Posts made by Darkman

Question about placing Industrial Complexes:

Can UK place a minor complex in Persia (2 income pro ally territory) the same turn that it took it? Or only the next turn?

Thanks

Darkman

If you play in a competitive style with your friends, take 42. Most of the 41 games are always the same (Allies concentrate on Europe while Japan is completely neglected) which means that your Japan player won’t have much fun. In 42 US has at least a real option to go Pac.

For the bids, I don’t agree with Zhukov completely but still, the 41 bid ranges from 8-9 to 13 and for 42 from 7-8 to 12, always a bit depending if you play with dice or low luck.

Just to fill this one a bit, here’s a strategy article already posted.

Strategy guides

1. General team strategy

1.1. Overall Allies strategy guide:

The momentum is clearly on the side of the Axis, the advantage in production is on your side though. Try to consolidate your positions and stabilize the Russian front. You have two basic strategy options: 1) Kill Germany or Italy first and neglect Japan. This will mean that you have a race: Kill Germany or Italy before the Japanese kill Russia. 2) Try to slow Japan while you try to kill Germany or Italy. This leads to a more balanced game, but you will need a very good teamwork on both fronts.

1.2 Axis strategy guide:

Your goal is use your momentum and conquer territories to get even in production. Your overall strategy depends on the Allies: If the Allies choose to neglect Japan, you will have to build up forces on the mainland and advance towards Russia as fast as you can. If the US builds troops in the Pacific, just get enough fleet to deter them while you try to advance on the mainland. The game is usually won or lost on the Russian front, keep that in mind!

2. Strategy guide, opening buys and opening moves by nation

Japan:

Since you start before the US does, you make sure you gain momentum on the mainland and then choose your strategy depending on the US.

Aims:
Early game: Make sure you get troops and production capacities on the mainland. Place a factory in French Indochina or Burma and establish a transport bridge to Manchuria. If the US neglects you, build more factories, the interesting territories are Burma and French Indochina in the early game, later India and East Indies along with a small transport bridge. If the US goes Pacific, make sure you max out your carrier capacities and get some subs to deter them.
Mid and late game: Depending on the US strategy, either build factories in India and East Indies to ship a load of troops towards Caucasus each turn, or deter the US while you build up a smaller force on the mainland. If the US neglects you, Germany and/or Italy might need your help, so you can either get your fleet in the med sea or send fighters over for defense.

Strategically important territories:
India is a NO for Japan. You could also take Australia or Hawaii, but India has a better production and you should build a factory there. Make sure you take it turn 3 by latest (unless Allies defend it hard, that’s possible). Apart from that, always watch your transports!

Common opening moves:
Kill the UK fleet and the US fleet. Take as much of China as possible while you try to avoid too many losses. The Chinese air unit should have a high priority. If you can, try to hold Burma.

Common opening buys:
3 transports, 2 tanks or 2 transports and 1 factory or 2 factories.

Russia:

As the starting power and at the same time the crucial point of the Axis and the Allies strategy, you need to find a good balance between aggressiveness and defense.

Aims:
Early game: Push Germany back to make them lose income and to establish dead zones on your front.
Mid game: Try to move the dead zones west and gain income of the territories while you build up a stack to deter the Japs that are getting closer.
Late game: Send more troops towards Berlin or Rome, gain your 10 IPC NO and defend your main territories against Japan.

Strategically important territories:
Karelia and Caucasus are German NOs. Karelia is very hard to hold against Germany. You might choose to give it up turn 1 and establish a dead zone there. Make sure you don’t lose Caucasus, if you lose it for a whole turn and cannot take it back this can lead to a fast decay for Russia!

Common opening moves:
Take Belorussia, Eastern Ukraine and Ukraine (alternatively, Baltic can be an option if you try to hold Karelia turn 1). You can also try a bomber gambit in SZ13 to weaken the German ambitions in the med sea and against the British fleet.
Common opening buys:
8 infantry, 4 infantry and 1 bomber, and most common 5 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 tank. Later, make sure you have enough infantry.

Germany:

Germany has an easy objective: Throw down Russia. An attack on UK can only succeed if the UK player makes some major mistakes. Germany and Italy have to play as a team.

Aims:
Early game: Depending on the Russian opening, take Karelia if possible. Kill as much of the UK fleet as you can, you don’t want to play against 2 UK transports. Also, make sure that the UK fleet in SZ12 doesn’t survive and kill the Italian fleet turn 1. Reinforce Africa if possible and try to take it turn 2 with Italian help. Try to avoid too many losses on the Russian front early on, the Russian support lines are shorter than yours. Either hold France or threaten to kill any UK sea units that enter SZ7.
Mid and late game: Find a balance between advancing against Russia and holding France and Germany. If you bought a carrier turn 1 to keep the Baltic fleet, you will lose that fleet in the mid game unless you spend a lot of credits on fleet, which will help Russia to break your front. If all the Allies play against Germany, make sure you get enough defensive forces as well as the help of Japanese fighters and try to hold long enough to allow Japan to kill Russia.

Strategically important territories:
Karelia and Caucasus, which is your NO (see Russia). Keep in mind that the UK navy can attack you in Karelia. France is important too, do not give UK or US too much income by trading it back and forth. Egypt is the key to gaining income in Africa.

Common opening moves:
As said, kill as much of the UK fleet as you can. Hit either SZ12 and either SZ1 or SZ2. Take Karelia if you can and stabilize your eastern front. If you did not buy a carrier to keep the Baltic fleet, it might be interesting to spread your ships.

Common opening buys:
1 carrier and ground troops or 1 carrier and 1 air unit and ground troops or all ground troops. You will need infantry as cannon fodder on the Russian front!

