Germany playbook: overall strategy guide

[Cow]

Optimal sea lion / feign.

Been debating if normandy or southern france or neither is better for round 1.

Purchase Units - Germans
           Germans buy 1 carrier and 2 transports; Remaining resources: 0 PUs;

Combat Move - Germans
           1 submarine moved from 117 Sea Zone to 106 Sea Zone
           1 submarine moved from 103 Sea Zone to 106 Sea Zone
           1 submarine moved from 108 Sea Zone to 110 Sea Zone
           1 submarine moved from 118 Sea Zone to 111 Sea Zone
           1 submarine moved from 124 Sea Zone to 111 Sea Zone
           1 battleship moved from 113 Sea Zone to 110 Sea Zone
           1 fighter moved from Holland Belgium to 110 Sea Zone
           1 fighter moved from Norway to 111 Sea Zone
           1 tactical_bomber moved from Germany to 110 Sea Zone
           2 fighters and 2 tactical_bombers moved from Western Germany to 110 Sea Zone
           1 tactical_bomber moved from Western Germany to 111 Sea Zone
           2 bombers moved from Germany to 111 Sea Zone
           2 artilleries and 6 infantry moved from Greater Southern Germany to Yugoslavia
           3 armour moved from Greater Southern Germany to France
           3 armour, 2 artilleries and 4 infantry moved from Holland Belgium to France
           1 artillery, 3 infantry and 1 mech_infantrys moved from Western Germany to France
            3 mech west moved from West Germany to Southern France.
           1 tactical_bomber moved from Poland to Yugoslavia
            1 fighter moved from Hungary to Southern France

ncm

tactical fighter yugoslavia-> Southern Italy.
fighter southern france -> northern italy.
Rest of the air lands west germany, except the one tactical fighter to sz 112 (it has one movement left only).
cruiser transport-> sz 112
shuffle 2 inf from denmark->norway.
1 inf norway->finland.
2 arty germany->west germany
Rest of germany-> poland.
1 inf romania-> bulgaria
2 inf hungary->poland
~

This is like the basic sea lion but with some minor adjustments. You are doing Southern france. You power slam Yugoslavia.

You can make 71 income potential (if convoys from the french miss) 9 transports and a dd purchase… potential… you can drop 6 units on to scotland in round 2 then pick up 6 more units and drop. Bringing the total drop count to 6+6+18… 30 units. Plus your air. Italy can bomb an airbase if necessary. Italy can land a fighter onto scotland to scramble to defend transports if necessary as well (against the 1 french fighter).

Even if you make 68 only… that is still 28 units + air drop potential. Southern France is nice because if Naval goes to gibraltar you can blast it.

[Cow]

Soulfein’s basic Germany opener. G2 DoW on Russia oriented. It is tried and true. When I just want to win, this is my opener.

purchase:
2 trans 1 carrier

combat:
2 subs to sz106
2 subs, 1 ftr, 1 tac, 2 bmbrs to sz111
1 sub, 1 bb, 3 ftrs, 3 tacs to sz110
every land unit in range to france (7 infs, 4 mechs, 3 arts, 6 tanks)
6 infs, 2 arts from southern ger, plus 3 tanks, 1 ftr to yugo, retreating to romania after 1st round of combat (getting 4 hits)

noncombat:
landing 1 ftr 1 tac to sz112
yugo ftr plus poland tac to southern ita
landing rest of air to w ger
cru, transport to sz112
2 denmark infs to norway
1 norway inf to finn
1 romania inf to bulg
2 slovakia infs to poland
11 infs 3 arts 3 aa guns from ger to poland
2 aa guns from w ger to ger

so now u r optimally set to see what allies have to offer, and strike where they are weak. u can

a) go barbarossa g2,
b) go sealion
c) go heavy africa

-u ll get france probably only losing infs

-if going for barbarossa, usa / uk wont be able to use normandy factory so u dont have to exchange normandy so no need to have a defensive stack in france late game. if going for sealion u can get normandy 2nd round np at all

-other than going sealion (if the allied response in first round was inadequate) with the help of 3 transports:
a) u can stack baltic in g2 (100%) and grab novgorod in g3 (100%)
b) u can grab morocco and/or gibraltar in g2 (given uk doesnt block sz110 with enough to deny ita can open), getting in range for sending transports to sz98 in g3
c) can do both giving ussr doesnt optimally threatens a baltic attack

-with 2 ger air in southern ita u get to choose to save 1 ita ftr.

