My Standard G1

@Sherman

Just to nail this part down, I went ahead and pulled the exact stats for Egypt actually being captured by the Germans with an extra British infantry added in and its 35%:

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You have to convert one tank to a fighter and select “Retreat when only air left”. This will ensure the calculator leaves one of the tanks alive along with the bomber resulting in an Egypt capture.

And if it helps, I have lost as the Allies even after holding Egypt on G1 (I’ve also won games after losing it on G1 but in that case, I feel experience won the day). And after reading your second post, I will say that when I make balance recommendations in the videos, they are very conservative relative to what I feel is the true game state. In other words, I’d rather the game remain imbalanced than go too far with too much for the weaker side. I might also make that more clear in a future video. Anyway, I hope that helps try to convince your group to adopt that second infantry into either Yunnan or Egypt - or even both for a total of three… or an additional bid of some kind.

@leebear I would suggest that if the extra British ships aren’t making a difference then the British player isn’t using them well. If you send the German bomber to Egypt then Britain either keeps both Atlantic transports, or Britain keeps the destroyer and cruiser near Gibraltar.

With two transports, it is nearly impossible for Germany to protect France; Britain can attack turn 1 with 2 inf, 1 art, 1 tank, 2 ftr, 1 bmr, and 1 BB bombard. To protect against that you would have to leave almost the entire German starting army in France, meaning that your front against Russia is in danger of collapse from a Russian counterattack; you can lose your tanks or lose control of the NO for Baltics, East Poland, and Ukraine. If you don’t protect against it, then Britain gets $6 for France plus $5 for the NO, plus the US gets $5, and you can’t land planes there on G2. This sets up a cycle where Brian has enough cash to keep retaking France each turn, which is at least as valuable as the Italian NOs. You can somewhat prevent these problems by having Italy retake France, but that means keeping the Italian forces back from the eastern front, and buying mostly army rather than navy for Italy, which kind of defeats the point of having a strong Italy – you can still lose the Italian fleet in the middlegame.

On the other hand, if you leave Britain with the destroyer and cruiser off Gibraltar and the Egyptian fighter survives, then Brian can attack the Italian fleet immediately on turn 1 with 1 destroyer, 1 cruiser, 1 fighter, and 1 bomber; before Italy has a chance to build a carrier. Britain is mildly favored to win that battle. If you play with any kind of bid, Britain can add a sub to that fleet and become strongly favored to win that battle.

None of this is to say that you shouldn’t attack Egypt on G1…it’s fine if that’s where you like to focus the Axis energy. It’s just that you’re not getting a free lunch, because leaving more than the bare minimum of British ships alive ought to give the Allies plenty of counterbalancing advantages.

@Violent.copper:

To add on to Cmdr Jennifer, You are also leaving the Brittish Navy to Invade the Norway Round 1 or then Sz 5 R2 or R3 overall doing more harm than good to Germany I never want the Allies in SZ5 Personally.

You know, hitting Norway may not be the worst thing to happen to Germany…if you go Fleet Heavy like Functionetta and Emperor Mollari (and many others I am sure) on Germany 1.  Now their ships are in range of yours (you have to hit it from SZ 3).  Realistically speaking, you may have 2 destroyers, cruiser, submarine, carrier, 4 or 5 fighters and a bomber in range of SZ 3 at this time…depending what you did, what happened to you and how you are positioned at the end of G1.

With a bid unit to Egypt, you had better just leave Egypt alone and hit the following:

sz2 use 1 ss, 1 fig, 1 bmb
sz6 use 1 ss, 1 fig (+ 1 ca if you feel like it)
sz12 use 1 ss, 2 fig
take Gibraltar with an infantry from France or Algeria to help Italy get its NO

on Italy 1, you can hit Egypt or Trj, whichever, or both if the UK pulled back to Sudan.  Just make sure to get both of your NO’s so as to get the money flowing.  If the UK pulled out of Egypt so that your Libyian troops can take it, you could even move the fleet to sz13, dropping off 1 inf, 1 arm in Algeria so that on Italy 2 you could take Brazil with the infantry unit if the US is headed to the Pacific, but the armor unit could still go to Egypt on Italy 2.

This should accomplish what you need to accomplish.

Also, you should buy at least 1 air unit on G1 (preferably a bomber), so as to keep the pressure up on the UK Atlantic fleet since you should have decimated it.

Twigley, I did not adress round 2 but that’s why i recommend a buy of an AC + fighter, 1 inf/1art for German round 1 as my prefered option.

This ensures Baltic fleet survives.

Try it this way on round 2, reinforce Karelia with transport and buy 2 fighters, 9 inf and 1 transport. You should have 54 ipcs. I’d say 4-5 fighters (Italy helps), 6 tanks, and 2inf/2art can hold Karelia without serious losses.

IF you aren’t prepare to reinforce Karelia, On G2, it’s still imperative to block UK drop in Karelia. A cheap trick for German to keep UK fleet at bay round 2 is simply moving the BC in sea zone 3. ( UK will still be able to land in friendly Archangel but they can’t directly attack Karelia that round )

Don’t forget Japan( round 3) and Italy, they can send troops / fighters to help.

Usually it will knock the UK fleet out of position though, and open it up to Ger air normally, but not always it depends on the situation.

We play with NO’s and tech rolls, and my normal partner and I spend most of the money in the Atlantic. We move the SZ44 off the west coast and build three subs there turn one. Then we usually put one into each of SZ58, SZ52, and SZ46. On the second turn we buy a couple subs. Japan will have to avoid moving unescorted carriers in range of the subs, and will need to use a lot of forces to kill the subs.  If they attack any of the subs, the counter would be 3-4 subs, a carrier, a destroyer, 3-4 fighters and a bomber.

In Atlantic, our plans often change. We either buy mostly transports and link up with the British navy after they take France while helping hold France or we attack the Italian navy.

I think the transport that early is over kill.  The carrier, sure.  Carrier and Destroyer sure.  But you probably dont need the transport yet.  Germany 2 maybe.

Likewise the fighter.  If you go ground forces with the cash you are putting into Transport and Fighter, you’re talking 17 IPC or 4 Infantry, and an Armor…with which you can certainly use to fill holes that will appear in your front with Russia (or to liberate France if you let the Allies trade it for a round or two.)

I guess, 32 IPC in the water, might be better with Carrier, Cruiser, Submarine instead.  At least that is significant defensive punch (and you WILL have that submarine if England attacks round 1 (probably the SZ 5 starting one too) since England has nothing with which to attack SZ 5 that can hit submarines. )  And you’ll have significant offensive punch with 2 cruisers, 2 submarines, carrier, destroyer in whatever fighters you put on the carrier (thus allowing at least 4 fighters to hit SZ 2 on G2, probably a bomber as well.)