The Spanish Beachhead: American Strategy

Nice presentation YG, and I can see you may want the Germans to counter you in Spain right away to drain themselves for your second wave. I kinda like my first landing to stick though so I can build that IC right away and get to those French ICs.

So just to add a couple things that have worked for me in the past,

You mentioned the UK taking care of the Middle East, and Turkey, which is really important. Think you under emphasized on the UK’s involvement in this strat directly in Spain though, and they need to do their part.

a) The UK can help build up the Atlantic fleet from Canada so the US doesn’t have to do it all. A loaded carrier and a couple destroyers help to protect that sz 91 fleet, which will allow you to either build more loaded transports, or supplement the Pac side a bit more.
b) I also think the UK should be ready to immediately supply ftrs (and some ground) to Spain to reinforce your beachhead so you have some staying power (using the turn order).

This is a cool move to use if you are at war US3, and the Germans can’t take you out in sz91 (watch for Italian can openers). On US3 float over to sz91 with your monster fleet (supplemented from the Pac side), and the 8 -9 loaded transports. You then mention that although an attack is highly unlikely you are off loading your ground units on to Gibraltar (maybe taking it back from Italy). Drop your US3 buy in the water off DC (more fleet and loaded transports). You are still pressuring many territories so the axis are still unsure where you will land. On US4 you attack Spain from Gib (just walk over), along with the rest of your fleet from sz101. This will allow your 8-9 transports to return home immediately the same turn you attack Spain to reload and return on your next turn (if you buy more land units for them). This way you have transports coming and going each turn. You will probably need the above mentioned naval units of the UK to bolster the your sz91 fleet so the axis can’t hit it along w/air cover in Spain.

I have also had Anz take S America (very reachable from NSW) for extra income. This would be tricky though because you need them in the Pac too. I also like the sub warfare setting up on the Pac side.

Last minute thought was about having the UK drop a blocker in the English Chanel so the German fleet can’t hit sz91. Watch out for Italian air as they go after UK and can knock that destroyer out for Germany.

Great Ideas Here.

Just one thing: Afghanistan can often be more important than you think. Uk Pac is in a lose lose, bc if they divert troops to take it, that weakens their front with japan, but if they ignore it, japan has bonus troops. thoughts?

Really nice video YG, good explanation on why you purchase what you do, i love the positioning of the pacific and how you move it over to the Atlantic.

However you talk of rushing to Paris and I simply must disagree with this. if you liberate France then all of a sudden you lose the minor IC’s you captured in southern and Normandy, if you keep those IC’s for yourself you can just shore up with 9 land units in Europe per turn, much more efficient than if France has to build there, have the Brits keep reinforcing with inf and planes just for defense while perhaps moving on to Holland or N Italy, at this point the Germans should have stopped their Barbarossa push and Russia should slowly be coming at Germs with a large Art/Inf stack, you can then use your 11 trans to get a shipment of 10 inf 10art to take Rome and N Italy if not already done. At this point you would be looking at minor IC’s in Spain, Normandy, S France, N Italy and Rome, 5 total which is 15 land units per turn.  Of course factor in jockeying for these IC’s with Germ, but either way you are good.  Overall just seems more effective than liberating Paris and having the French build 2 men a turn opposed to the 6 you could build on their IC’s.  This also gives you more money for pacific sub/destroyer combos so that you can convoy the Japs and keep them from their 6 cities.

Please correct what I overlooked or forgot of since I am most sure that their will be something, Just my 2 cents :-)

Overall a very good and methodical strategy, hope to use it in my next G40 game as America.

Cheers

I didn’t watch the entire video (an hour is a too long for me) but I did skim it. So maybe you adressed this in the video, otherwise let me add two remarks.

-Placing your carriers in SZ102 will allow your planes to attack Spain, increasing the odds of killing the Spanish in 1 round of combat. Note that this is allowed even while the USA is still neutral. Also note that this might be important considering my second point below.

-Something I didn’t see mentioned (again, maybe you did but I didn’t watch everything) is that the Spanish beachhead is weakened because you have to spread out your land units. For example, you cannot afford to lose Gibraltar, it is the Achillesheel in this strategy. If you take Spain and Italy takes Gibraltar, your 10 transports are useless because they cannot go to USA and back again in 2 turns but 3. A strong move to prevent this is to send 1-2 transports to Gibraltar + 2-3 fighters + airbase on D-day (ask Brits for help). (On side note: another anoying Italian move is to take Morocco, after which every single German plane can hit you. The fleet looks strong enough though. If it doesn’t, you have to secure Morocco as well with 1-2 transports on D-day, further weakening the Spanish beachhead).

@Ozymandiac:

I didn’t watch the entire video (an hour is a too long for me) but I did skim it. So maybe you adressed this in the video, otherwise let me add two remarks.

-Placing your carriers in SZ102 will allow your planes to attack Spain, increasing the odds of killing the Spanish in 1 round of combat. Note that this is allowed even while the USA is still neutral. Also note that this might be important considering my second point below.

No the USA can’t attack Spain (or any other territory) until it is at war. It can’t even be on its future allies territories, or use their bases (Euro or Pac). On the Euro side the US fleet can’t leave the coastline of the US other then then sz 102, or another US territory (like Greenland or Mexico). US has more freedom of movement on the Pac side, but can’t be next to any Japanese territory.

Your other points about keeping control of Gib, and the Italians opening up a landing space for the German air force are great points to consider.

