Axis Victories (what's the "magic" trick?)

There are situations when the Soviet/UK  player rolls snake-eyes …  2 of 3 AAA shots…  Once that happens to the Axis player in a couple of games… you realize the Strat Bombing campaign is riskier than you realize.

@MeinHerr:

There are situations when the Soviet/UK  player rolls snake-eyes …  2 of 3 AAA shots…   Once that happens to the Axis player in a couple of games… you realize the Strat Bombing campaign is riskier than you realize.

Fair, but absolutely pounding Moscow for 3 turns in a row with 3 or 4 bombers starting a turn after your Russia invasion begins is well worth the risk, I think.  Literally my first unit purchase for Germany is to make sure I have 4 bombers available at all times, and that means always having 5 on hand.  So if I only have 4, I’m buying one this turn to replace a loss.

I normally use 3. The 4th bomber has a really high chance of having it’s damage wasted. Like about 1/3 of it. Of course, if one bomber is shot down then you’re probably glad for the 4th one so it’s a gamble either way.

@simon33:

I normally use 3. The 4th bomber has a really high chance of having it’s damage wasted. Like about 1/3 of it. Of course, if one bomber is shot down then you’re probably glad for the 4th one so it’s a gamble either way.

Average damage per bomber should be 5 (roll a 3 then add 2), so 4 gives me some cushion if I lose one (or two) AND means I’ll almost certainly max it and not have to bomb again for a turn.

@The:

@Cornwallis:

So you bomb London and later in the game Moscow and India.
Do you usually built with germany in order to attack and take Moscow or do you built units to withstand an attack from moscow so you can bypass and take middle east NO’s?

As Germany, I bomb every Soviet IC my bombers will reach. Hit Novgorod and Ukraine on the turn I declare war, then Moscow and Volgograd as I get within bombing range. Don’t let up until the turn you capture them. On the Western Front, I keep 2 bombers busy hitting London every turn.

Rather than Italian can openers, I prefer the Germans initially handle the USSR on their own, while I focus on getting the Italians into the Middle East as fast as possible (An I1 amphibious assault into Syria or Trans-Jordan while advancing on Egypt from Tobruk is key). Once Italy has secured the M.E., they can build a minor IC in Iraq or Persia, assault through the Caucasus and meet the Germans in Volgograd.

For the Germans, I build 1-2 strategic bombers per turn, maintaining a minimum of 5 (2 Western Front/3 Eastern Front) at all times. Beyond that, I build mostly armor and mech infantry until I capture Novgorod and/or Ukraine, then build regular infantry and artillery at those ICs. I find the early armor/mech inf build the fastest way to get ground forces from Germany into Russia, which allows me to rapidly gain territory before the Soviets can build up much of a defense force.

What the heck is the UK doing if your Italy is so easily able to “secure the M.E.”? I suck at playing allies and that is something that doesn’t happen to me. Heck I suck at this game period.

@Cornwallis:

Zhukov,

Yes, in recent games the Germans are taking more Russian territory and thus increasing their income and denying the Russians their income.
I guess that when you fail to take Moscow you go for a long game (14-15 rounds).
Do you attack USSR with Japan? I usually do. The plus side is the russian are getting less, but all too often, it sucks valuable Japanese ground forces needed in China in the early game.

I agree with the above post - I’m not sure what the UK is doing if the Italians are running hog wild in the med. It’s never been that hard for me to just neuter them with UK if I put a little effort in.

Also - as has been said - Japan should have Calcutta out of the game by the end of J4. If you’re short a TT, build an air base in Siam or Shan and take ceylon J3 so you can leverage all your material.

Germany should be able to topple moscow or take everything else and just have so much income that it falls eventually as long as you STB the factory.

The only way I would think that Calcutta is likely to fall j4 is in a j1 scenario. I assume that is what you are taking about. China would probably be pretty strong but if they can’t buy any more artillery,  They are mostly just defending.

I suppose if taranto fails, Italy could be going hog wild.

@simon33:

The only way I would think that Calcutta is likely to fall j4 is in a j1 scenario. I assume that is what you are taking about. China would probably be pretty strong but if they can’t buy any more artillery,  They are mostly just defending.

I suppose if taranto fails, Italy could be going hog wild.

A J4 attack on Calcutta normally depends on Japan controlling Yunnan turn 2 onwards. If that condition is met Japanese forces in Northern China can normally clean up any further resistance.

