Posts made by simon33

In our games a standard move is for Germany to sit in SZ109 and convoy 8 production off London/Scotland. This lasts until the US can come in with a big enough force to either scare off the Kreigsmarine or damage it sufficiently that the brits can take it down. Does this not happen in other people’s games? Perhaps players feel it is a bad investment for the Brits or something.

Still, I love the idea of doing something slightly useful rather than escorting with a fighter which goes home once the air battle is over.

Point of order: US can build 20 units per turn for the Atlantic. Central and Eastern USA. Only makes a difference for air units to build in Eastern USA.

Sounds to me like Dark Skies is a strategy to keep USA and UK out of Europe when Germany is already winning.

J1 DOW can’t clear out units in Amur unless USSR has passed on the opportunity to evacuate.

As for all air units into FIC, that does expose Kwangtung to a mobile assault. China can clear out a blocker. Obviously this means that the kitchen sink has been thrown at Yunnan. I guess you’d be inclined to change up in that event.

Yeah, I’m not completely happy with it either.

Regarding SZ91, I’d say that destroyer would normally be better off attacking the subs off Quebec which are already causing convoy disruption. I guess if one lives off Quebec and two live in SZ91 then it becomes a bit of a coin toss.

If London scrambles to SZ110 then they aren’t defending the industrial complex. In that event, I’d probably withdraw after one round. Although I’m in two minds about it being worth bringing in the fighter. Maybe I should have put “Devil’s Advocate” at the top of my last post. BTW, the 40% odds is of surviving against 3 interceptors and 2 AAA in a SBR.

Why can’t you lose the tac bomber if it’s raiding the naval base? I thought a twin attack on a naval base and IC was intercepted as a single group? Is that not correct? Indeed, the rules state that a single combat occurs per territory.

@Dafyd:

I have a question about the Soviet troops moving into China.� Isn’t that considered an act of war by the Japanese?�

Yes, but so what? It doesn’t affect the US entry into the war or anything else worth worrying about.

US Gibraltar troops? I find that going via Gibraltar, the path to Norway is too easily blocked by the Kreigsmarine and Luftwaffe. You not only have to fight through any ships in SZ112 but there is also a scramble involved. You also have the risk that the Italians could take back Gibraltar in some cases. Whereas the path via Iceland needs far fewer ships. You can make it a suicide run for the transports if the sea is undefended - again something you can’t do via Gibraltar with the scramble out of West Germany. You need hardly any ships for such a suicide run.

If you accept the premise that the war is won and lost in the USSR it could be worth ignoring China, ANZAC and India. Although I think that would be taking things too far.

@taamvan:

I sometimes keep 3-5 troops over by Finland to threaten it, its not that uncommon that I take it.   However, its almost always a bad move

1. you need those guys.  Every one of them

2. if they don’t head east or south by R2, they are going to get killed or cut off

3. you cannot attack as Russia.  Unless your opponent has left a monumentally stupid stack somewhere.   I have attacked many times with favorable odds/placement/strafe and it always results in Russia losing 1-3 turns faster.

4. you cannot attack with Russia.  Lets reiterate this; no attack no matter how cheap or what NOs you achieve will work because:

Remember: Germany has 1 sea stack, 2-3 giant air stacks and 4 land stacks and you barely have 1 land and one air.

5. Yes, I know you want to attack.   You want to attack Japan in the East, and also Germany.  Don’t.  It doesn’t work.

6. If the Axis are smart, they will both attack Russia.  This is a G2 DoW and a J1 DoW that leaves the US completely out of the war.    The only time you can pressurize the eastern front with USSR is if Japan goes after India.   If you see them go south, they cant also go north.

7. The only way the Axis can fail to defeat Russia (sans bid) is if they rely on Germany alone to kill it.

Have fun.

A few points -

• 3-5 guys doesn’t do anything useful. I don’t understand why you’d do that.
• You need to prevent the German northern force from attacking Leningrad by G3. If you force them back, that puts it back to G5. Even if they land a bunch of planes and sit still in Finland, you’ve at least deferred it back to G4.

