• Moderator

    Like Russia, Germany needs help from its allies to win, but unlike the Allies, it is not easy for Japan to ship troops to Europe, so other then possible fighter support the real help Germany receives is when Japan can mount pressure on Moscow.  So how long does this take?  Realistically probably about 4 rounds before Japan can really make Russia notice them.  So what does this mean for Germany?  It means you don’t have to rush to Moscow or overextend yourself early, but you do have to make gains in Europe and Afr and solidify your position so that as Japan is pressuring Moscow you can pressure them as well.  While it is possible for one of the Axis to take out Moscow, it is nice to be able to provide the 1-2 punch just in case.

    So how does Germany build up early on and what do they need to do?

    First, I’m going to make a couple of assumptions:

    1)  Any bid units are placed in Libya
    2)  Russia has attacked Wrus and Belo or Ukr

    Also, I’m only going to focus on German land purchases for G1.  There are viable strategies for German naval purchases but I think it is better to first get a feel for what is going on in Europe before spending resources on ships.

    Okay, now back to what Germany needs to do.  After Russia’s turn and before your purchases, you need to survey the board and plan out your attacks.  You must do this because you want to make sure that what you buy compliments your strategy.  Don’t just buy things and then work around it, I guess that is true for all countries, but Germany in particular since they are the most likely target of the Allies and you can’t afford any misteps.

    After surveying the board you are going to see Wrus in Russian hands and most likely either Belo or Ukr as well.  Wrus is a lost cause at the start so you can probably write off any counter early and not really consider it.  Only in rare cases may there be an opening but since we are talking about the basics I think we can leave the rare cases for another day.
    Belo or Ukr on the other hand can be countered, but before we get to those potential battles lets look at Germany’s “must attacks”, “should attacks”, and “would like to attack if I had the resources”.

    I think the “must attacks” are the UK BB in Sz 13, Egy, Kar (since it is fairly easy for the Nor troops to attack), and the Ukr counter (if attacked by Rus).  I’d classify the UK DD in Sz 15 and the counter of Belo as “should attacks”.  And in the “if you have the resources” you might want to take a shot at the UK trn off the coast of Canada.
    You can all but rule out attacking the UK fleet in Sz 2, it just isn’t worth the risk IMO.  Perhaps if you go with a German Naval strategy, but that is another paper.

    You should have no trouble finding the resources to hit the BB, the DD, Kar, and Egy.  I will send:
    1 sub, 4 ftrs to Sz 13
    1 trn, 1 bb, 1 ftr to Sz 15
    Lib troops + SE troops + bom to Egy
    Nor inf to Kar (although if it is empty just send 1 inf since you can non-com 2 others to WE or EE)

    Now with a sufficient bid in Lib you can go after the E Can trn with a sub, and use your BB and trn to help take out the UK BB as well as take Gib.  While you Lib troops and bid take out Egy.  That also could free up a ftr or 2 for another attack.

    I prefer to go to Egy heavy though to make sure I kill that UK ftr and seal off the canal.

    Now what do you do about Belo or Ukr?

    In the case of Belo you can usually pull a ftr from Ukr and take it back with 2-3 inf, 1 ftr, if you want to go that route.  You can also pull a ftr from Sz 13 or Sz 15 if you need another ftr somewhere else.

    In the case of Ukr, you may need to commit an armor.  If Russia only has 1 tank left you may be able to get away with 2-3 inf plus a ftr, but if they take with 3-4 units you are going to have to go after it some what heavily like 4 inf, 2 arm.
    It is in this case you may want to check the feasibility of sending ALL available ground units into Ukr.  You have to see what Russia can counter with but if they moved some troops East and maybe didn’t buy more tanks, you may have an opportunity to take back Ukr and hold it.  Also, with a strong Lib bid it may free up your trn and BB to help out and help you reinforce Ukr.  (This is also why you need to plan your attacks prior to commiting to your purchases, since a move like this requires more tanks to be bought)

    But for the sake of this article and keeping things basic, lets assume it is either not safe to attack and stack Ukr or you are just not comfortable with the move.  However you will be able to counter Russia with 3-4 inf, 1 arm (or use a ftr from Sz 13 or 15, maybe use your bom, etc.)

