I’ve found that if Germany adequately threatens Sealion on G1 - standard - that give Italy just enough room to take Egypt.
If Italy builds an IC there and just uses it to hold on to Egypt, I’ve found that Italy can hold on to Egypt against the South African and potential Iraq/Persian UK factories. Obviously a good US investment can take it back, but it’s nearly impossible for UK to do on its own.
It doesn’t require too large of an investment to hold on to Egypt. Everything else can be sent to Gibraltar/SZ 91.
Holding on to Egypt/North Africa lets Italy retain enough resources to contest the Western regions longer, and requires constant UK output to keep Italy from running wild.
That’s what I go for when I expand into Africa with Italy. If UK is smart, you probably won’t get much of a foothold in the Middle East, but it’s certainly still worth it.
And with Germany in Barbarossa, I like what you’re saying there. Concentrating forces is essential.
I do it a bit differently though. When I invade, I take East Poland with Italy and move the entirety of my German forces to reinforce. Now Russia is forced to decide what to defend, as you said. Typically they’ll pull back to Bryansk and might move the Novgorod forces to Archangel. Maybe not.
Either way, in this situation, the northern path is defended more heavily than the southern. Thus I’ll move my German/Italian forces into Ukraine together, preserving both of their strength. This gets me the greater cash rewards of the southern regions. I’ve found that Russia is usually forced to pull its northern forces back in the face of the combined Scandanavian and Naval threats. So I’ll get Novgorod inevitably, whether I dedicate significant resources to taking it or not.
Germany is Eastern front
Italy is Med.
I like what you’re saying, Alsch. I’ll consider it pretty strongly next time I’m the Axis. I especially like the point about going south in force on the East Front and Germany being able to pound away at the north anyhow.
Plus, it makes me less predictable :-D
The issue for me as Italy is that my opponent as the UK hits both SZ97 and 96, every game. I start by having to make some tough choices as Italy. I feel good about the fact that in that situation, I’m usually still able to get as high as 30 IPCs (or more) by I4 or I5, which then drops back to the mid to low 20s as the US gets involved and starts helping to take away NOs. At that point, Africa has become a non-factor for me, and Med defense/pounding on Russia becomes everything.
Do people you play use the UK so aggressively in the Med? Or do you often find yourself with two transports? That makes a huge difference. If I have any semblance of an Italian fleet that can protect two original transports, I’d go after Egypt, absolutely, and work hard to get a German land unit there as well.
Also, I always posture for a potential Sealion to force UK economy to stay home.
