2nd turn attack on U.K. - How do you counter this?


  • Suppose the German player buys a carrier and three transports on G1 and places them all with its northern fleet.  After making its usual attacks Germany leaves 4 tanks and 4 inf. in Germany.  It leaves 4 fighters in Western Europe and two on the carrier.  It seem that a 2nd turn attack on UK is coming.  What do you do as the allies to counter this?  You only have one UK turn and one US turn (and one Russian turn but I don’t know what you could do with it).  So, what is your response to this as the allies?

  • 2007 AAR League

    This is the kind of purchase that declares your intentions for everyone to see.  Knowing that Germany is planning an Invasion on G2 this is what I would do:

    UK1
    UK has 2 options, fortify the homeland or build naval units. I prefer Naval units.  Move the bb & trn from sz2 to sz6 (land troops in norway if you want) Build 1 ac & 1 dd in sz6 land your 2 fighters on the carrier.  Germany now has to fight through your navy if they want to land in the UK.

    US1:
    Load 2 inf 1 art 1 tnk on your transports in sz10, move the entire sz10 fleet to sz8 unload the US ground forces.  Fly your bomber & fighter from E. US to UK.  Now Germany not only has to fight its way through the UK fleet, but there is a sizeable US/UK force that needs to be defeated.

    Russia2:
    Move your sub from sz2 (that’s where most people put it on Russia1) to sz6.  Germany has bought no ground forces on their first turn, hit them hard, they have no reserves to counter-attack with. By G2, with the UK Fleet, US reinforcements, & encroaching russians, I doubt the Germans will want to go ahead with “Operation Sea Lion”.


  • What jsp said.

    I like the Navy myself or 6 INF and 1 FTR for UK. US build should be TRNs and troops for possible liberation of UK.  If Russia is working the West Russia stack maybe a push in the south and prep for Germany to try and land in Karelia instead of going for UK.

    The Navy is prefarable to me because it will be 2 ARM, 2 INF, 1 RTL and 1 BMR for UK and 2 INF 1 RTL and 1 ARM 1 BMR and 1 FTR from US against the 4 INF and 4 ARM and whatever FTRs he doesn’t send against your fleet. With the fleet he will have to divert some airpower to win the sea battle weakening the landing force to almost even. In the case he does beat your Navy and gets to land give up the US and UK BMRs as the first hits. The Bombers are cheaper than a turn of the UK not buying units. You also want to make sure you kill as much as possible to ease the US liberation if necessary.

    If you are playing a KGF strat this only hiccups you with the 12 spent on the DES. It may even speed things up by bringing the Luftwafe to a quick end. With the fleet and build up in UK Germany should be detered.


  • JSP, had no idea we had ANOTHER Carolinian here!

    Perfect analysis/counter to the Revised Sea Lion Scare (Classic version fought by me and Darth last winter… same net results)

    Dang!  Those North Carolina Folks sure do enjoy their WWII games :-D

  • 2007 AAR League

    yeah, me and jsp have been battling pretty hard in our rematch, his axis strat is greatly improved from our first game


  • I think Tri said the same of me…

    The first 2-5 games anyone plays online should be excluded from rankings.  That is the learning curve.  After that though…  :evil:


  • Usually the Baltic Sea Lion (building transports on Germany’s first turn) is comboed with the German Med fleet moving west.

    Otherwise, the Allies easily counter with USSR fighters (I typically land USSR fighters in Moscow first turn, not the Caucasus), US infantry, artillery, armor, fighter, bomber, UK build of five infantry three tanks.  Germany’s chances are not bright.

    If the Germans move their Med fleet west, then if the US reinforces UK, the US fleet can be destroyed.

    Still, it is VERY DIFFICULT for Germany to take UK, even with an all out transport build.

  • 2007 AAR League

    @ncscswitch:

    JSP, had no idea we had ANOTHER Carolinian here!

    Perfect analysis/counter to the Revised Sea Lion Scare (Classic version fought by me and Darth last winter… same net results)

    Dang!  Those North Carolina Folks sure do enjoy their WWII games :-D

    Been here nigh on 1 yar…I proudly proclaim myself a Tarheel!

  • 2007 AAR League

    tennessee volunteer here, go big orange!!!


  • With what I am seeing develop as a “typical” USA1 move, a Washington attack will never happen…
    There will be at least 3 TRN and 2 DST in the way.

    Also, for Germany to stage for that “threat”, they have to NCM their Med fleet instead of usign it for Combat (so that they can sail through the Straits of Gibraltar after the UK BB is destroyed by the SZ8 sub and FIGs).  Not using those units at all on G1, either to help in Egypt, or to mmake it so you take NO loses in killing the UKBB is a bad idea, since you can bet that UK and USA are both going to take a swipe at that 2 ship fleet sitting exposed in the Atlantic…


  • To get the maximum defense in the London on Round 2

    1. The Russians should have landed their fighters in Moscow on their first turn. They can both land in London on Russia 2. The sub on Russia 2 can go block a med navy by going to SZ12
    2. The UK can build 5 inf 3 arm (30 IPCs), which provides maximum ground fodder under the restriction of mobilization and cash, and also land the tank from W. Canada to UK
    3. The US can land 2 inf 1 art 1 arm in London through SZ8 on their first go, plus the fighter/bomber from E. US

    There is absolutely nothing the Germans can do to stop this massive build-up, except possibly bombing the UK for 6 IPCs.

    In the best case scenario for the Germans, they build 5 transports on G1, send their Med fleet westwards, bomb UK for 6 IPCs, and have all aircraft in range of London. But the Med fleet cannot attack London because of the Russian sub in SZ12, so the maximum force they can bring against London is 6 inf 6 tanks 6 fighter 1 bomber (5 built transports + 1 original in Baltic).

    The defending force is a composite of the following: 2 inf 1 art 1 arm 2 fig 1 bomb 1 aa originally in London, + 8 inf from build assuming only 24 to spend from a perfect bombing, +1 tank from W. Canada, + 2 fighters from Russia, + 1 fighter 1 bomber 2 inf 1 art 1 arm from US, for a total of 12 inf 2 art 3 tank 5 fighter 2 bomber 1 aa.

    In that perfect scenario for the Germans with a perfect bombing, they have right about 1% chance of winning.

    Alternately a naval build by the UK like 1 car + 1 dest can deter a German landing, but the UK navy will be destroyed and you’d better hope some transports didn’t get through because the UK doesn’t have the bulk of its land forces ready.

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