1942 Scenario Optimal Turn 1
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:43 pm
So I am a bit nuts and love to craft what I believe to be the optimal moves at the start of the game.
The 1942 scenario has quite a bit going on and there's many opportunities for the axis to exploit the starting state.
Has anyone else played around with this scenario or am I the only one? I've spent quite a bit of time testing ways to cause maximum pain to the Allied sign while protecting against an unacceptable counterattack.
Here is what I found:
MIDWAY:
It's possible to Japan to "win" this battle 90% of the time. I define winning as destroying two USA carriers while not losing a single CV. The method for ensuring a victory is quite complex as the carrier bomber/escort mechanics alone are a bit of a nuance, retreats are possible, and careful end placement of the Japanese CVs is essential to make it possible to screen them from a counterattack (one attack from a sub or cruiser will cause the Japanese CV to retreat into the open where it becomes subject to further attacks). If the American player sends in the USS Hornet then they can reliably sink one Japanese CV, but this isn't really a good idea as the Hornet will then die on turn 2 to Japanese BBs.
I could go into much further detail if anyone is interested.
EGYPT:
I couldn't find a way to reliably kill the British tank. It's totally possible to do so but you need decent rolls. The British tank also sometimes retreats and gets away sometimes. This is too bad as that tank corps sits at Supply=4 which means it would be a full kill.
I don't really think it's worth the risk of going for the kill as the end setup leaves the axis units quite weak. The British player can often destroy the Ariete tanks with bombers (tactical + CV).
It's also possible to severely damage the Ritchie HQ and with excellent rolls you can even destroy it, but again it requires luck and the result leaves the Axis units a bit precarious.
A much more conservative approach involves swap-placing the panzers in the town and reinforcing them to level 10, and destroying only the forward British corps which has supply=4. This does way less damage to UK but the axis units are extremely strong for turn 2.
LENINGRAD:
The Soviets are really screwed here and I usually destroy an army and occupy a fort on turn 2. This requires railing the rail artillery from crimea right up to the Russian army, railing von rundstedt to talinn, and operating a tactical bomber from Egypt. But this causes the Soviet defenses to crumble fast and I think it's worth it. All those armies and the HQ get destroyed at supply <=4 so they are full kills, and many Axis units get freed up before the end of 1942. One important point is to place a sub or other vessel right next to Kronstadt (Leningrad port) to prevent Soviet units from drawing supply from the port itself. Once you use the bombers on turn 3-4 to help destroy the unit next to the finns, Soviets have no safe place to put their HQ and they start losing base supply due to siege rules. From then it's a matter of time. Make sure to swap-place a German army in the hex next to Leningrad on turn 1 because that hex does not face a wall from the Soviet fort you destroy first, and also the army can punish the Soviet player if they boldly go for higher supply by placing their HQ on Leningrad itself.
Soviets have a limited ability to counterattack from volkhov but Germans can counter by moving in an extra corps if necessary. They would also have to rail in one of their HQ which they suffer from a shortage of.
AGC/Moscow:
Soviets have a huge number of armies here and the Germans aren't set up to do much on turn 1. The Soviets can actually human wave advance against Rzhev and threaten to surround it. Germans can't destroy more than one unit in response so they will have to retreat. It may be prudent for Germans to rail or match in an extra corps into this area to slow down any Soviet push. The Soviets desperately need those armies upgraded and railed to the caucasus and Saratov/Stalingrad and in subsequent
AGS:
It is obvious that the Axis have the opportunity to do significant damage here. But maximizing the damage is challenging. The version I have going destroys two Soviet HQ, destroys or damages a few Soviet armies, and encircles several Soviet armies and corps. A Soviet AT is destroyed and one of their tanks gets mauled to make way for the panzers. Soviet fighter and bomber units get severely mauled. All of the Soviet encircled units on this front (3-4 armies, 2 corps, one cavalry) get destroyed at supply= 0 the next turn and the German units are safe in the attempts I made on the Allied side to punish.
It requires railing in some units to hold the original line to prevent your HQ from getting punched and to provide enough manpower to clean up the mess quickly.
There are other accomplishments the Axis player could opt for on turn 1 which are possible, such as capturing Voronezh and encircling a Soviet HQ, destroying a couple Soviet bombers, or killing off a couple Soviet tanks. But all of these involve tradeoffs and they might not be as safe.
I think the end result of the attack I use really puts the Soviets on the back foot as they lack sufficient HQ to make use of their high number of units, and the Germans are approaching both Saratov/Kuybyshev and the Caucasus extremely quickly.
