Posts made by ItIsILeClerc

Thanks for the input WB!

Yeah usually London can hold but my friend and I were curious about the chances for a ‘surprise’ from Germany so I deliberately did not build more in London and/or Refrained from ‘Taranto’ in order to move the mediterranean UK-forces towards London…

A little piece of Info I forgot: INDIA took back Java UK4, so that one has to be taken care of as well. If Japan ignores it, that is 9 IPCs per turn she misses.

As for your question:
Japan has 2 TRS left in Phil and has built 2 more in Japan itself. They can retake Java but I think they cannot afford to loose more TRS, so they must be protected since there is still 3 air in Calcutta, and 2 subs (out of Japanese DD-range) in NZ and Sydney with 4 FTR in Queensland.
The existing IJN needs 4 turns to reach Hawai (or 3 if they do not retake Java/retake Java and accept another 2 TRS loss).
Taking India will take 3 turns for Japan if producing at least 9 more mech (and this leaves China still able to survive). Once India is about to fall I am going to retreat its rather large army into the med to join with the african veterans. I am thinking to build an IC in Persia UK6 and Italy must build one in Egypt if she wants to contest the UK in Afrika so there will be 3 IC for the UK in Africa/med…

I am anticipating heavy USA production in the PAC from now on. A5 at least 100% and after that, depends on what the Japs do. I am also thinking to return some ships to the Pacific once London is secure. I am thinking about the BB and 3CA. Gradually, because a strong task force is needed to keep an allied presence in the Med.

I’ll gladly keep you posted but the game will be continued after some months I guess… So it may take some time ;-).

Hey guys,

me and a friend have started a AAG40.2 game recently. We wanted to see the aftermath of a succesfull ‘surprise’ Sea Lion so we agreed that I, playing as allies, would turn a blind eye with the Allies turn 1 and pretend I 'd have no clue at all that a Sea Lion would still be possible.

My friend and I agreed that a ‘surprise’ Sea Lion means that Germany will loose all his TRS by default, but he gets to have London.

I’ll try to give a clear picture of what happend in rounds 1,2, 3 and 4.

Edit: Some of the more obvious actions are not mentioned, such as Germany taking Paris and destroying almost all the RN GE1. Also, UK took Persia UK1 but not Iraq. Sorry I was lazy ;-)

So what happened and what did it turn into?
Round 1:

• GE bought 1STR + 4 ART, saved2. Prepped for Barbarossa G3, took YUG, BUL, FIN

• RU bought 4ART + 7INF, moving away from the Germans, massing 1 territory deep. Siberians retreated 1 territory towards Moskou

• JA attacked China in force, refrained from attacking the Wallies to not mess with operation SL and garrissoned Manchuria

• USA produced for moving an invasion force into Gibraltar with protection against German STR

• CH liberated Yunnan, massing in Szechwan because no (not enough) threat from Japanese air in Kwangsi

• UK 2FTR + 2INF in London and executed ‘Taranto’, including the STR from London. No axis scramblers made the Brit wondering why…

• India -> Burmastack, bought 1 trs + 2inf + 1art. Blocked a possible invasion of Burma, took Sumatra and retreated Malayan forces into Shan-State

• Italy killed the French Navy and took Southern Fr. Massed in Tobruk. All air into Hamburg

• ANZ built 3 inf, took Java. Normally I’d go for NG if I anticipate a J2 DOW but we agreed taking Java is pretty common

• FRA died in his sleep. Moved its units in the Med: 2 inf to Morocco for US TRS and 1 inf each into Trans Jordan and Libya

Round 2:

• GE bought 10 TRS! Moved units in for Sea Lion and took Normandy and Greece. SBR AB and IC in London

• RU bought all fast units and moved forward to threaten Eastern Europe and Finland. Massed Siberians in Buryatia

• JA continued to rape China, did not dare to enter Russia. Still refrained from attacking Wallies to prevent early US entry in Europe

• USA. Shocked by the German TRS: bought a STR and CV with planes and some load for TRS

• CH reopened Burma-road and had to pull back. Lots of Japanese INF coming too close for comfort with air support

• UK bought 9 inf after removing damage from IC. Left AB damaged since the Italian airforce was in position to SBR it again anyway

• India bought INF + ART. No more smart buys like TRS etc. Took Celebes and moved Malayan forces into Burmastack. Retreated fleet into Calcutta since no more blockers were needed

• Italy bought a FTR + mech, reinforced Africa, moved into Alexandria and killed remnants of the RN

