Posts made by Afrikakorps

Where in the rules can I find the clear ruling that USRR get 3 IPC for all nations on the Europe map. My last game my opponents disagreed and argued it was all in the actual continent Europe (including Turkey) as otherwise the including Turkey would make no sense. Maybe you know where I can show them?

Hello guys I just returned from an Allied victory and the strategy worked perfectly. USA early bomber swarm destroyed all Axis fleet in Europe without effort and then bombed Germanies in IC’s to hell. Because Baltic Fleet was destroyed Russia could hold Leningrad and conquer Scandinavia and this extra income let it spiral out of control, in its last turn (T8) USRR collected 89 IPC!

Also Russian/China strategy worked perfectly as he has to hold too much Japan forces in rhe north allowing China too keep the Burma road open with UK support resulting in a very hard game for Japan trying to contain China.

Great to see the Afrika Korps strategy included!

Take a look at my Allied strategy: the Bright Skies, I now posted the USA perspective in detail, the one of Russia and China will follow later or are already mentioned in the introduction.

I will test it out myself this week, I think it has some good potential for the Allies to even the game back to their favour!

So the game is getting close and this week I will be able to test out the Bright Skies strategy!

The Bright Skies: The United States of America.
In short this strategy is the Allied version of the Dark Skies, with the USA going full strategic bombers. This post focuses on the perspective from the USA.

Ofcourse the bombers will be coupled with additional units such as submarines etc. However the main thing that the USA will not do, is to build invasion fleets that focus on either Germany or Japan. Therefore the mission of the USA is not too kill a certain enemy first, so no KJF, KGF or KIF, but too stop a certain first. What do I mean with stopping instead of killing? By weakening a certain Axis nation to such extent, that the combined efforts of the mainland Allies will be able to defeat and kill it.

The reasoning behind this strategy is that logistics are the main problem of the USA, to get their economic superiority to a place where it can attack the Axis. Western Europe is very easy to defend for the Germans, so is Scandinavia as long as the Baltic Fleet lives. Yes it can be overpowered by the USA, but it takes the USA a lot of IPC to build a strong enough invasion force, time that is used by Axis to advance and win the game. The moment Scandinavia permanently falls to the Allies, might also be the moment the Germans take Moscow. Also by focusing on 1 Axis, it loses threat to the other Axis, that can go rampage. So how to solve these two fundamental problems of the USA: logistics and threat?

The answer is simple I think: Strategic Bombers. From airbases they can move 7 zones, which is simply amazing, They have the strongest attack value in the game and are relative cheap. Even better, they can bomb industrial complexes therefore hurting the Axis economies, which is crucial for them to maintain momentum. There is one particular target the Strategic Bombers excel against: fleet. While Japan has such a big fleet, it will still take many turns to build enough Bombers to take out its fleet, both Germany and Italy are no great sea-faring nations with only small effective fleets. Germany prefers to build up its luftwaffe instead of its fleet, as its fleet is useless against Russia. Therefore the logical focus of the USA should be to take out Germany’s fleet as soon as possible resulting in SGF (Stop Germany First).

Even before stopping Germany, the Axis have a much weaker partner, Italy. UK alone is already able to take out this medium Axis player when played aggressive, but the USA can finish them off without any investment. The USA have 3 initial transports and a relative strong fleet based for the Atlantic side. One transport will remain in the Pacific with several blockers to slow down Japan if they decide to attack the USA, but the rest will move to the Atlantic. In the Atlantic they get into the Med, kill any Italians left and then convoy it to death. So actually without any investment, the USA will use its initial forces to SIF (Stop Italy First). This should not be any problem or need much consideration.

The mission of this strategy is to kill the German Baltic Fleet as soon as possible, and to do this with Strategic Bombers. It can build 4 bombers every turn, more when in war. In USA4 it can attack the Baltic States with 8 bombers, 9 if the USA is at war in his second turn (and the minor complex becomes a major complex). Normally 8 Bombers should be enough to finish the small Baltic Fleet if the Germans have focused on Russia. As soon the Baltic Fleet is destroyed, the Allied have a big strategic advantage where both the UK and Russia will take advantage off. A bit more about the destruction of the Baltic Fleet. The Baltic Fleet is crucial for the Germans to keep its Reich intact, but it is also very easy to defend, that is why the UK is normally not in the position to achieve that with traditional aircraft. Germany is also likely to want to keep its Baltic Fleet alive at all costs, and have two tools to achieve that. 1. investing in airbase in Germany, this is the best thing Germany can do and very cost effective taking in account it is likely to have enough fighters to scramble 6 of them in this case. There is nothing the USA can do except for building up its Bombers until it is strong enough. If Germany wants to rescue its Baltic Fleet the only thing it can do is 2. build up its fleet for more hits. This is great as all those ships are IPC that is not invested in artillery and tanks against Russia.

