• @Gargantua:

    • DIRTY TIP! when playing face to face.  Don’t chip your units up, leave them in a messy pile on the board.  Move the clump of units around, and no one will know quite whats in there…  I’ve seen this work many a time.

    I’ve always applied a ‘force stack’ rule to prevent stuff like this. In fact, most I play against are all fierce ‘stackers’ ie no more than one unit of a kind in a territory, and the rest only chips. Exception: capital ships. We even have named stacking and adding chips to them after the initials of someone who always went around the board doing this very thing.

    Also, enforce a dice tower, or else a ‘dice must land in the box and upright otherwise they do not count under any circumstances, and they must be rerolled’ rule. Prevents a lot of argueing afterwards. Also, one of the opposition must witness the rolling.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    {As I recall a couple of games ago it was you lost 7 undefended transports or was it 8 in this exact manor.}

    {As I recall last F2F game your efforts fell short in Scandinavia due to stubborn Russian resistance}

    You are correct on both points Idi, that’s why this is called the “Lessons Learned” thread.  These were both Valueable realizations.  We all make mistakes, those were some of mine, fortunately, we yielded a draw, and an incomplete in those games. So neither manuever cost me the game :P

    I especially liked your point about DOUBLE CHECKING that you don’t leave newly built transports undefended in range of the enemy.


  • I love Mech Inf.  For Russia 1, I usually build 3 Inf. for Leningrad and 7 Mech Inf. for Moscow.  Gives me a chance to get to Leningrad for the Fight.

    Mech. Inf. is useful for Japan to attack China/Russia and For Italy/Germany to attack Russia.

    Go Mech INf.

  • '22 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    Here is an essay I wrote for a friend on how to play the axis in Global OB…

    probably redundant to what’s already been posted, but may have some original insights.


    The following is a summary of my knowledge re: A&A with special emphasis on A&A Global.

    1. Playing Styles

    There are basically two playing styles in A&A, pursuing the (1) the ultimate strike and (2) the general push.  They are exclusive playing styles in that they cannot be pursued at the same time but one can alternate between them during a game.

    A. Ultimate Strike. The ultimate strike concerns when player seeks victory through one decisive battle at a critical point in time or place, but usually in place.  This is the high risk, high reward way of playing.  This kind of play to be successful requires two things: unforseeability and luck.  The player moves his forces in ways in which the opponent cannot readily discern the ultimate objective and/or cannot counter it, and then the moving player suddenly moves his forces into place.  However, given that all moves are made in the open and all the pieces can be viewed on the board, the likelihood that an opponent will not at least partially predict your move and strengthen his forces is high, necessitating good dice. Further, battles of a critical nature usual occur at critical points, such as Capitols, which are by their nature usually heavily defended, again meaning that any advantage in the battle will by slight, requiring good dice.

    Examples of this sort of play are obviously: Germany employing sea lion and then also Japanese fighters in Russia.  The latter is more instructive.  Japan moves its fighters in Asia in mass and then onto the eastern front.  Since Japan moves after Germany, Japan can land its planes on a newly conquered territory, preventing a Soviet counterattack.  If this occurs, say, in a territory next to Moscow, the massive advantage is obvious.  Russia is contained, and Germany has a springboard for massing troops to kill Russia in one or two rounds.

    The advantages of this type of play are that obviously if you succeed you win the game.  The drawbacks of this style of play are obvious.  If the ultimate play fails, then the player is generally exposed and irrecoverably weakened.  Further, even if the player succeeds, he may be exposed and dangerously weakened.  Sea Lion is instructive in this regard, i.e. the ultimate strike works, but overall leads to a weaker position.

    B. The General Push.  Following this style of play, a player will establish general grand strategic goals and then pursue them incrementally.  The keys factors here are to maneuver always effectively and predictably toward your ultimate objective and to fight only battles with low to moderate risk of losing.  Here there is little to no surprise visa vie your enemy.  But you effectively use terrain and your composition of forces to destroy resistance and to continuously and methodically improve our position over your opponent until they are defeated.

    Examples of this are the classic eastern front and Pacific naval theaters.  In the former, Germany moves in on a broad front, using its material advantages to pushing the Russians back to Moscow, making battles only on favorable terms.  In the Pacific, the US usually confronts a superior armed Japan. Thus the US must maneuver about, avoiding combat, but slowly building its forces until the Japanese fleet is vulnerable.

