Problems with the Axis

@_Flin_:

Hi there!

This is my first post. I have been lurking here for a while, since me and my friends just rediscovered A&A 1942 and are quite hooked on it. After reading through many of the threads, I figured I have somequestions about the proposed strategies. Furthermore, most of them do not apply to the games we usually play.

So I have a few specific questions, concerning a variety of topics for nearly all countries.

1. Our general setup and game
We usually play R1 and G1 with pretty standard moves.

• R1 WR and UKR (sometimes strafe), but never Norwegian Gambit;
• G1 British Fleet, AES, a bit in Russia with consolidation in UKR, taking Karelia/UKR, sometimes setting up Belo and UKR for trades.
• UK1 buys AC, 2 DD, attacks Algeria with Bomber/INF,ARM, sinks Baltic fleet with Fighters. Usually no AES counter. Sinks Jap Trn off Kuangtung with fighter. Indian fleet flees.
• J1 Attacks China, Small Pearl, buys 2 tran and ground units.
• US reinforces Algeria, spreads ressources Atlantic/Pacific.

So what usually happens is:
Germany gains some ground in Africa until it loses Med fleet and succumbs to continous invasion from SZ12.
Japan plays Cat&Mouse with the US fleet, taking Bur turn 2 at the latest (because sneaky US reinforces with Fighters from AC off US East otherwise) then J3 it’s usually India.
Allies build up navy in the Atlantic, bomb Germany. Russia and Germany trade, while Russia builds up Infantry stacks.
Any German try to gain a foothold in WR or UKR gets countered. By turn 4-5 allies land either in Western Europe,
or come over Norway. The smaller US fleet (usually an AC, BB, DD, SS and trans) in the Pacific is enough to distract some Japanese IPCs, while playing cat & mouse with the Japanese Fleet, which isn’t strong enough for a frontal assault unless united with the Indian fleet, which usually chases after running CA/AC/tran. Japan marches towards Moscow, but has neither the troops nor the speed to get there and have an impact against the Inf stacks. So usually by turn 6-8 all hope is lost for the Axis.
With a firm footing in the Atlantic and in Africa, the Allied fleet ships troops towards Karelia.
The Axis have lost their initial troop advantage.
Germany is usually at around 28 - 31, Japan at around 40-45; so the Axis is down about 20 IPC a turn.
Which is usually enough, because the Allies just play it safe and just pile up more and more until there is no way for the Axis to attack anymore.

So it seems to me that the Allies have a big advantage here. Out of maybe 10 matches, the Axis managed to win once, after a G1 2 Bomber build and mistakes by fearful and drunk UK/US players.

Probably, Axis needs to be more bold and play so that the Allies are responding to their moves and not the other way around. More on that later, now to your questions

On to the questions:
1. Germany
1.1. Africa
In G2 usually there are 2 tanks left in AES, sometimes an additional infantry.
Algeria gets taken. Period. First the British transport, then the double US. If UK neither attacks Algeria, nor AES, nor builds factory in SA, all is well.
When any of the above happens, then what?
Current trend in our games is the all out attack on Algeria by the Allies.
Sink the fleet, well, of course, it’s usually CA+ 2 or 3 trans. Then fortify Libya with 2 additional inf and tank blitz through africa? And buy additional navy to protect Med fleet?
Counterattack Algeria? Invade Transjordan to flee next turn through Suez?
How to hold onto Africa a bit longer? Threaten the Atlantic with a turn 1 double bomber buy? Or just grab as much as possible and wait for Japan?

On J1 moving the J transport on SZ60 to drop 1 inf, 1 arm on Indochina can be a big help. It allows J to reinforce Egypt or take India by J2. You should also pull back the units on Algeria to Libya (no point in having them destroyed). Afterwards, if the Allies want Africa they will take it - but while doing so they are diverting units from Europe. The same applies with Germany/Japan moving a lot of units there. Africa is important - the trick is to get the Allies to commit too much to retake it since those units are usually prevented from advancing into Asia by Japan.
If the UK sends its transport to SZ12, great. Now the UK is prevented from any landings since it will be sunk on G2, unless they buy a transport, on which case they’ll have less protection for their navy. That’s where a bomber buy on G1 comes handy because the UK might be playing with fire.

