• 2007 AAR League

    I played a game today where by turn 3 the German player realized that he could not break through the Russian defenses.  He then commenced to retreat all of his units to Germany and played around with the defense of WEU and SEU.  Once WEU was concurred, my allies proceeded to build up quite a large army while Germany did the same until eventually Germany’s economy was down to 0.  However, by this time the German army was at an enormous size and we have been playing for 6 and a half hours while the German commander refuses to surrender.  My question is how do u treat this player?  Would you let him continue his hopeless fight or tell him to just give up and put the board away.  Let it also be known that Japan is doing very little offensively.


  • It comes down to the VC’s you set for the game… if you set at 12, then you HAVE to take Berlin.  If at 10, you can still win with all but Tokyo and Berlin.  9, you can even let him have Southern or Western…

    What is happening with Japan in your game?

    Also, if you are having trouble cracking Germany’s forces after 6 1/2 hours…  Just start INF builds.  You probably already have more than enough ART, ARM and AF to provide offensive punch… you just need cannon fodder to eat through the stacked INF.

    Build, mass, invade.

    And SBR the SNOT out of him while you are building so that the stack does not get any bigger :-)

  • 2007 AAR League

    You are correct in your assumptions on the allies having the firepower but not the fodder, it’s just a matter of getting the transports and other units organized for a organized offensive.  Japan, believe it or not, split their forces between Russia and the U.S., causing the United States to have to invest in defense two turns.  We have bombed the German economy down to 0 at one point, since then it has returned to 6.  The game is essentially over it is just the annoyance of German stubborness and insane Japanese moves that are keeping the Axis forces alive.


  • @UKcommander:

    You are correct in your assumptions on the allies having the firepower but not the fodder, it’s just a matter of getting the transports and other units organized for a organized offensive.  Japan, believe it or not, split their forces between Russia and the U.S., causing the United States to have to invest in defense two turns.  We have bombed the German economy down to 0 at one point, since then it has returned to 6.  The game is essentially over it is just the annoyance of German stubborness and insane Japanese moves that are keeping the Axis forces alive.

    If you hold Western, just tranny forces in there as UK and US.  Build and land FIGS there.  Stop attacking and make his INF come to you as 1’s instead of defend as 2’s.  Keep up the SBR’s to hold him to a no-bid situation.  And if you don;t hold Southern, take THAT and use that as an INF factory to support your ARM and other offensive forces coming from elsewhere.

    If he is backed down to Germany, and you have the rest of Europe, you are outbuilding him 6 to 1.  Use the SBR’s to keep him at zero build, take a few rounds to build the INF loaded trannies and mass Russia’s forces, then take him OUT!

    You can do a 1-2-3 with UK leading off, US follow-up and USSR mop-up.  Even if he has 50 divisions in Berlin, her can’t hold against THAT for long.


  • You want to be very careful how you time the order of your attacks. I have had many bad experiences where I had the USSR do the “mop-up” attack and take Southern Europe/Berlin accidentally. This is sometimes very bad as Russia a lot of the time will be spending most of his income defending against Japan, so I just don’t have the money to make use of those complexes that I captured. It is really best if the UK can manage to land the knock-out blow, since he has all the flexibility to use those complexes (the US might be at this point switching over to build a navy on the west coast, so won’t be using those complexes either perhaps).

    I believe Switch likes to do a 1-2-3 with UK/US then USSR because it doesn’t allow Germany any building time, but do consider if you would like Russia to take command of the complex or not. Germany shouldn’t be producing significant forces between the Russian and British turns, so do a little planning before going in.


  • If he is backed down to Germany, and you have the rest of Europe, you are outbuilding him 6 to 1.

    Yeah you really shouldn’t have a problem crashing in Berlin if that’s all he has. In a few rounds at most you should easily have built enough forces to overcome him; you’d be surprised how quickly you can catch up once he can’t build any more than a couple inf.


  • True Tri… if I have a choice, I want UK to take Southern to get control of that IC… then I flow troops from Southern through the Suez against Japan… Russia does the land push, and US comes across the Pacific :-)


  • then I flow troops from Southern through the Suez against Japan… Russia does the land push, and US comes across the Pacific

    That’s what I started to do against you before you conceded the game  :evil:


  • A long game where the an opponent has 0 income is and excellent time for torture endgames.

    Keep a few bmrs on hand.  Buy enough replacements to make up for AA losses.  SBR’s will keep him at 0 income.
    0 income means you are the only one who can keep attacking. 
    0 income means his turns don’t take very long.
    Having your turns take longer means it should be more boring for him.

    1.  Tech for Rockets.  Safer than SBR. 
    2.  Buy a Battleship/turn and use amphibs with the barrage shot to thin out his holdings.  The end will be near when you have 4+ BB’s.  Spend just 1 inf in each of these thinning attacks.  The inf will hit on occasion. 
    3.  Rtl + inf attack more economically than arm.

    4.  Retreat the bulk of your forces from WE into SE leaving a lone inf (no AA).  You opponent may take the bait and split his stack.  This gives you an easy pick on a chunk of his forces.  Strafe it down so Rus can take it cheaply.

  • 2007 AAR League

    This discussion has brought a few more things to mind.  If the Axis player can stand to last that long, what do you guys believe is the best way to move in on Japan?  I know tri and nc started discussing it a little bit.  I personally would establish IC’s with UK on Asian mainland as soon as it is obvious that Japan cannot capture them.  Then, if Russia’s economy is still low, I generally use them for SBR’s considering the time and money needed for a tran and troop buildup in the Pacific is simply too much for the Russians; unless they are in control of Berlin and the majority of Europe.  As the US I will generally start building up trannies with inf and arm with air and naval support.  If Allied naval power allows, an island hopping strategy is another good way to put a joke hold on Japan, while also eliminating any reinforcements to Tokyo.

    Another question, which could quite possibly be a stupid one considering the good amount of years that I’ve played this game is, “Can a nation have negative income?”  Of course, my initial response is no but this would be an interesting house rule.  For instance, if the nation’s economy is -3, it must take away 1 inf a turn until restored.  This may give the SBR privelage even more power than it already posesses but it could be interesting to try once.

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