-with a strong sealion threat u force uk n usa to purchase n move accordingly.

etc etc

so to sum up, the basic idea is to keep your options open, to get ready to hit any weak spots u can see, n to force your opponents to play without too many options avalaible.

always keep in mind: if u can force your opponent to choose between 2 or more relatively bad moves, u r winning the game without him/her even noticing it.

Side note, you can adjust this opener to include taking southern france, instead of using an air unit on france, use a fighter and 3 mech for southern france, which should win especially in low luck games. This allows you to do med play where as this opener does not. Land tactical on southern Italy after it hits yugoslavia.

[Cow]

All in pacific. The convoy thing.
Round 1 buy Carrier, dd, sub.

Basic Germany opener. Take Yugoslavia instead of strafing it. Just attack France, Yugoslavia, and naval battles.

Round 2, build carriers and leftover money for sub/dd (or transports and do sea lion if uk is not well defended).

Ideally you want italy naval next to gibraltar on round 2, Round 3 German naval moves in, round 3 Italy can destroy any blocking naval so Germany has a clear path.  Convoy away. :)
~

Also if you ever find yourself setting up for sea lion and noticing that America is not well defended… skip sea lion, go to gibraltar and invade America (if America is still making 3 units a turn only, he is done). Italy is your can opener.

[Cow]

Medit sea and other economic based Germany strategies.
~
A little bit of a Gambler approach (I forgot who did this):
purchase 1 carrier 1 dd and 1 submarine.

combat:
2 subs -> 106
1 battleship 2 fighter 2 tactical 1 bomber -> 111
2 subs -> 91
1 sub, 2 fighter, 2 tactical, 1 bomber -> 109
7 inf 1 mech 3 arty 5 armor 1 tactical (tactical from poland) -> france
3 mech 1 armor -> southern france
6 inf 2 arty from greater southern germany, 1 fig, 3 armor (armor from poland hungary and romania) -> yugoslavia

non combat:
air in 109->holland
air in 111-> carrier/ west germany
2 aa gun from west germany -> holland
move an aa gun from germany-> west germany if necessary
Germany units -> poland
1 inf romania->bulgaria
3 inf norway->finland
cruiser transport -> 112
2 inf denmark->norway
2 hungary inf->poland
1 fighter yugoslavia->Southern Italy
1 tactical fighter france -> west germany
~

If UK scrambles 109 you should be able to kill the RAF and walk out with a bomber (in low luck you generally walk out with 2 air units, sometimes 3)…. You may sea lion successfully with a dead RAF in front of you. Scramble most likely to happen in 111, usually you lose 2 air units and the bship, which is fine (or just the bship if no scramble).

With the cruiser out of the picture UK is unlikely to attack sz 97 (Italy’s stuff).

the 110 naval may merge into sz 92 with sz 98 units going there as well (Italy has 50/50 to sink it if no airbase was bought). Attack if you plan on doing sea lion. Do not attack if airbase was bought and 2-3 air can scramble. You can just clear sz 93 of France stuffs, huddle sz 97 or shuffle units to cyprus/syria.
~

Pitfalls:

Naval merge must be dealt with on round 2 or 3. Usually this is a viable strategy in a Europe only board as USA stays out of the picture for a longer duration. May be a viable strategy if Japan likes to go to war on round 3 in global.

May end up doing sea lion instead of medit play.

 **The Gambit Play**

In low luck games you can reliably send exactly 6 hits to France. On round 2 you should score 5 hits (sometimes you hit on the 1 or 2 scoring 6 hits and end up taking France). Then you retreat.

A) UK defend it with fighters against Italy, in which case you strafe it again on round 2 with Germany and take it with Italy on round 2.
B) UK lets Italy have it and just proceeds from there.

In a dice game if you attack France and there is just a fighter left, this is an option to consider… If UK does defend it with fighters, you will need a bit of luck to not score too many hits taking France in one blow.... at the same time you do not want the worse scenario which is failing to score enough hits.

That is why it is called a gambit. The income gained from France to Italy is not exactly the greatest thing in the world in scenario A, but it may provide just enough to make something happen with Egypt.

The super serious Egypt play: Do basic G1, instead buy 2 bombers and a sub. G2 buy more bombers. fly air to Alexandria on top of Italy stuff. Then attack Egypt on round 3 with mass bomber and all your air! Clear the way for Italy!

• Wheatbeer (I always read it as Wheatbear) and others strategy.

[Cow]

Less gambling way to get some good medit play.

Do the sea lion opener.

You can do Normandy or Southern France

G2 clear out uk naval with germany (unless Italy did it like a boss).