So in any case you win, as you give Germany the choice between two bad options: 1. lose the Baltic Fleet or 2. build useless fleet.

But it does not stop with destroying the Baltic Fleet. The mission of the USA bomber fleet is threefold.
1. Deny German Logistics (fleet)
2. Destroy German Military Strength (airforce)
3. Lower German Production (infustrial complexes)

It is also ranked on importance, as the first target should be German fleet, second German airforce and third German industrial complexes. By destroying the German fleet you deny his excellent logistics to Scandinavia. By destroying unprotected airforce you greatly reduce its military strength against Russia. By strategic bombing crucial German industrial complexes (those at the Russian front) you lower his income or even cripple his ability to reinforce the Eastern front. Therefore the bomber fleet should always be able to do something useful for the Allied war effort.

The goal is to send 25 USA bombers to SGF (Stop Germany First), something that only needs 5 turns in the case Japan declares war in its third/fourth turn. These 25 Bombers can threaten a lot of positions of the Germans from London, forcing them to defend their airforce much more careful while giving much more other head aches.

After the 25 USA bomber fleet has been sent to the Atlantic side, the mission of the USA is to stop Japan. Again not by taking over Japan itself, as this is something very difficult to achieve against a good Japanese player, but stopping them. Ideally the game should end by the surrender of the Axis because they have lost momentum, fast shrinking economies and will definately lose the game.

Also against Japan the USA will focus on Bombers, however in this case it did not have initial fleet to convoy like it had against Italy. Therefore it becomes a mix of Submarines and Bombers. Ideally in USA6 you buy 6 submarines, and then 2 every turn after, while the rest is invested in Bombers, normally 5 per turn. The combination of massive bombers and submarines should be able to take out lone Japanese fleets, force the main fleet to remain united and therefore slow to react while you flood the Pacific with submarines to convoy the Japanese economy.

So here you have it, the USA Bright Sky strategy.

Ofcourse to make this strategy work there are certain things the other Allies should do.
1. Focus heavily on Yunnan to slow down Japan, do anything in your Allied power to make Japanese life hell in China and try to get China in the ‘out of control’ stage.
2. UK should be the one doing the small amphibious landings in Westen Europe
3. Russia mobilize to the north to capitalize on a destroyed baltic fleet taking over Scandinavia.

I play the USA, Russia and China. This was the first perspective of the Bright Skies strategy, the Russian and Chinese perspective will follow later.

EDIT: While it might seem to be un-historical to go full Bombers with the USA, remembers that you do follow the historical order of the USA: Italy, Germany, Japan. More than any nation (especially Germany!) it should be the USA that swarms the world with its flying fortresses!

@SS:

Sorry Afrikakorps. I removed in my post calling what you said in title. I missed it.

Please don’t as you posted the inspiration for the title: The Bright Skies! It was so good I copied it but you ofcourse remain the inventor of the name so all credits to you my friend.

Has anyone seen some succes or more experience with the Afrika Korps strategy? I have only played Axis once and it nearly worked but made some mistakes. Will try it definately when I am Axis again.

@Fatespinner:

@Afrikakorps:

Middle East and Italian Africa
The tank, mech. infantry from Stalingrad and two infantry from the Caucasus are send towards Iraq. They should take Persia in the second turn and conquer Irak in the third turn. In turn 5 and 6 the remaining tank is able to capture Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland for a total extra income of 14 IPC.

It sounds quite interesting, but I think this is not possible, as long as russia is a neutral country. In our games Russia is attacked normally on G4. Also invading Scandinavia is not possible as long as you are not at war and if Germany moves some planes to Finland and some more troops with its “fake Operation Sea Lion” transports, it is impossible.

Also having Scandinavia severely weakens your ability to defend Moscow, because the German tanks are just fast and reach Moscow within four turns after DOW.

I agree, with a strong buildup of German forces for four turns while they do not do Sea Lion or anything useful, the plan needs to be adapted (will think about this situation later). My experience however is that Germany invades Russia in its first or second turn to prevent it building too much troops. Time is on the side of the Allies, so I can only welcome a slow Axis advance.

Introduction
This is an alternative Allied strategy. The strategy is focused around two areas, Scandinavia and Yunnan. By taking these regions from the Axis in the early phase of the game, they should give the Axis major headaches and eventually result into an Allied victory. Scandinavia is the target of Russia, while Yunnan the target of China. In order to achieve these goals, I will play extremely aggressive with all my Allied forces as the best defense is often offense. To support these by nature Infantry nations that will now play aggressive instead of defensive, the United States will also be played completely different. Instead of the standard landings and option to kill 1 particular Axis first, they will send massive amounts of Strategic Bombers to Eurasia. Therefore USA Bombers will swarm the world, taking out any fleet they encounter, strategic bombing Axis industries and capitalize on any mistake the Axis will make. Combined with several USA Submarines each turn, they will cripple the Axis economies, so the mainland Allies will be able to finish the job instead of the USA.

