Depending on the Axis positioning, I’d argue for a German Lurch and abondoning of WE.
If Germany is sufficiently strong enough to hold WE and EE while maintaining both Kar and Ukr as deadzones, then great, keep Kar deadzoned and continue your build up (assuming you are still earning something from Afr) and wait for Japan.
But if it is clear you cannot prevent the Allied move to Kar, you need to pull out of WE and shift everything East (or increase your EE stack). Done at the right time this should do a few things for the Axis:
1) Keeps Berlin heavily defended so arm can stay in EE
2) Prevents the Allies from moving to Kar for a few more turns
3) Allows you to trade WE with your superior airforce and pretty much forces either of the Allies to send an inf or two to capture WE, otherwise Germany gets 6 ipc with no defending units present
4) If the Allies land heavy in WE you should either (a) be able to smash them with well over 20 inf, a few rt, and all your arm/planes (b) successfully seperated the UK and US from Russia
The Allies combined can hold off Japan, but if Japan is a 45-50 ipc Monster it becomes hard for Russia to hold off Japan all by herself esp if Germany had been trading with Russia for the first 4-5 rounds and weakened her offensive power.
At present, Russia has minimal forces in Ukr and Cauc, so moving into Ukr. is an option. The question is, do I move everything in?
I’d say move everything into the Ukraine. That way you create more pressure on Russia, and you are closer for Japan to land their fighters on your stack to back you up. Then you just keep adding to that stack while either rebuilding up the EE stack or trading it. Japan should be fairly close to helping you out in either hitting Russia or saving your butt.
I agree with D.Fox. Keep the pressure posed at Russia, but stay positioned to crack back on EE with an assault from Germany if the Allies go heavy into EE. If you can crush them, and reinforce your remnants with Japanese fighters and an AA gun you can deliver them a serious blow that will take them several turns to recover from. Turns that Russia will really sweat as japan builds up on their doorstep. Be sure to defend Germany well in the meantime.
Good luck.
Why not go to W. Russia and stack there and E. Europe? You can add to the E. Europe stack and threaten Moscow directly.
Moving to WR invites a heavier counter by Russia, allowing them to use Moscow based INF against the German stack that otherwise could not reach the Germans.
Yeah, Ukraine is better for Germany that WRus, b/c WRus can get hammered from Caucasus and Russia, both of which probably have a lot of Russian units. Plus, the Inf in Ukraine can strike EE if the Allies land there.
This is the time when Germany should start building Infs,and basically only infs… MAybe throw in a couple of figs.
Make sure JApan saves the day before Germany falls.
Make sure they can´t ship 20 units into Germany for a 1-2 strike…
So i would say “turtle”, consider to pull back everything in EE to Germany if you can´t hold both germany and eastern europe then move out in force next round.
@ncscswitch:
Moving to WR invites a heavier counter by Russia, allowing them to use Moscow based INF against the German stack that otherwise could not reach the Germans.
Depending on the situation, this may actually be a good thing. If Japan is knocking on Moscow’s door but isn’t strong enough to take it yet, a bunch of Ruskie inf moving to WR can be a good thing. Even if all Russia is a strafing move, if you can get enough hits on defense you can make it that much easier for Japan to take the capitol in another turn or two, especially if Russia accidentally takes WR when all they wanted/needed was a round or two of strafing. This works really well if you have two strong stacks to the east and west of Russia, you can really put Stalin between a rock and a hard place. If Russia goes after Japan, he leaves himself vulnerable to the Ger panzers. If he goes after the German stack than Japan can march in and hoist up the rising sun. If he does neither, you than have a good opportunity for the 1-2 punch. Ger forces in WR also effectively cut off any allied reinforcements and you’re not vulnerable to any seaborne surprise. Before this move can be contemplated, you have to be aware of exactly what you can do on defense vs a russian attack and Japan has to have a decent sized force stacking in Nov. It might not be available, but if it’s there it can be a pretty smart play if you do it right.
But it takes two turns to arrive in WR. So first step is always Ukraine, being Belorussia an inferior choices. The final destination of the Gemran Army moving west is Moscow, passing for WR or Caucasus, depending on the situation. So it is not a different proposal from going to Ukraine, is a possible step after that move.
The problem that I see is that meanwhile Allies could invade Karelia and then EE.
Or, moving Karelia and Arcangelsk, being ready to counterattack in Moscow if it falls.
Moving German main army East implies redisposition of German Fig. further East, for being useful.
I thing that the German may efficiently focus on EE dead zoning Karelia and trading it every turn. If Allied come out in force, strafing them for at least delay their action. This should give to the Japanese all the needed time for conquering Moscow and for relieving Germany.
