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I've played Axis & Allies: Europe BGG quite a few times now. It seems that Germany always wins by rushing for Moskva in all the games I've played. Usually USA never plays an important role, coming late to Europe. By the time England is strong enough to invade Germany, the race is more or less over.
What good counter strategies against Germany am I missing?
The dynamics of the game are based on the following:
In the game, if Germany conquers Russia, Germany-Russia is stronger than U.S.-Britain, which was not true in real life. Therefore the game imperatives are
Russia needs to play strict defense, with the ultimate aim of defending Moskva. That doesn't mean that they should neglect the surrounding territories (that would make it too easy for the Germans to capture the extra "income"), but rather to beat a "fighting retreat" as in real life. That is, they should mostly build infantry, and use them to defend territories in a die-hard fashion, and leaving air and armor units in Moskva for "strafing" counter attacks, extracting the highest possible price in time and firepower for territories lost.
The Americans need to find a way to help the Russians, making effective use of their margin of superiority. One way is "Lend Lease," sending e.g. fighter units to Moskva for its defense, so that the Russians can build "all infantry." That is a genuine, but inefficient use of American resources. The second way is to launch "bleeding" attacks in Europe
If these initiatives are successful, the Germans will have too few troops/income left to defeat Russia.
The Allies CAN lose if the die rolls are bad. Barring this, they have a sufficient margin of superiority to win if they play as well as the Germans.
Have the US send over fighters and bombers to Russia as soon as possible. This is the fastest way of reinforcing the front, as russia is able to 'confiscate' allied units in their ground.
Have England concentrate mostly on keeping the seas clean early in the game.
Beef up the front. Move in all units from Caucasus to Ukraine, and all armor divisions from the East into Belarussia. Put aeroplanes, infantry, artillery, and maybe even AA guns in Belarussia, some in Leningrad, and a small force in Archangel. Thus the Germans may attack the front and be anihalated, while you just bring up more inf. Then began the long march to Berlin.
Now comes the theory part. Send US transports and destroyers to Morocco, and offload units, inf. arm. and art., use British units in Egypt and the Middle East to take Libya. Then get rid of Tunisia. Thus the Nazi IPC income will be depleted. Use subs to destroy any naval units Northern Italy churns out. Keep steady convoys to and from the UK. Have one in UK, and another in US at all times, and keep a destroyer or two in the Atlantic and Danish Strait. Then take Italy from North Africa. Thus you are south of Germany and with an Ind. Com. as well. Send bombers into Germany from Italy, take Vichy France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Bulgaria. Thus greatly decreasing Nazi IPCs. Then the Russians are able to push forward. The Northern force must take Scandinavia and Land all Northern troops in Denmark. Use US and UK forces in the west to invade the French Mainland, and then comes the huge battle for Berlin herself. All units come into play here and are mobilized, fighters, bombers, battleships, destroyers, subs, infantry, artillery, tanks, and transports. Then it's just punch and kill. Easy. Unless you're new.
If Germany is smart, their first move will be to blockade the Atlantic and stop the IPC and flow of supplies heading to Britain. Once they do that, the British have to funnel reinforcements into the Atlantic to clear it while the Germans can keep funneling u-boats out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic forcing the British or the Americans to commit large scale naval forces to first clearing the Atlantic and simultaniously moving naval units to block Gibralter. All the while the Germans can canabalize Western Europe and the Balkans for units and send them against Russia, and if they are smart destroy most of the Russian Army in the process without losing too many units themselves. That will just leave them Moscow.
The only way to stop this strategy is to first force the German fleet into a battle of annihilation in the beginning of the game quickly. Then use well protected convoys of troops and aircraft to fly reinforcements to UK. The US Navy can build fleets of destroyers each turn and keep moving out into the Atlantic. The Germans will lose their U-Boats in a few turns. The Royal Navy can sit off of Denmark and in the Barents Sea to force the Germans to defend Germany, but then it b/c a seige war.
The point is to use the Allied superiority in money to force the Germans into large engagements that will cause them casualties that they cannot afford to sustain. If you keep doing that, they Werhmacht will be a broken shell in about 6 turns.