United Kingdom:

The power that is spread all over the world needs to find a way to avoid getting crushed on all front. Try to hold Egypt and, as long as you can, India. Your allies will have to help you, but in exchange UK is the nation that needs to take pressure from Russia.

Aims:
Early game: Consolidate your forces from all over the world. After a ‘normal’ German opening your fleet will have had heavy losses. Bring your transport from Africa towards the med sea, your Australian fighter to India, Hawaii or Madagascar, and stabilize your fleet around UK. Your attack options can be France or Norway, but be aware that your fleet is vulnerable.
Mid game: Build up a fleet with transports. Once you have a fleet Germany cannot sink and 4 transports, you build 8 land units each turn in UK and land in France or Norway, or if you want to help Russia, in Poland, Baltic or Karelia. If you can afford it then, you could build an IC in the colonies.
Late game: Stick with your playgrounds and look for options to invade Germany or team with Russia.

Strategically important territories:
Egypt is important, you don’t want to lose Africa. India can hardly be held over a longer time, but should delay Japan as long as possible. Your main playground should be France, while you try to fulfill the other NO of holding Gibraltar, Egypt, South Africa, Australia and Canada.

Common opening moves:
Hard to say because it depends on the German turn. Common landing targets for turn 1 are Morocco, Norway, France and Karelia, but they depend a lot on the board. Sink the German Baltic fleet if you can; and make sure that Germany can neither sink your fleet nor land in UK if they bought a carrier turn 1. Don’t forget to move your units that are spread all over the board (Australian fighter, transport near South Africa) and to consolidate Africa and India.

Common opening buys:
Building ICs in India or South Africa is usually a bad option unless you got very lucky against the Japanese or kept a lot of your fleet. Most common are a carrier buy along with destroyers, a fighter replacement (you usually lose one when you attack the German Baltic fleet) or transports.

Italy:

Italy’s role as Germany’s little helper is limited to few options: Help to defend France, help to get Africa and help on the southern eastern front. Its resources though usually allow to support two of those three objectives at most. Because of it’s limited resources, Italy is the most fragile part of the axis, but it’s also hard to reach for the allies.

Aims:
Early game: Try to help Germany, see above. Always be aware that your fleet is not killed.
Mid and late game: Make sure you do not get pressured too much because you spread your forces too far. Focus on the most important objectives. If the US comes into the med sea, make sure that you get German or Japanese help.

Strategically important territories:
Egypt (see Germany) as well as everything that you need for your NOs. You need all income you can get.

Common opening moves:
Depending on the German and British moves, attacks on Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Gibraltar or Ukraine are possible as well as just transporting units to Libya.

Common opening buys:
2 infantry and 1 artillery or 1 transport and 1 infantry or 2 tanks.

United States:

As the nation with the biggest resources, you need a good plan on how to use them. If you opt to go Pacific, you will most likely need air units, carriers and subs to fight the Japs. If you go Atlantic, you get just as much fleet as you absolutely need to protect the transports.
Aims:
Early game: Do not lose too much time. Your possible targets are Solomons to get a NO, as well as landings in Morocco. Build up a fleet and make sure you max out your transports and their capacity.
Mid and late game: Establish a steady flow of landing units. You will need at least 8 transports if you want to fight Germany or Italy. If you capture Italy and you can make sure that Germany cannot take it back in its turn, that is usually game. If you attack Japan, make sure you have enough cannon fodder (subs) for sea battles.
Strategically important territories:
Solomon and France as NOs. In the Atlantic, SZ1, 7 and 12 are important for a transport bridge; in the Pacific the Carolines are in range of everything that’s important.

Common opening moves:
Depending on what happened before, landings on the Solomons (beware of the Japanese counter) or Morocco are possible, but often you only prepare landings.
Common opening buys:
2 transports, 2 tanks and 1 carrier (Atlantic attack) or 2 carriers and 1 fighter (Pacific attack)

China:

I’ll keep this short… without massive support of the allies, who usually cannot afford that early on, China is dead by turn 3 or 4 against a good Japanese player. Use it as a brakeshoe as long as you can.

Just a few points that might help your decision:

• ICs are only useful where you have a long way to go via transport. This excludes Manchuria, you have enough production capacity in Japan.
• ICs there are far away have to have a good transport route. This excludes East Indies and Borneo in the 42 scenario early on.
• ICs that are hard to defend against a US Pacific strategy should not be build before you can see the US strategy. This excludes East Indies and Borneo.
• ICs should be in range of valuable targets. This makes East Indies better than Borneo because you can reach India or Egypt more easily, but it shows that the mainland ICs are even more valuable in the early game because you lack transports to use island ICs turn 2.

Summary:

I personally get an IC and 2 transports turn 1 with Japan. If I have 3+ fighters left after my attacks and can land them in Burma, I do that and place my IC there. That makes sure that I keep Burma turn 1 and can attack India turn 2.
Overall the buy gives me flexibility: The money of the IC is not lost even if UK gets an India IC and US goes Pacific, I can add another IC in French Indo and outproduce them. Also I don’t risk to lose an early IC build in East Indies or Borneo to a US Pacific strategy. If I see US goes Atlantic, I can still build there.

About the way to attack Russia: You will have to attack on all 3 fronts. The India/Persia route should have priority because you have a NO in India and because threatening Caucasus is important if Allies go KGF. But you also need some forces to run over China, and you don’t want to give Russia the income of their east territories for free all the time, so you will have to attack there with minor forces.

Just my 2 cents

Darkman

Hi guys,

if anyone likes to start a discussion about 42 strategies… ;-)

I’ll paste a link here to a beginners guide to 42. For more idea and input, feel free to post!

