Posts made by rocknroll

@edfactor:

so nobody just sets down infantry for Germany?

i would!

i am not convinced that building up a german navy is a wise decision. sealion is a dead end! once planned and bought this way, germany is doomed to loose the game.  i would suggest 3 artillery, 3 mech, 1 sub.

italy has two options which depend on whether the Uk does a taranto-raid or not. in the first case, maybe a sub, rest saved. in the second case, two mech for supporting germany on the eastern front.

japan is more free, i guess. three options seem worth to be tried:
a) 3 transports, rest saved
b) 2 transports, 2 subs
c) 1 naval base (Hainan) and a transport, rest saved.

can anyone help me?

i calculated the strat outlined below through once more, this time with no taranto-raid. it beared the same outcome: victory for the axis in round 6!
because i “played” against myself with virtual dices on the battlemap-module, i am not quite sure, if this strat is kind of being a nearly 100%-winning-scheme for the axis.

as russia i acted normaly, i guess (in fact knowing the style of the coming attack). retreating from leningrad to belarus, well fortified there, but still loosing every valuable unit against a determined german force. two rounds later, moscow taken with one tank!

therefore my plead: how would you play the russians? or the british?

how to avoid being crushed in belarus? is it wise as russia to retreat via archangelsk?

etc.?

i have to agree to gargantua. it is a waste of ipcs. only exception i would make is w.germany. the reason for that should be clear.
actually, subs are seldom built, mostly as germany one per round at maximum. just for denying the british no-sub-NO.
and, i think, italy´s role is mostly to annoy the brits in the med. maybe one or two fast units via russia paired with one tank behind the german front lines is enough. italy can not afford more this way or it will go down.
faking sealion, imho, is a big waste, too. build mech instead! ;)

but why bombers for russia?
mostly in active defence (counterattacking but not really gaining) a bomber is not as much valuable as fighters. attacking at 3, defending at 4.

building ICs as germany, imho, is waste of money. you need +2 turns from building, setting in and using the units there. meanwhile you can build upt o a third more units, fast units if needed, to achieve the same.

but back to topic: strategies…there are some, but this map is bigger than other versions of a&a, so there is more flexibility in moving, buying etc. this sais, i can give only hints, but no real strategy - this you have to make up with yourself. :)

as germany: do not invest heavily in navy etc. build mostly mechs and tanks the first three turns, an occassional sub. thats all. in turn four decide: offense or defence. if offence once more mech an tanks. if defence infantry, one or two artillery, fighters. keep buying this the subsequent rounds.

as russia: standard buy with 28 ipc is 6 infantry, one artillery and one tank. if germany won´t buy fast units keep buing this. if it will then let the tanks go, build infantry instead.
see that you unit will never get seperated, seek for an option to unite them in one space, moscow finally. keep this option viable. anything else can be derived from this. even keeping or leaving valuable places as leningrad etc.

as britain: keep italy at bay first til the US can replace you there. remaining IPCs should be used for an unbeatable landing-force for france, step by step built, of course.

as italy: keep the med, keep egypt. don´t care about french northern africa etc. only destroy navies/forces you really safely can destroy. act massed if possible.

as USA: go italy first via gibraltar. help getting cairo back, saving an important victory city from axis´ control. get to rome during or after this. then go to france.

did this help?

if you have not bought any transports it can be done maybe for one or two rounds. after that it is mostly impossible for the germans to retake norway.

but as the US i would focus on italy and harass germany only to disturb NO-related IPC-collecture in norway or france, trading.

but with russia knocked down, germany can compensate easily the loss of norway. even without norway a gain of 70+ IPCs is common.

rock`n roll

good luck!

please tell me what kind of attack the axis launched on russia and UK.

i had the opportunity to try this strat. :D it worked quite well…which means: success! :D

first time ever in any axis&allies game i had played before i conquered moscow! :evil:

despite the fact that russia destroyed flawlessly the german navy and gained all rounds its archangelsk-bonus, it worked. my opponent did not believe in my success til we had thrown the dices in G6.

19 hits the first two combat-rounds by germany in moscow, 16 and 12 made by russia. last round 10 hits vs. 4. 26 IPCs taken made up 85 IPCs for Germany which already fortified france and w. germany.

