• I am looking for a couple new ideas to spice up my next game concerning the defense of Europe. (Both axis and allies) Trying to get some new ideas on how to defend it and how to crack it. Usually when defending it with Germany I keep counter attacking forces in France and W. Germany to counter any landings in normandy, denmark, S. France, and Belgium/holland. I send troops to assist in Italys defense of Italy + Greece, and usually defend Norway with a couple transports in the baltic to add reinforcements or to take it back. I find tons of aircraft to be especially useful since they can counter attack anywhere and also threaten the allies fleets.

    What about you guys?


  • When I am the axis I usually like to build a mech and tank I1.  Take over yugo,bulgaria.  T2 take over greece, build another tank and couple mechs and move the armies toward russia for some nasty can openers if available.

    Of course you have to take care of the Med the best you can and make a push toward Cairo but it always seems like a hopeless cause for me even in the best scenarios.

    Depending on when you let the US into the game is when you start building inf.  I like to give myself 1 turn in advance to start stocking up on inf and art once in awhile in order to have a little attack power.  As they stockpile you gradually move guys to France or Western Germany (wherever needed).  The longer you can allow Germany to spend in Russia and not have to fortify the homefront the better IMO.


  • @Strikers:

    I am looking for a couple new ideas to spice up my next game concerning the defense of Europe. (Both axis and allies) Trying to get some new ideas on how to defend it and how to crack it. Usually when defending it with Germany I keep counter attacking forces in France and W. Germany to counter any landings in normandy, denmark, S. France, and Belgium/holland. I send troops to assist in Italys defense of Italy + Greece, and usually defend Norway with a couple transports in the baltic to add reinforcements or to take it back. I find tons of aircraft to be especially useful since they can counter attack anywhere and also threaten the allies fleets.

    What about you guys?

    Strikers - A few tips I find helpful… but as a disclaimer I run a very late (G4), long (Moscow falls around G11 or G12), and methodical (constant steady attrition, slowly increasing mechanized forces) assault on Russia as Germany, so take it with a grain of salt if you like to storm out of the gates.

    #1 - Purchase carrier/destroyer/sub first round, and clear the Atlantic of every boat possible (SZs 106 and 110; strafe 111). Do all the standard German stuff on land (France with every available land force; NCM into Bulgaria and Finland; crack Yugo and land fighter/tac in S Italy to help Fascists).

    #2 - Bring 2 of your starting AA into France during NCM. They’ll make it to Normandy on G2, when you finish snuffing out the French on the mainland.

    #3 - Buy one or two infantry a round and place them in Normandy. If you’re doing a G4/J3 or J4, and the US hasn’t been able to enter the war, they’ll find 8-10 infantry and 2 AA in Normandy by the time they show up in any force.

    #4 - The real killer is to keep slowly adding to your fleet. Germany in those early rounds is in the low 50s in economy… so a fighter, a destoyer or sub, and the rest land forces makes for a formidable spiked shield in SZ112 by the time the Allies are prepared to do anything about it. Guess what the Allies hate most? When you add a second carrier just when it looks like they can crack you open…  :-D

    #5 - So take a look - you’ve been adding to your defense of Normandy… you’ve been adding to the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine… you have an airbase in W Germany to anchor your fleet… you can adda destroyer in the English Channel whenever you want to prevent a US attack from SZ91… the Allied Atlantic player is presented with some tough choices.

    #6 - So all this investment along the Atlantic coast, and in some navy and air… won’t this slow you down against Russia? Why yes! Yes it does… but more importantly, it isolates Russia completely. And the other 34 IPCs or so per turn are are all ground troops, steadily flowing East… and Russia can not compete. Gradual encirclement, attrition, and death for the Communists.


  • I don’t know Cow but from reading his posts on this site I think he would hate being the Allies against you Stalingradski :-)


  • Stalingradski - Helpful tips indeed! I admit I havent considered a naval defense for Germany like you are suggesting. And the idea certainly sparks some thought! Thank you for that!

    As Germany I usually never buy any navy except for a first turn or 2 sealion feint, subs, and maybe a destroyer to remove of the rather annoying Russian subs. (Until Moscow falls at least) Though the ability to defend W. Germany, Denmark, and Norway through a single navy is a very appealing thought. The major problem I see with this however is that because of how long it takes for Moscow to fall the Allies can abuse and eliminate Japan, and secure Cairo by the time Moscow falls. Thus Germany stands alone (Italy being of little help at this stage) against the Allies. Yes, it has Russia under its control, and many IPC because of it. But I dont see it being able to take Cairo before the Allies overpower the German navy and start the invasion of France/Italy.


  • Thats why I prefer a G3 DOW. Gives time to prepare for a solid steady march towards Moscow but enables you to take it before America can finish off the Japs. This however leaves one with less money for the western front than the slow but steady masacre of Soviets that you seem to be taking about.

  • '21 '18

    A successful G3 Sealion could allow you to make a stand with your Kriegsmarine in SZ 109 instead of 112. The treath of the German Navy there would relax the pressure on England and Normandy-Bordeau, allowing a smaller ground defense of G-B and France. You also got an airbase that can be used to assist your fleet.


