Allied strategy (for USA)

yeah i don’t think the usa has to necessarily rush, but the uk might.  in general, if germany has to divert attention to kill some uk landed troops, then that’s at least saving russia from all that attention.

A few points on the OP. first off, it isnt a bad strategy, but there are some trouble spots:

Axis counters –

1) When I am axis, you should be very wary about landing in alegeria rd1. I like buying a German bomber in rd1. this alone should make an African landing r1 too risky. I can hit sz12 with 4 fighters from france. 1 fighter 1 bomber from Libya. 1 bomber from germany. This typically wipes out the allied navy of 4 trans, 1 dd, 1 bb with a lose of ~ 3 fighters. Well worthit for Germany. UK, will have trouble replacing capital ships, and will never be able to replace the battleship. I have also been known to do things like move the baltic fleet to sz7, move the med fleet west time to time. All these things should deter a r1 landing in africa.

2) Your strat never calls for buying capital ships. As I have said above, i buy an extra bomber with germany, and can buy a few more fighters as well. this air force will make shuttling troops to europe tough on you.

3) Ignoring africa is a mistake IMO. The Continent of Africa is worth 11 ipcs. If the allies want it, the Axis cant stop them from owning africa. So you are sacrificing a 22 ipc swing in your games, because you are hoping for a quick knock-out punch on berlin by r6. You wont knock-out a good axis player by round 6. ESPECIALLY if you are allowing Germany to earn 50+ ipcs/turn.

4)  If you move into EE on r5 on my germany with force, i gurantee you can can take that force out. There is no way you get an uncounterable force into EE on me by r5.

USA alternatives –

The US can choose to shuttle troops to the North or the South in the Atlantic. It depends on what you want to accomplish, and how things in africa are going. I do think that ultimately, its on the US to ensure africa is secure. Sometimes that wont take much effort, maybe the first three rounds you will have enough gear in africa to secure it for the allies. So at that point you can switch to going north if you prefer. However, I have found games in which the USA bases it operation in north africa/med, and the UK bases is its opertaion in Karelia/Baltic, this puts max pressure on germany. If you have both the US and UK in the north, you certainly have 1-2 punch potentially that makes Germany have to guard WE/Berlin/EE. However, if you have US navy in the med, Now Germany has to worry about SE/Baltics/UKR as well. Now Germany cannot do much but turtle, cuz they cant send alot of force east to russia without leaving themself open to landings in all of their originally owned territory. And SE is big. The germans cannot afford to let the amercians hold that more than one turn. If the US gets to build 6 tanks there, Germany’s days are numbered.

Axis has a point, SZ 12 is hardly a safe zone.

I keep forgetting how much damage just the German air force can do to the Allies on Germany 2 in SZ 12 because I almost always have the German Battleship and Transport from SZ 14 in SZ 13. (I just like sinking the Battleship without loss there, call me strange.)

As the Allies I stage the UK and US and move the Russian sub to the NW corner of England and I have the US add a capital ship like a loaded CV or a BB.

Once that happens I can decide where I want an allied foothold.  (Norway, France, Africa).

But all of this depends on 1) the skill level of the Axis player(s), 2) Where Germany decides to invest assets, 3) What Japan does the first move.

You can’t have a cookie cutter method to handle the Axis or vise-versa.

If you want a full proof plan your not going to find one (you know that your not stupid). What you can do is make a mental flow-chart on how to handle specific events.

Examples for the US would include: Did Germany decide to go to Africa?  Did the UK do any prep work for a KJF game? Does Japan attack Pearl?

The US player has one of the biggest advantages of all.  They get a limited picture of whats moving where.  You need to find a way that can work for you.  Then you can use the US’s second biggest weapon the federal reserve.

LT

oh well, i have just tried the strategy against an experienced player and i was destroyed terribly. SZ 12 IS NOT A SAFE PLACE R1. You would not have 2 UK trans in most cases. I played against bid 9 so there was one sub more from the start and an AC on G1. Any kind of convoying system is necessary for US but next time i am going to make sure that i control the atlantic solidly first. I made some childish mistakes too, but if the germans put an effort to contesting the atlantic you cannot just build trannies. You have to sink their ships first and you have to do it quick and as cheap as possible.

Btw if the convoying system is to work smoothly you need for US actually three sets of transport ships, two wount do.

two will do if you set it up from ECA to UK, UK to Norway, and build troops in EUS and move them to ECA,

So you need to be 1 turn ahead with your soldier buys.

@Granada:

oh well, i have just tried the strategy against an experienced player and i was destroyed terribly. SZ 12 IS NOT A SAFE PLACE R1. You would not have 2 UK trans in most cases. I played against bid 9 so there was one sub more from the start and an AC on G1. Any kind of convoying system is necessary for US but next time i am going to make sure that i control the atlantic solidly first. I made some childish mistakes too, but if the germans put an effort to contesting the atlantic you cannot just build trannies. You have to sink their ships first and you have to do it quick and as cheap as possible.

Btw if the convoying system is to work smoothly you need for US actually three sets of transport ships, two wount do.

Early allied shipping losses can really hamper your game plan. It is always vital to protect not only the transports, but that British battleship! If Germany invests 24 ipcs in the water, you will have to wait a round or two to be safe, however, thats all right, as Germany took away 24 ipcs from the Russian campaign, you have time to get going.