From: Evan Birkby Subject: Axis & Allies Europe German strategy to take out Brittain in 2 to 3 turns. I've not wrote to you before but I've been reading the posts on Axis and Allies Europe. I've recently started playing Axis and Allies Europe after having played around 500 games of the original Axis and Allies. From many of the posts I've read it appears people are playing the game in a fairly historical way but I've discovered that Germany does have an interesting opportunity to win the game in 2 or 3 turns by taking out England. As far as I can tell this almost breaks the game because there is little England can do to stop it. My first try resulted in a 2 turn victory and this was with my friend knowing what I had planned and spending the 12 IPCs on English infantry. If the Allies give the starting 12 IPCs to Russia or the USA this would make Germany's task much easier. Here's how you take out England as Germany: Save all 12 IPCs and just save it for Germany's normal purchase phase. This may trick the allies into spending theirs or giving it to one of the Allies other than England. Given the nature of Germany's first move there is no advantage to spending the money before the Allies have used their 12 IPCs. Germany buys a destroyer and 5 transports. The destroyer will provide some additional protection to the transports if England decides to attack the fleet. The German battleship fleet in the made attacks the British destroyer in the straight of Gibraltar. The transport should be loaded with an artillery and an infantry from Northern Italy. Hopefully the Germans can absorb any damage with the battleship and not actually lose anything. 4 German subs attack the U.S. Destroyer and Transport and in the process two subs move through the U.S. sea zones on their way to the battle. This normally will result in the loss of the U.S. ships with the loss of one or two German subs. 2 German subs a fighter and a bomber attack the British destroyer and transport in the Celtic Sea. 1 German sub and 2 fighters attack the destroyer in the English Channel. 3 Germans subs and 3 fighters attack the British Battleship, Destroyer, and transport. These naval attacks will result in the sinking of every British ship around England and probably leave 1 or 2 subs in each sea zone around England. In the first turn the Germans ignore the British transport near Canada and the Russian ships. The Germans are also ignoring all the British transport zones since these attacks can't be made while also taking out transport zones. On the non-combat move the Germans land their planes in Belgium. On the Russian front the Germans just reinforce their front lines and move at least 6 artillery pieces to Germany. The artillery in France can stay in France since it can be picked up on the way to an invasion. At least 7 infantry also need to be moved to Germany, France, or Belgium. In Norway I move all the ground units to Finland. This may encourage the Russians to land in Norway; let them since it works into the German plan anyhow. On this first turn Germany doesn't need to attack any Russian forces, I suppose one could do so but I don't see a need. After this first move the allies have only a couple choices, and less if they spent the 12 IPCs or gave the money to Russia. Russians could attack but at bad odds everywhere so they would probably just build and position troops. The Russian transport can be used to grab Norway without opposition if they choose. They can and probably should fly their bomber to England. England can build 8 infantry and 4 more if they were given the 12 IPCs. The British can then try to sink submarines with planes or attack the German transport fleet. If they go for the fleet they will probably kill two transports but lose a fighter and a bomber and the German subs will be free to take out transport zones the following German turn. Essentially the Brits can try to make it harder for the Germans to invade the 2nd turn at the cost of making it easier on the 3rd turn. My friend decided to attack the subs on our first game. Since he knew what I was planning he also gave the initial 12 IPCs to England to buy 4 more infantry. The U.S. can't do anything turn one other than flying the bomber and fighter to England and attacking submarines on the way. The U.S. build choices haven't been fully explored here but it seems that any choices will have a small impact, and virtually none for turn 2. On turn 2 Germany now builds 2 destroyers, a transport, and 2 artillery. Germany could build an extra transport instead of the destroyer if England had decided to attack the fleet the previous turn, since air defense would be less of an issue. Now for the attack on England. Germany now has 7 transports in range of England. They had 2 and built 5. One transport is with the fleet in the straight of Gibraltar. The Germans should also be able to load the transports with 7 infantry and 7 artillery, 1 of each for each transport. Germany also should have 6 fighters and a bomber to attack England since casualties during the previous turn would have been taken on submarines. This gives Germany 14 twos, 6 threes, and a four plus a shore bombardment of 2 threes and a four. It is possible England could move their Canadian destroyer to the Celtic sea to at least stop the shore bombardment. My friend tried this but I had a surviving sub and both units were eliminated in the attack. England will be defended by a maximum of 16 infantry and possibly only 12. They also have 2 twos from a tank and artillery; 3 4's from fighters, 3 ones from bombers, and an anti-aircraft roll. With 16 infantry it is about 50/50 the Germans can take England. When we played it out I ended up taking England with one artillery piece and losing the entire German air force. If England doesn't fall it turn 1 Germany can have 4 tanks 2 artillery, 6 infantry, 4 dds and a bb to attack the following turn. England would at most be able to build 8 more infantry depending on weather they killed German subs the previous turn. Turn 3 could have a battle that looks like 4 x 3, 4 x 2, 4 x 1, and a 5 ship shore bombardment. against 8 infantry and whatever planes survived the first round plus any planes the U.S. can deliver. With this situation I propose the game may be somewhat broken and my proposed solution would be to give England on additional fighter at the start of the game and Germany one additional bomber to offset the fighter if it is used by the Russians in normal games. The extra fighter would at least make Germany be in greater risk if they build the German transport fleet in turn one. Cheers, Evan