Help with Bridging needed

Hammer,

The main thing Allies are doing wrong is building India without help from USA in the Pacific.

For your next game, forget about India.  Use the MiddleEast units to counter-attack Egypt on UK1.  Spend the money you would have spent on the factory on infantry and transports.  Then start dumping men either in Algeria or in SZ2 (Karelia or Arch).

If Germany is pursuing an all-tank strategy, you can try dumping a large amount of infantry/tanks into Western Europe with UK and USA back-to-back.  This would happen on Uk2-Usa2 or uk3-usa3.  Germany then needs to attack this force, and if they retake it, UK is in position to hit the remaining tanks again.  This manuevor is very costly to Germany and should allow Russia to take the offensive.

Plans are easiest to actualize if you have a clear objective.  Focus on either KGF (all Allies attack Germany) or KJF (all Allies attack Japan).  Ganging up on one Axis or the other enables you to take a capital, which is the key to winning the game (ie get to Berlin before they get to Moscow).  Learn KGF first–save the India factory for another time.

Never buy 6 art r1.  Good buys are 5 inf 1 art 1 tank or 3 inf 3 tanks.  The most popular are probably the most effective R1 attack is Ukraine/West Russia.  Reasonable inf/art ratios are around 5:1, and reasonable inf/tank ratios are around 3:1

thank you, he is close to capturing a capital and trying to capture a second one.

Maybe I can help.

Let’s start with Russia. The two most popular opens and the moves that I alternate between are attacking West Russia and Ukraine, and West Russia only. 3 infantry, 3 tanks is what I buy regardless of which open I use. I would not recommend attacking 3 territories, there’s way too much volatility in the dice to be a consistent first turn move.

Russia 1
Buy with 24 - 3 inf, 3 tanks

Combat
3 inf, 1 fig Kar to wr
3 inf, 1 tank Arch to wr
3 inf, 1 art, 2 tanks, 1 fig rus to wr
1 inf, 1 art Cauc to wr
10 inf, 2 art, 3 tanks, 2 fig vs. 3 inf, 1 art, 1 tank

Average result, Russia takes it losing two infantry.

Noncombat
All Eastern inf move west(just my preference)
both fighters land on Caucuses
aa gun to West Russia

Build 3 inf, 1 tank on Caucuses, 2 tanks on Moscow.

End result is
~8 inf, 2 art, 3 tanks on West Russia
7 inf, 2 tanks, 2 fighters on Caucuses
4 inf, 2 tanks on Russia
4 inf on Yakut

It’s important to note that West Russia has a huge strategic value, all of Russia’s units can meet here on the first turn and it commands the 3 prongs of German advance. Russia has deadzoned Karelia, Belorussia, and Ukraine because without horrible rolls, their units on West Russia and the tanks they built are enough to kill a German stack moved into any of these territories. In the early stages of the game, I view Russia’s primary job to contain Germany by preventing them from advancing past Eastern Europe so stacking West Russia is a must.

Now your problem was a counterattack of West Russia on the first turn. If Germany was sending all or most of their planes to West Russia, what were they sending to Anglo-Egypt and what did they send to attack the med Battleship? The Allies will be able to exploit Germany skipping either move. If you’d like to avoid the possible German counterattack altogether, try this.

Russia 1

Buy with 24 - 3 inf, 3 tanks

Combat

West Russia
3 inf Kar to wr
3 inf, 1 tank Arch to wr
3 inf, 1 art rus to wr
9 inf, 1 art, 1 tank vs 3 inf, 1 art, 1 tank

Ukraine
3 inf, 1 art, 1 tank Caucuses to Ukr
2 tanks, fig rus to ukr
1 fig kar to ukr
3 inf, 1 art, 3 tanks, 2 fig vs. 3 inf, 1 art, 1 tank, 1 fig

Average Results West Russia taken losing 3 inf, Ukraine taken losing 3 inf, 1 art

Same noncombat, same placement.