The only time I’ve gotten into Norway as USSR it was with some mobile troops. I wondered if it was worth it, because once I got the troops there I then couldn’t bring them back. However, getting in as USA adds a heap of value. A bunch of USSR troops provide a landing field for the USA if coming from Iceland and they mutually defend each other. You also can use Finland for strategic bombing as USA or UK.

@Spendo02:

Just buy ARM with Russia every turn and place them on Moscow.  Full retreat with starting units.

Don’t sacrifice anything to defend territory

Gives you something like 26 INF and 30+ ARM by the 6th turn.  Assuming a G3 DOW, that means the absolute earliest the Germans could arrive would be to attack on G6 - and they won’t blitz ARM ahead when you’re stack of ARM is just as large.

The moment the Germans step next to Moscow, send everything at them.

Either you win or you get diced.

No Allied intervention required and more entertaining than sitting back and waiting.

I think you have to assume a G2 DOW.

Wouldn’t you buy a bunch of artillery as well if this is your strategy? They’re better value on attack when you already have a bunch of inf.

If USSR tried this against me, I’d be inclined to take down all the bonuses as Germany before stepping next to Moscow. Even if you did lose, USSR still couldn’t come back because they’re being massively out produced.

J3 DOW is a bit non conventional. If that happens, you can be in Norway US4, landing fighters on Finland the same turn. Bombers can be doing unescorted raids on West Germany US4, escorted US5 and also on Germany.

UK can do unescorted raids on West Germany UK1, although it isn’t likely to do so.

I would say that by that time the Allies should be about bombing the cr*p out of Germany and West Germany or ready to do so. I guess they can still buy their bombers at one of their minor complexes. I would say with this approach, you haven’t been convoying UK much or at all because they can counter - destroyer in Quebec + planes from London.

@Spendo02:

clearly a kitchen sink effort to secure Yunnan from J2 gives one pause to consider the trade off.

I think the major problem with the kitchen sink effort is that you expose Russian mobile units from Russia in Szechwan to air (only) attack. FIC really needs reinforcement from Japan J2 or massive aerial reinforcement to survive a USSR3 mobile + air attack. But presumably that will occur and will thin out Shan State if you throw the kitchen sink that for J3. Throwing the kitchen sink at Yunnan J2 also means you can’t reinforce Suiyan significantly. I’m reconsidering this idea now.

Germany can be attacking with 8SBs on G3 - but after that their growth slows. The thing is London has insufficient incentive to repair damage. They have factories in Quebec and South Africa which they can use. They need to do something to get fighters across from Quebec but it is far from impossible. Buying a US carrier and positioning it off the Quebec Coast seems to suffice but there is also staging via Iceland (still out of range of bombers) and building an airbase are all options. Assuming London is already maxed out for damage after turn 2, then what do these bombers actually do but provide a threat? Attack Leningrad and Kiev seem their next target but they’re hardly juicy targets. I guess G4 you can be getting to bomb Moscow, assuming a G2 DOW. They won’t likely be intercepting 8SBs unless they have a lot of fighters, although 8 inbuilt AAA rolls would be against them. Still, without a few turns of ground troop production, USSR isn’t likely to fall too quickly.

Perhaps that is the counter to this strategy - build a lot of Russian fighters the first few turns. Even if you buy all ground troops R1, R2 & R3 you could build 7 fighters for 9 total. Has anyone tried this counter? Germany can’t out build Russia unless it is already winning, it has to out fight it with its starting superiority.

They can’t do what they did in the actual war - relocate their factories to Siberia. All the territories have a production of 1 so can’t build a minor complex. However, you can repair Stalingrad cheaply and build some more planes there. Probably lasts for a turn.

I’m going to call this the Red Sky counter. Once many German bombers are out of reach of London and the Royal Navy, the UK can be active again.

Three pages and the case for change has not been successfully made IMO.

Look at this thread: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36690.0

That sounds a pretty annoying roll in Moscow. Anyway, you have to think that you did the right thing by intercepting and be happy about that.

I think intercepting is pretty required when you have a numerical superiority against unescorted bombers. Every hit prevents damage to your factory and do you really want your opponent to feel confident that they can bomb your factory without facing an intercept? It’s when they have an escort that a numerical superiority might not be enough. If you have 5 interceptors vs 2 bombers and 2 escorts, you have to think if your fighters are worth more to you than 1.25 of his.

