Sorry for commenting on such an old topic but I thought I’d offer some input. @nutbar:
defend london and nothing else until round 3. as britian, you are doomed. stockpile london with a good navy. buy 18 ipcs land and 12 sea. the only naval unit to buy is cruisers. the only land units to buy are tanks and fighters. when you stockpile for at least 3 turns, try to stockpile india. if india got took, use persia and stockpile it with tanks and on round 5, attack india again. then save africa and stockpile it with tanks. if africa got took, ignore it. use a battle calculator on ds kelly to determine all of the combat move decisions. DON’T HELP RUSSIA or you will lose the game.
In all of the games I have played not once has London been threatened and the only naval buys I’ve seen from Germany are an aircraft carrier and transports (or a battleship replacing the AC) and those naval forces have always been put in the Mediterranean to help out Africa (which personally I don’t think works well.) Plus it is better to buy an AC and two DDs on R1, as cruisers cost a pretty penny. Jaycawbz is correct when he says a KBF is not an effective strategy.
The way I look at it, the United Kingdom is, at least at the beginning, the hardest nation to handle. You have the Germans who take out your SZ2 navy most of the time (unless the Commies take Norway), Anglo-Egyptian Sudan which is rarely left untouched after R1, and those crazy Japanese going for India. Combine that with a very spread out empire and little starting forces and you probably would think that the UK is nothing but a quick stroll in the park for easy cash for the Axis forces. The UK player might end up feeling like he is playing a game of Russian Roulette with all the chambers loaded.
HOWEVER
The UK, while not seeming to bear the brunt of the German army like the Soviets or contributing to massive units like the USA does tend to, at least in my games, to make some very important moves. One of my favorite moves as the UK is to load up the transport with two infantries from India and do an amphibious assult on French Indochina, as Fleetwood Dan said, walking over the last man and flying in the fighter and bombarding with the cruiser. It takes a good chunk out of Japan’s income and really makes the attack on China difficult, especially since you can fly your fighter to China, giving the area two fighters and two infantries as a defense. Your carrier should attack the transport in SZ59, killing it off. Now for your Australian fleet. Your sub can either attack the Japanese sub in SZ45, keeping it from hitting Pearl Harbor, or going to the SZ adjacent to New Guinea. With the transport by Australia you could load up two men and take New Guinea. That, if all attacks are successful, takes 4 IPCs away from Japan and cripples them for offensive power. Or if you want to get super greedy you could take your two men and cruiser from India and attack Borneo, which takes 5 IPCs from the Empire of the Rising Sun. The most important aspect of these attacks is not the IPC loss for Japan, but the fact that it slows Japan from attacking Russia, China, or India long enough for the western Allies to help out the Soviets. Also, the presence of the Royal Navy in the Pacific has the potential to take more units away from the attack on Pearl Harbor to deal with the threat. It is often difficult to retake AES on the first turn unless bad dice is involved, so usually the USA will retake it (in my games). If the Germans survive with only one unit the UK could fly in their bomber and attack with an infantry from Trans-Jordan. I do not advise a factory in India because it can be difficult to keep with a good Japanese player.
Now I said the British made key moves in my games. These would be retaking Karelia from the Germans, letting the Russians reinforce and hold the area and taking Western Europe, allowing the Americans to reinforce and hold the area. I will admit I am not the greatest UK player, but these tips often really help with the overall game.
