• Dear Fellow Players:
    I have played several games recently of Axis and Allies 1940. Unfortunately, I have noticed an unsettling trend which I need help with. It seems like every single game, Germany wins by the following plan:
    [Round[1-Take Paris, Barbarossa, light/medium attack on English fleet
    2-Take Leningrad, Ukraine, or Belarus, Western Ukraine
    3-Take Leningrad and Ukraine if not already; if so, push on through Belarus and Western Ukraine
    4-Hit the Archangel-Rostov line with four attacks
    5-Americans make a landing in Norway or France; little effect on game. Germans reinforce Paris if necessary with 10 inf or 10 arty. Push towards Moscow.
    6-Moscow in German hands; Paris still occupied; Americans little or no forces in mainland Europe; victory all but secured.
    I would like to please ask for help/advice on how the Allies can finally win a game against this G1 Barbarossa Blitzkrieg machine.
    P.S-Italy’s role is minor play in the Mediterranean; back and forth against Britain and Free French.
    Thank you for all the help,
    AxisAndAlliesGeneral


  • Here is some general advice:

    When Germany attacks Russia turn one they usually have to face some setbacks.  Try conterattacking Baltic States, Eastern Poland, or Basserabia to destroy their tanks.  Be caucious with Russia and don’t defend unless you can win.  Always pull back if you can’t hold until you reach Moscow.  Attack whenever you have the odds.  With the UK you might get some more navy than usually (like a battleship fleet) left after G1 because Germany had to go After Russia.  Really put the hurt on Italy if Germany isn’t helping them (convoy them in 97 to death).  Help the U.S. get a foothold anywhere in Europe. Try to threaten Berlin or Rome or liberate Paris with U.S.  hold on with Russia and get UK to buy a factory in the Middle East to eked units into Russia.


  • Good advice Chuck, building some art in your forward ICs can help with that fighting withdraw strat. If it isn’t safe to stay in those forward bases back out and set-up counter attacks so the Germans can’t build in them for a turn…

    Get some UK ftrs to Moscow before the Germans get there, it takes a couple turns so you need to plan early. Slide some UK ftrs to Scotland, and from there they can fly to Archangel or Nenetsia then on to Moscow. Same from Egypt/India funnel ftrs up through the middle east then to Moscow. This will at the least delay the assault on Moscow and allow you to build more Russian units. It is up to UK if their ftrs stay till the end to cause max damage to the German force or not.


  • I thank all who reply with help for their assistance; I know it will improve my chances of securing Allied victories in the future.
    AxisAndAlliesGeneral

  • '21 '20 '18 '17 '16 '15 TripleA

    @AxisandAlliesGeneral:

    Dear Fellow Players:

    5-Americans make a landing in Norway or France; little effect on game. Germans reinforce Paris if necessary with 10 inf or 10 arty. Push towards Moscow.

    Something crossed my mind reading your chronology. Just want to make sure that you are aware that major ICs get downgraded to minor ICs when captured, and so the french major IC in France s/b converted to a minor IC once it is taken by Germany. If Germany is incorrectly/illegally plopping 10 units in France on G5, that opens up 21-28 IPCs on G4 that could be used against Russia - a couple of bombers at least. If Germany wants to reinforce Paris with 10 inf/art, some of it would have to purchased on G4 in order to have that quantity in Paris on G5, and this might impact Russia’s success defending against Germany.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    What I’m hearing is

    1. The German attack develops too quickly for Russia to stop it
    2. KGF (attack Germany with 100% USA or close to it) simply does not work

    Both very true.  While we can argue about the timeline, the truth is that whether you attack on G1, G2 or I1-I2, Russia cannot withstand a concerted attack.  This is especially true if Japan attacks the Soviet Far East on J1, and for several reasons, I feel like a Japan attack on at least the 3 Russian territories not affected by the Mongolian Rule is a pretty strong move every game as well…(esp in G42 on J1, or at the very least, before America enters the war)

    That makes Russia a good place to put some balancing units or bid units, but that’s not the consensus on how to correct a core problem of Russians OOB setup being too anemic to do…well really anything.

    I realize that some people suggest a precise Russian counterattack (say, before the Axis is at Moscow’s door), but every time I have tried a Russian attack on the battle line, I usually killed 1 juicy German Army and there were 3-4 more waiting right behind it.  This meant that the game ended a turn faster than otherwise and I can say that attacking in force on R1-R3 costs you the only striking force you can muster in that timeframe.

    A better plan probably builds a massive arty, inflexible arty stack that makes a citadel of Moscow on R5;  then the Germans can’t put the strikeforce next to your capital because you’ll have 1 shot at killing his now combined Corps.

    About the KGF part;  the Allies have a really hard road here.  America cannot effectively attack the Atlantic Wall.  Norway is the prize, and as long as the Germans have a fleet, they will retake it.  Spain sounds ok but it causes serious problems with securing the other neutrals.  You pretty much cannot retake Paris at all, because it is too easy to retake and gives the Axis another stack of $$$, and so the Allies have to actively avoid taking it.  Taking any one other territory requires a massive UK/US coordination, which they get one shot at and the Axis can usually kill it all with infantry backed by planes.

    The only way to break Germany is by taking Denmark, and constantly threatening West Germany.  At some point, you can strat bomb him, threaten crush his fleet and then the whole thing unravels because he has to turn away his buying away from Russia and stand against the Western Allies.  You need 5-7 American bombers to pull this off in my experience, then you fly around crushing his stacks and fleets.  Its more effective in G42 than G40, because in G40, Germany grows to threshold income (60+) before America can send a single bomber over.  By leapfrogging, the UK can protect the US and vice versa.

    Unfortunately, because of Axis Strat bombers, you literally have to defend 3-4 (91, 110, 112, 113) sea squares with invasion fleets in them and they usually find a way to pick one off, weakening the KGF concept even further.


  • Thank you again for all the helpful advice. You were right on my misstep with Germany building 10 units on Paris instead of 3. You also have good ideas about buying artillery, which I was thinking because you can combine them with infantry to get attack or defense at 2. And the United States targeting Norway/Denmark/Western Germany combined with bombers is helpful. Thanks again for all the great advice from such nice players; you guys are awesome.
    AxisandAlliesGeneral

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