After Three Games of Global

I attacked Russia G1 today, the axis lost, but I wouldn’t blame the German strategy for it. I would do it again for sure. Sorry for the lame report, but it’s past my bed time.

I think you’ve got the right idea.

You might remember my “11 conclusions” thread from a few weeks back, where I explained I thought we should develop a “strategic framework”. My thought is essentially that we should push the meta-game to a final state of maturity by determining what the best Allied response is to the rapid Axis push, and use our conclusions to help support a theory of the board.

The strategy I described earlier (combining the Russians in Africa, the Canadian / U.S. push for the money islands and concentrated British support of Moscow) is the best I can come up with for an Allied response. I am interested to see if you agree or would be willing to test it in your games as well, or if you have any objections that I should consider.

I am buying the following units as part of this strategy:

Russia:
7 artillery, 4 mech on turn 1 followed by straight infantry unless special circumstances demand a fighter or some artillery. I am sending 6 mech, 2 tanks to Africa. Remember the idea is that these forces will be replaced by the British in short order.

America:
4 bombers turn 1 (for Europe) followed by fleet for the foreseeable future (carrier, loaded transports, assorted warships but very few aircraft as ANZAC will provide these).

UK Europe:
6 infantry, 1 fighter turn 1; minor IC’s in Persia and Egypt turn 2; mech infantry turn 3 followed by fighters and mechs 4+

UK Pacific:
3 infantry, 2 artillery turn 1; continue building infantry and artillery until Japan is thrown back, then switch to mechs and fighters to support the defense of Moscow.

ANZAC:
Straight fighters unless Japan is doing some crazy kill Australia first move. These fighters will land on American carriers and/or journey to Moscow.

The general strategy begins by coordinating Russian, Chinese, British and American stacks so they are all hurtling towards China and the money islands at once. Japan can annihilate one or maybe two of them, but then they’re stuck just trying to hold on to their gains. At that point Second Russia is born and the tan blob can begin to move on the Germans. America sends fleet to blockade Italy and/or provide cover for a Grecian beachhead using Egyptians and Brazilian-American forces, who have been marching across Sub-Saharan Africa this whole time.

If Germany wants to make a naval build round 1, usually it will be 1 carrier + 2 transports OR 1 carrier, 1 destroyer and 1 submarine. Either way the total equals 30 IPCs.
The reason for this purchase is it gives Germany a lot of options on future moves.
A - The most obvious is a preparation for Sealion. You will need the loaded carrier plus other warships to protect the stack of transports you put there on round 2. Also, whatever ships Germany has will be used to clear the way for the German landings plus protect the transports if England scrambles, leaving more of your Luftwaffe to join in the London attack.
B - Secondly, you can use them to threaten Sealion even if you don’t plan to actually invade England. This keeps the UK on edge buying defensively which could give Italy some badly needed breathing room in the Med. If Germany can keep UK from putting more units in the Med for even just a couple of rounds, it could be just enough for Italy to get the upper hand.
C - A loaded carrier plus other warships will threaten any Allied fleet and cause the US in particular to invest in more warships to protect it’s transports if they want to stage by Gibraltar and think of approaching Europe.
D - You could use the German navy for an amphibious invasion of Leningrad when you decide to attack Russia. If you can take Leningrad in the same round that you first attack Russia, then you can replace the “Peace With Russia NO” with the “German Occupation of Leningrad NO” and not loose $5 when you attack Russia.
E - Another idea might be to send them into the Med to boost the Italian navy and help them get over the Allies there.

I’m sure there are other good uses that I just can’t think of right now. I guess since Germany buying a navy round 1 does at least threaten Sealion which may prevent England from running the Taranto raid, although I have seen them do it anyway even if Germany threatens Sealion. The point is, if the UK player you are playing with is bound and determined to wipe out the Italian navy, I don’t think your German G1 purchase will matter one way or the other.
That being said, while the naval purchase is most popular for Germany, they are not bound by it. There are many options. 2 bombers + 1 submarine OR 2 bombers + 1 tank are a couple of options. Another possibility is a Major IC to place in Romania in preparation for a major attack on Russia round 2 or 3.

