ground down to some very basic principals.  Grind down/cut off/neuter one opponent rather than chipping away at all of them.  As the allies, it is common practice to cut out Italy.  It’s relatively easier than Germany and important.

As for the Axis, it’s pretty standard to focus on Russia.  I understand why.  It becomes a monster when unchecked (if played correctly of course).  Has anyone had other success based on focusing on England specifically?  Or do you dare…America?

I was recently attempting a turn 3 neutral crush (as axis) and attempting to take South America and try to sneak up on North America.  I know it sounds absurd, but i was bored of the “traditional” approaches and wanted to shake things up.  I ran into a road block when the English player decided to take Brazil the same turn I sacked Spain and Sweden (Italians Grabbed Turkey/Saudi Arabia) and nabbed South America before i could, thus making it too hard to mount an initial assault.

Any thoughts?

I had thought of taking Spain for a better reach out into the Atlantic with air power.

If you are going to invade neutrals you need a big reward(such as Middle East for Axis and the abillity the to invade Europe by land e.g. US attacking Spain) otherwise it is very detrimental.

As for invading the US…more people joke about it than really try but here is a way that has worked for me( keep in mind that I, my opponents, and teammates were not very skilled when I did this; believe or not I lost a game holding Washington once):
Turn one and two threaten sea lion while building a substantial navy of warships and transports. This keeps UK in check:  Russo is in a quandary; US builds navy. T3 dependiing upon the US buys (most of the time you can’t to this) move to Gibraltar. T4 attack US coast and East US. This is a very little chance. It works better in Global if the US is concentrating elsewhere. US has two easy ways to stop you: either stack Washington or build a big enough Navy to rival yours. It really only works if US has little defence and you haven a substantial navy. Once when US build 4 bombers among other units, it worked due to their lack of defense.
I consider this to always be an option but most players will know khow to prevent this.