I would like to start out by saying that i find the game quite balanced, luck in rolls, tactics, teamwork seem to be what makes the difference in the game for the victory :).
Saying that, i would think that if you have an extremely competent German player, you’d have to have other equally competent players for each allied position (or if your playing 1v1 just one obviously) for there to be a good game. My first turns as the Germans go mostly like this (barring that nothing crazy happens). I usually do all i can do to kill British ships in the Atlantic and Med, after all the Brits have the big navy and it will take them at least two turns to have a navy capable of standing up to anything with much force. I dont attack Americans for two reasons 1. they can replace their losses with ease, and it only sets them back a turn (plus they have to buy a navy anyway so it really doesnt put a dent into any plans. 2. attacking the Americans draws ships away from possible targets in Canada or near west side of England. But me, my friends, and my dad who i play with the most, have found that although the initial sub attacks are very important, it is nearly impossible to hold onto the seas if you want to win in Russia. At least the Atlantic anyway. The Med should be held at all costs, if the allies get at the Med sea, they are capable of litterally landing in any direction, all of which belong to you… thats alot to defend against. Plus, your other factory is there, and if the Allies make you buy units to protect it, thats more infantry that wont be used to attack Moscow, and worse case scenario, the Americans take North Italy. They hold it. Game over.
So like i said in the Med sea i do what ever it takes to secure everything there from sea attack for as many turns as possible, I also do my best to take Malta and Gibraltar. (Malta being the much more important of the two). Then i invade Libya, moving the Tunisia force down, maybe even send the North Italy fighter for air support, with those forces and with Malta gone (hopefully) the Egyptian forces will have a tough slogg to take Libya. And if they do, just pop some guys down to reinforce, the British cant afford to lose those pieces right away, you can. And from that piont launch off towards the rich oil fileds of the middle east, all the time reinforcing with troops so they can come up Russia’s preverbial butt hole.
Then the most important of maneuverings, the Eastern Front. There is a variety of ways people choose to go at this, but i think the way i like best is to head towards Stalingrad, while harrasing or attacking straight into BeloRussia, also taking Ukraine to the best of my ability. Doing this ideally would be done witht the least amount of tanks possible, savign them in the back ranks for counter attacks or further thrusts into Russia (which ever is necessary). I think the drive towards Stalingrad and the mere harrasing of other Russian troops farther north is a good strategy because it for one gets you closer to the eventual capture of a factory that is badly needed for the Germans. It also cuts off any attempts that might be made by the Russians to reinforce africa, and it gets your african troops on a path to reinforce they offensive. Stalingrad also has the least infantry defences around it. There are downsides, one of the major ones being that Stalingrad is the farthest away from Germany, making it diffucult to reinforce. Leningrad is a good one to try and seize quickly, but it is also the ones that the Russians will most expect an attack, it will be the most defended and most hard fought for. Really all you need against Leningrad to keep it heavily defended, and thus its defenders unable to help the rest of the motherland, is the infantry from Norway and Finland, with some shuttled up from Germany, and a turn buy of tanks in Poland. Those tanks are also in position to blitz in to Ukraine if needed, but they’ll be most useful to keep Leningrad in check.
Well, that went on longer then i thought it would :lol: but those are my basic steps for what to do on Germany’s first turn. I’m not saying its unbeatable, most plans that are plugged as that arent, thats just the way i do it.
