New Axis strategy….has not failed yet....

@WILD:

Ok, so you want to attack the 3 most important neutrals as axis at roughly the same time early in the game for strategic/econ purposes, maintain pressure on Russia, and keep the Anglo’s off your newly acquired territories. Pretty big task lol

What do you want the UK to do on the first couple turns? When do you want to bring the US into the war? You want to set-up and do Barbarossa to keep things looking normal and get to Moscow (axis goal). Should you set-up to hit the neutrals G2, or G3?
4a) Take Turkey to give the axis access to the Middle East and Southern Russia (income/strategic value).
4b) Hit Sweden for more income (easy enough), and probably Switz so the allies don’t ever get 2 free inf.
4c) Take Spain and set-up some kind of def/counter attack (or naval attack), because this is where you are going to be most vulnerable.

1 (UK) - You want the UK to build mostly inf UK1 (no IC in Egypt), so maybe buy 1 ship G1 to lightly threaten Sea Lion, or save most of your income? Sounds crazy, but you probably want the UK to do Taronto so you can kill the Med fleet leaving the UK fewer resources at their disposal to threaten Spain and Turkey.

2 (USA) - Have two choices, both have pro’s and con’s.
a) Leave USA out of the war until they come in on their own and cant preform attacks until US4 (may even entice the UK to attack Japan so the UK tie’s up more resources in the Pac still leaving the US out in the cold?) This will give the Euro axis some time, but the allies will be much stronger when they do come over and could build mostly Europe from the start

b) Hit US navy hard G1/J1. G1 attack sz101 w/German sub to try and kill cruiser/tpt. J1 hit both the Phil (fleet and island), and destroy US Hawaiian fleet (making sure the main Japanese fleet at Wake is safe from counter attack). Also hitting Britt BB etc… again leaving UK w/fewer resources. This sounds strange bringing the US into the war on the first turn when planning for an axis neutral invasion, but the US will be hard pressed to build in the Atlantic because of Japanese aggression. If they build Pac for the first couple turns in response, then you won’t have US ships sitting in sz101 able to hit Spain for a few turns (easier to def for the short term anyway).

I’m assuming you will still set-up and invade Russia G2 (or G3) because you don’t want to tip off the allies, and still need to take Moscow.

When to attack the neutrals G2/G3 or It2? Depends on if you have the use of the German air force on G2, and the Luftwaffe will probably be needed to take out the UK Med fleet G2 (more risk to your mechanized units vs those inf stacks w/o air power). Also who takes Turkey or Spain and when? The Italians could take Greece It1, and be ready to invade Turkey It2 (after the Anglo’s take their 2nd turn) and Germany moves in reinforcements G3. On the other hand Italy could take S France It1, and be ready to invade Spain It2 and the Germans could land some ground/air on Spain G3. In this case the Germans activate the Bulgarians G1, takes Greece G2, and invades Turkey G3 (hides intent). Either way I think Italy takes one, and the Germans reinforce it, then and invades the other (along w/Sweden of course). This allows the axis to basically go back to back and disguise it somewhat. Plus if the Germans hit the neutrals G2, the Americans would surly build Europe on US2.

As you described one of the main problem is that if you take Spain you will have yet another coastal territory to defend, and stacking it isn’t really a good option. Setting up a counter attack from Normandy or S France is a risk because again your units are on the coast and the allies could probably hit either of those territories and kill off your units by sea from Gibraltar. Even setting up mechanized units in Paris could be problematic because the allies could cut them off by taking Normandy and S France. Attacking the combined allied fleet would also be costly, and if it fails the axis are doomed if they lose the bulk of their air power.

I’m not advocating that the axis invading the neutrals early is a good strat, but if I were to attempt it think I would try to take out as much US/UK fleet in the first turn as possible (and turn 2), and try to disguise it best I can. Get the US building in the Pac theater the first couple turns would be key, to keep them out of Europe till like US5?. If they have to start from scratch on the Euro side on say US3 (after you take Spain etc…) then you could defend Spain for a couple turns before withdrawing forcing the US build more before coming over (either more ships, or more ground). Put some pressure on the UK so she builds mostly inf on the first turn, and make sure the UK Med fleet can’t interfere or be used to re-take my prizes (on the bottom of the Med would be the best place IMO). I think I would have Italy take either Spain or Turkey on It2 (Germany reinforces G3), then have Germany take the rest on G3. Need to watch what Russia has in the south because you don’t want them to be in position to counter attack your units in Turkey. Don’t think you can afford to delay Barbarossa past G3 though. Japan should also be ready to kill some Mongolians on J3 if they haven’t already activated them (breaking the NAP and turning them Russian).

Look at my Afrika Korps strategy where I answer all your question!

