Attention All Axis and Allies Fans!

I thought for Spring42’ 2nd edition, the bid goes to the allies? I’m confused here.

The Allies have to work together to win, but it does take cooperation. And honestly, when I play…I typically ignore the Japanese in the Pacific (except for China, which I’ll explain in a second)

ROUND 1: (Russia) I actually move 2 INF from Novosibiask > to support the US troops in Sinkiang. I also move 2 INF from Evenki National & Yakut > Novosibirsk

(UK Round 1) i typically buy 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Transport and 2 INF.
*I consolidate forces around India, including 1 INF from Persia and Trans Jordan. My UK Ftr MUST destroy the transport in SZ59. In addition, I get the Transport and the Submarine out of SZ40 and move them> SZ 20. If I’m feeling daring, I’ll pick up 2 INF from Australia and load them on the Transport as well…though this is a risk because it can easily be attacked by the Japanese…but even this has some advantage to it. If the Japanese attack them, they will not be able to attack India for another round…and that is another Round to build up the Allied collation in Asia.
*If they have survived, the UK Battleship and Transport that was in SZ 2 needs to be moved > SZ 8. This is the focal point of the invasion for Western Europe.
*ALWAYS STRATEGIC BOMB GERMANY!

(USA Round 1) If I’m going to defend Asia, I’ll buy an Industrial Complex R1 along with Transports and INF. I’m different than a lot of players…as the US, I typically ignore the Pacific entirely (except for the Asia defense I’m working with Russia and the UK on.) I pull my Battleship and Transport out of SZ 55 and send them through the Panama Canal toward the East Coast. I also move the Destroyer in SZ20 back toward the East Coast.
*Bombers fly to the UK and the FTR lands on the Aircraft Carrier the UK just produced to help defend it. Once the Bomber is in place for R2…ALWAYS STRATEGIC BOMB GERMANY!  (You might even want to buy another US Bomber) By R3 the US and the UK should be taking out between 9-10 IPCs from Germany each turn…and that will become HUGE. Work together with the UK player on this and each round send another bombing raid on Berlin. I can’t stress this enough.
*If the forces in China have survived, pull them back to Sinkiang at the end of US Round 1. If Japan didn’t take out the US FTR in China, they are stupid and you have a gift!  Place your Industrial Complex in Sinkiang.

Now look at the Allies situation at the beginning of ROUND 2
*On Russia R2, Russia can pour 4 more INF into Sinkiang from Novosibirsk, pushing those defenses up to 8-10 INF (+1 FTR if you are lucky) The US Industrial Complex can produce 1 FTR + 1 ARMOR, which will make those defenses even better. By R3, Sinkiang could have: 2-3 FTRS, 2 ARMOR & 8-10 INF. This is a lot of firepower and will cause the Japanese some headaches for several rounds…which is all you need.
*UK has a force in India with swelling support. Again, this will force the Japanese to split their attention between the US and Russians in Sinkiang and the UK force in India. It will take them several rounds to capture both…which is all you need.
*You also have a growing fleet in SZ 8 with an Aircraft carrier, Battleship and some Fighters. A second US Battleship is on its way and should be there R3. This is strong enough to protect the transports that will be flooding in. Here is the time you are needing that the Asian collation has given you. Japan will be stalled in Sinkiang and India for a few rounds and as you are building an invasion fleet in SZ 8, it will force Germany to pull forces from the Russian front to defend Europe. Once I have enough US and UK forces collected, I begin pouring in the assault in waves. Transports continually resupplying fresh troops in SZ 8 in a chain from the US. (The transports are produced, loaded, moved to SZ 8, Invade Europe, & return to the US for another round of troops.

The Industrial Complex in Sinkiang is not defensible forever. Keep a close eye on when the right time to abandon it might be and fall back into Russia. This typically is a welcome relief as it will provide Moscow with some much needed FTR and Armor defense. Japan is going to get an Industrial Complex on the mainland of Asia eventually, so I don’t even worry that I’ve gifted the Japanese an extra one. What the Allies need is time, and this buys them 2-3 extra rounds.

Japan can be an economic powerhouse, and own all of Asia and most of Africa for all I care, as long as Berlin falls and Moscow is protected. Typically, about the time Japan is gaining some real power in Asia and breaks through the defenses, Europe is about ready to fall to the Allies. Once this happens, its really over for Japan as they can not beat all three powers alone, no matter how much their territory has grown. They Allies will simply take it all back, and concentrate on Japan.

