If The Soviet Union decides to attack Japan early on with their 18 inf in the east there’s not much Japan can do to stop them that would at least be productive.  So since you’ll probably lose Manchuria and Korea if Russia does attack why not use these units to go on the offensive.  Round 1 send them against China and cede the territory to Russia.  Let them keep chasing you down the coast and when they get in range of Japan’s massive air power send what inf you have backed up by air and you should wipe the Ruskies out.  Also it puts a hell of alot of pressure on the Chinese early.  Anybody disagree, if so i’d love to hear your thoughts.

The last game I played I saw the first ever successful sea lion to lead to an axis victory.  I now fear a sea lion more than I used to.  I firmly believe that the UK has to cripple Italy the first round or they grow out of control and become an enormous problem.  The question is if Germany is gonna go Sea Lion should the UK commit to taranto to cripple Italy’s fleet or should the UK turtle every aircraft and possible land unit in the UK.  My approach would be to purchase 9 inf but still go through with Taranto.  I just believe that Italy has to be stopped and if they are it makes the US’s job in the med much much easier.  Germany will accomplish sea lion barring terrible rolls with this approach but ultimately it seems like the right play.  Do you agree or disagree and if so why?

Everybody sings the praises of Taranto.  Me personally I never use it, it’s too risky.  If Germany doesnt fly a fighter there then it’s a different story but when the German player does you’re looking at A cruiser, Battleship, and three fighters for Italy vs. A fighter, Tac, Cruiser, Destroyer, and Bomber from London.  Those odds are definately in Italy’s favor.  I like the attack on Tobruk much better.  I use that and it really hurts the Italians and makes expansion through Africa very difficult.  I have though seen a Taranto work before but the British player got very lucky and won the battle and Italy was screwed.  If Taranto works it’s devastating but it’s a huge gamble with the odds against you and if it fails Italy should be able to capture Egypt and spread throughout N. Africa and the Middle East especially if Germany also flies in a Tac so they can help clear the med of any allied scragglers.

Ok I’d suggest not using this strategy.  I got my ass handed to me.  Didn’t help either that I was mildly intoxicated  :-D.  I ultimately only got 5 bombers to the UK.  I was able to hold Egypt and the US bombers smashed the Italian fleet.  I wasn’t able to put enough pressure on Western Europe and Russia got smashed.  Also Japan carried out a successful Calcutta crush.  It just takes to much time to setup a successful bombing campaign especially when Russia falls G6 or 7.  I feel that Russia needs to build max infantry to stay alive as long as possible which I didn’t do even though I usually do build a ton of inf with Russia.  Anyway it was a lost game but a good learning experience.

Heys guys wanted to apologize.  Said i’d let you all know how it went unfortunately one of my friends in my play group got real sick with e. coli so we couldnt play.  We may play this tuesday if so I’ll post what happened.

I appreciate your insight Stalingradski.  I agree with you how important Norway and the SZ around it are.  But if Germany is spending all that income on airbases, carriers, and destroyers then they aren’t purchasing what they need; Mechs and Tanks for Barbarossa and Inf/Art to defend western Europe because the Italians can’t do it alone unless they’re making bank which doesn’t happen every game.  Actually that’s part of my strategy, denying Italy It’s growth.  Last game I played Germany/Italy and we won despite Japan getting neutered early because Italy was making 40+ a round after the first couple rounds.  But anyway I’ll post on Wed let you guys see how it worked out.  I just think that in the end if Germany is spending that much denying me Norway or at least making me really have to earn it that the defense of W. Europe and Barbarossa will suffer.

Yeah I’ll definately give you guys a game report on Wed next week.

This coming week I’m going to be playing the allies against 2 friends one will play Japan and one will play Germany/Italy.  We will be playing the latest version of Alpha 3 (3.9).  My game plan is to Attack Italy in the med with the UK round 1 and wipe out their forces on Tobruk.  I plan to spend 2 full rounds producing in the Pacific against Japan not to beat them just to neutralize them so they dont get there 6 vc’s.  Starting US3 is when I purchase full out for Europe.  US3 full naval purchase (loaded carrier with destroyers and possibly a cruiser).  US4 purchase 3 Bombers the rest transports and inf/art.  the idea is to fly the bombers to England send the fleet to Gib then invade Norway.  Every round buying at least 2 Bombers.  Using Norway as a base to bomb W. Germany, Germany, and N. Italy.  I plan to every round bomb the axis industry to ashes so if they produce in western europe it’ll be at great cost.  My plan is to let the UK land and take Normandy and Paris.  Once the bombing campaign is underway and the luftwaffe is cleared from the sky I’ll start building all inf/art and transports to help the Brits in western Europe.  Never heard of anybody staging a massive bombing campaign i want to see how it goes.  I’m talking Massive……I’ll probably have 12+ Bombers in Europe at any time once I get under way.  Has anybody tried this and if so did it work?

