Best unit choice for "Operation Barbarossa" for Germany


  • The best bang for the bucks purchase are 3 Inf and 1 Artillery. In all kind of combats, both attacks and defense, this is the best buy. Some people prefer 4 Inf to 1 Art if they do a lot of strafing or want a strong defense for the stack. But this depends on your playing style.

    Now, since the main battle wont happen in Eastern Poland, because Russia are likely to defend in the depth, and trade territories for time, it is very common to buy 10 Artillery in Turn 1, and keep on buying Mechs for the next turns, and hope you will get a 4 to 1 ratio of Arts and Inf /Mechs before the main battle outside or in Moscow.

    When it comes to Tanks, my impression is that the usual combo is 1 Tanks to 4 Mechs. They are weaker in a main battle than the Art/Inf combo, but got better speed and range, and are a killer in joint operations with Italian can openers.

    Depending on if you want a fast or slow campaign, at some point your should start to buy Bombers or Tacs, depending on the range from the factory to the battlefield. If the factory is 3 spaces away, buy Bombers, don’t waste time on short range planes. Now the tricky part comes. At some point during the main battle, when all your inf is dead, but before all of the Artillery and Mechs are dead too, you should start to take Bombers or planes as casualties. This is for two reasons. A cheap land unit that took like 4 or 6 turns to reach Moscow now got a higher value than the expensive Bomber that got there in one turn. You can never replace a lost Art in Moscow, but your new Bombers will reach it every turn. The other reason is you cant land aircrafts in newly captured territories. If you want to defend newly captured Moscow, you will need land units there. Not a stack of easy to kill Bombers in the adjacent territory.

    This is the basics


  • So I want to see if this is right.

    You buy some infantry/artillery and when you make your landing (let’s say Leningrad) you start buying stacks of tanks/mech. and make your push.   (I am not skipping the purchases for the navy and aircraft)

    Edit. After seeing the post below quick thing to add. So after a little while your need to start buying strat. bombers or maybe tac. bombers.

    Also quick question how can you buy 10 artillery on turn 1 when you have 30 ipcs?

  • '14 Customizer

    @Frederick:

    So I want to see if this is right.

    You buy some infantry/artillery and when you make your landing (let’s say Leningrad) you start buying stacks of tanks/mech. and make your push.  (I am not skipping the purchases for the navy and aircraft)

    Edit. After seeing the post below quick thing to add. So after a little while your need to start buying strat. bombers or maybe tac. bombers.

    Also quick question how can you buy 10 artillery on turn 1 when you have 30 ipcs?

    He produced 10 Artillery on G2 not G1. On G1 he went with 6 artillery and 2 inf. I personally like to buy 2 bombers on G1. They can be put to use right away and the threat of sealion is still there. Without buying the extra bombers you cant bomb UK to 20 on G2 prior to the sealion invasion.

  • '15

    @cyanight:

    He produced 10 Artillery on G2 not G1. On G1 he went with 6 artillery and 2 inf.

    Well, Narvik did indeed seem to make that error in his post, if I understood Narvik correctly (the same way Fred did). Fred was saying that Narvik was implying that Germany should buy 10 Artillery G1, which it indeed cannot do.

    I think it’s also worth mentioning I don’t know what the hell Narvik was talking about in general as a strategy for Germany. Buying that many slow units, and at that ratio, for Germany with the intention of sending them east is detrimental. Buy slow artillery only once (or never, see my last post), as you only get an extremely tiny window of opportunity to do it, and then your mechs you build afterward to utilize them more fully catch up without issue. Also, Germany starts off with a lot of infantry and comparably few artillery. G1/G2 is the only chance to balance that out (or not, see my last post).

    Either Narvik is way ahead on me with his 3:1 inf:art ratio on attacking wisdom, or he’s wrong. I put it more like somewhere between 4:3 and 7:6 as a general rule, and assume I have more infantry or mechs coming after me as reinforcements after a fight.

    On offense:
    3:1 = 6 pips / 4 hp for 13 IPCs
    7:6 = 7.22 pips / 3.75 hp for 13 IPCs (fractions are fun!)

    1.22 pips for .25 hp is a preferable deal for most compartively-sized skirmishes. Yeah, you’re going to have more HP with 3:1, but there’s going to be more things alive to kill you after the first round as well. If you’re going to be one-shotting a lot of battles, 3:1 is great, but your enemy is not very bright. He should be pulling back to avoid handing you little gift packages. It’s also better to front load yourself with plenty of artillery because new ones will never catch up to the fight. Mechanized infantry will.

    The proposed 4:1 ratio is close to being insane, unless he means he was going to bring in planes, but he didn’t say that.

    On defense:
    3:1 = 8 pips / 4 hp for 13 IPCs
    7:6 = 7.5 pips / 3.75 hp for 13 IPCs

    Yeah, sure, defense is better. Won’t argue there. But, umm, maybe run by me again why Germany is planning on being so defensive?

