Allies Chances

If Russia is aggressive in its first move, all things considered, it’s game over for the Axis. It’s why I favor a house rule that forces the USA to spend a certain amount of money in the Pacific Theater-and units purchased can only be used in that theater of operations…

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.

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.

I have always seen it like this:if the axis keeps his combined airforce in WEu,the combined allies should be landing through SZ4.If axis has the airforce in EEu,the allies should go in from SZ3-Nor.In both cases the allies can keep both a steady flow to Europe and slowly reinforce the fleet,away from danger,till it can move towards SZ5.

focus on taking 1 of 3 routes to connect Germany and Japan
Route 1: take buryatia,sfe,yukut,ENO,etc.
Route 2: take China, Sinkiang, Kazakh, and Caucauses.
Route 3: take india, persia, trans-jordan, possibly egypt, and possibly Caucauses and kazakh

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.

@KarlParsons:

Hi,

I am a semi-noob at A&A, I bought A&A:E in the early 2000s and have now just purchased A&A:1942.   I’ve played about 5 games and each game the axis has won, the strategy being Germany invades West Russia, Japan attacks East Russia, and as long as Germany has some naval units taking out transports trying to come into France or Italy as well as guarding the east coast with just enough defending units, the allies can’t get on land.  Then once Russia is gone, with the IPCs gained it’s only a matter of time before it’s all over.

My question is, as the allies I don’t see how to win with enough time before Germany and Japan take out Russia completely and also being able to successfully doing a land invasion in time, in either eastern europe or the island of Japan.  I guess I’m just missing something, are there any basic ideas/tips you can give me to help and avoid this same scenario over and over again?

Russia needs support from U.K. in India & Karelia/Archangel and from the U.S. in Sinkiang (<– This can be tough).
The Eastern Front is Yakut, Sinkiang and India.
The Western Front is Karelia, West Russia, Caucasus.
^ Keep those Fortified.
If you don’t want a Turn Break Down Stop Reading Now.  :|

Russia

Buy 8 Infantry Attack West Russia with Arch, and Karelia + 2 Planes. Move everything in Russia into Caucasus, put 1 in Archangel. Group 8 troops in Yakut. 2 into Sinkiang, 2 into Persia Land Planes in INDIA <-- This is key. Build 4 Inf at each I.C.

U.K.

Buy 2 Industrial Complexes. If Germany didn’t beef up the Baltic fleet, use your Planes to sink the Transport/ Destroyer. You Must sink the Japanese transport in 59 (To avoid a Naval Bombardment in India).
  * I usually sacrifice my Cruiser in 35 to do this. Its a bad trade off, but it usually means securing India which is worth it. Instead you can use your plane in 35 and land it in China. Not a terrible move but I prefer to move the plane into India for added security. Place Industrial complex in South Africa and India. By the time U.K. goes on turn 2 Germany could have capped most of Africa (If they have 2 tanks). Don’t give up on Africa. Contesting Africa is critical.
 * Always build 2 units if possible, until the German Med fleet is destroyed. If your tight on IPC’s keep pumping out Infantry to thwart a capture. If a large force is approaching buy fighters. Keep the Carrier and transport nearby. ^ Same goes for India. Always build what you need to keep it safe from a building threat. At the end of the previous Russia turn always check if Caucasus can spare a tank(s) for an India defense. It can be tricky allocating IPC’s between Keeping U.K., South Africa, and India secure early on, but its doable. Depending on what Germany is doing always look for opportunities to either take Norway, Liberate/Support Karelia/Archangel (Liberating/Supporting Karelia takes a lot of pressure off Russia, if u can spare the 2 planes from U.K. land them their (if u have fodder their)). Move infantry from Persia to India.

U.S.

Move your Bomber to the U.K. and begin bombing Southern Europe next turn. Always try to have at least 2 Bombers in U.K.

You have 2 turns to amass your navy and load up your transports. Taking longer then 2 turns to have an impact on the war is too long ime.

It depends what the Axis has done to decide which way to go.

Buying an Air Craft Carrier, Industrial Complex, and Transport is usually a good choice.

Get everything to S.Z. 10 load it up and go to 12 on your third turn. Sea Zone 12 is a tactically important Sea Zone imo.

When you get to 12 with your navy (Battleship, Cruiser, Destroyer, 2 Aircraft Carriers, 4 Planes, possibly the Sub and 4 fully loaded transports) look for weakness’s in the German defense. If you have the advantage always destroy the Mediterranean fleet (This relieves the U.K. in Africa).

Place the Industrial Complex in Sinkiang (Before you place this complex make sure you will not loose it when Japan goes!)
 * This probably involves Russia landing its 2 planes from India in Sinkiang (Russia may need the planes to attack, but being conservative to lock down Sinkiang on turn 2 is Huge), and 2 Infantry from Novosibirsknyyyyy.
 * Possibly the U.K. fighter.
 * Talk to your Allies make absolutely sure they are willing and capable of doing this.
 * Basically figure out what you will need to defend both Sinkiang and India if Japan decides to throw everything it has against either territory and divide the planes accordingly. <— Do this DURING Russia’s Non-Combat Movement Phase (take into account what U.K. will be purchasing for India). If Germany’s main force isn’t in Ukraine chances are Russia can spare tanks until U.S. builds up Sinkiang.

Place your Industrial Complex in Sinkiang, and always build 2 of whatever you need to keep it safe. Most likely Tanks or Fighters.
 * If you don’t feel comfortable placing your I.C. in Sinkiang place it in Brazil. This will support your Navy and help U.K. with Africa. I would recommend building an I.C. in Brazil on your next turn or whenever you get the chance. Keeping an Air Craft Carrier parked their, allows you to build planes and get them to your navy to replenish the ones you lost.

When u pull everything East, Japan will probably go for Alaska, or Midway, just make sure you build enough fodder in Western to prevent an invasion.

Placing I.C.s on the Eastern front can be game breaking for both sides. If Allies hold, and keep them fortified Japan can fall into a stalemate. If Japan overthrows and takes control, its onto Russia’s weak underbelly.
 * Don’t forget to watch what Yakut needs for reinforcements. Try to keep a pipeline of 2 Russian infantry (as a minimum) building in Russia, staging in Novosibirsk, and then reinforcing either Yakut or Sinkiang depending on what Japan is doing. Yakut S.S.R. will be the weakest target for Japan to break through.

Hope that Helps.  :-D