1.2. Russia
Now I have seen all out Infantry buys for Germany. Being too slow and succumbing in Western Europe turn 5-6 (probably wrong balance then…).
I have seen aggressive play more often, always leading to removal of the infantry shield and self annihilation by Germany due to losing IPCs by the bucket.

Is there a certain rhythm to the Eastern front? Like: Buy Inf 4 turns, then tanks, then attack on turn 6?

That order of buy that you mention has some truth to it but it also really depends on how you want to play Germany. Usually W. Eur can and should be fortified against any combined Allied landing, which means 12-18 infantry plus fighters. With a stack of 18 inf plus fighters/bombers it is almost impossible for the Allies to take W. Eur, even if the US tries a massive landing surging its 8 transports.
Of course, this also mean that those units won’t be sent against the Russians, but if the Allies are going full KGF from the beginning, Germany will have to start building its defense quickly. However, if you are going against the Russians, then the key is to stack Karelia or Ukraine.

1.3. Atlantic
The Atlantic is a lost cause. If UK1 goes AC/DD/DD SZ8, there is not much Germany can do. It can attack, sure. But the whole Air vs. Naval battle always takes away about a ftr and a SS.

So how do you balance Africa/Russia/Atlantic? Are the Japanese fighters the key to that?

If G builds a bomber and ends its turn with the 3 subs still alive and 3 fighters on W. Eur, then any fleet on SZ8 should be killed (70% odds), even with that UK buy and the US cruiser and Russian sub. On G2 you can also pull back the subs to SZ5 and gather your entire airforce on W. Eur, which usually forces the UK to spend more money on naval units.
Afterwards I really like to move the entire Japanese airforce to W. Eur as quickly as possible. It really can make life miserable for the Allies on the Atlantic, even if you don’t get a chance at either fleet.

2. The UK
In the other threads, many people say they retake AES as soon as there are 3 or less units there. Isn’t that automatic doom for all Axis Africa ambitions?
You can even build an IC there next turn, because which German in his right mind would attack there with 2 troops, while the US is in Algeria?
The problem I have with this is: How comes that everyone talks about German strategy as if they make any progress in Africa at all? When it is next to impossible to keep AES for longer than G1?
On the other hand I do not see the advantage giving Japan India as a present… sigh… so many decisions. ;-)

UK retaking Egypt on UK1 is a regular move. The Germans can usually take Egypt again on G2 (by moving the units on Algeria to Libya and bringing 2 more from S. Europe) and the UK usually won’t have any more units capable of retaking it, so it is a speed bump for Germany.

3. Japan
When reading about Japan, it usually reads like “Well, you need 5-6 trannys asap, then an IC at preferably India, all while storming towards Moscow and pushing 8 Units a turn on the Asia, while flying fighters to Western Europe, taking Africa, and ANZAC, because the subs are no problem, since you bought 2 DD anyway.”. And I am like: “WUTLOL?! Can I haz IPCs?” (sorry for the language ;-) )
In our matches, the standard opening leaves the Indian fleet on the run, 4 Inf in India, the UK ftr at China and 6 Inf in Bur. Japan with one tranny.
The only reasonable move is to take China turn 1 and Bur turn 2. If Bur isn’t taken on turn 2, the US fighters will come over.
So progress is steady, but slow. How can Japan put more and faster pressure on Russia? All the while moving off to Africa and protecting Bor/Phi/East Indies?

China on J1 and Buryatia on J2 are solid. If the US decides to add to the Pacific and you like to take risks, ignore the US fleet completely for J2-J3, while sending all the fighters/bomber to Europe and taking down India and pressuring Russia as much as you can. Even if the US fleet takes Solomon on US3, they probably won’t have enough to prevent being sunk if they decide to take any of the islands, but you’ll need replacement fighters.

It is a complete mystery to me how the Axis can win this game on a regular basis. There seem to be so much more mistakes to make. And it seems as if the Axis will get punished way harder for mistakes or bad luck.
Then, on the other hand, the Axis has to play aggressively, because it can’t win the long run.

It’s tough, but then here it says the game is balanced. How? (Maybe we should introduce bids…)

Thank you for your help, please excuse if I sound a bit angry, just been torturing my brain about that for two weeks now.

EDIT: Ok, next post i reread first, before I edit like 100 times :-)

Try giving a 3 IPC (1 inf) bid for the Axis. Just that can make a big difference on Africa.

