G1 Taking all of France

[Drakenhart]

Hey guys,

I am still trying to develop an opening where Germany conquers all of France on the first turn, without neglecting its other fronts too much or wasting too many units. Does anybody have a reliable playbook for a strategy like that?

[AxisPlayer14]

@Drakenhart I haven’t played very many games yet, but in my experience, while you totally can take all France, if you simply attack the sea zone with the uk transport, then only taking paris will be just fine, and italy can take southern france. They need the IPC’s

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@Drakenhart

If you don’t plan on attacking the Soviets for a while (maybe G4), you should have enough units since you should be able to spare a tank and mechanized infantry then throw the fighter from Slovakia Hungary and still have enough of a force to attack the British navy, take Paris, even invade Yugoslavia and activate Bulgaria and Finland.

This especially works using low luck.

In case you need to know though, neither Italy nor Germany use that industrial complex very much. Germany usually is too busy to put forces in the Mediterranean, and Italy rarely runs out of industrial space unless Northern Italy is captured.

[barnee]

Hi @Drakenhart Welcome to the site ! Here are some strategy guides.
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/19929/germany-playbook-overall-strategy-guide?page=1

[TheVeteran]

@Drakenhart i would suggest hitting normandy and paris turn 1 with Germany but leaving southern france to the Italians.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@TheVeteran

That’s a good idea. The worst part with a Southern France attack is the possibility of losing 2 mechanized infantry (or worse) to destroy 1 infantry and 1 artillery. That’s at least a -1 IPC loss.

[AndrewAAGamer]

Actually the worst thing that can happen is you fail to take France or suffer significant losses taking it because your France attack is weaker. If that happens you will lose the game.

What is your gain to justify risking the entire game by weakening the France attack?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@AndrewAAGamer

That is also correct.

Playing Low Luck at least though, even with a Southern France attack you can force a 100% battle at Paris, making this point sort of moot.

Without low luck though, you are absolutely right.

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

@AndrewAAGamer let’s say you are a weak player with only a 5% chance of winning. In that case you want to have a very dicey first round. Attack a bunch of territories. Evoke a UK scramble that could get demolished with luck. If you get get destroyed in Paris 10% of the time, it isn’t that big of a deal.

[TheVeteran]

@AndrewAAGamer i play balanced mod the most of any regular G40 and capturing normandy and paris allows me to create vichy france so thats why i weaken my attack on Paris ground unit wise but i substitute the ground units used to attack normandy with the 2 aircraft that can reach paris from the east - i think its East poland?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@TheVeteran

One tactical bomber from Poland, one fighter from Slovakia Hungary (I only played that mod once, and I think the starting setup is the same).

[AndrewAAGamer]

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris @SuperbattleshipYamato @TheVeteran

Obviously, if you are playing Low Luck, are the much weaker Player or are playing BMx that changes things. I always comment assuming 2nd Edition OOB and Players of equal caliber.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@AndrewAAGamer

Agreed.

I don’t know why but I never considered Low Luck a house rule on par with say, one of The Captain’s house rules.

In my view it’s not really changing anything except the dice, which isn’t part of the game.

And yes, what I just said:

Is wrong.
Doesn’t make any sense.

So yeah, I’m an idiot and you’re right. Sorry if that sounded stupid. Just trying to articulate my irrational thoughts into words.

[squirecam]

@TheVeteran

And I like taking Southern France with Germany specifically to help Italy in the med.

Getting Italy to 25+ IPC is key and you can do so by getting them their bonuses. No ships in the med and Gibraltar plus Greece and then North Africa. Now you have a helpful partner as opposed to a drain on resources that a weak Italy is.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@squirecam

In my experience three slots is nowhere enough for Germany to build up a fleet and transports in the Mediterranean to make a difference while not getting destroyed by the British.

And Germany’s IPCs are very busy breaking the Soviets.

Leave Southern France to Italy to boost their income. In case Northern Italy is somehow captured, it’s a very useful backup complex. Germany has enough backup industrial complexes in the rest of France in case of Allied bombings anyway.

[squirecam]

@SuperbattleshipYamato

How many games have you tried it ?

[TheVeteran]

@SuperbattleshipYamato
Yes that is correct those are the 2 aircraft I send in to the paris battle

[TheVeteran]

@squirecam I’m sorry but that sounds horrible. The standard play in OOB is for Italy to capture Southern France . In Balanced mod I create Vichy so in both I will do the same - attack Normandy and Paris turn 1 with Germany

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@squirecam

3 or 4 or 5 times. I’ve played hundreds of games, all by myself, can’t remember.

Regardless, I remember what I said earlier as being a constant throughout each of these games.

[Drakenhart]

Could you tell me with what units exactly you are attacking northern france and southern france, so that the attack on paris is still strong enough?