    The advantages of this style are that you exercise a high degree of control over the progress of the game and can make informed, calculated choices. The draw back is that it does lend itself to be blindsided by ultimate strikes.  The classic is the sea born invasion of Germany by the Allies while most of the panzers are deep in Russia.

    C. Comparison.  I have always played as a general push player.  Again, given that the game is in an open format with all units and moves on the table, the ultimate strike usually will fail with experienced players.  Indeed, sea lion is a bust if UK builds only men its first round.  However, I think the strategies in some combination are useful.  Most often the general push followed by an ultimate strike can succeed, such as in Russia when the Germans must finally take on the Russian army in total.  However, the opposite has happened, such as in our last game when I prepared sea lion and then feigned it into a general push into Russia.  That was an extremely powerful move because the Allies could only foresee those ships in use toward the UK.  John Weatherby was a fan of the ultimate strike plays.

    Overall, I think the truth is a banality: be flexible. Play the general push and then use the ultimate strike if possible.  Many of the games I lost were because I panicked and prematurely invoked ultimate strike.

    2. A&A Global Strategies.

    Since you will be playing the Axis, I will now opine on my thought on Axis strategies as I see them.

    1. The US and when?

    The ultimate question for the Axis I think is when should the US be brought into the war.  The decision will basically determine if and when Germany goes on the defensive and if and when Japan will be able to go “Hog Wild,” i.e. expand without limitation on all fronts.

    The answer to this question is tricky.  It depends I think on the Axis’s immediate goals.  If the immediate goal is a sea lion attack, then the US should be left out as long as possible.  If the goal is to provide Japan with the strongest position possible I think the US should be attacked right away.

    Part of this consideration is the fact that the US basically will have only three options in how its plays: (1) all in towards Germany/Italy (2) all in towards Japan and (3) and some division among the two.  The last is the least dangerous towards the Axis obviously, as it is the hardest to play for the US.  See how my father played the US in the last game – a nullity.  The 1st strategy is probably the most dangerous, although it will leave Japan open to go Hog Wild from the start.

    Unfortunately, there is only one strategy that will control how the US will play: Sea Lion.  If Germany takes the UK, then the US must attack Europe with almost everything it has, allowing Japan to go Hog Wild.

    1. Germany

    a. The key to understanding Germany is to realize that it is the weaker of the two main Axis powers in terms of number of military units on the board.  Japan has something like 20+ fighters and tac bombers. Germany has 7.  Germany however is in the more critical strategic situation with more victory cities and capitals surrounding it.  Economically Germany has greater potential as well.  However, with the UK, USSR and US all attacking, Germany at some point will have to go over to the defensive unless it achieves victory over the USSR.

    b. The second move I think is the most critical move for Germany.  The first move is wrote: kill British fleet, take France and move into neutrals.  The second move Germany will be flush with cash, 60+.  It is the second move where I think Germany must decide where it will focus.  The choices are obvious: east or west.  I suppose there cold be a third, i.e. just go over to the defensive right away and let the allies attack you in the hopes they in their vain attempts to crack you, will allow Japan will grow super powerful and unstoppable.  The danger is that, believe it or not, the USSR has massive potential if it is able to take Germany territory and may get out of control, i.e. become stronger then Germany alone.

    c. Sea Lion.  I think you are aware of the ins and outs of this strategy.  If it works it does not necessarily spell the end of the war as Germany will not have enough units to kill Russia.  The game we played was an anomaly with the sea lion feign.  Further JW did not prepare Russia very well for the German attack.  There was an interesting post on A&A.org where someone used a large German fleet to invade the USSR from the Artic.

    d. Blockade and Barbarossa.  I think the strongest yet most conventional German move would be to on the second turn build up its air force and subs and men with the long term goal of containing the UK with subs and planes and then preparing for an all out onslaught against the USSR.  The advantage obviously is that subs are cheap(!) and the air force is dual purpose – effective in the Atlantic and eastern front.  Thus you provide yourself with an effective western shield and can effectively prepare for the inevitable attack on the USSR.