Strategic Goal
Play Russia aggressive in early game in order to get bonus NO’s that will make up for the lost areas in Russia by the Germans, while supporting China from turn 1. This means Russia will advance to Scandinavia, the Middle East and Italian Africa, and China. Make sure Japan will be unable to control China. Swarm both Germany and Japan with USA bombers as soon as possible to contain them.

Rationale for Strategy
Russia will be invaded, that is for sure. It will also lose most of its lands, its industrial complexes will be bombed and therefore your economy will cripple very fast. Especially with the current Axis strategies such as the Dark Skies, the conventional rationale is that the Axis have an inherit advantage and the Allies need a bid. I disagree, I think they will just need a better strategy, just like the Axis needed one before the current status quo. But Russia is also in the position as the strongest mainland Ally from the start of the game, with influences in every region of the world besides Africa. Russia will need to defend against Germany to survive, that is for sure, but it has a lot of starting troops that can attack where the Axis are fragile. Russia also has the best NO’s of all players, 3 extra IPC for any Axis or pro-Axis neutral they take? Wow, this is something I can only dream of as mainly Axis player! With the extra IPC from Scandinavia, Middle East and Italian Africa, the USSR has the option to grow into a monster economy. Russia will also send some reinforcements to Yunnan, while its main 18 infantry stack will put pressure on the Japanese to help the Chinese out. As soon China survives the first rounds, it will be able to grow into another monster, unable for Japan to face. The third aspect is the third monster, the USA. One of the strongest aspects of the Axis is its logistics to expand fast while maintaining its regions, this is mainly done by transports. The Russians, for example, will be easily kicked out of Scandinavia because of the German Baltic Fleet. By transports the Italians will be able to expand to Africa and the Middle East and by transports the Japanese will be able to take Calcutta, Sydney and the money islands. To destroy these Axis logistics (transports and supporting fleet) the USA will swarm areas with bombers, making it much harder for the Axis to expand or maintain their empires. Instead of building up huge (expensive) invasion fleets that need to focus on 1 area, that can be sank, the USA will just focus on containing the Axis with Bombers and Submarines.

Yunnan
This is the first focus of gravity for the Allied forces. I will retreat my Russian troops to Buryatia, two to Yakut to return to Amur in my second turn. This will keep crucial land troops of Japan stuck in the north, or when they still advance south, give China Manchuria early in the game. The Russian tank and mech. infantry from Russia will advance towards Yunnan together with a fighter. I will also ask the UK player to move up to Burma in order to attack when needed. Land troops of Japan in China are sparse, and I will take every opportunity I get. The French fighter will also be send to Yunnan. As soon as we can manage to hold Yunnan we have won that battle, and China will be able to take Japan on the mainland by itself.

Middle East and Italian Africa
The tank, mech. infantry from Stalingrad and two infantry from the Caucasus are send towards Iraq. They should take Persia in the second turn and conquer Irak in the third turn. In turn 5 and 6 the remaining tank is able to capture Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland for a total extra income of 14 IPC.

Scandinavia
While many Russian played prefer to defend Southern Russia against the Germans because of the oil, it is also the most difficult area to reinforce as the USA. Losing Scandinavia as Germany is mostly the start of the end, as this is done by the USA that now invaded with a massive fleet combined with UK forces. However, it gives the USA only 3 IPC and it is extremely difficult to reinforce from their homeland. Russia is much closer and can attack Scandinavia much earlier, while also easier to reinforce from Leningrad, they also gain 11 IPC. In any case, losing Scandinavia gives headaches for Germany, so they normally prevent this at all costs. This is not such a difficult task with the Baltic Fleet, which is often a small but highly effective fleet protected against UK air raids. This is where the USA comes in, as they will have 9 bombers attacking the Baltic Fleet in turn 4. Without the Baltic Fleet, Germany iron grip on Scandinavia is destroyed and it will be difficult for them to retake it. This focus means that all initial Russian troops and first turn buys are concentrated on Scandinavia building up a force of 16 infantry, 4 artillery, 1 fighter, 1 tactical bomber and 2 bombers against 7 German infantry. Attacking Scandinavia while advancing to China and Middle East will ofcourse mean less initial troops to take on the Germans in the south. You will have to use the Scorched Earth strategy so famously known as the typical Russian strategy. South Russia is a high reward for the Germans, know this, and draw them in. However make sure that by the time the Germans reach the southern areas, your counter-attack will make their stay very short-lived.

