My favorite invasion of Germany is through Western Europe, with units from Spain along with an amphibious assault.
The most important piece, for every country, has to be fighters. INF are necessary for everyone, to absorb hits, but each country’s fighters represent mobility, a strong attacking unit, and a strong defending unit.
Didn’t mean to offend, Guest…. You certainly were correct, I just can’t think of any reason in the world to fly over it… :D
Guest is right on points 1 and 2, however, Planes from the UK can:
Uk –> UK Sea Zone
UKSZ --> Baltic
Baltic --> Germany
to attack Berlin without flying over the WEu AA gun (Same movement as flying over WEu).
I think that there are a couple of things that you MUST do. I believe that Germany made a mistake by leaving that sub alive in Egypt, and leaving their transport alone. Take it out. Use the sub. I’d also take the 2 UK fighters and the bomber and go after that battleship, in order to protect your fleet, when you do decide to build it. Both fighters can land in Gibralter. You have a shot at holding Africa for the whole game (or forcing Germany to spend lots of IPCs to take it from you) if you can wipe out that transport and the battleship. I’d let the US build the carrier in this situation (German fleet in range of your air, Germany still has all of their air), along with 2 transports (don’t bother landing the Russian fighters on the carrier. Wait until US2 and have them land their owr fighters on it). The carrier and 2 transports should be plenty to discourage attack by the German bomber.
I’d probably buy one of the following:
2 fighters, save 6
a fighter and a bomber, save 3
2 bombers, save 0
1 fighter, save $18
1 bomber, save $15.
I don’t like the idea of an India IC with the UK, unless Japan gets off to a bad start, so I never build it this early. In this game, I would probably move the 1 INF from Syria to Egypt along with the fighter in India. Move the India transport to Austrailia to collect the infantry down there and bring them back to India (or to Africa if India falls on J1).
But, I think that the real issue here is that Germany has given you a chance to keep them out of Africa for the whole game, by leaving the transport alone, and by leaving the rest of their fleet in the Western Med without taking Gibralter. Sure, you’ll probably lose a plane (or 2), but Germany will lose so much more…
If the German sub retreats, it has to go west (as the SZ to it’s east will be involved in a battle on your turn), well within range of the US air. All the Russians have to do is take Caucusus (I assume that’s what CARC is) back, and the Allies are in excellent shape.
US1:
How big does Japan take Hawaii? Since the UK didn’t build a carrier, your fighters are free to strike back at the Hawaii Sea Zone, along with your bomber, battleship, and the transport (fodder). You’ll likely lose most of these units (try to save the bomber, keeping a fighter as well is a bonus), but if you can take out some of those expensive ships, Japan will either have to take their chances, leaving transports undefended in the Sea of Japan, and there’s a good chance they’ll never have quite enough to go to Africa in the late game. If you don’t like wasting your airforce, move the transport southeast 1 seazone, and the battleship to the west side of the panama canal. This should allow you to swing the battleship to the Atlantic. If you’re going to hit Japan back at Pearl, I’d buy 3 fighters (and build the carrier on UK2), otherwise, 1 carrier, 2 transports, save $2.
R2:
Take Cauc back. I’m actually debating how to do this given your board setup… Probably:
2 INF (Kar), 4 ARM (Novo) to cauc.
2 INF (Kar), 2 Fighters to Ukr.
I might hit Finland from Kariella as well (too bad your ARM weren’t in Russia), depending on how many of my purchased INF I want to build in Moscow and send East. A lot of other players like to let the US take Finland though, to build a tank factory. I like the extra $2 that Russia gets for the whole game, though.
I can’t speak for R2 in East Asia, but I’ve found that going on the offensive with the Yakut stack is almost always a bad idea. It’s usually best to just hold your ground there until the USUK arrive to help you out.
Also note that as far as these boards go, I’m not terribly experienced with the game. This all sounds pretty good to me, but I’m sure that someone will find a problem with it, and they may be right.
Still a newbie, and playing RR, 2 Hit BB without a Bid… I think that Japan first can work… This might not be possible with a bid into Libya… I think that I’ve finally got a handle on the shuck-shuck, and I’m looking for something different…
USSR1: Stack LEN & YAK. 2 INF MOS to Novo. Boats to NOR. Build 2 INF MOS, 6 INF KAR.
UK1: If Germany hit AES, take them out (IND INF, FTR, INF SYR, BMB UK). Otherwise, pull out of Africa (AES, SYR INF to IND via. TRN, AES ARM to PER). 2 FTR to KAR regardless.
If the Gib BB is alive, buy the CV, 1 TRN, 1 INF, move the BB to NOR. Otherwise save $30.
