Were you testing this by yourself?

Regardless.  If G1 attacks the caucuses, the Russian response should be to use 2 tanks and 1or 2 inf.  Use the figs (or one of them with 2 inf) in the ukraine, and don’t buy 4 tanks.  3 with 3 inf is understandable in some situations.  And if you are just testing with yourself, you can edit.

I agree that spain is a devastating split of german defenses.  I always thought that the neutral rules were ridiculous (3 ipcs to take a territory that doesn’t even defend itself) because it would have been unrealistic in the war.  I always played house rule of no invading neutrals.

(If spain would have been invaded, they probably would have outright joined the Axis.  Not that it would have been a huge blow, but they had some battle-tested troops and pilots.)

Spacer,

Never meant to offend your knowledge of the game.  I have just been trying to look at your suggested G1 purchase as a strategy rather than a gambit.  A strategy means that you have a plan that will work against good to optimal responses without relying on luck.  A gambit is a ploy that requires sub-optimal response and/or lucky dice.

Like your plane attack into Russia.  Germany uses most/all of its planes to open a tank path to Russia, but if UK has any inf in Karelia or tanks in Norway, UK can defend Moscow with those and its figs.  Even then, if Japan takes Moscow for a round (nice ipc boost, it has probably lost all/most of axis planes and moscow can be retaken next turn.  Unless Germ also in a position to hammer Karelia (and hold it and Germ capital) on its next turn, then Allies can rebound quickly.

We have already corrected one flaw of the initial plan, stacking in EE rather than turning that into a deadzone (and giving Russia a 6 ipc swing against Germ).  One of the other issues that I think need to be addressed is the amount of ipcs UK has to build its super fleet.  I think the magic number is 58 (BB, AC, 2 trans).  Taking the tank to Libya helps, but I’m not certain it is optimal for your strat.  You should consider all your options with the Med fleet, planes, and Baltic fleet and think about the timing of a strat bombing of London.  Also, how many units do you really need in EE to hold off the Russians on R2 and R3.  Is the baltic trans better as foder in NOR, so you can use 2 figs to hit the Gib BB (and maybe take Bom on strat bombing to London).

Your Jap pearl attaack is a real good plan for your strat.  You will never use the BBs again because you need everthing you can on Moscows doorstep on r4.  I think you should look again at how the heavy China attack allows you to have more units on R4.  I would use the island figs to hit the Inidan trans, land on AC off of FIC, land 2 inf there, land two inf in Manch Non com the planes to FIC.  UK can counter FIC or China.  If Russia takes Manchuria, great, because then you can hit it with 6 inf, tank, and planes on J2 (killing Russian inf).  J2 - You take Sink (probably abandoned) and India and cold hold both.  on J3 you have Yakut and SFE.  At that point, Russia should use ine inf on the boarder (to Moscow) rterritories.  and will need to start trading them with Japan.  Jap has a lot more planes, so it shoudl use less inf for this.

The question is if Germ can make an attack on the super fleet to keep this a Germ and Jap vs. Russia battle?  Doing strat bombing (without an AA hit) should knock UK2 buying power down to 53 ipcs.  (that probably only results in one less trans).  I wonder if using the Med fleet to take out the sub is best on G1, with a follow-up to Western med (take Gib if necessary to protect the BB 9and hopefully trans is still alive) so that allies can’t hit it is a better complement.  Hopefully, this givesyou a BB and trans for the superfleet attack.  Remember, kill the trans and retreat, saving the planes for the Russian 1-2 is the goal.

Spacer,

I think you are making poor choices with the allies that create the results you want.

German boat priority (for attack by allies, assuming holding a round to build fleet):

1: Med tran
2: Baltic tran
3: NOR Sub
4: Med BB

The Med tranny can take troops to Africa.  That is my biggest risk.  It takes a while for Japan to be able to afford to go after africa (R4/5), so I want to limit the German troops there so I don’t have to put troops there.  I would take the Egypt inf + arm and stack TJ inf.  Bom hits tranny and lands in TJ.  Brit figs hit either Baltic tran or Med BB (depending on how lucky I feel, probably go the safe route and hit the tranny).  one inf in Egypt,  move the Safr inf up.  Then see how you respond.  Do you take out the S afr inf with tanks only, splitting your force?  Do you attack Egypt because it is 2 ipcs? UK has some counter strike alternatives that are better than defending (Stupid tanks defend at a 2).