@_Flin_:

@Hobbes:

On J1 moving the J transport on SZ60 to drop 1 inf, 1 arm on Indochina can be a big help. It allows J to reinforce Egypt or take India by J2. You should also pull back the units on Algeria to Libya (no point in having them destroyed).

This usually leads to UK1 tank, inf in Algeria, with US reinforcing with tank, art, 2 inf and maybe a ftr. The ftr, however, would then not be available to land on the UK AC, so UK build probably takes place in SZ2. Which brings up the question of fighter placement on G1. If the UKR fighter is gone, then it probably will be the best to go for 2 ftr on WEur, and 2 on Norway? If the UKR fighter exists, attack AES with 1 ftr only and 3 vs. the Mediterranean cruiser, putting 3 ftr on WEur and 2 on Norway (if they survive, that is)? So you can smash Algeria, in case AES doesn’t get countered? Hmmm… :evil:

I usually do the US landing on Algeria but I send only the transports, so it costs the Allies 14 IPCs but the US can start advancing towards Egypt. If you move the UK transport (and the US cruiser) then it will cost the Allies 33 IPC worth of ships, in exchange for 1 German sub. I don’t consider the UK moving the surviving transport to land on Algeria for several reasons:

1. If the German player want to attack the 4 US units on Algeria let him have it. Those German units won’t be blitzing through Africa and they can usually be counterattacked on round 2 and destroyed.
2. Unlike the US, the UK’s income will take a dive on the first turns and it will have to buy 1 carrier, 2 destroyers (unless German had really tough dice on round 1) - sending that transport to its destruction will make things harder for the UK since it will take them longer to get to their 4 transport goal. If the transport lives to UK2 then probably it can be used to take Norway, a permanent -3 IPC for the Axis or to retake Karelia from the Germans.
3. Moving the US cruiser is also a waste - the Germans can sink it without risking any planes with their subs (assuming they moved them to SZs7/6 on G1 during non-combat). Sinking the cruiser will also force the Allies to buy more navy to defend itself against German/Japanese planes on W. Eur.
4. Finally Even with the UK 1 inf, 1 arm, it is impossible for the Allies to retake Egypt until round 3/4 if Germany keeps its land units there and Japan lands fighters on Egypt (on their way to W. Eur).

One last tip: go to the Articles forum and check the Spring 1942 Fortress Europe Axis strat. It will give the possible odds for a German attack on G2 on the Allied fleet and how to turn W. Europe into a major Axis airbase. Doesn’t quite explain what Japan has to do on land against Russia but that you can figure out for yourself :)

Replies in red, within quoted text.

@_Flin_:

• R1 WR and UKR (sometimes strafe)
• G1 British Fleet, AES, a bit in Russia with consolidation in UKR, taking Karelia/UKR, sometimes setting up Belo and UKR for trades. If Russia did West Russia/Ukraine, German consolidation at Ukraine on G1 can usually be smashed by Russia.  Imagine an R1 purchase of 5 infantry 1 artillery 1 tank (2 inf 2 art 2 tank is better vs a G1 Ukraine stack, but let’s say Russian player wanted to leave some room for offense.  After mobilization at end of R1 (Russia 1) you may have 5 infantry 1 artillery 1 tank on West Russia, 2 tanks on Ukraine, 5 infantry 1 artillery on Caucasus (placing 3 infantry 1 artillery), 6 infantry 1 tank on Russia (placing 2 infantry 1 tank), plus 2 Russian fighters floating around.  Assuming Germany retakes Ukraine with everything, that’s something like 11 expected German units on Ukraine at end of G1.  Russia’s counter is 7 dice from West Russia, 6 dice from Caucasus, 1 dice from Russia, plus 2 fighters, for a 16 dice vs 11 dice counter, with Russian reserves of 6 infantry plus the R2 build to meet the G2 counter.
• UK1 buys AC, 2 DD, attacks Algeria with Bomber/INF,ARM, sinks Baltic fleet with Fighters. Usually no AES counter. Sinks Jap Trn off Kuangtung with fighter. Indian fleet flees.Germany should probably not have left any units on Algeria.  Supposing Germany to have landed fighters on Western Europe, moving the Algeria units on G1 to Libya would allow for a brutal counter to an Allied landing on Algeria, either by hitting a light ground force with ground from Libya plus Western Europe air, or if Algeria strongly defended, destroying a lot of valuable Allied fleet.