If the egypt naval went to gibraltar, have italy take algeria, hit it with Italy then retreat, then blast it with Germany.

If an airbase was bought then do one of two things A) have Italy sink french naval with 1 sub 1 dd 2 fighter 1 bomber, land 2 fighters to holland and move an armor there, land bomber in france, then do sea lion on G2. ~ Italy bombs london airbase if it gets repaired B) Forget sea lion, buy some destroyers and carriers. Next turn you take gibraltar. Then you are in business in the med sea. You may as well bomb london since it is empty of air while you are at it.
~

The advantage of normandy is that you can buy and place naval there round 2 just like southern france. This is done to swing the baltic fleet over to the med rather than getting a separate fleet.

[Degrasse]

Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia

Something like that I thought.

[BJCard]

Really wish we could sticky your playbooks to its own folder or something.  I find myself hunting them down everytime.

[Cow]

Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia

Something like that I thought.

yes he did. I will use that.
~
Thank you grasshopper. I will post a screenshot of what that combat would look like visually for people to see.

[Young Grasshopper]

@Cow:

Didn’t Soulfein write an optimal G1 opening for crushing the UK fleet and threatening Sea Lion?
Buy CV and two transports
Attack 110, 111, France, Southern France, and strafe Yugoslavia

Something like that I thought.

yes he did. I will use that.
~
Thank you grasshopper. I will post a screenshot of what that combat would look like visually for people to see.

Thanks Cow. Other players have different methods like, an aircraft carrier purchase, or strafing Yugoslavia, but this is the blueprint that I have had for a long time, and had success with.

[BJCard]

G1 definitely makes things hard on Russia…  Even if Russia gets Iraq Round 2 and maybe Finland Round 1

[Cow]

If I were to buy naval, it would just be a destroyer, plain and simple.

[Young Grasshopper]

@Cow:

If I were to buy naval, it would just be a destroyer, plain and simple.

You’ll Likely need 2 destroyers over time, because there are 2 Russian subs to deal with.

[dan123]

I’ve never actually attempted a G3 Sea Lion.  If I go with a G1 purchase that threatens Sea Lion, under what circumstances should I proceed to buy all transports G2 and actually go for it?

[Cow]

Your G2 buy should go through with sea lion (attack on UK):
~
If your G1 buy was 2 transport 1 AC

Your G2 buy will be 1 dd rest transports

If your G1 buy was 1 sub 1 dd 1 carrier

Your G2 buy will be all transports.
~
You need 1 destroyer, very important against potential sub buys.

Also it is important that Italy keeps his bomber. Should UK repair his airbase, Italy bombs it. Also position Italy fighters on france if possible (1 or both) for escorting. You really want to make sure the airbase is disabled (which is at 3 damage). So that way you can get all your units on london.

[Cow]

Young grasshopper I am curious about the air buy for g1. what is the deal with that?

I also noticed people have different G1 DOW openers. I am curious what the overall consensus looks like on it.

[Cow]

I edited my first post to reflect my preference to G1 DoW. I added the link to my Japan playbook as well.

[BJCard]

@Cow:

I edited my first post to reflect my preference to G1 DoW. I added the link to my Japan playbook as well.

Why in all that is holy, do you NOT attack the British Battleship (from your first post) in the english channel?  If I were britain I would love to have that asset.

[Young Grasshopper]

@Cow:

Young grasshopper I am curious about the air buy for g1. what is the deal with that?

I also noticed people have different G1 DOW openers. I am curious what the overall consensus looks like on it.

In my blueprint, I will be expecting a scramble into sz111, and I will surly lose a couple of air units. I need to replace those units immediately because I use the German Air Force to attack the British boats that attacked the Italian battleship. I don’t scramble for Italy, I use their Air Force to hit the French ships, and the British cruiser off Malta that maybe left after the attack on the Italian destroyer and transport. Two major air battles for Germany without reinforcements is devastating. Germany can manage without a fleet, but operating with less than 10 air units will cost them the game IMO.

Lots of people have different methods to attacking G1, but the reasons for attacking G1 are usually the same among those that support the strategy.

[Cow]

Why in all that is holy, do you NOT attack the British Battleship (from your first post) in the english channel?  If I were britain I would love to have that asset.

Because if I did, allies scramble everytime and it requires more air to do.

If I am going to G1 DoW, I am going all in for Russia, I do not care what navy any country has, they are boats in oceans. I got guns rolling cities.

[Cow]

I find all the G1 DoWs to be one of the easier strategies for the allies to play against. It is still fun to do.