German Bombing Strategy

[Semper_Milites87]

I just was thinking of new German strategies besides building tanks and I would like some input/opinions.  On G1, build two bombers and three tanks.  By building the bombers, Germany becomes more versatile in its abilities to counter threats.  You save your one bomber or use it on a move that won’t put it at risk of being lost.  This gives you three bombers to use on G2 that can be use to destroy any UK transports that have been built, Strategy bomb UK, or depending on where the Russian fighters are stationed, a strategy bomb on Russia.

The Sub in SZ8 will take out the transport in SZ1, limiting UK’s landings in either W. Europe or Norway to just two units that can be countered the next turn.  The German Fleet in the Baltic will move to SZ 3 to protect Norway.  You won’t need the German bomber for Africa, I have used mostly fighters to take out the UK cruiser and used my BB to take out the Destroyer and used one more fighter to help support the attack with 2 tanks and 2 infantry on Egypt.  If Ukraine falls to Russia, definitely take it back.  Otherwise, stack most of your units on the eastern front into Eastern Europe giving you a nice counter force that can be used to take back what you may have lost to Russia.  However, leave at least one infantry behind in territories you withdraw from so that the Russians still have to move slowly forward and you may get lucky and take out a unit or two.

What do you think?

[njnets25]

That is an interesting idea.  I am going to try it out this week and see how it works.  I like the fact that you are thinking outside the box. I hate when game moves become stale and guys are robots.

[habs4life9]

This is interesting, but I’d only think of trying it it if R1 went pretty badly, like if they lost in Ukraine. Otherwise, you will be too thin on the ground to stop the Russian advance.

[Semper_Milites87]

At the same time however, you can use those bombers to strategic bomb the hell out of Russia.  The damage you can instill can just about equal out the amount of forces you have to work with.  As long as you pile all your units in Eastern Europe, the Russian player will either A). Split his forces up to gain the amount of ground that you gave to him. Or B). Will have to attack you and the odds are in favor for the defending German player.

[Jaycawbz]

Hmmm. But what if Russia was having to spend all its money rebuilding it’s bombed ICs? That would put the Russian player at a huge disadvantage, as they really don’t have the money to waste. Three bombers attacks per round is anywhere from 3-18 damage on Russia’s factories per turn! (2-12 if a bomber happens to be shot). With this pressure being taken off the Eastern front, it would give Germany quite a bit of breathing room, and possibly set the stage for a German invasion of Moscow, taking some of the pressure off of Japan to strike into Moscow, and allowing them to focus on other fronts (Africa… or distracting the U.S.A player in the Pacific)

[Dylan the Canadian]

That’s a really good idea, you can bomb Russia and have nice attackers, and Germany usually doesn’t need to worry about defending (too much.)

[77stranger77]

Something similar to this was tried against me in a current game with MrMalachiCrunch. He bought 2 bombers, 4 inf, art on G1. Germany attacked z13, Egypt, Karelia, and Ukraine. On G2 he bought another bomber. Germany never made a strategic bombing raid against the Soviets, probably because of his conservative play. Russia had a lucky defense of Ukraine so it stayed in Russian hands from R1 onward. On G2, Germany had to evacuate Eastern Europe(the alternative was ditching Western Europe) and still hasn’t left Germany in force. So, Germany was pushed around in Europe as a result of a weak G1 build and this was put on the fast-track by a set unlucky rolls in Ukraine. Germany couldn’t SBR Russia without landing on Japanese soil and Germany couldn’t bomb Caucuses without a) moving bombers from WE to Germany or b) landing on Japanese soil with either move being acceptable to the Allies. On the whole, Russia gaining ground helps a lot to offset the damages of the bombing raids where a few aa hits can change the whole course of the game.

[Butcher]

I would consider this if Russia didn’t attack Ukraine.  If they do you will be hurting on ground units.  My standard build is 6 infantry, 2 tanks, and 1 bomber, which I find to work well.

[Dylan the Canadian]

@Cromwell_Dude:

What do you buy on G1 since Germany will not have 40 IPC’s on G1?

They don’t lose the money right away, it’s not until the collect phase

[Dylan the Canadian]

@Cromwell_Dude:

Thank you for the clarification.   I need to quit posting at 3 and 4am in the morning when I’m half asleep.   I feel so dumb, but I’ll let it be a learning lesson to go to bed early.

ehh if you have a different time zone then someone it might not look bad (or it might look even worse  :-D )

[ashoka]

I was beaten by a similar strategy yesterday. The axis player bought a bomber for germany every turn along with 2 tanks first turn and almost all inf after that. by turn 4 he had 4 bombers and 4 fighters which could easily trade territories with russia while also threatening any allied fleet. he was able to destroy russia’s frontlines and push them back into russia by turn 5. at that point the strategic bombing started and russia was finished off by japan on turn 6.

while this did allow the allies to take some territories in europe, the german airforce was able to take those territories back with some infantry fodder. perhaps a more experienced player could have figured out the proper way to defeat this but i couldn’t come up with anything.

[SrFinn]

Just played some 3 rounds against a player who did that.
Germany went very weak with a regular R1, ukraine won for soviets (1 tank remaining) And a very risky but succesful sz5 (baltic) attack.

This made uk take norway r1, and build in counter 3 destroyers+1 transport
R2 was allied mass in sz 12 (gibraltar). Germany never dared to attack.

Guess what? Bombing costed me around 10 IPCs total, but no bomber was lost on any raids.

This and many other experiences make me think that bombing is weak.  You risk 12, for 0 if you get hit; 0 for 3.5 if you don’t.
Not to mention that optional rule of escorts… which we don’t use anymore.

[SrFinn]

Just played some 3 rounds against a player who did that.
Germany went very weak with a regular R1, ukraine won for soviets (1 tank remaining) And a very risky but succesful sz5 (baltic) attack.

This made uk take norway r1, and build in counter 3 destroyers+1 transport
R2 was allied mass in sz 12 (gibraltar). Germany never dared to attack.

Guess what? Bombing costed me around 10 IPCs total, but no bomber was lost on any raids.

This and many other experiences make me think that bombing is weak.  You risk 12, for 0 if you get hit; 0 for 3.5 if you don’t.
Not to mention that optional rule of escorts… which we don’t use anymore.