The "USAF Shuck" Strategy

As the issues I raised were sufficiently disinteresting to warrant no replies :sob: I have gone back over past forum postings and picked out those that might offer options to me, leaving aside customised versions, such as the addition of artillery. Having made the effort it might be helpful to some other new arrival, so am posting it. Of course some of the ideas below are opposed.

I had been through the forum before, but with more experience some of these postings now mean more to me.

@ColonelPotter:

I think the mistake that people are making is that they are attempting to go with a 100% kill Germany strategy. This kill Germany approach works in most Axis & Allies games but not in 1941. The allies need to control Japans economy as much as possible.

Attack Manchuria with 3 inf and the fighter.

I have to say I struggle with the Japan first options some table, because Germany is at the gates of 2 Allied capitals and so pivotal. This much posted idea does not go as far as Japan first, but is the distraction from defending Moscow warranted? Some responses have doubted it and other supported the idea.

@McJesusBane:

… the allies cannot win with russia so heavily crushed. The gain in IPC’s for both the axis countries should ensure victory.

@espadaescudo:

There are several ways to skin a cat, and people have to rethink things. One point I would raise is: a good German player would attack Egypt w/ 2 inf, 1 tank, 1 fighter, and the bomber on G1.

@DarthShizNit:

Attacking Egypt with at least one fighter and troops from Southern Europe loaded onto a transport and shipped over to help the tank on the first turn is something I consider vital if the Axis want to win. There’s just to many British troops there to let them get away. As for Russian, don’t underestimate them, they can still put up a fight, but if they don’t get help from the other two Allies then they will fall.

As for Japan, Depending on how Germany does is how you should plan. If Germany does well on her first turn, then throw on the pressure on mainland Asia and set up to hit India on turn 2 (you technically can do it J1 but it’s risky, especially if the British player puts an extra fighter in India, which is what I always do) and then go on to attack Russia from behind.

If Germany doesn’t do stellar on their first turn, then I settle for dominating the Pacific. You should be able to crush Australia on J2 even if the American player flies fighters over there and you got good dice rolls the first turn. Once that’s secure it’s suprisingly easy to keep your navy on par with the Americans and you can really put on the pressure, though you might have to sacrafice making advances in Asia, keeping the US distracted in the Pacific is worth it as it lets Germany get back up on her feet.

As Russia, I almost always attack Western Russia on turn one with all the infantry from Karelia, Arkangle, and Moscow. You should be able to crush through the Germans with no problem, and if the British player puts a fighter there on their turn, then it’s a very strong position. Attack Ukraine with both tanks, the fighter, and the Caucus infantry. Try to kill off the German infantry if nothing else BUT RETREAT, repeat, DO NOT TAKE UKRAINE on your first turn, its not worth it and it puts your tanks in to much of a risk. Bring the Siberian infantry on their long trek to Moscow.

You can go all in on Japan, and if so, basically just abandon Russia and throw all units into attacking Japan.

As for the United Kingdom, your navy was probably killed the first turn, however with an air buy and placing it in England on your first turn you can stop any German surface fleets for a long time. In fact, if you decide to make the UK the player who’s going to beef up Russia, then you should just do lots of air buys and fly the fighters into Russia to help them out. If you get the chance to invade Norway, do it.

Personally I usually task the UK with fighting the Japanese while the US helps out Russia. Buy a plane on turn one to place in India, Send the Indian Fleet to South Africa to pick up the Inf there, Send the Australian Inf to India via the transport and the sub to Hawaii. Basically from there just keep pumping one tank a turn into India, and if Australia doesn’t fall, then one unit there a turn (usually inf, but subs are viable too). If you defend efficently then after a turn or two you should be able to go on the counter attack as long as America keeps their Pacific fleet in the Pacific to back up Australia.

Attacking Egypt closes the Suez Canal, protecting Southern Europe from a UK landing from India, so that is very interesting. Can the distraction of forces away from Moscow be justified?

@DarthShizNit:

…. yes, the Inf rush of W. Russia and the rest going ukraine is the best move in my opinion (Though i don’t leave a unit in karelia, archangle). You get overwhelming odds in W. Russia and you’ll be in a great position after you take it (Germany, unless they ignore the British navy won’t have enough forces to safely take you on). However, don’t invade Ukraine, go in, do one die roll, then retreat. So far, being aggresive has given me the best results. In one game I even had the mighty motherland come roaring back her R1 attacks were so great. On R4 she blitzed all of her territory back, took W. Russia, Ukraine, and next thing you know a giant horde of ruskies is invading E. Europe and frtiz called it quits. Oh, and Moscow falling on G3 was the norm in the vanilla set up rules.

