Strategy Guide Global 1940

Hi @Trout

Can you post some pictures of your game.

@Trout Yes if you capture in round 3-4 the money islands/ phillipens also taking china then the Japanese will be very strong, and if the US is doing nothing there, they must be able to take out India and press on into the Middle East.

@Cornelis-Post On schedule for that. In a nutshell:

1. Following Captain’s Strategy Guides
2. Got diced badly on G1 but I am thinking can be overcome by ignoring Japan surely not being a winning strategy. Dicing summary: Lost all U-Boat in SZ 106 with no UK casualties, lost U-Boats and two fighters in SZ 111 before clearing UK boats. Lost all normal infantry, two mechs, and one tank in the three France attacks plus took four casualties in Yugo.
3. In Pacific, J3 attack on two money islands, Guam, Hong Kong, Indochina then J4 attack killing off China, and capturing one more money island plus Philippines. Plan for J5 is take last money island, Singapore, NG, and DNG then prepare for capture of Hawaii, Midway, Wake. His strategy is max landmines and infantry buys in Calcutta while US navy camps out in SZ 10. His UK navy withdrew west on first turn to ensure Axis navy and army cleared from Africa/Med ASAP.
4. On US3, he took Gibraltar and US4, he moved to SZ 95 to destroy remains of Italian navy. I have 9 U-Boats in Med but those will be gone after UK4 as he is following up the US attack in Med with UK attack from the fleet he built since game start in SZ 106 that is currently in SZ 90.
5. So current situation is Italy going down soon, and my Eastern Front forces not super strong from having to replace Luftwaffe and UBoat losses on G1. Barbarossa launched on my G4. Have two Panzer Generals in Eastern Poland and 4 paratroopers in Romania awaiting Deep OPS in Caucasus/Volgograd when opportunity presents itself but overall not a strong Barbarossa.
6. Can’t figure out how to improve where things are and how it got here since Japan can’t move any faster than it is right now.
7. So decided to reach out to the experts for advice/resources on COA going forward. Intellectually, I am convinced that ignoring Japan is not brilliant but I can’t figure out how to stop it.

@Trout

What does he have in Caucasus ? Can you get some LCVs to Romainia and coordinate with the Paras ? Arty, Elite, Pnzrgrndr are good combination for Amphib attack.

Your Bmbrs should reach and a Tac Ftr in Romainia can as well

@barnee I could but no IC in Romania. I don’t see that recommended in the Captain’s Strategy Guide and I have not found it to be as useful as 25 IPC’s worth of infantry/arty/panzers. I think I am going to be just trying to survive and hold given his max attack on Germany. He has 55 infantry plus two commissars & Guards against my 35 infantry plus two PG’s with 9 more in Slovakia & 10 in Berlin behind them but he has Red Army Conscription next turn which will push his infantry to 80.

@Trout

yea you don’t need the IC. Move the LCVs by rail. Buy a Engnr can move the elite or Arty. Pnzrgrndr move on there own.

Yea 80 Inf doesn’t sound good. You will need to attrit them best you can.

Once the convicts are dead, all he can do is buy Tanks. Which are pretty formidable :)

@Trout

Did you go for the Atlantic with Germany? Or did you go for Russia ?
If Germany decides to go for the Atlantic, the German u-boats will counter the first fleet of the US.
Which means that Italy has 5-6 rounds to push into the Middle East, together with Germany.
The 8 paratroopers together with landing crafts standing on Greece together with Italy paratroopers and landing crafts are a huge treat danger to the —>

1. Caucasus
   Syrië
   Egypt

If possible take Greece with Italy.
So when you build a airfield or harbour the allies will not see it coming.

My experience till so far with the axis is:: leave russia, take out Novgorod. When the army conscription kicks in. Retreat. Reorganise and with new forces attack again.
Butt before this, you should be in the Middle East and Egypt with the axis.