    So what do you buy so you can do your combat moves and make this all happen?

    Since you are not planning on blitzing to Mos and you’d like to wait until Japan is a threat to Mos you are safe to buy a good supply of infantry with a mix of rt or arm.  This way you can build up your defenses and as you move the infantry to the front lines then you can buy your armor as it get closer to attack time.  I think any one of these buys is good for a land based strat:
    12 inf, 1 rt
    10 inf, 2 arm
    7 inf, 1 rt, 3 arm
    8 inf, 4 rt
    10 inf, 1 ftr

    Really Germany has loads of options, but with a good supply of inf you can also maintain the needed threat on Afr (as long as your trn is above water) and continue to keep your IPCs up to fund your expansion and eventual move that should come around at about ~Rd 4.

    Now that you’ve planned out your combats and made you purchases accordingly how are things going to look after combat?

    If you attacked Sz 13, Sz 15/Egy, Kar, and countered Belo/Ukr, you should clear Sz 13 with only the loss of your sub, cleared Sz 15 without any losses (due to 2 hit BB), taken Egy with about 4 land units left (if you bid 2 units to Lib), taken Kar with 1-2 units, and recalimed Belo/Ukr with 1-3 units left.

    Now during Non-Combat you want to start to fortify Europe in preperation for your mid-game offensive.  I like to move all available arm to EE to maintain the threat on Ukr preventing an Allied move, land 4 ftrs in WE with an extra inf moved there while the rest of the German inf go to EE and any SE units left can move to Balk.  Land your bom and other ftr in Lib (or SE) while moving the inf and art from Alg to Lib.

    You can now place 10 units in Ger with the remainder in SE.  Just make sure you have 2 units available for transport on G2.

    So if you bought 10 inf, 2 arm your likely to end up with something like this after G1

    Kar:  1-2 inf
    Belo:  1-2 inf (if you had to counter), 1 inf (if Rus attacked Ukr)
    Ukr:  1-2 inf, 1 arm (if you had to counter), 1 inf (if Rus attacked Belo)
    EE:  ~5-7 inf, 5-6 arm (possibly 1 rt pending Russia’s attacks)
    Balk:  1 inf, 1 rt
    WE:  ~3 inf, 4 ftrs, aa
    Ger:  9 inf, 1 arm
    SE:  1 inf, 1 arm, 1 ftr
    Lib:  1 inf, 1 rt, 1 bom
    Egy:  ~2 inf, 2 arm
    (one more possible ftr pending Russia’s attack)

    You now have a solid defense starting to form while being able to maintain trading in Europe, a threat on Ukr, and the ability to reinforce Afr.

    You’ll want to continue to send 1-2 inf to WE as the Allies build up with the rest of the troops going to EE.  You can also continue to send 2 units to Egy/Trj, but I would stop once you control both Egy and Trj and then I’d consider getting my BB and trn out of the Med before the Allies sink them.


  • DM, do you plan to talk about the “lurch”?  To me, that’s basic to any German strategy, since, IMO, you can’t effectively go after Moscow (in most situations) without employing that maneuver.  At least, I’ve not seen it done.  I think a basic rookie mistake is to try to hold on to Western Europe at all costs, at the cost of never getting traction on the Eastern front.  I don’t think this is advanced tactics by any means.


  • And by “lurch”, I mean shifting German forces out of Western Europe and toward Russia, all in one shift, all in one turn.  I am not sure if that’s what you mean by “lurch”, but that’s what I am referring to.

  • Moderator

    I think I will eventually, but I think I’ll save that for a whole seperate post/article.  I wasn’t go to go much beyond G1 here, in just sort of setting up Germany’s postition.

  • 2007 AAR League

    ive thought about doing what gamer said several times

    load up western heavy then around turn 5 or so make a big eastern shift

  • Moderator

    I completed the initial post.
    I decided to leave out a lot about Africa since it got a bit long winded and I felt a future article just on Africa for Germany might be better.

