Old man is out for my wedding next week so we are going to get a game in this weekend. Going to use these great tips on him.
Haven’t played much anniversary edition since our Christmas game, mostly played 1942 online. So I have a better grasp of fundamentals now and can understand your tips more fully now.
Thanks again!
Hey everybody! I am new to A&A but am hooked. Looking for some people to roll some dice with in the Northern Virginia area. I am around Ashburn but willing to drive within an hour. Have played some games of Anniversary edition and 1942. Willing to learn other ones.
Thanks!
@Argothair said in Reliable 1941 Axis Strategy:
@cheezhead1252 You’re welcome!
No, I think it is counterproductive to worry about attacking Egypt on G1 – especially with NOs off, it is just not that important, and you need every plane in the German air force to win 2 naval battles + 3 land battles on turn 1 at reasonable odds.
If you want to go heavy in the Med, you can get excellent odds on taking Egypt turn 2 by instead using the German med transport to shuffle another inf + tank to Libya on G1, where it will be protected by the Italian navy for a turn. Italy will do the same, shuffling another 2 units to Libya on I1. If you pre-position another 2 units in Italy / the Balkans on G1, then on G2 you can ferry them to Egypt with your transport, allowing you to attack with ~8 land units, plus the German bomber, which can now be spared from anti-British-navy duties, plus also a German fighter that should have landed in Morocco. This is far more than anything the Allies can bring to the region, and if you somehow roll poorly, the Italians are there to follow up with an equally hard punch (~7 units, 1 plane, and 2 naval bombards).
Italy can build any land units it wants for the eastern front; it’s just a style preference. Tanks allow you to threaten a ‘can opener’ for Germany in a larger number of territories, but they tend to be a one-and-done attack, since Italy doesn’t have enough cash to build many tanks; sooner or later Russia will call your bluff and force you to either attack with the Italian tanks into a stack of 2-3 Russian infantry, or else retreat. If you send in the tanks and Germany can’t take Moscow that turn or stack up with the survivors, then you’ll lose the surviving tanks next turn to a Russian counterattack, and you won’t be able to replace them anytime soon. But, if you build all infantry, then it takes longer to become relevant, and Russia can clearly see where it’s headed. There are pros and cons. I usually build a mix.
Good luck against your old man!
I took the advice from your first post and applied to a game of triple A hard AI before you posted this response. I ended up coming to the same conclusions as above, so it is good to confirm I’m on the right track haha.
I agree that the juice in Egypt isn’t really worth the squeeze. I strafed them in G1 to kill some units. And they end up running to Persia once you pressure India anyways. So the French tank and an Inf got shipped to the Eastern front via Med transport and I did the same with Italian units too.
Also, the tip for transports to pressure India was money, getting it a round earlier than I had been was huge. Was able to rush in some planes to help defend Germany on J2 or maybe it was J3.
Was the first time I beat the AI without No’s, it felt great crushing Russia, not going to lie hehe. It’s a slog on the eastern front and you have to be extremely careful and concentrate your forces at the right spot at the right time or you’re fooked.
Thanks again for the great advice and I look forward to kicking some allied booty, cheers!
@Argothair Wow, thank you for the great reply.
I am very interested in the Germany strategy as that’s where so have the most problems. I usually take the three territories you mentioned but the trading over these territories tends to wear me down and opens a landing spot for pesky Brit’s as I dump reinforcements east.
Definitely interested in trying the carrier out. I read some of Jenn’s old posts and she seemed pretty dead set against it so I haven’t tried that out yet.
Do you attack Egypt G1 as well? Even if it’s just a sideshow. And do you rush Italian tanks to the front or build infantry?
Also appreciate the thoughts on the Manchuria IC. I have done this and while I blitzed through India, China, and Siberia, I think it delayed things a turn to long for me to rush zeroes out to the eastern front and also the scenario you described occurred as well lol.
Many thanks!! I must beat my old man haha 😝
@Argothair said in Reliable 1941 Axis Strategy:
@thehersh I think this strategy works against the AI mostly because the AI is very poor at attacking the Pacific with the USA. If the US puts even a medium sized fleet in the Pacific the Japan can’t afford to build maximum tanks every turn, let alone swing the entire Japanese fleet toward Egypt.
Also, don’t you find that your opening battles against the British navy are a little risky? Hitting all 3 fleets on turn 1 means that you could easily lose at least 1 of those battles. What do you do then? Do you have a recovery plan?
Is there a viable strategy for Axis to win when playing no NO’s?
Seems incredibly difficult to me.