Why is Taranto raid so popular?

I would call that option ill advised.

When you say 2 fighters, you mean a fighter and a tac? You can always use the fighter on Malta and tac from SZ98. And the bomber from London.

If you scramble from London you have 3 fighters, a tac and a bomber remaining in Europe. Fighters are in scotland, gibraltar and malta

I say in order to do Taranto you need 3 fighters, 1 tac, 1 bomber and the ships. The consequence then is to use the cruiser in 91 against the destroyer and transport in 96 or skip Taranto all together. Hence my claim that scrambling 110 means you cant do Taranto

Taranto works best (or even only works) if you also take out 96

Of course you can go for the 2 fighter, 1 tac and 1 bomber option but you are risking a lot by doing so

In the event that I scrambled 3ftrs to SZ110, I would never ever do a 3 fighter mission to SZ97. Use the Gibraltar one for SZ96, with the SZ91 cruiser. 2ftrs to SZ97 is 82% as I noted above. Perhaps a bit dangerous but not completely stupid either.

@simon33 said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@Wizard said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@barnee followup question: why is taranto raid so popular? What are the pros and cons?

Ok, a few points, first one being it’s not that popular any more.

@weddingsinger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

I’m a believer in a UK scramble out of London on G1, if it will kill 3+ German planes.

Agreed.

@weddingsinger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

Taranto can include the bomber from London and the fighter from Scotland.

Which gives odds of 82%, 4% draw, 14% loss. That loss is really devastating. Even failing to kill the Italian transport (draw) is bad.

Also, you’re only leaving the SZ91 cruiser and Gibraltar fighter for SZ96, which is 96%. These odds sound good but you need both battles to succeed so really you’re uphill in just over 20% of games, is it worth the risk? Perhaps.

The SZ92 stack can be better because it neutralizes the Italian navy which can be finished off later, although it has a lot of risk in the event that Germany takes Southern France G1, especially if a plane is lost in SZ96. This is what @weddingsinger was pointing out.

Hi Simon,

mostly agreed. One reason why I mostly avoid Taranto recently is the absence of a sub in 98 as a bid for the Allies. I find this sub essential to get the Taranto odds in the (imo required) 90%+ range, next to keeping the attack in 96 always at 95%+ odds.

In a nutshell: I, personally, need the sub in 98 to be comfortable with Taranto.

@oysteilo said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

I think this is an interesting discussion. Of course JDOW is right when it comes to, to do Taranto or not. I like to do Taranto as I find it difficult to both establish a position in 110 and kill of the Italians. If you are going to do Taranto, scrambling G1 is off the table as you need 3 fighters and all the other usual stuff, unless there is a sub bid or similar

In the official G40 2nd edition you might let the Italian sail on their own as the med is not worth as much, but you soon look at +10 for Italy. It is really not good. Then they buy a carrier a destroyer and some subs. It soon becomes a decent fleet with the 3 fighter scramble. In BM3 it is even worse as there is another 3 IPC for Italy as well as -3 for the British (med islands). So if you don’t do Taranto and focuses on early 110 presence, how do you typically deal with the growing Italian fleet? The fleet is vulnerable if it leaves 97, but it also does a nice job there to protect 97 from the destructive convoy damage @JDOW

Well, you can’t have it all! :-) It is your job as the Allied commander in Chief to get as much of everything with as little as possible. I prefer an early 110 position over convoying the shit out of the Italians early.
In the long run, Italians have 2 choices. They either defend 97 with their teeth but then they do not support the Barbarossa well and don’t do much helping the Germany defending the west. Or they support Barbarossa and allow the Allies to dominate the med sooner or later.
In my games, I usually will dominate the Med at some point. Later as other players do but therefore I apply more pressure from 110 early.

It also depends on how the Germans play. How aggressive against Russia? How defensive in the West. If the Germans play slowly against Russia and start fortifying Western Europe early --> Clear the med first. When they rush vs Russia and keep the West protected thinly, leave the Italians and go 110.

As always, A&A is different from chess as every outcome of every move is different and you basically never find the exact same position twice on the board.