As tempting as it is the Manchuria attack is to risky with to low of a chance of pay off.

I already do the Western Russia attack, but the concept of attacking the Ukraine but not pressing home, had not occurred to me. The tanks in the Ukraine are vulnerable. As per other postings not here quoted I just need the infantry to withstand the counter roll.

@Variable:

Remember the strat of shucking US bombers to Australia? Now you can do it with fighters too! All you need to do is leave a carrier off the coast of Western US. Australia is in range! Helps a bunch to pressure the IJN in the South Pacific and “money islands”.

Erm… okay?

That’s my crib sheet for my next game then!

Thanks to past contributors. And also to anyone that adds to this list - if this thread is now more interesting!

Cheers
Adm Nimitz

@Private-Panic thanks! Will try it in my next game :smile:

@Mordineus said in Beginner's Strategy Handouts?:

if anyone has any feedback on how to make these better, please let me know

Just got the game and have only played it 1,5 times so far, but have more experience with the mega version of 1940G.

I think your guides are really nice! Great layout and clear to understand!

When it comes to the strategy itself, I’ll try and give some constructive feedback or ideas for (hopeful) improvement.

Russia

Definitely buy 2 infantry. Only infantry for as long the game goes, unless there’s an opportunity to be the aggressor.

When it comes to attack I reckon it’s safe to just stack everything in W Russia. [Edit: After making a small calculation, I think it’s not at all safe to stack up in W Russia.] Important to put pressure on Germany and shouldn’t be able to be counter-attacked while Moscow is safe. Caucasus only needs 1 infantry (placed as a buy) in order to block the blitz and can be easily retaken if Germany goes there. If you divide your forces, the Germans can perhaps take W Russia or Caucasus out while Russia are in no position to counter-attack. Probably Russia has to leave Karelia and Archangel to their destiny, since a war of attrition will serve Germany better. [Edit: Will contemplate this further.]

On a note, sz 18 (The Black Sea) is not available to any fleet intrusion, since Turkey is neutral and controls the channel. So no need to worry about the German fleet there. The Japanese is another issue for Caucasus though.

Germany

I’d say 4 infantry instead of 2 tanks seems to be the better initial buy (and likely also in G2). Partly for the defense of Germany and W Europe and partly for the goal of conquering Moscow. The 6 tanks you start with should be sufficient along with the airforce concerning attack spice.

When it comes to attacks going after the British Navy with the Luftwaffe seems worthwhile. Hitting Russia in W Russia seems too early, but needs more infantry to the front. So, in consequence 3 figs and 1 bomber against the bs in sz 8 (the sub can’t defend or be taken as causalty). Might lose a plane, but the Brits lose their battleship. A viable option is to bring along the bs and sub from sz 4 in order to save planes (they’ll just sit there and hide until wiped out by the British eventually, so that way they’ll be atleast useful).

Likewise doing an amphibious assault in Gibraltar with the North African tank and an infantry from S Europe (with the idea to shuffle them into Europe next round) as well as hitting the British aircraft carrier in sz 14 with 2 subs seems good. The fighter can’t defend and after sinking the ship the fighter simply just falls into the Atlantic for free. Not sure it’s wise to risk the destroyer in order to being able to retreat to sz 9, but perhaps it is. Those 2 subs will otherwise be dead meat by the British destroyer from sz 10. On the other hand, losing the destroyer leaves the transport a sitting duck as well as the land troops stuck in Gibraltar.

UK

A fighter seems to be a wise choice, with the intention of clearing out the German battleship in sz 4 as a means of repayment. Perhaps another bomber is an option, but you also want to have atleast 2 fighters available when re-building a defensively much needed aircraft carrier.

Don’t believe Africa is much of an issue, but those African Corps should move towards India or to assist Russia.

Asia is more interesting. Those transports are pretty vulnerable. Maybe hitting the small Japanese in sz 38 is good with 1 sub, 1 des and 1 fig, but the remaining fleet will be wiped out by Japan and then the transports can only scurry away towards Europe.

Japan

I’d say 3 infantry for the initial buy. On round 2 perhaps a destroyer can be wise, to start and counter the likely US mobilization in the Pacific.

The prime drop-zone should be Szeshwan, unless you want to clear out some stiff ruskies in Siberia. That’s only one step away from Caucasus and as with Siberia two steps from Moscow. Priming Caucasus has the beneficial effect of co-working with the Germans in getting a strong hold of Caucasus.