    e. Eastern Front.  They have changed a lot in the game but the fact that Germany’s fortunes will inevitable rise and fall on the eastern front is still the same.  This is sadly an inescapable fact.  I have not seen any way around this.  Unless the USSR is played ass backwards, the USSR will crush Germany if it can.  Japan used to be an effective partner is in this endeavor.  But with the board now expanded, this is unlikely to happen.  Even if were Japan able to clip off the eastern USSR, it still would not materially impact the course of the eastern front within any reasonable time frame.  There are I think 8-10 spaces between the Asian coast and Moscow.  Japan taking or aiding in taking Moscow is not realistic. Thus Germany must rely on what arms it has and hope that Japan can draw off enough power so that Germany can focus on the USSR and Russia is not reinforced.  I must admit I am not sure there is any sure fire strategy re: the USSR.  There are now so many provinces in the eastern front that it’s likely you will have to move around according to the tenor of the game.

    However, I do think you can set to basic goals regarding the USSR.  First you can go straight for Moscow. This strategy will be similar to the ultimate strike.  You must engage Russian units wherever possible even if not favorable with the objective of whittling them down as fast as possible. If Germany builds up for this strategy from the start with massive stacks of men and tanks etc then I think Germany after a few rounds will emerge on top and the USSR severely weakened. Using a small Italian force in this regard will be critical to open up holes in the soviet lines that you can pass through and attack soviet concentrations. The Soviets will be hard pressed and they will not be able to replace their units as quickly as Germany even as Germany’s supply lines grow.  The disadvantage to this strategy, as with any ultimate strike strategy type, is the dice may turn against you.

    The other strategy is the “Long War” strategy.  Move into the USSR with objective of taking territory and increasing over the long run your economic advantage to the point you can take the USSR at will.  Avoid moderate risk battles and just push the soviets back on a broad front.  Japan may even be able to aid you in this in the Far East or Middle East depending.  The disadvantage to this strategy is that your economic conquests may be fruitless if the Allies reoccupy Western Europe and open a second front, nullifying any gain in the east.

    f. Africa/Neutrals.  I think that Germany has no to little role in Africa. It’s a sideshow best left to Italy.  Attacking true neutrals would be insane.  They provide buffers for you.

    3. Japan

    a. The key to understanding Japan is that while it is the more powerful militarily of the two from the start, the increased distances on the board mean that this might must be spread much thinner.  The problem with Japan is to balance its goals with this expanse of space.  It appears Japan can do anything it wants, but in reality can only do a few things that will last.  The allies in the Pacific are more resilient than they seem.

    b. US.  The US will be the only ally that can effectively move offensively against Japan.  Thus if the US is all in on Europe, Japan has cart blanche in the Pacific and should press its advantages.  If the US is all in towards the Pacific, then Japan must play a high stakes games of killing the US fleet if it comes in rage but not in a way that will expose any surviving Japanese ships to counter attack.  Air bases and subs will be critical to this dynamic.  Beware; the US starts with more airbases and capacity to build numerous subs.

    c. Carolinas or Pearl Harbor.  We have discussed the virtues of using the Carolinas as a shield against US incursion.  Pearl Harbor could also serve such a function.  However, the later would obviously be more contested and likely to result in the US directly attacking you on favorable terrain.  Although, Japan could always retreat prior to an imminent attack.

    d. China.  In my opinion China is nothing but a waste of time. The territories are virtually worthless and china has an extraordinary degree of tactical flexibility.  It’s a sideshow.  Yet I understand that I may be in the minority here.  The contrary opinion is that you must kill China lest it rise up and thrust a knife in your side.  Yet it seems to me that going back to the first problem with Japan, soldiers are so far and few in between for Japan that wasting them in China cripples Japan’s ability to occupy the East Indies.  I am willing to be proven wrong on this however.

    e. India  As you know this is the primary goal.  Conquering India will solidify your position in Asia beyond reproach and expose Africa and the Middle East.  What can be said that is not already apparent about its importance?  However, getting India is another thing.  There are three modes of invasion: over land and by the sea or both.  Building a 10 factory in Hong Kong or perhaps even more effectively in Malaya is critical to this endeavor.  Basically there are two ways to defeat India: destroy India’s army outfield or in India itself. The former is preferable.  To do so via the latter will give India the advantage of its production etc.  I think the best way to do it is to churn out units in a 10 factory, maybe even another 3 in Indochina, and charge straight for India.  China can intervene especially in Burma where is can park units as a block.  Bringing around the fleet can be critical to this in that it will allow you flank any such giant Chinese/India force in Burma.  Japan’s air force will be critical in this regard.  It must on the hand be able to pose a deterrent to the US fleet and then be able to fly west to the final fight in India.  One must keep accurate count and watch the turns.