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=21182.msg717371#new

Greetings

Darkman a.k.a. Charon

Hi guys,

since ww2 v3 1942 is a map that gains more and more players, I will try to give you a short guide for beginners here.

This guide will include the basic strategies for Axis and Allies in 42, along with separate advice for every nation, and some common openings. If you have useful additions, please feel free to post!
General advice:
I don’t advise this map for a player who is completely new to TripleA. Get used to the game by playing Classic or Revised, which have smaller and less complicated maps. Then play 41 or 42 against the AI a few times and try to use this strategy guide. After a little time to get used to it, you should win the games because the AI is pretty bad. Be familiar with the game mechanics and the rules! The game is usually played with national objectives (NOs), which are very important since they give additional income if you have them. Be familiar with the game mechanics and the rules! You can find the national objectives in the game menu under Help, Game Notes.

Basic setup: The bid

As in WW2 v3 1941, the Axis have an edge in this map. To compensate that, Allies get a bid of mostly 9 or 10 IPCs.
The most common way of spending the bid are Russian ground units on the German border for the initial attack, possibly you might want a unit in Egypt to make sure you keep it (especially if playing with dice).

Strategy guides

1. General team strategy

1.1. Overall Allies strategy guide:

The momentum is clearly on the side of the Axis, the advantage in production is on your side though. Try to consolidate your positions and stabilize the Russian front. You have two basic strategy options: 1) Kill Germany or Italy first and neglect Japan. This will mean that you have a race: Kill Germany or Italy before the Japanese kill Russia. 2) Try to slow Japan while you try to kill Germany or Italy. This leads to a more balanced game, but you will need a very good teamwork on both fronts.

1.2 Axis strategy guide:

Your goal is use your momentum and conquer territories to get even in production. Your overall strategy depends on the Allies: If the Allies choose to neglect Japan, you will have to build up forces on the mainland and advance towards Russia as fast as you can. If the US builds troops in the Pacific, just get enough fleet to deter them while you try to advance on the mainland. The game is usually won or lost on the Russian front, keep that in mind!

2. Strategy guide, opening buys and opening moves by nation

Japan:

Since you start before the US does, you make sure you gain momentum on the mainland and then choose your strategy depending on the US.

Aims:
Early game: Make sure you get troops and production capacities on the mainland. Place a factory in French Indochina or Burma and establish a transport bridge to Manchuria. If the US neglects you, build more factories, the interesting territories are Burma and French Indochina in the early game, later India and East Indies along with a small transport bridge. If the US goes Pacific, make sure you max out your carrier capacities and get some subs to deter them.
Mid and late game: Depending on the US strategy, either build factories in India and East Indies to ship a load of troops towards Caucasus each turn, or deter the US while you build up a smaller force on the mainland. If the US neglects you, Germany and/or Italy might need your help, so you can either get your fleet in the med sea or send fighters over for defense.

Strategically important territories:
India is a NO for Japan. You could also take Australia or Hawaii, but India has a better production and you should build a factory there. Make sure you take it turn 3 by latest (unless Allies defend it hard, that’s possible). Apart from that, always watch your transports!

Common opening moves:
Kill the UK fleet and the US fleet. Take as much of China as possible while you try to avoid too many losses. The Chinese air unit should have a high priority. If you can, try to hold Burma.

Common opening buys:
3 transports, 2 tanks or 2 transports and 1 factory or 2 factories.

Russia:

As the starting power and at the same time the crucial point of the Axis and the Allies strategy, you need to find a good balance between aggressiveness and defense.

Aims:
Early game: Push Germany back to make them lose income and to establish dead zones on your front.
Mid game: Try to move the dead zones west and gain income of the territories while you build up a stack to deter the Japs that are getting closer.
Late game: Send more troops towards Berlin or Rome, gain your 10 IPC NO and defend your main territories against Japan.

Strategically important territories:
Karelia and Caucasus are German NOs. Karelia is very hard to hold against Germany. You might choose to give it up turn 1 and establish a dead zone there. Make sure you don’t lose Caucasus, if you lose it for a whole turn and cannot take it back this can lead to a fast decay for Russia!

Common opening moves:
Take Belorussia, Eastern Ukraine and Ukraine (alternatively, Baltic can be an option if you try to hold Karelia turn 1). You can also try a bomber gambit in SZ13 to weaken the German ambitions in the med sea and against the British fleet.
Common opening buys:
8 infantry, 4 infantry and 1 bomber, and most common 5 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 tank. Later, make sure you have enough infantry.

Germany:

Germany has an easy objective: Throw down Russia. An attack on UK can only succeed if the UK player makes some major mistakes. Germany and Italy have to play as a team.

Aims:
Early game: Depending on the Russian opening, take Karelia if possible. Kill as much of the UK fleet as you can, you don’t want to play against 2 UK transports. Also, make sure that the UK fleet in SZ12 doesn’t survive and kill the Italian fleet turn 1. Reinforce Africa if possible and try to take it turn 2 with Italian help. Try to avoid too many losses on the Russian front early on, the Russian support lines are shorter than yours. Either hold France or threaten to kill any UK sea units that enter SZ7.
Mid and late game: Find a balance between advancing against Russia and holding France and Germany. If you bought a carrier turn 1 to keep the Baltic fleet, you will lose that fleet in the mid game unless you spend a lot of credits on fleet, which will help Russia to break your front. If all the Allies play against Germany, make sure you get enough defensive forces as well as the help of Japanese fighters and try to hold long enough to allow Japan to kill Russia.

