AndrewAAGamer’s principles implies that only infantry should be built at first.
Best kept secrets of the board
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I know that one of the things that separates the new player from the experienced player is knowledge of the board. Knowing how to take advantage of the not so obvious moves gives player a great advantage.
I would like to hear some feedback over some of the less obvious but very valuable moves that can be made. For example:
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As the US you can place a Carrier in the Pacific and planes in Eastern US and still have them meet on the Carrier next turn in Hawaii
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A bomber can fly from Eastern US to New Zealand in one turn
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Planes can fly from India to Moscow if the Neutrals have been attacked and Afghanistan is activated
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From Western Germany fighters can attack sz 91 if Morocco is friendly and sz 92 if Algeria is friendly
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Once Iraq has been attacked fighters can fly from Tran-Jordan to India if there is an airbase in Trans-Jordan
This is a short list of just some of the ones I though of off the top of my head. I would love some input on what else is out there. Some of these moves require an air base / naval base to be purchased so don’t be afraid to mention others that would require purchases as well.
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*There is the old USA takes Denmark, and UK amphibs a weekly defended Berlin, only works once though.
*US/UK bmrs can fly directly to Moscow from the Scottish airbase. You would be surprised how 2-3 bmrs tip the scales on the battle for Moscow. Bmrs can also make it from Egypt to Moscow w/o AB. Ftrs can make it to Moscow from a carrier in sz99. Any of these could tip the scales, or even cause a delay
*Japanese naval base built on Kwangsi or Hainan J2 gets your fleet to India J3 (if the UK doesn’t have a blocker).
*Have Germany or Italy bomb the Gibraltar naval base so the US fleet can’t move 3 spaces from sz91 on their turn (UK needs to fix it and they go after the US). Limits what the US can attack (can’t get to Norway or Rome).
*Say the Italians are going to attack Egypt next turn using units from both land (Alex) and sea (but their navy isn’t much due to Taranto raid). If you have some ftrs (and you should) build an air base for Egypt. It can put them in a catch 22. If they send some planes to the sea battle to cover your ability to scramble, they lose the land battle because of loss of air power. If they don’t send planes to the sea battle then you scramble to kill off that weak ass navy and the troops don’t land (saving Egypt).
*G1 strafe on Yugo- When attacking Yugo from S Germany bring in one unit from Romania so your inf/art from S Germany can retreat into Romania after one round of combat (this allows those slow moving units to move 2 spaces getting ready for a G2 attack on Russia). Also allows Italy to take Yugo easily Ita1.
*G1 strafe on the British navy in sz111 using the German BB. Look to perform a hit and run just to get the Brit BB dinged so you can take it out next turn (has no naval base so can’t repair or run far). You set-up to do one round of combat, and retreat your German BB back to sz 112 where you have air cover, or maybe built a carrier.
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awesome tricks. There are, so, so many.
Fly Axis strat bombers from Romania to China to help Japan
Take Syria build AB, send german/ital. air to kill india
Take Ceylon, not india. fly from Kwangsi and land on Ceylon. Unstoppable attack
Put Russian infantry onto a transport and have them unload onto Sicily and sardine. cheese income.
Fly Anzac fighters onto US carriers
Have Anzac take Spain
Have the allies strike Spain and Turkey. Eliminates the problems with naval placement and movement. Axis only get Sweden, Switzerland in reply.
Have Germany G3 build a black sea fleet from Romania base. Can’t leave but also the Russians cant destroy it and you can bridge into the caucausus
Naval base on Wake or Midway eliminates the “screenout” play so Japan cannot block your invasion
Attacking Korea or S china with Russia doesn’t activate the Mongolian rules in either direction
Fly existing fighters onto a newly built carrier (cheese run)
Kamikaze US carriers so that the planes are instantly killed
Keep America out of the war and at 50 income until you ambush it with all 3 axis
Naval base on west indies lets you cross into the Med
Iceland w AB lets you cross to America
UK/ANZAC can declare war on Japan before Japan does. This is about the only time you will be able to get all your bonuses (for holding hong kong and Malaya)
Take Cyprus and British Somalialand…these are very inconvenient to retake and break the british integrity.
Malta is a better base than you might think, if you cant assault Italy or Europe directly, an airbase on malta is the only way you can protect your fleet stack while strat bombing Italy.
Italy can man the Atlantic wall instead of wasting any Germany resources on it.
and more, and more…good luck
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Anzac cant take spain…typo
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I’m not sure what you mean by S China, but attacking Korea with Russia DOES affect Mongolia.
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awesome tricks. There are, so, so many.
Then there’s the old Gibson trick. For the first round of drinks, serve everyone a real martini so that they’ll all have the smell of alcohol on their breath. Afterwards, keep serving real martinis to the players on the opposing side, but serve martini glasses full of ice water to the players on your side. Use cocktail onions rather than an olives to distinguish your side’s drinks from the other side’s drinks. Repeat as needed until the other side is too sloshed to offer any effective resistance to your game map offensives.
