***Update 12/6
We’ve been playing this game for about 2 months now (getting in a round ever few days). My opponent eventually reconquered the US, but not until US5, buying me a lot of valuable time. It’s G13, the Allied and Axis incomes are about even, and the way forces are aligned right now, it’s going to be a long game.
Germany: Germany has taken Leningrad and Stalingrad, but Russia is still holding on to Moscow. Germany has one bomber and one sub, and the rest of its forces are ground troops. Main objectives right now are keeping a hold of the two Russian cities, repelling allied landings in Western Europe, and putting some pressure on the UK’s Norway major and Iraq minor.
Russia: Having been hit hard by almost 12 rounds of German IPC spending on the Eastern Front, Russia is now a mass of infantry in Moscow with a few tanks and planes to help. They have more than enough infantry to overcome the defences at Leningrad or Stalingrad, but as soon as they move towards one city, Germany moves towards Moscow. Basically both sides are at a stalemate: Russia can’t break the seige without outside help, and Germany can’t afford to spend enough to crush Moscow without leaving Europe underdefended.
Japan: Japan held on to Western US until US5. They took the transport fleet, reloaded it in Japan, and used it to take the money islands. With a steady source of income, the transport fleet kept moving into the India Ocean, eventually taking South Africa. The Japanese are sitting pretty: they have tanks racing across Africa with a big transport fleet outside the South Africa factory. Mainland China is a little underdefended, but Japan has a Hong Kong major that’s been pushing out mech stacks. The US just retook Hawaii on US12, but it cost them dearly in terms of their Pacific forces. I’m more than happy to let 90+ IPC Japan and the US duel it out in the Pacific. Hopefully that will give Germany the break it needs to finish off Russia.
UK E: UK E is in a weaker position than my opponent recognizes, I think. A lot of their money is about to disappear as Japan nibbles away at Africa. They’re income is split between majors in Norway and England and a minor in Iraq. If I’m lucky, he’ll be so stretched defending his positions that he won’t be able to hold on to Norway or Iraq.
UK P/Anzac: Japan isn’t directly threatening either, but neither has the money to launch an offensive. If Japan ignores them for too long, they may become trouble.
Italy: Italy had almost free reign in Africa from turns 5-9, following some mistakes by the UK. They got up to over 50ipcs a turn at one point, but they spent almost all of their income on their navy and defending Gibraltar. Italy was able to trade ships with the US and the UK for about three rounds in the Atlantic, buying Germany a few more turns of unmolested aggression against Russia. Now they are down to their European and Balkan holdings, buying masses of ground forces to repel any further invasions.
USA: The US has had a tough game. US2-US5 was spent getting the Axis out of North America. US6-US10 was spent battling the Italian Navy and German subs. They finally landed the first troops in Europe on US11. US12 saw a shift in the US strategy, from Europe to Pacific. They retook Hawaii and reignited the Pacific war, but I think this strategy plays more into my game in the long run.
I’ll post an update when we finish the game.
This is a game in progress, but my opponent and I have reached the most balanced midgame we’ve had yet in global, all stemming from an unorthodox Axis attack. Also, keep in mind that these attacks are only possible because of my opponent’s strategies. I’m not trying to push some Axis “silver bullet”.
***Backstory: I have played 6 games of global, all against my roommate. I always play Axis, he always plays Allies. He won the first 4 games we played, hands down. It was the same story every time: I would go for England first, then a bear of a Russia would take on Germany while Japan struggled to become a superpower. The last game we played, I went straight for Moscow, taking it on G6. After taking the rest of Russia, and with the fall of India inevitable, my opponent conceded.
I noticed, however, that my opponent usually played a very risky USA. He prefers saving most of his money until US3, then spends it all on a navy in whichever ocean is less defended. This keeps me on my toes, because both my Germany and my Japan have to be prepared for 150+ IPCs of USA navy to appear out of nowhere. As we were setting up our 6th game, this time using the Pacific Alpha set-up, I decided to take advantage of his default USA strategy.