Strategically important territories:
Karelia and Caucasus, which is your NO (see Russia). Keep in mind that the UK navy can attack you in Karelia. France is important too, do not give UK or US too much income by trading it back and forth. Egypt is the key to gaining income in Africa.

Common opening moves:
As said, kill as much of the UK fleet as you can. Hit either SZ12 and either SZ1 or SZ2. Take Karelia if you can and stabilize your eastern front. If you did not buy a carrier to keep the Baltic fleet, it might be interesting to spread your ships.

Common opening buys:
1 carrier and ground troops or 1 carrier and 1 air unit and ground troops or all ground troops. You will need infantry as cannon fodder on the Russian front!

United Kingdom:

The power that is spread all over the world needs to find a way to avoid getting crushed on all front. Try to hold Egypt and, as long as you can, India. Your allies will have to help you, but in exchange UK is the nation that needs to take pressure from Russia.

Aims:
Early game: Consolidate your forces from all over the world. After a ‘normal’ German opening your fleet will have had heavy losses. Bring your transport from Africa towards the med sea, your Australian fighter to India, Hawaii or Madagascar, and stabilize your fleet around UK. Your attack options can be France or Norway, but be aware that your fleet is vulnerable.
Mid game: Build up a fleet with transports. Once you have a fleet Germany cannot sink and 4 transports, you build 8 land units each turn in UK and land in France or Norway, or if you want to help Russia, in Poland, Baltic or Karelia. If you can afford it then, you could build an IC in the colonies.
Late game: Stick with your playgrounds and look for options to invade Germany or team with Russia.

Strategically important territories:
Egypt is important, you don’t want to lose Africa. India can hardly be held over a longer time, but should delay Japan as long as possible. Your main playground should be France, while you try to fulfill the other NO of holding Gibraltar, Egypt, South Africa, Australia and Canada.

Common opening moves:
Hard to say because it depends on the German turn. Common landing targets for turn 1 are Morocco, Norway, France and Karelia, but they depend a lot on the board. Sink the German Baltic fleet if you can; and make sure that Germany can neither sink your fleet nor land in UK if they bought a carrier turn 1. Don’t forget to move your units that are spread all over the board (Australian fighter, transport near South Africa) and to consolidate Africa and India.

Common opening buys:
Building ICs in India or South Africa is usually a bad option unless you got very lucky against the Japanese or kept a lot of your fleet. Most common are a carrier buy along with destroyers, a fighter replacement (you usually lose one when you attack the German Baltic fleet) or transports.

Italy:

Italy’s role as Germany’s little helper is limited to few options: Help to defend France, help to get Africa and help on the southern eastern front. Its resources though usually allow to support two of those three objectives at most. Because of it’s limited resources, Italy is the most fragile part of the axis, but it’s also hard to reach for the allies.

Aims:
Early game: Try to help Germany, see above. Always be aware that your fleet is not killed.
Mid and late game: Make sure you do not get pressured too much because you spread your forces too far. Focus on the most important objectives. If the US comes into the med sea, make sure that you get German or Japanese help.

Strategically important territories:
Egypt (see Germany) as well as everything that you need for your NOs. You need all income you can get.

Common opening moves:
Depending on the German and British moves, attacks on Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Gibraltar or Ukraine are possible as well as just transporting units to Libya.

Common opening buys:
2 infantry and 1 artillery or 1 transport and 1 infantry or 2 tanks.

United States:

As the nation with the biggest resources, you need a good plan on how to use them. If you opt to go Pacific, you will most likely need air units, carriers and subs to fight the Japs. If you go Atlantic, you get just as much fleet as you absolutely need to protect the transports.
Aims:
Early game: Do not lose too much time. Your possible targets are Solomons to get a NO, as well as landings in Morocco. Build up a fleet and make sure you max out your transports and their capacity.
Mid and late game: Establish a steady flow of landing units. You will need at least 8 transports if you want to fight Germany or Italy. If you capture Italy and you can make sure that Germany cannot take it back in its turn, that is usually game. If you attack Japan, make sure you have enough cannon fodder (subs) for sea battles.
Strategically important territories:
Solomon and France as NOs. In the Atlantic, SZ1, 7 and 12 are important for a transport bridge; in the Pacific the Carolines are in range of everything that’s important.

Common opening moves:
Depending on what happened before, landings on the Solomons (beware of the Japanese counter) or Morocco are possible, but often you only prepare landings.
Common opening buys:
2 transports, 2 tanks and 1 carrier (Atlantic attack) or 2 carriers and 1 fighter (Pacific attack)

China:

I’ll keep this short… without massive support of the allies, who usually cannot afford that early on, China is dead by turn 3 or 4 against a good Japanese player. Use it as a brakeshoe as long as you can.

That’s all folks… I hope this helps you a bit to find fun in a WW2 v3 1942 game. If you have questions or add-ons, just post!

Darkman a.k.a. Charon

We  faced another hard argument :p there was like 2 japan subs and a fleet without a sub or destroyer.So we didnt know either the japaneese player could pick up to be submerged or not .İ mean does he have the choice? Althoug it was not his round. İt was American round… Eventually we played  just the first round of the combat. and american fleet fired back. and destroyed the subs.  (Fighters atacked as well ).Did we do something wrong? :s

No, you didn’t. No destroyers present -> Japanese subs have first strike and fire, casualties are removed, then US fires back. AFTER the first turn of combat, subs can submerge if there is no enemy destroyer present. If they are killed though first turn of combat, shit happens. NOTE: This is the Revised rules. In v3 rules (like in Anniversary Edition or so) subs can submerge instantly (there are other differences too).