    f. USSR. The Soviet Far East is a chimera.  There are at most 5 provinces you can take worth only 1.  The 18 man strong force is a serious deterrent.  I think it would be a waste to assault this force for so little gain.  However, obviously this gives the initiative to the USSR.  However, if Japan keeps a fleet in range to conduct amphibious landings then Japan can, in conjunction with its air force, destroy any incursion.  I recommend just pulling out all troops for other purposes with the caveat of keeping units in range for a retaliatory strike.

    g. Japan, Carolina, Indochina Triangle.  Remember the triangle trade? Well in the Pacific there is an equivalent, without the molasses. In all my years of A&A I have stunned by how inept Japan players are with their transports.  The needed dynamic could not be easier. Troops from Japan need to go to Indochina or thereabouts to engage India or the East Indies, and the transports need to be able to move back in one turn to Japan to then dump troops off at the end of their move in the Manchurian theater.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Yet the problem is that now you can move three from Japan to Indochina but not back.  If you build a harbor in Hainan, that would fix the problem.  Not to mention that with a harbor in the Carolinas, you could converge in the Carolinas with a massive force from all over the Empire in range of Hawaii or Australia.  With those three harbors, Japan can move around and threaten whatever corner of the Pacific its wants with impunity.  Obviously building a harbor on Hainan would have to come after building factories, and may even be rendered unnecessary.  But with that harbor, Japan achieves a level of tactical mobility that will give it an advantage over any enemy seeking to invade the inner Pacific.

    h. Australia.  Australia can either be taken right away or only after a more lengthy investment.  I’d say only go after Australia AFTER the East Indies have fallen and India.  Ventures to Australia expose your flanks from attacks from the US and India.

    4. Italy

    a. Italy is despite its weakness only a benefit. I have found only two (2) effective purposes for Italy: (1) take Egypt and build a factor to dominate Africa and (2) open up holes in the eastern front for the Germans.

    b. Africa.  If the UK destroys the main Italian fleet, Italy is not precluded from taking Egypt. Italy still has one transport and 2 planes to reinforce.  I bet if Italy pushes all units toward Egypt, it will succeed.

    c. India Gambit.  By threatening Egypt, Italy plays a crucial role in Japan’s attack on India. The only plausible source of immediate UK reinforcements for Egypt are from India.  Thus the more Italy threatens Egypt/Africa the more the UK must redeploy forces there unless it decides to abandon North Africa and rely on South Africa to hold the line.

    d. Italian Factory in Egypt.  This is the main objective for Italy, in my opinion. Such an advent means Italy has gained local supremacy. The only way to dislodge Italy would be a concentrated UK offensive from all fronts, which is unlikely given the Japanese threat to India.  The US thus can provide the only way to root out the Italian cancer via North Africa.

    e. US Invasion.  Italy has to beware of US invasion of Italy from Gibraltar.  The US can move there in one turn from the US and then right into Italy.

    f. Hog Wild, Italy.  If Italy can take most of Africa and not be threatened from Gibraltar, then it will plausibly have enough case to start going hog wild, building a new fleet, large land armies, and air force.  If Italy can get over a certain income level threshold, it can blossom.

    D. General Notes.

    Generally, all one has to do to be a good player is to think ahead, but not too far ahead.  Running the possibilities 2-3 turns ahead I think is essential for any major push. However think too far ahead, and you get lost in the increasing number of permutations.

    Beware counter attack.  If you make a critical move, the likelihood is that your enemy has units available for a counter attack.  Look for those units, make contingencies for a counter-counter attack.

    If your opponent is pushing hard in one sector, then bend like a reed in the wind.  Let him fall forward, and exploit his commitment by then attacking where he has let himself go weak.

    Watch harbors and airfields.  They are the key to surprise.


  • Nice list of tips, well thought out.

    I really liked tip#

    -2, have a transport w/units threatens many areas, besides the one you are going for.

    -7 & 23, very important! One may reason that it will take “6 turns to move those units into the action”, which may be the unit that is needed in the endgame.

    -1,12,18,19, you have a good understanding of winning the game, instead of being worried about what is happening at the moment.

