Axis "No-Brainer" Moves

[RoadWarrior]

ORIGINAL: Harrybanana

In my opinion the true measure of any game is how many strategies for both players are winnable. If either player can be guaranteed to win the game if they follow a single cookie cutter strategy no matter what the other player does than I will lose interest. But that doesn't mean that there are not certain moves (so long as they not "I Win" moves) that each player should make. Having read the posts in this Forum it seems me that there are certain moves that the Axis Player can perform that, while not guaranteeing victory, will always enhance his chances. In other words, certain no-brainer moves that he should make in every game. These moves are:

1. Invading Luxembourg on T1. Is there a downside to this? Does it increase US production levels or something?

2. Invading Denmark on T2. I have seen some people do this with just one corps in which they destroy the defending unit in Copenhagen but lack the OPs to move in. They then move the corps in on T3. Others do an amphibious assault with a division. I suppose the advantage of the former is that it saves the landing craft at the risk the Allies will transport a unit in on their turn.

3. Invading The Netherlands on T3 with an armour they moved and railed from Eastern Germany on T1 and T2. I don't see a downside to this. Even if Poland holds out for an extra turn because of the missing arnour, the opportunity to conquer The Netherlands early should not be passed up.

4. Performing an early (late 39 or early 40) invasion of Belgium. Not sure if this is as good a move as it used to be now that Belgium is tougher to conquer in 1 turn (or even 3 or 4 turns).

5. Not invading Norway (more of a non-move really).

6. Having Italy perform an amphibious invasion of Greece. Although I have heard that there are counters for this I am not sure how effective they can be. Is there an AAR of this? If Italy invades Greece as soon as it joins the Axis Alliance it can do so before DOWing the UK. Is the counter for this that the UK DOWs Italy the first chance it gets? Even if the UK gets involved in Greece I am unsure how much it can spare. Assuming the invasion comes on the turn Italy joins the Axis (usually June or July 40) the UK will have to guard against a possible Sealion. So how much air, naval and land forces can it spare for Greece? Even if the UK makes a major investment to defend Greece, is there any chance that it can hold out long enough to prevent Yugoslavia from joining the Axis? Especially if Germany gets involved. Of course, the goal for the Axis here is to get Yugoslavia as an Ally rather than an enemy.

Anyway, I am just wondering if people agree with me that these are no-brainers. Also, are there any more? I assume there are some no-brainers for the Allies too. Perhpas the subject of a further post.

No-brainer moves today can be WTH moves 12-24 months from now.

[kennonlightfoot]

Biggest advantage of Norway is Oslo's 1 VP every turn for almost the rest of the game.
That is over a 100 VP for the final tally.
It only takes one Corps to hold it since there is no advantage to garrisoning the rest of the country that I can see.
Usually I split that Corps and send one division back to Germany and leave a 20 strength Corps to hold the VP.

[kennonlightfoot]

Use the German transports to take Norway. There is no down side other than having to leave a small Corps to garrison it. The VP for it mounts up over time. It will cost the UK a lot of resources to take it back so it is usually a safe VP source.

A small corps is just 2 divisions. So are you saying you leave 3 of the ports un-garrisoned? I didn't consider the production gained from Norway. At 5 per turn + the Special Resource, the invasion would pay for itself in about a year.

The ports have no value and are to far from Oslo to support a counter invasion. So why garrison them. Let the UK waste invasion ships taking them. I do sometimes take one of the divisions up to Narvik just to make the Allies think I care.

But two division Corps looks just like a three division Corps to the Allies, so if they decide to take Norway back they have to make a major commitment. Also, when they do it their fleets are vary vulnerable to counter attack and entrapment while they support the landings if they go for Oslo.

I have never had an Allied player both to try to take it back so far. Maybe someone will demonstrate me wrong but I have a feeling the amount of effort required isn't worth while to the Allied. The Axis on the other hand can take it with a single Corps plus the landing ships for the invasion. It is a really cheap potential 100 VP over the war. And, if threatened it is usually very easy to evacuate the Corps.

[Kamelpov]

The 6 depend if you do the sea lion or the direct US invasion path as they don't looks like they will awake to your damn invasion force just near their coast. Preposition your unit and invade if UK isn't here + Wiping the US let you be the powerhouse of the game with unlimited power.

[michaelCLARADY]

How does an Axis invasion force headed for the USA avoid being exterminated by the Royal Navy?

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: michaelCLARADY

How does an Axis invasion force headed for the USA avoid being exterminated by the Royal Navy?

I have not done this or seen it done; but I think it would be simple enough. You just have to embark your troops in France (or Spain if Spain has been conquered) and move them full speed to the US. If the British fleets are in port anywhere in Europe they can chase you but they won't be able to catch you. Even if they could catch you they wouldn't be able to attack you unless they have 1 OP left. So the only way the British can stop you is if they have fleets either parked in the middle of the Atlantic or in Halifax.

[Harrybanana]

OK, so based on the expert opinions offered here (thank you everyone) and my now vast experience (in one game I have made it to May 1941) I have revised my no-brainer Axis moves as follows:

1. Invading Luxembourg on T1.

2. Invading Denmark on T2. I have seen some people do this with just one corps in which they destroy the defending unit in Copenhagen but lack the OPs to move in. They then move the corps in on T3. Others do an amphibious assault with a division. I suppose the advantage of the former is that it saves the landing craft at the risk the Allies will transport a unit in on their turn.

3. On T2 only use only those infantry corps in Poland that are essential to conquering it. All others should be placed in garrison mode. Also set your Replace/upgrade to 0.

4. Invading The Netherlands on T3 with an armour they moved and railed from Eastern Germany on T1 and T2. I don't see a downside to this. Even if Poland holds out for an extra turn because of the missing arnmur, the opportunity to conquer The Netherlands early should not be passed up.

5. Also on T3 set all infantry except the ones used to conquer the Netherlands to garrison mode.

6. On T4 set all remaining infantry to garrison mode.

7. From T2 until January 40 or so use all your production (including all that gained from switching infantry to garrison mode) to build at least 2 armour, 1 mechanized, 1 Para, 1 TAC and a Fighter. Also be sure to build lots of supply trucks.

8. Starting in January and prior to March 40 switch most, but not necessarily all, the infantry you intend to use to conquer Belgium and France back to normal.

9. Conquer Belgium in one turn on the first clear weather turn of 1940 (probably didn't need to include this one as it is obvious).

10. Do everything you can to conquer Greece before March 41. Perform an amphibious invasion if possible. If not, use your paratroopers (German and Italian) and as much of the Luftwaffe and German army as possible and attack from Albania. Of course, the goal for the Axis here is to get Yugoslavia as an Ally rather than an enemy.

If anyone agrees or disagrees with any of these I would be glad to hear from you.

[sveint]

It's a good list, even if I do things slightly differently (and change things up from game to game).

It's entirely valid to skip Greece.

[baloo7777]

I think it's a good list. I would like to see a production comparison of garrisoned units as they are switched back to full attack mode compared to the gain of switching them all to garrison to "gain" production. Is it like disbanding units to get half their value back then rebuilding a better unit (as long as time and production are available)? How many turns per number of units switched to garrison of production gain is the break-even point?
Also, if the French re-garrison the Maginot line with the 40% efficiency corps or even divisions, I pull out and set a screen of a couple German Divisions to be a ZOC stop (+2 to enter ZOC) and use the extra div/corps elsewhere to garrison the coast and the corps size in the Ardennes to attrit the French corps there, and make the victory city there more accessible to attack.

[Flaviusx]

I am very on the fence about Greece, for whatever that is worth.

[sveint]

Also I think manpower is more important than production (for Germany).