İs spring 1942 a better game ?  and includes more models or stuff

I admit I am not familiar with Spring 1942, unless it’s the same as the 1942 Anniversary Edition setup. What I can really recommend is the Anniversary Edition (contains 41 and 42 setup), but it’s expensive. The Europe 1940 and Pacific 1940 combine to Global 1940, which seems to be a good but very long game.

Okay I’ll try to keep this as short as possible ;-)

1. Not at all. I personally don’t think map changes are useful because most players unbalanced things more than they balance them. If you like bigger games, I can suggest trying the Anniversary Edition, Europe 1940 or Pacific 1940, or Global 1940 (Europe+Pacific together), but for the start Revised is very good to get used to the game.

2. A bid gives a side, either Axis or Allies, additional IPCs before game start, which they can use to buy units that are placed on the board before game start. This is done to balance the game. Revised mostly uses a bid of 8 or 9 for the Axis, whereas e.g. Anniversary uses an Allies bid. The units purchased with the bid money can be placed in any friendly territory usually, but only 1 unit per territory (that’s common but upon your agreement). When you bid for a side, say Axis in Revised, you could e.g. bid 12 for Axis, your friend goes lower to 11, you say 9, he says 8, then you say you pass, so he gets Axis and a bid of 8. So the bids go lower and lower until the sides are determined.

3. No idea ^^ I am not really good at that.

4. Just AA guns may fire on the bombers. Fighter interception is not possible in bombing raids. This is a reason why you may want to use the LHTR heavy bomber rules (then heavy bombers choose their best dice of the 2 they have in attacks, the better one +1 for bombing raids, but can’t take both) if you play with tech because heavy bombers are a bit overpowered.

5. Yes, kinda. If no destroyers are present, the subs have their first strike ability. So the subs of both sides would fire first in your first turn of combat, then casualties are taken (note: must be sea units), then the remaining units fire. After the first turn of combat, surviving subs can submerge and then not take part in combat anymore (also can’t be taken as losses then anymore). If they don’t, repeat the same process as above, subs first strike, then other units fire, for the remaining combat. If a destroyer is present, it prevents enemy subs from submerging and takes away their first strike (so you can fire back with all units, even when the sub hits some they still get to fire back) as long as the destroyer is alive.

I hope this answers most of your questions

Darkman

See other thread about Russia strategy… overall I can just say: DO NOT PLAY WITH NAs. In my opinion they are very unbalanced and can shift the game into certain directions very much. Just as examples: Lend-Lease for Russia is a lot stronger than e.g. Trans-Siberian railway; Luftwaffe Dive Bombers are strong; Joint strike or Colonial Garrison are sick; same are Superfortresses which are just stupid especially with heavy bombers.

Oh man this is even worse ^^

If Russia falls before turn 5, you had either very bad dice or a poor strategy.

Turn 1, Russia attacks West Russia big + either Ukraine (which I prefer because it takes pressure from Cauc and kills a German fighter) or Belorussia with just enough forces to win. Give up Karelia, establish a big army in West Russia. Play semi-aggressive, keep Germany away from Moscow and Caucasus, their support lines are longer than yours. If you lose Cauc or West Russia and cannot take it back that’s a major disadvantage. Do NOT turtle with inf unless you really have no other options because this will make it easy for Germany to take your territories and get even more income. Common buy for Russia turn 1 is 3 tank, 3 inf or 2 tank, 2 inf, 2 art. If you get rich because Germany falls back, maybe get 1-2 more fighters instead of tanks if you have enough inf. If Germany goes all Russia, you will need Allies help about turn 5. Look for options to set up 1-2 beatings in Karelia or Archangel (maybe even Cauc), where UK bombards, lands with air support and sacrifices all ground troops; then Russia takes care of the rest. If all goes wrong, make sure you have allied fighters in Russia to hold Moscow.

Even without being a jerk, apart from one post almost all of these answer are utter crap.

It all depends on the whole picture of the allied strategy. US has two basic options:

1. Go KGF only
2. Also try to take care of Japan

Easiest part first: KGF only

There is one thing you should never lack: Transports and landing troops! Well okay, they should be guarded against air attacks, but: NEVER build more fleet than you need. Usually German fleet is dead turn 1, if Germany goes navy it’s an autoloss against Russia unless they have a very very smart plan (if you are interested in that, try googling ‘Canadian Shield’, and even that has just a single turn fleet buy). So, move your Pacific sea units to the Atlantic to give additional protection to your transport fleet. Against a good Japs player, you won’t stand a chance in the Pacific anyways unless you fully commit there. Basic plan: build about 2 transports each turn until you have about 8, and establish a shipping route from Eastern Canada to Western Europe. The troops you build in Eastern US walk to Eastern Canada and get shipped the turn after (called the shuk-shuk). My standard turn 1 buy as US is 1 AC, 2 tanks, 2 transports. Along with your existing 2 full transports and the one coming from Pacific (which should be joined by another transport buy turn 2) you should easily have enough transports by turn 4. Your invasion target number 1 is Western Europe. But you also have a few other options:

• turn 1, you can land in Algeria. This is useful when the Axis took Egypt but are weak there. You might lose the transports landing there though, depending on German opening and buy.
• turn 1 to SZ8, landing troops in UK and uniting fleets, turn 2 take Norway and maybe build a factory there.
• when you have at least 4 full transports, enter the med sea and take Southern Europe IF you have a chance to hold it.
• when UK takes Western Europe or Southern Europe, fortify it with your troops.
• when Russia is about to fall, help in Archangel, Russia or Caucasus (I won’t go into detail here, but in a lot of games especially online a lot of UK and US troops help the Russians to survive)

2. also try to take care of Japan

This slows down the landings a lot. You will have to put a factory into Sinkiang turn 1, as well as UK needs one in India, and you will need air superiority in Asia, which is not easy to establish. That costs a lot of resources and demands very good teamplay with UK and Russia, so I don’t recommend this to newbies. If this strategy fails, you autolose because you built 2 ICs for Japan. In general: If you try this, try to push Japan from the mainland. This cannot be accomplished on sea. Focus on killing transports and getting air units into Asia. Russia will have to help you defend the ICs, and in exchange you have to take care of Africa or Scandinavia usually, and maybe threaten to land in France so Germany has to use up resources there. In case you want to try this, let me know and I’ll give you a whole overview about allied teamplay then.

