• @Fatespinner:

    @Afrikakorps:

    Middle East and Italian Africa
    The tank, mech. infantry from Stalingrad and two infantry from the Caucasus are send towards Iraq. They should take Persia in the second turn and conquer Irak in the third turn. In turn 5 and 6 the remaining tank is able to capture Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland for a total extra income of 14 IPC.

    It sounds quite interesting, but I think this is not possible, as long as russia is a neutral country. In our games Russia is attacked normally on G4. Also invading Scandinavia is not possible as long as you are not at war and if Germany moves some planes to Finland and some more troops with its “fake Operation Sea Lion” transports, it is impossible.

    Also having Scandinavia severely weakens your ability to defend Moscow, because the German tanks are just fast and reach Moscow within four turns after DOW.

    I agree, with a strong buildup of German forces for four turns while they do not do Sea Lion or anything useful, the plan needs to be adapted (will think about this situation later). My experience however is that Germany invades Russia in its first or second turn to prevent it building too much troops. Time is on the side of the Allies, so I can only welcome a slow Axis advance.


  • Sorry Afrikakorps. I removed in my post calling what you said in title. I missed it.


  • @SS:

    Sorry Afrikakorps. I removed in my post calling what you said in title. I missed it.

    Please don’t as you posted the inspiration for the title: The Bright Skies! It was so good I copied it but you ofcourse remain the inventor of the name so all credits to you my friend.


  • OK. I put it back. Thank You  :-)


  • @Afrikakorps:

    I agree, with a strong buildup of German forces for four turns while they do not do Sea Lion or anything useful, the plan needs to be adapted (will think about this situation later). My experience however is that Germany invades Russia in its first or second turn to prevent it building too much troops. Time is on the side of the Allies, so I can only welcome a slow Axis advance.

    It depends on the opponent. My opponents wait in order to weaken US and move all pieces in position, especially if Japan also waits. It is risky to delay the war, but it allowed Japan to move strong into China and Russia without much risk.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    It’s great to see fresh new ideas, and to win, the Allies need a plan.

    One observation I have is that you have committed to 2 plans with Russia, bomber buy and attacking north, that are usually not sustainable in the face of what Germany can bring to bear.  Leaving 1-move troops in or near Leningrad risks them being cut off from the rest of your armies, and the USA wont have the required bombers in place in time to coordinate this, even during a J1.    Unless Germany for some reason delays attacking the USSR, the USSR is already on the ropes and being pushed back before the US is allowed to intervene.  Against a veteran player, any diversion from the critical path with Russia (build up and hide) will be fatal, this includes any expensive buys or drives into novel areas of the board.

    The Iraq-attack with Russia is an awesome idea, but it requires some patience because the UK has 2 opportunities to attack that area before Russia can, and if the Axis has brought all they can (Germany can land fighters in Iraq if Italy takes it), the Russian attack alone will require all your mobility units and planes, and its an odds battle, so you can fail to take the Axis node at the correct moment to get the bonus, whereas if you took it with UK, it would be before the Axis could do much about that.

    In a J1, the USA can go a bit crazier, but your plan actually splits a KGF/KJG because the “bet-everything” Yunnan confrontation is most apt during KJF,  whereas the USA strategy you’ve laid out is part of a KGF.  Same with the leaving the Russians in east asia, that’s part of a KJF and you’ll need those men to keep Moscow alive as part of your KGF.

    Also, you are attacking the Baltic fleet with only bombers;  that’s a fine plan but its going to be costly and it assumes that Germany has a 8 hit navy and not more.    When they see the bombers cross, it should be obvious that they are about to lose their fleet and since they have a pretty big pool of fighters to draw from, it only costs them $16 to dramatically increase their defensive power on the sea, which the Allies have none of (because they are 100% focused on bombers).  If they are able to stalemate this buildup, you wont have much to do other than strat bomb them (not very effective b/c of their numerous production nodes) or pick off any targets of opportunity.  The good part is that if you lose these bombers, that’s not such a big deal because they did the required job, the bad part is that your plan calls for nothing else to exploit what they can do.  8 bombers plus 1 transport of guys can wreck any land zone….

    So, an awesome plan, I’d actually split it into two plans (KJF with all the powers focused on Japan and Yunnan as you laid out, or KGF with USA clearing the seas.)  And it all depends on what the Axis does, because if they J3+/G2, Russia will already be in dire straights by the time the US even gets to move in.


  • So the game is getting close and this week I will be able to test out the Bright Skies strategy!

    The Bright Skies: The United States of America.
    In short this strategy is the Allied version of the Dark Skies, with the USA going full strategic bombers. This post focuses on the perspective from the USA.

    Ofcourse the bombers will be coupled with additional units such as submarines etc. However the main thing that the USA will not do, is to build invasion fleets that focus on either Germany or Japan. Therefore the mission of the USA is not too kill a certain enemy first, so no KJF, KGF or KIF, but too stop a certain first. What do I mean with stopping instead of killing? By weakening a certain Axis nation to such extent, that the combined efforts of the mainland Allies will be able to defeat and kill it.

