I have revisited a G2 Barbarossa, and have liked it better so far than Sealion, or a Sealion feint with a G3 Barbarossa.
The theory: Germany can leverage their significant material advantage against the U.S.S.R. and make steady gains through the Soviet Union, significantly limiting - if not outright eliminating -the potential for a counter attack. This relentless movement forces the Allies to rush D-day, or make difficult decisions about what city to defend, Calcutta (from Japan) or Moscow (from Germany), from the U.K.s position in the Middle East. If either one falls, the Axis almost certainly win.
The Pros: A strong, quite greedy, German expansion into the U.S.S.R., setting up a G5 attack on Moscow. This is early enough that the infantry in Buryatia cannot reach Moscow in time to defend. At best, they will be available for a counter from Samara or Vologda. The U.S.S.R. is prevented from collecting most, if not all bonuses, while Germany can potentially get quite a few early.
The Cons: This allows Taranto, and Middle Earth play by the U.K. leaving a weak Italy. Likely turtling on Southern Italy to prevent early capture by the U.S. It almost completely abandons the Mediterranean to the Allies by round 3. Not likely to have a German land unit in Egypt. This is the one German bonus that falls to the wayside, but is often irrelevant by G4/5 anyway.
How I do it:
G1: Purchase 6 mech, and 1 tank
Conduct obligatory naval combat with aircraft and navy in the Atlantic.
Take France, but leave Normandy and Southern France. I take France with as little force as possible. Only with the local units, as other units will be needed on the front lines for Barbarossa next turn (there are three tanks in Holland and four mech in West Germany that can be used in this attack, as they can catch up to the German lines in time for the G5 of Moscow). Take Yugoslavia. Non Combat Bulgaria and Finland. Non combat aircraft to Holland and West Germany. Non combat 11 German infantry to Poland with the bulk of your forces.
G2: You have options here for the Purchase. You should have 68 IPCs from bonuses, income and the French. A super aggressive play would be a destroyer for West Germany (defend from U.S.S.R. Sub and allow air scramble to see and hit), and 10 tanks for Germany. There is also a case to be made for a destroyer, max mech infantry for the German factory, and fill out the rest of your purchase with Infantry for France and West Germany. Personally I like the tanks…
Combat: Remaining Infantry and Artillery forces in France can clean up Normandy. Italy can clean up Southern France. Declare war on the U.S.S.R. and attack Baltic States, East Poland and Bessarabia. If the U.S.S.R. has managed to make a dead zone out of any of these, skip it, and ensure that your own territory will hold. Just make sure the bulk of your units are together, ball of death style. It isn’t important which direction you go (north or south) as long as you make progress toward Moscow every turn. Non-Combat: get aircraft to safety and reinforce your lines as needed.
The remaining turns playout similarly to these, with the exception of a major shift in purchasing. You can purchase addition mech infantry to join the German front on turn 3, however any purchase after G2 won’t reach Moscow for G5. These would be clean up units that can capture abandoned or weak territory, and can buff the German lines if the U.K. decides to save Moscow over Calcutta. The shift is largely to defensive infantry that slow down the early American attacks and allow you to potentially finish off Moscow. You can sprinkle in specific counter attack units as you see fit.
BUT what if the U.K. saves Moscow you might ask? Well, lucky for you, that serious material advantage you leveraged attacking Moscow early has also gutted its income and put it into your pockets. They should be quite weak economically by G5, and the U.K. defense won’t hold against some tanks from the captured factories in Ukraine and Novgorod. Additionally, Japan should be piling on some serious pressure in the Pacific by now, and Calcutta will look quite weak. The U.K. can’t save both, and the U.S. can’t punish Germany or Japan in time (outside of poor axis play) to stop either attack from continuing. The Axis really only need one of the cities to win the game, and will likely take both eventually.
Any obvious counters I’m missing? Questions? Does anyone else do this?
My group hasn’t beat this yet, but they can stop G3/J1s and the like with strong Middle Earth U.K. play and an American D-Day.