German Baltic Transport Build

[Butcher]

Assuming 1 bid unit to Libya and 1 to Ukraine, has anybody tried building 2 transports for the Baltic and 8 infantry on Germany 1? One of my friends and I have tried this opening and it looks like a very strong opening. It will prevent the UK from using its starting air power to kill the Baltic navy and allow Germany to funnel large numbers of units to the front.  It also forces a large ground unit build on UK1 as there is a ligitimate threat for a Sea Lion attack.  It isn’t feasible to block the navy in the Baltic because up to 6 figs can be stacked in France.

I have a few questions about this opening:

1. How do the Allies counter this move without leaving themselves too weak in other parts of the world? Britain can easily defend against the Sea Lion, but will give up ground in Africa.

2. Would it be worthwhile to add anything else to this navy, like maybe a carrier turn 2 or 3?

[77stranger77]

1. I believe the best move is for the Allies to combine in z8 first round. This gives the UK more flexibility in purchasing because the US reinforces the UK, so in reality the threat to the UK isn’t significant, it just needs to be answered.

The primary goal of the UK1 build in this scenario IMO is to threaten WE so that the Germans can send as little east as possible. The reasoning for this is that sometimes when Baltic Navies are built, the USSR can move their stack to Ukraine on R3, spelling trouble for Germany. If there are enough planes on WE where you would be concerned about an attack on the combined Allied navy, have the UK build 1-2 transports. The secondary goal is to threaten the Baltic Navy by building planes. These two builds are okay - 2 trans, 3 inf, 1 tank or 3 fig. But what I think is probably the ideal build for that German open is 1 trans, 2 fig. It significantly threatens WE and if the UK attacks the Baltic on UK2 with 4 fighters and a bomber, all the ships are destroyed on average costing the UK 2 fighters. So in order for the Germans to hold the Baltic, they have to build even more ships on their next turn.

I’m assuming a R1 build of 3 inf, 3 tanks and either attacking Wrus only or Wrus/Ukr. Just make sure on R2 to build enough tanks to keep Germany out of Karelia.

2. I’m opposed to adding to the Baltic navy in the first place but if you consider holding the Baltic for a while to be a priority, then you’ll have to add to it G2 or G3 depending on your opponent’s reaction.

If you’d like, you can try that against me on the forums. I’ll give you a bid of 7.

[Zhukov44]

There is a Caspian Sub article that advocates 2 transports and expands on the options it opens up…that might be worth checking out…

It’s a good strategy against novice/intermediate opponents…the key to making the buy work is moving the Med fleet to SZ13 to set up a fleet combine in SZ7 whereby you can threaten a landing in Canada or an escape to the Med.

I don’t think it’s a good idea against expert Allies, because it’s very easy for Allies to counter with air buys.  If you don’t buy an AC G1, then you can’t guarantee you will have enough punch and fodder for a fleet combine on G2… So assuming correct Allied buys, you will need to sink more German money into an AC on G2 to keep your fleet alive.  At that point, you will have spent 32 on navy, and if Allies are KGF, it’s probably looking pretty grim for Germany.

[Butcher]

Having the Allies merge in SZ8 allowed a large landing at Africa on U.K. 2. The Baltic needed to be reinforced by a carrier on Germany 2, and will need future reinforcement (we took a break after U.K. 3). The 2 transport build is looking like a huge liability, as I haven’t been able to use all 3 transports yet.

Thank you for the game offer Fleetwood, but neither of us has played Revised much recently. We are playing it again because I feel it is better balanced than AA50. I don’t think either of us would give you much of a game at the moment  :oops:

However, if the offer is still good in the future, I may send you a PM. I could come up with another weird idea I want to try  :-)

[77stranger77]

Sure, I’ll leave the game offer open. Really, I’m not sure how I would stack up in an actual game with a lot of people. A week ago I lost(meaning my opponent quit out of mercy) in a game that lasted two rounds against a player(and the dice) on TripleA. I’ve won and lost 12 round nailbiters and 4 round blowouts, they’re all fun and the best way to get better is to play experienced players.

[KGB]

If you build an AC or 2 transports on G1, the allies can both buy air and sink you unified navy in sz7 on UK2 and US2. If you really want to mess with the Allies in the Atlantic, you might want to try one of the following strategies (though they do come at a cost):

• bid a sub in sz8 and kill the sz2 navy on G1 (you can combine this with a naval purchase on G1 and foregoing Egypt, sending the sz 14 fleet to sz 13, if you have the nerve)
• Buy something like bomber, fig, 5 inf or bomber, 8 inf and move your navy to sz 7 (add the sub in sz 8 or a possible bid unit for added effect). Because of the extra bomber, the UK will be hard-pressed to unify in sz 8 and hitting 5+ units in sz 7 is not really attractive either.