I agree with the others that with a complete tank rush, if the Brits have 3-4 transports along with troops to drop off on B3 (which is completely doable) they should be able to take one of many territories such as Poland or France. There is just no way that Germany can defend it’s coastline if they are only building tanks.

I like the US the best because it has one of the most important roles in the game. I can’t begin to count the amount of games that have been won/lost based on how the US plays. There are so many different strats that can be done with the US that it also is the most versatile while being the most influential. It takes a master to play the US well.

I think the only place in '41 for a UK IC is in SA. Maybe one in Egypt if it survives T1, but it’s pretty universal now that everyone takes it T1 for obvious reasons. I’ve heard the case for one in Australia, but I don’t like that one either. It’s too easy for Japan to take out. On J2 it can easily be taken and for sure on J3. So if you’re going to you’d almost have to wait until B4 to have any hope of defending it. I know if I saw a B1 or B2 buy of an IC in Australia I would gun for it hard with Japan.

The Norway IC I just don’t see working because the Brits don’t really need the extra three unit build, plus for the same SBR reason that a France IC for germany isn’t the best idea.

I guess there could be some games where the US having an IC there could help, but on the whole I think that’s just not a great spot for one.

Yeah, when I take India on J2 I don’t necessarily need one right away in Manchuria. The last few games I’ve been buying 2TS and an INF on J1 so I end up having enough guys right away. I have usually been using those two transports to bring 4 guys to the Philippines to take that NO. That way I still have the 6-8 men to bring into India making it a guaranteed take. You’re right though, with the income that Japan makes with NOs a third IC can be useful. Especially if the US builds in the Pacific. With a couple bombers in Hawaii TS in the sea of japan aren’t safe alone. Without those bombers there though a few TS can stay there without trouble, alleviating the need of an IC there. If we’re really pushing for a third IC I’m thinking FIC would be the better place than Manchuria. You can still make the 3AM a turn to move to china and there isn’t any threat of the Russians making problems on the first few turns. Also after China is conquered by J4 for sure that IC is close enough to build troops for the Russian offensive, especially with the aforementioned 6-7 TS that Japan has. They definitely have the pre-made transport capability if you want to get those troops to a closer position quicker.

I can see bringing FT over to Europe but I can only justify bringing the navy in there if the US is completely ignoring the pacific. Otherwise those are really needed to guard the islands. Lately the clan has been doing some Pacific builds, seeing how awful the war goes completely ignoring the Pacific and my newish Japan strat…

I agree, the Egypt IC doesn’t happen that often. I like to use the G bomber along with the two subs to get the BB instead of bringing the bomber down to Egypt. There have been a few times that Egypt survives G1 with the FT and AR and after reinforcing the two INF from Trans-Jordan (sometimes two INF from India, when a defiant/dumb Japan refuses to sack the navy there) survives I1.

I’ve come to the same conclusion as you Zhukov44 that navy buys in the Med as germany is almost wasted money. I had some luck with building two CVs there in consecutive turns, but I also have been buying a FT with Germany every round. I’ll check out the mass INF turtle and see how that goes. With my crew’s standard US strategy of all Atlantic the extra navy ended up being easy IPC kills. With the two loaded CVs along with the Italian starting navy (most of my italy buys have been troops since I build a second TS and unload into Africa) I held off the Allies for 2-3 more turns landing into Africa or Europe. It’s an ever present threat having the 4 FT and usually 2-3 Bombers in Germany for the Allies navy. It really forces the US to build more heavy ships in the Atlantic to go with their copious TS or else the brits have to spend lots of extra cash to build a navy to beat it up. My crew hasn’t done it yet, but when playing AAA by my lonesome, a large sub buy as Britain did bad things for my CV fleet… especially when the brits got super subs…

You really like the three industry buy as Japan? I’ve been digging on the Sumatra and India ICs but I’m not sold on Manchuria yet. It seems like I could use that 15 IPCs elsewhere better. Especially given my hard Japanese push for China and India. Along with the 6-7 TS I don’t think that third one is needed. I also am a proponent of moving hard for India on J2, and having that industry buy 1st turn takes away from my ability to take and hold India. Then those fraking 7 russian INF pose a serious threat. Everyone in the clan, including myself, like to leave the 7 INF in Buryatia as a stopper. Not that it will stop Japan for long, but you at least have to make an effort to take it out.

