• @simon33:

    ^ It matters not.

    Without reinforcing London UK1, a 2inf 6art buy can be turned to Sea Lion easily.

    I disagree, because lets say you toss your first buy away like putting a minor in Egypt. Germany ain’t going to try and invade UK with one transport so the next move would have to be transports and UK can then build infantry and that should be enough to stop Sea Lion.

  • '17 '16 '13 '12

    @Caesar:

    @simon33:

    ^ It matters not.

    Without reinforcing London UK1, a 2inf 6art buy can be turned to Sea Lion easily.

    I disagree, because lets say you toss your first buy away like putting a minor in Egypt. Germany ain’t going to try and invade UK with one transport so the next move would have to be transports and UK can then build infantry and that should be enough to stop Sea Lion.

    Successful strategic bombing run can make a difference here, or if UK fighters can’t get back to London on time.

  • '19 '17 '16

    UK can only build 10 infantry UK2 which isn’t enough to defend against a 10 transport attack on G3.

    Look at this game where a bid allowed a UK1 purchase of 3 fighters into London and Sea Lion was not stopped G3: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=41199.45

    Now it could have gone down differently but no infantry is a bad idea. ABH showed me that in one of my first league games.

  • '16 '15 '10

    Sometimes Germany takes London on G3 yet Allies are in a better position than they would be in a comparable Barbarossa game.  Whether a G3 take was an overall success depends on how much material Germany lost.

    Assuming UK is attacking 97 all in, it’s hard for UK to feel fully safe even after an all-ground G1 buy.  Even if UK buys 9 inf, it could still be vulnerable if Germany buys 8-10 trn G2.  6 inf 1 fig is what I’ve traditionally gone with. But depending on G1 outcomes and moves, there could be a good case for 2 fig 2 inf.  In some cases UK can even get away with 1 AB 4 inf, but that’s because Japan declared J1 and USA can help out.


  • Sea Lion isn’t a serious contender to me anymore because Axis London also allows USSR to declare war right then and there and I believe US is also free to join and Germany isn’t going to hold London without reinforcing it which weakens the border against USSR so when it look at it like this, it might be favorable for UK to be ironically be captured in the long run.


  • Sea lion has become situational. If I’m Germany and the UK didn’t build anything for London UK1 I would probably buy the 9-10 transports, and SBR London on G2. Even if I was thinking Barbarossa, and bought ground units for Berlin, I would still have to consider Sea lion. With that said, normally my G1 buy would include either 1 surface ship (maybe just a dd) and/or bmr to keep all options on the table. If the UK doesn’t do the responsible thing and add some defense to London, I think you have to make them pay. Especially in a face to face game with people you play with a lot. You can’t always cry wolf, sometimes you have to call your own bluff to keep them wondering for future games. Yea, Sea lion may or may not end in an Axis victory, but you can’t become predictable IMO. In order for a Sea lion faint to work, you have to follow through every now and again. Plus if Japan can also take India, then you have removed a major player from the table. Say the UK built an IC for Egypt UK1, take London on G3 and they can’t build in Africa (if just for a few turns).


  • I feel like if Sea Lion is going to be done by Germany, you should also work with Japan by having them taking India.

  • 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    Just throwing my two cents into the ring on what I take to be the original post’s question on how each Allied power should approach the Global '40 game. The answers above have been great, but I like the question, and I wanted to participate!

    USSR: You generally have enough spare resources for one projection of power away from Moscow. You can either build tanks to delay the German advance into eastern Europe, or invade Norway/Finland, or hold your ground in Siberia, or reinforce China, or send troops to the Middle East to pick up the Spread of Communism national objective. You probably can’t afford to do two of those things, and you definitely can’t afford to do three of them or build a carrier. About 90% of Russia’s resources should go toward building infantry to hold Moscow – not much more, and not much less.

