@Axisplaya:
As unpleasant as it is, i’m going to have to agree with cow’s point of view.
Using russian units to go and grab valuable territories in Africa is easy, and does not cost much.
The spendo moves from the previous post are way too complicated and too costly…
Here is what i would advise:
R1, leave an inf in Caucasus, bring a tnk and (eventually) a mec in Turkmenistan.
UK1, activate Epr.
R2, if Russia at war, activate Npr, and activate Cpr with tnk(and mec) from Tur.
R3, take Irq (Irq might have been attacked but not taken previously by UK to make it easy for the russian).
R4, bring the tnk (+mec) in Egy. From there, you are free to take Ethipia, Somalia, and eventually Tob if possible.
All you have spent is an inf, mec, tnk, and there is no going into UK transport of any sort.
Of course, the whole thing depends on the fact that you keep the Italians uncapable of taking Egypt, and that you are able to stop them from retaking Irq quickly.
There is nothing complicated about my presentation, in fact it is as efficient as yours. Look:
1. Economically speaking, you are investing 13 IPC worth of units, so you are -13 IPC from the onset of your strategy.
2. With that 13 IPC investment, you take Iraq on R3 and lose 1 Inf putting you at -16 IPC for your strategy.
3. With Iraq taken, at the end of R3 you gain +5 IPC, putting you at -11 IPC for your investment.
4. With those 5 IPC, you gain 1 Inf and bank 2 IPC on R4 (This excludes the possibility of those 2 IPC being used on another unit)
5. R4 you accomplish no new territories, so you gain another +5 from Iraq. You are now at -6 IPC for your investment.
6. On R5, you can spend 7 IPC, so you place 2 more Inf on Moscow, banking 1 IPC.
7. On R5, your Mec/Arm are in Egypt - assuming Tobruk is unavailable you can take Ethiopia for +4 IPC.
8. Ending R5, you have gained 9 IPC from your investment and are now +3 IPC on your investment.
9. Beginning R6, you have 10 IPC to spend, netting you 3 more Inf (6 Inf collectively)
The issue with your strategy is that it basically requires the UK to sacrifice 3 Inf (from Persia) to soften up Iraq for you to take. To the allies that is a potential -9 IPC economic cost as well as those 3 Inf are also highly important for the UK to hold Egypt - which your strategy relies upon to both gain more territories and hold Iraq from Axis aggression.
I’m not saying mine is better, because both rely upon a successful defense of Egypt.
I’m just saying mine accomplishes basically the same thing and allows the UK to get 3 Inf onto Egypt which yours requires as a sacrificial lamb to net Moscow +5 IPC that could or could not be stopped by a failure to defend Egypt.
Just realize I utilize a different UK strategy for dealing with Italy that utilizes the TT in India as well as the Ftr/Tac there to reinforce Egypt. I also (depending on G1) try to get a third TT into S.Africa to move units from there to Egypt every round instead of a Minor in Egypt. With 3 TT you can easily shuttle purchases every round from S.Africa to Egypt and get the Russians into Italian territories it will be hard pressed to reclaim while Egypt is continually reinforced by the UK.
