The Bright Skies

Introduction
This is an alternative Allied strategy. The strategy is focused around two areas, Scandinavia and Yunnan. By taking these regions from the Axis in the early phase of the game, they should give the Axis major headaches and eventually result into an Allied victory. Scandinavia is the target of Russia, while Yunnan the target of China. In order to achieve these goals, I will play extremely aggressive with all my Allied forces as the best defense is often offense. To support these by nature Infantry nations that will now play aggressive instead of defensive, the United States will also be played completely different. Instead of the standard landings and option to kill 1 particular Axis first, they will send massive amounts of Strategic Bombers to Eurasia. Therefore USA Bombers will swarm the world, taking out any fleet they encounter, strategic bombing Axis industries and capitalize on any mistake the Axis will make. Combined with several USA Submarines each turn, they will cripple the Axis economies, so the mainland Allies will be able to finish the job instead of the USA.

Strategic Goal
Play Russia aggressive in early game in order to get bonus NO’s that will make up for the lost areas in Russia by the Germans, while supporting China from turn 1. This means Russia will advance to Scandinavia, the Middle East and Italian Africa, and China. Make sure Japan will be unable to control China. Swarm both Germany and Japan with USA bombers as soon as possible to contain them.

Rationale for Strategy
Russia will be invaded, that is for sure. It will also lose most of its lands, its industrial complexes will be bombed and therefore your economy will cripple very fast. Especially with the current Axis strategies such as the Dark Skies, the conventional rationale is that the Axis have an inherit advantage and the Allies need a bid. I disagree, I think they will just need a better strategy, just like the Axis needed one before the current status quo. But Russia is also in the position as the strongest mainland Ally from the start of the game, with influences in every region of the world besides Africa. Russia will need to defend against Germany to survive, that is for sure, but it has a lot of starting troops that can attack where the Axis are fragile. Russia also has the best NO’s of all players, 3 extra IPC for any Axis or pro-Axis neutral they take? Wow, this is something I can only dream of as mainly Axis player! With the extra IPC from Scandinavia, Middle East and Italian Africa, the USSR has the option to grow into a monster economy. Russia will also send some reinforcements to Yunnan, while its main 18 infantry stack will put pressure on the Japanese to help the Chinese out. As soon China survives the first rounds, it will be able to grow into another monster, unable for Japan to face. The third aspect is the third monster, the USA. One of the strongest aspects of the Axis is its logistics to expand fast while maintaining its regions, this is mainly done by transports. The Russians, for example, will be easily kicked out of Scandinavia because of the German Baltic Fleet. By transports the Italians will be able to expand to Africa and the Middle East and by transports the Japanese will be able to take Calcutta, Sydney and the money islands. To destroy these Axis logistics (transports and supporting fleet) the USA will swarm areas with bombers, making it much harder for the Axis to expand or maintain their empires. Instead of building up huge (expensive) invasion fleets that need to focus on 1 area, that can be sank, the USA will just focus on containing the Axis with Bombers and Submarines.

Yunnan
This is the first focus of gravity for the Allied forces. I will retreat my Russian troops to Buryatia, two to Yakut to return to Amur in my second turn. This will keep crucial land troops of Japan stuck in the north, or when they still advance south, give China Manchuria early in the game. The Russian tank and mech. infantry from Russia will advance towards Yunnan together with a fighter. I will also ask the UK player to move up to Burma in order to attack when needed. Land troops of Japan in China are sparse, and I will take every opportunity I get. The French fighter will also be send to Yunnan. As soon as we can manage to hold Yunnan we have won that battle, and China will be able to take Japan on the mainland by itself.

Middle East and Italian Africa
The tank, mech. infantry from Stalingrad and two infantry from the Caucasus are send towards Iraq. They should take Persia in the second turn and conquer Irak in the third turn. In turn 5 and 6 the remaining tank is able to capture Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland for a total extra income of 14 IPC.