Whatever you do, focus on

• good teamplay with Allies
• having enough transports and landing troops
• keeping them defended
• not wasting money in too many sea units
• supporting Russia where absolutely needed while putting up threats against Germany
• establishing a shuk-shuk of troops from Eastern Canada to Western Europe.

Just my 2 cents

Darkman

Edit: As a note: Forget about Suez. The Japs will come there by turn 4. Hold one side to prevent them from entering the med sea. Take Germany and it’s game over.

Calvin is right.

Revised rulebook page 18, Liberating a territory.

You can google and download it for free in case you lack yours.

This answer is an easy one for me ^^

NO!

It is only useful and necessary if you try a Kill/Slow Japan strategy. If you don’t back it up with more ICs from US in Sinkiang and China, and with Russian inf/tank support early, you get beaten up there and lose an IC to the Japs in a very important zone. Then it’s usually game over.

To give you a few reaons: If the Japs get a single IPC from the bid, they open with 1 IC, 2 TR and place the IC in FIC. If they get nothing, I would counter the IC mostly with double-IC in Kwantung and FIC. Then you cannot hold it against the mass of their troops, especially if Germany pushes hard vs Russia and Russia cannot help you out. It might be enough to give Japan a playground for the early rounds, but usually Japan gets neglected anyways (because Germany is easier to kill) so they have enough free resources.

If you like to know more about the KJF strategy or play a game on TripleA, let me know.

Overall this depends on your strategy for the game, but I would do the following:

If the German player didn’t take Egypt and you still hold the Suez, send the fleet (maybe with the destroyer, maybe without) to the med sea (this is a major misplay of Germany though, so don’t bet on that).

Otherwise I would

• Kill the Japanese transport in SZ59 with the destroyer. This slows down Japan a lot and is a very good move in 99.9% of all games.

• Attack the Japanese sub with the British sub. A good Japs player will give you only one shot and submerge it, so he can attack Pearl with it. It might be an option to keep the sub to guard the transport, see below.

• Move my transport from Australia (picking up one inf) via New Zealand (picking up the second inf) to SZ42, later moving it to SZ22, and then either landing troops in French Equatorial Africa, Belgian Congo, Algeria (if you don’t have Africa under control) or (if you are lucky and don’t need the troops there) in direction of France to unite with the British fleet.

• the AC and the TR in SZ35 either load 2 inf from India, taking Egypt back together with the troops from T-J and the fighter (if the Axis bid went into Africa, you usually cannot take it back), or simply flee to SZ 33. Since India cannot be hold if you play Kill Germany first, you can take away troops from there.

I know that the fleet needs time to get to their destination, but: You haven’t wasted units then and you get some very strong units midgame when UK suffers from a low income.

Other options are:

• Australian transport loads 2 inf and attacks New Guinea

• Indian transport loads 2 inf and attacks Borneo

If you want to hold Borneo for a turn, you can use your AC as a blocker. But because both attacks with inf each just have a 66.7% chance of succeeding (both succeed at a 44.4% chance) and because you just slow down Japan with it (which makes no big difference if you let him do what he wants later and focus on Germany) I consider it a waste of units.

• Attack the Japanese sub with your sub + a fighter and land the fighter on the US AC. This makes it harder for the Japs to kill Pearl, but they still can, so the fighter is lost.

A very interesting option which is pretty hard to play is an opening move if you try Kill Japan First (or Slow Japan since you usually win over Germany, Japan is hard to take like all island nations).

• Build an IC in India turn 1. This needs to be prepared to be taken back by Russia at least once!! So make sure you have 2 tanks and if possible 1-2 fighters in Caucasus and maybe 1-2 inf in Persia. The whole strategy described shortly: UK needs to help Russia in Europe, US helps in Africa (or vice versa), Russia holds India and China at least once so US and UK can build ICs there turn 1 and later push with tanks. You will need air superiority there, US fighters and bombers are needed!

• attack French Indo with the Indian inf + the fighter. You need to kill the inf and keep your fighter, killing his fighter is a bonus. This makes sure he cannot take India turn 1, this makes sure you hold India until turn 2 when you can build tanks.

If you are interested in the Slow Japan First strategy let me know and I give you more details.

Greetz

Darkman

IMO, the best turn 1 buy for Navy is just 1 Carrier, 1 Transport. This leaves space for ground troops, and you can hit Karelia quickly with 2 trannies and the AC defends the fleet. For the further turns, I usually go for subs if I purchase navy at all, and try to sink the UK fleet with subs and air.

The German Baltic Fleet buy is, in my opinion, at best questionable opening in Revised (In Anniversary 1942, this is an option I would consider). I’ll try to give you a little analysis.

Preliminary note: The Baltic Fleet buy instantly leads to a Kill Germany first game for the Allies. A Kill Japan first (KJF) game with an UK IC buy in India turn 1 is close to impossible because UK cannot match both the German fleet and the Japanese ground troops.