UK focussed on africa, it did not destroy the italian fleet as i would suggest. this way there was much more freedom in playing italy. afterwards the UK had to put units into africa delaying a decent landing on continental europe.

the US was quite undecided where to go: gibraltar or norway. no consistent strategy worked for the axis, more exactly spoken: any possibility in retaking the 8th victory city was almost made impossible.

i attached the battlemap-module at round R6 since the game would last two more rounds til the 8th VC would be in axis´ hands.

rock`n roll

2011-05-27 G6.AAM

the cost for the british is low. you forgot in this attack the fighter from the UK. therefor:
at maximum loosing a destroyer and a fighter which can be reinforced from the isles since germany won´t go sealion. mostly it takes only one combat round to sink this italian fleet.

and to answer your question: to defend in egypt til the IC is built and after that returning home to rome, sake of defence or in the east supporting the germans.
if italy gets it done to build some subs in the med the fighters can be a real good company to them fighting allied ships.

as UK you should attack the italian BB and cruiser in sz 95 with your cruiser from sz98, destroyer, carrier and tactical bomber from sz 91 and a fighter from the british isles. with this it can easily be achieved to sink the better part of the italian fleet.
a counter-attack by italy would not be wise as it means mostly sacrificing all remaining navy and the two fighters, which are crucial to win as the axis.

that is why i propose to attack the french fleet instead, because france still has to move and can flee from the med. the italian cruiser is likely to survive in there. the italian transport does one mission: leaving two troops in the near east (egypt or jordania), just for blocking the suez.

because france´s turn is behind italy´s, france can be stalled completely!

first two turns all pacific. after that nearly 60/40 % pacific/europe for some more rounds than switch to 30/70 %.
then decide: italy or norway!

i have to agree to “special forces”. this major IC is waste of money. and: i think a lot of poeple underestimate the ability of the mechanized infantry to move two spaces.
invest in mechanized infantry instead of a major or minor IC in romania.

yeah, but by what turn you usually arrive there?

but as you say:

“This plan assumes that the italians have their two transports and controls cairo and the med. sea.”

IMHO: that is kind of never happening, isn´t it? mostly the italian fleets get sunk even before it could get into action. italy is way too much distracted from russia. this means it is not really usefull as a can-opener.
it has to focus on southern europe, northern africa, and only in 3rd position, helping germany in russia in clearing up the rest of russia and its troops.

but i did some thinking about a decent german attack on russia. i found out some interesting facts that may help to win this game as the axis.

• first of all: don´t try sealion-tactics as germany! too much money invested in navy with no real gain.  even ignore yugoslavia, it is italy´s job to conquer yogslavia. this said, i would propose a mostly-mech-inf buy. james aleman already outlined some time ago an idea i adopted and adapted it recently.

in the first turn just sack france and destroy the british home-fleet. leave the battleship in seazone 113. move into finland and bulgaria, send most airforce to northern italy. build a destroyer, attack greece and russia on round two, taking out russia´s navy and taking karelia and east poland. all in! :D there wait one round to gather land units and planes building a 2nd transport and reinforce karelia from finland in G3. move into belarus, if possible take leningrad in G4. then bryansk - and leningrad if not done before - in G5 or smolensk depending on the situation. G6 or G7 into moscow!

buys suggested are:
round one: 3 art, 3 mech, 1 sub.
round two: 1 destroyer, 10 mech, 2 tanks.
round three: 10 mech, 2 tanks, 1 transport.
round four: 13 mech and rest infantry paired with one artillery.
round five: infantry, some artillery, maybe a fighter or tanks.
round six: unpredictable. mostly infantry, i guess! :D

• italy has to get egypt in round or two, as the odds would suggest. even if the UK does a tarranto-raid, the remainder of the italian fleet should care only about the french navy and getting troops to africa. the rest should take southern france and yugoslavia. it is no problem to ignore french northern africa. actually, i think the gain in ipcs is not worth the pain loosing troops. gathering all troops in one point - egypt - is the only task for them.
  if there is nothing to do for a british fleet in the med, this will leave to help a landing in france. (i know this a momentum of gamble a bit) if not, good for ol´ germany.the italian troops from europe should move to the east, main task: take stalingrad and clear up behind the frontlines if necessary. but not after round three! home defence!

suggested buys are:
round one: one sub, but only if there is no (!!!) destroyer in range to attack. if there is one building 2 inf should be adequate. saving 4 ipcs.
round two: more subs or minor IC for egypt or more infantry.
round three: minimum 2 destroyers, remaining ipcs in infantry considering the outcome of round one and two. therefor not really predictable.

if russia would counterattack in belarus this would help germany getting into moscow. if russia defend belarus it mostly gets down to (assuming that russia always buys 6 inf, 1 art, 1 tank:

ger vs.  rus
19        25 infantry
08        05 artelliry
13        02 mech infantry
10        05 tanks
02        02 fighters
03        01 tactical bomber
01 strategic bomber.

