Spain?

Since the only neutrals that Germany and Japan get are Sweden and Switzerland, this is way less risky than it may at first appear and attacking Turkey accomplishes the same kind of goal on the other side of the med

This is also known as a neutral crush.

As the allies set-up to hit all the neutral territories at roughly the same time.

Spain: First off make sure that your transports are well guarded off Gibraltar (sz91), and keep in mind that if the Italians have transports that they can open up landing spots in Northern Africa  for the Germans to air sweep your fleet

Tip: Say you have 8 loaded US transports (16 ground units) coming over. Be patent and station your ground units on Gibraltar (don’t leave them on transports). This will allow those units to walk into Spain for the attack and your transports head back home on the same turn that you attack. You should also have several more transports coming over from DC attacking Spain on the same turn. Now you will have transports coming and going every turn (this is known as a shuck-shuck).

You also need to have the UK ready to bring in more ground units if possible, and land as many UK fighters as you can to boost up your defense. Would be a good idea to have both the US/UK bring in some AA guns too.

Turkey: This is tricky because the Germans and Italians are well with-in reach. You could have the Russians hit it just before you invade Spain, or the UK right after (or both). You may just hit and run to kill off the free units.

Saudi is a good target for UK from Egypt, and you should be able to get the other two African neutrals at some point.

Afghanistan is a good target for the UK PAC, but will weaken India. Some games I have found it ok to withdraw from India to bolster the Middle East or Russia though. You can plan it to look as if you are evacuating India because of pressure form Japan, and move your units to West India, then hit Afghanistan to get off the coast.

South America: I have had the Anz set-up to hit the South American neutrals. They are really in a good position to do so and the income is better for them IMO (probably still have the US take Brazil for the units).

So all you are leaving is Sweden and Switz, not to bad.

I never played this simply because the US has enogh to do to fight Japan. Sending 16 ground Units and 8 Transports + Navy to Gibraltar leaves the Japanese ungarded. I think an experienced Axis player will love that Allied strategy.

@blacky:

I never played this simply because the US has enogh to do to fight Japan. Sending 16 ground Units and 8 Transports + Navy to Gibraltar leaves the Japanese ungarded. I think an experienced Axis player will love that Allied strategy.

With a large Atlantic US1 buy, as well as a little maneuvering, the US has plenty of resources to go for Spain while still putting plenty of time and money into the Pacific.

Let’s say the US buys 3 transports, 1 inf, 1 CV and 2 subs.  Bring the 2 inf from WUS over to CUS, load the transport in SZ 10 and move it, along with the loaded CV and a DD, to SZ 89, swing the fighter in EUS over to WUS to replace the one you’re taking from that CV.

Place 3 transports, and 2 inf in the Atlantic, and the rest in the Pacific.

The US now has 5 loaded transports, a loaded CV and a bombardment hit ready for Spain on US2 (they could even get the bomber there if they felt it could safely land in Morocco or Gibraltar).  US should survive that battle with 7-8 ground units.

The buy for US2 could be either one transport, one inf in the east, with the rest of the money going to the pacific.  From there on out, you have 3 transports coming and going between 91 and 101, dropping six units a turn (4 inf and 2 art for 20 IPC) while spending the rest in the Pacific.

So in return for one turn of the US going heavy in the East, they can drop 6 guys in Spain a turn (9 if they buy a factory) while spending most of their money in the Pacific.

A little help from the UK will go a long way to helping with this.

I would think that attacking the neutrals that early would be risky unless the UK is also ready to hit Turkey at the same time.
Otherwise, if Germany/Italy has anything in range of Turkey, that could get dangerous for the middle east real fast.

@ChocolatePancake:

I would think that attacking the neutrals that early would be risky unless the UK is also ready to hit Turkey at the same time.
Otherwise, if Germany/Italy has anything in range of Turkey, that could get dangerous for the middle east real fast.

I’ve actually found Russia can put together a solid R2 attack on Turkey, even if it’s just to weaken them.  I usually go 9 inf and a fighter on R1, so by R2 they can hit with (doing this from memory) something like 4 inf, 2 mech, 2 tank, 3 fighters, 1 tac.