  • 2007 AAR League

    Africa for me is one of the most important things, I take it and hold it hard to the last man with the reason being it takes a lot of time from the allies to clean that up, and you will most likely have all allies hitting Germany hard.

    nothing depresses them more then all 3 hitting Germany hard and you still making 35+ IPC a turn with Japan building up.

    It also keeps the UK honest and keeps them “drained” for a better part of the war as they won’t be making any big purchases just 6-8 Inf and mayb an odd Rtl or Arm


  • And a replacement fleet when they lose their first fleet also, right No Mercy?  :evil:

  • 2007 AAR League

    that was fine with me…

    I was winning the war…and that cost you 8 fgts, 1 bmb from a German force not making any forward moves… and a US med fleet saying hello.

    but dice changed that we both see…  :-D

  • Founder TripleA Admin

    Posted to website.


  • @nuno:

    Are these strategies intended for beginners?

    As a general rule, YES.  They are intended for people who have found their way here so that they can read about solid fundamental strategic concepts and LEARN from them.

    Now, I will ask you one last time Nuno… Is your purpose here to participate and to further discussion and knowledge, or to make snide comments from the peanut gallery?

    The first is welcome, the second will earn you a site ban…

  • Moderator

    @nuno:

    Are these strategies intended for beginners?

    Correctomundo.

    As Switch pointed, Any type of feedback would be great, or if you would like to write your own article that would be great too.  Djensen has openly posted he’s looking for beginner strats and information that will help get people started.

    Although, we have been mostly dealing with Revised lately, I’m not sure if you play that verison.

    In the future, I and others would like to post more “advanced” strats, but it takes time.

    I’d like to do a “Lurch” article and eventually the Beginner UK, Jap, and US articles.  I’d also like to do an Afr article on how many resources should you send and when are you doing more harm than good, I’d also like to post a US Pac strat I use, but again it takes time.

    I’m hoping someone else may tackle the G1 Navy approach, as I’m not that big of a fan, but I could write about if I had to.


  • I may be ready with some variations on the Kreigsmarine in the near future, but I need someone to accept a League game from me to work it out :-)

  • 2007 AAR League

    ill try your new kriegs strat. I need another win =]


  • I’ll take that game Ezto…

    Last time I Outlasted your USA KJF… let’s see if i can pull of a second win…

  • 2007 AAR League

    Ive grown  :-o ahahahahha


  • And we are off topic in this thread.

    I have set up the game thread and will post R1 shortly…

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    I’ve begun to like using Egypt as a staging ground for Germany to push into the middle east, especially when the allies are going for a kill japan first strategy.

    This allows Germany to bring pressure to bear on India early. (BB, Trn + 2 units as well as those you have walked to Persia from Egypt) and allows Germany to hit S. Africa with Transport power if need be.

    I’ve also found that an investment in a second transport in the Med once you have Russia in a defensive posture, can really pay off in annoying the allies or keeping Africa yours for the duration.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    I would never, ever, use this strategy again.  But in this game, against competent opponents, it did work.

    http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=10548.0

    A german battleship on G1 with a transport.

    I’m not so sure it was superior german tactics or anything, as much as it was the Allies not quite thinking through exactly what the best options would be.

    Near the end of the game I explain my lapse in judgement with good reason, and I have used the same theories for Japan to defeat KJF and so far it has worked 100% of the time.

    I like the theory of German navy, Probably the best build for buck is 2 trannies in the baltic, and then use your BB and tranny to invade gibraltar.  4 Transports, 4 or 5 Fighters, and a bomber, can then hit England.

    However the Best german naval strategy lies in the possibility of finding a way to afford a Complex in WE on G1.  That way any future naval maneuvers are not restricted by your inability to move your navy then build into it.

    I have a few more games and theories I can post as examples if anyone cares?


  • One fundamentally flawed assumption though that greatly helped that game was the Russian sub didn’t move. It should always move to SZ2. Without it they couldn’t defend or block as efficiently.

    I do like German navy right now. I find it funny how Csub is always right about the general idea. They were right about linking navy serving Germany better than getting screwed in Africa, they were right about KJF being very hard, and they were even right about how to do KJF if you do try it.

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