US1: Buy 4 Subs. Counter attack HAW with BB, TRN, 2 FTR, 1 BMB and sub from HAW if it had the chance to retreat. If we’re not going to win Pearl III (we shouldn’t), try to retreat 1 FTR to WUS.
Place subs in WUS.
USSR2: Build up the stacks. 2 INF NOVO to SIN. Take FIN with Air, minimal #s of INF.
UK2: If we didn’t buy the CV rnd 1, do it now, along with 3 trn and some INF. Otherwise, buy 2 TRN, and fill them. Save extra $$$ (aiming for a FTR). Land whatever we can in Finland.
US2: Buy a carrier and a fighter, and an TRN. If what remains of the Jap fleet is exposed to the subs, hit it. Otherwise, just let them sit.
USSR3+:
Keep the stacks. Try to hold Kar, Yak, and Sink (with help from Brits in Ind).
UK3+:
Alternate landing INF in Africa and Fin. Whenever (if ever) $$$ allows, buy an extra fighter for LEN.
US3:
Take Wake. Build a couple TRNs, take INF from EUS to fill them. Buy a bomber.
US4+:
Set up airbase on Wake. Send rogue TRNs to start picking off Japan’s islands. Land in SFE or FICB as Jap placement allows. Use subs to continually harass japan’s shipping. Japan will be forced to either commit $$$ or their fighters to defense of their TRNs. SBR Japan with bombers not needed to disrupt their shipping. Maybe tech from time to time, as everything except Jet Power/Rockets would help out here (and picking up rockets just means building 1 TRN EUS to take an AA to FIN for $3.5 off Germany every turn)…
Russia ought to be able to start pushing back at Japan at this point, as the UK retakes Africa. Germany will have a TON of INF in Europe, but they should still be confined to the continent. As Japan loses her islands, ground to the Russians, and $$$ to US bombing, her economy crumbles, and she is forced to concentrate on keeping Japan out of Allied hands.
The US should be able to afford to (with a Factory on FICB, India, or the Philipines) outproduce Japan while at the same time sending ARM west through Asia to Russia. US should have enough force built up to take Japan by turn 10 or so…
This should make for a LONG game, but I think that it would be interesting to play it out… My rotation for the US/Russia isn’t for another week with my local group, but if I can talk Britain into it, I’m going to give this a shot… I guess that the worst that can happen is I lose badly, but we’re not playing for money (that would be interesting at the level of play I’ve seen demonstrated here), and bragging rights generally change hands week-to-week anyway…
With a German bid of INF into Libya, they’d be able to quickly push units through to Syria/Persia, and meet Japan in India… I think that they would come together about 1 turn too soon to for this strategy to be effective…
What’s everybody think?
Yeah, cable modems are the best… Just upgraded from dialup after 2 years of hesitating… I knew that once I got one, that was $40 per month for the rest of my life, as I’d never go back to dialup…
I do have to say though, it’s a well spent $40…
I’ve been following your games with Cystic Crypt and Darth Maximus (until it ended anyway)… Very well played, on both counts… I certainly still have a lot to learn… And I’m interested by your opening in your current game with DM… I’m looking forward to seeing it played out.
Are you always logged onto this server? You seem to be the first to respond to most everything posted here recently…
I hit a couple of local hobby shops, but none had chips that were small enough to not get in the way. I found a couple of sites that deal in selling components for games to manufacturer/independent game publishers, but I haven’t received a response from them for a couple of days… I got the impression from both of their sites that they were in the business of selling thousands of pieces at a time, and wouldn’t want to deal with my request for about 100…
Thanks for the reply…
– Shiny
Has anyone been able to find additional chips for A & A? What I’d really like is som additional red chips and some chips of a third color, to represent 10 units…
Thanks in advance…
What I like to do, if the fleet somehow manages to hang around more than a couple of turns (you need at least 2 turns worth of additional INF in Africa), is park it in the WMed SZ AFTER the USUK make their landing in Africa. We play with 2 hit BBs, this may be useless without that, as the BB doesn’t represent nearly as much strength when a single hit will take it down…
From WMedSZ, you’re with striking distance of the UK fleet. The UK has to choose:
Divert their fleet to deal with yours, or let you come at them next turn… If they come after your fleet, unless they’re landing INF into Spain, that’s 1 turn’s worth of INF you don’t have to deal with in Europe.
