Taranto question

The CR, DD, Tac and Carrier from SZ98.
The Bomber and both Ft from the UK.
The Ft from Malta.

The Ft on Gib and the Cruiser in SZ91 attack the DD and TT in SZ96.

You need to ensure that you block SZ96 and SZ97, so Italy cannot take his TT and capture Cairo with his last TT (or two if you fail to kill SZ96).

Of course, you might need one UK Ft to sink the surviving German Battleship off the UK.

That said, I prefer to use the Tac on the Carrier to attack Tobruk with the 4 Ground units in Alex, with the Mech in Egypt.
But then I don’t like giving Italy any sort of fighting chance.
You must protect Cairo at all costs.

Don’t forget to attack Ethiopia too.
I use both TTs (SZ97 and SZ39). I know this means India does not get Sumatra, but I think if he wants India, one will capture it anyway, despite the extra 4 IPCs.
Italy should be your main target.
Germany might get Moscow. The Axis still need Cairo.

If you send two UK fighters who cannot return until UK3, doesn’t this make Sealion very favorable for Germany? In other words, you save Cairo at the expense of London.

Most players don’t like to do Sealion, as it gifts Eastern Europe and a handful of possible NOs to Russia, which you have to conquer to win the game anyway.
No one likes to lose UK’s income, but if Sealion only just succeeds, Germany is in trouble.
I would always buy one Ft and 6 Inf anyway. Most are put off Sealion, if you buy safely like that.
But, yes, send just one Ft if it makes you feel better.
I said, you probably need one to sink the  German Battleship anyway.

@wittmann:

That said, I prefer to use the Tac on the Carrier to attack Tobruk with the 4 Ground units in Alex, with the Mech in Egypt.
But then I don’t like giving Italy any sort of fighting chance.
You must protect Cairo at all costs.

Don’t forget to attack Ethiopia too.
I use both TTs (SZ97 and SZ39). I know this means India does not get Sumatra, but I think if he wants India, one will capture it anyway, despite the extra 4 IPCs.
Italy should be your main target.
Germany might get Moscow. The Axis still need Cairo.

You could also bring the 97 TT to Tobruk for 2 more units on the attack.  Ofcourse the Ethiopia battle becomes more risky with only the 39 TT and a Cruiser bombardment.

If you send 2 UK fighters to Toranto you can use the French fighter on the surviving German BB.

Afternoon Ike.
French Ft: of course. That said, I like to think of the French Ft as a backup, if the UK attack failed to hit.
I realise the Tobruk attack is very 50/50. I just think Italy will find it harder than the UK to reinforce Africa and every bit of disruption to its plans is a help. Can always withdraw if R1 goes badly.
You can use the TT ensure a Tobruk victory, but I hate to throw it away. I would rather have it off the East of Africa as a shuttle for Egyptian reinforcements from the South or saved as a possible throw away at Greece later.
Remember any Bomber in the South of Italy can hit the Suez and land on Greece.

Good points wittmann, I think it comes down to personal preference how you divide up the units between Taranto, Tobruk and Ethiopia.   It stings if Germany uses a sub against the SZ91 Cruiser and hits it.  Then to block SZ 96 you have to atleast send the DD there instead of Taranto.  That may force you to bring the Tac instead of sending it to Tobruk.  What would you do in this situation without the 91 CR?

Cry.
Has only happened once. Can’t remember what I did. It might have been before I started doing both Tobruk and Taranto (a few months now).
I would always send a Cruiser and Ft against SZ96. Suppose, one fewer unit  (Cruiser) for Taranto.
And pray!

You need to make Germany pay for not taking out your two fleets. Consolidate to 1 navy, have fighters to scramble.  Keep this fleet intact, this is a huge advantage for UK!  You’ll be able to protect transports much sooner and start landings in Western Europe sooner.  This also allows the US to spend less on navy in the Atlantic and more in the pacific.  I’ve never played a game where Germany didn’t sink both sz110 and sz111 fleets.

You land the Bomber  in Malta and yes, the UK Fts Would  have to land on the Carrier in SZ97.
Don’t repair the AB (only need spend two), unless you leave your  fleet in the Channel, but you will have to repair the IC by 3 at least.
Buy a Ft (or two) and some Inf for England.
Don’t worry about the Subs which survived off Canada: let them convoy raid you for three.
You have bigger worries.