@JDOW lets say the gerrys land a couple planes in Rome, at least threatening a full 3 plane scramble against Taranto, are you saying that anything short of 90% is a no go for the UK? I’m just trying to get an idea for how you play the game!

@Aaron_the_Warmonger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@JDOW lets say the gerrys land a couple planes in Rome, at least threatening a full 3 plane scramble against Taranto, are you saying that anything short of 90% is a no go for the UK? I’m just trying to get an idea for how you play the game!

Let me try to answer, even though i am not JDOW. The answer is yes, it’s no go.
You are better off saving your fleet at Gibraltar. Because it also protects against sea lion.

If you loose Taranto, you are in horrible shape

At Gibraltar you are threating the med and 110, even maybe Norway soon. If you are dead, none

@Aaron_the_Warmonger: Oysteilo got you my answer, I second his post above!

p.s.: I love “Gerrys”. :joy:

@oysteilo so its just a conservative move to try to ensure that, even though italy may start to break out quicker, the pressure is on the germans right out of the gate. And this assumes a 3 plane scamble in 110 by the UK on G1?

@Aaron_the_Warmonger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@oysteilo so its just a conservative move to try to ensure that, even though italy may start to break out quicker, the pressure is on the germans right out of the gate. And this assumes a 3 plane scamble in 110 by the UK on G1?

I am not sure it is a conservative move, if you mean conservative in the sense of not attacking I guess it is. I think the point is you are threatening many areas. What do you think happens if Italy decides to move out its fleet fram sz 97 where it has air coverage? Its dead. Does Italy want that? No, so its maybe forced to sit in 97. Maybe you force Germany to buy infantry for Paris to protect Normandy?, maybe you force germany to garrison Norway? I think that is what it is about. The axis need to consider where this fleet is and what it can do

The reason I do Taranto is to try and shut down Italy before it gets anywhere do UK can focus on helping Russia and U.S. against Germany.

So, for those who don’t, what happens next? Are you able to keep Cairo? Doesn’t Italy get into the Middle East quickly and create a problem with their income?

@oysteilo i meant conservative in the sense of minimizing risk to the UK (and i assume that minimizing risk to the UK means that they have at least maximized their options for the future). It almost functions as a pin and leaves Italy to terrorize poor old greece for a turn. I suppose it takes awhile to get an ACC for italy if you can’t get any bonuses… i’m starting to like the SZ92 stack more and more…

@oysteilo O my, i forgot the airbase goes on the rock, which makes it very effective in defending future US ships to the west… man… this is getting juicy…

The purpose of the airbase at Gibraltar is to defend Egypt. You can have 5 (2 from carrier and 3 from gibraltar) planes in Egypt round 2. Most likely italy can not take egypt then. You can also use the transport to move the aa gun and inf from malta to egypt. The india transport can activate Persia which also gives you two men for egypt. So its easy to field 1 aa gun, 3 inf and 5 fighters/tac to Egypt round 2. Egypt will not fall

@oysteilo said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:
Egypt will not fall

I love it!

Well, this page sounds like a repetition of the first page. I btw never lose Egypt even if I do not attack 97 in UK1.
Oysteilo and I thoroughly explained you the risks and downsides of Taranto, the required odds, if you go for it, the importance of a sub as a bid as well as the strategic considerations, the advantages of the Gib bastion UK1.
Reminder: both, Taranto and Gib Bastion are viable. One can‘t even tell what to do before seeing the map after J1.

If you don’t believe us, so be it and happy Taranto at 75% odds in all of your games :-)

@Aaron_the_Warmonger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@oysteilo O my, i forgot the airbase goes on the rock, which makes it very effective in defending future US ships to the west… man… this is getting juicy…

The AB also protects Gib for you as you can bring the planes over from there if required.

i’ll take all my battles at 3:1 in my favor!

@JDOW said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@Aaron_the_Warmonger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@oysteilo O my, i forgot the airbase goes on the rock, which makes it very effective in defending future US ships to the west… man… this is getting juicy…

The AB also protects Gib for you as you can bring the planes over from there if required.

This should read: The AB also protects EGYPT…!

@JDOW I knew what you meant. Going to try the GIBASTION next Global game.