Allowing Germany to control a tank in Anglo-Egypt at the end of G1 opens the door to Japanese fleet in Mediterranean.  Specifically, a G2 capture of Anglo-Egypt and Trans-Jordan (far easier if UK does not counter AES on UK1), protecting both against a UK2 retake, allows J2 movement of battleship and carrier through the Suez canal into the Mediterranean Sea.  This also allows Germany to blitz tanks through Africa on G2.  It is almost impossible for US to counter a G2 tank blitz through Africa, and a KGF (Kill Germany First) plan that leaves Germany sitting on African IPCs means Germany should be far harder to break.

If you’re going to suicide the UK India fleet, it’s probably best to send a UK cruiser or carrier to kill the Japanese transport off Kwangtung.  In a KGF plan, the UK India fleet usually can’t reach the Atlantic to be of use in time.  Alternate uses of cruiser include bombardment of Anglo-Egypt and Borneo; alternate use of carrier includes parking southeast of Africa as a fighter base; if Japan hits the UK carrier/fighter, it risks fighters; if Japan does not hit the UK carrier/fighter, you can set yourself up for a UK2 kill of the German Baltic fleet.

At any rate, suiciding the UK India fleet is probably not best.  There are small but important objective you can accomplish with them.

You’re probably stacking 6 Russian infantry on Buryatia and joining the UK fighter there, preserving Buryatia past J1 for a threatened R2 attack into Manchuria of 6 infantry plus air.  Granted, this does put early pressure on Japan, restricts Japan’s income early, and increases Russian income early, all of which are very nice.  But unless you’re committing to KJF (Kill Japan First), Japan makes back the territory quickly, and with German control of African IPCs, and Japanese fleet in the Mediterranean, you’re looking at a mid-long term Germany that’s very powerful and rich, in exchange for a short-term inconvenience to Japan.

• J1 Attacks China, Small Pearl, buys 2 tran and ground units.If you’re going for early tank presence in Asia, IC/2 transport makes sense.  If you’re just going for sheer units, 4 transports (if UK won’t be able to threaten French Indochina sea zone) or 3 transports 1 destroyer do decently.  You can take ground units from the Japanese islands like Phillipines, Okinawa, Wake, and East Indies.  But at any rate you probably really do not need 2 transports and ground units as a J1 buy.
• US reinforces Algeria, spreads ressources Atlantic/Pacific.If you split US early, it’s usually not a good idea.  You have to race Japan’s 2 battleships, 2 carriers, 5-6 fighters, and bomber in the Pacific, and keep an eye on Africa and Europe, which usually means building US defensive fleet early to escort US transports.  The more you concentrate force in one area, the more force your opponent will need to bring to bear to counter, the more flexibility you will have.  The less you concentrate your force, the less your opponent will need to counter, the more flexibility your opponent will have.

Considering that UK/US should have lost at least 3 transports by end of G2 because of the listed Allied moves to Algeria, Allied infrastructure should be shot, and considering there’s a good chance of Japanese reinforcement to the Med fleet, Germans should have a good chance to a long-term stall in Africa.

Sounds to me like the Axis just aren’t pressing their potential attacks hard enough.

“Is there a certain rhythm to the Eastern front?” - sure, Europe, Africa, and Japan should all go to the same beat.  Specifically, if Germany’s pushing like crazy and Japan’s lagging, then the Russians can punish Germany for its greed early, then when UK/US contain Germany, Russia can turn around and fight Japan.  Or if Japan pushes like mad and Germany lags, vice versa.  Only when Japan and Germany time their attacks and exert pressure early is Russia really pressured.

“So how do you balance Africa/Russia/Atlantic? Are the Japanese fighters the key to that?”  Germany just grabs whatever it can in Africa, preserving its presence there as long as possible.  Forget fighting in the main Atlantic; it just isn’t possible unless Allies screw up horribly.  The only place the Axis can really hope to control against a KGF is the Mediterranean, and even then it comes at a cost in Europe.  Japanese air is not the answer to German control of Africa/Russia/Atlantic.

