Ultimate Axis strategy

i always play russia and always japan always takes over the whole east side of russia china easily which i think gives them a huge advantage which really sucks

What strategies do you use? The best thing to do is consolidate Russia’s forces in Yakut. The other Allies can help by building ICs in Sinkinang/India or (preferred method of many) combining to take out Germany before Japan can take out Russia.

Usually I play Germany buying all INF for the first 3 rounds creating a nice wall…by that time Japan is est. themselves in Asian and the game starts to get a little more fun for the Germans.

Yup, that’s usually my play as well… the only thing I tend to do is when I see Russia getting too many INF in say Karelia, I’ll launch a little “spoiler” attack on them using all of the armour in order to reduce them by say 6-7 INF… usually I’ll lose a bit as well, but the trick is to keep things even up… to not allow them to launch the offensive until Japan gets going.

Russia on her own will never be able to outbuy Germany (save taking a lot of territory elsewhere which is unlikely) nor does Russia posess in the early game any kind of real offensive force. So they must try and play the defense, but if they do not get help from UK/ USA by T3 at latest (I mean by T3 troops had better be pouring in to help) they’re in trouble.

Also, buying tanks for Germany is a bad idea… go heavy INF and maybe by G3 throw in a tank or so (using that extra IPC you get from taking over all of Africa)

:D

kyri,
I agree. G buys most inf(maybe the C Med trn), with the occassional arm if ya got 2 additional IPCs. The arm G starts with should be good for 2-3 attacks so no need to go ARM HEAVY. Inf fodder needed with arm support so that if you have to lose it you don’t lose the ftrs(more flexible)!

@El:

kyri,
I agree.  G buys most inf(maybe the C Med trn), with the occassional arm if ya got 2 additional IPCs. The arm G starts with should be good for 2-3 attacks so no need to go ARM HEAVY. Inf fodder needed with arm support so that if you have to lose it you don’t lose the ftrs(more flexible)!

Glad to see some more rational discussion. Taking out Russia in two turns - or 3 is not going to happen against a halfway decent player. Concentrating everything on Karelia leaves the Atlantic so open that the US and UK and start the shuck shuck by Round 3.

I think the best Germ option is to buy 9 inf and 1 arm on G1, and stick with roughly that purchase plan until it’s certain a knockout blow has been prepared for the USSR. In the meantime, hopefully Japan is making headway in Asia and can start to carve up Russian territory. However, if the Allies employ the Asian Wall strategy in conjunction with the purchase of all factory units (board limit) then this may take awhile. What’s nice about a heavy inf mix is that if the Axis is forced into a Fortress Europe strategy they’ve already got a lot of defensive units (though that’s normally a slow death plan).

@Zakes:

The trick to screwing over Russia on the first round is to throw everything, literrally everything at Karelia on the very first round, and buying tons tanks so you can reinforce your front on the second turn.

I initially thought so as well.  But these folks showed me the implementation of US and UK strategies that I had never seen developed to the level they use them that preclude Germany from HOLDING Karelia to be able to build there in G2.

To take Karelia against the best defensive buildup that Russia can muster requires your Air Force.  But if you use your Air Force against Karelia, the UK navy is intact, and does an amphib in Karelia (2 BB’s, 3 fighters, 1 bomber, 2 INF, 1 tank) to kick Germany’s few remaining forces out in UK1.

Even if UK fails to kick Germany out of Karelia, what forces does Germany have left?  2 INF in Western, 4 INF and a tank in Eastern, 1-3 tanks in Karelia, 2 fighters, and a bomber; and their “total tank” build of 6 tanks in Germany.  That is a BEST case survival scenario.

Going forward against this, you have Russia building 7 (or more) INF per round, UK with a “full” transport fleet to use against Germany and the US also with a transport fleet that starts hitting Germany in US3.

Believe me, I used to agree whole heartedly with you, but failing to take out the Allied naval forces in the 1st and 2nd rounds is certain quick death for Germany.  And without them, you can;t crack Karelia.  Even if you can, you can;t crack it with enough force to threaten Russia the following round.