• ANZAC bought 3 inf and moved into New Guinea

• FR… moved into Egypt

Round 3:
Saw the fall of London and the DOW from Japan, taking all of the DEI, leaving 4 TRS unprotected.
Italy was not (yet) strong enough to take Egypt (didnt dare to build TRS since the US moved into Gibraltar). Germany took London with 1 tank. 2TAC, 4FTR and 2STR also survived.
Russia was able to take Finland, Poland and Rumania but the Germans had a strong enough stack defending Hungaria. It could not have been taken (unless Finland was left alone, so I consider that a mistake from my part).
The USA was very heavily equipped with aircraft and warships (2 STR in Ireland, 3full CV, 3CA, 1BB, 3DD. this includes British and French leftovers), but low on TRS + load. USA judged the german TRS had to be sunk no matter what. Since Germany could build a CV in Normandy and/or an AB for scramblers, even in addition to Italian scramblers from London, heavy air and warship investments were made.

Round 4:
All this resulted in USA being way too strong for Germany to hold London (USA now also has 8TRS + load in Gibraltar), so the Luftwaffe holding it will need to retreat G5 or be sacced. The German TRS were sunk. Russia and Germany are engaged in a series of ‘border wars’ over Poland and Rumania. Both armies are too strong for each other for a direct attack so this continues untill the Luftwaffe returns, at which point Russia must back off 1 or two territories.
Italy took Egypt IT4 and its strength is equal to the leftovers from the UK in Africa + Middle East combined.

USA invested very heavily into the Pacific from A4 and on, to prevent Hawai from falling right after India. Hawai now has 1INF, 4FTR, 5SUB, 5DD, 1CA, 2CV(2FTR+2TAC). This includes ANZAC ships as well. Japan has built 4 ICs in Asia and is in position to take all of China/India and move into Russia… IF she continues to produce mech and ARM in Asia, otherwise the Chinese + UK + Rus can perfectly stall the Japanese offensive here. The IJN is scattered around the DEI but 100% intact due to a sacrifice from the Prince of whales and her escorts, sinking 4 Japanese TRS.
Japan has to decide one or the other: wipe Mainland asia OR (try) to take Hawai.

How to proceed from here?!
I have some ideas but I feel the allies can use some help from the forum as the situation is unknown to me.
I am anticipating the Italians will either try to help Germany against Russia or build an IC in Egypt and fight the UK in Africa. The first strategy will result in a quick removal of Italy from Africa and the Med, while the latter sees a prolonged and heavy fight over Africa. Italy will loose that fight but it keeps London empty for some 4, 5 turns…
What I am particulairly unsure about, is the fact that once the Luftwaffe returns to Hamburg, the Russians will be forced to retreat but I am hoping this retreat will be stopped once the fight gets closer to Moskou.

Any thoughts on how to proceed from here with the Allies (or Axis if you prefer so ;-))?

Hmmmm, difficult…

Would have to choose between Paris, SZ106 & 110 (never know if that loony will scramble in a normally game-loosing battle for the UK but then dices fall terrible) & 111 playing as Germany, Taranto as the UK (and Italy & Germany if we scramble) and last but not least, Yunnan with the Japanese.

I think I dread SZ110 and Taranto equally!
All should be an expected win for the attacker with really low chances for the defender but the dice can loose the game for you right there if playing against a scramble-gambler.

@BluGerman:

P.S. considering a German sea invasion would require allied control of Denmark (and Norway?) for entrance into the Baltic, I think that if Germany can’t take back Denmark after a round then Germany is bound to lose anyways :P

There doesn’t have to be a next round ;-).
If UK is strong enough to kill Berlin, US can land a token force in Denmark (and Norway if it hasn’t already) then UK leapfrogs into Berlin same round. Nothing Germany can do about that except stack Berlin.

Really like this 1936 variant from what I have seen so far :-)

Maybe now I don’t have to play like 80 hours of WorldInFlames to get a complete, satisfying WW2-feel.
Great game though very long playing time  :cry:.

Units taking time to produce very nice  :-D. BBs/CVs taking like 2 years in reality, but at reduced IPC cost compared to current cost, ofc.
Speaking of IPCs, I missed the IPC values on the maps?! Guess that’s just a ‘test-feature’ ;-).

Hopes up for a slightly more sophisticated combat system (with less dice rolled?) that is more forgiving and softening up (very) bad/good rolling.

@MrRoboto:

To be perfectly honest, if the Allies react correctly, I think they have a bigger shot at victory.

France can produce fighters, UK can set up a quick transport-rotation from London to help secure US soil.