United States of America
The Dark Skies have broken the game in favour of the Axis, why should the Flying Fortresses not do the same for the Allies? The USA has the economic superiority to outproduce the German Luftwaffe and the Japanese Zero’s combined. Instead of decided on a KJF, KGF or KIF, they will attack the Axis at all fronts, at once. Most crucial and first mission should be the destruction of the Baltic Fleet to help Russia. Especially when combined with UK aggressive tactics, it will take no effort to take the Italian income to the minimum with initial forces. Japan will be the greatest challenge, but so will it be a great pleasure to cripple its economy and contain its movements. Most important of all, going full bomber will provide something rare for the USA: logistics. With movement 7 the USA can relocate to important battlefields within turns. Just imagine with JDOW1, the USA can have 25 bombers available at the start of its fifth turn. These bombers will most importantly destroy Axis fleet on the Europe map early on, while it forces the Japanese fleet to remain concentrated. In the Pacific they will be combined with 2 Submarines a turn, as the Sumbarines will convoy the Japanese sea zones.

More specific:
USA first two buys are full bombers, to have a maximum amount (depending on DOW’s) of Bombers in London as soon as possible to take out the Baltic Fleet next turn. Their initial fleet will go to the Atlantic to battle the possibly expanding Italians, as soon Italian expansion is finished (this is already possible by just the UK without USA help) they just convoy all med sea zones to get Italian income to zero. Maybe this will tempt the Japanese to take the USA, perfect! You have succeeded, as the UK, ANZAC and China will be able to build their defenses strong enough while you can easily defend your own cities. More likely the Japanese advance as normal towards India. After turn 2 when you build the anti-baltic bombers, you start building bombers and submarines for the Pacific, while also sending several bombers per turn to Europe. In case of 72 IPC, I would suggest 2 submarines, 2 bombers to the Pacific and 3 bombers to Europe. If Japan is struggling while Germany is advancing too fast, focus more on Germany etc. The bombers that destroyed the Baltic Fleet will continue bombing German industrial complexes or attack high value targets (German bombers) while the build bombers in the Pacific can bomb Japan the next turn while landing in China, making sure any new Japanese fleet build is destroyed. The Submarines are either send to convoy SZ6 or the Money Islands. This forces Japan again to build destroyers, which are easily destroyed by bombers. When you succeed to build up enough submarines and bombers in the Pacific you can eventually destroy the Japanese fleet winning that side of the map. The USA bombers in Europe destroying first the Axis fleets, crippling German industry by strategic bombing and allow you to attack any German area will likely allow the Russian to grow into a monster and defeat Germany combined with UK invasions in the west.

France
I always love to play with France as I really enjoy if their rare pieces make a difference in the game. I once destroyed a damaged German aircraft carrier with 4 transports with a lone French destroyer after the USA and UK failed to finish it. For this game the French fighter will take quite a journey. First it will get to Yunnan asap, then fighting in the defense of Russia. All surviving French infantry in Africa will also make the long travel to Russia.

Allied Strategy battle plan

Russia Turn 1 (GDOW2 most likely)

Purchase new units
2 Bombers, 3 Artillery

No Combat Movement

Noncombat movement
Move 6 Infantry from Amur to Buryatia
Move 6 Infantry from Sakhar to Buryatia
Move 2 Infantry from Buryatia to Yakut
Move 6 Infantry and 1 Artillery from Novgorod to Karelia
Move 1 Infantry from Archangel to Novgorod
Move 1 Infantry from Belarus to Novgorod
Move 3 Infantry from Vyborg to Karelia
Move 1 Tank and 1 Mech. Infantry from Russia to Kazakhstan
Move 1 Tanks and 1 Mech. Infantry from Volgograd to Turkmenistan
Retreat front line Infantry if survived
Retreat Western Ukraine and Ukrain to Bryansk

Place new units
3 Artillery in Novgorod, 2 Bombers in Russia

Collect Income
$37 Income
$1
= $38

From now on build only Infantry and Artillery every turn, start adding Tanks when income increases.

USA Turn 1

Purchase new units
4 Bombers, 2 Infantry

No Combat Movement

Noncombat movement
Move 1 Bomber, 1 Infantry, 1 Tank, 3 Mech. Infantry from Central United States to Eastern United States
Move 1 Fighter from Philippines to Wake Island
Move 1 Submarine and 1 Destroyer from SZ35 to SZ54
Move Hawaiian fleet to SZ10
Move fleet from SZ10 to SZ64
Move 1 transport with 1 Infantry, 1 AAA from SZ10 to Hawaiian Islands
Move 1 Fighter from Western United States to Hawaiian Islands

Place new units
Place 2 Infantry, 1 Bomber in Western United States
Place 3 Bombers in Eastern United States

Collect Income
$52
= $52

Make sure you have minimum 8 in London as soon as possible (USA3 or 4) to destroy the Baltic Fleet. Keep reinforcing Hawaii and several blockers close to give you another round when Japan takes the trap. Send main USA fleet with 2 transports to North Africa and Mediterranean to make Italy easy target for the United Kingdom. Swarm the world with Bombers and the Pacific with Submarines.