    The reasoning behind this strategy is that logistics are the main problem of the USA, to get their economic superiority to a place where it can attack the Axis. Western Europe is very easy to defend for the Germans, so is Scandinavia as long as the Baltic Fleet lives. Yes it can be overpowered by the USA, but it takes the USA a lot of IPC to build a strong enough invasion force, time that is used by Axis to advance and win the game. The moment Scandinavia permanently falls to the Allies, might also be the moment the Germans take Moscow. Also by focusing on 1 Axis, it loses threat to the other Axis, that can go rampage. So how to solve these two fundamental problems of the USA: logistics and threat?

    The answer is simple I think: Strategic Bombers. From airbases they can move 7 zones, which is simply amazing, They have the strongest attack value in the game and are relative cheap. Even better, they can bomb industrial complexes therefore hurting the Axis economies, which is crucial for them to maintain momentum. There is one particular target the Strategic Bombers excel against: fleet. While Japan has such a big fleet, it will still take many turns to build enough Bombers to take out its fleet, both Germany and Italy are no great sea-faring nations with only small effective fleets. Germany prefers to build up its luftwaffe instead of its fleet, as its fleet is useless against Russia. Therefore the logical focus of the USA should be to take out Germany’s fleet as soon as possible resulting in SGF (Stop Germany First).

    Even before stopping Germany, the Axis have a much weaker partner, Italy. UK alone is already able to take out this medium Axis player when played aggressive, but the USA can finish them off without any investment. The USA have 3 initial transports and a relative strong fleet based for the Atlantic side. One transport will remain in the Pacific with several blockers to slow down Japan if they decide to attack the USA, but the rest will move to the Atlantic. In the Atlantic they get into the Med, kill any Italians left and then convoy it to death. So actually without any investment, the USA will use its initial forces to SIF (Stop Italy First). This should not be any problem or need much consideration.

    The mission of this strategy is to kill the German Baltic Fleet as soon as possible, and to do this with Strategic Bombers. It can build 4 bombers every turn, more when in war. In USA4 it can attack the Baltic States with 8 bombers, 9 if the USA is at war in his second turn (and the minor complex becomes a major complex). Normally 8 Bombers should be enough to finish the small Baltic Fleet if the Germans have focused on Russia. As soon the Baltic Fleet is destroyed, the Allied have a big strategic advantage where both the UK and Russia will take advantage off. A bit more about the destruction of the Baltic Fleet. The Baltic Fleet is crucial for the Germans to keep its Reich intact, but it is also very easy to defend, that is why the UK is normally not in the position to achieve that with traditional aircraft. Germany is also likely to want to keep its Baltic Fleet alive at all costs, and have two tools to achieve that. 1. investing in airbase in Germany, this is the best thing Germany can do and very cost effective taking in account it is likely to have enough fighters to scramble 6 of them in this case. There is nothing the USA can do except for building up its Bombers until it is strong enough. If Germany wants to rescue its Baltic Fleet the only thing it can do is 2. build up its fleet for more hits. This is great as all those ships are IPC that is not invested in artillery and tanks against Russia.

    So in any case you win, as you give Germany the choice between two bad options: 1. lose the Baltic Fleet or 2. build useless fleet.

    But it does not stop with destroying the Baltic Fleet. The mission of the USA bomber fleet is threefold.
    1. Deny German Logistics (fleet)
    2. Destroy German Military Strength (airforce)
    3. Lower German Production (infustrial complexes)

    It is also ranked on importance, as the first target should be German fleet, second German airforce and third German industrial complexes. By destroying the German fleet you deny his excellent logistics to Scandinavia. By destroying unprotected airforce you greatly reduce its military strength against Russia. By strategic bombing crucial German industrial complexes (those at the Russian front) you lower his income or even cripple his ability to reinforce the Eastern front. Therefore the bomber fleet should always be able to do something useful for the Allied war effort.

    The goal is to send 25 USA bombers to SGF (Stop Germany First), something that only needs 5 turns in the case Japan declares war in its third/fourth turn. These 25 Bombers can threaten a lot of positions of the Germans from London, forcing them to defend their airforce much more careful while giving much more other head aches.

    After the 25 USA bomber fleet has been sent to the Atlantic side, the mission of the USA is to stop Japan. Again not by taking over Japan itself, as this is something very difficult to achieve against a good Japanese player, but stopping them. Ideally the game should end by the surrender of the Axis because they have lost momentum, fast shrinking economies and will definately lose the game.

    Also against Japan the USA will focus on Bombers, however in this case it did not have initial fleet to convoy like it had against Italy. Therefore it becomes a mix of Submarines and Bombers. Ideally in USA6 you buy 6 submarines, and then 2 every turn after, while the rest is invested in Bombers, normally 5 per turn. The combination of massive bombers and submarines should be able to take out lone Japanese fleets, force the main fleet to remain united and therefore slow to react while you flood the Pacific with submarines to convoy the Japanese economy.