It’s hard to really see the exact army strengths in the pictures. So I really can’t forsee, if you’ll be able to get Panama and/or US West.

But if you’re not able to do this, the race for Africa (you via indian ocean, the allies via atlantic+med) will be the ultimate climax afterwards

Agree completely.
Thus, I think the best shot at victory comes from hitting the US as hard as possible and hold out in Asia/Africa/Middle East as long as possible.
Trying to win in Mainland Eurasia just plays into the allies’ hands right from the start…

Interesting situation!

The USA itself is indeed the place where your only chance of victory is.
I’d invest as much on defeating the USA on its very own soil as needed, with the excess IPCs going to defend your asian and Middle East theatres. It’s not too big of a gamble. Read my first post (last aragraph) and all the suggestions by the others about how-to (possibly) kill the USA. Remember it is not a 100% guarantee but the best shot at victory you have.

You will loose this game if you will try to defeat the allies in Russia/Africa, because with all the territories that they still can liberate without you being able to do anything about it, they will reach an income of around 175 IPCs together, defeating your 141 eventually. All allies can deploy easily on this theatre and if they dig in and spend as much as you do in here, they can spend their excess (30-ish) IPCs elsewhere, where you can be defeated eventually.

I even think Liberating Moscow is not beyond the allies because their ICs are closer by, creating an even bigger economic gap.

In Amerika however, it is more difficult for the allies to deploy together.

Remember that taking US WC will decrease their income by 20 IPCs and increase yours by 15! They may have 2 majors in the USA but only 64 IPCs to buy units there

@bracconebaldo:

Still don’t know how to do with infantries
and plane in london…but wait…when i’ll finish every set up…

You could simply leave them there ;-). Sounds like they are perfectly in place since Dunkirk indeed has already happened (if 1 game turn = 6 months, entire first half of 1940 must have been done) and there are the czech/polish ‘armies in exile’.

Stronger French navy sounds fun but very sharply at the point of balancing/unbalancing the game… You don’t want to give the oportunity for early DDay without decent American investments.
So where to add what.

Possible German control of the French fleet was a nightmare for the Brits. If it was a real possibility is a different discussion I think. What matters to me is what followed: in operation Catapult UK attacked/boarded French ships everywhere from the English ports all the way down to Alexandria.

As a possible simulation of this with simplicity and balance, the French navy could be at least as strong as the Italian navy and upon the fall of France Germany gets control of it (replace it with German ships).
The RN must ofc be stronger as well to deal with this, giving her at least the tools of launching Operation Catapult if the UK so desires.

Some French ships went on fighting as Free French after all this but I think it is too far away from simplicity if this has to be simulated as well.

Hey Baldo,

keep in mind the 2inf 1ftr in the UK are there for a reason.
I think their main purpose is to give London better chances against Sea Lion, without giving the UK better attack opportunities early on.

Simply removing them from the UK will doom London. ‘Dunkirk’ cannot be done with this game (system, setup). Maybe if you move the BEF from Paris into Normandy as well as adding a French TRS in sz109?!

If this still spells doomsday for the UK just add another French inf/art and a tank in Paris. If Germany destroys both armies in Normandy and Paris G1, the setback must be a lesser shot at Sea Lion for balance purposes, otherwise Germany will just always do this and then Sea Lion for the win.

There also were several French Battleships and a carrier active when France fell. I think the French ships in AA are also just there for balance purposes because it was a complicated situation regarding Vichy France, Free France and the French fleet and to make up for the fact that the RN was much bigger historically.

Hard to say what I would do since I’d need more info on troops (numbers, position and composition) and what territories are still German/Italian, but with this information I’d say you have no other options but to push the attack and take out the allied IC’s in Europe while you still can:

Since the allies are dominant in Europe and with their ICs closer to the front they should be able to liberate Moscow sooner or later, adding about 20 IPCs to their income before the liberation and 30 IPCs once Moscow has been safely liberated.

So, it seems to me that even if they refuse to liberate the ICs + Moscow for a long time, the allies can still gain an economic edge of about 30 IPCs over Japan. In other words: time is ticking for the axis so you must still take the initiative and cannot ‘dig in’ to wait for the allies to come.

