Germany Strategy concept…

The Pacific route may like an attractive path, but in practice, it take much more naval investment to protect the transports.

Typical air and naval:
Germany - 5 fighters, 1 bomber. 1 fighter is usually lost in ukraine and baltic fleet is sunk by uk
Japan - 2 battleships, 2 carriers, 5-6 fighters, 1 bomber, 1 destroyer, maybe 1 sub, + any transports japan bought.

Japan starts with a much larger naval threat, and US would need to invest 50-150 IPC for a US pacific fleet to survive.

Also, the Atlantic route is shorter than you’re describing.
The typical starting route is for land units purchased in East US to move to east Canada. From there, a transport can move it to Algeria each turn. From there, transports can threaten South Europe or West Europe. US also has the option of placing a fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. That fleet can transport from Libya to Ukraine, Caucasus, trans jordan, Southern Europe, and Western Europe. A US1 buy of 1 carrier, 1 transport, and land units is a great start to accomplish this.

@wittmann:

Hi Xan. Check your Rulebook(I do not own this one),but you will probably find you can attack over the Canal. (In  all the A&A games I have,  you can do.)
It is Naval movement that is stopped if you do not own both sides.

Oh my. THAT changes things. I just checked the PDF version of the manual, and you are right.

That drastically changes several (previously) working strategies. Oh man, my buddies are going to hate my guts when I pull this out on them. I’m tempted to give them a heads up, just so the game isn’t won by that rule change alone… but the looks on their faces will be so priceless, I just can’t warn them. :evil:

My purchase and exact unit allocation will depend on Russia’s move and how it went. I prefer to build only land units on G1. If I’m able to stack Karelia or Ukraine, I’ll build 2-3 tanks. No matter what, here’s what I attack in no particular order:

1. Gibraltar Battleship: sub, 3-4 fighters
2. Karelia: minimal force or full stack, depending on counterattack
3. Egypt: 2 inf, 2 tanks, maybe a fighter, bomber
4. East Med Destroyer: battleship, loaded transport, fighter

If Russia attacked Ukraine or Belorussia, I will always counterattack. An attack on Ukraine changes where I play my fighters. Attacking West Russia on G1 is a risky play that I’ll only consider if Russia had really lousy dice.

I must retract my statement about the IC in Alaska.  I did not realize this was the AAR board and assumed we were talking AA50.  Not sure if it would make a difference or not but…… I have done it in AA50 but not in AAR.  Sorry.

Yes you’re right about japan shuttling units from Japan into mainland Asia.  Yes this will work, but only if Japan is left alone to focus completely on invading Asia.  If the United States and Britian keep the japanese fleet busy in the pacific and apply pressure on them by taking islands, Japan has to respond to that.

Tell you what……pull your Japanese fleet to Japan and focus on shuttling units to Asia.  Leave your islands like borneo, east indies, and new guinea alone to be taken by britian and the US.  You’ll lose 9 ipc’s and you’ll lose momentum with your offensive.  If the allies aren’t working together your plan may work.  I have played against this tactic and it doesn’t always work. Japan usually stalls out.  However, when I play with Japan, My first round purchase is 1 IC to be placed in kwantung, 1 transport, 1inf, 1 art.  my turn 2 purchases are 1 IC to be placed in Manchuria, and 3 tanks to be placed in kwantung.  Turn 3 I purchase 6 tanks.  Now I have plenty of aromor to use and my range has increased.  with a constant flow of tank each round I will be able to outproduce india, and break out all over Russia.  My japanese fleet would just be protecting my interests in the Pacific.  Transports are great, but it is expensive to maintain them.  getting a beach head and building there is best, and you can still shuttle units with your transports.

@AgentOrange:

Which is why I brought up this topic:  Would it be a good or a bad idea to allow Germany a first-round withdrawal?  :?

Ive done it before…and sometimes it works very well.  My method of retreating and regrouping is to simpy advance all my inf forward, cause I feel that I shoud at least make the russians pay dearly for advancing.  I retreat my art and arm…making large arm stacks in Eastern Europe and making a large art stack in the Balkans.

Well I realize you don’t just use fighters alone, you use them in conjunction with inf as powerful back up. :wink:

88 knows that I agree with him;

“#1 The most fun you’ll have is by trial and error. There is no perfect strategy.”

The one tidbit that I will add in any thread or discussion in any of the posts,

“What are the victory conditions you have set for the game?”

If you are after a minor victory (8 cities) then Germany can focus on a land war, navy be damned.
However, a major victory (10 cities) or total victory (12 cities) is going to require an Axis navy to reach the 10th/12th city.

IMO, I have a German Navy at the start of the game that is easier to add to and maintain in order to play a role in the 10/12 city VC (Victory Condition).