@seththenewb:

Dawk, all combat is simultaneous. So you can’t destroy the AB to prevent scrambling on that same turn. The attacker makes all his combat movements and then the defender has the option of scrambling before any dice are rolled. Then and only then do you start rolling for the various battles. What you’d be doing in essence is hitting the airbase after his air is already off the ground.

Ok that sounds like it makes sense I guess we’ve been playing wrong.  Almost no reason to hit an airfield then because they’re so cheap to repair and scrambling is so worthwhile.  Anyway that being the case I would’ve done it a bit differently then.  I would’ve hit the seazone next to England with everything I had and whether he scrambled his fighters or not he would’ve lost that fleet there.  I would’ve made sure to keep the Battleship so that it would block the fleet next to Scotland from moving to the med that round and so that it would possibly be in range of my air and subs round 2.  My intent on that attack on his entire fleet was to assure that Italy would have a few turns to grow.  If he didnt Bite and moved the fleet up around Scotland out of range of my air it would only buy Italy one more turn but it’s better than nothing.  That being said it would also give me an extra turn to reposition my aircraft to hit them if they tried to come into the med.

@g�ddan:

Hi all,
I’m new to A&A and I’ve looked everywhere here for a detailed starting move for Germany to go vs USSR, but haven’t found one.
The player Cow was mentioning something along these lines in his Japan playbook thread:
“I seldom do sea lion honestly. I just push russia. I don’t do anything fancy. round 1 france and yugo that’s it. finns and that other spot for extra infs.  g2 push everything up to russia. take normandy 2 guys and air. the rest push. then you push russia g3.”

So I’m asking for detailed buy and move for G1 for Barbarossa with the intention to hit Moscow as early as possible.
Thank you in advance.

I’ve never been a big fan of a G1 Barbarossa.  I tried it once and it didn’t work.  You go into Russia half ass basically.  I find that a G2 Barbarossa is best, it still allows you to hit the Soviets fast but that extra round makes all the difference getting the full force of your infantry in.  I just finished a game with my friends last night where I played Germany and I won.  I believe I attacked Moscow round 7 or so and when the battle was over I still had 15 tanks left.  My positition in Western Europe was very strong.  The Brits and Americans took Spain and America was shucking 5 inf and 5 art to spain everyround on top of building three tanks a round by a minor ic there.  They still couldnt take Paris.  Here’s how I started the game:  first purchase was 1 destroyer, 1 Art, 6 Inf.  I started by sending all available ground units into Paris including the 3 tanks from S. Germany with the exception of 2 infantry that I left in Holland.  I strafed Yugoslavia by sending all the inf in S. Germany with the fighter in slovakia and Tac in Poland on there way to southern Italy.  That worked perfectly Yugo was left with 1 inf for the Italians.  I then bombed the Airfield in England so they couldn’t scramble I brought in 1 tac and 1 strat ( the tac was an insurance policy if the airfield was successful with its aa shot) I also used 2 fighters to escort the bomber and tac.  The airfield was taken out, I lost 1 fighter and the brits lost the French fighter. I then sent 2 subs on the fleet off England ( no Scrambles now) and I sent 2 subs and my Battleship against the fleet off Scotland.  I also sent the rest of my available air into both battles.  I lost all the subs and 2 aircraft I believe but the UK fleet was removed in both areas.  The above assault on the UK fleet is a gamble, if the dice dont go your way it can be catastrophic.  My result was about average or maybe a bit above average.  Its worth it though because now he cant send that fleet to the med to cripple the Italians.  My non-combats were the usual moves into Bulgaria and Finland.  I also non-combat everything else to the front with the Soviets.  The next round I purchased 6 mechs and 6 tanks for Germany and 2 Inf for Paris.  I sent everything into the Baltic states going to take novgorod and i a turn or 2 later I sent forces to take the minor ic on Ukraine.  I then went on to take Volgograd and just kept pumping tanks and mechs and bombers from my new russian ic’s.  I also started strat bombing Moscow that helped reduce the size of his stack……think he had 47 inf when i attacked.  This is the best way to play Germany I believe.  One thing to keep in mind is a strong Italy.  The tac and fighter I sent to Rome stayed there until round three, they helped clear the Med of UK ships this allowed Italy to grow strong.  Toward the end of the game Italy was makin around 40 IPC’s a round.  It’s so important to have a strong Italy to help defend W. Europe.  One last thing to mention.  I was helped greatly by getting advanced Artilery.  We play with a house rule that any nation that earns 30+ IPC’s gets one free tech role and germany got advanced art.  That did make it a bit easier but I still would’ve won without that.  Anyway I hope this wordy mistake prone run-on post helps you out  :-D