There are a few wildcards that can change this picture: how big is the treat on the US West Coast, how is the balance of forces in the Middle East/Africa and what German/Italian territories can still be taken by the allies without giving Japan the advantage if it takes those territories back in force (Moscow for example)…

Another interesting option might be…
…to go for the USA itself. This depends on how big the threat on its West Coast already is but if you can throw 141 IPCs per turn into an attack on the USA while it has only 84 IPCs to defend itself… mwaaaaaaaaah  :lol:.
If Japan can take Panama + SE Mexico (the latter in force)… Washington, Central America AND San Fransisco are all threatened at the same time. Obviously, Washington must be defended at all costs and if that means that Japan can take Central US + San Fransisco -> RIP USA. Its income will be reduced to just 45 IPCs.
Taking only Central or SF is also a huge blow. If you can hold it for 2 turns (airforce reinforcing it) you can most likely stay there forever, decreasing the USA’s income to 56 while yours goes up another 20 (take Alaska as a nice bonus). You can reinforce SF with max around 27 units per turn (requiring you to build ICs in Korea (major), Alaska, Queensland and Mexico) but the USA has problems to buying 18 units reinforcements there.

Edited: some numbers about the reinforcements in USA were incorrect (from scratch ;-)).

I really like Wheatbeer’s suggestion!

As opposed to dive into a long monologue about do’s and don’t for the allies. Which is indeed difficult for the exact reason Wheatbeer said: the allies are playing much more of a reactive game.

I could give some hints (in fact, I could hold a monologue about it for more than a day) but I 'll leave it at this for now. First I am going to check out the suggested games to see if its not all covered in there ;-).

Done enough writing for today  :lol:.

A few corrections:

6. Does never happen. Scramblers have the absolute last word in the argument. The attacker can NOT react and has to plan and move ahead without knowing with how many planes the defender will scramble, if at all.

9. If the attackers has designated aircraft to the land battle that are already in that area, the land battle starts anyway, even though the sea battle was lost. Most likely very disadvantagous for the attacking aircraft but that is what war is like :-). Retreat surviving aircraft after the first combat round is all the attacker has left to save as much of that airforce as possible…

I agree with you Hawk, I experience the exact same thing over and over again.
Winning/being set back 1 turn I have come to call that ‘tempo’ (like in chess).

Maybe it is a good thing if people state which version they are playing ;-). I haven’t played the 1st edition of G40 but I figured 2nd edition that I play IS different in win percentages.

You are welcome Blu  :-)

Before I forget, another tactic I often need to use if the USA comes relatively strong at Japan (not to KJF, but threatening enough while your fleet is too busy south):

You can use your factories in South East Asia for warship production as well, if the USA threatens to kill each and every warship you set up in Japan as a reinforcement. You might even consider building 1 or two more IC just for this purpose (Malaya). If you want/must continue building 9 land units a turn in asia.
As an alternative you can save all IPCs that the USA prevents you from spending on warships, return the IJN to Japan and then set up a large amount of reinforcements with it.

Second that.

Scrambling (and intercepting) decisions are made during Combat Movement Phase -but after all CM are made. I.e. after scrambling(s) there can be no reaction(s) from the attacker.
SBR happens during the Conduct Combat Phase.

Hey Blu,

About 1:
All out on all fronts means you are slowly swallowing more and more territory. I guess that’s the plan ;-).
You are right to assume that you have to kill China or else it becomes a big nuisance and rather sooner than later it becomes a real danger instead.

Out of scratch I believe Japan has around 51 land units and 21 aircraft to start with. So in the opening turns you can put as much of them as needed against Russia (depends on whether they retreat their ‘Siberians’ or not) and the rest can move into China, towards India and the total destruction of the Chinese.
You can try to kill India quickly (J3-J4) but I find that procedure too costly and it also leaves China and the ANZAC very strong to attack your back and flanks. Not to mention the USA. But if you are interested in how-to (always nice to know how), just search this forum for ‘India Crush’ ;-).
Slowly grinding however, means building 1 IC per turn (starting J2 at the latest) untill you have at least 3 IC in Asia, preferably in FIC, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Shantung in stead of Hong Kong is also fine. Those IC are vital for producing troops marching/rolling into China and India. With the leftover income you can put extra weight into 1 or 2 fronts of your choice, either one will work.

The UK cannot be allowed to have Malaya, so you must take that away from them as well as Shan State and, eventually, Burma. That way the UK will have 5 to 6 IPCs max and you can put a few submarines in the indian ocean to reduce this even further. India will now be able to produce 1 to (absolute max) 3 units in Cacutta, while you cranck out 9 land units per turn. With some airsupport as well, you will take India eventually.