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I’m not sure what you mean by S China, but attacking Korea with Russia DOES affect Mongolia.
+1
Nice list of tricks already.
Some of my own:
- ANZAC1: send 1 fighter to Sumatra/Java/Borneo and 2 fighters to Java. ANZAC2: send all 3 fighters to stack Yunnan.
- Complicated one (for me…). Suppose you’re Japan and USA is about to make a move for the Caroline Island. Position X Japanese Carriers at the Phillipines/Japan, 2X planes on the coast of Asia, and 19-2X planes on the Philippines. Every single Japanese plane can hit the Carolines, which is such a strong deterrent USA usually chickens out and doesn’t move to the Carolines. Which is perfect, because it will allow Japan to use 2X planes against the Chinese/Brits. Ironically, the more carriers you build, the better you can use your planes on the mainland.
- (this one should be common sense but it took us months) when you liberate Brazil as Allies with 1 TT & 1 infantry, chances are you will move to Gibraltar next turn to unload them. Don’t forget to move the remaining to INF to Guiana to save 2 movement steps in the next turn.
- if you’re Italy and Germany signals Seel�we, DON’T take Gibraltar. You simply bomb the base after the operation, after which it cannot be repaired, hampering the USA.
- always be on the lookout for nations protecting their precious fleet with a scramble consisting of TACs. Bomb their airfield (TACs can’t intercept) and take out their fleet with another nation. Works well for UK and Western Germany.
- Gibraltar is a great location for an airfield. The scramble protects the Allied fleet in SZ91 (west of Gib.) and combines well with a destroyer in SZ92 (east of Gib.) to deny Italian Mare Nostrum.
- If you’re still neutral USA and you want to take Spain in the next turn, be sure to move any carriers+planes to SZ102. This seazone is the single exception to the rule that the USA may not move its war fleet beyond its own shores. This way the planes will be able to attack Spain and land on Gibraltar/carriers in SZ91.
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Good stuff guys
Two I’ll add:
Anzac fighters can reach Brazil from New Zealand in one turn, as can newly purchased bombers. If Japan puts its early focus on the mainland, Anzac can really support the Atlantic theater (by the end of its third turn Anzac could realistically have 2 bombers in Brazil and 3 fighters in the Med).
On the other hand, sometimes Japan will hang in SZ6 or Caroline Islands for a turn. In that case, you can actually ensure that china holds onto Yunan for a turn, therefore letting them buy artillery. Let’s say Japan doesn’t stack its entire air force in Kwangsi on J1. What I’ll do sometimes:
China attacks Yunan with everything, places its 4 infantry there. India declares war on their turn and brings the two Burma infantry plus its 3 planes into Yunan. On Russia’s second turn, they bring a mech, tank and 4 planes into Yunan (the mech and tank in Stalingrad I always move toward Yunan turn 1 and I buy a fighter as well). By J2, Yunan can be guarded with something like 13 inf, a tank and 7 planes. Unless Japan has its entire air force within striking distance they will not be able to take Yunan back on turn two, allowing China to purchase artillery.
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Not sure if this has been mentioned yet…
We have found that the UK will either attack Tobruk and/or Taranto, they will not (and shouldn’t) leave both. Now the times I have placed the German fighter in Tobruk during G1 instead of S. Italy… it was not attacked, but it is difficult to know whether or not the UK player decided not to because of the extra defender, or if they never planned to attack Tobruk anyways (I prefer to think that the fighter defending @4 is a factor in any decision not to attack). Flying the Tac bomber to Southern Italy instead of the fighter still does it’s job… it helps to defer max amount of attacking UK units to Taranto just to hit the Battleship, Cruiser, and Transport without the scramble. Now if it’s your plan to scramble against Taranto than you should deploy the fighter to S. Italy instead of the Tac Bomber. Lately I have been favoring the Tobruk attack myself as the UK because opponents are likely to expose their battleship to air attacks in later rounds anyways. However, I have not yet faced a German fighter in Tobruk as the UK, but I would likely still attack it (mind you there is a greater chance of being forced to retreat or losing everything without control of Tobruk… and that would be very bad for the UK in Africa).
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@Young:
Now the times I have placed the German fighter in Tobruk during G1 instead of S. Italy… it was not attacked …
Indeed. I never hit Tobruk on UK1 if the German fighter has landed there.
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Sea zone around johnston island is out of range from japanese fleet in z6.
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Indeed. I never hit Tobruk on UK1 if the German fighter has landed there.
….and you claim that is the best kept secret of the board ? Well, not any more…
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thanks for correcting me Ozy, korea is mentioned by name. Can get angry at my buddy for doing this to me. Keep em coming!
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Cyprus bombers can reach 9 of the 11 victory cities on the Europe board and 1 on the Pacific board if their is an airbase
From Greenland German bombers can bomb eastern united States -
- if you’re Italy and Germany signals Sealion, DON’T take Gibraltar. You simply bomb the base after the operation, after which it cannot be repaired, hampering the USA.
Won many a game this way. The poison pill is one of my all-time favorites hahaha!
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