Bismarck or Taranto?

Something that’s always been in the back of my head for the longest time now in Global 40’ for both the Allies and the Axis is that of which the British seek to destroy the German Battleship Bismarck in Seazone 110 (assuming it was used) or send planes in from England to do the Taranto Raid.

I dont want to definetively say that the U.K player will do one or the other since it feels too significant of a decision to prematurely decide if they’ll go for one thing over the other.

What would any of you guys do in this situation, destroy the Bismarck at sea or divert those planes on the British Isles to fight Italy in the Taranto Raid? (and for the purposes of this decision making assume that there will be a 3 plane scramble if Taranto were to happen)

@squirecam

So here would be the ideal factors:

1. No bid
2. No scramble
3. Both German subs were brought into the fight with the Battleship
4. Both subs died in the fight
5. Battleship was left undamaged
6. No airbase in Holland
7. No J1 attack

These can obviously vary but this is as close to what would be an ‘average scenario’ as it can get

@flyingbadger

That’s what has me so lost is that there are so many variables to which it can be almost impossible to predict what the UK player might do or for what is better and more beneficial to remove either naval pieces.

I kind of expected most average/above-average UK players to prioritize Taranto since leaving that many Italian boats in the Med can prove to be troublesome but all the same thats not to say they won’t try for attacking the Bismarck.

@squirecam

Right, alright that gives me some more insight.

As I said, average, close to average scenario that you’ll gave a G40 game I’m not super concerned with bids since obviously with bids you’ll be more than capable of doing both without cutting your losses but I feel the idea is that the UK should have to make these kinds of pressing decisions to overcome their enemy.

Granted, leaving the Battleship would largely open for an attack on London, but being that Sealion has died down in popularity I can’t really put my hand on it.

@robson

I see, this gives me alot more insight now.

Granted, with no bid you could still do both with 2 fighters remaining on England, but at that point if you were diverting fighters to Taranto and fighters to take out the undamaged German Battleship than that would be a clean Sealion attack for the Germans, so the UK could do both if they really wanted to but for the purposes of not overstretching the airforce its unlikely and unwise to do both.

@marshmallowofwar

Unfortunately, yeah it is. Why? Because the UK won’t get another chance at either of them past turn 1.

You let that German battleship go and it’s headed right back into the Baltic Sea to meet up with the cruiser and a position for fighters to scramble if attacked by air, already eliminating sea units from moving in to take it out since they cannot enter the Danish Straight unless owned for a whole turn.

The same goes for the Italian fleet, only this time it should be even more emphasized. If you dont attack that fleet on Taranto, then all Italy has to do is consolidate their navy and you’ve just lost you’re chance to take it out. You won’t have enough ships for cannon fodder nor will you have enough aircraft to do some real damage in any case that you do want to attack it.

It really doesn’t cost Germany anything to protect the Battleship, especially if it goes down to the Med for an Afrika Korps opening with a carrier and a few other smaller ships.

So granted, you can do one, the other, or both, or even none. Just know that there’s no ‘right’ option to choosing any of these as the other 3 will hurt you in the long run.

And with the idea that Italy already begins with 2 transports, they build another 1 and an infantry turn 1 and thats 3 transports to shuck units down to Africa, so Italy is kind of a big deal when you don’t attack their navy. It genuinly does make a big difference in the game.

@marshmallowofwar

With all do respect, I would have to disagree on that sediment.

As I had previously stated Marsh, I am not saying that there is any right decision for the UK to do one, the other, both or none. I cannot tell you definitively that one is better than another. What I can tell you though is that of which doing one or the other or both or none can and will prove fatal to the UK in the event that Germany or Italy were to properly utilize either of these assets.

As per the German battleship returning to the Baltic Seazone under 3 fighters, I’m not sure what you’re talking about here, because this is only G2 where I haven’t even attacked Russia yet. These 3 fighters will have more than enough time to provide ample assistance to the Bismarck, and then get over to the Soviet Union without the Bismarck being under any fire, so the airforce won’t be diverted away from Russia.

Perhaps if an American fleet were to come across the water Italy couldn’t keep it for long, but that still takes time, 4-6 turns to be exact if America wanted to properly develop a strategical transport shuck to get units into Africa and then Western Europe. So, in turn, if the demise of the Italian fleet is inevitable, would you care to explain exactly how? British aircraft will be busy defending Calcutta and Moscow from the impending Germans marching toward the capital. The British won’t possess a large enough navy to take on the Italian fleet and if they are building a navy in India just to send over to take out Italy then that’s time and money wasted on what could be valuable units of both land and air that could’ve been built to protect Calcutta.

@marshmallowofwar

Again, the Germans will pull the Battleship back to stay protected in the seazone with fighters to scramble on G2. G3 the Bismarck will move inward more to the point where British airforce can’t even hit it. Germany isn’t taking any fighters away from the fight, and frankly they have until G4 to properly get the fighters and bombers toward the Soviet Union since the Soviet player more than likely won’t have any actual units on the Soviet-German border meaning you won’t actually start fighting the Soviets until turn 4, this is cold hard factual evidence man, you wouldn’t even need a game to prove it, all it would take is to setup the pieces, test out the scenario and see that it’s the truth that the German battleship will be safe and protect by Luftwaffe early game, and mid game the luftwaffe will head East to fight the Russians.

As I said before, I’m not saying the Italian fleet is unstoppable to beat. Obviously if the allies commit to building a proper navy than yah they’ll withstand the Italian consolidated fleet, but that’s mid-late game. Not to mention the fact that if I can get the UK to prioritize the Europe and Pacific economy on wasting their IPC’s on ships they will only use one time then I’ve done my job as Italy, because the British and Americans need to be getting actual ground units on the mainland continent of Eurasia. Again, I to include many other youtubers have seen this common trend countless amounts of times where if the US or UK dont get ground units mobilized, they will eventually lose the game.

Germany building a carrier to send down to the Med to help Italy doesn’t get the Soviets off Scott-Free not even the slightest, because I’m not taking anything away from my Barbarossa attack. I usually like to spend the first 30 IPC’s on 2 transports and a carrier if I plan to do an Afrika Korps opening or as a backup plan do Sealion. On G2 I will have 71 IPC’s to spend which 60 of it will go to 9-10 tanks on Germany and spend the other 11 on whatever you want. Nothing is being taken away from the Barbarossa attack and Germany will still be attacking with the same monstrous force they usually do always, that’s the beauty of how well it works out for Germany.

As per the UK, we both agree that it is absolutely imperative to have a good-standing UK player that knows what they are doing, or you lose the game. You and I both know that it’s gonna take a proper UK1 to set the stage for late game in attacking the Axis powers, they just have to do it correctly.