UK collects the unspent IPCs of the Germany’s player, then, even if its own capital is in enemy’s hands. See page 21 of the Europe 1940.2 rulebook.
How to win as the Axis?
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I’ve played many, many, many games against myself, trying a variety of different strategies and openers. I’ve done better in some games than others, but the dynamics almost always flowed like this (regardless of what happened with Italy or if Germany did Sealion):
Germany makes initial progress against the Soviets, rolling them out of Leningrad and Ukraine (maybe even reaching Bryansk or destroying several large Soviet stacks along the way), but eventually is unable to build up enough forces to hypothetically capture Moscow (indeed, if they reached Bryansk, almost all their builds that reach the area are used to hold the territory against the large Moscow stack). A major issue is that the Soviets, thanks to the Novosibrisk national objective, almost always can build 7-8 infantry in the Moscow major industrial complex, while only 3-5 units from the Ukraine and Novgorod minor industrial complexes can arrive in Bryansk.
Meanwhile, the US is always able to send enough ground units to hit Europe just as Germany is reaching the critical stage of the war on the Eastern Front, and liberate London quite easily if Germany did a Sealion. Furthermore, the British often manage to build a minor industrial complex in Persia and build most of their units out of that and the Union of South Africa minor industrial complex, and manage to halt any Axis attempt at pushing through the Caucasus (while the large amounts of British fighters help protect the Soviets from most strategic bombing raids).
Here are some games to show you what I mean:
2024-8-21-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition.tsvg
2024-8-22-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition.tsvg
2024-8-25-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition.tsvg
2024-8-26-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition.tsvg
2024-8-28-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition Path 1.tsvg
What am I missing as the Axis to overwhelm the Allies enough to win the war? I look foward to your suggestions!
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@SuperbattleshipYamato I’ll offer a few notes:
a) There are sticky’ed posts on German strategies on this forum. They are based on G40. But if you only focus on the Germans, then the basic tenets still apply
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/19929/germany-playbook-overall-strategy-guideb) I did not look at all those games, but in the first two you bought only ships. Not a recipe for an easy Axis win. Sure, you can Sealion the UK with all out purchases the first few turns, but as you have seen, the Germans will lose to the eventual US counter and meanwhile the Russians become dominate on the ground. Hint: don’t do this.
c) Just like in the real WWII, the eastern front is the main battle ground in this game (at least for the first 7 turns). So focus on that. Buy ground troops, especially fast movers and pick the key points on the Russian defense and take them out. Key to this is using the Italians as “can-openers” = preventing the Russians from placing single infantry as blockers to the German breakout. The Russians either must put many units to block, which will likely be defeated by the adjacent Germans, or they have to pull back, which allows the German juggernaut to continue forward.
d) Look at various games on the league site between top players. Reviewing their approach to the game is a great way to improve your game.
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/category/29/leaguee) Of course, the best way to learn is play others so that you can try your ideas and see what tactics work and what doesn’t.
Cheers,
surfer -
Thank you!
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Update:
The thing is, several of the games listed up there (not the first two), used some of the openers Cow mentioned.
Anyhow, I just did his G1 (already tried Young Grasshopper’s that’s the 8-28 file), and while Britain was able to form Gibastion and smash the Italian navy on turn 2(!) thanks to the well timed activation of Greece, Germany was able to move with enough force and speed (massively helped by Italian can openers) to destroy many Soviet forces on the frontier and reach Bryansk by turn 4. By then Soviet forces were so weakened that Germany was able to dispatch large mechanized forces to push southwards through Rostov, Volgograd, and the Caucasus into the Middle East while still being able to threaten Moscow.
In the other games, the British would’ve normally destroyed the few tanks and mechanized infantry in these southern regions using their large numbers of fighters built in Persia and land units arriving from North Africa. However, the speed of the German advance alongside an early Italian capture of Egypt held up the British Army long enough for the Germans to sweep through into Persia and Iraq before British fighter forces grew too large (while in most games there would be 15-20 fighters in Moscow, by the time the game got to this situation, due to how early all the dynamics kicked in, there just wasn’t enough time for that many fighters to be built).
1 tank obviously went to Novosibrisk and cut off the last major souce of income to the Soviets. Similarly, British fast movers backed up by large numbers of aircraft usually made short work of them, but as mentioned above, these units weren’t available to provide the critical margin.
By the time the Americans landed in force, Germany and Italy (convoyed in sea zone 97 for most of the game, but managed to still make 10+ IPCs a turn) were making enough income to fend off American attacks and still conduct offensive operations in the east.
By turn 5, Germany collected 70+ IPCs. By turn 7, 80+ IPCs. By turn 8, 90+ IPCs, and they were collecting 100+ IPCs by turn 13, when Moscow was captured and they won the game.
Italy managed to hold their own despite the challenges and managed to defend Rome, Northern Italy, and some French territories for most of the game without needing German help.
I’ll admit the Axis got some really lucky dice (2 submarines held up 10 American units landing in Europe by a turn at a crucial point in the game) and the Allies made some mistakes (the Soviets left too few units as blockers, allowing an Italian can opening and the destruction of many Soviet units in Ukraine before they could join the large stack in Moscow), but I think Germany’s ability to bring the bulk of their forces before the Soviets could build much, threaten both Leningrad and Ukraine by positioning mechanized forces in Eastern Poland (Italian can opening provided, of course), forcing the Soviets out of those territories by turn 3 (and if lucky, being able to send mechanized forces to catch the slow moving Soviet armies and break them before the Soviets consolidated their forces), and amassing enough income to wage a war on two fronts by the time the Americans began landing in turns 4 or 5 were all key factors that helped Germany come out on top. While I certainly tried to do all these things in the previous games, I was able to manage them particularly well here, and I think going to war on G1 did help with that (I still think G2 is optimal, though).
Sorry for the long game report, it wasn’t only directed at you, but for anyone looking through this thread.
Here’s the file:
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@SuperbattleshipYamato I’m not sure what further info you are expecting. It sounds like you tried to follow the COW opener, and this time used the Italian forces appropriately to smash the Russians. Eventually, the Axis won.
Congrats! You are now knowledgeable of effective German tactics.
Now play a few games in the League!
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Thank you! I just wanted to let you know of my progress. I certainly tried to do all of that in earlier games, but for one reason or another, it didn’t work well enough to net an Axis win.
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S SuperbattleshipYamato referenced this topic
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