Italy Strategy

It is best to buy Mechs and can open and support Germany on the East Front. If the opportunity arises, and the U.K. and US player allow it, buy a DD to keep your convoying down. Don’t make it easy for the Allies to deny you income. German Fts often have to park in Rome to scramble to sink Subs.
Playing Italy is about bothering the Allies, forcing them to spend in the Med, when they want to go East, towards the ME.

Perhaps only award the 5IPCs if no German units are in an originally Soviet territory? BM simply bans moving into the Soviet territories if not at war.

Thanks Tirano. The reason that I didn’t take Southern France on the first turn is because I want to disguise my trip to the Med. I want the UK to have to bite on Sealion and they won’t know that the Italians aren’t taking S. France until after they have taken their first turn. Other than slipping a couple of units into Northern Italy (which I try to do inconspicuously)I have given no indication at all that I’m going to the Med. I don’t need to put units on the complex in S. France right away anyway so it wasn’t necessary to have it on the first turn.

@AndreasI:

Just some thoughts from someone who hasn’t really done the math nor played enough rounds to actually see this tactic through.

Can US really be at war, at their own initiative, with Germany on turn 3 (Combat/Movement phase?) so they can actually move to Gibraltar at all? Or are there any second edition additional rules that I have missed?

And then on down to the tactics on getting a strong fleet supporting units into Normandy or other mainland european regions:

Am I correct in assuming that Germany loosing it’s entire bomber force against, let’s say, a strong naval presence from US/UK equals a lost game for Germany? I am aware that Japan can still grow to be a monster and win the game for the axis anyhow but let’s keep focus on europe for now. Creating a fleet according to Nippon-kokus suggestion (or similar) would create a situation that requires Germany to respond with their bombers. Once there is a strong static fleet that Germany can’t attack without risking it’s entire air force it’s quite easy for the allies to maintain that ratio of units so that it stays safe. And what happens then? The US can land units basically every turn once the shuttle is running. 8 or 10 units are not frightening, I admit. Easily countered by Germany but the way I see it is that Germany from then on are forced to use their bombers plus land units each turn against a landing force. Using german bombers on that front every turn makes them unusable against the russians. I can certainly see where there could be a bit of trouble breaking through russian lines.

The way I see it, if the US can do this, why would Dark Skies really matter? Would buying 20 Infantry and 10 Tanks be any different? Germany still couldn’t kill the Allied fleet, would still have to divert forces from Russia, would still face the Allies landing every turn…

…and on top of it, It’d be harder for Germany to counter attack.

Seems like Dark Skies is still an optimal strategy against a US invasion.

Oh, it is, because all the bombers raises the stakes and risks

You can make the dice work for you - if the ships miss and the AA misses, no amount of strategy and tactical ability can stop that.

I’m a big fan of doing damage to Italy early on and basicly keeping them from accomplishing anything meaningful. In Alpha 3 this is accomplished namely by trading navy’s in the med. I brought the cruiser and transport from India to Africa to facilitate amphibious assults on Italian territores on the eastern coast.

My buys for turn 1 Europe almost always include a transport (placed in South Africa to bring my Infantry up the coast), 1 in New Brunswick (shift material from Canada to the UK, but this will depend on U-Boat positions) and a Minor IC for Egypt (implications of this should be obvious). I’ve never lost Egypt to Italy so I don’t think this is a huge risk.

The only real danger to this strategy of focusing on the Med is if Germany takes Southern France, with that Minor IC they can do what I’ve done and place ships directly in the med. Because Germany is such a power house they can (and likely will) obliterate the RN there. You’ll certainly lose Gibratler and likely Malta as well.

For England I generally end up trading navy’s with Germany as well, after Germany has gone and you’ve taken the usual losses to shipping it’s simply too dangerous to leave the German Battleship and Crusier (can’t recall if it’s a cruiser or not offhand) laying around and they must be attacked. I haven’t found a way around doing this yet. With the destruction of Germany’s surface fleet you arn’t under serious threat from Sea Lion until Germany’s 3rd turn.

In the Pacfic I keep the ANZAC island hopping and use them to harass the islands Japan leaves lightly defended. I generally also use them to take Brazil. I never thought of using ANZAC fighters to land on US Carriers (can’t happen until the US enters the war) but I think it deserves some thought. Generally they end up used in an attempt to contain the Imperial Navy.

Hope this was helpful and offered some ideas. I’m open to any critiisms/thoughts on this strategy, always looking to build on my game.

C

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Hey guys, look at that steaming pile of BULL–---->        ~~~~~~
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Be careul not to step in that.

if concerned about dice cheating, insist on using a dice tower :roll: