Strong Germany Opening in Africa

I’m not very good at Classic, but I’ll throw my two cents in.

Typically, I commit 1-2 rounds of shucking INF from South Europe -> Africa to try to rack up some IPCs. After the first two rounds or so you’re going to need 100% of your IPCs to commit to the stack war in Eastern Europe Vs. USSR/UK.

If UK wastes their money on a South Africa/India IC I’d punish them by committing the Germans to a Egypt -> Syria -> Persia -> India trajectory, while also sending as much of Japan’s navy as possible towards India to take the free factory. If Japan/Germany can break a hypothetical India Factory early on, it can give Japan some real momentum in gobbling up IPCs in Africa + putting pressure on Russia.

Remember: In Classic, Germany has to play defensively, as they stand no chance of breaking Karelia unless your opponent is really weak. Japan has to be the main breadwinner for the Axis, abusing the weak starting setup for the Allies in Asia and the typical hyper-KGF Allied strategy to try to either take Moscow or win an “economic victory” before the Allies manage to break Germany.

First of all you are already behind with a 18 bid, I believe the bids for classic were around 24 for a PA bid. (2 inf man, 2 inf EEU and 4 inf Lib) Means you will take Egypt with around 4 inf and an arm. The Allies can bring 3 inf (2 ind, 1 syr) 1 bmb and 1 fig. This will end in mutual destruction in the worst case scenario (in LL) for the allies. => Allies can counter a PA bid very easy kicking back the germans to the continent really fast and destroy the Axis bid in almost one turn completely. Only thing is that the Allies leave gaps in Asia and then the race begins (which capital falls faster, Mos or Berlin).

You can take some more risks as the Axis to have a better shot at the Allies, bet 1 inf in Manch (1 inf extra to lib) and take Syr on G1 as well, so it will be almost impossible to retake AES on UK1. Risky moves wich can cost you the game if they don’t succeed.

@aaFiendish:

Do you really go to syria with your battleship and transport? I’ve always liked the move, but never had the balls to actually do it.

I don;t play with bids (lacking the RAM on my PC to handle the Java based version of AA available online).  So I normally do the initial landing in Egypt.

However, on those occasions when I “change up” my strategy and send air support to Egypt instead, I will indeed attack Syria on G1 with tranny, using the BB to plow through the sub.  The odds are highly probable that the sub is going to go “glub”.  And if it happens to hit on the counter, I’ll lose the tranny, and the INF.  I will ONLY attack Syria in a no-bid game when I have bought a tranny for the med as part of G1’s buy; so I have a replacement just in case.  Obviously my version does not work against the mega-stacked Karelia strategy (since it pulls too many INF’s from Europe due to tranny buy and multiple troops to Africa).  But against anything less than the mega stack, it makes for an interesting game that is a bit off the “normal” game flow.

As far as losing some troops in the exchange… that is kind of part of the game, especially for the Axis… roll the dice and go for it.

Using the bid-strategy outlined in the preceeding posts, and likely counters, by the end of G2, Germany is going to have all of Africa (perhaps less SA, assuming UK moves that INF to Rhodesia to cut off the tank blitz) plus Syria.

And if you only single INF the West Africa territories (putting 3 INF of the 4 from the bid in Libya) you could also land in Madagascar in G2 (in addition to grabbing Congo, Italian East and Rhodesia) leaving yourself staged for Persia OR India in G3 AND getting your navy out of reach of those pesky UK fighters that are somewhere in Russian territory…

Unless of course those UK figs stage to Persia… then you don;t blitz Africa in G2, you send the tank from Egypt through Syria to hit Persia, combined with your INF that survived the Syria landing and 2 transported units, and your BB, and add any fighters from Ukraine or Eastern, and your bomber.  Say goodbye to the UK Airforce :-D  And if they pulled forces from India to Persia in UK 2, so much the better.  Now Japan has India free in addition to being able to follow-up in Persia in J2.

All in all, risking that sub to get your med fleet into the Indian Ocean in G2 is a damn fine idea; bid or no bid.

@Linkon:

There are fools and greater fools.

You should look for some of the threads that actually garner discussion.  The threads that are immediately disputed indicate strategic errors by the original poster.

Strategic errors, or game rule errors, Such as…

@googie7745:

You will probably wipe both forces out, but if you have a fighter left, land it in Karelia to better defend it against the Russians.

You cannot land airplanes in newly taken over territory.

Well, here is one strategy I’ve used in the past that may help with Africa (RR, no bid). You won’t be able to keep Africa with this, but you might have a chance to at least take it for a turn or two.

On G1, sink the UK Navy in the North Sea as usual, but do not use the Baltic sea transport as fodder. Once all Allied ships there are sunk, take the Baltic sea transport and move either the Norway tank (my preference)or two Norway infantry to Morocco. Also land at least one of your fighters there as well. Instead of taking Egypt, simply move two infantry into Libya.

This sets you up fairly well for G2 in the following ways

The transport blocks the UK/US from an easy run through this area. The UK will sink this, but this will divert forces from other uses (i.e. if they use fighters, they will not be able to land in Karelia on UK1 - possibly making a G2 assualt there feasable). Probably the UK will also sink the German Med fleet (its really inevitable).

The extra forces in Morocco will delay UK/US forces from landing in Africa on round 1.

On G2, use all available forces to take Egypt. The extra tank and fighter(s) will help defeat any forces that may have been moved to Egypt on UK1 . You should also consider using the bomber as well if they have done so. Now the Allies either won’t have sufficient forces to effectively counter-attack, or you will have sufficient forces in Egypt to make a counter difficult at best.

On G3 and onward, you then use these forces to fight north-south. You should be able to reach S. Africa then retreat back to Egpyt to defend that against the Allies. Here you are just scrambling to keep as much as Africa in German hands as long as you can. The Allies are able to take it all back, but now they must devote more resources to do so. Also, it is possible for Japan to bring in reinforcements to help Germany, but I never do so since the Allies are closer to Africa than Japan and the Japanese forces are better used elsewhere, IMO. At some point you should probably conceed Africa and move the fighter back to the relative safety of Europe.

There are problems for the Germans with this (loss of a defensive fighter in Europe for a few turns, Norway is weakened, and the odds for this working as stated are not exactly a slam dunk) but you should try it to see how it works for you.

True giving the Allies even more time to build up their forces.

Pardon me!
I have a lazy eye.
:roll: :P :wink:

I’ll try to cut downn on my smileys.

What’s to stop Russia from:

Take finland (kill 2 FIT, really, don’t care about finland) and Caucusus from Kariella? If they’re willing to leave 1 INF in Karielia, I don’t see how you can stop this from happening… They’ve got 4 ARM, 2 FIT, and 17 INF at their disposal… Sure, it would be VERY expensive for Russia, and they’d lose Kariella on G2, but Moscow is safe (as safe as it ever gets), and the USUK have an outside shot of re-taking Kariella on their T2…

I’d do:

8 Inf, 3 ARM, 1 FIT to Finland
9 Inf, 1 ARM, 1 FIT to Caucusus

I should take FIN with 3 ARM, 1 FIT left (ARM safe from counterattack, if UK kills TRN).
I should take caucusus with 1 ARM, 1 FIT… The ARM is toast on G2, but so what?

Land the FIT and build in Kariella. You’ve committed most of your forces to the Rusiian front, and you’re vulnerable for a USUK turn 2 landing in WEu…