The axis has to be super aggressive to maximize their chance of winning.  By doing so, you force the USA player to sometimes make subtle purchase mistakes that can be exploited in a few rounds.  Only the USA can win the game for the allies.  So, I try to force them to make hard choices as early as possible.

I don’t have a problem winning with the axis. Most of my wins come from Germany taking Russia G5, G6, or G7.

Why? If you strafe yugoslavia g1 and retreat into Romania and lose 2 inf only. You get a decent stack that is ready to hit Russia G5 assuming you move it towards Russia each round. If you hit too much, that is okay, the G6 attack has better odds because you add in the bulgaria stack and the norway/finland stack as well.

There are concessions you have to make. You have to give up norway/finland, usually empty west germany and hold Germany the round before you attack Russia (you buy bombers to max your odds of winning Russia so you aren’t buying inf the round before a major battle).

I have had to give up france to take Russia many times. Retaking france is much easier than taking Russia, but it can take 2-4 rounds (Germany’s income goes really high from Russia, volgograd, and caucasus… and if you are pushing into the middle east for the VC win (which you should be doing) it goes even higher.

G7 Russia sometimes happens when things are going so well that 80% chances at Russia is stupid when waiting a round yields 99%. Like those blow out games happen sometimes in dice where you get to buy mech/armor g4 on germany (g5 mech/armor placements on germany are silly because they simply don’t hit Russia on g7).

Typically G4 you buy inf to hodlgang and bombers because that is what reaches russia for the final attack (armor on novgorod/ukraine if you got it).
~

I do not dow Russia g3 so I can’t comment on later attacks of Russia. I always dow russia G1 or G2 (fast game or standard play depending on how much time I have).

So that is that.

~

In the Pacific I go into every game with the high hopes of winning in the Pacific. It happens sometimes. Crush india J3 or J4 and hope things are going well enough to take Hawaii someday.  Sometimes it happens, sometimes I bust, sometimes I am forced to just have Japan, India, SEA, and all my ships air died, but hey I gave it a go!

@Cow:

In the Pacific I go into every game with the high hopes of winning in the Pacific. It happens sometimes. Crush india J3 or J4 and hope things are going well enough to take Hawaii someday.  Sometimes it happens, sometimes I bust, sometimes I am forced to just have Japan, India, SEA, and all my ships air died, but hey I gave it a go!

I find the J1 works great, especially paired with something like your G1/G2 strategy.

Hong Kong, Borneo, Phillipines, and Yunnan on J1 with a factory and 2 transports

J2 is the money islands and my fleet protects 2 of the transports for sure, as best as I can (Sumatra is within UKPac air attack range easily so is usually not worth defending) and new transports can shuck new ground troops south.  Subs head towards India.  Bomb India on J2.  Often do the factory on French Indo-China.

J3, usually take Malaya and might gather fleet there (or over Philippines if U.S. is seems aggressive)  Subs move to convoy India.  Bomb again if I have to.  I don’t bother pushing to take India.  I’m more interested in locking down my income (money islands) while turtling India and looking for a chance to destroy China or India’s stack of infantry.  Japanese fast movers push towards Moscow’s back door, too.  J3 I’m usually collecting close to 60 ipcs and rarely go back down again.

If I can hold that for 2 or 3 turns, that’s usually it for the Pacific side.  From then on I’m just whittling away, heading west and looking for an opening to sink the U.S. and/or ANZAC fleets (by positioning at Japan and Philippines, everything I have can hit them at the Carolines, for instance).  By UK3 UKPac is only making 10-12 ipcs, their factory is bombed, and 2 Japanese subs park off their coast so they often can’t buy anything for several rounds.  If they leave Calcutta, there should be enough Japanese land and air to annihilate any stack that adventures out.  China might have a stack of inf left, but are whittling down, and ANZAC can’t earn enough to do much until their turn 4 or 5 unless they join the U.S.

My buys are pretty much only mechs on the mainland, maybe some tanks, a 3rd or 4th bomber maybe, but otherwise just carriers.  Japan has so many planes that buying carriers is a very efficient way to have a strong defense.  Each 16 ipc Japan spends on 1 carrier means another the U.S. has to spend to destroy 4 hits defending at 2, 3, and 4.

