I played this way this morning and here is some of how it played out:
G1 buy was a bomber and two subs, holding 6 for the next round.
Attacks were typical G1 except:
hitting Southern Europe instead of Normandy (need the factory on the Med for G2)
two subs hit the British cruiser in seazone 91 (to help Italian fleet)
1 sub to 106 (can only reach 106 or 109, and 109 can scramble 1-4 fighters)
German fighter lands in Italy for Taranto defense.
Unfortunately, the north sea attack in SZ111 went unbelievably poorly and his battleship escaped (these were the only planes I lost, btw. He scrambled Scotland into 111 and the French fighter to the channel), otherwise Britain would have lost everything in the Med and Atlantic except for its two destroyers and two transports on Round 1.
J1 was a very successful all out attack on 12 Russian troops in Amur, and usual China attacks.
Italy’s destroyer/transport in SZ 96 survived because Britain only had one fighter to attack it (no Brit cruiser thanks to two subs), and Italy’s fleet attacked the French in SZ 93, joining the German carrier/fighter that is about to be built. Sank the Brit Cruiser left over from Taranto. OR, not having the British cruiser over Malta means Italy could attack the British planes on Malta, but you end up losing your fleet, like usual.
–—
G2 ($68 avail) Buy Carrier, Transport, sub (I now wish it had been two transports) for Southern Europe; bombers for Germany
G takes Normandy and original transport takes Gibraltor (british bomber on Malta can hit it, but would then be destroyed in N. Africa)
J2 returns to typical pattern for China, Calcutta, money islands, but Amur force starts rolling up Eastern Russia ($5 easy)
I2 ($17 avail) Greece, Morocco, Algeria, etc, as able
2nd transport took Trans-Jordan to seal the canal from British ships
Italy now gets $10-15 in bonuses (no enemy ships, holds 3 out of 4 Greece/Gibraltor/Morrocco; and all of Northern Africa)
Resulting situation:
Germans were now convoying England, max bombed its factory, and had bombers ready to hit both minor Russian factories on G4.
Italy is very relevant, and supported by a modest German fleet. Italy easily took Cairo I3 (I actually sent all the German fighters down, too, to keep it) and has a factory in Iraq, threatening Africa, Calcutta, and/or Southern Russia.
J4 will include bombers hitting Moscow from China though destroying the Russians on J1 did slow down taking the money islands and the Phillipines, though the income will even out with the additional Russian income.
The biggest bonus is how much this affected the Russians, who lost income and are threatened on 3 fronts by all 3 Axis, and U.S. being forced to help Britain.
update: this game played out as a dominating win for the Axis. By turn 5 and 6, Japan was at 80 ipc (base), Germany was in 51 (base), and Italy was 24 with all N.O.s (so about 40ipc total). When the Allies surrendered, All 3 Axis had a Russian minor factory and were about to attack Moscow. India was alive but neutered. Same with London.