Scandinavia
While many Russian played prefer to defend Southern Russia against the Germans because of the oil, it is also the most difficult area to reinforce as the USA. Losing Scandinavia as Germany is mostly the start of the end, as this is done by the USA that now invaded with a massive fleet combined with UK forces. However, it gives the USA only 3 IPC and it is extremely difficult to reinforce from their homeland. Russia is much closer and can attack Scandinavia much earlier, while also easier to reinforce from Leningrad, they also gain 11 IPC. In any case, losing Scandinavia gives headaches for Germany, so they normally prevent this at all costs. This is not such a difficult task with the Baltic Fleet, which is often a small but highly effective fleet protected against UK air raids. This is where the USA comes in, as they will have 9 bombers attacking the Baltic Fleet in turn 4. Without the Baltic Fleet, Germany iron grip on Scandinavia is destroyed and it will be difficult for them to retake it. This focus means that all initial Russian troops and first turn buys are concentrated on Scandinavia building up a force of 16 infantry, 4 artillery, 1 fighter, 1 tactical bomber and 2 bombers against 7 German infantry. Attacking Scandinavia while advancing to China and Middle East will ofcourse mean less initial troops to take on the Germans in the south. You will have to use the Scorched Earth strategy so famously known as the typical Russian strategy. South Russia is a high reward for the Germans, know this, and draw them in. However make sure that by the time the Germans reach the southern areas, your counter-attack will make their stay very short-lived.

United States of America
The Dark Skies have broken the game in favour of the Axis, why should the Flying Fortresses not do the same for the Allies? The USA has the economic superiority to outproduce the German Luftwaffe and the Japanese Zero’s combined. Instead of decided on a KJF, KGF or KIF, they will attack the Axis at all fronts, at once. Most crucial and first mission should be the destruction of the Baltic Fleet to help Russia. Especially when combined with UK aggressive tactics, it will take no effort to take the Italian income to the minimum with initial forces. Japan will be the greatest challenge, but so will it be a great pleasure to cripple its economy and contain its movements. Most important of all, going full bomber will provide something rare for the USA: logistics. With movement 7 the USA can relocate to important battlefields within turns. Just imagine with JDOW1, the USA can have 25 bombers available at the start of its fifth turn. These bombers will most importantly destroy Axis fleet on the Europe map early on, while it forces the Japanese fleet to remain concentrated. In the Pacific they will be combined with 2 Submarines a turn, as the Sumbarines will convoy the Japanese sea zones.

More specific:
USA first two buys are full bombers, to have a maximum amount (depending on DOW’s) of Bombers in London as soon as possible to take out the Baltic Fleet next turn. Their initial fleet will go to the Atlantic to battle the possibly expanding Italians, as soon Italian expansion is finished (this is already possible by just the UK without USA help) they just convoy all med sea zones to get Italian income to zero. Maybe this will tempt the Japanese to take the USA, perfect! You have succeeded, as the UK, ANZAC and China will be able to build their defenses strong enough while you can easily defend your own cities. More likely the Japanese advance as normal towards India. After turn 2 when you build the anti-baltic bombers, you start building bombers and submarines for the Pacific, while also sending several bombers per turn to Europe. In case of 72 IPC, I would suggest 2 submarines, 2 bombers to the Pacific and 3 bombers to Europe. If Japan is struggling while Germany is advancing too fast, focus more on Germany etc. The bombers that destroyed the Baltic Fleet will continue bombing German industrial complexes or attack high value targets (German bombers) while the build bombers in the Pacific can bomb Japan the next turn while landing in China, making sure any new Japanese fleet build is destroyed. The Submarines are either send to convoy SZ6 or the Money Islands. This forces Japan again to build destroyers, which are easily destroyed by bombers. When you succeed to build up enough submarines and bombers in the Pacific you can eventually destroy the Japanese fleet winning that side of the map. The USA bombers in Europe destroying first the Axis fleets, crippling German industry by strategic bombing and allow you to attack any German area will likely allow the Russian to grow into a monster and defeat Germany combined with UK invasions in the west.

France
I always love to play with France as I really enjoy if their rare pieces make a difference in the game. I once destroyed a damaged German aircraft carrier with 4 transports with a lone French destroyer after the USA and UK failed to finish it. For this game the French fighter will take quite a journey. First it will get to Yunnan asap, then fighting in the defense of Russia. All surviving French infantry in Africa will also make the long travel to Russia.