Divide their fleet, leaving hordes of transports in the UKSZ without their precious carrier to protect them. Sure, there may be a BB there, but that only takes 1 shot per round…
Wait and let you come at them with the fleet… If they do that, you come at them next turn with the Med BB & TRN and ALL of your air force. You’ll lose the BB, TRN, and probably a plane or 2, but you should be able to take out a handful of TRNs… With really bad German dice or excellent USUK dice, this is suicide, but its worked out well for me in the past, with what I consider to be fairly average dice…
If you can come in with 5 ftr, 1 bmb, the BB, and the tran (assuming 10 TRN, 1 CV, 2 FIT on CV, and retreating remaining air when there are 2 or fewer TRNs left):
60% chance of killing 8+ transports.
73% chance of killing 7+ transports.
85% chance of killing 6 + transports.
You should have 1 or 2 FIT left 48% of the time.
At this stage in the game, I would consider that a fairly even trade… The UK player should be strapped for cash, so they’ll probably elect to kill off US TRNs first. This means another “burp” in the US supply of INF to Europe. You should find time during that burp to build another FIT or 2 without sacrificing defense. It should also open things up a bit for Japan on the Russian front…
If you’re playing the Axis alone, you can plan ahead for this by swinging JAP 4 FIT, 1 BMB over to EEu the turn before, and they can finish off the remains of the fleet. They’ll likely lose most of their airforce as well, but the rewards are great Assuming that there are 4 TRNs left after Germany’s attack, (all UK), they will likely not build any additional transports (can’t do that AND fill them). With Japan 1 BMB, 4 FIT, there is a 80% chance that they will wipe out ALL of the transports. 33% of the time, 2 or more of their planes will survive, and 51% of the time, one or more will…
At this point it the game, Japan can most easily afford to replace their planes, and Germany has bought itself enough time to rebuild SOME of their planes… The Allies are decimated. The UK will be unable to produce sufficient TRNs to pose a threat to Germany for a couple of turns. The US can afford to rebuild, but only if they allow the supply liine “burp”.
I suppose that the truly forward thinking German would add a sub to the mix, building it in time to get it into position in WMedSz with the BB and TRN. If you could drop 2 in, things could be truly awful for the Allies, as you should come out with most of your airforce intact (although I think I’d lose 2 FITs before I lost the subs… No chance to shoot back is nice when the subs hit…
With the sub you have a 75% chance of killing 8+ TRNs with 1 + fighters left. 56% chance of doing so with 3+ fighters…
Alright, somebody correct my #s for me…
With the modification of not blitzing the tank through to Congo…
It worked fairly well, for the most part… I lost my BB and TRN in the WMed SZ on UK1, but the US left the other TRN alive to use the BMB to hit an ARM in FWA…
A Question: Am I allowed to unload 1 INF during combat (Gibralter) and a second INF during non-combat (Algeria). The transport doesn’t have to move from the sea zone, so I think it should be legal. but I’m not sure…
If I can do that, I will use this strategy again… If not, I’ll have to write it off as a learning experience.
I took Africa pretty quickly, although I never did pick up the southern tip. 1 UK INF just sat there until late game, killing 1 ARM, 1 ARM, and 2 INF before I decided that the $2 just wasn’t worth it any more… Next time, I’ll hit it with a concerted force, a turn later (2 ARM)…
I was able to trade Caucusus/Ukraine for most of the game with Russia. Western Europe fell once, at turn 5. I took it back and never lost it again on G6. Took and held Kariella on G6 as well, after strafing from Eastern Europre during G3, G4, and G5. The Allies played fairly agressivly in Asia, slowing Japan significantly (They had about 6 ARM and 3 - 4 INF in Asia when the game ended), but that certainly took the pressure off me as Germany… I was able to take Russia on G8, and the USUK attempted an invasion of Germany on the same turn. I held with 3 INF, 4 FTR remaining… Japan then captured the Eastern US with 4 TRN (4 INF, 2 ARM), 1 BB, 1 CV, 2 FTR, 2 BMB as the US went after Germany instead of looking to defend (I probably would have done the same), taking all of the US $$$… The US took it back right away, but conceded the game, as they had no reinforcements to bring to Europe, I was (once again) starting to threaten an empty-ish Africa, and Japan had a well stocked airbase in Hawaii…
All in all, a pretty good game. I think that landing the 2 INF to Algeria on G1 was STUPID!!! My BB and TRN were within range of 2 UK FTR and the UK BMB, as well as the SUB from the EMed. If I am allowed to split the INF, 1 to Gibralter and 1 to Algeria, I would open like this again, as the UK FTRs could not reach me without Gibralter to land in…
Commissar Adam
Thanks for the input…
I agree on the Finnish transport… I only have it for a turn, so I might as well do something with it… If I’m landing a FIT in Algeria, and 2 INF via TRN from Southern Europe, do you think that 2 additional INF from Finland are more beneficial than an ARM? With 2 ARM in Africa, I should be able to blitz around and own the whole continent by G3/G4 (assuming 1 turn they’re both used for an attack on AES)… I think that there’s a good chance of the Southern Europe TRN surviving for G2, as it’s parked with a 2 hit battleship, so I should be able to land 2 more INF on G3…
I’m afraid that my group has already learned that any German transport, anywhere on the board is dangerous… I don’t think that they’d leave one that’s alone off the coast of Algeria alive… Even if it meant diverting the 2 FIT from the UK and landing them somewhere other than Kariella…
Thanks for the input, BigBlocky… I see what you’re saying about the Bomber… I hadn’t thought of that… When we play, the US will generally build 2 or 3 TRNs on turn 1… There’s just enough stuff sitting there to fill them up for US2, and 3 TRNs is enough to discourage me from attacking with a lone bomber…
I’m a bit perplexed about the following:
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I might have 1 ARM and 1 INF in W europe rather than 2 INF. With 3-4 ftrs, bmr and AA, 2 land units is lots to defend against a single transport with 1-2 air units on round 1. The infantry is slower to move up against the russians so move the infantry first. Of course you lose the attack power of the armour against karelia so its really a coin toss.