    USA: As other commenters have noted, you’ll need to focus on one side of the board or the other for the first few turns in order to have a meaningful impact. One option is to build just enough of an Atlantic fleet to liberate North Africa, and then put the rest of your cash into the Pacific. Another option is to build just enough of a Pacific fleet to protect a 2 infantry-per-turn delivery to Honolulu, and put the rest of your cash into the Atlantic. Submarines can be a useful part of an anti-Japanese strategy because Japan has so many convoy zones and can’t quite afford to build enough destroyers to protect them all, but you can’t rely entirely on submarines – you have to also build loaded transports and carrier groups in order to protect Sydney and Calcutta.

    UK: You start the game with only 2 transports in the Suez / India region, and 5 worthy goals to accomplish: attack Tobruk, attack Ethiopia, activate Persia, reinforce Greece, and claim Java from the neutral Dutch. This is a tough choice, but my current opinion is that the 2 most urgent goals are activating Persia and claiming Java, because those are the goals that help the UK Pacific the most, and the UK Pacific is fragile – once Japan eats Malaya, the UK Pacific can easily go down to single-digit income, so having a factory in Persia cranking out mech. infantry to support Calcutta, or even just having the extra 4 income per turn to spend on infantry in Calcutta can definitely turn the tide. Tobruk, Ethiopia, and Greece can all be dealt with a little later in the game. Another point to keep in mind is that rebuilding the UK Atlantic fleet is optional, and that it’s an all-or-nothing kind of activity – if you sink 100% of your income in South Africa and the Middle East, that’s fine. If you build a carrier group and a couple of loaded transports and start seriously threatening France, Norway, and Western Germany, that’s fine. But if you build transports only to have them be sunk by the Luftwaffe, or if you build a small fleet that can’t force Germany to re-assign significant assets to the Western Front, then you’re wasting the cash that you would need in order to fully succeed in the Middle East without actually accomplishing any goals that are worth the trade-off.

    France: Not that relevant in a typical game. Your destroyer near Madagascar should patrol the Indian Ocean in a Balanced Mod game to help UK-Pacific protect its national objective for not having any Axis subs in the Western Indian Ocean.

    China: Accept that you’re going to be eliminated, and just try to cause as much trouble as possible for as long as possible while you bleed out. Sometimes the threat is mightier than the execution – if you attack a Japanese stack in Yunnan and win, but then you have no more infantry and Japan can ignore you for the rest of the game, it’s probably not worth it. Better to force Japan to commit aircraft to the Chinese front for 5+ turns, even if Japan is constantly advancing.

    ANZAC: I recommend against building a factory in Queensland. It does very little to accelerate your naval deployments, because on the turn when you spend 12 IPCs to build a factory there, you could have instead built a cruiser in New South Wales, and that cruiser could have moved to Queensland on the turn that it otherwise would have been built at the Queensland factory. The factory buys you a bit of flexibility (you can choose your exact mix of ships on the turn you want them, instead of having to plan a turn ahead), but it doesn’t really help you deliver ships to the front line any faster. A Queensland factory lets you build more than 3 infantry per turn, so that you can defend against a serious Japanese invasion…but it also puts one of your factories that much closer to Japan’s fleet, gives you another space that you have to defend, and is unlikely to pay for itself in the time available. Let’s say you have 16 IPCs per turn, on average. If on turn 1 you build 1 infantry and 1 minor factory, then on turns 2, 3, and 4 you can build 5 infantry each, for a total of 16 defensive infantry (16 HP, 32 punch). Alternatively, on turns 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, you can build 2 infantry and a fighter, for a total of 10 infantry and 5 fighters (15 HP, 40 punch). The second option is more flexible, requires Japan to come further out of its way to come get you, and gives America more time to help defend you.


  • What’s the response if Sea Lion succeeds and the German has tons of units left?  The opponent strafed Scotland G2 and then invaded it G3.  So on G4 he hit me with about 48 units plus 4 bombers and a fighter.  I’d done 6 inf + 1 ftr UK1 but had lost all my fighters except that one in scrambling in sea zones (actually why his Luftwaffe was so small) and otherwise just 100% infantry.  My dice didn’t seem to do well so he still has like 20+ units in London.  My American bombers and fleet have about a 50/50 shot of taking out his transports.

    Is this a sort of normal situation?  I don’t know how this or Calcutta Crush can be stopped.  I’m desperately hoping the US can stop Japan in Australia and that USSR can steamroll Europe but it’s not looking good.

    Also what’s a good fleet build for US at 74 IPCs?

  • '19 '17 '16

    Did you reinforce London UK2 and in this case UK3? 20 units in London is an awful lot. Unless USSR can push back to Germany significantly, it might be all over. USSR should have been building up offensive units such as artillery when the transports dropped G2.

    I’d still take a 50/50 to sink his transports. Then you can indeed build up a US fleet which can liberate it.


  • I moved the Quebec troops to London and the Ontario troops to Scotland.  Otherwise I lost the starting fighters but added 6 inf + Fighter UK1, 10 infantry UK2, and 9 infantry UK3.  He had 4 bombers, 9 tanks, 1 fighter, 10 arty, 5 mech, and 24 infantry with bombards from cruiser and BB (IIRC we were playing FtF and he didn’t have time to send me a Triple A save before he went on vacation).  It’s probably more than 20 units actually since I barely made a dent in the infantry.

    He also managed a Calcutta Crush in the Pacific.  He figures it’ll take him 4 turns to get Sydney.  I put out some blockers in the central Pacific to keep his fleet off of mine which just took the Carolines but he’s working on a way to sweep them aside so he can do an air raid to wipe my fleet and non-combat move his carriers so they can land.  I still have a small group of ships in Pearl and 4 fighters on Gilbert Islands so he’s worried about counter attacks.  But he has clear shot at controlling money islands and just that Carolines fleet between him and Sydney.

    For my part I’ve got Africa and ME.  French fleet survived along with a couple of UK ships in Med so I’m convoying Italy.  I’ve landed a UK tank in Southern France and I have some US troops ready to land as well.

    Russia I’d been pretty aggressive with since there was no doubt about Sea Lion.  I actually built a couple of transports and tons of tanks, mech, and arty.  I took Finland, Norway, and Denmark as well as Poland, Slovakia/Hungary, and Romania.  He used Italian blockers to stop me from blitzing further.  The Balkans have like 1 or 2 Italian tanks left, and Italy only has a small stack of infantry (like 6) left on Rome.  He’s got pretty big stacks on Germany and Western Germany but that’s about it.  So if I can manage to take out his transports I can pretty much save Europe but not likely to get London back anytime soon.

  • '19 '17 '16

    Russia sounds pretty good then, even if the fleet sounds wasteful. If you can’t sink the Kriegsmarine, you won’t be able to hold London if you can take it back.

    If UK holds all the Middle East then that income is lost and you can’t build an IC there either.

    One option is a neutral crush which may allow ANZAC or even USA to take Saudi Arabia although I’m not sure that’s a good idea really.

    If UK are dead on both sides of the board, they might stay that way. China might give Japan some trouble.

    Not sure if you can save this game but that’s a few thoughts there. The key might be going after Germany with USSR big time.


  • Can russia send some tanks and mech to help uk pacific or china?

    Usa sinks German transports so the wermacht become effectively  pows in london. Then convoy them hard so they gain no benefit from uk territory.

    Maybe hit neutrals for extra cash.

  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    @KingCheops:

    I moved the Quebec troops to London and the Ontario troops to Scotland.  Otherwise I lost the starting fighters but added 6 inf + Fighter UK1, 10 infantry UK2, and 9 infantry UK3.  He had 4 bombers, 9 tanks, 1 fighter, 10 arty, 5 mech, and 24 infantry with bombards from cruiser and BB (IIRC we were playing FtF and he didn’t have time to send me a Triple A save before he went on vacation).  It’s probably more than 20 units actually since I barely made a dent in the infantry.