    So here you have it, the USA Bright Sky strategy.

    Ofcourse to make this strategy work there are certain things the other Allies should do.
    1. Focus heavily on Yunnan to slow down Japan, do anything in your Allied power to make Japanese life hell in China and try to get China in the ‘out of control’ stage.
    2. UK should be the one doing the small amphibious landings in Westen Europe
    3. Russia mobilize to the north to capitalize on a destroyed baltic fleet taking over Scandinavia.

    I play the USA, Russia and China. This was the first perspective of the Bright Skies strategy, the Russian and Chinese perspective will follow later.

    EDIT: While it might seem to be un-historical to go full Bombers with the USA, remembers that you do follow the historical order of the USA: Italy, Germany, Japan. More than any nation (especially Germany!) it should be the USA that swarms the world with its flying fortresses!


  • Hello guys I just returned from an Allied victory and the strategy worked perfectly. USA early bomber swarm destroyed all Axis fleet in Europe without effort and then bombed Germanies in IC’s to hell. Because Baltic Fleet was destroyed Russia could hold Leningrad and conquer Scandinavia and this extra income let it spiral out of control, in its last turn (T8) USRR collected 89 IPC!

    Also Russian/China strategy worked perfectly as he has to hold too much Japan forces in rhe north allowing China too keep the Burma road open with UK support resulting in a very hard game for Japan trying to contain China.

  • 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    I don’t think I understand the Pacific side of your strategy. You talk about holding Yunnan, but you also say that you start building bombers and subs for the Pacific on turn 6, right? Usually by turn 6, China is eliminated entirely unless it gets major aid from a US Pacific campaign. Who is containing Japan for the first seven turns of the game?

  • TripleA

    Don’t build naval with Germany against bright skies just build a bunch of mech.


  • You lost me when you said Russia will invade Scandinavia. That strategy only works against inexperienced Axis players.  Against anyone decent, you will have a bunch of valuable troops stuck with no place to retreat.  Russia being aggressive in more than one small theater is a guarenteed recipe for failure because of the overwhelming air power of the Axis.


  • Sounds like an inexperienced Axis player.  What did you do to keep Japan focused on the north?  If you stack siberia an experienced Axis player will just go destroy them and then move on.

  • '19 '17 '16

    I tried a strategy with a lot of US bombers in a league game with RegularKid. Went pretty badly. I doubt this one will be very successful.

    @Arthur:

    You lost me when you said Russia will invade Scandinavia. That strategy only works against inexperienced Axis players.  Against anyone decent, you will have a bunch of valuable troops stuck with no place to retreat.  Russia being aggressive in more than one small theater is a guarenteed recipe for failure because of the overwhelming air power of the Axis.

    I know you hate Scandinavia for the Allies but I still think a combined nation force has merit in tying up Germany. You need to involve some fast units for the USSR and can come out with a USA IC on Norway. If that happens, Germany is in some trouble. Obviously, you need to weaken Germany more than you’ve strengthened it by sending Soviet troops away from Moscow. That is hardly impossible though.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    I think he’s talking about attacking it with Russians, not later.  Russians get cut off up there, every guy.  The other allies get there after a long long road.


  • Within several weeks I will have another game, will try the strategy again, still think it has a lot of potential.

    Russia delays Japan in the East while concentrates near Scandinavia.

    Because USRR concentrates north Japan can not go all out on China, leading to their survival for several turns longer making the expansion of Japan slow and painfull.

    USA builds bombers and send them to Scandinavia asap

    USA bombers sink the German fleet and now the USRR can overpower Germany in Scandonavia letting it become rich enough to take Germany on 1 vs 1, because Germany lost Scandinavia early.


  • Be prepared for the German player to completely ignore you and throw everything at Moscow. They will no longer need their fleet or their German factories after a few turns.


  • No problem, around the time he reached Moscow the USA has 20 bombers that can either do a suicide run, stack Moscow that is now able to spam tanks instead of infantry. If Germany ignored the north and thus Leningrad a few USSR transports combined with those USA bombers + UK invasion fleet makes Berlin a possibility.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    The timing of what you are saying doesn’t jibe.  How can America be attacking with 20 bombers (turn 8) at the same general time as Russia is taking scandanavia?  On most turn 8s, Russia is down to 3-5 territories and is fighting for its life.  Russia does not usually own Leningrad, Archangel, Karelia at that juncture, if it does, Germany has utterly failed to preserve its advantage and is about to lose to Russia, not the US.


  • OK 20 bombers might be an overestimate, however I don’t think Russia ia helpless when Germany ignores the nothern troops that are concentrating to take over Scandinacia. The extra income gained from an aggressive Russia north and south might make defending Moscow a lot easier. What the USA bombers will achieve is dead German fleets, board control and low production output for Germany or other useful stuff.

  • '19 '17 '16

    The ipcs gained from an aggressive ussr take a long time trio convert into troops. Moscow will normally fall in the meantime and then that income its lost.

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