End result:
~6 inf, 1 art, 1 tank Wr
~3 tanks Ukr
5 inf, 1 tank, 2 fig Cauc
4 inf, 2 tanks Rus

Now the typical result is that Russia has taken West Russia solidly and has ~3 tanks sitting in Ukraine. This move takes out more German offensive units, destroys a German fighter, creates a buffer around Caucuses, and forces a counterattack - Germany cannot pass up such an opportunity to destroy Russian tanks. Actually taking Ukraine may depend on the dice, if Russia rolls really well, and Germany whiffs on defense, it might be better to just retreat and save the tanks. If Russia takes Ukraine, Germany’s got to either commit tanks or divert planes from other attacks - both are uncomfortable decisions for the Axis player. As with the other move, without awful rolls, Russia should still deadzone Ukraine, Karelia, and Belorussia. This is a solid opening that among other things, prevents the counterattack on West Russia.

What has Germany been attacking first turn apart from West Russia? I think I understand what your opponent has been doing with Japan but I would advocate building transports before buying mainland factories for them. Don’t be alarmed if Japan just rolls through Asia, just try to prevent them from taking territories in force. Specifically, try to deadzone Yakut, Sinkiang, and Persia as long as it doesn’t mean giving Germany some ground. What have the British and Americans been doing in your games?

I think we are in agreement, I’ll only buy the 2nd one when I do anticipate 14 units being placed.  I ment the 10-11 unit thing in addition to the IC so I need to be earning about 45 so I can buy 1 IC+10 inf and then place 10 inf (say 3 fic, 7 jap) and then place my IC on either Sin/Ind.  Since I’m already at 44-45, I know next turn I’ll have no trouble spending 45 on 13-14 units.

My typical turns/income will be

Rd 1 - 30 (3 trns, 1 arm, save 1)  - collect 33 (chi + bury) + 1 save
Rd 2 - 34 (1 trn, 6 inf, 1 arm save 3) - collect 37 (chi, sin, bury, sfe, yak) + 3 save (you may be able to take ind but I didn’t count it)
Rd 3 - 40 (1 IC, 8 ground units) - collect 43 (above + ind, aus, hi)
Rd 4 - Here I’d probably pass on a 2nd (purchased) IC until Rd 5 but if I was able to take Novo (or Kaz) in J3 or took Ind in J2 I’d probably be over 45.  So in that case I’d buy the 2nd IC and still place 10 units.  I also have no problem waiting another rd.  Spend my 43 on 8 inf 3 arm save 4 and then in Rd 5 buy the IC and perhaps place on Sin or Ind in this case.

Also the turn that I am short 1 unit is the turn I’ll move the AA to the mainland to cover my IC.

Excellent clarification, thank you!

I just want enough Inf to absorb all the hits I might take in Round 1, and for me to have enough Art/Arm that I have enough punch to wipe out all of Russia’s Inf in Round 1.

Basically, I just don’t want to run out of Inf before the other guy.

Uhm, all the National Advantages out of the box rules? (As in no special modifications like the Larry Harris Tournament Rules or house rules) would be INCREDIBLY over powering for the allies.

You might want to get the LHTR (Larry Harris) from DAAK.de or Flames of Europe, etc and use those NAs.  Or another good option is to roll a die twice for each nation, the number that comes up is the NA you get (re-roll if you roll the same thing twice in a row) and then let the Axis pick 2 NAs each (Out of the Box versions, 1 if Larry Harris) to kinda even the game out.

A good bid to counter that is 12-15 IPCs in units for the Axis (either LHTR or Out Of Box.)

Let us know how it goes.  I find the NAs add a lot of dynamic flavor tot he game.

I have had great luck with DAAK.

http://www.daak.de/indexe.php?sprache=e

You do have to sign up for membership, but that is free and easy.  Covers most aspects of a move (buy, combat moves, and combat), has a dispute resolution method, and even allows you to keep track of how you stand against other players based on game outcome.

It also has 3 different rule sets built into it for combat resolution:  Avalon Hill printed manual, LHTR, and LHTR 1.1 (does not yet have 1.2 loaded as an option).