Generally, I think you suffer from the novice habit (I had it too) of thinking about all of the things you can hit and trying to do all of them ( the need to use every unit every turn).  This game rewards patient game play.  A good rule of thumb is to figure out all of your possible targets, and then use the assets from the least important target to strengthen the more important.  You are normally better off hitting 2 targets hard (and suffering minimal losses) than hitting 4 targets and suffering significant losses.  Think your Japan moves.  If you hit just China and Pearl.  You will normally lose 1-2 inf and a sub.  How much do you typically lose in your multi-attack plan?  4 inf, sub, BB?  What could you do with those lost units in 4 turns?

The other question you should always ask is, Will I be in a stronger position next round if I hold off (can I afford to hold off).

This is how I set the Germ boat proirity above.  The Med tranny can take 2 units to Africa next turn (that will hurt me next turn and latter throught the whole game.  The UK Bom is the only unit in range.  I have to go after that tranny on UK1 with the Bom.  The Germ BB cant hurt me next turn (no targets in range).  The Germ sub (and maybe Bom) could hit the boats in the Eastern US seazone, so that is higher priority, but, the U can hit it with 2 figs (maybe BOm), so the UK doesnt need to go after it.

Also, really good German players know how to use WE as a sucker bet.  When US & UK have bought some tanks and plan on dropping in Europe (Finland next turn), Germany buys all Infantry (Tanks stacked in EE) and under defends (1-2 inf) WE.  If the UK takes with US reinfocements, the either need to split the tanks off to Norway or put tank in WE for defense (assume UK = 3inf, 2 arm, US= 4 inf, 2 arm  Total defense= 11@d2.  Germany just bought 9 new infantry and left 5 others in Germ last term, has 10 tanks, With 14 inf, 10 arm, Germany rolls into WE and takes out all allied units and loses 6 inf.  Has eight inf and 10 arm to defend (so if UK/US attack again, Germany only looses inf).  Including the inf Germany left in WE the round before, it lost 7 inf (21 ipcs), Allies loose 8 inf, 4 arm (assume UK loses inf on attack) or 44 ipcs.

This is why invading WE should only be done when there is a real strategic purpose (and good reason for US to have a few extra infantry in its loading zone for flexibility).  In your original set-up, the allies want to hit WE to kill plans.  As you counter that, the Allied counter is to land in Finland.  From there, US&UK can start taking over Russia’s deadzone duties and bleed some troops through caucuses and moscow to assist with Japan.

With US pushing 8-10 land units and UK putting 6-8 land units into finland each turn, they will be crusing the axis.  Even with a stacked EE, you will never put any pressure on Karelia with a 2 fig build, because you will always be behind in the infantry count.

I really see no way this can result in an axis win unless the Allies are completely mis-played.

You do know you have to pay 3ipcs to invade a neutral territory, correct?

I read about half.  Need to get some work done.

You are correct.  The Allied responses to the Japs are poor decision.  You want to use those units to slow the Japs from getting close to Moscow.  Taking FIC (East Indies is an island) doesnt do that .  You placed a tank where Jap was going to land 4-8 units next turn.  Bye-bye (very valuable Russian tank).  The real move in that situation depends on the amount of troups in China.  If one inf, I might use the tank there, because then Japs could not reach Sink until R3 (delay is to Allies benefit).  China probably has 3 inf and about4-5 plans that can hit Sink.  I would have used on UK inf to take the empty FIC.  (If my Indian trans is alive, it goes to Aus to pick up 2 inf) I either stack the TJ inf (now in persia) in india, move to Kaz or consolidate it with the Indian inf.  If i know the Japs can only move 3 inf to Sink on J2, I would probably plan to hit them 2 inf (safe last round in India) and as many planes I have in reach (unfortunately in this game, UK is down a bom)  I expect Karelia to be safe, so I might use one or more Russian figs on the UK BB for a turn or two so I have at least 2 brit figs against those inf.  I don’t need to hold it, I just want to take out the inf.

As far as a reinforce Western US.  Those troops move to W.Can, to be picked up by US Trans, and are just repurchased each round.  Instead of placing new units in E. US (safe from invasion), US places in Western with little loss in shuck-schuck timing.  However, Jap loses use of the trans.

