For those who don’t know, the Taranto raid basically involves bringing as many British units as possible on Britain’s first turn to attack the Italian naval units in sea zone 97, with the goal of sinking it and crippling the Italians early on and prevent them from being a significant problem for the rest of the game (ideally).
I heard about this a year ago, maybe, I’ve tried it several times myself. I read about it a lot on this forum.
I don’t understand it, though. The British can only bring 4 fighters, 1 tactical bomber, 1 strategic bomber, 1 destroyer, and 1 cruiser to that battle. While the odds are good enough with Low Luck, if the Axis scramble 3 fighters, with regular dice that’s only a 70-80% chance of success, far below the 95+% threshold @AndrewAAGamer AGmer reccommends.
Yes, you can have the British carrier help out (that brings it to a 90+% chance), but it adds no combat value and taking it as fodder essentially dooms 2 fighters. Is it really worth sacrificing that? I very rarely use carriers as fodder unless it’s a crucial battle and if all air units can land safely.
Am I missing something here? Is there a way to make this viable in my eyes? Is killing the carrier as part of this strategy already accepted among most players who use this?
I look forward to your responses!
The point of bringing the carrier is to discourage the axis player from scrambling. With a 90% plus chance of winning most players are not going to scramble and lose their three fighters therefore you can kill the Italian fleet for most likely only one plane. The only downside to this strategy is the counter attack from German air. On average the Germans should lose 2.5 planes on the counter attack. Three losses is very good for the allies, and two is still OK.
I used to be a big proponent of the Taranto raid, but I am leaning against it recently as I’ve had two games where the German didn’t lose any planes on the counter attack, which was a disaster for the allies. Probably better to do Gibastion as you don’t have to worry that the dice will screw you.
@SuperbattleshipYamato Worth remembering that with the right bid you can change the odds further (and perhaps also avoid bringing the carrier in). And as Andrew notes, the surviving units should take out some German air. And the Italians not only lose most of their fleet, but get convoyed in round 1. That being said, in my allied play I tend to prefer Gibastion.
Thank you for the responses! I understand now.
@SuperbattleshipYamato hey,
I´ve been trying to find other ways of saving egypt but it always comes down to a show off (a taranto 2.0). I´m making a video of a possible alternative but the problem is the axis (italy) will have options with their fleet so it´s difficult to foresee solutions for all these options .
Thank you! I look foward to it! Weren’t you the one who had the idea of sending the carrier to sea zone 81 and having the landing the aircraft from India land there? I think I’ll try it sometime.
@SuperbattleshipYamato correct. But it costs a lot in blockers so in my new plan i have a solution for this.
Great!
You bring the carrier the axis has 2 options.
Scramble, sure you take 1 carrier and 2 fighters as losses.
They still lose the fleet and 3 extra fighters.
Dont scramble and basicaly give up the fleet for minimal losses on the allied side.
Take your pick really, it hardly mathers to the allies Italy is crippled, its 1 less front to bother with and basically you turn the game into a race to moscow for the axis. They either win the race and the game or have a few 2 many bad rolls and they lose the game.
I get ecstatic when my opponent doesn’t do Taranato.
No idea what my win rate is when there is no Taranato, but I am sure it is higher than when I do get Taranto’d.
@Galendae said in Let's talk the Taranto raid.:
I get ecstatic when my opponent doesn’t do Taranato.
No idea what my win rate is when there is no Taranato, but I am sure it is higher than when I do get Taranto’d.
Well i guess it doesnt happen that often because taranto is just really good and easy opener. Not doing it is a lot more tricky to do as allies.
If for some reason that BB in 110 survives and your cruiser in the atlantic survives its a good tactic though. Combining everything + airbase in the med removes any ideas italy might have for any NO they might want to think about.
And any ideas of a sea-lion for germany are also scrapped.
@shadowhawk it does take either good dice rolls, an Allied bid, and/or meticulous execution to pull of the alternatives to Taranto. Otherwise you find that you lose Egypt, Gibraltar, or London early in the game and it is almost impossible to recover.
I have to spend a long time battlecalcing every scenario if I decide to place my fleet next to Gibraltar. That certainly is the best option if you can avoid mistakes, but I wouldn’t do that in a face to face game.
@Arthur-Bomber-Harris said in Let's talk the Taranto raid.:
@shadowhawk it does take either good dice rolls, an Allied bid, and/or meticulous execution to pull of the alternatives to Taranto. Otherwise you find that you lose Egypt, Gibraltar, or London early in the game and it is almost impossible to recover.
I have to spend a long time battlecalcing every scenario if I decide to place my fleet next to Gibraltar. That certainly is the best option if you can avoid mistakes, but I wouldn’t do that in a face to face game.
Yea i agree there, taranto is the easier option to pull off.
But in the case or rare dice in 110, or just a weak attack there, sometimes you can pull it off.
Having a BB + 2 cruisers + destroyer + carrier + 3 fighters available will deter any attack on it from italy or germany and that fleet can easy defend sea lion or punish the italians for moving anywhere but stay put.
But just doing taranto is the easier and safer bet.
