Posts made by Herr_B

Hello, quick question about the suez canal optional rule:

Does the presence of an italian bomber on crete allow the germans to also place mines in the suez? Or do the germans need the have their own bomber on crete to do this?

Thanks

@Cornwallis Battleships are 13 IPC in north africa if i remember correctly (Not sure tho you might be right) so that makes 48 - 13 -16 -4 = 15. If your full navy got destroyed (twice) by the subs i assume the sea mine(s) missed as well. Seems to me you got very unlucky, its not impossible for this to happen of course. The germans however will be losing some momentum due to spending 36 out of 50 IPC on subs?

Still, i feel like not investing in navy is a guarenteed loss for the UK, your only other option this way is stacking cairo with 13 units and pray. The suez convoy zone will be clogged up due to stacking limits and if the axis can use all their air power without having to worry about their convoy zones or the royal navy its probably gg before round 7. I will try your situation in my next game to find out for myself, maybe ive got it wrong who knows?

@Cornwallis I agree that UK 1, 2 and 3 are rough, if you are lucky the malta fighter at least takes out the german bomber, and you will most likely not get the malta IPC on UK2. However, i feel like investing in navy on UK 1 is still the best play, you have to at least try to get control of the malta zone, and every IPC the axis spend on navy is less boots on the ground, losing navy units hurts the axis more than the allies i feel like.

Lets say on UK1 you buy a battleship and 2 destroyers in gibraltar and put down a sea mine in the deployement zone + a sea mine in the malta convoy zone, that leaves 15 IPC for ground reinforcements for the UK, should be fine right? You could buy 3 tanks defending at 5 for example. If germany didnt clear the seamine on GER1 that makes for 2 mines, 2 destroyers and a battleship in gibraltar. Yes GER could buy 3 subs GER2 but that leaves them with only 7 IPC for land reinforcements, they probably need supply so -3, leaving them with 4 or 7 if they dont buy supply, thats not that much. The battle they could take vs the royal navy at gibraltar does not seem in germany’s favor to me, they could probably get some hits but i think the chances of wiping it seem unlikely (I have not calculated the odds so correct me if im wrong).

I think you should try to hold benghazi until UK2, putting every available unit on it UK1 without giving up tobruk for free and slowing down the axis by another turn. UK2 you still get 33 IPC’s and can then retreat to tobruk. With these IPC’s you can reinforce your navy at Gibraltar or buy full land units + landmines. If you put down another sea mine in the malta zone and buy a fighter you can merge your eastern starting navy (Battleship, destoyer + the sub from malta) with the remainder of the gibraltar fleet in the malta convoy zone and deploy the fighter + 3 supply there.

Again, i agree that the axis can still try to fight this fleet, but it is likely to be costly and take multiple rounds so the supply could get out. Its not guaranteed ofcourse, dice could mess up everything for either side but id say the UK has a pretty good chance of getting malta supplied for UK3. Even if the axis throw everything they have at you losing their navy and air units is very costly, especially for Italy. And if they use their planes for fighting your fleet they cant use them on land, also if they lose too much they are leaving their convoy zones unprotected. Making them prime targets for your fleet in case it survives

And yes holding Cairo is still difficult, but if the axis spend everything replenishing their navy and airforce they probably wont be taking it before round 7. (Again the dice could have something to say about it but there is nothing you can do against that)
I try to buy at least 1 matilda and landmines every round so by turn 5/6 you can have a nice stack of tanks protected by mines.

The first few games i only played axis and they seemed way too strong, but the more i play the more balanced the game seems to get. And the most difficult axis games were the ones where the allies controlled the seas/malta convoy zone.

All of this is just my experience however, ive said it before but ill say it again, dice can have a major impact on all of this. But i suggest you give it a try sometime, i feel like the chances of surviving unit round 7 are pretty good this way.

@OlivieroRuggieri Hi Oliviero,
I am anything but an expert player but i have played around 8 games of North Africa at this point (6 playing the axis vs a friend, and 2 vs myself) so i feel like i can give you some of my findings at least.

As the axis, using the known ITA - GER Can opener from global is always a good bet, attack with italy first, Tanks, inf and arty supported by planes (preferably bombers), after that use german tanks with mechanized inf + planes to finish the job. this works best before round 7 since the us hasnt joined yet and cant counter in between the turns of ITA and GER. You also have to try to keep supplies from getting to malta if you can, the 15 ipcs the uk gets can really hurt in the long run, even more so if they get it multiple round.

Now as for allies im not that experienced as i have mostly played axis, but i can tell you this, use the 12 ipc starting reinforcements to get a mix of ind/arty/AT/tanks, i dont know if there is a optimal setup but tank + arty/AT + inf makes a nice 12. In my experience it is your best bet to try to get navy control of the med, to protect malta or to disrupt convoys. So first round UK i would buy a battleship + either 2 destroyers or battleship + 1 destroyer and a sub, spawn them at gibraltar and round 2 you can combine them with you starting navy in the malta convoy zone. Put down some sea mines and try to get 2 fighters in malta the convoy zone to really lock it down. The axis can still try to contest it if they really try but 2 battleships + 3 destroyers + 1/2 fighters + sea mines should be quite a deterrent

You also want to be trying to put as many land mines down as possible, on tobruk, bengazi, mersa matruh and cairo, in the Rommel scenario the uk will be under immense pressure and you have to survive until round 7. Focus on mining cairo every turn. Also try using you starting scout jeeps to destroy as much axis supply as you can, dont use them on 1 territory but try to spread them out and maybe even kill a plane if you get lucky rolls

As for unit efficiency, inf is always good, the matilda seems really cost effecive (5 ipc for a 5 def 4 attack is pretty nice) the downside is they get 1 movement so no blitzing or cheeky flanks. Ive played a game as the axis vs a matilda spam and it was not that nice. If you combine them with some meat shield like inf or arty/AT you get a nice defensive force with the means to counter attack.

Those are all the things i could think of right now, hope it helps you in your coming games.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

@Matt-Hyra Hi Matt,
Thank you for responding, my friend and I have been loving the game.
I’ve got some follow up questions:

1: If malta is defended by just an AAA and a plane attacks it, after missing its shots the AAA is removed right?

2: If a defender decides to retreat are mines still allowed to be triggered?

3: Do you need supply for blitzing into/through empty territory? Lets say tripoli is undefended and the americans have a sherman in Kessarine pass with 0 supply in the pass itself, can they blitz down into the desert square below the pass en then into Tripoli itself without needing supply since there is no combat? Blitzing is still a combat move so we are a bit unsure on the matter.

Thanks again.

Hello, i have some questions regarding some of the optional rules.

1. If you play with the global supply rule for planes and ships, how is the amount of supply determined? And do you need to re-use supply for every combat round. Ex: germany attacks malta with 2 planes, the malta convoy zone with 2 subs and tobruk with a plane making 5 units total. Does this cost 1 global supply for the units or 3, one for every attack? And if the combat goes on for multiple rounds do you need more?

2. Regarding the mining of the suez, can the UK just keep a sub or destoyer there or does it have to move to the med with the convoy? If so, can you sail back into the suez?

3. Regarding ANZAC reinforcments, are these just free inf spawning in the india convoy every round or does the uk have to buy them and then deploy them in the zone? Therefore skipping the atlantic convoy zone.

Thanks in advance