This is another rationale about the weakness of AAA.
Its value depends on attacker tactics.
And most of the time worth only 1 hit.

@Arthur:

I sometimes buy them for a known raid against Moscow or London when the calculator suggests a better final outcome.  If the attacker has any choice to use the planes elsewhere or skip the attack, buying a AAA does not make sense.

@Nippon-koku:

Great points all around.  I’m starting to think Japan would have to attack turn 1 for this to work, like Wild Bill suggested.  Get it right off the bat.

Maybe a better first round buy would be 1 factory and 2 transports?  I agree you still have to get men down to the DEI.  The good news: if you can keep America from heading down that way for a while you can take the islands with minimal sea power.

Exactly, with US at port the other Pac allies are backing up.

I like to save the IC purchase for J2 so I can place it on FIC, might buy 3 transports, or maybe 2 transports +dd to replace losses. J2 you can take Malaya, and start grabbing Money Islands etc….as you press Hawaii which could be ripe for the taking as well.

That is why I prefer to incorporate the “no more than one unit per territory or seazone” rule.

I think the great variation that bids provide allow for great replayability. Who wants a game that always depends on what kind of dice Germany got G1? Pick sides, set up the board, roll a couple dice, quit. Blech.

To your point about a 12 being too much, though - only 1 game has been finished in the league this year with a bid over 11, and the axis(-15) won.

Most good players are not going to give their opponent more than 10, is what we’ve been seeing in the league results. And among what appear to be opponents of close skill level, the Allies have won at +9, +10, +8, +10, +9, and +8. And the Axis have won at -9, -15, -7, -9, and -11. Yes, that’s a small sample size, but it seems to be pretty even.

I think the best judges of when a game is fair and balanced are the players. As you can see, over half the games have been run at an 8 or 9. And 2/3 of those games have been won by the Allies. You have people that don’t want to give bids too big, people that acknowledge the Axis has an advantage, people that don’t really want to play the Allies - it’s an interesting and fluid dynamic that always seems to find its own level.

@Cow:

slang for pilipina. flip. philippines. most people just say flip.

off topic: pinoy is tagalog (main filipino language) for filipino. Pinay is filipina :p

@Graunie:

The USS Lexington took two torpedo hits and 3 bombs during the Battle of the Coral Sea and continued flight operations until the battle was over.  Some explosions later sunk it, but that’s pretty impressive.  That was before they started putting torpedo hulls on the carriers.

The USS Yorktown dodged 8 torpedos in that battle.  Got all busted up with bombs and scrambled back for the defense of Midway after a few days worth of repairs.

If they were so easy to kill why didn’t they just kill them before they did so much damage to the Japanese fleet?  When the reality is every ship and plane is pretty much focused on taking out said carriers.

They are two hit pieces for sure.

Amen.

I also like Gargantua’s idea of having both carrier types available to purchase.  You could consider one an escourt carrier and the other the main battle carrier.  I am guessing Imperious Leader can tell us what their abreviations should be (CV, CVE, ABCD, etc.).

Nice Markers, indeed.

Russia, to my recollection, had one man in each boarder province, a large stack of Inf, I think the majority if its inf, in Leningrad, and then another in Viborg, with a tank-mech reserve force in Belarus.  It also had some modest inf stacks in the south.

Germany had 7 transports next to west Germany with more then enough inf and artillery to load – the sea lion fiegn.  It also had some inf, say 5-6 strong, in Finland, east Poland and in Romania with I think 6 tanks in support of Poland and 3-4 in supp of Romania and some artillery and mech.  Italy had 2 tanks and 2 mech in east Poland.  Germany also had 4 tac and 4 fighters and bomber all in range of USSR.

It3 opened up Baltics, G4 German blitzed to Leningrad and used transport to land some 14 men and guns.  Germany also moved into all the boarder provinces with Inf and attacked Viborg from Finland. The southern german forces moved forward one space.

USSR response was to attack Leningrad with everything in range, which was the entirety of its tanks and local inf stacks, which if I recall gave them a slight numerical advantage.  USSR won, but the result was devastating for USSR. This army was smashed G5, with Germany using its transports to bring in new units and inf in Baltics.  By G5 the USSR managed to pull together a large force in Bryansk from local units and from Russian reinforcements in an attempt to put together a defense.

On It4, Italy’s small force attacked from Baltic to Western Ukraine knocking out a blocking inf. G5 Germany blitzed through an empty Belarus into Bryansk with tank reinforcements  in Baltics brought up from east Germany. Germany also attacked with southern Tanks and mech force from Bessarabia through Italian hole in Western Ukraine in Bryansk.  Germany smashed the last major Russian force and its air force stationed there.  USSR could only reinforce Moscow with infantry and was defeated.