German Openers and countering them

@Pinch1

Thanks for the advice. I’ll look into it.

thank you Zhukov44

Oh, it is, because all the bombers raises the stakes and risks

You can make the dice work for you - if the ships miss and the AA misses, no amount of strategy and tactical ability can stop that.

bump… :-D

@manstein39:

@orania:

6 Infantry, 2 Artillery, from S.Germany into Slovakia

How about using those to strafe Yugo for 1 round and then retreat into: Slovakia.

Does Italy need this help?
What are the loss / kill chances?

It’s a common practice, but if you are attacking Russia round 1, you can’t take the chance that you accidentally score 5 hits and conquer Yugo since you need those units for counter attacks on G2.

Correct, Italy can easily take Yugoslavia on their own round 2 or 3 without Germany spreading thin by strafing G1.

@Frank:

I am starting to think there is not a convential road to victory for the Axis in Global Alpha +2 like in say Spring 1942.  That game was all about killing Russia.  While killing Russia is certianly nice and mostly still neccesary in Alpha +2 it in and of itself will not win you the game. If France is liberated in the meantime or Italy is defeated in Egypt then getting that last victory can be out of reach if Axis timing in finishing Russia is off even a little bit.

Yeah, I think Global 40 is the first game where defeating Russia is not a game winner for Germany.  In previous games, it seemed to me that once Germany took out Russia, it was just about over for the Allies.  Germany just had too much money for the Allies to stop them.  There are exceptions, like if Germany concentrated so much on taking Russia that they left Berlin absurdly weak and UK or USA slips in with a relatively small invasion force and takes it.  I have seen this happen.  UK takes Berlin, USA lands troops to back them up and most of Germany’s hardware is too far away trying to take Moscow.
Still, in Global 40, there are a lot more variables.  Even if Moscow falls, so could Rome and Germany has Allies right on their doorstep, not to mention losing a precious victory city.

Speaking of the US, once the US starts getting its bonus income for being at war, it’s nearly impossible for Japan to fend off the assault (assuming US dedicates all of its IPCs to the Pacific theater). Would it be a good idea for Japan to do a quick, preemptive strike on the US homeland, Pearl Harbor style?

I’m thinking no, but if it’s worked for you I’d like to hear how you did it…

I am in a Global game now.  We just finished Round 9 and decided on a break for a while.  I am playing Germany and the Russian player is also handling China.
Germany captured Paris Round 1, forced a Sealion Round 2 and was successful but at somewhat high cost.  Round 3 took the 3 big neutrals - Spain, Sweeden and Turkey - which also took a fair amount of resources.  Therefore, I don’t think I was able to build up enough in the east for Barbarossa like I would have preferred.  I had a good force by end of Round 3, but it certainly could have been better.
Italy really struggled with Britain in Africa and the Med.
Japan took a gamble by bringing USA into the war Round 1 by attacking Brits and the Philippines.
As for Russia, first three rounds she spent building a lot of infantry along the border with a few artillery and tanks.  Round 4 Russia actually attacked Germany, which I really was not expecting.  Sank all my transports and took an unoccupied Sweeden from me.  Round 5, she had destroyed all three army groups in Europe, took Warsaw and was only frustrated by Finland with a bloody repulse.  Round 6, she threw a massive army at Berlin.  Lucklily, the last couple of rounds of combat went my way and Berlin survived with just 1 fighter unit left.  Both sides were severely depleted but Germany still had her capital.
Fast forward to Round 9. 
Now Germany is getting strong again, starting to advance into Russia itself and threatening Leningrad.  German Navy has been sunk by the US Navy and they keep fighting back and forth over Spain, which US currently holds with a fairly strong force. 
Italy finally finished off all British and French troops in Africa and has a tank running around blitzing territories.  Most of Italy’s resources have been spent trying to help Germany with Spain and threatening Russia with a small force from the south.
Japan has all but destroyed China – 1 territory and 1 infantry unit left.  They have grabbed Calcutta and control Eastern Asia and the DEI.  However, both the Imperial Navy and the US Navy have been slugging it out and are almost non-existant.  Also, Japan has tanks creeping west toward Russia.
So, while Russia is still a ways from being “out of it”, they are in pretty bad shape.  I have seen this in other games as well.  Russia is just too dang big and can’t seem to get a decent number of reiinforcements to the front.  When they start a big offensive, if it runs out of steam then it seems like Germany always grinds them back.  Unless the US can get over there with a large enough force to really threaten Germany in Western Europe, Russia will be taken out and then Germany will have plenty of money to deal with the US and push them back out of Europe with help from Italy.