Allied Strategy battle plan

Russia Turn 1 (GDOW2 most likely)

Purchase new units
2 Bombers, 3 Artillery

No Combat Movement

Noncombat movement
Move 6 Infantry from Amur to Buryatia
Move 6 Infantry from Sakhar to Buryatia
Move 2 Infantry from Buryatia to Yakut
Move 6 Infantry and 1 Artillery from Novgorod to Karelia
Move 1 Infantry from Archangel to Novgorod
Move 1 Infantry from Belarus to Novgorod
Move 3 Infantry from Vyborg to Karelia
Move 1 Tank and 1 Mech. Infantry from Russia to Kazakhstan
Move 1 Tanks and 1 Mech. Infantry from Volgograd to Turkmenistan
Retreat front line Infantry if survived
Retreat Western Ukraine and Ukrain to Bryansk

Place new units
3 Artillery in Novgorod, 2 Bombers in Russia

Collect Income
$37 Income
$1
= $38

From now on build only Infantry and Artillery every turn, start adding Tanks when income increases.

USA Turn 1

Purchase new units
4 Bombers, 2 Infantry

No Combat Movement

Noncombat movement
Move 1 Bomber, 1 Infantry, 1 Tank, 3 Mech. Infantry from Central United States to Eastern United States
Move 1 Fighter from Philippines to Wake Island
Move 1 Submarine and 1 Destroyer from SZ35 to SZ54
Move Hawaiian fleet to SZ10
Move fleet from SZ10 to SZ64
Move 1 transport with 1 Infantry, 1 AAA from SZ10 to Hawaiian Islands
Move 1 Fighter from Western United States to Hawaiian Islands

Place new units
Place 2 Infantry, 1 Bomber in Western United States
Place 3 Bombers in Eastern United States

Collect Income
$52
= $52

Make sure you have minimum 8 in London as soon as possible (USA3 or 4) to destroy the Baltic Fleet. Keep reinforcing Hawaii and several blockers close to give you another round when Japan takes the trap. Send main USA fleet with 2 transports to North Africa and Mediterranean to make Italy easy target for the United Kingdom. Swarm the world with Bombers and the Pacific with Submarines.

China Turn 1

Purchase new units
4 Infantry

Combat Movement
Capture Yunnan, likely with 5 Infantry and 1 Fighter

Noncombat movement
Move 2 Infantry from Suiyuyan to Shensei

Place new units
Place 4 Infantry in Szechwan

Collect Income
$9
$6 Objective
= $15

Make sure Yunnan is captured every turn, from turn 3 it becomes possible to hold Yunnan by multi-defense of Russian, Chinese and British. As soon China is able to buy Artillery it will be able to take on Japan and throw them out of the mainland.

FAQ: Bright Skies Strategy

Q: Are you crazy, how will you ever be able to capture Japan without transports?
A: Defending Japan is one of the easiest things to do as Axis while it costs a lot of resources to build a strong enough invasion fleet for the United States. In the meantime Germany will likely have beaten Russia and Japan can still advance with its fleet where it wants. Therefore I opt to not focus on taking Japan, but to make the situation so hopeless for the Axis that they will surrender. Therefore I will convoy their income, bomb their industrial complexes and paralyze his movements.

Q: You will need every single 18 Infantry in Moscow, start moving them now!
A: I disagree, I think that long march is not that effective. Besides that it likely results into 6 IPC easy every turn from eastern areas that are taken by Japan (36 IPC in 6 turns) they also allow Japan to concentrate all its forces on China. As land troops are sparse for Japan, any delay counts while China grows stronger and gets more reinforcements. Not gaining those Russian territories while eventually losing their own will make Japan suffer financially. Another reason they stay, is to protect the incoming bombers from the USA that strategically bomb Japan or take out fleet from SZ6 and then land in the big Russian stack.

Q: When Germany see that you are building bombers, will he not just increase his fleet?
A: This is exactly what I would do as Germany, as keeping your Baltic fleet alive is crucial to keep your Reich intact. However that is why it is such a good idea to start swarming Europe with USA bombers, as they can attack anything because of the range or more even important, they can threaten to attack. When Germany builds more fleet, they build less land troops, which is good for Russia. Eventually, anything that is good from Russia, is good for the Allies. Normally games are focused to rescue Russia from Germany such as UK fighter inflow, or USA bomber inflow, my perspective is that if both UK and USA cripple German and Italian logistics plus income, Russia will be able to take them on without any reinforcements. Remember, the Axis currently have an advantage because of the Dark Skies strategy, which is focused on German bombers. USA bombers are exactly the same as German bombers when you control critical areas where they can land. Why not use the same system against them?