@WILD:

@Ozymandiac:

I didn’t watch the entire video (an hour is a too long for me) but I did skim it. So maybe you adressed this in the video, otherwise let me add two remarks.

-Placing your carriers in SZ102 will allow your planes to attack Spain, increasing the odds of killing the Spanish in 1 round of combat. Note that this is allowed even while the USA is still neutral. Also note that this might be important considering my second point below.

No the USA can’t attack Spain (or any other territory) until it is at war. It can’t even be on its future allies territories, or use their bases (Euro or Pac). On the Euro side the US fleet can’t leave the coastline of the US other then then sz 102, or another US territory (like Greenland or Mexico). US has more freedom of movement on the Pac side, but can’t be next to any Japanese territory.

Your other points about keeping control of Gib, and the Italians opening up a landing space for the German air force are great points to consider.

Hi Bill,

You misinterpreted my meaning - badly worded on my part. What I meant was that the carriers + fighters could be placed in SZ102 while still being neutral. This is usefull if the USA knows it will attack Spain in the next turn (a turn in which USA is no longer neutral for whatever reason), because the fighters are in position to join the assault against Spain.

just curious when going this strategy do you have anzac & UK PAC dropping subs into the pacific also, just to keep the IPC damage going on japan?

Sorry, my mistake after reading it again.

I like this for America.  The subs/destroyers/bombers in the Pacific I think will be much more effective than it first seems.  At first it may seem a minor nuisance, but eventually Japan will lose cruisers, battleships and possibly even carriers and will be hard pressed to replace them along with continuing to buy destroyers, maintaining an offensive on the mainland and dealing with what convoy raiding US subs are accomplishing.  This will be a significant drain on Japan’s economy.
Also, ANZAC could sneak in there and take 1 or more of the DEI.  Japan may take them right back, but it will still be a nuisance and divert resources. Like I think you said in your video, Calcutta will probably eventually fall but you may be able to drag it out a couple of rounds or so.
As for Europe, I don’t think there is any way Germany can repel such a large American force, either on Spain or SZ 91. I got to agree with Tirano and say leave Paris for a while and let the US use those French ICs. Perhaps liberate Paris once Italy is captured. This way US still has 2-3 factories in Europe to use along with the 20 unit drop every other round.
Germany will fall because there is no way they can sustain a proper defense or counter-attack possibility in the West AND continue to fund their push towards Moscow.
One thing I don’t get is how the UK will be able to take out Turkey, or even protect against the large army the Axis will have there. I get having the UK buy an IC in Persia and probably attacking the Pro-Axis Iraq, but once the US hits Spain, the Axis will have a large army there for the taking and UK is spread pretty thin down there, especially after having to beat down the Italians in N. Africa and Ethiopia. Is it possible for the UK to keep the Turks contained?
Russia could help some but any defense they put in the Caucasus is less they have against the Germans farther north.

Well that makes much more sense, may I ask what that house rule is?

Well I will have to be playing a game like that, thanks YG.

Another great video, YG. Thanks for posting. Any chance you could write a list of the first four rounds of purchases for the U.S.?

Hey YG, I have a question about that neat house rule.  It says a victory token can never be taken away.  So if Germany does a successful Sealion and captures London, they get a victory token.  But if the US comes and liberates London, Germany still gets to keep the victory token?
Or with the “No Japanese Capital Ships”, the US gets a victory token and they get to keep it even if Japan buys a new carrier or battleship?
I really like the R&D part of it because we all like to play with tech but nobody wants to buy research rolls.
As for winning by victory tokens, it seems like in some cases one side could actually be losing but win by accumulating enough tokens throughout the game.  I mean, say Germany comes on strong and captures London and Moscow at different times, gaining two tokens, but both cities get liberated and Germany is getting beaten down.  They could possibly win even though the war is not really going their way.
I may be wrong.  Maybe I’m just not seeing the possibilities.  Still, it would be a good way to finish a game without it lasting several days (like many of ours end up doing).

Oh yeah, I tried the Spanish Beachhead this weekend.  It didn’t work quite like I expected.  One problem was that Japan went on an attack spree Round 2 and dragged the US into the war early.  It kind of threw me off a bit even though I don’t think it should have.  It didn’t help that Japan actually occupied Hawaii and Alaska because all my stuff was in the Atlantic.  I had bombers, subs and destroyers in the Pacific, but no transports or land units to take back my territories.
We ended up getting through round 4 before deciding to call it quits.  I think one problem was I didn’t get the chance to really use my destroyers, subs and bombers in the Pacific.  Japan got pretty monstrous and took advantage of an unusual opportunity to take out Sydney early.  They didn’t even have the DEI yet and were already making in the mid 50s.
Another possible mistake is Russia decided to try going offensive.  Germany sank the Royal Navy then left Britain almost alone except for sub activity. They went after Russia hard. So Russia tried a couple of counter attacks that failed miserably and they attacked Turkey right before the US landed in Spain.  This was to keep the Turks out of Axis hands because Russia knew what the US was planning.
As a result, Germany was marching hard into Russia and Russia lost a lot of units in their attacks. Everything else was heading for Moscow, including the guys from the East and the Mongolians.  In fact, there was a Japanese force that was just following the Russians across Russia, gobbling up all those eastern Soviet territories without a real threat.

So, I’m not sure that I did it right or maybe we called it quits a little too early to tell.  Not sure if I can do it again very soon.  It was sure a big surprise to my Axis friends.  Most games neither side touches the strict neutrals and the Allies have NEVER done it.  I’d like to try it again but it will probably be a while.