The 1942 scenario has quite a bit going on and there's many opportunities for the axis to exploit the starting state.
Has anyone else played around with this scenario or am I the only one? I've spent quite a bit of time testing ways to cause maximum pain to the Allied sign while protecting against an unacceptable counterattack.
Here is what I found:
MIDWAY:
It's possible to Japan to "win" this battle 90% of the time. I define winning as destroying two USA carriers while not losing a single CV. The method for ensuring a victory is quite complex as the carrier bomber/escort mechanics alone are a bit of a nuance, retreats are possible, and careful end placement of the Japanese CVs is essential to make it possible to screen them from a counterattack (one attack from a sub or cruiser will cause the Japanese CV to retreat into the open where it becomes subject to further attacks). If the American player sends in the USS Hornet then they can reliably sink one Japanese CV, but this isn't really a good idea as the Hornet will then die on turn 2 to Japanese BBs.
I could go into much further detail if anyone is interested.
EGYPT:
I couldn't find a way to reliably kill the British tank. It's totally possible to do so but you need decent rolls. The British tank also sometimes retreats and gets away sometimes. This is too bad as that tank corps sits at Supply=4 which means it would be a full kill.
I don't really think it's worth the risk of going for the kill as the end setup leaves the axis units quite weak. The British player can often destroy the Ariete tanks with bombers (tactical + CV).
It's also possible to severely damage the Ritchie HQ and with excellent rolls you can even destroy it, but again it requires luck and the result leaves the Axis units a bit precarious.
A much more conservative approach involves swap-placing the panzers in the town and reinforcing them to level 10, and destroying only the forward British corps which has supply=4. This does way less damage to UK but the axis units are extremely strong for turn 2.
LENINGRAD:
The Soviets are really screwed here and I usually destroy an army and occupy a fort on turn 2. This requires railing the rail artillery from crimea right up to the Russian army, railing von rundstedt to talinn, and operating a tactical bomber from Egypt. But this causes the Soviet defenses to crumble fast and I think it's worth it. All those armies and the HQ get destroyed at supply <=4 so they are full kills, and many Axis units get freed up before the end of 1942. One important point is to place a sub or other vessel right next to Kronstadt (Leningrad port) to prevent Soviet units from drawing supply from the port itself. Once you use the bombers on turn 3-4 to help destroy the unit next to the finns, Soviets have no safe place to put their HQ and they start losing base supply due to siege rules. From then it's a matter of time. Make sure to swap-place a German army in the hex next to Leningrad on turn 1 because that hex does not face a wall from the Soviet fort you destroy first, and also the army can punish the Soviet player if they boldly go for higher supply by placing their HQ on Leningrad itself.
Soviets have a limited ability to counterattack from volkhov but Germans can counter by moving in an extra corps if necessary. They would also have to rail in one of their HQ which they suffer from a shortage of.
AGC/Moscow:
Soviets have a huge number of armies here and the Germans aren't set up to do much on turn 1. The Soviets can actually human wave advance against Rzhev and threaten to surround it. Germans can't destroy more than one unit in response so they will have to retreat. It may be prudent for Germans to rail or match in an extra corps into this area to slow down any Soviet push. The Soviets desperately need those armies upgraded and railed to the caucasus and Saratov/Stalingrad and in subsequent
AGS:
It is obvious that the Axis have the opportunity to do significant damage here. But maximizing the damage is challenging. The version I have going destroys two Soviet HQ, destroys or damages a few Soviet armies, and encircles several Soviet armies and corps. A Soviet AT is destroyed and one of their tanks gets mauled to make way for the panzers. Soviet fighter and bomber units get severely mauled. All of the Soviet encircled units on this front (3-4 armies, 2 corps, one cavalry) get destroyed at supply= 0 the next turn and the German units are safe in the attempts I made on the Allied side to punish.
It requires railing in some units to hold the original line to prevent your HQ from getting punched and to provide enough manpower to clean up the mess quickly.
There are other accomplishments the Axis player could opt for on turn 1 which are possible, such as capturing Voronezh and encircling a Soviet HQ, destroying a couple Soviet bombers, or killing off a couple Soviet tanks. But all of these involve tradeoffs and they might not be as safe.
I think the end result of the attack I use really puts the Soviets on the back foot as they lack sufficient HQ to make use of their high number of units, and the Germans are approaching both Saratov/Kuybyshev and the Caucasus extremely quickly.