Axis and Allies Europe 1940 - Strategies

Ok, sounds like a lot of guys think it is not necessary to take London to win?
For sure you already have your “sealion” invading force on the board by turn 2 (as demonstrate by Siredblood) but i have to admit that 63 IPC for those 9 missing transports is a lot of money!

The main (and maybe only) reason why i thought about taking London (besides extra IPC) was to prevent US/ UK from using it as a launching platform to bomb/ invade mainland Europe by turn 5 and up!!

My current plan is this (almost cut/ paste from Siredblood’s Cobra-Kaï):
G1:
Eliminate Royal Navy in SZ106, 110, 111
Take France (leave normandy/ south France to Italy)
Ping-Pong Yugoslavia back in Romania (Leave it to Italy)
Barbarossa (Bessarabia + Eastern Poland)
Of course annex both Finland and Bulgaria
Build a Minor Complex in Romania (to pump tanks all along)
put a destroyer in SZ113 and regroup navy.
Italy 1
Buy 1 tank & 1 mech (to speed up with both tank from Albania/ North Italy and meet German forces near Bessarabia)

G2
Retake Bessarabia (unless Russian player is too dumb to give it a thought)
Take West. Ukraine
Strategic bombing of London
Move all my “Sealion” forces into West. Germany/ Germany (to "bluff away" Sealion)
Pump 3 tanks in Romania and keep all the rest of my IPC (42) to keep my opponent in the dark as much as possible!

G3
Take Ukraine
Drop 9 transports in SZ113 + 3 tanks in Romania
Italy 3
“can open” Rostov with tanks and all air force!

G4
Tank rush into Stalingrad with all tanks and air power (2 Tac, 2 Strategic)
“Sealion”! Bouum!
Pump 3 tanks in Romania and in Ukraine
Move back 6 of the 7 guys from Finland to Norway (will bridge to uk/ Scotland in T5)

G5
Rebuild forces in Stalingrad/ Ukraine, bring some planes
Strat bombing Moscow
Bridge some infantry from Norway to London and 1 to take Scotland
Buy a max of aircraft (strat. and Fighters)
Italy 5
“Regroup and can open” Tambov or Briansk with tanks and all air force!

G6
Moscow boum!

By then the Axis should have 8 victory cities (Italy’s role is to take Cairo and reinforce by turn 4 max)
I don’t even give a rat ass about Leningrad as it is already way too strong right off the bat!
Also on turn 6 i would start to take back infantry Eastern Poland/ Baltic states/ Romania that might be scattered to turtle them up on Warsaw!
At this point the goal is to hang on tight for 1 turn!

Of course all along Italy is putting 3 infantry per turn on South France and move them to Paris on turn5
Italy is also to put 1 destroyer in SZ92 on T4 simply to delay US and buy Axis 1 turn.

This strategy is stretched to the max and of course bad/good rolls might turn it into either a brilliant victory or a shameful beating!

Any piece of advise or parts that i am missing?

My recommendation is to hit him hard in Normandy and see about landing only a couple infantry in Norway.  Taking Norway loses him those IPCs plus the Scandinavian trade bonus, which will hurt his economy by at least a Panzer purchase per turn, and he can’t afford to split his attention so many ways.  Just like he is trying with Russia, give him a death by a thousand little cuts.  If you can convoy raid him (if you are playing with raids, that is), then you can knock him down even more.  Of course, I may just be a bit overaggressive– I can’t see what all you can, but anything to stop the Scandinavian bonus is a good thing for beleaguered Russia.

All, just an FYI, but there is an A&A 40 Pacific discussion thread re: the Alpha set-up for the Pacific in the global game re: Siam. Since there is no truly “Global” site, just an FYI.
Ron

and even if uk gets occupied by the axis it is well possible for the US to win this game, though russia has to defend well and the Uk is still part of the axis-empire. as US i managed in one game to have 10 transports ready in round 7 to start an invasion from gibraltar with good odds of taking the uk, italy, france or even germany.

rock on

@Hansolo88:

Yes, bring on the 2nd edition review!

The threads below aren’t reviews, but you may find them useful if you haven’t yet seen them.  They include map pictures, sculpt pictures and unit identification tables:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=28201.15

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=28244.60

@Dylan:

Do you mean beginner’s game or “beginner’s game” ?

I meant what I wrote, the game is meant for newcomers to the Axis & Allies universe, or for vets like us that want a short, quick game.

Meh, really, it simply depends on the Axis’ focus on any particular game.  It looks like Russia only gets a crappy +5 NO once it is at war with the Axis, so compared to pissing off the Americans, war with Russia (only) would be a much more palatable option for Japan.  18 land units, while it is quite a lot, would not be expected to be massed together right at the border with Japan, so they could be picked off a bunch at a time, and definitely doable if Japan gets a major industrial complex in Asia (which it probably will in most games).  Plus, Moscow it so far away that sending reinforcements east is probably not Stalin’s top priority, so Japan could hold onto the Russian IPCs for a long time, gaining back whatever the cost was in killing the units over 3-4 rounds.

Also, it is subterfuge to some extent; forcing the Soviets to respond to threats on their eastern front would pull some attention (and troops) away from the western front, which would help Germany and Italy pull off a successful Sea Lion AND Barbarossa in turn.  Kinda of like not letting your left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.  However, with a Sealion going into action on Round 3 or 4, Japan may be forced to focus entirely on eliminating India so that the UK is incapable of sending reinforcements anywhere else.

I’m wondering what Italy will be required to take in the Med to stop UK air from reaching England.  Definitely Gibraltar and Malta, and all of the African coast, excepting Egypt maybe.  Italy has its hands full.  Maybe it would be best for Germany to ditch Sealion and just go after the Med early and take what it can get?

@Imperious:

1 French inf

???

Theres a French Infantry that starts in the UK, like ANZAC had a guy in Malta.