    Nice article Gargantua.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    1. In face to face games, I find my dice roll better when I shake them vigorously and apply some muscle and flick when I roll them out,  and the faster I make those rolls consecutively, the better they seem to be. :)  Oh and it helps if you REALLY believe you are putting Reds in the dirt everytime you score a hit on the eastern front.

    2. Also, it’s a good idea to think about and plan your purchases in advance, but make sure you don’t leave them IN PLAIN VIEW during face to face games.  Infact, feel free to setup a purchase (Like a G2 sea lion purchase) that LOOK like your real purchase, to Forecast the wrong game plan for your opponents.

    3. Crazy isn’t always necessarily stupid.  Look at ALL your options ALL the time.  Like Calvin Hobbes put it, look at the ranges your bombers cover, you’d be amazed what you can pull off.

    4. As Japan, don’t leave units behind on islands like Palau, and Okinawa For Defense , use every damn unit you have at your disposal on the board.  And kill anyone who isn’t a yellow bstard.

    5. During Naval FACE OFF’s  count how many “tippable” vessels you have to your opponents.  You know if you go in to win, it’s going to be a mutual blow out. Use a NAVAL STRAFE  sometimes one that you can build into, go in for the kill, hit as many or more of your opponents vessels, and pull out after 1 or 2 rounds. You don’t have to win the fight, you just have to do more damage to them than they did to you.  This can set them back a round, and your navy automatically heals at the start of your next turn - as long as you have attack from an adjacent zone with a friendly naval base.  And if you have a factory adjacent to that zone, even better.

    5. Know when to scramble and when not to.  Sometimes your aircraft aren’ worth scrambling, like the UK against G1 attacks for example.  Especially if you suspect Sealion.  give them the ships, whislt you retain your counter attack capability and defence.  Same can be said for island amphibious assaults.  SCRAMBLING IS NOT ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA>

    6. Use air power to kill enemy naval ground units when they are far from home.  There is nothing worse as Japan, when you are setting up to attack some far away territory, and you’ve taken another territory close by, New Guinea for example when going for australia, and then suddenly all your infantry are DEAD. and you have to go back and get more, because some crazy fool suicided the odd plane to kill them off.

    7. Be creative. Scripting purchases and movements ESPECIALLY in Global is not always the best idea.  Have fluid solutions that can change when necessary, and as needed.  If Japan can’t roll through a wet paper bag, and has NO GAME by round 5 for example, you don’t need to be spending as many or any ipc’s in that direction, even if you planned to, especially if Russia or the U.K. is on it’s heels.  DON’T BOX YOURSELF IN.

    8. Bombers can contribute to a pinch defense effectively.  Say the game is on the line,  The Big push into moscow is going to happen on the next german turn.  The dice are 50/50.  You have four bombers sitting in Scotland,  put them in harms way,  sure, there chance to score a defending hit is low, but there chance to suck up a hit for the Russians, is 100% :)  And that can be the edge you need. That, or use them to attack some of the units that are going to be part of the German push.  Yes your bombers will die, but they’ll take some A**holes with them.


  • Another general naval tip in the Pacific (due to its great size) is to ‘pepper’ the ocean with individual destroyers (posibly paired with subs).  They block seas zones, cause your opponents considerable worry, and can also be available to ‘converge’ during a battle (more so than infantry on land due to their mv of 2) to give extra firepower and soak up extra hits…often without your opponent realizing this aspect.


  • if the british have a carrier in the mediterranian or can move one in, a fighter from the uk can reach most seazones there (only exceptions are seazone 96, 98, 99). this can be the tip for the british to win a naval battle against italy. (as it happened to me  :cry: :D)

    german fighters and tacticals can help defend italian positions in africa quite well.

    move some german subs into the med to go through the suez and eventually threat british transports there.

    help each other out. “small” maneuvers often achieve this.

    go via western africa with germany and eastern africa with italy to crush the british in africa effectively.

    without any unprovoked attack against the US etc. there are FOUR turns, actually, for the axis to beat down the uk in europe or china in asia AND to move into best strategic positions to gain more income via conquest and subsequently NOs.

    best one: possibilities are more threatening than not! (i.e. imagine a german invasion fleet at gibraltar with gibraltar hold by the axis: half the atlantic is covered…)


  • Great thread Gargantua!!!  Reminds me of the old “Caspian Sub” tactics.

    Larry will be done with his final Alpha soon, so we may have to update some of these- most are OK though.

