Best axis strategy

[Guru03]

Which of these are the best?

[Stalingradski]

Russia is the center of the game board. Once it falls, it is hard to take back, and the Axis player can radiate outwards from the Russian ICs, without a tremendous amount of worry about supply lines being interdicted.

[Gargantua]

For Germany and Japan, Moscow is FAR away, it’s hard to get axis units there.

For the western allies, Moscow is even FARTHER away, and EVEN HARDER to get to.

Never forget that…

[Rhey]

How does a kill America strategy first work? You divert their attention to the European board while you scale a massive offensive with japan in Canada supported by carriers and planes? (transports get their in 1 move) But then it still takes 2 moves to get to Washington with 2 major factories and more then 60 IPC’s to spend in between… Anyone?

Well I’ll be playing as axis later today and I’m going to try to do it. Take out london and Paris, harrass the americans the whole time in Europe so I can try to work my way up with Japan and capture the USA.

[GuamSolo]

Are you going to forget about Russia then?  Let us know how the game goes.  It is always fun to read report on how someone’s game played out - especially if it is a little played strategy like taking U.S. out first.

[Rhey]

Yes, I think I’m going to keep the Russians busy with the Italians (your italian units Fieldmarschall, many thanks for those :D ) and the remainder of my german forces. I’m not really going for a victory in Russia. I’m playing a little less experienced player and that’s why I’m going to try this tactic. I’m pretty sure it could never work against an experienced player. I’m actually not sure if you can take over the USA if ur playing an experienced player.

[GuamSolo]

Curious about several parts to your plan.

1. Does SeaLion then become a critical component for Japan’s success?  If the German’s take down London then it seems like the U.S. would be forced into allocating the lion’s share of its unit production for the retaking of London on the Atlantic side of the map.

2. If the German’s are all in for SeaLion and Italians are helping with Barbarossa then I assume you are abandoning North Africa?

3. Will you try and set up a Japanese “shuck shuck” to the Canadian coast to re-inforce your initial landing?

Once you are there even the inexperienced player will drip loads of infantry in the home land for you to deal with.

Look forward to hearing how the game goes.

[Rhey]

1. Yes, Sealion is very important. This will be the main distraction to the USA and with enough fighters and bombers they should be able to keep US ships at a distance. If the US decides to come at full force, this means that they probably abandoned somewhat the pacific campaign. Also when London is captured, the Germans should produce around 55 and 60 (with the help of NO’s) and should be able to keep track with the US income. Also Sealion is very important to crush the UK and keep them from reinforcing troops into Africa wich becomes beneficial to the Italian part of the plan.

2. London should fall turn 3. This way this gives the Italians 3 rounds to whipe out the resistance in northern africa without being reinforced. Italy should be producing between 40 and 50 (with the help of NO’s) to whitstand the Russians and advance in the middle east to the Caucasus. Those 4 infrantries in Iraq are very welcome. This should open up another front against Russia and put them into a more defensive role then it already is. I’m hoping to advance a little with Japan as well in the soviet far east. The main part is to keep Russia into a defensive state and making sure they don’t have enough power to attack.

3. I think I’ll invade Alaska, British Columbia and hopefully Hawaii too at the same time. with a NB in British columbia or alaska my transports can get back in 1 move.

It will be dificult because the US capital is on the wrong coast for the japanese hehe… and i’m expecting him to drop a lot of infrantry on me. However, this also means that his naval builts will be 0 and the atlantic ocean is open for the Germans. With the transports I’ll still have from operation sealion (I usually go in with 7 or 8), I can load units and go to Iceland to Invade Canada from the top as well and maybe make another front on the USA.

I’m also very curious to see how this goes but it will be a change to the games I’ve recently played. I always wanted to invade the USA but I’ve never really figured out how to do it. Let’s hope this has a shot at working.

[GuamSolo]

Sounds like you thought it out well.  Let us know how it goes - good luck!

[knp7765]

