I’ve been reading these boards for a month or so, and it seems that the consensus is that the Axis are slightly advantaged with NO. My friends and I have played 5 or 6 games (dice and NO, no tech) and each time the Allies have won, decisively. And we’re all confounded as to how the Axis can pull out a victory. What aspects do you guys see that lend the advantage to the Axis?
Here is how (in general) our games go.
Early game: Germany pushes hard against Russia, eliminates the UK navy G1. Japan sweeps through China and islands. Italy builds up and (eventually) conquers Egypt. Russia backpedals, US rebuilds navy, UK rebuilds navy and an airforce to keep Germany out of the oceans.
Midgame: UK threatens coastal landings up and down coast with air support. US and Japan trade navies. UK/US land a transport or two in Africa. Infantry supply to the Eastern front dries up as Germany needs to defend its shores.
Lategame: The combined pressure of a naval landing and Russia pushing back ruins Germany as it gets stretched too thin. Japan gets stretched trying to keep up with the US Navy and continue a land war in Asia. Russia sends some troops east and starts pressuring Japan in China. Germany eventually is unable to cope with a Russian infantry stack along with continual landings on it’s coast.
In our most recent game, Germany tried a slower attack, pushing one or two territories at a time with an Atlantic wall of infantry and maintaining an infantry supply line slowly moving to the front. But that simply allowed Russia to build up and support China even sooner and now both Germany and Japan are caught between Russia and the other Allied power. Germany never overtook Russia or the UK economically and soon fell to their combined power. US traded navies twice with Japan but never lost the economic advantage for too long, so Japan gradually fell to Russia’s support and the US Navy. Italy was a nonfactor.
Here’s my analysis of objectives for the Axis:
Economic advantage - At the beginning of 41, the Allies have a huge economic advantage. The Axis need to swing that back quickly. That means: Germany needs to attain it’s NOs, Italy needs to take Africa quickly, and Japan needs to attain it’s NOs and get the money rich islands.
The problem: Too many fronts - In Europe, once UK starts threatening the coastal landings, the required production to continue the advance on Russia becomes impossible, especially with the 10 unit cap on Germany. And Italy doesn’t have enough strength to take and hold Africa by itself, so either Germany helps (which spreads them even thinner) or Italy dies a slow painful death of not enough money to do anything at all.
In the Pacific, once the navy trade happens, Japan’s build up is slightly behind the US’s, and that’s in the ocean. The land war is almost impossible as China eventually recovers with Russian infantry help.
We don’t see any easy solutions. The first few turns go fine, but then the lines always get stretched too thin and production can’t keep up.
Other possibilities: One thing I haven’t tried was keeping a large airforce stationed in Nor/Fin to keep UK navy from building up. The weakness I see there is that the advance into Russia slows even quicker, and the UK airforce keeps the German one from being able to defend Nor/Fin as there aren’t infantry to reinforce it.
How do you guys win with Axis?