@Fatespinner:

@Afrikakorps:

Middle East and Italian Africa
The tank, mech. infantry from Stalingrad and two infantry from the Caucasus are send towards Iraq. They should take Persia in the second turn and conquer Irak in the third turn. In turn 5 and 6 the remaining tank is able to capture Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland for a total extra income of 14 IPC.

It sounds quite interesting, but I think this is not possible, as long as russia is a neutral country. In our games Russia is attacked normally on G4. Also invading Scandinavia is not possible as long as you are not at war and if Germany moves some planes to Finland and some more troops with its “fake Operation Sea Lion” transports, it is impossible.

Also having Scandinavia severely weakens your ability to defend Moscow, because the German tanks are just fast and reach Moscow within four turns after DOW.

I agree, with a strong buildup of German forces for four turns while they do not do Sea Lion or anything useful, the plan needs to be adapted (will think about this situation later). My experience however is that Germany invades Russia in its first or second turn to prevent it building too much troops. Time is on the side of the Allies, so I can only welcome a slow Axis advance.

@SS:

Sorry Afrikakorps. I removed in my post calling what you said in title. I missed it.

Please don’t as you posted the inspiration for the title: The Bright Skies! It was so good I copied it but you ofcourse remain the inventor of the name so all credits to you my friend.

So the game is getting close and this week I will be able to test out the Bright Skies strategy!

The Bright Skies: The United States of America.
In short this strategy is the Allied version of the Dark Skies, with the USA going full strategic bombers. This post focuses on the perspective from the USA.

Ofcourse the bombers will be coupled with additional units such as submarines etc. However the main thing that the USA will not do, is to build invasion fleets that focus on either Germany or Japan. Therefore the mission of the USA is not too kill a certain enemy first, so no KJF, KGF or KIF, but too stop a certain first. What do I mean with stopping instead of killing? By weakening a certain Axis nation to such extent, that the combined efforts of the mainland Allies will be able to defeat and kill it.

The reasoning behind this strategy is that logistics are the main problem of the USA, to get their economic superiority to a place where it can attack the Axis. Western Europe is very easy to defend for the Germans, so is Scandinavia as long as the Baltic Fleet lives. Yes it can be overpowered by the USA, but it takes the USA a lot of IPC to build a strong enough invasion force, time that is used by Axis to advance and win the game. The moment Scandinavia permanently falls to the Allies, might also be the moment the Germans take Moscow. Also by focusing on 1 Axis, it loses threat to the other Axis, that can go rampage. So how to solve these two fundamental problems of the USA: logistics and threat?

The answer is simple I think: Strategic Bombers. From airbases they can move 7 zones, which is simply amazing, They have the strongest attack value in the game and are relative cheap. Even better, they can bomb industrial complexes therefore hurting the Axis economies, which is crucial for them to maintain momentum. There is one particular target the Strategic Bombers excel against: fleet. While Japan has such a big fleet, it will still take many turns to build enough Bombers to take out its fleet, both Germany and Italy are no great sea-faring nations with only small effective fleets. Germany prefers to build up its luftwaffe instead of its fleet, as its fleet is useless against Russia. Therefore the logical focus of the USA should be to take out Germany’s fleet as soon as possible resulting in SGF (Stop Germany First).

Even before stopping Germany, the Axis have a much weaker partner, Italy. UK alone is already able to take out this medium Axis player when played aggressive, but the USA can finish them off without any investment. The USA have 3 initial transports and a relative strong fleet based for the Atlantic side. One transport will remain in the Pacific with several blockers to slow down Japan if they decide to attack the USA, but the rest will move to the Atlantic. In the Atlantic they get into the Med, kill any Italians left and then convoy it to death. So actually without any investment, the USA will use its initial forces to SIF (Stop Italy First). This should not be any problem or need much consideration.