As for the Taranto attack, the UK usually sends the following units:
1 carrier, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 1 tac bomber from SZ 98 to SZ 97.
2 fighters, 1 bomber from London to SZ 97.
1 fighter from Malta to SZ 96.
1 fighter from Gibraltar to SZ 96.
The 2 fighters in SZ 96 to kill the Italian destroyer and transport. They will land on Malta.
The tac bomber from SZ 98 and strat bomber from London (assuming they survive) will land on Malta.
The 2 fighters from London will land on the carrier assuming they all survive.

The Taranto raid is pretty devastating to Italy but not necessarily game ending. Italy could recover and give UK a pretty good fight. At the very least, Italy is good for keeping the UK mostly occupied while Germany goes all out after Russia.

As for the 18 Russians in the east, there are a number of things you can do with them.
A - Move all 18 to Amur to temp Japan. In this case, they will probably get wiped out as Japan will probably take the bait. It will suck for Russia to lose all those guys and there will be nothing left to stop Japan from taking all those cheap territories. On the plus side, with Japan attacking, it will put Mongolia on Russia’s side and get them 6 more infantry. Also, Japan will be expending a lot of resources in this attack, which could slow it’s progress down south where the real money is for them.
B - Immediately start moving all those guys toward Moscow. With any luck, they will reach Moscow in time to protect the capital from the massive German assault. It does leave all the cheap territories in the east empty for Japan to take without a fight. However, Russia won’t lose more than 6 or 7 IPCs and the Mongolians will still join you.
C - Place some on Amur as a guard against Japanese aggression while holding some back for either a counter attack or to head back to Moscow. There can be any combination involved in this plan.
D - You can go aggressive. Fly your Moscow planes out to join them so those infantry will have a little offensive punch. If Japan withdraws troops from Manchuria and/or Korea and leave one or both weak enough, especially if Japan is very busy taking on India, Australia or maybe the US Navy, Russia could use their Siberian troops to take Korea and Manchuria. Depending on the situation, that could really weaken Japan financially. One thing though, if Russia is the one that first attacks Japan, the Mongolians will remain strict neutrals and will never join with the Soviets (unless an Axis power were to attack them directly).

The problem with adding units to Russia is that America/England have been made virtually impossible to kill.  So we either make the game more fun for Russia AND weaken USA/UK to make it possible to beat them again, or we don’t do anything and leave it a monochromatic game (attack Russia being the only viable strategy.)

I, for one, seriously miss being able to do KEF.  I’m not saying it was an “I win” button, because it wasn’t.  But I miss the OPTION.  At least KCF (Kill Calcutta First) is still very viable.

@AxisandAlliesGeneral:

then when the time comes that they are bordering Moscow, launch your massive counterattack with infantry, mechs, tanks, and aircraft, destroying them and losing only infantry. Then, once the critical European battle has been won, buy mechs and tanks and retake your territories.

Umm, this is rarely possible.

Although I tend to agree with your point about focusing mostly on the Europe side as USA.

An oddity for me today:

J5 and Japan just took Iraq.

No one else has touched the middle east due to various reasons.  India is turtled and earning 5 ipcs.  London was taken and some bad roles seriously hindered the UK overall.  U.S. just liberated London and is starting to gather in Pacific (2 turns til at full attack ready)

So now Japan has Iraq with 5 inf and the SZ has a transport, carrier with 2 planes, a sub, and a cruiser.

I’m thinking I might put a factory there and be a giant PIA the rest of the game.  Threaten Cairo that way.  Or support my attacks on Russia… about to finish off China.

@MarkVIIIMarc:

The red dots are a GREAT idea!

I also used the old school fighters and red but merely painted the wing tips red.  If I make anymore I am going to copy your idea.

Did you paint silver “+” symbols or mini swastikas on the Germans? My modeling skills aren’t that good.  I might get a “+” to look ok.

I have put crosses on some of my non-A&A German units but have done nothing with the original black units so far.

I like most that the game is not as statical as the older world-versions. You have quite a lot of possibilities now.

Furthermore convoys, harbors and airports are nice supplements.