    As far as defending Moscow after you take it: there are a ton of what-ifs to consider, but assuming play of equal skill level up to this point in the game, I can’t see how this is going to be an issue in most circumstances. Some possibilities? Yes, fine. Most logical possibilities? Absolutely not. You either take it by smashing it all or with much less walking in after a Russian retreat, or you dig in and play the long game.

    @cyanight:

    I personally like to buy 2 bombers on G1. They can be put to use right away and the threat of sealion is still there. Without buying the extra bombers you cant bomb UK to 20 on G2 prior to the sealion invasion.

    This is not the worst thing to do, strategic bombers are incredibly flexible for Germany, but I might have to disagree with you that you can’t SBR London effectively without them. To 20? No, you’re right. But you still have two strat bombers to hit the major factory on G2, and then hopefully some tac bombers and fighters left to hit the air base and escort, unless your G1 attacks went really pair-shaped on you. Also, two more strat bombers is two more chances to lose strat bombers. I don’t know if doing 5.5 IPCs of damage to UK (and then only maybe!) feels like the right thing to do.

    As UK I would not see a 2x Strat Bomber purchase on G1 as a strong sea lion threat. For 24 IPCs you can do better than roll two more dice for 4’s in London, especially since both of those dice have a 1/6th chance of not even being able to participate because of AA cover.

    You’re taking two 1/6th chances per each bomber by SBR’ing and then attacking with them. That’s a 30% chance to end the ordeal without a bomber, per bomber. I can’t run the numbers in my head to see if that kind of risk (but high potential future versatility) is worth the investment, but I can confidently say that it’s not the optimal play for Sea Lion, nor is it the optimal play for Barbarosa.


  • @teslas:

    Either Narvik is way ahead on me with his 3:1 inf:art ratio on attacking wisdom, or he’s wrong.

    Narvik is of course not wrong, but I think we are misunderstating each other here. Basically the 3 Inf to 1 Art ratio is the most combat effective punch for that cost, if the battle last for several rounds. The Inf are cheap fodder, their job is to soak hits. This is an economic game, and with a 7 Inf to 6 Art ratio you are likely to spend expensive Arts as fodder. But, since the battlefield is far away from the factory, we need to start with lots of Art, and reinforce with fast Mechs. At this point we agree.

    Yes, it was a mistake to buy 10 Arts in Turn 1. My bad. Of course the 10 Arts must be purchased in Turn 2. I am so used to everybody buy navy or bombers Turn 1, so I took it for granted you would know I was talking about Turn 2. Luckily I don’t make a living as professional teacher.

    Different people prefer different strategies, and the fast strategy isn’t necessary better than the slow strategy. The 4 Inf to 1 Art ratio isn’t necessary insane if you go slow in Russia and plan to do a lot of territory trading with 1 Inf and 2 fighters, while you clean up Africa, crush some neutrals, invade UK or sink ships in the Atlantic, or hundred other things. This is a balanced game, that is designed for playability, so every thinkable strategy should be equal. You cant say this or that is better. It all depends on your opponent. I actually know some people that buy nothing but Bombers as Germany. And they win a lot of games too. Until the Allies comes up with a counter move.


  • Best unit choice (singular)? I pass.

    But I do prefer a good solid mix on Arms,mechs and bmbrs.


  • aequitas et veritas, it should be units that was my mistake.

    Thank you guys for the advise I hope to learn more.


  • I play Axis often and almost always do Barbarossa over Sealion.  There are many ways to go about it, but as a rule you want to stack Bryansk by G5 (high level play can stack it on G4 but this is complicated and involves a Yugo straffe) and have Italian mechs/tanks/air in range to can open potential Russian blockers in Rostov.  then on G6 (assuming the Allies covered Moscow properly and you can’t just take Moscow) you move through Rostov and take Volgograd and Caucasus with German mechanized infantry.  Bryansk on G5 is a dominate position for the Axis because you have Russia pinned and guarding it’s capital while you can use your German/Italian fast to take high value territories such as Volgograd, cauc, and even Persia or Iraq depending on Allied investment in that region.  It all depends on what the Allies are doing, but in general I recommend this build order: G1: 2 infantry, 6 art G2: 5 Tanks, 6 mechs, sub, dd (to block Russian convoy and protect your Baltic fleet), G3: More Mechs and tanks G4: Is the decision round. You need to make a choice here on if you’re going to buy air and strike Moscow on G6 or if you’re going to continue to buy mechs and tanks.  If you are hitting Moscow buy strat bombers on G4 and G5. If you’re going to head South and take the mid east away from the Allies then continue to buy ground units.  Again the key is Bryansk and Italian can open units. Once you’ve stacked Bryansk you can easily continue to pin Russia while you use your spare German and Italian mechs/tanks to take Persia.


  • I say G1 art (possible mechinf), G2-3 (or4) MI and G4 (or5)-6 airpower and forces against the western allies.

    I have done more or less  the same, except that I buy around 18-20 mechs og G2 and my target is to stack rostov with an italian canopener on moscow. The italian canopener is 1-2 tanks 6-8 infs and usually 4 planes. (I take yugo with germany in G1, then The northern italian tank can activate bulgaria together with the 2 infs and 1 tank from albania.