Edit: still do Taranto, especially as he only has two Italian Ft. This means, if he scrambles, he has fewer units for his Italian counterattack.
You will need to use the SZ98 Cruiser against his small fleet off Tobruk, but you have two choices: use both UK Fts and not the Carrier or one Ft from UK and the Carrier.
Depends if you are doing Tobruk too.
I accept that I will lose the Carrier whatever, so like to throw it in to soak up two hits.
I think having a fleet off Italy and in the Channel, will mean Germany can only hit one of them with his surviving 10 Air. He will probably go after the Channel and you will rule the Med. That is half way to beating the Euro Axis.
Have fun and don’t worry if you lose: the game is Axis biased.
If the Axis player is good and sticks to a strategy you will lose, without extra Allied units for balance.

G1 says me Axis definitely goes for Barbarossa, if your opponent realizes that killing the Allies fleet in G3 in sz110 takes too much planes while France puts a DD block in sz119. You should have good odds to protect London against G3 SL without buying inf there now, if you keep most of the UK air in the London range after UK1.
What I’d be really concerned  is G4 when Germany is ready for taking Belarus, assuming G2 buys fast units and DOWs Russia - several troops are off the russian boarder already, right?  Like my recent opponent Cow said

I am going to attack belarus like a madman.  I need to win that battle to make it easier to take Russia, because after that there is like jack squat.

.  The only way to keep Bel is UK planes there before G4. Not guaranteed  - depends on G2 buy. Can Allies bring enough planes to Rus after Taranto? My plan would be: UK1 buy AB Gib & IC Egypt, sz98 fleet > sz92, one ftr to Egy and UK, the rest > Gib & sz92, take Ethiopia as Wittmann suggests and move all available land units to Egy.
Also, from my experience, killing Italian fleet and taking sz97 might be cheeper when UK builds Egy IC first turn. Good luck.

@wittmann:

Afternoon Ike.
French Ft: of course. That said, I like to think of the French Ft as a backup, if the UK attack failed to hit.
I realise the Tobruk attack is very 50/50. I just think Italy will find it harder than the UK to reinforce Africa and every bit of disruption to its plans is a help. Can always withdraw if R1 goes badly.
You can use the TT ensure a Tobruk victory, but I hate to throw it away. I would rather have it off the East of Africa as a shuttle for Egyptian reinforcements from the South or saved as a possible throw away at Greece later.
Remember any Bomber in the South of Italy can hit the Suez and land on Greece.

Hey Wittmann,
I think you are forgetting a UK fighter –- Scotland. That fighter on Scotland can not reach SZ 97 for the Taranto raid anyway so you can still send your two UK fighters to Taranto and use the Scotland fighter to blast that German Battleship.
One other thing that occurred to me. Azathoth mentioned the Germans bombed 6 points of damage on his Airbase. If the Airbase is damaged, the 2 UK fighters can NOT make it to Taranto. It takes a full 5 moves to get there – (1) SZ 110, (2) Belgium, (3) W Germany, (4) N Italy, (5) SZ 97. So if he wants to do the Taranto raid, he will have to repair the air base.

Well caught Knp: will have to spend 2 to repair the AB after all.

I had not forgotten the Scottish Ft though. That is always half my attack on the Battleship. Then another defender for London.
I really would do Tobruk and Taranto in this scenario.
Hope you are having a good weekend’s gaming Knp (trying out  your new US Axis set up).

@wittmann:

Well caught Knp: will have to spend 2 to repair the AB after all.

I had not forgotten the Scottish Ft though. That is always half my attack on the Battleship. Then another defender for London.
I really would do Tobruk and Taranto in this scenario.
Hope you are having a good weekend’s gaming Knp (trying out  your new US Axis set up).

Wouldn’t he need to spend 4 to repair AB? It took 6 damage, and I thought at 3 damage and above it’s inoperable…

Yes,you are right,  thank you Ike. (I have a cold and am feeling miserable; blame that.)

This is why we roll dice :)

Sometimes they screw you over; sometimes they save your bacon. What I like about G40 is that it is just so big of a game, that any one extreme-case battle will likely be balanced out by the many other battles.

@TheMethuselah:

This is why we roll dice :)

Sometimes they screw you over; sometimes they save your bacon. What I like about G40 is that it is just so big of a game, that any one extreme-case battle will likely be balanced out by the many other battles.

That is like saying if you and your spouse had 4 girls in a row, that you are extremely likely to have a boy next time.

The reality is that luck does not work that way.  A 50% chance will be a 50% chance every time and the previous outcomes have no bearing on future outcomes.

Long story short, don’t rely on bad luck turning good or vice versa.  The best you can do is to try to minimize risk.