    Some of my thoughts:

    a. Dirty tactics- this is why I always make my opponents chip his pieces.

    b. China- yes, they are better on ATTACK- numerically, though delaying the fight (gaining tempo-time) is worth something also at time- depends on position from my experience.

    c. Mech Inf are more cost effective in regions like the Eastern Front and Japan to Russia trail- otherwise no.

    d.Understand where the “hot” seazones and territories are- these will become “dead zones” and they are crucial in the long term to “control” them vs “occupying” them.  Example: East Poland- crucial zone for both Germany and Russia- EPoland border 6 other tt- making it a hot bed for strafes and such.

    more later…


  • I will go into more detail on a separate document and/or thread later when I have time, but these in my belief are what ALL the mentioned tips can be catogorized into…details later… :-)

    THE 5 COMMANDMENTS OF AXIS AND ALLIES GLOBAL 1940

    1. THOU SHALT STUDY THY MAP

    2. THOU SHALT KNOW THY PIECES

    3. THOU SHALT KNOW ECONOMIC CAPABILITIES AND BONUSES

    4. THOU SHALT STUDY LOGISTICS

    5. THOU SHALT MEASURE IMBALANCES

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    1. Sometimes it’s better to focus on “not losing” the game than strictly winning.  Because if you “Don’t lose” than you must win.  This is particularily pertinent for the allies, looking at what the axis is going to do to beat you, and making sure that you don’t succumb to their objectives.

  • '10

    Another great post that should go in the Articles.

    Have not seen many new articles?


  • For Russia if you have 4 turns before your attacked build units in the correct order(IE men first then tanks not the other way around) because men take longer to reach the front lines.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    For Russia if you have 4 turns before your attacked build units in the correct order(IE men first then tanks not the other way around) because men take longer to reach the front lines.

    Good comment RED

    The same can be said for the Germans.  If you are planning to go heavy Barbarossa,  build your infantry and artillery FIRST.  Mechanized units can come later.  And remember, don’t step off the gas pedal mid game just because the allies are making a little bit of headway in Europe.  Make sure you finish off the Red Beast, so that those troops can come home victors instead of die in the snow as failures.

    It’s easier to clean up the mess in France once Russia is taken completely… than to have no mess in france, but no hope of defeating the Red army, or winning the game.


  • Here is a huge one.  Forgive if this has been mentioned already.  For Russia, DO NOT congregate your Eastern Forces in AMUR on the FIRST turn.  HUGE MISTAKE.  Japan will attack them and you will lose 18 INF and 1 AA gun.


  • I have found early German investment on deterrence against US and UK naval interference in Europe to pay huge dividends as the game moves into its middle stages.  With the G1 CV 2 TRN purchase followed by a minimum of 1 sub every single turn (we’ve taken to calling these insurance or safety subs in our group) and a focus on preserving the Luftwaffe, Germany can have a substantial fleet of subs ready to take hits for Luftwaffe when its inevitably called upon to strike the US and/or rebuilt UK fleets.  Having Italian air ready to blow up any destroyer blocks by the Allies to prevent your sub force from converging on Gibraltar is pretty key.  This will normally result in one of two things happening: either the US will force the issue early intending to sacrifice its fleet in order to whittle down the Luftwaffe, or they will spend an extra handful of turns to make sure that any attack on their invasion fleet would be suicidal.  Either way, the US is forced to spend more points on fleet cover for its transports and less on men, which will allow Germany and Italy more time to push into Russia and more time to prepare adequate defenses in Europe all for the cost of 6-12 IPC’s per turn.


  • My advice is to stick to the script, that is, the script of all the other previous A and A games…

    Germany’s primary target should be Russia (unless England is acting like a total moron and asking for you to invade them).  Russia should build defensive infantry at first to watch the German’s first moves and decide from there whether they will need more defensive inf (Barbarossa) or offensive arm (Sealion).  Japan needs to go after the money islands, take over China, and threaten India if not outright take it, while maintaining naval parity with the US in the Pacific.  The UK should do everything in its power to hold the line against Germany until the US enters the war, but most of all, NOT losing England to an amphibious invasion by G3.  Italy needs to survive, mostly playing the same role as the UK, i.e., NOT being in position to be invaded by the US/UK from Gibraltar without enough defenders to hold the capital from amph. assault by I4.  The US is the one exception, barring really bad Allies team play, you can generally get away with doing anything you want since you are the infinite money god uber Allies superior band aid fix side, plus you don’t really need to worry about taking too many casualties as you can build entirely new stacks of anything every round.  Just think of the US as the hammer pounding the nails into the Axis coffin.

