How to defeat Italy stomp, Hawaii/Aus fortess Allied tactic


  • Hi my friend and I played quite a few games of global when it was version alpha 2 point something and we ran into a problem.  It seems that if Australia built nothing but infantry, tanks, and fighters, to hold it’s continent and the US flew fighters to Hawaii along with shuffling Infantry there.  The US could then pull it’s starting Pacific Fleet and build to head to Gilbraltar at the first available oppurtunity.  The UK would build 9 Infantry UK1 and then sink the Italian Navy.  This combined with the US showing up at Gilbraltar once it entered the war meant that Italy would be irrelavent.  With the US spending early in the European theater aside from the fighters and infantry that were sent to Hawaii, we found the US could accomplish the objective of denying the Axis the victory cities it needed to win in Europe.  Then the US would race back to the Pacific and deny Japan it’s last victory city.

    Japan countered this in our games by trying an India crush.  India would fall with the US being in Europe but by the time Japan turned around to head for either Hawaii or Australia they would be total fortesses and the US would now be spending 100% of it’s points in the Pacific at this point because it went to Europe first to make sure UK and Russia could now stand on their own two feet.

    In another game we tried having Japan take Hawaii first anyway even with the US putting fighters and infrantry there and they did take it but it required too many Japanese resources.  This meant that India became a fortress and China grew out of hand so again the Axis could not make it to it’s last victory city to win.

    We are playing a game again this weekend with the latest rules and now it seems the prevailing view is the Axis are favored and Allies need a bid which seems kind of surprising to me to be honest.  In our games we played about 18 months ago that Allies kept winning no matter who played.  Has that much changed in this version?  Any thoughts on how to counter the Allied Stragedy put forth above?

    Thanks for any input.

  • TripleA

    Nothing stops Japan from expanding to Africa/MiddleEast/Siberia. Then what? Also Italy turtles up just fine producing infantry.

    The Italy surge thing is probably best against a delayed Japan DOW. Your big drop moves out round 4 and hits round 5, which is right on the money with Norway as a strong backup plan. (You also get another buffer with India having a high income).


  • Germany should be rushing hard for russia.  If you can get moscow by turn 6 or 7, then you should be in good shape.  If you see the US dumping aggressive in the atlantic, then it might be worth it to delay the Japanese attack on the western allies for a few turns while u rail on russia and china.  Yes, india will be strong, but even he cant hold forever with no china support, and with turtle anzac.  Have at least 1 factory in china, and position your fleet to scare them into thinking u might declare early.  Does UK like to build a factory in egypt round 1 or 2?  Maybe try to kill the 91 cruiser with 2 subs and take south france turn 1 with germany.  should be able to stack alex round 1 (germany flies in air to help defend it turn 2, and u keep the pressure on egypt while the US sits there for several turns.  Japan can also bypass india all together and smash into the middle east and help out against cairo.  (airbase in china can allow strat bombers to make a bombing run on moscow.)

    If you really wanted a chance to take out anzac, maybe try claiming western Australia, land all of your air there the next round, then smash NSW if possible.

    Have you ever considered doing Cow’s J1 attack on the western allies?  This usually makes japan super big turn 2 or 3, and makes india completely screwed turn 4.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Technically, that’s good game play by America as that’s what America did in the real war.  Can’t really blame them too much there.

    Have you considered just making Japan monstrous while America’s over there screwing up Italian pizza and putting marinara sauce on spaghetti and making the Italian chefs go into apoplectic shock at the horror of what was happening to their cuisine?

    W/o the US, and with Australia all ground forces, India and China should be down, the NOs for Hawaii and the Philippines should be gone at best as well as the ANZAC NOs and you should have the DEI and Caluttan NOs for Japan.  Pushing into the Middle east is only wise if you ask me.  Africa, I don’t know.  The Allies are already there, I don’t think you could establish much of a beachhead in Africa, unless you are referring to Madagascar and S. Africa which might be good.  (At least S. Africa to take a British NO and stop reinforcements down there, what’s it cost, 1 infantry and 2 rounds for a transport?)

    I guess the trick then would be turtle for Europe and mass invasions on Australia at that point.  An 80-90 IPC nation has GOT to be able to take out a 10 IPC piece of real-estate in the South Pacific.


  • one possible japan plan;

    if the aussies are making a fortress and so is hawaii;
    Plan1 mainland:
    use landfactories to pump mechs into russia and the middle east (like  6-12 / round) while going for a small australia.

    Plan2 the aussies:
    you can often land in new zealand unopposed and send some subs to convoy the australians. it would only require 2-3 subs, 1-2 infs and 1 trannie as sacrefise. They should be down to 3ipc/turn. You can then move 5 trannies to carolines, forcing him to garrison sidney, you then land your force safely in W australia.  If you at the same time have 2-4 trannies in malaya, you can reinfoce with them. australia should now be producing 2 and you should be able to take him inf a few turns.