    The entire idea is that I can advance as long as russia cannot counterattack. With 10 italian landunits and 2 italian fighters, it is very eays to advance and stop a counterattack. I always keep enough of luftwaffe close enough to make sure that it is very difficult for the russian to block me from advancing to rostov.

    Once I stand in rostov with the entire german army and an italian army capable of canopening 10+ russian units, the russian army have no choise but to fall back to moscow, and I can take caucasus, Iran, iraq and stalingrad while keeping the russian bottled up. Leningrad should also fall easily when the russian has to commit everything south.

    With this extra IPC the german can together with japan hopefully be able to reach an economic advantage over the allies.

    @Pherman1215:

    I play Axis often and almost always do Barbarossa over Sealion.  There are many ways to go about it, but as a rule you want to stack Bryansk by G5 (high level play can stack it on G4 but this is complicated and involves a Yugo straffe) and have Italian mechs/tanks/air in range to can open potential Russian blockers in Rostov.  then on G6 (assuming the Allies covered Moscow properly and you can’t just take Moscow) you move through Rostov and take Volgograd and Caucasus with German mechanized infantry.  Bryansk on G5 is a dominate position for the Axis because you have Russia pinned and guarding it’s capital while you can use your German/Italian fast to take high value territories such as Volgograd, cauc, and even Persia or Iraq depending on Allied investment in that region.  It all depends on what the Allies are doing, but in general I recommend this build order: G1: 2 infantry, 6 art G2: 5 Tanks, 6 mechs, sub, dd (to block Russian convoy and protect your Baltic fleet), G3: More Mechs and tanks G4: Is the decision round. You need to make a choice here on if you’re going to buy air and strike Moscow on G6 or if you’re going to continue to buy mechs and tanks.  If you are hitting Moscow buy strat bombers on G4 and G5. If you’re going to head South and take the mid east away from the Allies then continue to buy ground units.  Again the key is Bryansk and Italian can open units. Once you’ve stacked Bryansk you can easily continue to pin Russia while you use your spare German and Italian mechs/tanks to take Persia.


  • This is a good strategy and it’s basically another way of accomplishing the same thing I try and accomplish.

    @Kreuzfeld:

    I say G1 art (possible mechinf), G2-3 (or4) MI and G4 (or5)-6 airpower and forces against the western allies.

    I have done more or less  the same, except that I buy around 18-20 mechs og G2 and my target is to stack rostov with an italian canopener on moscow. The italian canopener is 1-2 tanks 6-8 infs and usually 4 planes. (I take yugo with germany in G1, then The northern italian tank can activate bulgaria together with the 2 infs and 1 tank from albania.

    The entire idea is that I can advance as long as russia cannot counterattack. With 10 italian landunits and 2 italian fighters, it is very eays to advance and stop a counterattack. I always keep enough of luftwaffe close enough to make sure that it is very difficult for the russian to block me from advancing to rostov.

    Once I stand in rostov with the entire german army and an italian army capable of canopening 10+ russian units, the russian army have no choise but to fall back to moscow, and I can take caucasus, Iran, iraq and stalingrad while keeping the russian bottled up. Leningrad should also fall easily when the russian has to commit everything south.

    With this extra IPC the german can together with japan hopefully be able to reach an economic advantage over the allies.

    @Pherman1215:

    I play Axis often and almost always do Barbarossa over Sealion.  There are many ways to go about it, but as a rule you want to stack Bryansk by G5 (high level play can stack it on G4 but this is complicated and involves a Yugo straffe) and have Italian mechs/tanks/air in range to can open potential Russian blockers in Rostov.  then on G6 (assuming the Allies covered Moscow properly and you can’t just take Moscow) you move through Rostov and take Volgograd and Caucasus with German mechanized infantry.  Bryansk on G5 is a dominate position for the Axis because you have Russia pinned and guarding it’s capital while you can use your German/Italian fast to take high value territories such as Volgograd, cauc, and even Persia or Iraq depending on Allied investment in that region.  It all depends on what the Allies are doing, but in general I recommend this build order: G1: 2 infantry, 6 art G2: 5 Tanks, 6 mechs, sub, dd (to block Russian convoy and protect your Baltic fleet), G3: More Mechs and tanks G4: Is the decision round. You need to make a choice here on if you’re going to buy air and strike Moscow on G6 or if you’re going to continue to buy mechs and tanks.  If you are hitting Moscow buy strat bombers on G4 and G5. If you’re going to head South and take the mid east away from the Allies then continue to buy ground units.  Again the key is Bryansk and Italian can open units. Once you’ve stacked Bryansk you can easily continue to pin Russia while you use your spare German and Italian mechs/tanks to take Persia.


  • Thanks for sharing these ideas.  I inhale vigorously as the German player.  I keep running into stacks of infintry and getting widdled down to nothing.  I think I know where the mistakes are being made now.  Once again, thanks.

  • TripleA

    Buy mech/armor at a 1-1 ratio, simple as that from g2 onward. You pretty much should get russia G5 6 or 7

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