General strategy and opening moves in a Kill Germany first (KGF) game without Baltic Fleet buy:

• Germany pushes hard vs Russia with ground troop builds, tries to gain as much terrain and destroy units as possible, if its final blow fails because of the D-Day, Japan has to take over
• The German sub along with fighter support sinks the British battleship in the med sea
• The Baltic fleet has 3 options which are not really that different because the units usually are dead until UK2: a) stay in starting position and hope to kill a few attacking UK fighters; b) move everything but the transport to SZ7 to force an attack; or c), spread out the subs in the Atlantic
• German troops attack Egypt with bomber support (and pretty often also bid troops in Africa), the German battleship sinks the British destroyer in SZ15 to make a landing of troops from Southern Europe via transport turn 1 possible, this destroys the UK defensive position there and makes it possible for Germany to gain most of Africa and gain income by that.
• Japan, which is mostly ignored by the Allies, gains most of Asia and starts buying mainland ICs to build tanks vs Russia, and possible uses his remaining fleet to either go to the med sea to help Germany, or move to Alaska and Western US to distract the Americans
• Russia attacks 2 of Belorussia, West Russia and Ukraine, most recommended West Russia and Ukraine to kill a German fighter, and tries to keep Germany as far away from Moscow as possible. Pretty often UK helps in Karelia and Archangel, maybe even with fighters and bombers to Moscow and the rest of the UK troops in Asia to slow down the Japs
• UK usually tries to take back Egypt with the troops from India; the India dd sinks the Japanese transport, the Australian troops get shipped via South America to Africa, the British fighters take out the German Navy, UK can land in Algeria (with US together) or Norway, also UK start building up a fleet big enough to stand a German airstrike and then lands troops in Scandinavia, Algeria or helps Russians.
• US mostly ignores the Japs and builds fleet and transports, invades either Algeria or does the famous Eastern Canada-France transport setup

The Baltic fleet buy: General idea

• Germany sacrifices his advance vs Russia to create a threat against the UK fleet and, if backed up with transports, a threat to land in UK
• General aim is to combine the med sea fleet with the Baltic fleet to force Allies to buy a huge fleet and to delay the D-day, looking for a good trade of the German fleet vs the UK and/or US fleet later
• The German bid is used in Africa (tank in Algeria, artillery or inf in Libya) to make sure Germany can gain income there to compensate the loss of income on the Russian front

The Baltic fleet buy: Purchase options

• Opening buy: 1 Aircraft Carrier along with ground troops vs Russia: This sacrifices the least of the German combat forces against Russia. Sadly, it also barely creates a threat against UK itself, it just leads to a fleet battle later on.
• Opening buy: 1 Aircraft Carrier, 2 Transport, 2 Inf, 1 Artillery (or 1 transport and 4 inf + 1 art): This is an opening I would prefer because it also creates a threat of landing in the UK turn 2. It can be countered easily, but distracts any US landings and makes UK think twice if he wants to attack the German battleship in the med sea, see openings.

The Baltic fleet buy: Opening moves

They depends a lot on the Russian opening moves. There is one major thing and one minor that influence it:
(1) Has the Russian sub been moved to SZ2 to the UK battleship? (the major thing)
(2) Has the Russian player killed your the Ukrainian fighter? (the ‘bonus’)

If you are lucky and can answer at least question 1 with ‘no’, this creates a pretty good situation for the following opening moves:

• Your sub from SZ7 along with the bomber and the fighter from Norway attack the British battleship and transport in SZ2. Usually you win with the bomber left, if you are lucky you also keep the fighter. The aircrafts have to land in Norway or Algeria, so keep some troops there to protect them. If the sub was moved to SZ2, just use the sub to attack the SZ1 UK transport and use your fighters vs Russia and make them land in Germany and on the new built carrier later.
• Your fighter from Balkans along with the African troops attack Egypt to prevent the UK fleet from India from moving through Suez. You’ll likely have a battle with 2 tanks, 1 inf, 1 art (or another inf, depening on the bid size) and 1 fighter from Balkans against the UK troops in Egypt. You win there with 93% probability and an average of 2.77 units left. If you are lucky and kept the Ukrainian fighter, you can also attack with it if you don’t need it vs Russia.
• Your battleship along with the fighters from France and Germany kill off the UK battleship. Take the transport with it with a lone inf from Italy and land it in Gibraltar. This prevents an UK airstrike mostly, because UK now can only attack with the destroyer from SZ15 and the bomber from UK against your battleship + transport, where he has just a 22% chance of sinking the battleship. If you don’t take Gibraltar, UK will attack the battleship with fighters and land them there.
• Your ground troops kill the Russian attackers, but don’t push them too far because you lack supply in turn 1. Make sure to keep your possible losses low!
• After combat, depending on the outcome of the battles in SZ2 and SZ13, land 2 fighters in Germany to place them on the new built carrier. The bomber and possibly the surviving fighter land either in Norway or in Algeria, so protect them with ground troops. Move all your ground troops towards Russia, you don’t have to defend Western Europe, neither UK nor US will be able to land there shortly. Also take the AA gun with them. Make sure you can load 3 inf and 3 tanks to load on your transport in SZ5, and possibly also enough troops to load the transport in SZ13 to threaten UK with 4 full transports to land.

The Baltic fleet buy: Later strategy

If your attacks worked out, you have cleared the Atlantic almost completely. You have taken any pressure from Japan now and forced the Allies to play against Germany only because otherwise UK is in danger. Combine your fleets in SZ7. Make sure you reinforce your fleet only if absolutely necessary since supply is far (an IC in France might solve this but is usually not affordable) and look for a good point to trade it if you recognize that you can’t take UK. If US misses according fleet buys, you can possibly load all your transports and land in Eastern Canada with a decent force, threatening US. This should be combined with a Japanese landing in Alaska and needs to be prepared accordingly. On the mainland vs Russia, you will usually need air units. Consider buying one bomber turn 2 to have a way to clear the Atlantic from the new built UK fleet. As Japan, you might want to not move the Japanese fleet to the med sea but rather keep it near Japan to make and attack on the US a viable option and distract them.