    Plan3 USA;
    go for the pacific island NO, while taking the line islands, this will give 10 IPC cheap swing, if you do the islands with your main fleet, you can then convoy the west coast of USA

    you should probably run a combination of these plans, 2 of the 3 plans would make japan a monster of move than 90 ipc/turn

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    I used to recommend a major complex in Korea for Japan so you could put a mix of 10 tanks/mechanized infantry in and blitz them across the Siberian tundra.  But that was before Mongolia, I’m not sure how feasible that would be anymore with all the rule changes.

    However, I think a Japan limited to 8 ground units a round (so you have 2 remaining builds for replacing aircraft or warships) might be too limiting if America’s deserted the Pacific.  Complexes south of Kwangtung seem to get sacked by dedicated English game play (minor in Persia can almost double what India can realistically put out for self defense.)  So instead of blowing 12 IPC on one down south, I’d say focus on sacking Calcutta using transports and let the complexes be built later if still needed.  (With India and Kwangtung that would be 6 units a round to feed into China if you really, REALLY, R…E…A…L…L…Y had too!)


  • @Cmdr:

    I used to recommend a major complex in Korea for Japan so you could put a mix of 10 tanks/mechanized infantry in and blitz them across the Siberian tundra.  But that was before Mongolia, I’m not sure how feasible that would be anymore with all the rule changes.

    However, I think a Japan limited to 8 ground units a round (so you have 2 remaining builds for replacing aircraft or warships) might be too limiting if America’s deserted the Pacific.  Complexes south of Kwangtung seem to get sacked by dedicated English game play (minor in Persia can almost double what India can realistically put out for self defense.)  So instead of blowing 12 IPC on one down south, I’d say focus on sacking Calcutta using transports and let the complexes be built later if still needed.  (With India and Kwangtung that would be 6 units a round to feed into China if you really, REALLY, R…E…A…L…L…Y had too!)

    Unless Japan ignores/puts little pressure on India, I never see the UK able to press out to take southern ICs that Japan would build.


  • @Kreuzfeld:

    one possible japan plan;

    if the aussies are making a fortress and so is hawaii;
    Plan1 mainland:
    use landfactories to pump mechs into russia and the middle east (like  6-12 / round) while going for a small australia.

    Plan2 the aussies:
    you can often land in new zealand unopposed and send some subs to convoy the australians. it would only require 2-3 subs, 1-2 infs and 1 trannie as sacrefise. They should be down to 3ipc/turn. You can then move 5 trannies to carolines, forcing him to garrison sidney, you then land your force safely in W australia.  If you at the same time have 2-4 trannies in malaya, you can reinfoce with them. australia should now be producing 2 and you should be able to take him inf a few turns.

    Plan3 USA;
    go for the pacific island NO, while taking the line islands, this will give 10 IPC cheap swing, if you do the islands with your main fleet, you can then convoy the west coast of USA

    you should probably run a combination of these plans, 2 of the 3 plans would make japan a monster of move than 90 ipc/turn

    Okay I am actually the one playing Allies this weekend it looks like but thanks for the suggestions.  Plans 2 and 3 sound solid but Austrailia normally builds at least a couple of tanks earlier so it can retake any Japan landings and stop the Airforce from basing there.  My concern is if you don’t hit India early it becomes a monster to take later though.  Thanks for the suggestions everyone.


  • Actually, india usually becomes easier to take over time since u would limit it down to 3-6 ipcs a turn + bombing the complex.  You would have 2 or 3 factories producing land units that are constantly reinforcing your front against him.


  • @ghr2:

    Actually, india usually becomes easier to take over time since u would limit it down to 3-6 ipcs a turn + bombing the complex.  You would have 2 or 3 factories producing land units that are constantly reinforcing your front against him.

    That is a good point.  I should probably start making use of industrial bombing, for some reason I have neglected that tactic.  The tactic we have used to counter the allies hitting Europe is to crush India as fast as possible.  This normally gets America’s attention.  Maybe a more patient approach to India while trying to crack Austrialia might work but I do think it will be hard.


  • Just secure your economy and work on china while you are wearing down India.  You can spend your extra cash to increase your navy size in order to be able to muscle the US around.  Tacking western Australia so that you can land your planes there is a good and unorthodox way of cracking Australia that you might want to look in to.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    But that still begs the question, how important is it to grind down China?

    As long as you kill the fighter and prevent them from being allowed to build Artillery, should you push 100 IPC in there?  300 IPC?  When do you cut your losses and leave them as half a nation?  There are no VCs on that side of China.


  • The other advantage in pushing into China is you can then hit Russia that way instead of slogging through Siberia.

    If you are hitting Russia’s underbelly turn 6-7 and Germany is at the gates of Moscow, then Russia is likely done.


  • In the games a played it seemed that Japan could help the European Axis more by getting in positon to have enough victory cities on their side of the map than really pushing towards Russia.  If Japan pushes to Russia then USA is free to keep spending in Europe.  Maybe I will give this a try though with the newer edition of rules.

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