Another idea if you want to try taking out America first is by feigning Sealion, taking Gibraltar and SZ 91 then hitting the Eastern US on G4. It pretty much has to happen G4 because I don’t think it will be possible later than that. Here’s the basic strategy:
1 - On G1, build AC, and either a DD & SS or 2 transports. Take France, Normandy, S France and Yugoslavia to get as much money as possible for G2. Also NCM Finland and Bulgaria. Kill as much Royal Navy as possible. Get your BB & CA & transport to SZ 112. With any luck, you should still have a couple of fighters to land on your carrier plus at least 3 fighters and/or Stukas to land in W. Germany on the airbase. That way if any Royal Navy is left and they try to hit you in SZ 112, you will also have 3 scramble planes for defense. Place new ships in SZ 112.
2 - On I1, Have Italy deal with the Brits in the Med as well as they can and still try to maintain as much of their fleet as possible. Italy should take Gibraltar I 1 , and they must HOLD it.
3 - On G2, build 10 transports. Try and kill any Royal Navy you didn’t get G1, especially make sure SZ 110 and SZ 104 are cleared. Get as many land units as possible to Normandy, Holland, W Germany or even Norway (enough to fill 11 or 13 transports, depending on your G1 purchase). This means at least 11-13 infantry plus whatever you can compliment them with in artillery and tanks. Place 10 new transports in SZ 112.
4 - On I 2, Italy needs to get as many remaining warships out to SZ 91 (assuming they took Gibraltar I1). You will need these to clear any US blocker ships.
5 - On G 3, build land forces to help counter upcoming Soviet invasion, or backup your Eastern Front troops for a late Barbarossa. Maybe even build a couple of planes to replace earlier Luftwaffe losses. If there are any British blockers in SZ 110 or 104, send subs or aircraft to kill them and clear those sea zones. For your NCM, move entire German fleet with 11-13 transports full of men and equipment to SZ 91. You can keep them on the transports, land them at Gibraltar or even take Morocco with them, your choice.
6 - On I 3, by now USA has entered the war, but they haven’t yet gotten to spend all the NO money or use the upgraded ICs, so they should still have limited builds on Eastern US. Also, the US Atlantic Navy is very weak, but if they built a few ships in the Atlantic, they could place blockers in SZ 102 or SZ 89. That’s where the Italian Navy comes in. Italy MUST clear those blockers in at least ONE of those two sea zones. That will clear the way for Germany on G4. Also, if the US spent money on ships in the Atlantic, then that means less land units defending Eastern US.
7 - While all this is happening in the Atlantic, Japan should be threatening USA in the Pacific. It’s entirely possible that the US player made more naval builds in the Pacific to answer a Japanese threat and may not even realize what Germany is up to until it’s too late. A large Japanese force landing in British Columbia on J3 is ideal as next round they could hit Western US.
8 - On G 4, using the extra movement of the Gibraltar naval base, the German fleet moves to SZ 101 and lands it’s 11-13 transports full of troops, artillery and tanks on Eastern US. Odds are, they will not have built up enough units to withstand the German assault due to limited builds at a Minor IC while still neutral and possible attention focused on Japan in the Pacific.

[Little_Boot]

@knp7765:

Snip

And, if the attack won’t go well because they built up their navy/land defense too much, then you can just turn around and to sealion instead! This sounds great, I may do this next time I’m Germany.

[empireman]

@Rhey-how did the game go?

[Rhey]

Not as good as I intended. I won with a pacific victory by the japanese but it took us forever.

I forgot that after sealion, Russia automatically got into the fight (I thought this only applied to the USA) and they hit me the next round on my weakened eastern front (I thought I had another round to build up defenses). This offcourse gave Russia 3 times 3 IPC’s and another 3 for each because of the NO’s so they stacked a lot of money. There was not much I could do on that front but push them back into their own borders on the next turn. I made a push eventually into Leningrad and that’s where our game ended because of the Pacific victory. On the western front I had to build bombers (I think in the end I had 9 bombers) to bomb the hell out of the american vessels that came in to close. They managed to land in N-africa and southern france but I was able to hit them back of the continent. Then my airforce was too strong for USA to come in close anywhere. USa was also mainly focusing on the European theater so I really had a hard time maintaining the Germans and the Italians as I had to fight off 70 IPC’s per turn.

The Italians did terrible in Africa due to bad rolls. My fleet was crippled and I couldn’t push the enemy out of Cairo due to slow recovery of my fleet. When the americans decided to land in Africa. I took on a defensive role for Italy wich worked out. This did miss out the valuable aspect of getting to 40-50 IPC’s and taking on the Russians while Germany could focus on the USA.

Then Japan also had terrible rolls in China with losing a lot of their infrantry wich are really slow to resupply. I was almost being overrun by Russia, China and India so I had to keep reinforcing. I got so fed up with it that I had 4 minor IC’s in China to push them back. I also landed units in Iraq and built a minor IC to keep the pressure away from Germany and Italy. I was able to take out the american and indian fleet so I controlled the waters. I was able to capture Hawaii and when I landed 20 units in Canada in the end, I also took over Sydney and won on the 6VC count in the pacific.

to summarize, due to stiff resistance I had to adjust my strategy in order to be able to help out in Europe. I think I could have gotten some control in the end over the US as when my troops landed. He had to focus aon Japan and so my 8 transports from Operation Sea Lion could’ve loaded 16 troops and drop them anywhere on the American continent in 2 moves. I was also able to resupply Canada with Japan with 14 troops a turn as I had a major IC on korea as well to double the production. All in all it was a good game but due to circumstances, I had to postpone my plan to invade the USA.

[Spendo02]

Funny how no game ever works out how you intended.

[Rhey]

Yeah that’s the beauty of this game. You can’t plan anything. The player that adjusts best to the situations, wins. But I think I’ll keep that strategy for taking the US into account when a chance like that brings it up.

[GuamSolo]

Thanks for the game report Rhey.  Being able to adjust during a game is important.  Upon reflection, do you think that waiting one more turn would have allowed you to reinforce your eastern front to stave off Russian attacks but still be successful in SeaLion?

[Rhey]

I think if I would’ve waited one more turn, I wouldn’t be succesful in capturing the UK as he was building nothing but infrantry to reinforce it. Facing another 10 infrantry would’ve been devastating to my invading forces as a lost a lot of airforce too taking out the Royal Navy. It had to happen turn 3. If by then the Russian attack would’ve come turn 4, I would have been able to release some pressure and that would’ve made an easier game. But I’ll keep this US invasion strategy in mind for another game and when the oppurtunity gives itself, I will post it here. Thank you for listening hehe :)