China Turn 1

Purchase new units
4 Infantry

Combat Movement
Capture Yunnan, likely with 5 Infantry and 1 Fighter

Noncombat movement
Move 2 Infantry from Suiyuyan to Shensei

Place new units
Place 4 Infantry in Szechwan

Collect Income
$9
$6 Objective
= $15

Make sure Yunnan is captured every turn, from turn 3 it becomes possible to hold Yunnan by multi-defense of Russian, Chinese and British. As soon China is able to buy Artillery it will be able to take on Japan and throw them out of the mainland.

FAQ: Bright Skies Strategy

Q: Are you crazy, how will you ever be able to capture Japan without transports?
A: Defending Japan is one of the easiest things to do as Axis while it costs a lot of resources to build a strong enough invasion fleet for the United States. In the meantime Germany will likely have beaten Russia and Japan can still advance with its fleet where it wants. Therefore I opt to not focus on taking Japan, but to make the situation so hopeless for the Axis that they will surrender. Therefore I will convoy their income, bomb their industrial complexes and paralyze his movements.

Q: You will need every single 18 Infantry in Moscow, start moving them now!
A: I disagree, I think that long march is not that effective. Besides that it likely results into 6 IPC easy every turn from eastern areas that are taken by Japan (36 IPC in 6 turns) they also allow Japan to concentrate all its forces on China. As land troops are sparse for Japan, any delay counts while China grows stronger and gets more reinforcements. Not gaining those Russian territories while eventually losing their own will make Japan suffer financially. Another reason they stay, is to protect the incoming bombers from the USA that strategically bomb Japan or take out fleet from SZ6 and then land in the big Russian stack.

Q: When Germany see that you are building bombers, will he not just increase his fleet?
A: This is exactly what I would do as Germany, as keeping your Baltic fleet alive is crucial to keep your Reich intact. However that is why it is such a good idea to start swarming Europe with USA bombers, as they can attack anything because of the range or more even important, they can threaten to attack. When Germany builds more fleet, they build less land troops, which is good for Russia. Eventually, anything that is good from Russia, is good for the Allies. Normally games are focused to rescue Russia from Germany such as UK fighter inflow, or USA bomber inflow, my perspective is that if both UK and USA cripple German and Italian logistics plus income, Russia will be able to take them on without any reinforcements. Remember, the Axis currently have an advantage because of the Dark Skies strategy, which is focused on German bombers. USA bombers are exactly the same as German bombers when you control critical areas where they can land. Why not use the same system against them?

@Strollmasta:

Turkey begins the game as a neutral territory, so neither side may move through the Turkish Straits until Turkey is captured.

When you talked about building in the black sea and moving into the med and then back to the black sea, I’m guessing you have already attacked Turkey? which round do you attack turkey?

Italy Turn 2. This allows you to pass German armout and fleet to the NO places (Egypt and Caucasus) you want in G3.

@Strollmasta:

Protect the transports is all. Could always attack turkey and come out of the strait. Hope was to be able to take a bunch of Russian territory so they don’t have the money to build a big defense or counter assault. By the time you attack Russia, say turn 3, or 4, they’ve had that many rounds to build troops with, by the time you do get to Moscow door they have another 2-3 rounds of stacking. Kind of felt this could slow down the stack and let you bomb Moscow. I

I free its a lot of money that is probably better spend on troops. Gonna keep toying with figures.

Could also use to push into Calcutta, china and Egypt.

I do not agree that fleet is a waste of money, actually I prefer to buy fleet for all Axis in the first turns of the game as fleet (transports) = offense advantage + mobility which you need. It could be a good investment but because its such a big investment design your remaining strategy so it correlates with your goals. I have used your plan a lot when I started playing Germany with great succes. But it also failed sometimes (more and more) and I realized it was sub-optimal. You could fix that

Personally I like the idea but think its too expensive as it becomes obsolete after you have taken over Southern Russia in 2-3 turns. You do get those bonuses fast and especially if this allows you to take over Middle East + Southern Russia and eventually Egypt this gives you 21 NO bonus IPC per turn after G5-6, +20 in territories.

However the Russian player could easily build airforce of around 6 planes to destroy it and then its an absolute waste of points not invested in troops.

In my opinion it starts becoming a great investment when you plan to crush the neutrals and it allows you to enter the Med. It you would be interested to consider that or the discussion around it take a look at the Afrika Korps plan most recent ideas.

