I think that there are a couple of things that you MUST do. I believe that Germany made a mistake by leaving that sub alive in Egypt, and leaving their transport alone. Take it out. Use the sub. I’d also take the 2 UK fighters and the bomber and go after that battleship, in order to protect your fleet, when you do decide to build it. Both fighters can land in Gibralter. You have a shot at holding Africa for the whole game (or forcing Germany to spend lots of IPCs to take it from you) if you can wipe out that transport and the battleship. I’d let the US build the carrier in this situation (German fleet in range of your air, Germany still has all of their air), along with 2 transports (don’t bother landing the Russian fighters on the carrier. Wait until US2 and have them land their owr fighters on it). The carrier and 2 transports should be plenty to discourage attack by the German bomber.
I’d probably buy one of the following:
2 fighters, save 6
a fighter and a bomber, save 3
2 bombers, save 0
1 fighter, save $18
1 bomber, save $15.
I don’t like the idea of an India IC with the UK, unless Japan gets off to a bad start, so I never build it this early. In this game, I would probably move the 1 INF from Syria to Egypt along with the fighter in India. Move the India transport to Austrailia to collect the infantry down there and bring them back to India (or to Africa if India falls on J1).
But, I think that the real issue here is that Germany has given you a chance to keep them out of Africa for the whole game, by leaving the transport alone, and by leaving the rest of their fleet in the Western Med without taking Gibralter. Sure, you’ll probably lose a plane (or 2), but Germany will lose so much more…
If the German sub retreats, it has to go west (as the SZ to it’s east will be involved in a battle on your turn), well within range of the US air. All the Russians have to do is take Caucusus (I assume that’s what CARC is) back, and the Allies are in excellent shape.
US1:
How big does Japan take Hawaii? Since the UK didn’t build a carrier, your fighters are free to strike back at the Hawaii Sea Zone, along with your bomber, battleship, and the transport (fodder). You’ll likely lose most of these units (try to save the bomber, keeping a fighter as well is a bonus), but if you can take out some of those expensive ships, Japan will either have to take their chances, leaving transports undefended in the Sea of Japan, and there’s a good chance they’ll never have quite enough to go to Africa in the late game. If you don’t like wasting your airforce, move the transport southeast 1 seazone, and the battleship to the west side of the panama canal. This should allow you to swing the battleship to the Atlantic. If you’re going to hit Japan back at Pearl, I’d buy 3 fighters (and build the carrier on UK2), otherwise, 1 carrier, 2 transports, save $2.
R2:
Take Cauc back. I’m actually debating how to do this given your board setup… Probably:
2 INF (Kar), 4 ARM (Novo) to cauc.
2 INF (Kar), 2 Fighters to Ukr.
I might hit Finland from Kariella as well (too bad your ARM weren’t in Russia), depending on how many of my purchased INF I want to build in Moscow and send East. A lot of other players like to let the US take Finland though, to build a tank factory. I like the extra $2 that Russia gets for the whole game, though.
I can’t speak for R2 in East Asia, but I’ve found that going on the offensive with the Yakut stack is almost always a bad idea. It’s usually best to just hold your ground there until the USUK arrive to help you out.
Also note that as far as these boards go, I’m not terribly experienced with the game. This all sounds pretty good to me, but I’m sure that someone will find a problem with it, and they may be right.
