Egypt and South Africa

I agree w/Yavid. If he sends the RAF to the Med every game try building a carrier for Germany, and maybe 1 transport and/or a destroyer (needed to kill Russian sub(s) anyway). Don’t send your Battleship into battle G1, and you have a pretty good fleet in sz 112 (Loaded carrier, BB, Cruiser, Destroyer, transport) that can threaten Gibraltar (or Scotland if he thinks you might build more transports). If that doesn’t hold his ftrs in London then think about bombing London w/Germany. If you don’t want to sea Lion you may be able to send your fleet to convoy UK for a turn or so, then decide if you want to go to Gib, or back to the North Sea.

Plan 2
If the Germans get the S France IC on G1, you might drop a couple German subs in sz 93 on G2 (if the UK has lost its Med destroyer, or it is out of range). Those subs can pass through the straights of Gib BTW regardless who has control of it and can be a real threat w/German air power. You could also move your subs to Italian waters (sz 95) and still have great range from that naval base. Then drop the bulk of the German air force on Southern Italy to threaten any ship builds in the Med from Egypt with subs/air. I would also get a couple German planes to North Africa to protect Italian advances. The German air force can’t stay in Med too long, but they aren’t needed for Russia for awhile.

I figure if he wants the UK air force in the Med then bring in the Luftwaffe.

In Post Sea-Lion I usually shoot a German transport +1 armor onto the other side of Gibraltar.

Else… loading from Northern Italy works.  I have played it before where I’d always leave 1 german inf in Northern Italy for that purpose, and when the time came, load him up to get him over to north africa.

Alot of it is situational though… Egypt doesn’t always fall early.

I remember one situation where the British fighters attacked German ships. It ended up with both sides destroying each other, but the German player was just glad that his transports survived… until the French fighter launched off and ruined his day. Hehe.

Don’t abandon Egypt. Build a factory T2 there. you can hold this pretty easy if played right. Of course this all depends on whether or not Germany builds a lot of transports on T2. Also if Germany doesn’t build a carrier and 2 transports attack SZ97. If he does it might be best to retreat the med

Whatever the reason I find it impossible to get going as Italy. Always plan to help with Germany and can never do enough.  Next time Will place 1 UK Inf as Krieg suggests.

I see what you mean by that i mean with a 10 IPC economy and all…

When I play test, I set up the board and try to find counters to an idea as I work though the turns, so no opponent. Obviously, that will not mean the idea works until I try it live. Its just to test the concept. If the concept is sound, I use it in a live face to face game and see how the other guy(s) respond.

This first game I focused on the subs for blockading. That part does not seem reasonable at this point. Its still interesting that it delayed the US transports and gave Germany a nice income, but I don’t think the axis will pull a win out of the bag. By the way, when I meant to blockade I would leave the surface fleet back in the face of a large air force and wait for additional subs, you could then counter attack a DD build with air and sea, taking the air units off so that the carriers can stay back. Even convoy raiding for 22 IPCs would be nice.

Next test, I want to build a G2 transport wave as well, this will force UK to keep with Infantry making Italy’s job easier, and give me the resources to secure S. America while the US is neutral, with enough, I hope to divert 3 towards West Africa again, as having the German land unit in Egypt is a nice thought. I realize UK is the same amount of IPCs as S. America, but I’m testing the concept of taking an area out of America’s way plus they have multiple factory sites if it seems possible to use them.

There are some early risks I discovered. The G2 move to Gibraltar in the first game put the German Fleet of CV,BB,CA,2FTR in range of a UK CA,3 FTR and TAC…a bold player might take that shot. I also had UK do a weak attack [CV+FTR+CA] on the Italian fleet, it worked [damaged CV with a CA] while leaving the Tac for London.

Turkey was a tight fight G3, as I only had 5 inf, 3 arm, 1 tac, 1 bomber in range…I ended with 1 inf, 3 arm and the 2 air. Losing 2 units in Greece could have made it 4 inf for the assault. Turkey missed a lot, I could see losing armor in the future as an outcome.

Other concerns are if Russia stages north and drives on Norway, Germany’s income would plummet. With many transports, I hope to discourage that option.

I had UK protect Quebec, but I’m curious about how many players would suspect a G3 three transports full landing on Quebec? The potential to send planes staged in Gibraltar to sz 101 has merit as building carriers in 106[Quebec] would allow them to land and enable a weak looking axis force to “surprise” the US navy round 4. The transports can then hit Venezuela, West Indies and/or Central America turn 4. [This may prove to be a great move for a failed Sea Lion as sinking a US fleet would delay the US a round or more.]

The South American concept seems crazy since the US can just build large amounts of land forces. However, the US must choose fleet or land, and typically will go fleet, meaning there is “some” time for early gains and possible factories. I’m trying to limit the investment to two German productions as I want turn 3 and 4 builds to prevent Russia from getting their foot in the door.

Exactly- if you look at the hi-res pic of the board- it looks like the desert runs along the border between West and Central.  While the border itself it bright blue (not covered by the white of the desert as it is along the SW border of Algeria) the desert looks like it covers the entire border on the FWA side- making a crossing impossible.  But it Does need to be clarified.