German mass tank build - how to counter?

@Glamorboy A big load of subs can definitely be useful, and if you aren’t trying to protect transports at all, it is a good option. True, one carrier and 2 fighters loses to 5 subs. Typically though, your navy will be much more expensive than $34 and the fighters are also relevant on land. Also, subs are not good at defense while fighters defense kings.

When I play against friends who are new, I just give them a bid. If they win, their bid goes down and if they lose, their bid goes up. I never spend money on both coasts as US because I feel like I can never get anything going at all and it seems like all the money is wasted. Also, I think it is more helpful to use viable, typical strategies against new players so that they know what to expect. I have learned a lot more about the game through losing than I ever have by winning.

@Faramir @Private-Panic

Indeed it has always been part of the official FAQ-sheet:
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/ah/AA_1942_2nd_Edition_FAQ.pdf

Thank you all for the input! Plenty of food for thought in planning out new gameplans.

The carrier in the med is an interesting idea as it allows Germany to hold Africa for a lot longer. I wonder if this is worth it in the long run though because the men you send to Africa aren’t threatening West Russia or Caucus… This is always the problem I’ve seen with navy buys in the med. That and the fact you have to keep 2 fighters on your carrier, which means those fighters aren’t defending mainland Europe.

I’ve given this a few runs since posting.  The baltic is a lost cause, speaking naval.  1st round German Purchased Carrier, Transport, 2 Art, 4 Inf.  (Ive also dabbled in grabbing another sub instead of the trans just to help lock down the Atlantic).  Take Gibraltar, and prep for taking Egypt round 2 (as long as The US Trans/Destroyer were taken out G1).  G2 attack egypt.  G3 Split surviving German forces between blitzing through Africa or Middle East and use your transports to take additional infantry/Art to black sea.  Add a bombardment from your battleship and your 2 planes to attacking the Caucasus.  As long as you can, use that Med Navy to take Caucasus.  Africa, will most likely be taken back, but at that point, it shouldn’t matter.  You are using your extra IPC to INF stack the Western Front/ Capital and by turn 5 - 7 (with a little pressure from Japan) Russia falls!

In regards to your planes, you still have a bomber and 3 fighters to help hold off the Atlantic with your subs.  If it’s not enough…buy 1 a turn after you take most of Africa.

@guni-kid:

Mostly I bring what is stationed in the US heartland from the beginning over to North Africa in turn 3-4 (depending on German naval actions and purchases) and after that several turns to Scandinavia, bit by bit supported by UK to take back Karelia or at least keep the Germans occupied there in favor for the Russians… and finally directly to Europe: France and Northwest-Europe from turn 8-10 on (again: depending on German purchases and moves). If it didn’t work that way or the Russian died too early I lost my games  :cry: Quite often it comes to eventually giving up India (in round 7-9) to support Russia with 10+ UK Fighters and to take the Caucasus into UK hands for the time being, but keeping the Russian alive with it: He can turn east then and defend against the Japanese as long as UK and US are dealing with Germany.

You seem to be getting the gist of it. This is exactly the right way to play the allies.

Max Fighter buy on India is an interesting idea. I’ve had two more games since my posts the other day and will consolidate my experiences in the other thread I started. I did a KGF and a KJF both with slightly more success than my ‘traditional’ strategies.

I play with the same guy constantly so I think sometimes it puts me in a bubble in terms of seeing variations in Axis strategy. For instance, he’s never even tried Sea Lion.

The attack on SZ 37 typically succeeds with anywhere from a Cruiser + Fighter left, to Fighter only, to mutual destruction. A failure that leaves his Battleship, and I’d be tempted to surrender Round 1. Not something I’m proud of, but, Allied Round 1 is a precarious thing and adverse results with Russia or UK Naval efforts near India to me are unrecoverable. At least against this guy.

What he does Round 1 with Japan is he parks his transports in SZ 61, staging for a Round 3 or Round 4 take, out of range of Fighters on India. India has to follow the traditional retreat from Burma Round 1. So the 3 fighters, while providing defense power, will offer little in the way of threat to his Navy. I guess it’s nice that they can get to Russia next round, but, I can have Fighters in W. Russia in a single round from UK and that’s usually where I need them most anyway.

I should also add he is a very conservative player - he will never attack without overwhelming odds, whereas I’ll gamble routinely. So there’d never be a situation where he lands on India, my fighters survive, and hit his Navy. He simply wouldn’t attack if there were a chance of that. Similarly, his surviving transport in SZ 61 will be immediately reinforced and remain so, negating a Bomber zerg raid….

More thoughts about Allied fleets against this particular player in my other thread. Unless you’re talking about an Allied Fleet as in, INDIA building a naval fleet?

I will say, as to the rest, that there is a clear Russia Round 1 sequence of attacks that you mentioned in the other thread that absolutely must succeed, and also, Russia can’t lose West Russia for at least 4 rounds, offering plenty of time to convey Fighters over from UK, stop in W Russia , and continue on down to India. On balance, I’m not sure it changes things all that much to put the UK fighters there so early, since W. Russia shouldn’t seriously be threatened enough early on for it to matter. To compensate for 3 fighters round 1 India, you’d need a heavy ground force buy India round 2, especially if you’ve transported troops away to reinforce Africa etc…

Anyway let me lay out a few things in the other thread that may shed light on how I better managed India in both recent games…

An IC buy for Japan really depends on what the allies do. If they go all out against Japan, then an IC is a waste of resources since you will need all the money you can to build navy. All Japan is trying to do is stall for time in the pacific while Germany is the one that needs to win the war.