Game aids - setup for continuation

Yes I’m buying it. I like having 2 of them because the Germans have to think twice about attacking 4 capital ships with a number of other ships thrown into the mix. You can wipe out the whole Luftwaffe if they get greedy and try to take out both navies at once. My goal before I sail across the Atlantic is to buy a fleet big enough that it dissuades the Germans from even attempting to take it out. It seems to work just fine.

(The way I play Germany:)
Create 1 huge army that marches into Russia and arrives in Bryansk G5, ready to attack Moscow G6, together with purchases from G5 (aircraft in Berlin/fast in Ukraine). Purchases in G1/2/3/4/5 are always aimed at maximally reinforcing this marching ‘deathball’, like ghr and Demandr described.

Russia has no choice but to surrender Leningrad+Ukraine and Germany should gladly take them with some token forces (1 to 2 inf + air).

What the Allies CAN do about this (very generally speaking because of all the variables): Russia retreats into Moscow while building a lot of inf + ART(!). RAF helps to defend it. UK + USA getting strong at Gibraltar/London + Middle East and, very important, setting up ‘bomber command’. Comes G6 Germany cannot attack Moscow because it is too heavily defended. Luftwaffe is tied into Russia (making life easier for the allies preparing for DDay) because otherwise Russia begins counter-attacking, ending the German presence there. Germany can take Caucasus + Stalingrad but NOT in force because then the Russians can break out where it is most effective, attacking and destroying the German army defending Bryansk if there is still some there. If there is not, because all the Germans are in Caucasus/Stalingrad, what is to stop Russia from retaking Leningrad, Ukraine and all those juicy eastern-european countries? Nada.
Too bad this game has no ‘out-of-supply’ rules as this is exactly what happend in Russia, starving the massive German army in Stalingrad.

In the pacific, the USA + ANZAC have Allied task number 1: prevent an Axis (Pac 6VC) win. This does not mean Japan has to be killed (though you can certainly try), but Hawai + Sydney must be held. If Japan crushes India this is an easy job. If Japan clearly invests in taking Hawai/Sydney (luckily the USA goes after Japan so can react), the task is more difficult, but India will be safe  longer and can even become strong strong strong if Japan focuses too much on Hawai. Most Japanese players I have seen, invest heavily into taking India and Middle East and THEN they try to take Hawai/Sydney. This gives the USA breathing space to invest around 20% per turn into the Pacific, spending 80% of its income into Europe. By the time Japan is ready to invest into taking Hawai the USA can switch to near 100% into Pacific (depending on the Japanese investments) without a problem because its forces in Europe are already massive.

Note that I am using the LL system in my games (and posts) to predict/dictate what major powers must do to stay alive. The LL system is usually pretty accurate and if the dice screw you up, well, then it’s the dice, not strategy, that cost you the game.

This thread is really nice, but more importantly I think people are advocating for fun.  Not historical advocacy etc.  Fun.  So how do we give Germany more options without breaking the game.  Thanks for all the input guys!

@Frontovik:

@JeffM:

@Young:

In hind sight, do you think the UK should have attacked the Italians fleet in the same manner, or would you attack the Destroyer and Transport with an all out amphibious assault on Libya or Tobruk?. That way, you could get odds and scramble planes from Malta in a defense effort during an Italy 1 attack.

Yes, I think that moving everything to Malta and then launching an amphibious assault on Torbruk would be the best bet.  I think that you either need to put the UK Alexandria/ Egypt forces on the offensive right away or have them fall back… otherwise, I see them getting destroyed on I2 unless you sacrifice the UK fleet and block SZ 98.

If you attacked Tobruk, you could pick up the Inf and Art from Egypt, have the mech (in Egypt) move through Alexandria, and have all of the ground forces in Alexandria join the fight, you would have:

UK:  3 INF, 2 ART, 1 Tank, 1 Tac Bomber, 1 Fighter (if you bring the one from Malta)

Italy:  3 INF, 1 ART, 1 Mech, 1 Tank

can’t italy ravish the british navy then, killing remaining brits in africa later through landings on tobruk, egypt and moving out of uncaptured ethiopia (to iraq?) ?

Yes, but the English can rebuild them very fast while the Italians cannot.

I am in the middle of game, round 4 America’s turn.  I took several pictures of the board that I could email you if you would like.  I could then give you the exact chip stacks around Russia since it is kind of hard to tell.  The situation is Germany has taken and hold Ukraine with about 15 inf, 2 art, 8 mech, 7 tanks. Russia has 17 inf in Bryansk with more in Russia.  The Luftwaf is all but gone, Italy is almost totally out of Africa and only has 1 trans and 1 DD on the board.  Japan has wiped out China and is poised to enter Russia, Russia inf are in Manchuria and there are 22 Brit inf in India with 2 art.  America has a small naval off Gibraltor and a large navy off the coast of Caroline islands (controlled by Japan) opposite the IJN in the Phillipeans SZ.

If you are interested shoot me an email, but I couldn’t get them to you until Sunday, since I am leaving town for the rest of the week.

I am a fan of buying a lot of offensive units (art and tanks) with Russia to help halt the advance of Germany.  I have tried building lots of inf with Russia in the past and it becomes very hard to keep the Germans from taking all of Russia’s economy with that battle plan.  Of course Russia will need the help of it’s allies because it can not stand against Germany alone in Alpha 2 forever no matter what it buys.

I do not have experience with Romanian Complex tactic by an Axis player.  The oppponent I play the most likes to attack Russia with Infantry and Artillery early and then reinforce with tanks and planes as he pushes deeper in.

Hey. i have some problems with the upgraded version of the tutorial of Abattlemap. The upgraded version is called 0.80 + i think. i have downloaded the 0.70 version and that one was fine, but the one i need for playing AAG40 is not working. has enyone had this problem? does anyone know what i need to do? many thanks.

calvin…sent you a pm!!!