I have always been a naval minded player, so playing Russia is difficult for me. This is my answer: build troops and fighters. The U.S. cannot send you fighters until they are in the war... that's too late. The U.K. could but they need them for themselves. What I have done (and this has never failed me) is build fighters and then with the left over money, men. Leave one infantry piece in each territory on the way to Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. This will slow the German advance. The numbers of hits you can take will be absorbed by your infantry, and the best way to hit them back is with a 4 or less defense with your fighters. I was fighting a numerically inferior force and lost. I had 32 infantry as the Russians to defend Moscow once, and the German army smashed it... Another time I played, I had 18 infantry and 10 fighters. My air force is what hit the German army, whilst my infantry absorbed the hits. That is the best strategy thus far that I have seen and used.
I am somewhat new to this game, but from my experience, I have found that if the UK buys only infantry the first round, it prevents any possibility from Germany invading UK second turn. Russia is a tough country to take when a good strategy is implemented, however, if Germany takes most of it quick enough, the allies could be too late. Keep slowly retreating with the Germans paying for every territory heavily. Buy only infantry, and mass expensive units in Moscow, counterattacking when the Nazis get to close to the capital. Try to not let the Germans take ANY of your factories, because then they have to continue producing ONLY out of Germany and West Germany if they don't build any factories along the borders. If the US can be landing in Africa by turn 3, then landing in Italy turn 5 or 6, the UK can then probably start liberating France. Once the other allies have started landing units in Europe, start pushing back against the Germans. Do not try to liberate your territories before the allies have made landings in Europe. There is no winter in this game, so your Germans will not be destroyed by weather. The Soviets are not strong enough to push the Germans out of Russia without the Nazis having divert some of their now damaged income to the west. That's all I got. Thanks! I hope this helps!
While I have actually only played as Germany/Italy, (and won) I would suggest that a) the US player immediately sends over as many troops as possible when they come into that war, and attacks probably Italy or Southern France - that is, if the British player has been able to clear the Mediterranean. Russia should build a strong front line, but not have all their troops in large bundles - it's too easy to wipe them out with a few lucky dice rolls. Instead, if the initial defense fails, bear a fighting retreat to the cities, where you gather all your troops. As Britain, try to keep the Mediterranean open, and defend Egypt - build a factory there, and from there, attack the rest of Africa. If this doesn't work, build a factory in South Africa and do the same. Apart from that, Britain's responsibility is to the air and sea. but be prepared to help the US in liberating France when the time comes.
I say that US or UK should take Spain then use it as a base to push in France and the Med because i build a minor industrial complex to build troops and/or ships to fight Germany and Italy from their soft underbelly
Allies should make sure France at least keeps Morocco and England should reinforce France in the beginning to hold it off until the us and Russia get there and then push in from all sides to kick axis butt.
As an Axis and Allies player, I have seen the in's and outs of each nation, and let me say, the Germans are not unstoppable.
The real trick is to honestly get troops in Western Europe as fast as possible. The most vital spots for Germany are Western Germany and Germany, which are the two spots they will always defend. The Germans don't generally buy a Sea lion attack on their first turn, because it never works. England can always buy troops in Canada to stock up later in the war when the US gets to land.
That being said, it is really easy for the US to land in Europe and make an effective approach. If the Germans wait until turn 3 or even 4 to attack, the US has some time to sit back and do some producing. I have found it very useful to buy 3 transports, 3 infantry on the eastern side, and then 2 destroyers and a submarine on the pacific. Turn 2, 3 trans, 3 art, then a trans and 2 subs on the Pacific. Turn 3, 3 men, 3 art, then whatever navy you think you need on the pacific. You should lose Philippines but that's okay. turn 4 and beyond, you buy 5 transports, 5 men, 5 artillery, and the US is sure to land in 3 more turns flat, with 18 in each stack. If you really see Axis navy, then send some pacific assets to the east while you're not at war. Worst case for England, They can buy strategic bombers for a few turns to start bombing Germany, forcing them to spend some more money to keep their machine running.
Cheers!
I have played Axis and Allies a lot and I find it very very difficult to win the game as the Allies. If Germany goes after the royal navy first turn. I think it is almost impossible if the Germans smash the fleet, build their own fleet and Italy does the same. With their combined strength, Britain cannot manage to fight off both Italy and Germany. So Britain will just sit around many rounds not doing anything important for the war. That gives Germany many rounds where they can just send troops into Russia, and eventually crush them.
With Russia I like to buy tanks and infantry, it never works but takes out a lot of the German force. After Russia is smashed, then I probably manage to take out their fleets. Then after some rounds can load units on the German land. With Germany attacking the royal fleet first round. This always happen. Germany smashes Russia, then the allies manage to take out the fleet and start loading units, this is probably round 6-7 but it is always too late.
