Recently played UK with 3 other people. I volunteered to play UK and France as I was the most experienced, and the other 3 were new to Europe.
After a G1 sealion, Russia offered me the U.S. since I was unlikely to have an active role in the game.
Should a gentleman practice in a full game be to forgo a Sea Lion strategy when a player is assigned UK as his primary power?
UK has two choices as I see it, in the above scenario:
Try to hold London, and drive up the opportunity cost of taking UK in terms of piece position and units lost?
Or:
Abandon UK turn 1 or 2, to maximize your effort in Africa with your last production going there and giving Germany an easy G2 or G3 London. Using Brazil and Persia to produce 5 infantry after your capital falls (granted this is a one time occurrence)
Either of these two options results in a boring UK play experience. Either you are building infantry for 2 turns and watching Africa wither, the German fleet and air force keeping you from building a navy. Then Germany takes you on G3 or G4. (Sure you might win, but it won’t be as a result of your play style, just a result of whether German is too far out of position)
Or, you get to build units once (maybe twice), lose your capital, and eventually run out of units in Africa while you at least get to make tactical decisions in Africa.
Sure, the U.S. can liberate you during the game, but I would argue that, that is less entertaining as you will spend rounds with little to do or deploy.
So, my question is:
Are you a Gentleman? (or Lady)
and if so, would you still do a Sea Lion when UK was one person’s primary power?