I believe Africa can become much more profitable for Germany if the UK fails to re-take Egypt in UK1.

This happened the last game I played. In G2 I took transjordan, and then in J2 I was able to sneak a japanese AC through the suez to link up with the German BB and transport. I then landed some German fighters on it, and this little fleet survived for a long time.

If the UK or USA want to waste their airforce on it all the better.

If they try to send ships through the med to come get you, smash them with your BB, trans and AF. Following that, move your jap AC to southern europe and then buy another transport on your next German turn.

To me, the key to making Africa profitable for the axis is to not engage the allied reinforcements marching along North Africa. Resist the urge to fight them and preserve your forces. After taking or re-taking Egypt, fan out and grab as much territory as you can. However, try to keep most of your forces, and certainly your lone tank, outside striking distance of allied transports floating off Algeria (ie stay mostly in Italian East Africa, Rhodesia, or South Africa - do not even bother with french west africa).

The best African outcome for Germany is to own parts of sub-Saharan Africa with Japan focussing on trading Egypt. If Germany’s fleet is still alive, provide support by landing token forces in either Egypt or Transjordan, whichever is safer.

If you do decide to make a stand in around G3 or G4, turn Egypt into a deadzone. This can be hard to do as you will need to make sure most of your Airforce is in either Southern Europe or the Balkans the round before as well as having most of your land forces in italian east africa. I would only suggest doing this however if there is a gap in the allied reinforcement chain marching along north africa.

In my opinion, buying too many fighters is inefficient. Infantry are a better buy on defence, and tanks on both offense and defence as you can get twice as many of them. So long as I have 4-6 aircraft to trade territories, I mainly just buy infantry and a tank or two. I tend to keep about 2-3 artillery floating around too, to help with trades when my aircraft have higher priorities.

Granted, buying fighters forces the allies to purchase more surface ships to protect their transports, but in the face of a BB or fully loaded AC, such a battle is unnattractive for Germany. You might sink a few of their trannies, but you have also sacrificed your main offensive units. That takes a lot of pressure off Russia and opens the door for more aggressive incursions by the allies in the future.

I guess it comes back to my cautious approach to playing Germany. The allies have the ability to combine their strength when defending, but are forced to attack you individually. By focussing on defensive purchases (mostly inf and a few tanks) you will be able to hold out a lot longer.

I reckon a fun game would be to 10VC’s with extra VC’s in the Ukraine and Australia and give the UK an IC in Australia.

For a quick Axis victory, they would need Karelia, India and Australia. For a quick Allied victory, they could get Western Europe, Ukraine and one of S Europe, Kwangtung or the Phillipines.

Thanks Sankt. I agree my post was far too long, I tend to over-think A&A too much. Your conclusions are sound. Everytime I look at that US BB I feel a tinge of regret :(

Good luck in the tourney and your game vs Mojo.

Well I managed to take Australia and get an AC into the Med. While I missed the opportunity to wax that US BB (which is a shame as I am hoping to suicide my baltic fleet on his atlantic fleet this turn), it meant I was able to threaten India with 6 inf 5 fig and 2 bb on J3. I figured that delay in his moving to FIC would help me build a IC in Manch or even Kwang on J4.

I wonder if I made the right decision.

Even if Japan have no forces on the mainland at the beginning of J2, and they face an IC in Sinkiang (built US1) and a colonial garrison IC in India, is it inevitable that Japan will conquer Asia?

On G1, I usually buy a Carrier and place it in the Baltic. While it does save your ships from an opportunistic UK, I feel the value of the purchase comes more from the tieing up of allied fighters in the UK that would otherwise be sent to help defend Russian infantry stacks. It also forces the UK and US to invest in a few subs, fighters and a carrier or two of their own to defend their transports.

My question is: What should I do with this Baltic fleet?