    He also managed a Calcutta Crush in the Pacific.  He figures it’ll take him 4 turns to get Sydney.  I put out some blockers in the central Pacific to keep his fleet off of mine which just took the Carolines but he’s working on a way to sweep them aside so he can do an air raid to wipe my fleet and non-combat move his carriers so they can land.  I still have a small group of ships in Pearl and 4 fighters on Gilbert Islands so he’s worried about counter attacks.  But he has clear shot at controlling money islands and just that Carolines fleet between him and Sydney.

    For my part I’ve got Africa and ME.  French fleet survived along with a couple of UK ships in Med so I’m convoying Italy.  I’ve landed a UK tank in Southern France and I have some US troops ready to land as well.

    Russia I’d been pretty aggressive with since there was no doubt about Sea Lion.  I actually built a couple of transports and tons of tanks, mech, and arty.  I took Finland, Norway, and Denmark as well as Poland, Slovakia/Hungary, and Romania.  He used Italian blockers to stop me from blitzing further.  The Balkans have like 1 or 2 Italian tanks left, and Italy only has a small stack of infantry (like 6) left on Rome.  He’s got pretty big stacks on Germany and Western Germany but that’s about it.  So if I can manage to take out his transports I can pretty much save Europe but not likely to get London back anytime soon.

    So Russia, having captured all of those territories, would have an income of at least 60 and probably more. Germany, having lost the same territories, can’t have much more than about 35, and Italy is also in poor shape if you have Africa and the Middle East. Those “tons” of Russian tanks and mechs should soon be able to overrun the Balkans as well, making the Bear even bigger and adding to Axis woes (I’m assuming here that Germany has no way of recapturing the territories mentioned on a permanent basis without Russia stepping in again on their turn).
    In other words, it seems like Russia should easily be able to overcome the European Axis all by itself. Which implies that while it may not “feel” right, there’s absolutely no compelling reason to liberate London in the first place. Within some five rounds, it may even become the last German holdout  :-D

    As for the US: as tempting as it may be to gain naval supremacy over Germany in order to liberate London and re-activate the UK as an income-generating Allied power, your description of the situation in the Pacific seems quite alarming. Therefore, I’d say that any further US effort in the European theater is waste of resources that should be used to stop Japan from going against the tide of the overall war by scoring a Pacific victory, So my advice would be to immediately go full-Pacific with the US, including anything that is now on the Atlantic side of the board, and save Sydney and Honolulu.


  • @Herr:

    As for the US: as tempting as it may be to gain naval supremacy over Germany in order to liberate London and re-activate the UK as an income-generating Allied power, your description of the situation in the Pacific seems quite alarming. Therefore, I’d say that any further US effort in the European theater is waste of resources that should be used to stop Japan from going against the tide of the overall war by scoring a Pacific victory, So my advice would be to immediately go full-Pacific with the US, including anything that is now on the Atlantic side of the board, and save Sydney and Honolulu.

    Thanks everyone so far for the help!

    This was my thinking with the US as well.  What do people feel is a good fleet buy for 74 IPC?  He’ll have 4 CVs with a max of 4 tac and 4 fighters on them in the Carolines (less casualties from sea battle so I’ll still have the territory).  He’ll also have a certain amount of ships scattered around Central Pacific because he’s worried my screens (3 DD) will link up with the Pearl fleet (SS, DD, CV) and hit his CVs.  I also have 4 fighters sitting in Gilbert Islands.

    The idea is I need to take out a portion of his fleet and somehow get down to Australia.  I’m thinking 2 CV, Battleship, DD, 2 SS, with 2 IPC left for next round.

    In regards to Russia I think I can send some troops (like 3 mech, 3 tank) to help back east.  He’s got his 80 IPC build next round but only has 26 factory capacity on the mainland (23 if UK takes Normandy but not France).

    Sorry this is kind of sketchy but again FtF without a Triple A save so I can’t remember exactly what was on the boards.