all german tanks, artillery and planes should survive this battle when i am not mistaken. followed by lots of mech built in round three and four, moscow should fall soon after such kind of battle in belarus occured. if not there, then in bryansk, sake of the mechanized infantry.

this for the moment, i would like to discuss this strategy.
where are fundamental flaws to be found? or tweaks to better this strat?

greetings

rock´n roll

according to “special forces” i think, there are rare moments building some facilities as naval or air bases. there are plenty already on the board.

i would suggest only one spot:

as UK you can invest in a naval base for iceland, helping the US to get quickly to europe the northern way.

rock`n roll

after trying some time in playing and studying the game - actually i still did not try yet alpha2+ etc. -, i made the conclusion that only italy or the US should build an IC.

• italy in egypt, just for delaying recapture as long as possible. this means, built in round 2, at latest, round 3. in later rounds it would be waste of money.
• US in norway, if they should not take normandy/bordeaux.
• for germany it is not worth to build any IC, troops are more valuable. therefor i would not consider building one in romania, yugoslavia, or anywhere else before conquering russia.
• russia has enough of ICs and the UK as well.

rock

and to buy time for italia, i think, the G1 buy should be as usual: 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, 1 submarine.
even if one won´t go for UK, gibraltar can be captured by this fleet and the german presence in the mediterranian helps italy a lot in the fight vs the UK.
beginning in G2 with buying mobile forces only, maybe one sub per round, too, should be adequate to deal with russia and the UK. (i hope :D)
but getting moscow in G5 is a bit too optimistic in my opinion.

on the other hand, getting to leningrad in G5 is kind of clear. this means moscow in G7 at earliest. therefore a G5-buy should be made of planes and defending units (mostly infantry) as all subsequent turns.

greetings

ooops. your are right.

then it should be in G2 3 tanks (18) an 10 mech (40)= 3 saved. i got slightly confused.
but, i think a buy of 8 tanks is too one-sided. one attack on russia, and all shielding units are gone. therefor i think, buying one tank per subsequent rounds is enough.
by turn G3 there are already 12 tanks in attacking range combined with 20+ mech, 7 art, 10 inf, minimum 3 tacticals.

the advise of buying more art, i like it. maybe on G3 3 more art placed in e.germany.

and: italy is forced to commit its share in the east, too. this makes it easier for the UK to keep africa, maybe.

this strategy is thought to conquer novgorod in G5, so the german attack can wait to G4 giving room to gather more units, which means, too, that russia can defend better. on the other hand, germany gains speed a lot! making it harder for the russian player to know, where germany will strike.

thanks for the reply.

Well, how to start? actually i am asking for opinions.

Once again i have to play germany. This time i wanted to apply another buying-scheme: mostly mech.

G1
buy: 3 art, 3 mech, 1 sub (=0 ipc saved)
turn: british fleet sunk completely, 4 subs lost; France and yugoslavia occupied; finland, bulgaria taken; planes mostly landed in n.italy,w.germany and benelux; troops go east-wards
placement: 3 art in e.germany, 3 mech in w. germany, sub in sz 113
ipcs: 61

france taken with minimum 5 tanks

G2
buy: 13 mech, 3 tank (=1 ipc saved)
turn: capture of normandy and greece (tanks from yugo and inf from bulgaria); attacking of allied fleet-remnants in the med, landing of planes in n.italy or w. germany
placement: 3 tank in e.germany, 10 mech in w. germany, 3 in france
ipcs: 54

G3
buy: 1 tank, 12 mech
turn: Attack on karelia, vyborg, baltic-states, russian baltic fleet, bessarabia; planes landing in e.poland in combination with all-german-troop-stack: 15 inf, all art, all mech, all tank, all planes except the strategic bomber, aa-gun.
placement: 10 mech in w.germany and 2 mech, 1 tank in e.germany

etc.

Italy attacks southern france, british and french fleet, n.african allied holdings (tunesia, alexandria, eventually egypt itself) Then goes first in east-poland on turn 2 therefor providing landind space for german planes G3. whether the german fleet is sunk or not, italy buys in round 1 one or two mechs sending those to the east in round 2. can-opener etc.

so, what you think about this?

now i would vote for I2.
why?
first of all there is the UK to be kicked out of the med. therefor germany`s airforce is possibly needed. italy opens the battle in round 2, capturing e.poland. germany can get in with all its land-based forces and planes in round 3.

actually, i am convinced by a mostly-mech-buy for germany speeding up the approach east-wards.