The first games when I play the house rule expansion the allies dominated .
Butt now it’s really a 50/50.
I think because of the logistics it’s harder to win with the allies

@Cornelis-Post said in Global 1940 & 1943 Expansions Game Reports:

When the army conscription kicks in. Retreat.

this seems to be true for me too. Not advancing anyways :)

@Cornelis-Post Thanks CP! Excellent advice. I was not aware of the Greece Airbase idea but yes, that is brilliant and will incorporate going forward. I was doing hybrid a bit for German strategy with 5 U-Boats a turn, building landmines on G1 to get them dug in at Normandy before US Navy arrives but getting diced badly on G1 in every battle resulted in me needing to build 2 fighters and nine U-Boats. So with purchasing first PG, the U-Boats, landmines, and replacing Luftwaffe losses, the little bit of money left went to building some infantry in France as there were none there after the G1 dicing and he had UK paratroopers sitting in London after UK1. Update on my current game which is at Italy 6:

Germany: Took Novgorod on G5 along with dropping a para in Caucasus to grab the 7 IPC’s. But not moving past Eastern Poland except for holding Novgorod with help of the Baltic fleet. Med is lost and with his chosen Allied strategy was never a possibility. Was only able to get the bonuses from Gibraltar and no Allied Med ships for one turn.

US: Pacific strategy unchanged with starting navy assets in SZ10. 100% of his purchases going towards Italy invasion. He currently has North Africa and Gibraltar but has not invaded the mainland yet. Took Brazil on US3.

UK: Continuing max infantry in India. Took Iraq and destroyed Italian forces in Tunisia on UK5. Combined US/UK Fleet parked in SZ’s 91 and 96.

Soviet Union: repositioned his forces to take away another Caucasus para assault. 85% of his forces in Bryansk to cut off any advances across the front.

Italy: started building all infantry in Southern/Northern Italy on I4 which has resulted in holding off invasion for now. Did take Greece on I2. Could have done it I1 but wanted to wait until air forces could participate. No forces in East for can-openers as invasion is imminent so all ground forces in homeland except one infantry in Greece and 2 AAA in Paris. Moved the Strat Bomber to Western Germany so that it lives on after Italy death.

Japan: J5 took Singapore, last money island, Gilbert Islands, NG, and DNG then J6 repositioned navy to Carolines, built IC in Korea and transported Combat Engineers to China for future movement of minor complexes to Yunnan and western China provinces. My current plan for J7 is to take Hawaii and start mass production of 6 tanks per turn in Korea.

@Trout

you might consider investing in some Italian Paras. Get them to Romainia or Bulgaria if they need to defend.

You might be able to take Caucasus and stalingrad after Take Over of Italy

@Cornelis-Post Your Greece paratrooper gambit continues to be very intriguing to me at a minimum and possibly even brilliant but question as to how this plays out.

1. Italy takes Greece on I1 or I2. Germany builds paratroopers in Western Germany on G2.
2. G3: paratroopers drop on Greece
3. I3: Airbase built on Greece
4. G4: paratroopers attack some combination of Syria/Iraq/Caucasus/Volgograd/Egypt as opportunity presents.

Is that the general idea?? It seems to me that the effectiveness of the gambit could be maximized with Germany taking Greece on G2 which would allow them to build minor IC on G3 in order to support the G4 paratrooper drop with navy/army assets mobilized in Greece starting G4. I see that being enormously effective in the Med but keeps the Nazis from investing as much in Battle of the Atlantic or Barbarossa prep right?

Will be offline for next few weeks but wanted to inquire about this before I go. Thanks

@Trout

This strategy depends also what is the allies doing.
You should not build a minor factory in Greece, just use your rail way capacity.

The most important thing is:

Italy and Germany should move as one.

So for example if Italy in round 1 takes Alexandria Germany can send in round 2 some fighters to support Alexandria. So Italy makes a move and Germany follows. In this way the allies cannot counter attack because you would be to strong in this stage of the game.

So round 1

Germany builds up 5 sup
6 waffen ss infantry and 2 waffen ss artillery.

Italy builds 2 landing craft and 1 paratrooper in Rome.