@Nippon-koku:

I’ve actually found Russia can put together a solid R2 attack on Turkey, even if it’s just to weaken them.  I usually go 9 inf and a fighter on R1, so by R2 they can hit with (doing this from memory) something like 4 inf, 2 mech, 2 tank, 3 fighters, 1 tac.

I was under the impression that Russian forces cannot leave Russia at all until Russia is at war, and Russia can’t initiate that until R4 at the earliest.

Marsh

That’s correct.
Russia could only attack if Italy/Germany had already declared war on it.

@ChocolatePancake:

I would think that attacking the neutrals that early would be risky unless the UK is also ready to hit Turkey at the same time.
Otherwise, if Germany/Italy has anything in range of Turkey, that could get dangerous for the middle east real fast.

It’s dangerous either way really – if you don’t hit Turkey, then Germany (probably) gets a huge boost in infantry and a friendly gateway to the Middle East.

If you hit Turkey with UK forces, then you are either giving away Africa or India. That’s probably ok really, since it makes it that much easier to put pressure on Germany, but it still needs to be considered.

If by some manner you hit Turkey with Russian forces, then those forces will never make it back to Moscow. If Germany can hit Moscow on G6, those non-fast units are not making it back. Given that you’ll want to hit it with at least 12 units including air to make it fast and certain, that’s a pretty hefty chunk out of the Moscow defense.

Marsh

Your correct Marsh, Russia has to be at war first.  I’m assuming a G2 attack (which is the most common scenario I run into in my group).  But yes, otherwise they’d have to wait.

I wouldn’t sweat the Russian troops in Turkey.  The planes make it back easily, and any two move units brought to the battle can be back in Moscow by turn 4.  It’s worth it if Turkey gets hit hard and Spain is taken by the US early.

@Nippon-koku:

Your correct Marsh, Russia has to be at war first.  I’m assuming a G2 attack (which is the most common scenario I run into in my group).  But yes, otherwise they’d have to wait.

I wouldn’t sweat the Russian troops in Turkey.  The planes make it back easily, and any two move units brought to the battle can be back in Moscow by turn 4.  It’s worth it if Turkey gets hit hard and Spain is taken by the US early.

I agree, we also see a lot of G2 Barbarossa and it comes with a devastating J1 attack. This allows the USA to go to Spain early, but the USA also has responsibilities in the Pac to deal with. Opening up Spain creates a two front war for the Germans as they press Moscow, but the USA faces a similar scenario.

The Germans will still have their starting super stack pushing into Russia, but they will stall w/o reinforcements and the Luftwaffe. Early Anglo landings in Spain will force the Germans/Italians to spend on the western front (cutting back on purchases generally made in German held Russian factories). It will also tie up the German air force which is essential for any attack on Moscow.

With an Allied neutral crush pretty much every major power will have multiple fronts to fight, it makes for a very different game.

@WILD:

@Nippon-koku:

Your correct Marsh, Russia has to be at war first.  I’m assuming a G2 attack (which is the most common scenario I run into in my group).  But yes, otherwise they’d have to wait.

I wouldn’t sweat the Russian troops in Turkey.  The planes make it back easily, and any two move units brought to the battle can be back in Moscow by turn 4.  It’s worth it if Turkey gets hit hard and Spain is taken by the US early.

I agree, we also see a lot of G2 Barbarossa and it comes with a devastating J1 attack. This allows the USA to go to Spain early, but the USA also has responsibilities in the Pac to deal with. Opening up Spain creates a two front war for the Germans as they press Moscow, but the USA faces a similar scenario.

The Germans will still have their starting super stack pushing into Russia, but they will stall w/o reinforcements and the Luftwaffe. Early Anglo landings in Spain will force the Germans/Italians to spend on the western front (cutting back on purchases generally made in German held Russian factories). It will also tie up the German air force which is essential for any attack on Moscow.

With an Allied neutral crush pretty much every major power will have multiple fronts to fight, it makes for a very different game.

Great points Bill, and a solid example of how thinking a little differently can produce solid results.  Who would think that a US2 attack on Spain would be a great slow down move against a JDOW1?