Thanks! Having a great time, and learning, so…
Allies always win in my games. Axis strategy?
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I’ve been reading these boards for a month or so, and it seems that the consensus is that the Axis are slightly advantaged with NO. My friends and I have played 5 or 6 games (dice and NO, no tech) and each time the Allies have won, decisively. And we’re all confounded as to how the Axis can pull out a victory. What aspects do you guys see that lend the advantage to the Axis?
Here is how (in general) our games go.
Early game: Germany pushes hard against Russia, eliminates the UK navy G1. Japan sweeps through China and islands. Italy builds up and (eventually) conquers Egypt. Russia backpedals, US rebuilds navy, UK rebuilds navy and an airforce to keep Germany out of the oceans.
Midgame: UK threatens coastal landings up and down coast with air support. US and Japan trade navies. UK/US land a transport or two in Africa. Infantry supply to the Eastern front dries up as Germany needs to defend its shores.
Lategame: The combined pressure of a naval landing and Russia pushing back ruins Germany as it gets stretched too thin. Japan gets stretched trying to keep up with the US Navy and continue a land war in Asia. Russia sends some troops east and starts pressuring Japan in China. Germany eventually is unable to cope with a Russian infantry stack along with continual landings on it’s coast.
In our most recent game, Germany tried a slower attack, pushing one or two territories at a time with an Atlantic wall of infantry and maintaining an infantry supply line slowly moving to the front. But that simply allowed Russia to build up and support China even sooner and now both Germany and Japan are caught between Russia and the other Allied power. Germany never overtook Russia or the UK economically and soon fell to their combined power. US traded navies twice with Japan but never lost the economic advantage for too long, so Japan gradually fell to Russia’s support and the US Navy. Italy was a nonfactor.
Here’s my analysis of objectives for the Axis:
Economic advantage - At the beginning of 41, the Allies have a huge economic advantage. The Axis need to swing that back quickly. That means: Germany needs to attain it’s NOs, Italy needs to take Africa quickly, and Japan needs to attain it’s NOs and get the money rich islands.
The problem: Too many fronts - In Europe, once UK starts threatening the coastal landings, the required production to continue the advance on Russia becomes impossible, especially with the 10 unit cap on Germany. And Italy doesn’t have enough strength to take and hold Africa by itself, so either Germany helps (which spreads them even thinner) or Italy dies a slow painful death of not enough money to do anything at all.
In the Pacific, once the navy trade happens, Japan’s build up is slightly behind the US’s, and that’s in the ocean. The land war is almost impossible as China eventually recovers with Russian infantry help.
We don’t see any easy solutions. The first few turns go fine, but then the lines always get stretched too thin and production can’t keep up.
Other possibilities: One thing I haven’t tried was keeping a large airforce stationed in Nor/Fin to keep UK navy from building up. The weakness I see there is that the advance into Russia slows even quicker, and the UK airforce keeps the German one from being able to defend Nor/Fin as there aren’t infantry to reinforce it.
How do you guys win with Axis?
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Attack EGY on G1 send your bomber 2.
build atleast 1 fgt or bmb per turn as germany. Use it to punish the east whilst being a deterrent against the west.
Look at other ppl’s games here who obtained Axis victories.
Dont bring the fight to America with Japan. dont build ships besides transports, unless you absolutely have to as Japan. Get industry on the mainland immediately, and cap that chinese fgt J1.
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Some sound advice from Gargantua and here is a bit more.
1. Get Abattlemap from this thread:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12873.0
This will allow you to view games here and even play games here. I will give you a word of warning there are some very good players on this site, so do not be discourage if you decide to try your hand here and get trounced. You will learn from the experince.2. This is a game I played with Darth Maximus. He is a good player here and was experimenting with something so the game does not quite progress as you have described but it illustrates several things such as the use of German bombers, building multiple ICs with Japan and a very aggressive opening with Japan as far as the options for J2. Since he was testing something there is a good deal of discussion between us and others watching the game.
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=16748.03. I find not loosing the battle for the Pacific is pretty important in AA50. Note that I said not loosing, this does not mean you have to build ships and win control of the Pacific from the US, just that you do not want to loose. This also applies to the US. On this point is where I will give some different advice from Gargantua. If you know your opponent is going to fight in the Pacific by something cheap naval wise every round such as a destroyer. Japan starts with a lead in ships and it can be maintained. If the US starts spending all of its money in the Pacific by just enough units that your navy does not get outclassed. Japan wants to be focusing on taking out Russia. I like to have ICs in Manchuria, Kiangsu, French Indochina, and India. All of these will be producing ground units for Asia and depending on the game Africa with the Indian and French Indochina ICs. Sometimes I even build an IC in Burma. This frees up Japan’s navy from having to protect transports for sending units to Asia and allows it and the transports that were sending units to the mainland from Japan to deal with the US in the Pacific, whether it is retaking captured islands or taking Islands to cancel the US Pacific NO.
4. Italy is a minor power and as such can really only do one thing well. Decide what this is and stick with it. Italy’s choices are, contest Africa, defend France for Germany, or pressure Russia/open the door for German tank attacks. Decide which of these you want/need Italy to do and stick with that. Italy does not have the money or resources in most games to pursue more than one of these.
5. If you are used to Revised some things have changed. Bombers are now a quite good investment, especially for Germany. They can hit Russia, threaten Allied fleets and conduct bombing raids. This last I do not like risking German bombers on unless the UK’s income is down in the 20s at that point I feel the risk of losing a German bomber is worth the economic damage to a weak UK. Also in Revised it was considered best to set up 4 transports servicing Japan before building ICs on the mainland. That is no longer the case. Japan can also afford to send transports to far flung places like Madagascar and just purchase more that will be where Japan needs them.
I see you mentioning defending Scandinavia, forget about it. The only concern with Scandinavia should be the fighter and bomber that landed in Norway on round one after sinking the UK battleship in seazone 2. Keep some German fighters and bombers in France for the threat to Allied navies and defense. Do not get behind on the buildup of units in France. France is easier to defend than retake. While this will allow Russia to make some initial counter strokes, that is OK since Japan should be building pressure on Russia.
Lastly I have an old thread that has my thoughts on G1 and they have not really changed so I will find it and bump it for you.
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As the Axis, you’re goal is to ATTACK as much and as much as possible, especially early. Will you win every battle? Probably not. But winning 80% retreating 10% and losing 10% is plenty good enough for the Axis.
I am not suggesting crazy odds against battles.
Japan can afford to stretch a bit with her huge airforce J1. losing 3-4 ftrs is still ok (but not preferred :) )
Point is, the axis have to utilize their military advantage, gain ground (and IPCs/NOs), use that money to secure those advances and finance new advances. Germany looks to be needing the most help in your games. I would suggest sending some japanese ftrs to europe to help hold key positions like france and/or Italy. Japan can afford them and they are the easiest units to get to Europe to aid the efforts there.
Japan should let the US fleet venture close enough to destroy them. With 3 carriers and enough ftrs, Japan’s navy should keep the USA at bay with the ability to attack (and w/d as needed) USA will need to invest a lot to become even with the mighty japanese navy.
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Amen Brother… Axis need to be offensive, axis have shorter supply lines and can take losses a little bit better then the allies.
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