***The game:
1
G1: wiped the UK navy, attacked Russia, and bought a carrier and couple transports.
J1: Attacked Russia and China, bought a ton of transports, moved the original transports back to Japan.
I1: took gibraltar with remaining fleet
US1: my opponent spent 30 on tech rolls (got advanced AA) and saved the rest. He centered his fleet at hawaii and moved planes towards australia, his usual pacific staging area for the USA.
2
G2: Moved the german fleet and transported infantry and artillery to Gibraltar (the entire time, I was making comments like “Egypt is screwed” or “time to get Germany into Africa” to hide my true intentions).
J2: Declared war, invading the lightly defended alaska and british columbia, losing a single infantry. We also defeated the US fleet outside hawaii with the remainder of the japanese navy.
I2: Took the panama canal with a couple infantry off a transport and a cruiser.
US2: my opponent is starting to realize the trouble he’s in. My hope was that he would spend all of his money defending western US, leaving Washington practically undefended when the Kreigsmarine came knocking. In practice, though, he saw the gibraltar threat and spent almost all of his money on Eastern US ground forces, save for buying a few infantry and an AA gun for W. US. He does manage to take out the italian invasion force with a counter-amphibious assault on panama, but it’s too late for his navy to save western US.
3
G3: With E. US so heavily defended, I decided to dump everything into Central, at least to create an obstacle to let Japan hold on to W. US for another turn.
J3: Take W. US with minimal AA losses.
US3: Takes back central and builds a crapload of submarines and bombers. The German Navy will not survive beyond another turn, no matter what I do.
4
G4: I try to pull back my navy as far as possible (right off the coast of brazil), but Germany’s adventures in the atlantic are dead. Time to finish off Russia.
J4: Japan retakes Central and starts focusing on DEI, Asia, all that good stuff.
US4: US retakes Central (again) and destroys the German Navy. The US is still forced to buy mostly land units, because Japan still has a significant army in North America.
***The outcome:
So that’s where we are now. Germany is locked in a showdown with the Soviets. It’s a mobile force of tanks and mechs looking for the weakest link in his wall of infantry. The whole of Western Europe has maybe 3 Germans in it, but nobody is threatening an invasion for at least two turns.
Russia is looking extremely strong, so long as they only need to defend. They have a ton of infantry, but still a very small airforce and almost no tanks or mechs. They got their hands on Norway on R3, but I’d rather have Russia there than the US or UK.
Japan hasn’t really done outside North America much besides harass China and Russia. On the other hand, there isn’t a single enemy ship in the entire Pacific ocean, and W. US’s (and one turn of Central US) IPCs have helped a lot. Combine that with 7 transports and a Major in hong kong and Japan is looking ready to explode.
The Western UK is neutered. They have a few subs that have been causing me trouble, and they built a mini navy on UK4 that’s about to be bombed into oblivion, but that’s about it. They have been kicked out of Egypt, and due to heavy losses from a risky UK3 attack, they are all but finished in the rest of Africa.
UK East and Australia had been doing a little thorn in my side type action, but I destroyed both of their navies on J4, so now they’re on the defensive.
Italy is looking great. They have both N.O.s, they are crusing through African and the middle east, and they have a significant navy in the med right now: a carrier (2 fighters), a battleship, a cruiser, 2 destroyers and 2 transports.
The US is a non-factor. Their global navy consists of a couple of subs. They won’t be able to get their entire country back until US6, and that’s only if Japan doesn’t retake Central again. The IPC’s I’m draining from them probably won’t matter in the long run, but Japan will have conquered enough in the DEI and Asia to make up for the eventual liberation of the West Coast, and more importantly, the US has been delayed from acting in Europe: US forces won’t be able to land in Europe until US7 at the earliest, and then they have a beefed up Italian Navy to get through first.
I’ll let you know how the rest of the game goes, but given that we play a round every few days, it may take a while.