  • @elevenjerk:

    I don’t know Cow but from reading his posts on this site I think he would hate being the Allies against you Stalingradski :-)

    Yes, yes! It’s funny you say that, and here’s the deal…

    In our league games against each other, Cow absolutly obliterated me when he played the Axis. He kicked my sorry a$$ all over the board.

    And then when I got my hands on the Axis, he surrenedered after the first turn after some bad luck… but I don’t think he really wanted to face the Barbarossa to come. At least, that’s what I tell myself to feel good.

    A note about Cow - before I played him I found his posts here to be off-putting, and I verbally sparred against him a few times. But when we played, he was really fun to play against, gracious during the games, and a good guy. Don’t tell him I said that…


  • @Strikers:

    Thats why I prefer a G3 DOW. Gives time to prepare for a solid steady march towards Moscow but enables you to take it before America can finish off the Japs. This however leaves one with less money for the western front than the slow but steady masacre of Soviets that you seem to be taking about.

    Strikers - the thing I picked up on here was regarding the US vs Japan… unless the US is spending everything in the Pacific, Japan really has the tools to go toe to toe in the Pacific for a long, long time.

    And if the US isn’t helping on the Atlantic map at all… forget everything I’ve said about slowly building up a navy… just add armor and bombers/tac bombers and crush Russia fast. The strategy I’m talking about is against what I expect from folks I play - some semblance of balance in the Atlantic/Pacific from the US.

    And if the US goes all Atlanyic, well then… prepare to be a 100 IPC Japanese monster, and the Europe map becomes all about holding out until Japan wins the game, which means lots of German and Italian infantry abd a fighter here and there.


  • @Stalingradski:

    #2 - Bring 2 of your starting AA into France during NCM. They’ll make it to Normandy on G2, when you finish snuffing out the French on the mainland.

    #3 - Buy one or two infantry a round and place them in Normandy. If you’re doing a G4/J3 or J4, and the US hasn’t been able to enter the war, they’ll find 8-10 infantry and 2 AA in Normandy by the time they show up in any force.

    #5 - So take a look - you’ve been adding to your defense of Normandy… you’ve been adding to the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine… you have an airbase in W Germany to anchor your fleet… you can adda destroyer in the English Channel whenever you want to prevent a US attack from SZ91… the Allied Atlantic player is presented with some tough choices.

    I do belive there are better approaches to the land component of the defence.

    To put any landunit a place where it can be killed on an invasion is not a good idea IMO.

    How I defend france is to have some arts (the beginning arts) in paris, along with 1-2 infs. I combine this with a pure mechforce in w germany. If you need 20 infs to defend W Germany from invasion, then investing 15-20 more to make those infs into mechs is a really good idea. They are perfect fodder units along with the arts in france to combine with luftwaffe to kill any landingforce that can land.

    This is combined with infs in berlin, (little need for mobility).

    To defend norway, I prefer to have an infstack in finland ( and if I am lucky I will still have my trannie) This combined with luftwaffe makes retaking norway usually possible (unless the allies have enough to kill it anyways).

    Now for the key part, if you don’t have much of a navy, you really need a strong luftwaffe, mine usually runs in the 20+ size. luftwaffe have 3 main purposes

    1. to keep the allied fleet united, if the allies are strong enough to land two places, without worrying about their fleet, you are in trouble as the axis.
    2. counterattack on land
    3. stack against (to force retreat) and stratbomb russia.

    To be able to use luftwaffe effectivly, you have to every turn calculate how many planes you need to be able to reach where with every turn and place your planes accordingly. One very usefull way of doing this is to have italy being the nation taking land in russia (where your main stack is advancing), then you can land your luftwaffe there, and because italy holds the terr, you can build an airfield for extra movement if you need it on the next turn. (examples can include: luftwaffe in besarabia and the Air Field allows the entire luftwaffe to attack cairo to give to japan, or attack the north sea in combination with carrier build)


  • Some tough calls with the European Fortress.  I found the best option is to actually stop the Allies from landing on Europe to begin with.  This centrally focuses around holding the SZ’s around Gibraltar.

    This is why I prefer the G1 Purchase of a CV and DD that merge with the CR and TT.  Each successive round I add 1-2 SS and keep my Strategic Bombers on WGr.  Unless UK has a DD in the Channel, you can shoot a few SS as fodder and your Bombers to the SZ outside of Gibraltar and sink TT’s if they are defended lightly.

    I’d rather try and sink the US landings before they create many problems than try to defend the mainland from a 1-2 punch from US and UK at multiple locations that I don’t have enough units to defend with.  And if I don’t have the capability to sink them they may have to delay an extra round because they have to beef up their Atlantic Fleet to defend against 3-5 SS and 2 StratB.  This does not count anything Italy may have lurking close to soften the fleet up first.

    In effect, Gibraltar in my opinion, is the lynchpin to defending the European fortress.  Either disable the port there before the US goes (with Italy in the prior round) or take it for yourself forcing the Allies back a round before it becomes useful for US landings.

    Granted they can take the Northern Atlantic route, but that delays them a turn as well, which you can then either contest the Channel, build an AB there to scramble aircraft, or whatever other traps you can think of to delay that first landing while you finish up in Moscow.


  • This really does not isolate russia unless you take out egypt/middle east.


  • You are missing the large amount of UK forces in the middle east already.  Usually Uk has persia by round 2 and is setting up to take Iraq, so it will be a constant fight.  Russia might even send units down from the north.

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