• Hello fello gamers. I have a game coming up where my opponent who is controlling Germany is a ship builder. I will be controlling UK, France and the Russians and besides stacking London for full defence, which is an obvious, I would like to make sure his ship purchases will be costly on the Eastern Front. I am open to any suggestions. Should I go all tanks first few turns? Tanks and Mechs? Throw in some air power perhaps or still stick with the Inf/Art build first few turns? What has worked for you guys? I would really like to show this player that the Russians are no joke if he ignores them.

  • '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    Regardless of his first purchase, I think your first turn purchase should be nothing but infantry for two reasons:

    1. You want to widen your lead in total number of units over your opponent.
    2. Infantry take longer to get them where you need them in sufficient numbers to remain effective fodder for your more expensive units.

    While you are pressing West with your infantry, you can build tanks, mechs, and planes to catch up with them.

    Don’t forget to march AA guns with your stack as it moves West, to make him worry about those pesky AA hits if he attacks your stack with air support.

    I applaud you for looking at the opportunity faulty purchasing by your opponent affords you!

    Marsh


  • Thank you Marsh. I was leaning towards the slow movers first but wanted to see support for my initial thoughts first to see if I was thinking right. You confirmed that unless others chime in with different reasons but I think you are right here. However I tend to lean towards a 7Inf/4Art purchase rather then 12 Inf. Simply because rather then rolling 12 @1 on offence I can roll 3 @1 and 8 @2 at the cost of losing only one defending unit @2 on defence.

    The player I will be partnering up against is someone who just loves navy warfare and has benefited from playing with a very strong partner the last couple games. He believes he is invincible. He basically is stating that he will take the axis and wipe my partner and I out with zero problems. What his downfall will be is too many muscle ships and not enough transports, that is on both sides. As I said to him many times to no avail, "a great navy is good but with out loaded transports you are useless because ships can’t grow legs and start taking IPC value territories. After SeaLion is a bust he will be a bust, at least I am betting on this.

  • '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    I have no problem putting some artillery into that mix.

  • '19 '17 '16

    I like 3art for Leningrad USSR1 to threaten Scandanavia and the rest infantry until Germany takes Ukraine or Leningrad.


  • I had a Germany who spent turns on navy ironically not for Sealion. As USSR I spent the first turn building infantry and the next two on infantry and arty. I played complete defense and pounded German and Italian forces on defense, I didn’t launch any major offenses until turn 10 and by then, US and UK pulled Overlord and Market Garden and was about liberate France.

  • '19 '17 '16

    Sounds like a losing strategy. Spending much money on navy makes it hard to take down Moscow.


  • Well the German plan wasn’t terrible overall, he managed to sink the UK fleet around London so we assumed Sealion was going to happen but he never did it. He knew US was going to mass navy to bring forces to Norway, stop it and then bring it to get it in the Med to help Italy stop the UK and French off Egypt where we had a minor factory. It was a solid idea but he messed up by having his navy instead off air force sink UK’s navy thus US sank Germany’s navy. But I never seen someone build the Graf Zepplin and not follow with transports.


  • @Caesar:

    But I never seen someone build the Graf Zepplin and not follow with transports.

    Try two… That’s what my particular opponent did in the game I started this thread for. Turn one he bought some tanks and infantry and planes. I’m like “OK let’s get ready Russia”. Then turn two he spent 60 something dollars in the sea. Zero transports. So the two carriers plus some subs and I think he even added a Cruiser in there. He refuses to listen to anything to make him better, he’s the best. The German navy stayed inside the Danish Strait and killed the Russian sub and Cruiser. He moved it out turn 6 to take an empty Scotland which UK took back on its move.

    Needless to say, the allies won turn 7 when he quit. Rome was captured by the UK, Tokyo by the USA and France liberated by UK as well. USA was moving into Europe coast turn 8. Russia was next to Germany but couldn’t take it for a couple turns due to poor dicing. I want to remove all the ships from my game for whatever nation he plays next. But like he says “I don’t need YG’s videos or your opinion, it’s all about the luck of the dice”.

    I need some competition there is only so many times my friend and I can play one on one without this particular player.