    The more deviations the Axis go from the script, the more spread out your forces get, until the US’s infinite money advantage steps in and lays your guys flat.  If you’re not equalling/exceeding the total money the Allies are getting by Round 6-7, you’re doing something wrong, and its just a matter of time before the economics and a few bad rolls force you to surrender.

    To wit:

    Always be pushing forward with some ultimate objective in mind.  Realize in advance how many units they’ll have by the time you get there, and how many units you’ll need to take it with your own forces by the time you get there.  Plan your builds in advance accordingly.  If some stroke of good or bad luck occurs, don’t panic, just adjust your strategy depending on the situation.  If something comes to a critical juncture, remember that as the attacker you’ll have the advantage in that you have the option to retreat if the dice go bad, whereas the defender is stuck with what he’s got. Sometimes a defeat isn’t really a defeat, if it wears down the utimate objective enough so that another side has a chance of taking it (don’t want to know HOW many times the Japanese finished off the Russians after the initial German push failed in old games).  With that in mind, try to coordinate attacks and defending stacks with your teammates. Italy/Germany work really good together in Russia; by the same token, the UK/US work really good together in France.  Italy/Japan can also try some shenanigans in the Middle East and Africa.  Why make the game harder than it needs to be if two coordinated forces are better than one?

    Always keep your ultimate goal in mind, however, and don’t let victories in other fronts distract you from the ultimate goal.  Sure, its great that Germany is on a roll keeping the US/UK out of the Atlantic for the fourth consecutive turn now, but if the campaign in Russia is stalled out, that’s not what you should be crowing about.  The sooner you accomplish your ultimate goal, the sooner your side gets to winning the game, rather than just prolonging it.

  • Customizer

    Questioneer,

    I might add one additional “Commandment”.

    In (almost) all situations, and all countries,…

    “Thou shall kill any/all enemy Transports”

    as they are what makes war possible.  I believe, that with extremely few exceptions, that Transports are my #1 PRIORITY to attack.  This is especially true for G-1.

    –------------------------------------------

    You know, a lot of inteligent discusion about detailed strategic thought patterns or specific tactics has been enumerated above and I agree with most of it.  But to me, some of it just seems logical and obvious.

    Basically, this game is one of ECONOMICS.  First, in that you are battling to increase your income to a level superior to your enemies’, and Second, in your battles to KILL A LARGER IPC TOTAL than you loose in combat.

    I feel that this game is the LOGICAL counterring of your enemies CAPABILITIES through STRATEGIC thought and TACTICAL movements to surpress your enemies goals and impose your own.

    Yes,…you must:

    Know the Rules and apply them to your benefit.

    Know the Map and know the “choke points” and strategically necessary land/sea zones.

    Be aware of, and make tactical plans to counter all of your enemies’ CAPABILITIES, not just what you think his probable moves would be.

    Be FLEXIBLE in your plans so as to be able to counter any moves by your enemies.

    Play OFFENSIVELY, DEFENSIVELY, STRATEGICALLY, and TACTICALLY all at the SAME TIME.

    This game is NOT about your attacks and their outcome ONLY,…but how you look defensively AFTER that attack.  Can you retain what you’ve taken?  Can you reinforce it?  And does this attack aid your strategic goals?

    LOGIC, and it’s INTELLIGENT application to the game in the form of a cogent strategy is this game in a “nutshell”.  Just remember that and don’t get “caught up” in the combat aspects of the game or “making impressions” on your enemy.

    “Tall Paul”


  • Super fighters range.

    Park 2 german fighters on an italian Carrier.
    Or park 2 anzac fighters on an american Carrier.

    During Italy/USA turn you move your carrier close to the target.
    During Germany/Anzac turn you sink that fleet that your opponent tought was safe with your fighters.

    If you start from a seaport you have at LEAST a range of 5 from your starting position with this trick.


  • Thanks Tall Paul for resurrecting this old thread.

    A lot of great points by Gargantua.  Don’t tell 'em ALL the secrets!  I enjoy winning against opponents who haven’t figured a lot of these things out yet!

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