“You can even build an IC (in Anglo-Egypt on UK2).”  If you buy an IC anywhere for UK, you’re slowing your fleet infrastructure, which means slower progress to making drops in Europe.  Plus you make a very juicy target for Japan.  Anyways, Germany should probably not have left its ground on Algeria at end of G1, meaning there’s a decent chance of G2 hitting Anglo-Egypt with 4 ground plus air (depending on the G1 buy)  You don’t want to give India to Japan easily, but with a bit of UK and Russian shenanigans, Japan should have a hard time holding on to India early, with minimal Russian/UK investment.

“WUTLOL?! Can I haz IPCs (for Japan)” - let’s say UK1 moved Australian sub to range of French Indochina sea zone.  J1 counter destroys any UK India fleet that’s in reach of Japanese navy.  J1 build of 3 transports 1 destroyer.  You start with 6 ground on Japan, 1 on Wake, 1 on Okinawa, 2 on Phillipines, 2 on East Indies, plus possibles on New Guinea, Caroline Islands, and Solomon Islands.  Say you take 2 ground from Japan, and drop to Kwangtung.  (This is about the worst case scenario for Japan).  J2 you have 4 ground on Japan, 1 on Wake, 1 on Okinawa, 2 on East Indies, and 4 transports.  Two of those transports will have to be committed to Buryatia (if dropping to Asia) because of taking infantry from Okinawa/Wake.  The other two can be used on targets ranging from Manchuria to India (although only one makes it to India), but let’s say that Japan commits one transport to Manchuria and one to French Indochina.  This empties Japan and the surrounding islands on J2, and leaves Japan with 4 transports.  1 of those transports can be used to take infantry from East Indies for J3.  So you only really will want 6 ground for the J2 build to fill all transports available.  But that’s only 18 IPCs or so; you still have 2 units that you can build, and perhaps 12 IPCs.  So you can probably afford a transport and a tank, or perhaps transport/infantry and save a few IPCs.  Alternatively, on J2 you could start trying to pick up isolated infantry from Carolines/etc. and harassing Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, etc, but the basics are pretty much the same - picking up Japanese infantry from the islands and using them; you hit 5-6 transports very fast, and with only 3-4 transports taking targets from Japan, you can build a Japanese IC on J3 or J4, depending on the particulars.  A Japanese IC at India may be a little too ambitious in a lot of games; with tight Allied play, French Indochina’s a better bet usually.

“please excuse if I sound a bit angry”

Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

@Bunnies:

Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

Nonsense. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your units, up there on Asia, are walking into a trap, as is your Atlantic fleet. It was I who allowed the Allies to attack W. Europe. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I’m afraid the Axis airforces will be quite operational when your navy arrives.  :evil:

@Hobbes:

@Bunnies:

Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

Nonsense. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your units, up there on Asia, are walking into a trap, as is your Atlantic fleet. It was I who allowed the Allies to attack W. Europe. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I’m afraid the Axis airforces will be quite operational when your navy arrives.  :evil:

Would that make the French Resistance a band of Ewoks?

@MtnGoatJoe:

@Hobbes:

@Bunnies:

Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

Nonsense. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your units, up there on Asia, are walking into a trap, as is your Atlantic fleet. It was I who allowed the Allies to attack W. Europe. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I’m afraid the Axis airforces will be quite operational when your navy arrives.  :evil:

Would that make the French Resistance a band of Ewoks?

And the Russian sub is the Millennium Falcon… go get them Lando!

@Hobbes:

@Bunnies:

Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

Nonsense. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your units, up there on Asia, are walking into a trap, as is your Atlantic fleet. It was I who allowed the Allies to attack W. Europe. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I’m afraid the Axis airforces will be quite operational when your navy arrives.  :evil:

This actually expresses how the Allies and Axis have to behave in Spring 1942 (though it’s a little more like the prequel trilogy than the original): the Allies have the upper-hand economically, therefore the Axis have to be aggressive with their slight military advantage to gain territory and IPCs so they can reverse the balance of power.  Conversely the Allies have to defend Moscow and counter the Axis advances to maintain their economic superiority in order to eventually crush the Axis.

If the Axis are too passive or defensive, they will lose.  However, the Axis start out with superior positioning for inflicting more damage on the Allies, so the Allies have to play smart and cool to contain the Axis rage in order to win.