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I generally try to build up W Europe over the course of the game, diverting 1 or 2 INF there per turn from Germany to defend against an allied assault… I almost never move the INF that start there… All the UK can do is throw planes (2 fighters and a bomber) against me on their turn 1, and the US can only bring 1 TRN with 1 FIT and 1 BMB… Are you suggesting that I move the INF from Western Europe to the Russian front? I don’t like the idea of leaving it undefended/poorly defended… I like to make the allies pay a large price to take Western Europe (at least the first time), and this usually requires a fairly good sized stack of INF…
I also usually won’t hit Kariella until at least G3… Not enough INF in the pipeline to take and hold until that point, and a G2 strafe usually hurts me as much or more than it hurts them… Do you feel that I should be playing more aggressively in the East?
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I don’t like leaving the tank in Congo exposed to Brit attack, is it really that important to get 1 IPC and risk losing the armour? That 1 armour with 1 ftr and bomber would give two land units a good go:
36% likely to knock out 2 units with no losses.
45% knock out 2 units and lose the tank
15% knock out 2 units lose a ftr and a tank, sucks but oh well.
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I think that you’re right about the ARM in Africa… Without the extra dollar, I should have (barring strategic bombing) enough to buy 12 INF on G2 without it…
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2 hit BBs I think hurts germany more than it helps Japan.
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You may be right about this… I’ve left the UK BB in Gibralter alone in the past, and losing 1 extra INF per attack on my European territories (not really, but it sure seems like it) is a pain… That’s why I wanted to try this out, to see if it makes much of a difference to take it out…
Aside from generally not losing anything during the initial assault on Hawaii, I’ve never found 2 hit BBs to benefit Japan much at all, unless they can come through Panama / around South America to threaten the USUK fleet… And generally by the time that happens, the game has already been decided… I’ve toyed with the idea of sending one of the Jap TRNs with the fleet to Hawaii (not to land, but to position INF for a taking of Panama on J2 or J3 (my board’s put away, I forget how many sea zones away it is) to try to slip the Jap fleet through to disrupt shipping in the Atlantic earlier, but I have a hard time seeing how Japan can pressure Russia early enough to help Germany without landing 4 INF on J1…
I also don’t like to build the India IC… Depending on G1 in Africa, I’ll usually pull all UK troops from India over to Africa, moving the Syria Iraq INF to Persia. Force Japan to spread out to take both North and South Asia… Lots of Units, but only usually 1 large “attack force” to deal with Russia until J4. It’s hard to look past turn 4 in terms of “genral strategy”, since so many different things can happen during the course of the game.
