Attention All Axis and Allies Fans!

Being axis is easier in these newer versions than the previous classic versions.  The three steps it takes America to get to Europe is a HUGE help to the Axis.  But here is my Germany and i can win 5/10 games doing this.  turn 1 buy all infantry YES all infantry then take out the allied navy with German navy and fighters/bomber.  Consolidate all Eastern German forces in one territory.  Turn 2 buy again ALL INFANTRY again.  Move the Infantry you bought turn 1 west so you can defend against Normandy invasion also move your fighters with the infantry in the west.  All the forces you consolidated retreat west closer to Germany don’t worry the German battering ram is coming.  Turn 3 buy all tanks move the infantry from turn two east and consolidate all forces in the EAST.  Turn 4 buy tanks move the massive consolidated force south never separate the infantry from the tanks.  turn 5 move tanks from turn 4 south with the main force.  Turn 6 Russia should be like OMG i cant kill that massive force you should be able to take caucuss now.  With japan my goal #1 is to take India at all costs if Japan has failed to do this use the German army in Caucuss to take India now you can separate the tanks from the infantry to take India.  Russia will take your infantry you left behind but that is fine and retake caucuss that is fine too .  now Japan is free to take Asia at will, Germany should begin to pound Russia wherever avail and take easy territories do not commit to a suicidal battle to Russia. By now the Allies can pose a threat to Western Europe.  But Germany and Japan should be collecting massive IPC’s Russia is doomed here in a few turns they just cannot deal with a mobile Japan and Germany and defend itself on two fronts.  I see a lot of German players go north i do not agree with this  becasue there is nowhere to break out like there is in the caucuss and also if Germany can break out into Asia they can knock the allies out of asia as well. with the defense boost tanks have now they are the most affordable attacker and blocker in one land unit and with some infantry cannon fodder they are nasty on offense and defense.  I go mass tanks with Japan and Germany.  If you cannot win with the Axis in the newer versions you are doing something wrong.  Either not attacking enough or buying aircraft or navy.  Germany really doesn’t need a navy and has enough aircraft to hold the whole game as long as you don’t loose them foolishly.  On paper the Allies have the advantage by getting 3 turns to axis 2 and also should have an IPC advantage.  But Germany is so massive early and it takes Allies 4-5 turns to begin to be effective that’s your window with Japan and Germany about 4- 6  turns after that Allies begin taking the game in their favor.  So you must get your objectives done in this time frame.  If you just turtle forever with Germany you will loose.  And i f Japan leaves India for too long its hard to take especially if UK buys a lot of fighters.

I have tried KJF with some succes. How I play it is that I never decide to go KJF until J1 has passed. That means I will usually not devote any Russian or British forces to fight Japan in the first round. Instead I will focus on the European theater and Africa first, building a UK navy and trying to sink the Med Fleet ASAP. The reasoning is that even with a KJF, you can’t let Germany just run rampant. KJF often means a long game, so keeping the African IPCs out of German hands is very important. With UK that will always be my number one priority, so it’s safe to say that I will never build an Indian IC on UK1. Of course, the Japanese transport will still be sunk in 99% of the games.

For me, the most important KJF triggers happen on J1 and can be summarized as Japan failing to take a critical objective (China, Pearl) or losing a lot of air and naval forces across multiple battles. If Japan does ‘big Pearl’ and takes heavy losses, exposing a battleship and carrier to a promising US counterattack, I will often go KJF. Same goes for ‘small Pearl’ and losing that battle. For losing China it’s a bit less clear-cut, since Allies often don’t have the units in that area to press on an advantage. In other occasions Japan could lose a BB in SZ59, or fighters in any battle, giving enough incentive for US to build a Pacific fleet.

After round 1, even if US went Pacific, I will mostly use UK to fight Germany and assist in the defense of Russia.

The sad thing about this form of KJF is that it is contingent on bad dice for Axis, and not used as a general strategy. The question is whether in those scenarios where Japan has bad dice, KJF might be viable but KGF could still be strictly better.

@LMD:

Every game has gone to the Axis (about 14 games now), and every one has been a KGF strategy.

Do not play KGF.

We routinely go with the Norwegian Gambit (preserving the UK battleship) and have never failed.  Yes, we lose the R fighter on Germany R1, but one Russian fighter does not make the difference.

Do not play the Gambit. Maybe the Russian fighter combined with the lack of the BB as a target is more important than you account for.

This advice isn’t global, of course KGF and Norwegian Gambit are viable strategic and tactical options.

But if it doesn’t work for you, try something else.

R1 Attack on WRus and UKR. Move 6 INF into Bur, 2 INF to Yakut.

US1 build an AC, DD for Western US, placing Hawaii ftr and WUS ftr on the AC. Move Bomber to Alaska. This way you threaten SZ 60 with the fighters, SZ 61 with the bomber. If J2 doesn’t go for Bur, you can reinforce Bur with 2 fighters on US2 and maybe sink undefended transports in SZ61, landing in Bur.
Then go for the Solomons. Try to build to 2-3 transports (moving ground troups to the Solomons. ) and a few planes every now and then for the Pacific (over time, not necessarily in one round). Have a surprise tranny take an island or 2. Threaten Borneo, Phillipines and East Indies all in one go from the Solomons.
Use the US sub and the UK sub roam the islands, threatening transports and ACs.

The main goal is to threaten Japan and lure Japan into spending scarce money on expensive navy. If Japan ignores your moves, be more aggressive. Phillipines is a victory point, so are Shanghai and India.

I am not saying that this is a very great strategy. But it forces many decisions onto the Japanese player.

And if you have problems in the Atlantic, try building the AC, 2xDD on UK1 in SZ2, then be aware you might land the US ftr on the carrier on turn 1.

And I’ll have to say that I played about a dozen of games with Axis where my opponent played the double IC strategy, they ALL went the way I said in the previous post (except I usually don’t lose the islands, I’m quite good dealing with naval fights).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-4nV3s92A4

@iGuitar93:

Yes I have previously played risk. I thought it was too much of a game of luck so I tried this one.

A&A is also a mixture of skill and luck, although you can use a Low Luck system that greatly diminishes the random factor built into it.

I don’t understand how Moscow can fall on G4, much less both London and Moscow.  Russia must play aggressively, building a mix of infantry, artillery, and tanks.  If Germany sends straight tanks, the Western Allies can drop the hammer much faster.

Sorry friend, I am here only occationally (vacations etc) and I am really not a frequent player. I do not have time to play-test in any other way then in TripleA. You can find me there from time to time as Granada but I cannot host now.

Regarding the Russian sub, you are correct. I have not inculded it because it survives only if you decide to submerge it during the R1 attack of German sub, fig and bomb on SZ2 before the fight. But it further diminishes the likelihood of the success in this particular battle. You cannot take the potential hit by the sub on it, which is good because it gives your battleship good chance to get at least one plane. If you keep the Russian sub in the fight the likelihood it would survive is about 60 %.

If you include the sub to the R2 battle calculations in the SZ8, you are correct that it changes the odds for the defender in case of 2subs plus four planes on the German side. In case attacker has built a bomber R1 and still has three figs to hit you, the odds for him to win remain 66% with 1,7 units left.

The fact is that the Germans must build a bomber R1 if they want keep the likelihood of Allies merging in SZ 8 with stronger fleet under 50%. R2 you really can prevent them to merge there and R3 you cannot perhaps prevent them to land some troops somewhere. You are perhaps right in that respect.

Still the question whether the Germans will not get their planes to the point when they will sink some of your fleets especially if you decide to split it will be omnipresent and the dynamics of the sea battles in the Atlantic have definitely changed in their favour.