I’ve been thinking about pushing the russian backdoor as hard as I’m doing to India, instead of india, but I just don’t see a large enough benefit in doing that. If I’m not going to get India I always get Australia on J2 so the Brits don’t get their NO. But using the Manchuria route into Russia isn’t worth a whole lot of IPCs, which maybe doesn’t matter given the obvious domination of China. But I also like the industry in India because it easily allows troop movement to Africa.

So after playing several AAA games, my best strat has been this Germany turtle, take India J2 with sumatra IC, India IC J3, 2-3 Bombers J4 and then from J5 on I SBR Russia while moving troops in there. With that in mind, Germany only needs to survive through the 5th turn before the Russians start taking some heavy damage for the rest of the game. This worked well with the FT buys as germany and two CVs added to the Med to hold off the allies for a couple more turns, bringing me to T5, T6 threshold before any serious non-russian threat to Germany. Again I’ll try the heavy INF instead of buying the CVs and see if that works as well/better.

The turtle went alright… The first game it worked great, did exactly what I wanted it to do and the allies were crying, lol. Although the second time the crew made some changes and I had a hard time keeping them from taking France while holding the NOs for Germany. As soon as the complex was built in France it received a TON of attention and became problematic.

@SgtBlitz:

joh01749:

Have you tried stacking Axis navies in the med?  If you build a german complex on france you can build carriers in mediterranean with germany and italy and have japan’s fleet come through the suez J3.  3+ carriers on one SZ is hard for any of the allied players to chew through by themselves, and it prevents allies from helping out russia overmuch.  If the allies ignore the fleet you’ve basically got africa and asia in the bag, Britain and US are stuck with invading either WE or over land through north africa, just turtle with the rest of your moves with germany and the game should finish itself.

Kinda risky with Russia bearing down but its won me more than one game.  Allies lose a lot of options (and fleet) if you don’t concede the oceans to them.

I like the idea of building up navies in the Med with the France industry… I haven’t explored that much. I agree though, it is very risky. It almost forces the Japanese strong push on Russia. If it holds though I see the benefit. You’re right, 3 CV loaded next to Gibraltar is pretty insane and puts a huge hurt on the allies trying to do work in Africa. I feel like it’s going to be hard to find the IPCs to build that kind of fleet though while holding off the Russians. On my second trial turtle I’ve been making a heavy push on the Japanese SBR of Moscow. So at least by J5, hopefully J4 I’ve got two bombers putting the IPC hurt on Russia since it’s difficult to get enough land troops there in time. Plus after seeing the turtle the crew diverted a chunk of Russian IPCs toward fighting off the Japanese backdoor run. This worked pretty well given the minimal effort I was putting in to the German offensive. After seeing the first turtle win I pulled out the allies pushed hard for France as well as making some serious thought about abandoning the Pacific completely.

I’m going to try out building some serious navy in the Med and see what happens. I think it will put a serious hurt on the allies landing efforts, I’m just worried about holding off a strong Russian play.

the Brits build the complex in Egypt idealy, so if it actually survives through turn 1, otherwise they have been putting it in SA.

Thanks for these ideas. I’m going to try a German mass turtle on AAA tonight and see what happens. I didn’t think about trying the IC in France. Just take enough of Russia to get the NOs for germany and hold on as best as possible not thinking about invading moscow with the germans.

With NOs and tech, for the same reason that it’s improbable for the KJF campaign, it’s improbable for the japanese to take the US coastline. It takes 3 turns minimum to get a decent force there, and that leaves an obvious assault coming and at least 1 US buy of troops to defend the coast. At which point the buildup of Japanese makes wasted buys when they could be going toward the frak India offensive.

So I usually go all out in the Atlantic. The Germans and Italians can’t hold out against the combined effort of all the allies at a 6 turn maximum, and that isn’t enough time for Japan to get to Moscow

My usual Germany buy has been 1 FTR per round, and then mostly ARM and some INF. The thought being that I should crush Russia as fast as possible. With Italy trying to sack Africa and money allowing reinforce France.

The brits mass their navy in SZ2 first and second turn. Having a loaded CV there with the 2BB assuming their BB gets taken out G1. On the third turn they move to SZ8 with the americans showing up there as well with their loaded CV and 2DD. Since they both move before the germans get a chance to get, the navy there looks like a combined (again assuming only SZ9 survival at the end of G1):
3BB, 2CV, 4FGT, 3DD, and a little more depending on Britain’s cash.

It seems like the Luftwaffe needed to wipe that out would be large enough that the money going into it would make the russian front impossible.