In my experience, if I move out into the Atlantic the UK sends 1 BB, 2 trans, 3 figs and a bmb to kill it (a 60% to win, 6% to clear, 34% to lose battle). The battle can go either way, but even if it goes against the allies they can retreat their BB and remaining aircraft and bring on an AC and transport into the sz with the BB. The US then sends whatever available ships as fodder and lands fighters on the carrier. This is a hard nut to crack, and the US will be able to hunt down the German fleet in the next few turns with its fodder and aircraft.

However, if you sit and wait in the Baltic too long you will be contained and then crushed at the allies leisure.

The way I see it, I should either invest in other naval units (ie a sub and a destroyer), or write the fleet off altogether from the beginning, being happy if I down a UK fig or two on UK1/2.

I am playing a very interesting game of Revised at the moment with my Dad. It is now J2 and I have a wide array of options. In the first Japanese turn I wanted to annihilate the British fleet off India, the US fleet at Hawaii and conquer China. While my 7 inf 1 Fig got carved up in China, leaving only 1 inf, 1 fig, I took minimal losses at sea.

As it stands now in J2 I have:
1 BB, 1 AC, 2 Fig, 1 Transport in the Solomon Islands sea zone.
1 BB, 1 AC, 2 Fig in India’s sea zone.
3 Transports in Manchuria’s sea zone (61).
1 Fig, 1 Bomber, assorted land units in Japan
2 inf in Solomons (original and 1 from wake)
Original inf on other islands

Note: I have no land units on the mainland.

I also have control of the Suez (2 inf in Transjordan, 1 inf 1 art in Egypt) with 1 German BB and Transport in sz 15 (to the north of Egypt)

The Allies have:
India:
6 UK inf, 2 UK Arm, 1 UK Bomber, 1 AA, 1 IC (Colonial Garrison)
2 R inf, 1 R Arm
FIC:
1 UK inf
Manchuria:
1 R inf
China:
1 US inf
2 R inf
Buryatia:
7 R inf
1 R fig

Western US sea zone (55):
1 BB, 1 Transport
Solomons Sea Zone:
1 UK Sub

Libya:
2 Uk Inf, 1 Art, 1 Arm
Algeria:
2 US inf, 1 Art, 1 Arm

Analysis: I have serious problems on the mainland and desperately need to make a comeback this turn. While I control Kwangtung, I don’t want to buy an IC that would need defending. Given the extra distance from India, an IC in Manchuria in J3 or J4 seems safer. My transport infrastructure is intact, so in the next few moves I will shuttle as many land units as I can to Kwang and Manch. At the moment they have no protection so I will need to either buy or pull back some of my ships.

However, I also want to take advantage of my controlling the Suez, something that can only be done this turn. What is more, I would like to take down the US BB and Trans off Los Angeles. If I can destroy them now they will not be able to go to the Atlantic. Taking out Australia or New Zealand instead is another option. Such a move would permanently lower UK income and help make up for mainland losses.

My current plan is to:
Buy 1 Destroyer, 1 Transport, 4 inf.

Attack Australia from sea zone 38 with my Solomons fleet. 2 inf 2 Fig 1 BB vs 3 inf is a good bet. The US BB will get away, but now my 2 fighters and BB are in place for a J3 attack on FIC or re-attack on Australia.
Attack Manchuria (1 inf) with 2 inf, 1 Fig. If the Russians counterattack or stay in Buryatia I will destroy them in J3.
Attack UK Sub in Solomons with my Bomber
Move 1 BB from India sz to Kwangtung sz with 1 transport and 2 men from Japan. Land 3 fighters in Kwang.
Move 1 AC from India sz through the Suez to link up with the Germans. German fighters will land on it next turn.

Place 1 Destroyer, 1 Transport in Manchuria sz (61) and 4 inf in Japan.

Questions:
What is the better target, Australia or the US BB and transport?
Should I consider moving my Solomons Trans to sz 42 and then on to take Brazil and then South Africa?
Is it worth sending a Japanese Carrier and/or a BB to the Med so early to help protect the German fleet?
What is the fastest way to counter 2 allied IC’s in Asia when you start J2 with no forces on the mainland?
Is it worth buying an extra German transport for the Med?

While this is a game in progress, I will be making my move tonight before reading any responses. Thank you.