Warfare Principles of Axis & Allies (By AndrewAAGamer)

@barnee Thank you!

With a J1DOW and Japan taking Calcutta meaning to swing back and take Hawaii as well ~J8, the allies can follow 1 of 2 basic strategies in Europe:

USA invests heavily in Europe, opening a second front in Germany’s backyard. This forces the UK to go heavy into the ME with 2 ICs in Egypt/Iraq/Persia (3 ICs is perhaps no unnecessary luxury in this scenario). This is because Calcutta needs to be taken back once Japan grabs Hawaii. A little bit from what comes out of those ICs can maybe get into Moscow as well to aid Russia in keeping it. The UK will have only minor bits of IPCs left to assist the USA in Western Europe (~10/turn, TRS as best buy).

USA invests only mildly in Europe, opening a second front in Germany’s backyard with massive UK aid (not such heavy UK presence in the ME as above). Typically USA serves only as a can-opening threat for UK-follow up. Example: USA takes Norway + Denmark, UK takes Berlin (If Germany ignores the allies and keeps throwing everything at Russia).

Whatever strategy is followed, the Wallies must somehow make sure their threat is in place G5, so that Germany will loose either WG, Rome or Berlin if it builds all aircraft for a G6 assault on Moscow (depending how many investments the USA made and thus, how many the UK was able to assist).

Typical forces USA can expect in Europe with heavy investments: 2DD, 2CV, 5FTR, 1TAC, ~4STR and 2TRS per turn (fully loaded). Early TRS can ofc be filled with Brazilians and other starting units. Once Normany and SF are taken (and/or WG), USA also produces from those factories. US6 should see 27US and 8UK land units and 9 USAF in or approaching Western Europe. A bit too much for Germany/Italy if they focused everything on Russia all the way into G5 and only start building troops against the wallies G6 (10 in Berling and WG each can be overrun -one of them if not both), so if this doesn’t arrest German flow of reinforcements into Russia I don’t know what does…

Investing ‘mildly’ still sees the USA with 2DD, 2CV, 3FTR, 1TAC, 3STR, 6TRS fully loaded.
Because the USA should be able to keep Japan out of Hawaii/Sydney with the extra IPCs put into the Pacific, the UK can put more effort in Western Europe at the cost of the ME, starting a war of attrition with Germany. The few troops the USA has should not be ‘kamikazed’ but used as a can-opening threat (Berlin, see above) and to capture areas Germany cannot recapture (Norway, for example).

On a sidenote: a couple of RAF-FTR really enhances Russian defenses in Moscow. The more ships/early bombers Germany builds, the less RAF the UK needs to send. With Max German land production (i.e. no ships/early bombers at all), Moscow may need 10-12 Spitfires/Mosquito’s to withstand the assault.

These are only the basics of what I know the allies can do. They must be adjusted whenever the Axis adjust… If, for example, the USA invests heavily into Europe and Japan does not look likely to swing back at Sydney/Hawaii but rather continues to invest heavily in Mainland Asia/Russia, the UK may ease their spending in the ME a bit and assist the USA a while in spending much more for western Europe for a couple of turns…

they asked this in the faq to find out the answer. I know the rulebook needs an update.

Also, when you post on the play by forum thread, you can’t edit your post like you can on these ones.  Once its posted, its there forever

@Robson:

@AllyAxis:

Was thinking about this strategy for Alpha 2+ global.

Has anyone done it successfully?

Attack J1 soviet far east, amur, sibera.  build a Major in Manchuria and keep UK India /china relatively occupied .  pin down the US fleet with carrier builds and park fighters on it to keep the US building in the pacific.

Get my Italians to clear Soviet buffer troops (usually one or two units between main armies)  and get the Italy Germany one two punch going.  I found that my mech tank builds were very effective and getting to Russia quickly to support.  but I may not build as many mechs this next game.  I was matching them tank for mech.  but that may only be necessary for clearing forces (IE forces trying to take rostov , caucus ) on the way to moscow.

Can Japan really turn the tide tho in the All Axis on the Soviets strat?  thoughts anyone?

Hi James,

I did it once succesfully. First turn I took France, Normandy and Southern France with Germany, so Italy can move  the troops from Northern Italy to Yugoslavia which was already taken by the Germans Round 1. With this support and Japan invading Russia Turn 2 and building a major Factory in Korea Russia was down.
The negative side is, that India and ANZAC had no problem to survive and invade the money islands.

Greets RobbyWestSide

Thanks Robby!  Glad to hear from you!  I have been taking Yugoslavia with the Italians,  but getting them into the eastern front faster is a nice key.  In my last Europe 1940 game I started with an Italian turn 2 attack and then reinforced with Germany.  Sounds like Cmdr Jennifer agrees with the Italians take, Germany re-inforces one two punch in the East.  I will definitely consider taking china from the rear,  but at the same time I need the 12 IPC’s to keep Japan viable if my resources and ground units aren’t going after the DEI  or UK india too hard.  excited to see this play out friday evening.  If my 2 other players show…  and I get to play the Axis which I should since its my turn.  I just have to watch out.  The Axis Cannot make major mistakes,  but the Allies can make plenty and still win the game.  Time is on the side of the Allies in the long term with the Awesomeness of the US’s 70+ IPC’s…

Thanks for all the input everyone.

Yes but that would be costly for the Brits.

@TheDefinitiveS:

So to get the topic back to victory conditions as I have not had a chance to look at alpha setup because im apparently banned from the larry harris website is it 8 out of 11 AND 6 out of 8 VCs or is it 8 out of 11 OR 6 out of 8 VCs

or

@Plasticdeathbydice:

$6.00 bucks an hour?!?!  At the rate my buddies drink - it is costing me $6.00 every ten minutes!

Exactly.  Over time the game does not add a significant cost to your gaming experience.  If you sick to AA50 you still have to buy that booze.

$6/hr is relatively high - ask me what it works out to this time next year.  Also I didn’t account for the games of Pacific alone I’ve already played.  This will be down to pennies an hour in no time.

@Koningstiger:

I do believe it’s worth it, but at the same time, I find A&A50 the better game (ease and relative quickness of play)

To each their own.  Some people might prefer AA42 to AA50 for the same reason, but probably not many because AA50 is only a little bit bigger and more elaborate than AA42.  Global is way bigger than AA50.  I personally think they’re all excellent.

One thing really cool about Global is that Germany (at this point seemingly) has a legitimate decision to make in terms of England or Russia.  What’s even cooler is that if England falls the Allies can still win!  I love this game!