When facing Germany I take the invasion of Europe in 3 phases: Phase 1 DESTROY THE GERMAN NAVY. Phase 2: DESTROY THE GERMAN FTRS (this will take awhile, and usually involves several German attacks against the growing Allied Atlantic Fleet…but it’s Germany’s only option to stop the build up of Transports. Eventually, Germany will lose their FTRS by having to attack this fleet. Of course, the Allies will have to keep building lost transports that the Allies will sacrifice to soak up the attack, but that is losing 8 IPCs (for a transport) for the German 10. (This gives the Allies a +$2 IPC advantage for this attack) Germany can’t replace FTRS as easily as the Allies can replace Transports.
Phase 3: D-DAY and invade Europe wherever practical!  (Only do this when Phase 1 & 2 is complete)

Game over.

While it certainly sucks to have lost the Western US, that situation isn’t necessarily beyond hope. You didn’t provide a clear picture of your present assets and their locations. If you are able to immediately recapture Western US and hold it, that would return the IPC count to around Allies 82 Axis 84. That coupled with complete control of Africa, the Atlantic, and Med could be a salvageable situation. You did however make some comments that made it sound like your situation probably is/was beyond any realistic hope of recovery.  When you stated that Japan will be able to build ten units on Western US, that sounds as though you do not have the force needed to recapture it. If you are unable to recapture Western US, and you are not already posing serious threat to the German capital, you are toast.

IPC income is extremely important, but it is not everything.  IPC income advantage isn’t always realized.  If you have enough bombers within striking range of the German and/or Japanese IC’s you’d could trash the axis production capacity and possibly buy yourself some time to turn the table.  Granted, all things being equal, I would certainly like the IPC advantage, but an income disadvantage isn’t a death sentence unless it is prolonged and you are unable to keep your opponent from being able to realize a greater production capacity.

@Bunnies:

I wonder whatever happened to this game.

Re:

So what makes you say it’s completely over?

If you’re trying to go KGF, and Germany controls/contests Africa on the fifth turn, and you’re asking for advice, it’s probably an uphill battle.  You would only be asking for advice if you were unsure that you could protect Moscow / crack Berlin, and with Germany fueled by African IPCs, and without a veteran’s perspective on how to run a tight logistic game with the Allies, I would guess probable loss for the Allies.  All the Axis need to do is pump out a bunch of tanks and run a bit of interference with Germany’s airforce, which as you mentioned was quite strong.

It sounds like Japan is screwing around (no industrial complexes by turn five), which means you may have a chance, but again, I lack context.

If US was building some Pacific fleet, and Japan went infantry with very light naval/air support (pumping IPCs into 1 destroyer, then subs and/or fighters to match the US threat) then the Allies really are in  trouble, because then probably Japan has some idea of what it’s doing.

If Japan was unopposed in the Pacific and built battleships and carriers, though, the Allies are probably going to win because Japan can’t just lay back and make Germany do all the work.  Same if Japan used its transports to screw with Alaska/Hawaii/Australia/etc. instead of establishing a fast hard unit core in Asia/India to help support Germany’s push against Caucasus.  You might see Japan doing both (i.e. hitting island targets plus hitting Asia/Africa) with five transports, but four transports on turn five with no industrial complexes built means SOMETHING weird is going on - like I said, either Japan was prepared to meet some unusual threat, or Japan was screwing around.

Yeah - what happened in the game?
I agree with Bunnies analysis - against a decent axis player, this game is probably over. But against novice players anything is possible, they may perform unfeasible or uncoordinated moves. In that case it is all about putting yourself in the position to exploit this. By this I mean armor for Russia, establish atlantic navy to threaten Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

@MrMalachiCrunch:

Dan, did the Russian build of a bomber on R1 cause you not to attack Sz2 in G1 for some reason?  If so, was the reason because it could hit Norway and perhaps the german fighter would be lost as you used those troops against Kar in G1 there would have been no defense for the surviving bomber?

No, it wasn’t the bomber build that stopped the attack on z2. For other readers, here’s the situation. R1 build is 4 inf, bomber. Russia takes West Russia with 7 inf, art, tank and takes Ukraine with art, 3 tanks. For the precise move: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=19028.0
In short, I wanted a Karelia stack on G1. Germany couldn’t afford to defend Norway if I did this. I would be more afraid of surviving German planes on Norway being attacked by the UK’s potential inf, tank, 2 fighters, and bomber. Realistically, if the German planes are naked, the Allies don’t need to commit so much. Also, the German destroyer to z3 could force the UK to peal off a plane from the ground attack. Any time a Russian plane dogfights an Axis plane on fairly even odds is a good day for the Axis. I’d invite that bomber versus fighter battle.

I haven’t played it before.

i wonder how many magic markers it took to make that map, :)