Best Strategy Games - Axis & Allies Strategy

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USA Strategy for Axis & Allies 3rd Edition

USA Turn One

If playing with Heavy Bombers, buy one factory, one bomber, two tech rolls and save 2 IPCs.

If not playing with Heavy Bombers, buy one factory, 1 carrier, 1 transport, and 1 infantry.

USA is the 5th player to go, so what has already happened will in large part determine some of what you’re able to do on turn one.

If Japan has fought Pearl Harbor II and has only a carrier, two planes, and a battleship or less defending, then you should counterattack with your bomber, battleship, 2 fighters, and transport.

If Japan has more than that defending in Hawaii, retreat your battleship and transport, sending them towards the Panama Canal. Send your Hawaiian fighter to Eastern Canada.

Send units in Alaska and Western US to Western Canada (unless Japan is threatening an invasion with a loaded transport in Hawaii).

Send units in Central US to Eastern US.

Send Panamanian destroyer to Eastern US

If UK invaded Algeria, send Eastern US fleet and units all to Algeria.

If UK did NOT invade Algeria, send them all to Eastern Canada, with the exception that if Germany would likely have no naval units and no bomber that could attack off the coast of French West Africa two turns from now, then position one transport in Sea Zone 9 off the coast of Newfoundland (where it could potentially invade French West Africa on your next turn).

If the China forces are still alive, try to use them to take a Japanese territory or two, and consider moving Sinkiang forces up (depending on positioning of Japanese forces).

If China forces are not alive, leave Sinkiang units where they are.

Build factory in Sinkiang, everything else in Eastern US.

USA Overall Strategy

Keys to winning:

1. Heavy Bombers

2. Maintain Pipeline of Troops to Europe

3. Keep pressure off Russia

Heavy Bombers are unstoppable. They are the single biggest flaw in the game. I say they are a flaw because they completely unbalance the game. They are so dominant because once you get to the point that you have enough heavy bombers, you can’t be beat, unless the other side also has a stack of heavy bombers. While arguably heavy bombers are the optimal strategy for almost every player, they definitely are the best strategy for the US, because the US has no immediate threat, plenty of income, and difficulty in getting units into action quickly. Get heavy bombers quickly, and spend every IPC (not being spent in a Sinkiang factory) on more bombers. Then strategic bomb Germany to smithereens.

The conventional strategy of sending troops to Europe to help Russia defend herself, then contain and finally attack Germany is still a good one. The problems confronting this strategy are mainly that the Atlantic has gotten bigger, making it harder for your fleets to crisscross, loading and unloading troops. The shortest pipeline is for you to march your units up into Eastern Canada, and then have one transport fleet operating out of Eastern Canada’s sea zone and another operating out of Finland/Norway’s northern seazone. Each turn the fleets can go back and forth carrying another shipment of troops. The math can be tedious to determine exactly how many more transports and infantry you should buy each turn to maximize your carrying capacity. Here is the simplest method:

1. How many leftover land units do you have that aren’t already matched up with a transport?

2. Determine how many transports you are moving to Norway on your turn (that number * 2 is how many infantry you can carry two turns in the future out of Eastern Canada).

3. How many additional sets can you afford (1 transport + 2 infantry = 1 set = 14 IPCs)?

So if you start your turn with 2 transports in Finland/Norway, 3 transports and 9 infantry in Eastern Canada, 5 infantry and 3 transports in Eastern US, and have 32 IPCs to spend on this theater, what should you buy?

The 3 transports in Eastern Canada will transport 6 of the 9 infantry, leaving three infantry leftover. The 3 transports in Eastern US will transport the 5 infantry in Eastern US, and still have room to carry one of the leftovers from Eastern Canada, so that leaves 2 leftovers.

Next you have three transports that will be going to Finland/Norway. One of those three could be allocated to carry the 2 leftovers, so you’ve got 2 empty transports that you need to fill before making any other purchases.

Two empty transports cost 12 IPCs to fill with 4 infantry, leaving 20 IPCs leftover. A set costs 14 IPCs, so after buying one set (1 transport and 2 infantry) that leaves 6 IPCs. I’d recommend buying one extra infantry that will have to wait an extra turn before it can be transported, and upgrading three of those purchased infantry to artillery.

That leaves you with 1 transport, 3 artillery, and 4 infantry

While Germany and Japan are focused on putting pressure on Russia, the US should do everything possible to relieve that pressure. Building the factory in Sinkiang allows the US to spend money directly on the Asian mainland and position troops between Japan and Russia. Getting land units supported by US planes involved in the back and forth skirmishes between Germany and Russia allow the US to save Russia from having to expend resources to take back those territories each turn. By threatening to invade Western Europe, you’re forcing Germany to have to defend it heavily.

Sinkiang is particularly nice for the US because it’s positioned two away from the coast and particularly French IndoChina, which is where a large Japanese army is likely to buildup next to India. That keeps Sinkiang from being easily overwhelmed but leaves them as a constant nuisance to Japan.

The Allies should definitely contest Africa, but it may be that a factory in South Africa would allow the UK to exert enough pressure to take back Africa (particularly once the German Mediterranean fleet is destroyed).

Canada should be heavily used by the US to position troops. Western Canada allows the US player to backup Alaska, quickly move over to Eastern Canada to get picked up by transports, and allows the US to maintain a defensive posture over the Western US. Meanwhile Eastern Canada is an ideal location to position US troops before they load up on transports and cross the Atlantic for the European theater.