  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    @KingCheops:

    Thanks everyone so far for the help!

    You’re welcome.  :-)

    @KingCheops:

    This was my thinking with the US as well.  What do people feel is a good fleet buy for 74 IPC?  He’ll have 4 CVs with a max of 4 tac and 4 fighters on them in the Carolines (less casualties from sea battle so I’ll still have the territory).  He’ll also have a certain amount of ships scattered around Central Pacific because he’s worried my screens (3 DD) will link up with the Pearl fleet (SS, DD, CV) and hit his CVs.  I also have 4 fighters sitting in Gilbert Islands.

    The idea is I need to take out a portion of his fleet and somehow get down to Australia.  I’m thinking 2 CV, Battleship, DD, 2 SS, with 2 IPC left for next round.

    I’m assuming that you also have planes to put on those CV’s. In that case, it seems reasonable though I’m not a big fan of buying BB’s and would rather consider yet another CV (if you have the planes) and more DD’s instead of SS’s. I do like SS buys, but if Japan can only attack with planes (which seems to be the case here), you’ll need to guard against those. Generally speaking it’s of course difficult to say what you should do based on the information available, but if you want to guard Australia, then I’m not sure you need to actually attack his fleet. Consider parking the USN in SZ 54 (off Queensland) to just block him. Anzac fighters can go to Queensland to scramble if he should attack. Of course, you need to take care not to lose Hawaii instead.

    @KingCheops:

    In regards to Russia I think I can send some troops (like 3 mech, 3 tank) to help back east.  He’s got his 80 IPC build next round but only has 26 factory capacity on the mainland (23 if UK takes Normandy but not France).

    So I suppose Germany has 80 IPC’s for one round because it just took the UK money and he’ll then fall back to his regular income. He’ll probably be buying inf and art, and considering that he already has a few pretty big stacks, I’d be hesitant to send any Russians east. Don’t allow Germany to regain the initiative in Europe: the tide can turn against you if you lose those eastern European territories and/or Scandinavia which he might also attack with all those transports available.


  • I wouldn’t bother with Russia sending reinforcements to Asia.  If they can contain Germany and Italy for a long time, the US+ANZAC can easily clean up in the Pacific.

    If you are concerned about Sydney falling, consider a big US fighter build.  They can make it to Queensland in 2 turns, giving a huge defensive boost to the land forces while also giving you flexibility to attack Japanese naval forces.


  • @Caesar:

    @simon33:

    ^ It matters not.

    Without reinforcing London UK1, a 2inf 6art buy can be turned to Sea Lion easily.

    I disagree, because lets say you toss your first buy away like putting a minor in Egypt. Germany ain’t going to try and invade UK with one transport so the next move would have to be transports and UK can then build infantry and that should be enough to stop Sea Lion.

    Sorry, I know this is from like two months ago, but…

    My issue with your response is simple… On G2, if Germany buys a bunch of transports, and you haven’t already reinforced London, its probably too late.  As Germany, on G2 I would also strategic bomb you and move my fleet into SZ 98.  UK2 you’d spend 10+ ipc repairing your factory and at the end of your turn I’d be convoying you, so UK3 you’d have 15-20 fewer IPC again.


  • I think the #1 lesson I learned on the forums and actually playing the game is this.

    UK1 YOU ALWAYS BUILD: 6 INF + 1FTR or 9 INF on London.

    If Germany is going to go ahead with sea lion make it a honest attempt. Defend London to the best of your ability on UK1 and UK2 and see what happens.

    UK gets in trouble when they do not defend London to the max on their first 2 turns and goes off script. UK cannot afford to miscalculate the situation and be under manned on the first 2 turns on London and let Germany waltz in and take it.

    UK2 Your purchase is a response to Germany. If they go Sea Lion build you MUST build more defense on the island. If they go with a Russia build and no TRS that is when you can build that minor IC somewhere and start looking at areas to annoy the Axis.

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