Strong Germany Opening in Africa

I’m not very good at Classic, but I’ll throw my two cents in.

Typically, I commit 1-2 rounds of shucking INF from South Europe -> Africa to try to rack up some IPCs. After the first two rounds or so you’re going to need 100% of your IPCs to commit to the stack war in Eastern Europe Vs. USSR/UK.

If UK wastes their money on a South Africa/India IC I’d punish them by committing the Germans to a Egypt -> Syria -> Persia -> India trajectory, while also sending as much of Japan’s navy as possible towards India to take the free factory. If Japan/Germany can break a hypothetical India Factory early on, it can give Japan some real momentum in gobbling up IPCs in Africa + putting pressure on Russia.

Remember: In Classic, Germany has to play defensively, as they stand no chance of breaking Karelia unless your opponent is really weak. Japan has to be the main breadwinner for the Axis, abusing the weak starting setup for the Allies in Asia and the typical hyper-KGF Allied strategy to try to either take Moscow or win an “economic victory” before the Allies manage to break Germany.

5. Always keep the BB and TRN inside of the Mediterranean.

6. Land all ftrs in W. Europe at the end of T1

RE: transport dropping off. A transport cannot drop off 2 infantry into two different territories during combat, you only want to drop off one so that obviously is ok. The rule states that during non-combat any unit that has not moved can move. I’d say the infantry like a fighter could leave the ‘mother’ ship even if the ship had moved it’s full 2 moves and/or did combat. During non-combat you CAN drop 2 infantry from 1 transport into two different territories, just can’t do it during combat.

A tactict for South Africa. If you can, try taking Kenya with an infantry and take congo with an armour. I know how tempting it is to think “I’ll be up 2 IPC and he is down 2 IPC and I just want to get it over!”. Be patient. Some statistics.

1 Tank attacking 1 Infantry
50% You win
25% You lose
25% Both destroyed.

1 Tank, 1 Infantry attacking 1 Infantry
53% You win with no losses
37% You win with loss of 1 INF
5% Both destroyed
5% You lose

With a single tank you only have a 50% chance of somthing good and there is a 25% of something very bad. Even if you are both gone, it takes awhile to get more units down there and tanks are precious, heck all german units in africa are precious and must be nursed. That extra infantry decreases catastrophe by a factor of 5 and nearly doubles the probablity of an acceptable outcome.

As for the German Med fleet, I am a huge fan of bring the BB and Loaded transport against the brit sub. This of course relies on extra units in Libya and having libya attack Egypt with the amphib assult. There is always a drawback, and here it means using both baltic naval units against the Brit fleet around Britain and the german sub in the atlantic attacking the southern bit BB with an air unit. If the brit sub hits and you hit, take off the BB, you transport really can’t be easily attacked unless they want to land their air units in Syria, right next to a stack of german land units.

All and all it sounds like you did a good job, congrats!

BB

I usually build a ton of infantry to protect my capital early on. That way for the rest of the game I don’t have to worry about it. Just keep building tanks and hitting Russia in the east. Use every single plane you have no matter where it is located. If it is in Western Europe, fly it over to Ukraine. Hit them with everything you’ve got. This will cripple both of you, but as long as the Japanese player is smart enough to take them in the East, then you will come out on top, because you will have almost twice the economic might and will be attacking them on two fronts.

Also get a tank or two over to Africa and blitz through the open countries there. It will really put the kaybosh on the British player launching any decent offence against you, cause he will have no money

Hey whats up Ozone 27, Long time no see.
I’ve been experimenting over in A&A Europe

Only problem is, I continue to fail in my attempts to convice my esteemed colleagues of the necessity for a bid…

Germany rules!

“sigh” :cry: Man I Hear That,
Freakin Noobs :x

Thankfully I can still pwn them with no bids,
my problem is, I can’t get them to use RR
That is What Pisses Me Off

That was a very, patient & polite post, SUD :D –and enlightening as well!

I still don’t know if 2-hit BBs is a good rule for Germany–I guess the pluses for Japan outweigh the minuses for Germany.

Ozone27

Well with Russia unrestricted, I can definitely expect Ukraine to be taken. Of course even with Russia restricted, I can still expect a strong presence on part of the Russians in the Caucasus. And as a rule I will generally not invade the Caucasus on part of the German Army due to the fact that the Russian counterattack can wipe whatever fighting force remains (and usually a good deal of ARM unless my Luftwaffe is free).

As for Africa, it is crucial to the success of Germany and the Axis to take it. 2 infantry per turn does seem like a lot, but the 8 IPC return investment is just too great. And with USA due to arrive in Africa very soon, I need whatever I can to slow down their reconquest. Victory for Germany is based on these priorities:

Protecting Eastern Europe at all cost The continued occupation of Africa The protection of Western Europe at all cost The protection of the Luftwaffe and the Panzers
5. The protection of the Mediterranean fleet

It’s interesting to think about. But considering Hitler thought of Moscow as (and I quote) “…a geographical expression only…” it is clear that Germany had no intention of seizing Moscow quickly, whether the general staff wished to or not…

Ozone27