  • Customizer

    Yeah, the only reason to buy surface navy for Germany is if you are trying a Sealion.  Otherwise it’s just a waste of money.  With the help of the Luftwaffe, you can keep the Royal Navy down, but you will never be able to compete with the US Navy.

    As Germany, I do try and buy subs though.  They can sink UK ships and do some convoy raiding to keep the UK income down while you are dealing with Russia.  If you have enough subs, they can even be a distraction for the US when they show up in force.

    We once had a game where our Russia player tried buying ships.  The idea was to sneak an amphibious assault directly on Germany going behind the main German force marching into Russia.  Unfortunately, the German player never left Germany weak on defense so the invasion never really happened.  All those ships just ended up rusting in port and all those lost rubles allowed Moscow to fall much easier than it should have.


  • Russian navy, that is a crazy concept to do. I only once massed a Red Fleet and I did it because the Nazi’s decided to mass one of the largest surface fleets I have ever seen to do Sealion. It failed horrible because we all had to play very different. This was original version. Try to picture all three allied surface fleets off London.


  • German Navy without going Sea Lion is generally insane.  The Axis have a huge economic disadvantage and the only way to get it up is conquering territories.  In Europe the three valid options are:

    1. Egypt
    2. Middle East
    3. Moscow

    If the Axis fails to get to one of these objectives by mid-game, the game is likely over.


  • From what I have seen in G40, it is safe for Germany to spend turn 1 money exclusively on navy without wasting time if your end goal is Moscow. As I said, he did it because he knew that at some point, US was going to fleet to Norway which he did. What bugged my mind was the fact that he did it again on turn 2 and launched an invasion of USSR on turn 4 WITHOUT bringing in any Italy forces until turn 8. That made me and my ally jump for joy.


  • There definitely are times when a small Navy is justified and beneficial.  A few subs combined with planes can be a cost-effective way to sink Allied ships without too expensive of casualties.  A few transports can be a game changer.  The key is the word “few”.  Getting in a Naval arms race with the Allies is going to end badly in most situations.

  • '17 '16

    @ShadowHAwk:

    Let him play russia or anzac next turn at least for russia you can remove all ships from the game besides if he still refuses to think and buy ships start playing online.

    There’s only two major powers that building a fleet is either questionable or insane, and that’s Germany and/or Russia…

    Let this guy play the US, UK or Japan… and if he wants to build ships, that’s not really a bad thing with any of them.

    As for letting him play Russia… well, even he should realize that ships aren’t really a thing for the Russians… or you’ll have one of the most entertaining games of A&A you’ve ever played with the “Soviet Fleet” strategy in-play before your eyes.

    Just keep this guy away from playing Germany… any other power should be fine for him with his style of play.


  • Exactly. Germany should only build the Graf Zepplin and even that’s questionable as you can Sealion fights from France.


  • @ShadowHAwk:

    Let him play russia or anzac next turn at least for russia you can remove all ships from the game besides if he still refuses to think and buy ships start playing online.

    Anzac well he needs ships anyway so not that bad there.

    Last time he played Russia, he purchased two Cruisers R1. With the mentality of “Since Russia is predictable and does the same thing always I will do this”. Anzac would probably work except it would be pretty boring to just play them. To give the UK as well is a bit sketchy if you are partnered with him as any repeated builds in the ocean will be sunk by German air.

    @Wolfshanze:

    @ShadowHAwk:

    Let him play russia or anzac next turn at least for russia you can remove all ships from the game besides if he still refuses to think and buy ships start playing online.

    There’s only two major powers that building a fleet is either questionable or insane, and that’s Germany and/or Russia…

    Let this guy play the US, UK or Japan… and if he wants to build ships, that’s not really a bad thing with any of them.

    As for letting him play Russia… well, even he should realize that ships aren’t really a thing for the Russians… or you’ll have one of the most entertaining games of A&A you’ve ever played with the “Soviet Fleet” strategy in-play before your eyes.

    Just keep this guy away from playing Germany… any other power should be fine for him with his style of play.

