If the Germans have a fleet, they can attack up north from SZ 112 (threatening Karelia, Novo, Arch, Nemestia), there has to be a specific LZ for the fighters to cross which you can threaten or deny as long as you have attacked them on G2 or G1. Fighters crossing the med have a slow time of it. Maybe some help can come in the form of making it more inconvenient for the UK fighters to get into Russia in the first place?
I also dislike blowing the Russian NO by having allies hanging out in Russia before its abs necessary, but that could be pretty early in the game.
“Sea Lion” if the USSR has a fleet and Novogrod, they can keep this threat alive for a long time. No matter what I want to do with UK, I usually end up buying 6+1 and bringing as many Canadians across as I can. If I lose any significant ## of fighters, UK has to continue to worry that Germany can bring wave after wave of attackers, which keeps me conservative. This is why the Gibraltar air base or crossing to Russia early would be difficult; I don’t have enough fighters to protect UK and project threat. Once they cross to Russia, they cant cross back…
“Get Cairo” That sounds awesome but with a UK bid of 10, its not going to happen. If Germany and Italy build/rebuild navy and try to control the Med, that’s a subtle win for the Allies. Navy is resource intensive and takes away the armor punch described by the other posters. Without an added commit, I just don’t see how the Axis can take Egypt at all, there are just too many UK pieces around there. Germany can fly or bring ships down there but its a 1 way trip, into a dead end trap, and its away from the critical path (Russia)
“Tan Skies” you are on the right track; if UK has 6+ fighters it is kicking butt, if not, it feels cornered and powerless. The key for the axis is to do the strongest opener that doesn’t invite any scrambles, then the UK navy is dead and Germany has most of its air left. The UK also doesn’t need to lose any (many) fighters during its opener, other stuff can take the casualties. Its especially good if the airforce from Taranto lives to fight another day (by avoiding the Italian counterstrike, we hope 1 sb 1 French inf 1 tac 1 fighter on Syria?)
