Sahara express

[TheDesertFox]

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

Yeah I’ve been straddling the fence on whether turn 3 or turn 4 is more viable and I’m thinking turn 4 to, but not necessarily because of the oil fields, granted that’s a thing, but mostly because it’d be neglecting the defense of Egypt and pretty much the rest of Africa for two whole turns. Obviously ten whole IPCs though removed from the Germans should be something that any Allied player should strive for which is why I’m trying to find any way to implement it sooner rather then later.

[surfer]

This is very far-off from the original topic…but I’m curious:

What are you considering as a viable invasion of Norway turn 3-4? 6-8 units (inf &AA mix)? Anything less and the 1 transport (2 inf) + 2 bombard + Luftwaffe that Germany will counter with is wiped out.

I don’t see how this works early in the game. You have to protect with so many units that either it is a 1 time invasion fleet (just transports), or you have ignored everything else on the board–If you could even protect it.

Norway is much more of a threat to Germany as a US territory anyway. UK can purchase ftrs and reinforce a US invasion without losing units. Waiting a few rounds for the US to join the attack is much more viable. Just building up the UK forces turns 1-5 can ensure the US can fight well on turns 6+ (earlier if Axis bring them into the war before Turn 3)

[shadowhawk]

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

It all depends on what germany does really.
If they neglect norway and push all to finland and then into russia there is nothing stopping the UK from using a starting transport to just take norway.

Basically after round 2 its not possible to determine what can or cannot be done as your opponents strategy migth have some holes in it or just bad dice.

Like Italy can never take egypt before round X. Well what if taranto went wrong and italy has still 3 transports? Its unlikely maby? But could be that the UK had other plans with those ships?
If you want to consolidate near Gibraltar and only use 1 attacking unit near malta both attacking forces can be destroyed. Just an example.

[TheDesertFox]

@surfer

Two fully loaded carriers and the destroyers plus the cruiser you start with in the Atlantic can and will prove sufficient enough to ward off a Luftwaffe strike. What I consider a viable invasion is 6 ground troops atleast going into Norway… the point is to capture it and hold it and not let the Germans retake which is why Im largely considering round 4 to be another viable option for invasion.

And while Norway might be better suited in the hands of the US, the point is, the UK can take it AND Finland much quicker then the US, and on top of that, the IPCs are much more needed in the hands of the UK then the US.

[shadowhawk]

@TheDesertFox
Thing is, if you got that force germany and italy also have to worry about other points you might want to visit with those troops. Rome appears to be a verry nice city. And even if you only take it for 1 round germany still has to divert resources to recapture it.

Its actually quite good as a fleet in being there. Because germany cant just have you keep normandy, or south france or italy or norway or western germany. So it has to be able to counter all of these.

[TheDesertFox]

@shadowhawk

Precisely. And that’s exactly how it should be used. The ideal goal is to take Norway but if the German player just thinks “Oh he’s trying to take Norway let me just center all my resources up in Scandinavia” then fine as the British player I’ll just head South with the fleet where the Axis resources aren’t. Its resourceful and it also allows your planes to perform land operations from the sea.