Taking out the American battleship in sz 40 looks like a no-brainer, but might need an amphibious assault of Hawaii in order to dissuade a US counter-attack (making the Japanese aircraft able to land, not forcing to take them as causalties before the carrier). Might be enough with 2 infantry and 1 fighter to get the job done, while 1 ac, 1 bs, 1 fig and 1 bomber goes for a clean strike on the bs without causalties. [Edit: US does have some counter-punch adding the bomber from E US. Likely Japan can’t just put it’s navy by Hawaii risking a counter-attack from the US, which they’ll benifit having a higher income, so perhaps risk sacrificing a fighter and get stationed by Wake Island is better?]

The carrier and destroyer in sz 46 can hit the British where it hurts. With Szechwan conquered, the transport in sz 46 is safe from sneaky air-attacks from India (be careful if the fighter is somewhere else so it’s on the table, if so, keep the carrier along with the transport).

Japan should aim to shuffle troops towards Russia along with using it’s 2 transports to take control of the Southern Islands.

US

As with the other nations, I believe 1 transport and 2 infantry in E US is the way to go, saving 4 IPC for the next round. The US plan in Europe is to support the British invasion towards Germany, and infantry is just so much more cost effective regarding defense. Another option is to either replace the battleship in the Pacific or going 1 destroyer and 1 submarine (saving 3 IPC) for the Navy build-up against Japan. This is a tough call, but might be that KGF is more important. [Edit: Not sure about this really. Giving Japan free hands in the Pacific will make them to soon outproduce the US, and then a counter in the Pacific will not be executable. I’m leaning towards a KJF-strategy now, especially since the Allies need Tokyo as well.]

Think it’s good what you wrote that US should choose were to focus and stick with it to make an impact.

I did watch it, thanks Wolf. Also the lego war movie you posted earlier, which lead to me watching some of the others - they are very well done. Am considering selling all my A&A and using the money to start a lego war collection ….

Yes - those extra infantry certainly do help  :-)

I’ve now played 2 games against an opponent. Though it was his first time playing Axis/Allies, he’s a good natural tactician and learns quickly. He’s a wargamer. Both games lasted 3 hours. We played with the official setup changes: 3 inf in Moscow, DD in SZ11, 1 inf in NW China. We also allowed nations to build artillery units, which gives this game that little something it is missing. I commanded the Allies and won both games, only because of more A/A experience. He didn’t attack Egypt on turn 1 with Germany in either game, but I recommended researching opening moves online for the next time we play. He wants to try Axis again.

Here are my opening moves for game 2. Game 1 was similar. With the inclusion of artillery, this game plays like a mini version of Revised. It’s a good time.

Russia 1: Russia bought an inf and an art and placed those in CAUC. Attacked W. Russia w/ 1 inf from KAR, 3 inf from ARCH, 1 inf from MOS, and 1 FIG. Sub moved to SZ 6 to restrict German fleet movement, and moved 3 inf from Siberia to Urals. Russia stacked CAUC w/ 1 FIG, 2 Tanks, 9 inf, and 1 artillery.

UK1: Bought AC for SZ 6. German landed a tank in GIB, so FIG was lost when AC went down. Attacked German BB and Sub in SZ6 w/ BB, DD, FIG, and Bomber. Attacked SZ31 w/ DD, Sub, and FIG. Took NAFR w/ 1 inf from Egypt. Moved tank from ECAN to London. Moved inf from AUS to IND. Moved SAFR inf up one place. Moved IND trans to SAFR area. Moved tank from EGY to India and 1 inf to MidE. Placed FIG on new AC.

US1: Bought a trans for SZ 11 and DD for PAC. Moved FIG to UK AC. Bomber to London. 2 inf and 1 tank for EUS to ECAN. 2 inf and 1 tank from WUS to WCAN. DD and trans from SZ 11 to ECAN area. 1 inf took CENCHI from SZECH. Japan left that open, but had taken NWCH.

It is more difficult for USA to land troops in Norway/London in this game, because of how the sea zones are setup. The Atlantic shuck takes longer to setup, if it ever does get going. In both games, the US focused more on the PAC than I’ve done in previous games of A/A Revised. I like this, because historically the US had to deal heavily with Japan’s navy to win the war in the PAC. I was able to keep Japan in a naval construction race in both games, which led to my victories. I did make some rookie mistakes, because I’m still rusty from not playing for a while, which prolonged these games. But my opponent is a smart guy and did some nice moves that he came up with on his own. Aside from me giving him advice a few times. Good game, but it needs artillery to make it great.

Shat,

Loading and unloading from a transport is the unit’s “entire move”.

To clarify, It’s G1 combat move , you can load the transport, move the transport, and unload for an attack.

^
At least if they do that the UK can take some extra IPC and what not, thus being better suited to take on germany.