If I can turtle UKPac, don’t lose fighters/tacticals, and buy enough carriers to keep the U.S. from taking sz6/Korea, I only need a modest fleet on the Philippines to keep the money islands and counter attack the U.S. if they do hit sz 6.  I try to keep 2 transports at Philippines so ANZAC can’t poach an island.  If I do that, by J5 or so I’m about on par with the U.S. for income and my defense fleet is a beast.  I’ll do a huge sub/destroyer purchase if I think I’ll get to attack him instead.

Fast movers driving through China give me a backdoor option to help hit Moscow with Japanese planes after G6 - I’ll even buy more Japanese bombers to help if Germany isn’t max bombing Moscow already.  If I have a spare transport or just plenty of mainland troops I might start hitting Russia’s far east, too, Mongolia rule be damned, as long as troops in China can keep the Mongolians from reaching Moscow in time to help that defense.

Cow, the G2 DOW has never worked out for me. Perhaps there are nuances I don’t understand. Losing W Germany for Moscow seems a high price.

I’d be interested in a game but I’d be looking for a 30 bid to play allies.

Trust cow!  He manages to capture Moscow often enough against good players on G5 or G6, and can bail out to other options if the battlecalc shows that the odds are not in his favor.

@Cornwallis:

By the time you reach Moscow on G5 or G6, there are over 60 Russian units backed up by Allied fighters (the French one, anzac one, a few british), thus making it impossible to take Moscow. Even if we massed up some 25 German tanks. If you do the dark skies, then you have even less ground units.

Try to blow up 110 and 111 G1, sacrifice BB. Put all units on france and assuming a successfull hit and run tactic on yugo. Buy only fast moveres on G1 and G2. Do not have any fast movers in normandy/southern france end of G2. Buy tac/fighters G3 and bombers G4(or tacs from Novogorod)

In addition do a J1 to prevent any anzac fighters for moscow. I think it will be REALLY hard for the allies to get enough fighters to Moscow. With this strategy Moscow is toast most of the time. You might face other problems when doing this but Moscow should be down G5

@oysteilo:

@Cornwallis:

By the time you reach Moscow on G5 or G6, there are over 60 Russian units backed up by Allied fighters (the French one, anzac one, a few british), thus making it impossible to take Moscow. Even if we massed up some 25 German tanks. If you do the dark skies, then you have even less ground units.

Try to blow up 110 and 111 G1, sacrifice BB. Put all units on france and assuming a successfull hit and run tactic on yugo. Buy only fast moveres on G1 and G2. Do not have any fast movers in normandy/southern france end of G2. Buy tac/fighters G3 and bombers G4(or tacs from Novogorod)

In addition do a J1 to prevent any anzac fighters for moscow. I think it will be REALLY hard for the allies to get enough fighters to Moscow. With this strategy Moscow is toast most of the time. You might face other problems when doing this but Moscow should be down G5

Plus, if the Allies sacrifice their fighters to Moscow, that should mean lots of opportunities elsewhere.  In that case, Germany just needs to not throw away their army and to gobble up Russian IPCs while Japan/Italy expand, too.

If Germany could always conquer Moscow on G5 or G6 or G7……then this would be a pretty boring (and unbalanced) game.  If you can reduce Moscow’s income to >10, then they won’t be able to resist forever.  Use the Wehrmacht’s superior mobility.

As noted by others, flying a bunch of American and British planes to Moscow is merely a stopgap and not a winning strategy over the long game, because planes there are not very useful strategicially.

If you get to Bryansk on G5 and Russia responds by turtling, Axis has the strategic advantage–Germany can go pretty much anywhere it wants to go on the map.

@Cornwallis:

All the things you have said is what we Always do :) and even then the russian stack is to big to attack.
It’s simple mathematics, if the russians buy almost 100% infantry, they have over 40+ inf at the end of turn 4. adding the once they begin with + canons, and fighters you come up around 60. the british need just throw in the French fighter and maybe 2 or 3 of their one, and you got a well dug in russian defender.
I don’t know what your russian player usually does?

Their growth from this point should be slow. Without any of their 2IPC territories from about turn 5 and strategic bombing on Moscow, they should be only adding few infantry per turn while Germany is moving in a few artillery bought G1 in Berlin, Leningrad and Ukraine. You can also try putting an IC on W Ukraine but most players find this superfluous. In some games a mobile force will run across Siberia to take that.

Also, is Calcutta able to assist UK Europe? Something isn’t quite right if that is happening.