The Baltic fleet buy: US/UK counterstrategy

Your only advantage of your strategy is that you threaten UK and therefor delay the US and UK landings by 2-3 turns. Your disadvantage is that you have to watch the Russian front, it can break down, and your fleet buys cost you ground unit buys early on, which are usually crucial. Also, your fleet will get lost in 95% of the games, no matter how you play, it’s just a matter of time.
The counterstrategy of the Allies is easy to describe: Turn 1, if the UK battleship in SZ2 survived, UK builds mostly sea units. He can hardly attack anywhere (he might decide to attack your SZ13 bb+trannie to sink the trannie), so this is where you bought yourself some time. If UK and US play correctly, UK builds e.g. an AC and a dd turn 1 (or 1 AC, 1 sub, 1 transport), placing all his units in SZ8, where the US also moves his 2 transports and the destroyer from SZ10 and unloads the troops to UK and sends a fighter and bomber over, too. Always calculate here, if UK decides to place his fighters on the carrier and you can attack with 4 full transport, you can create e.g. an attack with 4 inf, 1 art, 3 tank, 4 figs and 1 bmb vs 4 inf, 2 art, 2 tanks, 1 fig and 2 bmb, where you have a 78% chance of taking UK turn 2 under heavy losses. Overall, a massive US/UK fleet combines in SZ8, and it will become a problem once you lose the German fleet and those ground units can start landing. Also, Russia will heavily push against Germany so the income of Germany cannot match versus its attackers mid- and late game. Japan has to go for a win vs Russia or maybe US usually.

The Baltic fleet buy: Conclusion

In my opinion, this is a nice interesting option for a fun game. Because of the problems and counterstrategy as described above, I heavily doubt though it’s a good strategy in a competitive game.

If you have played any games with this strategy or have other idea, please let me know!

• In a KJF, you cannot do this strategy as you said.

• In a KGF, you also cannot do it imo. Japan has to take Russia then usually, which means that it needs forces on the mainland, that usually also means factories in FIC and IND. If you give early credits to an IC on an island and then build stuff there, you waste attack potential on the mainland. It becomes even worse if you use more than the absolutely necessary amount of your fleet to take Australia (which isn’t much because it’s mostly undefended, and an IC there is pointless for UK). Then you diverted your fleet and you can neither do polar express to distract US nor move it via the Suez to the med sea to help Germany.

In general, I think that Japan has enough power in the Pacific which needs to play a role either against the US or in the med sea if your opponent plays KGF. Also Japan does not need Australia unless it can be taken with minimal forces. Therefore, any ICs that are not on mainland are usually not useful.

EDITS: spelling and it’s KGF instead of KJF at the end

Basically the most important point about all that is that you need an ALLIES strategy, as you said, and not a strategy for a single ally.

Overall, you should have a main goal: Either kill Germany first (KGF), which is pretty common, or kill Japan first (KJF) which is pretty uncommon. Building just one IC usually leads to defeat, building 2 is a strategy to kill Japan first or at least slow them down. Once you kick them from mainland they are dead.

I have played about a hundred Revised games and I still think KJF is a strategy which is very hard to play. Most of the time, you try to set up a few ‘brakeshoes’ as allies while you beat down Germany.

For your strategy:

• Russia: IMO Russia should attack, there is a main goal I always have: Keep Germans away from Moscow! I try to attack Ukraine and West Russia turn 1, and then usually try to hold that line unless I get bad dice or I see that Germany totally focusses on Russia and I have to fall back. Other Russian goals: If US build a factory in Sinkiang, Russian inf and fighters should be able to help hold it, and possibly take China back turn 2 with inf and fighters to give the US troops extra time. Also, building tanks in Caucasus turn 1 is a good thing since you can attack French Indochina then with the UK troops from India turn 1, and the Russians can take India with the factory in it back in their turn 2, so UK can build tanks there. Overall: IF you build any factories in Asia, Russia HAS TO help hold them. If Russia doesn’t, and if you don’t move fighters there, you lose the factories and the game.

• UK: If you want to kill/slow down Japan, an IC is a useful idea. Problem: You have to sink the SZ59 transport with your dd turn 1 AND you should attack FIC. Also, if the Germans did certain opening buys (like an AC turn 1) you might not be able to do this strategy (but you can punish them for buying navy, it is dead until turn 3 anyways). Overall, with common bids, it will get hard for UK to get a foot in Africa, so this is an idea. Apart from Asia, UK plays in Norway and maybe helps defending Archangel and Karelia.

• US: IMO it’s a major fault to attack Japan on sea. If they do not attack Hawaii, you can use that fleet to distract them, but it doesn’t happen often. Basically the Japanese fleet owns the US fleet unless US heavily builds there, and that investment completely neglects Germany and therefore is not worth it. Go with AC, 2 transports and 2 tanks turn 1, go for Africa, help against Germany. If you buy an IC in Sinkiang, move your fighters and bomber via Alaska to it, and make sure you keep your 2 Sinkiang inf (the China stuff gets killed turn 1 usually) until you can use them with air and/or tank support. Against Germany, UK has to make sure you can move your transports safely, you cannot afford a huge navy in the Atlantic while you build stuff in your Asian IC and some fighters via Alaska to it.

Just my 2 cents… fast overview.

Darkman