If all you have in range of W US is a trans with 2 inf, All I place in W US is 2 arm, maybe and inf.  I will let you gamble 2 at d1 vs. 2/3 at d2 all day.

If the US and UK build a fleet to merge in NOR on US 2, the US builds a carrier and 2 trans on US 1.  Your bomber would be a suicide (v AC, 4 trans - 1 from UK)

So on UK2 Britian has one transport coming into NOR on combat and US has 3.  If you leave WE with minimal defense, you are probably looking at US hitting it with Arm, 4 inf (probably wont use my planes unless I have a chance to kill yours).  As I said, at that point, there will be BB, 2 AC, 4 figs, 6 trannies (3 US, 3 UK).  US will have 3 trans sitting in E US (whether you hit the Western BB or not), so my first 3 losses are the US trannies.  Your average is 4 hits first turn on an all out attack, Allies hit 4+ planes.  You then average 2 more hits on 2nd round, but I likely wipe you out.  On R 4, UK can move into Baltic to start trading or reinforcing EE as Germ has no planes.  Or if you strafe, UK has 2 trans left, can build 2 more to start landing 8 inf into Europe.  America will be able to land 10 units from R4 and on.  If you come after the US/Uk fleet again, you will only inflict minimal damage.

Don’t count on holding Africa.  Unless you bring more units down there, I plan to hit Libya with BOM, Arm, Inf (4,3,1) vs Arm, 2 inf (3x2).  At worst, I hold you to no gains in Africa.  If you take any units down there, you weaken Europe and cant use your trans as fodder.

@shaper:

** R3, Japan has another action possible which is to send a loaded transport (troops at that stage are probably not vital on the mainland) to the Hawaii sea zone creating a direct threat on W.USA primarily and Mexico as a secondary threat.  This is intended to divert a bomber, force a defensive build (slightly adjusting available forces) or a quick ten point inconvenience in the event that it isn’t responded to.   Not a huge impact but probably worth doing.

If Novo is not at any risk, it is a great place to store UK/US bombers.  Could land on Hawaii.

I tried you Jap attack last night, and took Sink/China, but UK took back sink with Indian inf, fig bom.

Another problem with your Pearl light is that UK/US should have bombers in positon to hit jap boats on R2.  I did you Pearl light and lost both BB.  My only capital ship was the AC.  I had to keep all of the trans together with the AC to avoid UK/US picking off solo or 2 unprotected trans.

If you move to hawaii, that means 2 lease Jap inf in Asia.

@shaper:

Post Atlantic battle, 4 fighters join in E. Europe defense and most of interior
evacuated.
With
11 inf
5  tanks
4 fighters
In Eastern Europe

this leaves 5 defense 2 units and a fighter in W. Europe,
Possibly the bomber but W. Europe is a marginal hold and has a fair chance of being taken out by the allies.
It does however provide some fairly good additional bait to entice an Allied incursion in W. Europe if that is desired.

1 tank remains in Germany, but possibly committed to either front,
still need to do some more math.

Soviets will need all 4 possible tanks available (54%), and cant attack the Ukraine
to have a favorable attack.  Even one less tank creates only a 34% chance of victory.
Of course, this is carnage either way and haven’t analyzed the followups.

There is a possible mitigation factor in a R1 independent attack from Finland in Germanys first turn as it stands a 58% chance of removing an infantry creating a wider swing (at the expense of vacating finland), with just a tank 50%, might be better.  This is probably a bad idea unless the odds are extremely close.

Spacer,

If you stack EE, Russia will take Ukraine, build 3 afm, 3 inf .  If you trade the Norweigan arm+inf for one inf in in Karelia, great.  Russia does a tank dash into Norway and back.  Stacks Karelia with 20 inf 7 arm, 2 figs, Has 29 ipcs, Builds 1 arm, 8 inf onR3.  Unless you have every available unit in EE (and don’t loose any planes, Russia can take EE on R4.  with 28 inf, 8 arm, 2 figs.  If figs are not necessary, they cana be used To trade terrirtoies wih Japan. after that, UK and US inf stack EE 14 per turn)  Germany builds 7-8 inf per turn.
Russia back tanks to Karelia and starts placing 8 inf per turn in Moscow.
Also, with EE stack, there is no pressure on UK/US to hit WE fast, so, I would wait a turn and have the super combined navy in NOR at the end of Round 2.  On and after R4, UK and US place twice as many units in Europe than germany.,