Having played A&A world for years, myself and my 2 wargame partners have been trying our hand at A&A Europe…
We are pretty ruthless players, whichever side any of us play, and we believe that going into battle heavy handed and v strong is a defining aspect of these games. You want to wipe out the opposition by sheer numbers and leave a big force to defend behind.
Some innitial comments on A&A europe, it is very hard for the germans to win, and nearly impossible if one allows russia to use allied aircraft as their own, once parked in russia by both allies. The russians end up with 3 bombers and around 5 fighters and can always use these in big battles to back up those constant border fights with the germans as the allies keep building up each round. therefore we took that senario out of our games, to make the uk & usa work hard to save russia. It makes the game far more even, though still difficult for a german victory.
Heres a way to play those nasty germans.
I believe the only way to win with germany is to gain the oil money cash asap, as they will always be trying to grab a couple of points from the russians each round, only to lose them next turn. the germans need money to win, and they have to make the usa pay for that oil money in africa.
Buy 4 troops with your extra 12ipcs and place them on lybia (the russians should in return place 4 extra troops on leningrad to hold that factory from a german attack 1st round) if russia lose that factory on round 1 they are in trouble…
Spend the 40 ipcs on troops and art, do that for the first 2 or 3 rounds, your gonna need loads of land units, build up and wait until you start buying tanks.
Use the tank from tunisa and blitz through…5 units against 3 british, you should win thus knocking the uk out of africa, despite anything they may counterattack, there is too much in the med for the german / italians. Use the german battleship and take i art & 1 troop to attack malta…vital to take care of the brit fighter straight away.
Use the sub down south and the destroyer to take out the brit destroyer in gibralter. use all other the subs (passing thru the convoy zone in the atlantic too) and all but one fighter on the british fleet surrounding the uk. you will lose the majority of the subs but you need to knock the allied fleet build up right from the off. The germans need breathing space for a few rounds and the only way to do that is to win a pyric victory in the atlantic…
Attack all the russian fronts including a dodgy battle against the 5 units on the ukrane, use the spare german fighter here too, and the 2 tanks that can reach. Use the german transport to send a couple of land units into the baltic states and wipe out those grey russian fronts. you won’t hold them all but the germans need to hit russia hard on the first round, as they have a big army to move forward on their turn. One thing the russians have is numbers, but their cash is limited as is their tech strength.
Forget the allies, hit russia every time and wait for the inevitable allied fleet and the expected normandy invasion…
On movement phase push every available german unit east and park the bomber within range of the african campaign, and get a fighter near too.
After that, keep the pressure on africa and get the oil money, it will be the usa that end up paying for it, and an extra 4,6,8 in the german coffers makes a big difference to the russian front.
Unless the usa spend all their money on transports and destroyers for 3 rounds to re-take the atlantic, with the help of the uk, they will not get there in time to help russia who will be fighting the germans on their own for 3 / 4 rounds. it is vital for the allies to get their fighters over to leningrad to defend from round 1 on…this is why its so inportant for russia to hold leningrad innitally.
The germans can literally empty france and push every unit east if they conquer the brit fleet 1st round. If they end up with a few subs, perhaps they can get a couple more to annoy the allies further, but the main battles are in the east.
If the germans arent at the gates of moscow by round 5, they’re probably finished, as history decided…tech weapons werent enough they need tanks, art and tons of troops.
Weve had some mamouth battles, pieces stacked up high and it always boils down to german gile, astute purchasing and the oil money…
Remember, go in really heavy and destroy the enemy in one round of dice throwing, the ruskies cannot afford the losses.
There are a number of senarios weve tried including taking britain with a german fleet and 3 rounds of attempted landings on the uk…this one worked (took britain on the 3rd round, and their cash) well when i tested it…until my opponent used the brit airforce in a suicidal first attack as soon as the germans built a fleet in the north…job done and a waste of german money! dont bother with that one!
Good luck, should you decide upon this mission!