How often does France hold G1 for you?

There’s two basic allied responses to holding France G1.

In case (2), I say surrender, even though it may cost the allies the entire RAF. In case (1), you may be able to keep playing. I’ve got a game going now where Paris did fail, I think I should have deferred the DOW on USSR until G4 and played Japan as normal. This does allow a few allied actions like USA reaching the med or Norway. However, it is better than letting the Soviets push back all over the shop and get communism objectives for Scandinavia etc. I suppose this is a bigger deal in balanced mod because as soon as you DOW, you release the increased NOs for USSR. Also, all the money from being at war allowed the Soviets to buy enough planes to stop me from being able to effectively strat bomb Moscow.

Going that hard with the Luftwaffe to SZ110 cuts down on other things it wants to do though, like supporting amphibious assaults in the Gulf of Finland and supporting the Paris attack without the 3 tanks from Gr Sth Germany.

The carrier is simply something to help give your fleet a backbone and protects everything in 112 and means you don’t have to land a t bomber in Holland (from Germany).  It protects your transports if you are threatening sea lion and can be used to protect sea units at Gibraltar or 127 (Archangel).  If you can get it to the Mediterranean Sea it can really help Italy too.  The only con is that it does virtually nothing against Russia. 
So basically, do you think being in 112 is useful?  Do you like to threaten (not take) Sea Lion to help Itake?  Do you like hoping Italy in the Med?  Do you like taking Gibraltar? Maybe getting South Africa every ten games?  Do you like feigning Sea Lion then hitting Leningrad? If you answered yes to any of these, a carrier can be useful.

I’ve never considered doing both, but I really like how it’s laid out here.  If successful, Italy has effectively been eliminated from the game before they even get going.

Why wouldn’t the Russian sub at sz115 just submerge and attack your placed transports in sz113? If you instead place in sz112, either the SZ127 Russian Sub or UK would blow them up. I don’t see how this strategy works… If you also build a DD, then maybe.

That is in fact what happened in my recent games.  I do build a DD to place with the transport.  I can also scramble 3 fighters if the sub attacks it.  In fact, the better move turned out to be the sub submerged.  On R1 the sub, 2 fighters, 1 tac attacked my BB and CV that were left.  One game Germany won the battle but clearly defying the odds.  The other time it was Russia winning with all the planes.  I actually am considering waiting till G2 to attack the Russian CV and sub in future games.

YG,

Absolutely incredible detail and care in the craft…. Best painted units I have seen so far, breathtaking, I would be afraid to play a game with them.

“Allwork” is a professional artist.  I guess that explains his awesome talent.

I am very intrigued by the idea of consolidating the European axis for a few rounds, but the window of opportunity closes quickly on the axis in general, so a defensive strategy like this would need a lot of planning.

The Germans were only “un-offensive” for two turns.  During the first two turns they concentrated on killing the UK Navy and also took out some UK Air Force units on defense.  They were also able to purchase several Infantry to shore up their European defense against the Russians.

And the Italians cleared and consolidated the Med.  It was “interesting”.

I think ANY strategy would benefit from either a good deal of thought/planning, or a thorough understanding of the game,…preferably BOTH!

You should think about this as a strategy and “blueprint” your own thoughts for it.  I believe you’ll also see it’s potential.

“Tall Paul”

That was precisely my thought, McLovin.  I feel, at this point in time, Germany needs a method to produce warships in the Med.  If one allows Italy to take S. France, this - essentially - means that Germany has to build a complex in Yugoslavia.  This may be a good idea in the long run anyway, making it a little easier to reinforce the south against Russia. (OOB this could be a major complex, Alpha 2 I do not think it can.)

I feel an Airbase would be nice to accompany the complex in Yugoslavia, if you go this route, since then you can put 6 fighters in the air for cover air patrol.  But again, if you have S. France, I think you would not need this. (Little harder since you have to build Italy in one zone and Germany in another instead of combined, but much cheaper.)

@Razor:

@MaherC:

G1.  Take all 3 French Territories in Europe.

If Germany take Southern France too, then Italy will never get the 5 IPC NO.

Yes they will. The AXIS have to control Vichy, Greece, and Egypt. Hell, Japan can take Greece and fulfil the reqs