Round 2 Germany likely will have 85 ipc

So you should build:

8 paratrooper/ can jump to Italy. Or Romania.
1 panzer general.
2 landing craft /// strategic rail movement to greece
5 subs // 3 in the mediterranean, also Remember if you move you’re “remaining” italian ships to seazone 93 to eliminate the French ships, you can use the factory with Germany to build subs or a carrier in that seazone to counter the remaining British fleet.
The best thing which could happen is that the British attacked the Italian fleet in round 1

The Russian plan is to take out Novgorod as fast as possible, butt in round 5 you need to retreat till you’re own borders this is okay.
By that time Germany can build up a huge force, and push again.

@Cornelis-Post Hey CP. I am back online now from summer vacay with wife & kids. The end result of our game was that Axis did win. Japan became a monster, Germany turtled and survived. We have been playing the HRE without landing craft. Combination of not being clear on how to use them and then had to figure out what units to use for representing them because all of our games are with the OOB board using OOB pieces. So we have an amateurish system such as using French infantry as paratroopers and putting roundels under infantry to designate an elite infantry. I have an A&A Classic game so we are going to use the Classic transports as LCV’s going forward. We are going to play a few games with the LCV’s and after we get used to that. I will post a game thread with pictures etc. Probably this Fall sometime. A few things that are still head-scratchers for us as we learn HRE are:

1. I never have success with Japan without taking money islands but it seems as if you guys don’t always focus on capture of them.

2. We never have success with Barbarossa. It always ends with Germany unable to make much progress as long as Allies play reasonably well with UK/USA in continental invasions, etc. Our only Axis wins come from Japan eventually making a two front war that SU can’t keep up with when their income drops below 20.

3. USA focusing most resources on KGF and UK piling as much stuff on Calcutta as possible to include 10 LM’s seem to be strategies that play well. But it’s really hard for us to determine how to play ANZAC and Soviet Union along with the fact that to a large extent they are having to react to what Axis are doing.

Bottom-line the HRE is possibly the best WWII board game ever. Too bad Captain can’t monetize that in a huge way because I think he deserves some monetary benefits for his outstanding efforts with this. OOB G40 just isn’t even fun anymore.

@Trout said in Strategy Guide Global 1940:

OOB G40 just isn’t even fun anymore.

:)

@Trout Great to hear about the axis win💪🏻
Yes the HRE is truly outstanding good.
I’ve played the game like 30-50 times and I still make new strategies.

The landing crafts and paratroopers are the best units available on the board definitely.
Also when you play with the axis Italy can conquer a country, or island. And Germany can move his planes in the country in the upcoming round ( also with air transport, Germany can move a panzer unit with air transport.)
So for example Italy takes Alexandria in round 3.
And germany buys 6 air units at round 3. Germany can launch an invasion with 6 units and all airplanes to Afrika.
The UK must retreat.

So after a few games the balance will become 50/50 for the axis and the allies.

So also the allies must plan very carefully what to do.
We are also working on a YouTube channel.
This year we are planning to explain the rules on YouTube, and after some strategic opening moves.

It’s nice to see more people enjoying the game 😎

On my 10th game against other opponents instead of just myself :)

I have always thought the Middle East to be key. OOB included. Not a revelation, as I think most would agree with that.

As Axis, Italy and Germany can both reinforce and potentially take Egypt with Paratroopers and Air Transports.
Also, more easily for Italy, with LCV’s and Naval Transports.

I believe it to be key to keep the British from having free reign in Africa, which would allow them to reinforce the Cauacasus or India.

However, this will take resources away from the War in Russia and allow the Allies to engage with there resources against the Reich and Italia sooner than otherwise.

I’m not sure of the best approach, but I don’t think it can be ignored.

@The-Captain

That’s true, in my last game with Barnee, I formed the DAK and attacked Egypt with a large invasion force. However, I have never been able to make a good push into Russia. The only thing I could do was trade Leningrad back and forth. The Russians were ultimately super strong and could afford to help reinforce the Middle East as well as parts of China. It’s a strategy I don’t want to employ ever again because the Germans never really got going in the game. They managed to capture Cairo in the end, but just barely. If things had gone a little differently, my attack would have failed and all those resources I spent in Africa would have been wasted.

Looking forward to the upcoming game report! I am interested to see how you deal with Africa as the Axis 😁

@The-Captain Any update on Italy Strategy Guide release?