From: cbekar@fraser.sfu.ca (Clifford Bekar)
Subject: Third reich Hints
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 08:16:59 GMT

I have played 3R for many years now and should start by saying that
the reason the game is so fun to play is that there is no "blueprint"
for and Axis (or Allied) victory.  With that little speech out of the
way heres what I've done in the past to win many games as the Axis.

(i) first thing you need to do is to decide just how aggressive your
going to be as Germany, here are the two options I pick from:
[a] set up with the minimum force to take over Poland, declare war on
both Denmark and the Netherlands. A good roll on the attrition table in the west
and we can just walk into these countries next round (note: don't touch
any French units or they will simply take the losses.  March an infantry
up the neck of Denmark and another to Copenhagen.  Now, you can SR an
airbase into Denmark, this will let you drop your paratroopers onto
Oslo next round (a 2-1, I have lost big here) with air support.
[b] just take Poland and build like crazy (boring but it works).

(ii) on the second round you should declare an offensive and attack
any Belgian units across the Rhein in order to secure a bridgehead there.
This will let you stack 5 units close to the French border on one
hex (impossible for france to dislodge this), and make the he impervious
to being claimed by an attrition. Now hold Brussels with infantry, if
the Allies get a good attrition roll, lose these units, this denies
the hex to the allies, Antwerp is an objective hex, and you should have
a bridgehead just south of Brussels. (Note: I am of the opinion that
Italy should declare war now and immeadiately lend Germany her two
5-4 airforce counters, this gives Germ the neccessary air power to
quickly subdue france)  Now, set up your tanks so they can either
strike south through the Italian Alps (you can really catch a new
player with this long run approach) or, if necssary, strike into
the heart of France.

(iii) your first attack on France should be as brutal as possible, make
as many 2-1 attacks (I even go 1-1 against the Maginot with infantry)
as is humanly possible.  Attack south with the Italians (you may even
want to supply some German support here).  I even go so far as to invade
a french port like Dieppe or Caen, a bridgehead back here can be bad
news to the French (if the British intercept this, let them, their going
to be stretched to the limit trying to re-enforce France and the Med).
Further, you should make one breakthrough to get next to Paris.  Now,
get your paratroopers back onto the continent (from Norway), and build
your maximum allowed (if the Allies take a flip here, which you may force
them to do since they don't have a lot to build, france is yours in the
Summer, and maybe the Med), be prepared to take the tanks which broke
through to Paris as losses, ensuring that the hex remains German.  Now,
make sure your paratroopers are in range of Paris, and set up slightly on
the defensive so that if the Allies take a flip they can't take out 
either Italy or Germany.

(iv) if all went well you should have air superiority, a hex beside Paris
and Paratroopers ready to fly.  What you do is try to attack french units in
the vicinity of Paris to create a breakthrough, have as many tanks touching
as possible, after the breakthrough, attack Paris across the River Seine,
untripling the defenders with your paratroopers, you should have a bridgehead
on Paris with 3-5 german panzer corps and a paratrooper holding the city.
Depending on what the air power situation is like, and if the British player
is ready to sacrifice units or not, more then likely the french won't even
be able to counter attack.

I have dealt with germany almost exclusively here, I play Italy very conservatively in the first few ros (mainly because I face *very* good allied players
and Italy is very vunerable to Allied attack).  My time table includes conquering France by the Summer of 1940 (you have to start Barbarossa by the spring of
41, I usually start in winter 1940, and make the Russian player try to delay
the Russian Winter).          

As far as Malta goes you can do one of three things (actually there are many
options but heres three)
(i) ignore it, if you take over the USSR you'll win anyway
(ii) blast it into oblivion with your planes and invade with
the Italian fleet, if your intercepted, make sure there are plenty of
land based planes around to bomb the British (Note: the bombing is
designed to reduce the 9 factor fleet to allow invasion, if this
doesn't happen you can use the German Paratroopers, *risky*)
(iii) create a land based supply chain into the med by conquering
Turkey, this also helps with the destruction of the USSR and is my
personal favourite.

Well, I'll end it here, let me know if you read this and if you want
anymore advice (or for that matter, let me know if you find my advice
worth reading)

Cliff Bekar
Simon Fraser University
cbekar@sfu.whistler.ca

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