My first Axis win with Germany

[neveS]

(i reposted this here and deleted in general forum)

Woohoo! Axis Victory in the Fall of '44. I was actually surprised since in the previous turn the Allies had captured Western France with a huge amphibious assault of 45 units. At that point I pulled back all my troops from South & East France, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and Eastern Germany all into the fortified region of West Germany. Combined forces in West Germany totaled around 38 but would have been more than enough to discourage the attack (which never happened since I met the victory condition.) Decisive Axis Victory 4828 points to 1662 for the Allies.

<SPOILERS BELOW>


Incidentally, the key to breaking through Russia is just as you described... I took both East and West Poland in the first turn. I took the Netherlands in the following season and left minimal troops to guard the borders against France. I ramped up production on tanks, artillery and infantry (canceling a fighter and a heavy destroyer) and proceeded to build up in East Poland. I ignored Yugolavia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania and in the fourth turn I attacked both Kiev and Belorusia and to my surprise both Hungary and Romania offered to join the Axis! This solved one of the other problems I had in previous games whereby taking over most of Eastern Europe by force resulted in tons of partisan rebels wreaking havoc on my infrastructure for the rest of the game.

At that point, the Russian AI was clearly in trouble since my invasion began prior to them increasing production. Unfortunately, I let the guards along France thin and France retook the Netherlands. But fortunately, I was able to counter attack in Eastern France and that secured East and West France. This freed up even more troops to for fighting in the Russian front. With heavy pressure on Moscow, the Russians eventually abandoned Leningrad. Taking Leningrad caused Finland to join the Axis along with some of their infanty, militia and artillery. This key break forced the AI to split its forces guarding Moscow in order to protect its major production areas to the east. I then took Stalingrad and finally Moscow fell. I was surprised they stayed around fighting after the loss of their capital so I spent a year cornering and mopping up the Russians. It was just after I destroyed the last significant concentration of Russian troops (they still had some planes and navy that I just ignored) that the Allies invaded. That much you already know.

One thing I noticed is that since i was having such a supply surplus, I tried to use the "Lend/Lease" to give some to Japan but the +/- buttons were all grayed out. Japan didn't seem to need any however.

Also after I got the decisive victory, I clicked to continue playing the game just to see what would happen. Eventually Tokyo fell and Japan surrendered. Then in late 46 I took Chungking and the video that played said it was the Japanese forces that taken Chungking [:-] Finally in Winter 47 the Allies had 110 units in the Netherlands to my 117 in West Berlin and I got yet another "Axis Decisive Victory" and a new (but lower) score of 4005 to 2279. This time I was unable to click through and keep playing and was forced to exit to the main screen.

So that was my best game ever and I think I've finally got the hang of military strategy and will be applying to take over Rumsfeld's job as Defense Secretary. [:D]

edit: Fixed minor error. It was Finland who joined Axis after I took Leningrad not Norway.

[wargameplayer]

Axis is not super easy in this game. Mostly because when those economic multipliers kick in the enemy just cranks out tons of units and 1) it already has a navy advantage and 2) it takes time to get into a great position to take out russia. And time isn't on your side.&nbsp; Also you can't count on Japan doing well (never get involved with a land war in Asia).&nbsp; Going inland in china is most surely not worth all the trauma and to get more resources you really have to head to India or Australia which means a US DOW.&nbsp;

[JanSorensen]

Most untraditional - sounds like a fun game.
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A few comments. The "normal" approach would be to take W. Poland (not E. Poland) on turn 1. Then TLC during the winter and France in Spring. Then sometime in 1940 Yugoslavia after that nation starts to favor the Allies to make the Balkan minors join Germany. Finally the attack on Russia in Spring/Summer 1941. But your way sounds like fun as well.
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You can only Lend Lease if there is a link to the other nation - either overland or through a TRS link.
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The movie for Chungking is hardcoded to show Japan taking the area - so it will look a little off if Germany does so. Lets just laugh a bit and accept that
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