Going with the whole Star Wars prequels analogy for Spring 1942, Germany is Palpatine, right in the middle of everything having to balance all the political powers, and Japan is Anakin, coming out of nowhere to strike down the Jedi order.  The US is Yoda (green obviously  8-)) who has to be careful not to be so detached that they get distracted or deflected and miss the opportunity to take down the bad guys.  The UK is Obi-Won who are right in the middle of everything fighting it out, but can easily get in over their heads and be rendered ineffective.  The USSR is Mace Windu, who puts up a good fight, but once they get taken out by the Anakin/Palpatine combo, it marks the beginning of the end for the Jedi/Allies.
:mrgreen:

And for the neutral wastelands that don’t care which side will win - Jabba the Hutt.

C-3PO: “Sir, the odds of winning the battle on SZ6 are 1 million, three hundred and seventy-five to one”

Never tell me the odds!

My friends have the opposite opinion.  They are stubborn, keep having me play the axis so I am perhaps a poor allied player, though in 2nd edition I was a deadly allied player, not hard without bids though!

My friend swears the axis is too powerful and the allies need a bid in order to survive.  I think we just need to play against some new blood so we can be schooled, embarrassed, curse the dice then finally accept we were missing something.

Read the article on Fortress Europe, review what few play by forum games remain, its a pity old legacy games and posts have been removed but there remains a few.  Get into triple A, I dabbled with it but do not seem to have the time to get into it.

Try to get your group to do a play by forum here, it would make it easy to have folks here dissect it in a friendly way and provide alternate moves and constructive critiques.

I was hoping the high level players here might do a simulated so called typical game.  Standard starting moves done, agreed upon results of dice knowing dice gods will change your plans.  However, its rare to have dice change your Kill german first into a kill japan first strategy so its safe to have a pretend game with typical game flows with typical dice rolls with perhaps a few offshot discussions to cover what-ifs in the case of abnormal dice outcomes.

@_Flin_:

Everyone in our group wants to play Germany, and everyone is keen on trying their own special tech, no matter how loud I cringe :-)

Germany is not imho free to choose its stance in the game. To the contrary, it is obliged to adapt to the Allies stance towards Japan.
If the Allies put too much pressure on Japan, Germany has to go all out against Russia, bying at least 5 armor per round, fortifying Ukraine and having its eye fixed on WR-Caucasus.
If the Allies totally ignore Japan, Germany has to brace itself for an all-out defence, buying at least 10 inf per round, safeguarding its luftwaffe, trying to hold on to Africa for as long as possible and hoping that the Japanese airforce won t be landing too late in Europe… 
If the German player ignores the Allied initiatives and simply goes on with whatever “sceme” he has, things will probably go bad for the Axis.

@_Flin_:

@MrMalachiCrunch:

I think we just need to play against some new blood so we can be schooled, embarrassed, curse the dice then finally accept we were missing something.

Read the article on Fortress Europe, review what few play by forum games remain, its a pity old legacy games and posts have been removed but there remains a few.

Yes, I noticed the part about 1942 games, few there, too bad.

I read the fortress Europe article and got quite inspired by it, reading up on it on this board in seperate threads. I used the superior placing of the Luftwaffe in France (british fleet sunk in the process due to my opponent somehow not noticing that I have 2 subs as cannon fodder). Played defensively and most was well (except for a stupid mistake as response to an R2 sub buy in the Black Sea). Too bad Japan self-destroyed on 4th/5th turn. I look forward to play more matches as Germany. I am not the only one, though. Everyone in our group wants to play Germany, and everyone is keen on trying their own special tech, no matter how loud I cringe :-)

Maybe try a 1 vs 1 game where you can be both Japan and Germany? Sounds like every Axis loss could be attributed to your friends wrecking your plans  :-(

@El:

Everyone in our group wants to play Germany, and everyone is keen on trying their own special tech, no matter how loud I cringe :-)

Let them try. :)

I play hundreds of games online using TripleA but when I play face to face with my friends I just shrug my shoulders everytime one of my team partners decides to do something crazy, like not buying anything that round, so that on the next round he’ll have a ton of money to try to surprise our opponent. To me it’s a crazy move that never solves anything but I stopped trying to lecture them and just have fun. It’s hard for me not to give opinions on what they should buy or attack but unless it is something very critical I nowadays make an effort to shut up unless they ask my opinion. People learn more when they are allowed to make their own mistakes.