^
I do that for the first 5 rounds. Stack up on bryansk then worry about taking stuff, even more so if I am doing the japan bomb russia thing.
Gargantua,
Excellent article. I don’t know why Jensen doesn’t have you writing some articles under the “Strategy” section of the website. (Even the house rules section which is very outdated)
I agree with the smaller battles theory but have a couple questions/thoughts:
1. In these smaller battles you are advocating for there isn’t anything mentioned regarding the use of attacking pieces along with the russian infantry. A small stack of only russian infantry inflicts limited damage (rolling at 1) and may not yield as effective a “whittling process” on the German infantry stacks as hoped for. Bringing in Russian fighters helps and they can then return to safety, but I am thinking about the use of armor in these battles and either losing them or exposing them to counter-attack. Killing German infantry at a loss of armor (maybe artillery?) seems too high a risk? The Russian player would have to be quite crafty at both engaging the Germans approaching AND not lose more expensive pieces.
2. I have felt that the Russians should be moving with a force to take Norway which swings the economic battle away from Germany since it also negates a NO. Allocating units for this certainly thins out Russian ability, or at least limits it, to engage in too many smaller conflicts on the approach to Moscow. In games I am playing, the Russian capture of Norway/Finland (etc.) strips Germany of the ability to outbuild Russia on the Russian battlefront - or at least makes those “superstacks” more even. Although, you may view the attacking of Norway as the very thing you are talking about?
attacking force to norway… there is about what 7 inf up there? so you would need to bring about 11 inf at the least (Germany has luffewaffe)… assuming he has no transports… you may get some cash flow.
meh I do not worry of these things, usually germany has naval like 3 transports. Those units have to move up each round to make it in time for the G6 attack. Hard to stall it without getting units trapped up there.
hmm… I’d say the north is actually more important that the south for German invasion. I usually put a miIC in Rom, so I can defend and attack from there. The advantage to the invasion into north Rus is that you get Len for the 5+ NO, protect the Nor/Den NO, and block the Rus NO in Arch without worrying about naval dominance.
The south has more cash I know, but if you can park in Bry, then you cut off the Ukraine and can take it at your leisure, not to mention take Vol.
I don’t know. I guess a multi province defense by the USSR with real amounts of units could work depending. But I would fear the German player would see it, attack only very select groupings and move right on past to bry.
Using math, tanks have a huge defensive advantage against infantry of the same IPC value, making any army tank heavy ironically have better defense.
Usually as the USSR I tend to reinforce 1 or 2 strong points, usually Len and Mur so that the Ger player has to attack me at relatively strong defense points, drawing his infantry off.
I will say a lot depends on the particulars, but just pulling back to Moscow is inviting disaster
My theorum is really just a -general- concept. To be used on any front, not just the German/Russian conflict.
In particular, I like to use it as the chinese against the Japanese, as living to fight another day, seems to be what works best there on average.
Having a response to allweneedislove’s -Iron Blitz- strategy, would require more specific information. But I think his strategy is quite beatable, even if he doesn’t. :P
Any strategy of attacking norway, would entirely depend on axis builds. If there’s going to be a significant fleet built into the baltic, I’d advise against sending Russians there personally. But if the germans go ground G1, committing some units up there to meet the british half way, would certainly be a good way to slow the german defensive down. (to a degree).
Again, those are specifics. This was just an FYI for general gameplay information.
I agree.
Most important in when playing Axis and Allies is to be very offencive with the allies and attack whenever possible. Considdering that Allies begin with more units and far better production Axis real advantage lies in best strategic placement of units and ability to focus all their units on one enemy at the time.
Axis units are in some ways more valuable than allied units, and much harder to replace. So generaly you want to trade allied units with Axis units whenever possible. China and Anzac units is to be considderd as the least valuable, best used vs Japan even in a 1 to 2 ratio (dont build inf with Anzac, build fleet and trannies and let US protect you)
In Europe trade british air for luftwaffe is good as well if he is going barbossa. US can make a big bomber stack and use it to defend India,Moscow and Sidney. They can also attack Japanesse fleet or kill expoced Axis ground units by attacking with overwhelming force.
@FM7:
1. In these smaller battles you are advocating for there isn’t anything mentioned regarding the use of attacking pieces along with the russian infantry. A small stack of only russian infantry inflicts limited damage (rolling at 1) and may not yield as effective a “whittling process” on the German infantry stacks as hoped for. Bringing in Russian fighters helps and they can then return to safety, but I am thinking about the use of armor in these battles and either losing them or exposing them to counter-attack. Killing German infantry at a loss of armor (maybe artillery?) seems too high a risk? The Russian player would have to be quite crafty at both engaging the Germans approaching AND not lose more expensive pieces.
AA guns should be important (for both sides) to get the opponent to use artillery/armor instead of planes, or risk the planes being shot down by AA.
aa guns are important, they don’t attack for germany so yeah you want to lose them if you are the german player.
Having a response to allweneedislove’s -Iron Blitz- strategy, would require more specific information. But I think his strategy is quite beatable, even if he doesn’t. :P
i am not familiar with an “iron blitz” strategy, it sounds like some sort of tank maneuver.
if you are referring to the allweneedispush strategy, it is most efficient and unstoppable in taking moscow g7. i am not sure if the strat as a whole is unstoppable but moscow does fall on g7.
I named it the Iron Blitz for you :) It sounds so much better than push…
Heavy Mech and Tank builds. Followed by aircraft, ending with the G7 smash!
It’s good against a player who’s going to have a knee-jerk/conventional approach. But there are unconventional solutions.
And you were within 1 move (which the other player simply didn’t see) of losing that game. :P
I named it the Iron Blitz for you :) It sounds so much better than push…
Heavy Mech and Tank builds. Followed by aircraft, ending with the G7 smash!
It’s good against a player who’s going to have a knee-jerk/conventional approach. But there are unconventional solutions.
And you were within 1 move (which the other player simply didn’t see) of losing that game. :P
it sounds like you do not know the allweneedispush. no tank buys and zero blitzing, just a straight push one territory at a time until moscow.
does not matter the reaction, moscow falls. there were mistakes made in that game by all in the multiplayer game. however you could see that there was no saving moscow on g7.
I think the idea of smaller forces being effective against an attack is probably most valid when thinking about the USA navy in both the Atlantic and pacific. Having say three small navies in a “V” formation gives then the advantage of options should one be attacked, while having one large navy would be a stalemate for the most part in the Pacific and usually a loss there. In the atlantic it gives the Axis something to worry about, where a UK fleet parked in one zone can be dealt with quickly and decicivly an multi-zone fleet makes you wonder what he’s up to. Just look at all the resources needed by Germany R1 vs UK, and this is a relatively small fleet compared to what USA can produce.
Good points Gargantua.