Why are capital ships (Carriers in 1940 and Battleships) repaired at no cost and taking no time? I think they should be forced to sit out for a turn while repairs are carried out. I can live with it being no cost though.

Or does that weaken Battleships too much? You still need carriers.

Uk Pac only 3 production which is not convoyible - West India and Burma.

To counter the convoy disruption if from a sub, I’d be looking at a destroyer from Africa. You start with a UK and French one neither of which can participate in Tarranto, plus an ANZAC and one off India.

Can the French destroyer move into the square on the non combat move and not attack an existing Japanese sub or subs there? Once there, they turn the sea zone hostile and the sub has to attack or withdraw, and the UK can scramble fighters out of India which are virtually certain to hit the sub. My reading of the rules is that move is eminently legal. I guess scrambling fighters can’t defend against a strategic bomber raid though, so still better to use a UK destroyer on UK’s turn. But it’s a useful possibility.

BTW, I think that regardless of DOW on J1, 4 land units into Yunnan is overkill. Ultimately, whatever goes in doesn’t come out or live to J2. 3 - 2inf + art + TB + ftr + 2SB is plenty. . with That allows 2inf and an art into Kwangtung and 2 inf into Hunnan. Or some re-balancing of that. That makes it highly probable you’ll take all the territories without needing to lose a plane. I guess there might be a problem if you use the SBs to take down the UK BB - then you have a 30% chance of losing a plane to take the territory or worse.

Still better than only sending one inf into Hunnan and losing a plane to take the territory - or did I misunderstand that part. Do you only lose a plane on the second hit?

That seems the conventional wisdom on the board. But it doesn’t happen that way in my games and it sounds like yours also. When I saw how devastating SBR was to India I figured a counter.

So I think we might start seeing some equalisation once the third fighter on India becomes a standard buy UK1.

I’m not convinced 4 mobile units and 3 planes are make or break for Moscow. My plan is more to weaken Germany with massive strategic bombing and creating a second front. And driving back Finland even if you can’t take down the force. I guess I’ll let you know how that goes next weekend. I guess that is a near KGF.

I doubt I’ll be replacing those aircraft with other allied planes. Perhaps other USSR planes if Strategic Bombing of Moscow is going to be on.

The longer China are a viable power, the rougher it is for Japan. The problem with that as a strategy is that it lets Germany achieve too much. But if they are taking 40 hits per turn on their industrial complexes in West Germany and Germany they won’t be achieving much. Need to start hitting Germany ASAP because that is closer to the front, which is best done from Norway or Finland. IJN can only achieve so much. Taking down Sydney is probably the worst they can do, with the second worst being Hawaii - relatively easily reclaimed unless the USN is not a viable force any more.

The other thing I’m thinking I’ll try is strat bombing Japan’s minor factories if I can. If you buy a bomber in South Africa UK2, it can be bombing UK4. Also if the UK bomber survives Taranto it can help.

I think strategic bombing by Japan on Calcutta is a big factor: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=37391.0

YG mentioned it in his Japan strategy video.

Some more thoughts on UK2: Assuming Yunnan has survived and the two UK inf were moved there and also survived but two inf from India have left on a transport, you can get 9 UK inf into Shan State. Not enough to hold it against the Japanese. But throw in 3AAA, art, a Mech Inf purchased on UK1, ANZAC inf + 3 ftrs, USSR 2Mec + 2Tank plus planes and 2 US planes (with J1 DOW) from Hawaii and you have a serious force that the Japanese can’t easily dislodge. You need to abandon Yunnan as the Chinese though. Take it back China3 probably.

Calculator: Japan 6inf + 3art + 11fighters + 8tb + 2sb vs 10 inf + 3Mec + 2Tank + 1art + 2TB + 6ftr + 3aaa = avg 11 lost Japanese planes.

Assuming a blocker in SZ37 stopping bombardment.

Japanese can defend FIC with their air force mostly assuming they took it J1 so you might not be able to take that down but you can at least tie down Japan and reinforce Malaya. And annoy by taking Shan State.

I guess this move works much better against a J2 DOW than a J1. Either way I still think an inactive UK Pac sucks. What does turtling achieve? Nothing really.