@GeneralHandGrenade:

I have been following along with this discussion since the beginning. I ran a number of scenarios over the weekend in regards to building a German fleet in the Med. It looked to me like it was a really good idea but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why you needed to do a neutral crush. This game isn’t a race to see how fast you can achieve every one of your objectives by turn 4 or turn whatever for that matter. It is much better to set your ultimate goal and try to achieve it step by step with alternate moves that you can do each step of the way.

First you ask yourself " Why am I going to Africa?" For me the answer is;
1. The money. Take the money for yourself and take it away from the UK.
2. Give Italy a role in the game besides being the can opener for one turn and a turtle for the rest.
3. Draw America’s focus away from the Pacific and Europe.

All I need to do to accomplish those things is get a medium sized German fleet to the Med. I don’t need to crush any neutrals or have a solid plan for defeating Russia. The Russians can wait until the 4th turn when my focus changes to them and there are German troops already in Africa. Even if the UK attacks my fleet when it gets there I have already accomplished a lot. First I have successfully faked a Sealion attack by purchasing only boats on the first turn. Second I have provided Italy with 2 of their NO’s by taking out Gibraltar (Italy takes Greece) and North Africa (with their help) upon arrival. And last I have killed virtually every single boat and plane the UK have when they attacked me. This whole time Italy has saved all of their income and now can build a navy which put them in the game. UK will have a difficult time taking Africa with any speed (if at all) due to a strengthened Italy and and small German force that made it there. They will have an even more difficult time if I add in a heavy duty bombing campaign against London since my planes won’t be busy for the next couple of turns anyway.

Germany doesn’t have to mortgage the farm to do all of this. Yes it will take longer to reach Moscow but like I said it isn’t a race. I don’t believe that the UK can take out my German fleet and with the IC on Southern France that I take on turn 2 I can add to the fleet before the Americans get there. If they don’t then I will add more ground units to Africa and start making my way to the Middle East. When the Americans do come across the Atlantic if I play my cards right that navy plus the Luftwaffe can take out the American fleet and set them back 3-4 turns until they are ready to sail again. That gives me all day to walk to Moscow.

Having the fleet instead of a ton of bombers gives you more options too. After the British are defeated you can send the fleet back up north to assault London if the Americans go against Japan instead of Europe. You can build up your bomber fleet slowly and have both if you want. Every step along the way take what your opponent gives you instead of planning every single move and purchase for the next 4 turns. Did I mention it isn’t a race?

A very good post and observation which I had to ponder about several times. As you know this was also the plan (with neutral crush) and in my last game I decided in G2 to not do neutral crush and push directly into Russia because of its bad positioned defense. I still took Egypt, Middle East and Southern Russia which won me the game because of the $.

But I also experienced some risks. The BB did not survived until G2 and the UK did not do Taranto. They nearly killed that medium sized fleet (without BB and destr). Yes it attracts UK attention to German fleet instead of Italy and gets two NO in I2 so a very good move.

But I reached Egypt in G4 because Italy was able to take it (not well defended by UK player), Iraq in G5, Caucasus in G7 and Stalingrad in G8.

My point being, you are too slow. Africa provides lots of points (36) but so does the Middle East (16) and Southern Russia (18) a total of 70 IPC extra.

As the Axis I would argue it is a race, a race of economic domination. If you fail that race the Allies win, if you win that race the Axis win, its that simple.

That is exactly what the Neutral Crush provides: invasion of Caucaus + Middle East through Turkey in G3. While you do help Italy a lot by going from SZ112 to Gibraltar to Egypt the UK can intervene, dice can be bad. Supporting this extremely early take over of Africa, Middle East and Southern Russia can only be done through a neutral crush and a Romanian Major IC + Black Sea fleet + Afrika Korps taking Caucasus is able to facilitate that.

Therefore you are much earlier able to gain those 70 IPC for the Axis within 2-3 turns in G3-G5 and make the economic swing leading to Axis victory.

Yes you support Italy a little les in this way, but provided you let them take the Middle East they will be perfectly able to become a Major Axis player with 30-50 IPC. In return there is little the UK can do to stop you. Building IC in Egypt and Iran? Yes please! There are little UK forces in the Middle East so early and a combined German-Italian assault in turn 3 is also something I don’t see being stopped, especially after Taranto.

@ShadowHAwk:

It really depends what the UK attacks with and also what is in range to attack your fleet.

There is little UK fleet left after taranto and german attack on the fleet there. Sure it costs a few planes but after that there is no med fleet left at all.

Germany will have 1 carrier + planes, 1 BB 1 CA 1 destr 1 sub and 1 transport at gibraltar round 2.
UK will have 1 or 2 destroyers in the atlantic and some planes i dont think they will try to do this suicide run really.

Round 3 the fleet is nicely in the med and you can build e xtra forces from south france to make it bigger or add 3 transports for a 4 transport attack on egypt round 4.