The mission of this strategy is to kill the German Baltic Fleet as soon as possible, and to do this with Strategic Bombers. It can build 4 bombers every turn, more when in war. In USA4 it can attack the Baltic States with 8 bombers, 9 if the USA is at war in his second turn (and the minor complex becomes a major complex). Normally 8 Bombers should be enough to finish the small Baltic Fleet if the Germans have focused on Russia. As soon the Baltic Fleet is destroyed, the Allied have a big strategic advantage where both the UK and Russia will take advantage off. A bit more about the destruction of the Baltic Fleet. The Baltic Fleet is crucial for the Germans to keep its Reich intact, but it is also very easy to defend, that is why the UK is normally not in the position to achieve that with traditional aircraft. Germany is also likely to want to keep its Baltic Fleet alive at all costs, and have two tools to achieve that. 1. investing in airbase in Germany, this is the best thing Germany can do and very cost effective taking in account it is likely to have enough fighters to scramble 6 of them in this case. There is nothing the USA can do except for building up its Bombers until it is strong enough. If Germany wants to rescue its Baltic Fleet the only thing it can do is 2. build up its fleet for more hits. This is great as all those ships are IPC that is not invested in artillery and tanks against Russia.

So in any case you win, as you give Germany the choice between two bad options: 1. lose the Baltic Fleet or 2. build useless fleet.

But it does not stop with destroying the Baltic Fleet. The mission of the USA bomber fleet is threefold.
1. Deny German Logistics (fleet)
2. Destroy German Military Strength (airforce)
3. Lower German Production (infustrial complexes)

It is also ranked on importance, as the first target should be German fleet, second German airforce and third German industrial complexes. By destroying the German fleet you deny his excellent logistics to Scandinavia. By destroying unprotected airforce you greatly reduce its military strength against Russia. By strategic bombing crucial German industrial complexes (those at the Russian front) you lower his income or even cripple his ability to reinforce the Eastern front. Therefore the bomber fleet should always be able to do something useful for the Allied war effort.

The goal is to send 25 USA bombers to SGF (Stop Germany First), something that only needs 5 turns in the case Japan declares war in its third/fourth turn. These 25 Bombers can threaten a lot of positions of the Germans from London, forcing them to defend their airforce much more careful while giving much more other head aches.

After the 25 USA bomber fleet has been sent to the Atlantic side, the mission of the USA is to stop Japan. Again not by taking over Japan itself, as this is something very difficult to achieve against a good Japanese player, but stopping them. Ideally the game should end by the surrender of the Axis because they have lost momentum, fast shrinking economies and will definately lose the game.

Also against Japan the USA will focus on Bombers, however in this case it did not have initial fleet to convoy like it had against Italy. Therefore it becomes a mix of Submarines and Bombers. Ideally in USA6 you buy 6 submarines, and then 2 every turn after, while the rest is invested in Bombers, normally 5 per turn. The combination of massive bombers and submarines should be able to take out lone Japanese fleets, force the main fleet to remain united and therefore slow to react while you flood the Pacific with submarines to convoy the Japanese economy.

So here you have it, the USA Bright Sky strategy.

Ofcourse to make this strategy work there are certain things the other Allies should do.
1. Focus heavily on Yunnan to slow down Japan, do anything in your Allied power to make Japanese life hell in China and try to get China in the ‘out of control’ stage.
2. UK should be the one doing the small amphibious landings in Westen Europe
3. Russia mobilize to the north to capitalize on a destroyed baltic fleet taking over Scandinavia.

I play the USA, Russia and China. This was the first perspective of the Bright Skies strategy, the Russian and Chinese perspective will follow later.

EDIT: While it might seem to be un-historical to go full Bombers with the USA, remembers that you do follow the historical order of the USA: Italy, Germany, Japan. More than any nation (especially Germany!) it should be the USA that swarms the world with its flying fortresses!

Hello guys I just returned from an Allied victory and the strategy worked perfectly. USA early bomber swarm destroyed all Axis fleet in Europe without effort and then bombed Germanies in IC’s to hell. Because Baltic Fleet was destroyed Russia could hold Leningrad and conquer Scandinavia and this extra income let it spiral out of control, in its last turn (T8) USRR collected 89 IPC!

Also Russian/China strategy worked perfectly as he has to hold too much Japan forces in rhe north allowing China too keep the Burma road open with UK support resulting in a very hard game for Japan trying to contain China.

Within several weeks I will have another game, will try the strategy again, still think it has a lot of potential.

Russia delays Japan in the East while concentrates near Scandinavia.

Because USRR concentrates north Japan can not go all out on China, leading to their survival for several turns longer making the expansion of Japan slow and painfull.

USA builds bombers and send them to Scandinavia asap

USA bombers sink the German fleet and now the USRR can overpower Germany in Scandonavia letting it become rich enough to take Germany on 1 vs 1, because Germany lost Scandinavia early.