    Last game he was the entire axis powers, as is the usual in our games because we are a max of three players with him. As Japan he built all muscle ships. The starting three transports were is only TT that game on that side. Zero inland factory. With the UK helping China due to no threat on India, China was collecting 14 or 15 on the income tracker minus their Burma road objective so in the 20 IPC range when they collect. He did Pearl Harbour J4 I think… Not seeing that it was sandwiched between San Fran and Sydney. He was successful but the US counter wiped him out. So letting him play Japan is a no I think.

    Playing the UK I mentioned the problem above and that hurts whoever his partner is. Giving him the States I think would be the scariest move of all. The allies need the States to be good. The US needs transports fully loaded on whatever side they go. He has yet to play the US/Anzac/China combination and I am dreading that day. He just doesn’t understand that the game is won on land in the end. Ships don’t capture IPCs they only destroy TUV.

    @ShadowHAwk:

    If he only builds cruisers and battleships with the US then you lose the war as allies pretty quickly, same if he does the same with japan.

    Really if he spends 60ipcs on ships in the 2nd round and does not have any transports with that fleet for something usefull he is an idiot.
    Building a few subs each round ( 1-3 ) to deter an US landing and to convoy the UK could be ok-ish but building 2 carriers and a cruiser and some other stuff with germany. That isnt even strange it is stupid.

    You summed it up nicely.

    Sadly, myself as well as my other playing partner are considering kicking him out of our games. Which is sad because he is a good friend and loves the game. This might seem drastic but from our point of view one of us has to be his partner as the Allies which is a disadvantage. Or we play together when he takes the axis and completely annihilate him which becomes boring. We do have the odd time when a fourth player plays and he is a very strong player but mostly we are three. He understands the game mechanics and certain basic strategies but does not plan well for his end game. As for myself I will enter every game with a plan on what I want to do and unless I have to react to something different I purchase and move accordingly. I think he purchases and moves based on what he is doing that turn. He realizes you do need TTs but he says those are later purchases. It’s too long of a wait. I might seem like a A-hole because of this but I’ve really tried to help. Sent him links to YG’s videos as well as pages on these forums about strategies and moves. He absolutely refuses to use “someone else’s strategy”. I do understand his point, axis and allies is about doing your strategy and trying to win with whatever you want to do. But you will never get better unless you learn from mistakes of your own as well as other people’s ideas. If he refuses to do both, we don’t have fun when he is in the game.

  • '17 '16

    This may blow the mind…

    How about being honest with him about his playstyle and how it effects you and your friend(s).

    Be direct and upfront…

    “Hey pal, you know how you always tend to build cruisers, battleships and carriers no matter which nation you play, even Russia?.. you know how you like never buy transports, and/or never enough ground troops cuz you’re always building muscle ships?  Ya, well that always makes you lose, and quite frankly, nobody wants you on their team, and playing against you is so easy its boring… you either need to try different strategies, be a little more competitive, or we’re just going to stop playing with you… if you’re open to new ideas/strategies that might make you a better player, we can offer some advice or point you to places where you can get it… otherwise, we like you as a friend, but we just don’t want to play A&A with you anymore”.

    -End of Line-

    Its called the honest direct approach… when all else fails, try being brutally honest.  Sounds like nothing else has worked and you’re about to give up on him anyways.


  • You mentioned in an earlier post that this guy loves naval warfare, and I think that this is perhaps the basic problem: he’s playing the wrong game.  Global 1940 is a game with a naval component, not a naval game.  If he’s too focussed on the naval aspects of WWII to ignore the balanced approach that A&A requires, then he should be playing something that better reflects his interests.  Navwar (http://www.navwar.co.uk/nav/pdf/webcat.pdf) produces a huge variety of naval scale miniatures, and also publishes naval warfare rules for various eras.  Make the suggestion to him that he might want to check out their website.


  • Honestly, you’re going to have to sit him down and just train him by playing training games with him. I have a buddy who is the exact opposite of your friend. He loves land warfare but doesn’t have a clue with navy. He usually plays Germany which is no issue with a land force but every time he plays as Japan, his navy gets whipped and he loses easy in the Pacific. He owns the original version, I am kind of worried about having him play G40 but I am usually an allied power.

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