By this time you will be making around 80 IPCs per turn so you can put heavy weight into your ultimate goals: Calcutta, Hawai, Sydney, or even Moscow (helping Germany).
Whatever targets you go for depends largely on what the allies did and how Germany is faring but assuming the allies play well, only 1 of those targets can be achieved while maintaining enough defensive power against the other tartgets to prevent being overrun where you are not attacking.

I have not mentioned the IJN so far but it plays a major role (duh  :lol:). It has to protect your transports while ‘annexing’ the DEI (and Philipines ofc), defend against the USA and threaten to take India by surprise if they stick their heads out too far. Even for the IJN this is too much, so positioning is very important… Keep the fleet together, never divide it into more than 2 stacks (or else the allies nibble them away) using your Kamikazes also for additional defense. Once the DEI + Malaya are yours you can start roaming the fleet through the Pacific, driving back the USA and ANZAC from wherever (if) they attacked you all the way into their pretty golden cages: Sydney (always possible) and San Fransisco (only possible if USA went KGF or KIF). If USA went KJF, all of the above must be reconsidered and altered to maximise your survivability above large conquests. You won’t do as well, but Germany will become the monster you were supposed to be!

Always keep an eye out for possible allied threats to take back one or more of the DEI away from you. Build more new warships to prevent that from happening so you don’t need to split your (also) growing big 1-stack IJN.

About 2:
I am always very careful with house rules, but as long as a house rule handicaps or helps both sides equally I guess it is all right…

Yes they can scramble in ANZ3.
Just as legally as landing there in US3 after the attack ;-).

The situation you just described is an excellent example of how soon a nation can use an airbase for scramble!

@BluGerman:

When i asked Justin he also brought up a good point. He says that he was able to capture tokyo US4 by ignoring island hopping as it is a “waste of time” and going straight to Japan is best. Is it?Â

I have to disagree. As Japan you can counter this too easily.

Buying (max 10) inf in Japan just for 1 turn is usually enough (together with at least 3 AAA still there).
If it isn’t, 1 blocker is enough to buy you another turn of inf-buying and return some aircraft/fleet to Japan.

Alternatively you can return the IJN to Japan and kill the USA fleet, and then return the IJN to the DEI again if you lost ground there and/or go directly to Hawai from that point on.

I agree with everything what Grasshopper an Wittmann said. Especially Grasshoppers’ suggestion!
Japan is hard to play right. As far as I have learned, Japan can either:
A) strike hard and fast anywhere on the map (usually India is completely overrun), or;
B) strike slowly and steadily on multiple fronts, maybe even everywhere.

In situation A, the allies can attack Japan where he aint, becoming very dangerous on the other side of the Pacific. In situation B, Japan will not suffer the loss of territory anywhere soon, but taking the last VC needed is, for all different reasons (IJA spread out thinly), as difficult as in A above…

Short answer:

Germany f***ed up.
The Axis partners have a big, big influence on each other via the USA. Meaning if one of the major partners (Germany, Japan) screws up big time, America doesn’t need to spend on that map as much. Which in turn hurts the other partner.

@BluGerman:

US 4 had the entire Hawaii Stack destroy my Home fleet off Japan despite my additional 5 Kamikaze strikes.

In this case it looks like you were screwed by bad dice a bit and most importantly the abysmal performance of Germany, giving the USA a huge income (Philipines intact + possible European conquests) and no need at all to spend on the European map…
If the USA can kill your fleet US4 it must have put major effort in destroying you, wherever they placed their units initially…

As far as I know it is like Pancake said:

Any DOW from Japan or Russia on the other one doesn’t affect the Mongolian units potentially joining the Red Army.

The act of attacking areas adjacent to Mongolia is a special rule that will affect the Mongolian status and units:

• If Japan attacks any Russian controlled area bordering a still strictly neutral or pro-allied Mongolia, its units will be set up (under Russian control) after the Japanese conduct combat phase. All Mongolian territories will become Russian controlled.

• If Russia attacks Korea or any Japanese controlled area bordering a still strictly neutral Mongolia, Mongolia will remain strictly neutral and its units will not join the Red Army as per this special rule.

Of course, apart from this special rule, Mongolian territories and units can still become pro-allies if directly attacked by an axis power or if an axis power attacked another strictly neutral.
Allied attacks on Mongolia however are treated a bit different: if Russia attacks it, the remaining Mongolian territories will become pro-axis. Attacks by other allies will not swing Mongolian territories into being pro-axis.

Tricky notes:
Allied attacks on other strictly neutrals does not make Mongolian territories become pro-axis, but Axis attacks on other strictly neutrals will make Mongolian territories become pro-allied!