• Hi everyone. I’m a new A&A player. I got together with several friends and we bought the game to play occasionally. We also ‘assigned’ countries to each other. I chose to play Germany, not realizing that it is probably the hardest country to use. While the game is extremely fun, me and my friend (who is playing Japan) keep finding ourselves losing to the Allies. I know most of you are a lot more experienced than I am, and I was wondering if any of you could give me some tips on how to win with Germany and/or Japan. Thanks a million!


  • A few hints:
    1. teach an 8 year old how to play, then let him play allies.

    or if an 8 year old is not available:
    1. Germany take Africa and the Med allied fleet first. Use East Europe fighter to help.
    2. Jap attack Pearl, then leave the Atlantic alone and go after Russia. Get an IC on the mainland ASAP. Get all land units on mainland ASAP. Get transports for sea of Japan.
    3. Jap be slow and steady. Don’t spread thin taking Asia. You will eventually get it.
    4. Ger build up inf/arm, but mainly inf to match Russia. Take Karelia if you want to, but mainly, keep Russia out of Europe. While you are taking Africa, use air to keep the Allied fleet down around britain. Don’t let Russia push you defend the capitol. Keep enough units in Ger/W.Eur to discourage invasion considering their fleet.
    5. Critical::: synchronize the push into Russia. Jap/ Ger must act together if you expect to get them. Put Jap fighters in Ger territory for extra defense. Don’t worry about who gets the IPC’s for taking the capitol. Japan is in a position to have incredible land area & IPC’s but there is no “I” in team. That’s why you go after Russia: it’s the first one you can both get.
    If you’ve held off invasion, Axis should win after Russia falls, even if they are spread a little thin. Reinforce with your new wealth. And don’t let the Allies retake Russia. Also, taking Karelia first may work out, but it may be expensive. Slow and steady against Russia. It’s Africa where you want to be fast.
    Don’t fall into the trap of trying to build up an early invasion of Britain. Maybe the pros can do it, but for lighthearted play, it just won’t work.

    I’m a bit of a beginner myself. But I sure do love playing it.


  • Well…

    the game is ubalanced, that’s the short of it. In a game by standard rules, the Axis will lose about/ more than 95% of the games.
    Of the optional rules, try Russia Restricted (means that Russia does not have a Combat Move in Turn 1).
    This will change the odds slightly. To balance it more, in the topics you find here a lot of them mentions “bidding”. With this the player(s) who have to play Axis get some IPCs that they can spend in troops before teh game starts.


  • To all those who say all this junk about the game being 95% allies, and therefore it’s pointless to play the Axis in a “normal game” without bids, STOP!

    It is only 95% in the clubs, which have analyzed the game to a point where they know the predetermined optimal strategies! How long did we all play the game before bids, when it was a boardgame, and the Allies won like 60%? Not 95%?

    These are newbies writing out here… instead of saying “Don’t play a normal game, that’s futile – You should adopt a bid and play by my club’s rules” why not just answer their quesions, and let them learn?

    Newbies -

    For newbies, the game is VERY even because you won’t make the Allies work together very efficiently when you first play them. That’s sort of the “coming of age” with A&A… when you realize how to make the Allies work together, and you can win consistently with them, THEN, and ONLY THEN should you move up to playing a “bid-type-game”. You have to know WHY this bid thing exists, and you only get that by learning how to be good with the Allies. The 8-yr-old example someone gave is really extreme. Any player who hasn’t analyzed the game on an online-club level will not play the Allies optimally, and thus it’s a very even game!

    The Axis are much easier to play when you’re new, cuz of the powerhouse strength they each hold. As a new player, you should focus on that. Use Germany to move in force to Eastern Europe, and keep a big threat on Karelia. Use your BB and Tranny to shuttle guys to Africa, and hit Egypt on turn 1 with guys from your Tranny & Southern Eur. Hopefully you’ll capture Egypt fast, and then the rest of Africa on the 2nd turn… That will give Germany a big income, which will be hard for Russia to deal with. Unless the Allied players are skilled at how to Retake Africa, you could end up controlling it for most of the game!

    With Japan, be aggressive! Try to conquer as much of Asia as you can. Don’t worry too much about the US, or if they’re building a Navy. Focus on what makes the money - territories. Buy lots of transports, and keep the infantry flowing to the mainland. Don’t buy an IC right away. Stick to infantry & transports. 2 trannies can bring over 4 inf per turn, and costs 16. An IC can only produce 3 inf per turn, and costs 15. So you can see trannies are the way to go.


  • great post.


  • howde,I;m a club player and poo is right about bids there.At a bid of 21ipcs[7inf] the allies are still winning over 50% of the time.Bidding is the only way to even out the game but it does more than that,it creates hundreds of new avenues the game can unfold in.
    You sound like you know how to play well already so you;ve discovered the line of play is already the same in every game[boring].Bidding blows that wide open.The only way you;ll get the most from a&a is to play with bids.
    Join the clubs and you;ll learn a whole lot real fast.after a handful of games against the experts there your friends will never touch you on the a&a board again.Unless they do the same.
    An example is 5inf libya,1inf e europe.1inf kwangtung[to stop the manc,kwan double punch.
    Another is 1inf e europe,1inf libya,1inf kwan,2 manc,2burma,get the japs off to a fast start.
    Another is 1 e eur,1 lib,1 kwan,1 manc,1transport jap or caroline ,or borneo.Then be in hawaii on jap 3 with 14inf,1arm,4ftrs,bmb,entire jap fleet incl sub,us has only had 2 turns and bought mostly trans,in big trouble[figure out how to accomplish at above 50% chance of success]
    Another is bid 22[mine],1ipc for ger[plus 7inf] gives you the option of 11inf,1ftr,7inf,or 3arm,6inf on ger 1.See how bidding opens up the game completely.
    start at 18 and you;ll watch as your bids slowly climb [with your skill] to where they are in the clubs,22 for me, 23 or higher for the experts[they;ll give you 23 and still wax your butt : ) ].
    Good rolling and have fun.


