If the Japan isn’t aggressive enough the UK-East can send resources stalling or completely stopping that Italian advance in Africa/Middle East. If America decides to send a fleet into the med the same thing can happen. Germany, Italy and Japan need to plan together. I’ve played far too many games with a conservative Germany while playing an aggressive Japan or conservative Japan while playing aggressive Germany.
The Italian Invasion of Cape Town
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I have sometimes found that in the case of Sealion it can be an opportune moment for the Italian troops in East Africa to go for South Africa. This is of course contingent upon the allies not raiding Ethiopia turn 1, but it can be quite rewarding. At first it may seem this plan is a long shot, but it is actually quite easy to accomplish. By sending the Ethiopia troops to the south and bringing the Italian bomber to Tobruk, you should be able to take it with ease. Remember, of course, that the UK is busy defending their capital. Once taken, you have a variety of options, from blitzing through Africa to building transports to send to the Middle East. This, even in the case of a fake sealion, is the way to permanently cripple any UK dreams of the Middle Earth strategy and ensure a strong Italy, since it is not always feasible to take Egypt without German assistance.
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That’s probably one of the main benefits of Sealion. I’ve found it usually is only feasible if the UK makes errors, as it’s quite easy for them to defend and quite hard to reinforce the Italian troops. Generally an Italian capture of South Africa only really works if the Axis control Egypt as the Italian bomber can reach it from there on the same turn as the attack (otherwise, you’ll have to take two turns to move the bomber from Tobruk to Ethiopia or somewhere that they can attack South Africa from). Capturing South Africa and producing from there makes it much harder for the Allies to retake Egypt and the rest of North Africa, buying the Axis valuable time.
Again, though, it’s unlikely a good UK player would allow such an opportunity to occur for the Italians. Even without any purchases in the region, they start off with enough units to blunt or delay an Italian advance (especially if you move units from India) long enough to allow American reinforcements (assuming it’s KGF).
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