I agree with what you are saying. Do you think that with the G1 fleet build (ac, destr, ss) you will already be able to take Egypt in G4 if the UK did Taranto? What if the UK does not do Taranto? That will turn the discussion into two optimals.

1. Germany takes Southern France and build fleet in G1 in SZ112 to send to Gibraltar in G2
2. Use Afrika Korps strategy by sending initial armour + mech through Turkey and make Med fleet in Black Sea

I am promoting and drafting the second option. If the first case is most optimal in most cases the Afrika Korps strategy is more of a gambit instead of innovative strategy.

@GermanEmpire:

The only way Germany will be making 70+ ipc’s by turn 3 or 4 without attacking Russian is if the Allied players are being run by people who have never played before. I find it highly unlikely that Germany can realistically be making 70= ipc’s a turn by than.

Oke to be exact: 69 IPC

• Egypt NO

• Caucasus NO

• Swedish NO
  NO bonus: 15

• All of France, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Greece, Caucasus, Egypt, Eastern Poland, Baltic States, Karelia: 24

So 71 if you take Yugoslavia, but I prefer to strafe it and give it to Italy. Those mentioned territories does not sound so difficult in G3 right?

Shadowhawk maybe I misunderstand you. Where remains the other UK pieces after Taranto? Do you assume Italy scrambles at Taranto to kill off a lof of UK airforce?

Thanks again for strategic comments!

Yes using the Southern France factory sounds good and was also my initial plan before this whole Afrika Korps idea came to mind. However you both underestimate the UK this time. Only in the case of Taranto it loses its fleet in the Med, in all other cases and even with Taranto they have significant RAF presence or naval units coming from India in the Med before G3.

As you can only produce 3 units you will need more than 1 turn to build your fleet there, and in between it can be destroyed by a determined or Gibraltar fortress focused UK player. Same for those German transports, they need protection or are victims of the RAF.

The fleet build G1 is indeed nice and let you possibly join up in the Med with southern france transports. The point is however that if the UK wants it, it can destroy it, and if you lose it, thats a lot of waisted IPC. You do not want these sort of gambits as Axis as you need minimal losses in your first turns and maximum initiative.

About IPC spent in the Black Sea/Med, thats just 64. Without Battleship only 44. Romania is something I would consider as a big investment against Russia also. You could consider to not build a Battleship in the Black Sea or just a Destroyer for Baltic Sea in G3.

However the moment you start war with Russia in G3 you are making 70+ already and only rising, within a very few turns you overpower Russia.

@ShadowHAwk:

If you build 1 AC + destr + sub round 1 and merge fleet the UK will have a hard time taking that fleet down.

Most of them do taranto so the med fleet from them is gone.
Gibraltar needs to be taken but you got 1 transport and 2 bombardments should be sufficient against most things there. Italy can take it for you if you fail.

Buying the stuff north saves you a lot of cash that you can use to shore up your defenses against russia, but you need to get to leninggrad fast to prevent russia from attacking into norway.

It might be sufficient to survive the Atlantic and even take Gibraltar but is too weak to take Egypt or any fortified position.

Also it is a one shot, if it gets destroyed somehow by the UK before it reached Egypt you lost the initiative and possibly even the option to get German fleet again to the Med. After G4 the USA will reign the Atlantic if it wants to (with minimal investment).

Romania provides a direct access to the Med and Black Sea, in the beginning as described but also late game. If USA decides to go through the Med you could build 10 Submarines in a turn as Germany.

Yes you delay troops against Russia, but you have your defense already in place and can start focusing 100% on troops and Russia after G3. Also this delay is countered by the fact you can reach Caucasus, Ukraine and Leningrad in a single turn because of your transports.

Because of my recent game I came to several changes to the Afrika Korps strategy. The overall idea and especially the Japanese battle plan remains the same though.

The German Afrika Fleet (1 Aircraft Carrier with 1 Fighter and 1 Tactical, 1 Cruiser, 1 Battleship) sent into the Mediterranean is too fragile in the Atlantic and the UK will be able to take it down in many scenarios, especially when Gibraltar is fortified in UK1. Attacking that fleet is also what the UK player did in my case, and with luck the two Transports survived. Those two did rocked the game, as German Transports in the Mediterranean with some troops are amazing, as they can reach Egypt, the Middle East or even South Africa very fast.

Your goal is to win the game by capturing Moscow, but in order to do this I prefer to take Egypt first, instead of last. As discussed a lot before, this is to give the Axis a lot of early $ and to prevent a late-game stalemate. However Russia is able to get some additional time and troops (1-2 turns) by first focusing on Africa and the Middle East. Especially the Romanian border was weak as Germany and needed to sent a lot of counter-attacks south.