  • It’s also fun to do a red-line rush into Karleia then Russia. For some reason this works 50% of the time. And if it doesn’t…well…you tried.


  • Hey Rommel,
    Be happy to play against your Red Line any time! That should generally be stoppable… Germany just doesn’t have the firepower early on!


  • AXIS AND ALLIES IS WAC :wink: :x :wink: :x :wink: :x :evil: 8)


  • Russia definitely has to fall as quickly as possible or the Axis is likely to lose. I like to use Germany’s aircraft and totally decimate the allied fleet as much as possible on the first turn. Even if the German air force gets wiped out, it’s ok. Just keep attacking ships as long as you can. Then, Germany needs to move troops toward Russia, but not attack. Just build up troops. Keep your armor in the capital and replace the troops you move toward Russia with ones you buy(buy only troops for Germany for the first few turns). If Russia attacks, they’ll probably lose a lot of troops and you can use the troops and armor from the capital to counterattack if they take the territory.

    If the German air force succeds in wiping out the allied fleet, that will postpone a full scale invasion and keep Britain from helping Russia. If you fail to take them all out, it can be a problem, but Germany should be able to hold it’s own for awhile.

    I never mess with asia in general to start with Japan. If the allies take ground, they take ground. I move the Japanese fleet right off Japan, buy troops, tanks and transports, then attack Russia from the other side furiously by getting a steady flow of troops from Japan pressing relentlessly toward Russia’s capital. I ignore anything else unless the American fleet starts island hopping, then maybe I’ll fend them off with part of the navy. If the few allied troops in asia attack the flow of Japanese troops, they’ll usually get eaten up. A good player may drop a factory for the U.K. in India, but that’s alright. The allies start very weak in asia, so take advantage of that to hit Russia hard while Germany starts out on the defensive where the allies are stronger.

    If America get’s too cocky, you can usually interrupt things long enough to whack Alaska. That draws them north, away from the islands and you can move back to Japan and start hitting Russia again. Just don’t linger around Alaska too long or you’ll get caugt up in it and lose momentum against Russia.

    Once Japan pushes up far enough and is attacking Russia’s capital, then Germany can blitzkreig from the other side, but not before. If the first wave takes too many casualties, retreat and build up again. The whole thing is to force Russia to defend Karelia without weakening Germany too much. That prevents Russia from Fighting Japan because they have to keep building up to protect from Germany. If they don’t, you’ve got them anyway. If possible, do strategic bombing on Russia as soon as you can to take away IPCs.

    Russia must fall and fast if the Axis is going to win. It all hinges on that.

    Things can go wrong. Bad dice rolls or good opponants but you react the best you can and keep focused on Russia. If the allies can keep Russia in the game long enough, Germany will weaken. In that case, just conceed the game unless you feel like playing until you eventually lose.

    Probably seventy percent or more of the time, this strategy works for me, depending on the dice and my opponant.

    Good luck.


  • YES! The game is very well balanced when you & your friends are new to the game. Sometimes I totally wish I could go back to our “novice” period–there seemed to be so many more possibilities!

    As far as general “novice” principles to win:

    1.) Be frugal! Spend all your money each turn & buy only the units you intend to use the very next turn. Have a very definite purpose in mind for each unit, & don’t neglect to buy INF. INF are the most useful units in the game–this is a principle that–if you know it–will give you an advantage over your fellow newbies who buy all armor, fighters or research…

    2.) Look a turn ahead when buying & also when attacking. Visualize what the board will look like when you finish your move: that is where you are stuck until your next move! Don’t leave yourself hanging out there in a weak territory–you’ll have to wait for 4 more players to move before you can rectify the situation!

    3.) Attack when you are more-or-less certain to win & try to have enough forces in each siezed territory to protect it from counterattacks by the enemy. If you take a territory on your turn & your enemy takes it back, you gained some IPCs. If you prevent or eliminate a counterattack, you NOT ONLY gained IPCs, you prevented the enemy from getting them & therefore hurt his/her economy as well!

    4.) Consult with & cooperate with your partner(s) as closely as possible! The closer you can coordinate your moves, the more powerful you will be…

    Hope this helps! Have fun! :D

    Ozone27


  • One word: Agression. Continually attack, though attack sensibly with the odds on your side. Also, on turn 1 destroy the British Navy with your air power and whatever naval units you’ve got left. The Brit Navy are the chains that keep you bound in Europe. There’s 8 more IPCs waiting in Africa if you can land a strong enough force to take and hold it. Those 8 extra IPCs can give you a descisive edge. If you can also keep Britain from naval supremacy you will limit its options.

    Advice on the Russian Front: Karelia. Karelia is the centerpiece of the entire Russian theatre. Whoever can take and hold Karelia controls 3 IPCs, an IC and the road to Moscow. The Russians will try to keep Karelia from you at all costs, so attacking here is a good idea.


  • yeah, a turn 3 attack on kaerlia w/ the germnas is a good idea, w/ all the inf. you bought on turn 1 plus the armor you buy on turn 2 plus all you fighters and bomber


  • By t3 I have like 35 inf plus whtever in kerelia. I welcome the attack! I exagerate a bit but if Germany attacks Keralia I suggest earlier unless USSR does something stupid. Or later if Japan is threatening from the other side.

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