I’ve built the India IC about 5 times, all with disastrous results. Japan is not slowed down to any significant degree, Germany is easily able to take most of Africa early. The the UK is forced to spend $15 on tanks for India each turn until it falls (You’re not going to hold it for long, so why go with INF? Try to take out as many expensive Jap pieces as you can)… About the only reason I can see to build the India IC is to build bombers and force Japan to guard thier Sea of Japan TRNs… And the UK can’t afford to do that, reinforce Kariella, and land troops in WEu or Spain… They lose too much of thier income too quickly, especialy giving up Africa. An average German player can have the UK down to about $22 by T3 (E and W Canada, UK, India (if you’re building the IC), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Madagascar, and Persia/Syria Iraq) , and if you’re buying 3 tanks a turn, that’s only 2 INF that you can drop in Europe…Never mind the fact that buying the IC precluded purchasing ANY transports until UK2…
I find that its much better to pull out of India, either to Sinkiang or Anglo-Egypt Sudan, and concentrate on holding parts of Africa (or at least making it expensive for Germany to take it) and landing troops in Kariella, WEu, or Spain…
What’s to stop Russia from:
Take finland (kill 2 FIT, really, don’t care about finland) and Caucusus from Kariella? If they’re willing to leave 1 INF in Karielia, I don’t see how you can stop this from happening… They’ve got 4 ARM, 2 FIT, and 17 INF at their disposal… Sure, it would be VERY expensive for Russia, and they’d lose Kariella on G2, but Moscow is safe (as safe as it ever gets), and the USUK have an outside shot of re-taking Kariella on their T2…
I’d do:
8 Inf, 3 ARM, 1 FIT to Finland
9 Inf, 1 ARM, 1 FIT to Caucusus
I should take FIN with 3 ARM, 1 FIT left (ARM safe from counterattack, if UK kills TRN).
I should take caucusus with 1 ARM, 1 FIT… The ARM is toast on G2, but so what?
Land the FIT and build in Kariella. You’ve committed most of your forces to the Rusiian front, and you’re vulnerable for a USUK turn 2 landing in WEu…
I’ve been playing with my friends for a while now, on a semi-regular basis, and I’m just starting to grasp some of the more advanced aspects of the game… We play Restricted Russia and 2 hit BB (repaired at end of turn), otherwise, standard 2nd editions rules… No bid (although I think it’s probably coming soon).
I know that G1 and G2 have been talked to death here, and many of you are probably sick of it, but I’d really like to hear what someone outside of my group thinks about this.
When we play, Russia will usually pull all but 1 inf from Cacusus to Kariella, all but 1 inf from the Soviet far East to Yakut, pull All tanks to Novosibersk (sp?), stack Yakut with 6 INF, and stack Kariella with everything else (including the 2 FIT)… The sub and trn from Kariella will go to the UK sea zone.
I want to, within the first 2 or 3 turns, deploy enough force to Africa to discourage the Allies from landing until they can do so with significant force (which then can’t land in Europe) and be poised to strafe Kariella with little risk to my ARM by G3/G4.
G1:
Buy 10 INF, save $2.
Combat
Non-Combat
Place Units
4 INF SEu (In case by some miracle both TRNs survive until G2, I can drop 4 more into Africa), 7 INF GER
African forces are: 2 ARM, 1 FIT, 4 INF, with 2 more INF coming G2, all except 3 INF can hit AES on G2 (Probably looking at GER 3 INF, 2 ARM, 1 FIT (possible BMB) vs. UK 2 or 3 INF (2 from IND via. TRN or 1 from Syria/Iraq), 1 ARM, 1 FIT (India))… According to my #s, I should take with 1 ARM, 1 FIT), and a good chance that I have a TRN left to land 2 more INF in ALG on G3. By G4, I should be able to control all of Africa, with about 3 INF, 1 ARM… The FIT can return to EEu on G3, to hit LEN on G4.
EEu is strong enough to discourage an R2 attack (8 ARM, 9 INF, 2 FIT)
I should be able to trade Caucusus/UKR using a couple of INF and a FIT during G2/G3, buying INF the whole time (and a FIT, if the Allies buy something dumb), for a G4 strafe on LEN, and take & hold it on G5 (assuming that Japan is able to force an R5 build in Moscow instead of LEN). WEu should be well defended (8 - 12 INF, 2 - 4 FIT) on G4, GER and EEu should also be well defended. The allies should be forced to choose between hitting WEu (which they can probably take for a turn) or losing Kariella for good…
I should be able to re-hit the USUK fleet in the UK Sea Zone on G5 as well, with 4 or 5 FIT, possibly a BMB, and the BB (with a TRN as fodder), forcing another “burp” in the WEu/Spain/Finland INF supply lines (possibly giving me enough time to rebuild a FIT or three by the time they’re coming strong again)…
Obviously, after G1, I’d have to react to what the allies did, and take advantage of any opportunities that exist… I’d like to hear what people have to say (particularly Darth Maximus & Cystic Crypt) about the G1 move, and what I’m missing (i.e. what opportunity is created for the Allies on their Turn 1 move)… I know that leaving the Eastern US transport alive is probably a mistake, and I’m leaving my Finnish transport all by itself (but that’s usually dead UK1 anyway). I don’t think that I’m sacrificing too much flexibility (is the FIT in Algeria a bad idea)? What am I missing?
Thanks in advance…