Major Industrial Complex in Romania
By building a major IC in Romania on G1 you make a major strategic investment and adjustment to Germany logistics. As seen on the forum this has been used before and views are mixed, but it is especially looked at as all Russia focused. I think it can provide so much more by using it for Egypt/Africa early game and afterwards against Russia. It actually works really well with the Afrika Korps strategy as you already intend to crush the neutrals such as Turkey giving you access to the Mediterranean.

G1: Build Major IC in Romania
G2: Build Mediterranean Fleet: 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Battleship, 4 Transports in Black Sea
G3: Build Baltic Fleet: 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Destroyer, 3 Transports in Baltic Sea
G4: Start producing lots of troops!

You make three major strategic logistical investments with Germany in its first three turns. After these builds you have excellent movement around Northern Russia, Southern Russia, Middle East and Africa. These builds allows you to get Infantry to places you want fast, both offense and defense.

I experienced again how easy it is to defend Europe against the Western Allies if they try to go through the north to Scandinavia instead of the Mediterranean. Your Industrial output as Germany and Italy is already excellent there and especially with a Baltic Fleet you are able to retake Norway, Leningrad or Denmark every turn.

Instead of the smallish initial German fleet with 2-3 transports that can arrive in Egypt in G4, you are now able to send a much more dedicated fleet to Egypt in G3, a whole turn earlier. That fleet can afterwards return to the Black Sea for Southern Russia, send to take Persia/Iraq or to South Africa.

This allows you to take Egypt (Black Sea Fleet) and Caucasus (Afrika Korps) in G3 and takes away a lot of risk. You still do a G3 on Russia as is usual only now you have full control of the Black Sea and sending 10 troops a turn from Romania into Russia.

The main problem with building a Romanian Major is the lack of threat to the UK. However I do think that the strategic advantages it provides for Germany against both Afrika, Middle East and Southern Russian outweighs the lack of threat.

Then as second I pondered some more about the United Kingdom, as it is my main opponent in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East and also powerful. So powerful that in most games, they remain in control and cripple Italy. This has led me and many others come to the point that we agree that Germany needs to help Italy in order to succeed around the Mediterranean. In order to do this we need to understand all optimal UK possibilities in the Mediterranean and create a counter-strategy for each of them.

There was a lot of discussion inside this topic already, however I did missed the strongest UK approach (although in my opinion). The four optimal UK1 options are:

1. Taranto
2. Gibraltar
3. Red Sea
4. Boxing

1. Taranto
The known classic and used in most games. UK attacks SZ97 and SZ96 taking out 2/3 of the Italian fleet. Very effective in crippling Italy and because of this move people have become hopeless what to do with Italy outside Europe or Russia. It does leave the UK fleet hurt and thus mostly finished by the Luftwaffe in G2 leaving the Mediterranean open.

2. Gibraltar
The fleet unites at SZ92 while Gibraltar is reinforced or upgraded with an Airbase and some fighters. Have not played against or myself. Idea is to create a fortress unable for Italy to take or without very high Luftwaffe losses.

3. Red Sea
The fleet unites at SZ81 and reinforces Egypt. In UK2 they return to the Mediterranean in full force with additional planes from India and London to kick Italy ass. Possibility of getting locked out of the Mediterranean though.

4. Boxing
The fleet provides an encirclement of the Italian fleet while focusing on destroying Italian troops in Africa as soon as possible. The boxing in done in such order that if Italy decides to attack any of the sea zones it will get destroyed by the UK the next turn. Because of the boxing Italy is not able to reach either Gibraltar or Egypt.

I will expand the four strategies the following days to become more complete.

@Arthur:

I certainly would be willing to try out a strat in balance mod, bid, or no-bid/standard games.  I am far more impressed if a plan works in balance mod than in a no-bid game.  Many good strats can win ~75% of the time for a good Axis player against a good Allies player when doing a no-bid game.  That is why bids have been breaching +30 for the Allies.

Unfortunately I have reconsidered after downloading TripleA. I am not a regular Axis and Allies player and are also not planning to do so because of time investment. Together with my father and brother we have enough fun and challenge already. We will play the newest version available but no mods or bids until we ‘break the game’ as seems the case. Another thing we do is to prefer to use the available miniatures in the box over the possible options to make with chips.

Therefore I will stay with theory crafting and trying to optimize the strategy instead of spending counltess hours online trying it out.

To be updated soon!

@Arthur:

Sure, Afrika Korps.  Try downloading TripleA and play a few rounds against the AI so that you are acquainted with the software and playing on a computer.  For the match, let’s used the G40 balance mod since that is the most popular and fairest version for League play.  Lots of strats work on a no-bid no-balanced game, but only a good one can work in a BM match.

Oke let me check it out.
What is the difference with normal version?

Sir Arthur Harris would you like to try the newest Afrika Korps strategy against me online? I have not played online before but it should not that hard to start / download right?