Making UK more exciting

Switch is right in most games Eygpt is German territory on G1.  The UK is just to spread out and weak to really be exciting.  The UK really has to rely on the US to keep it’s African IPC.  They are best suited to send troops into the European theatre via Norway or Karelia (Karelia’s best IMO) andsupporting Russia so they don’t fall fast.  The UK are setup men.  They keep Moscow from falling and open doors for the US to land.  It isn’t exciting but it is important.

I just don;t see a viable German strat that leaves Egypt intact through G1…  it destroys German access to African income, allows the Indian fleet to enter the baltic, invites a Southern Threat on what otherwise is a mostly secure front…

It just is not viable to contemplate leaving UK in Egypt as Germany since it is overall a HORRID thing for Germany to do.

i agree with switch, look in our games section, i dont think there has been 1 game in the current tourney where germany didnt take anglo-egypt on g1, now if ger doesnt even attack anglo we are talking a whole diff game

2 inf from tranny in india, 1 fig from india india fleet to the med, wow turns it into a whole diff ballgame, one which if played properly would spell doom for the germans in ohhh say uk6

If you want to make the UK more exciting then try taking Borneo from the Japanese with 2 INF from India and the fighter from 35. If you don’t need your navy to still be around after J1 then use the destroyer to take out the TRN in 59… it will make your presence in Borneo felt even more so!

In most games the axis gets a 6 IPC bid, most people uses this bid to place one infantry in libya, and with an attack of 2 inf, 1 arm and with an airforce support of either 2 ftrs or 1 ftr and 1 bmb you can easily take out egypt. If you don’t use a bid you always have the option of using your med tranny to take a few infantry to egypt. But as far as I know its more common to use the bid infantry, and makes a better use of the tranny… Gibraltar maybe?

Actually the Borneo strategy is viable as most players have never had to defend against it and it can confuse them the first time… if they divide their navy wrong they can lose the battle off of borneo and it does take a turn or 2 to get Borneo back… 4 BIG IPCs for UK to counter the African loss… and 4 IPCs less for Japan to use against the mainland and the Americans… if Japan diverts that one transport they have left… then the mainland is looking pretty good to those 6 R INF on Buryatia… especially if the J player felt that China was more important than defending Manchuria…

Basically it allows ALL 3 Allied countries to put pressure on J early and can make an unexperienced Japanese player spread themselves out too thin… plus any time you can force your opponent to make a new strategy on the spot it’s a good thing… alot of players have their opening moves “down-packed” … especially Japan as the majority of UK players don’t pressure Japan in the Pacific… and most Russian players will put those 6 INF in Buryatia every game… making them face the same situation on their first turn almost EVERY time… allowing them to use a perfected opening move.

Germany never takes Japan  8-).

And I don’t see how the Japanese can take Australia in J 2 with only Transport off of Japan in SZ 60.

2 infantry cannot take Australia on it’s own… and if the Japanese split their navies too much the Americans can have a strong presense in the Pacific by that time anyway.

In my game with Spook… the navy off of Borneo faired incredibly well… fighting off the first attack on it.

As for India… the J player needs to choose between Taking India… China or defending Manchuria… it can’t do all 3 things at once the way this UK turn sets up… if it puts all its FIC forces into India… it has to put everything else into China to take it, and there won’t really be many units left there after the battle is resolved… and Manchuria will be almsot defenseless to the 6 R INF in Buryatia.

For this too make sense to anyone you’d have to think through where EACH country (J,R,UK,US) are sitting after this UK 1 move and what position the Japanese are in to counter on 3 naval fronts (assuming the AUS fleet took out the Solomons sub) and 2 Mainlaind fronts.

And as Japan I’ll sink that transport fleet before it ever reaches Africa, helping Germany out, and clearing the way for me to grab Australia far earlier than normal.

I agree.

A rescue mission for the Australian infantry is hopeless, you might have a chance to get away if you choose to freight them to the east, but what use can they do to the east of aus? The Japanese can’t help going after a single ship, theres so much airforce available so it won’t even slow them down going after that tranny.
I think the australian infantry should stay put and be ready to defend for when japan comes.
-Daniel

Liquid…

The SZ15 DST is DEAD on G1, period, end of discussion.  Almost all the time it is killed by Germany w/o loss.  Also, the Suez is CLOSED to both sides after G1 sicne Germany hold Egypt and UK holds T-J.

Now, that leaves you with 5 ships in the Indian/Pacific theater… 2 TRN, 1 SUB, 1 AC, 1 DST.  And a FIG… the ONLY UK FIG outside of London.  There are no reinforcements coming to help UK.  And Japan starts with 2 BB, 2 AC, 1 DST, 1 SUB, and 6 FIGs and a BOM… nearly all of it in range of one group or another of UK’s navy…

UK’s Pac/Indian fleets are dead (or ran away) by the end of J2 in almost all cases.

The DST of Egypt/T-J i dead by FIG/BB/TRN as part of the Egypt amphib.

If you consolidate your UK navy AND pull out of hte Indian ocean, you just let Japan get rid of your ships for free.  They need not worry about them OR kill them.  That leaves Japan in TOTAL control of both oceans for the entire game… and free to send a pretty sizable task force to Mexico or Brazil or Africa or to raid Australia, etc.

And, it will be 5 turns before those ships reach UK to actually DO anything.  And by then, if the Atlantic is not already secure, the Allies are toast anyway.

@liquidvet:

I might just move everything to the bottom of the board (can’t remember the number) and then japans navy won’t be in range to hit them unless they want to sacrifice planes.Â

If the India Fleet moves striaght down and the Australia fleet moves due west, they converge in SZ30.  That SZ can be hit by more than just planes, the BB and AC in the East Indies can also get there.  If that UK fleet contains a loaded TRN, it may be worth it for Japan to strafe for a round or two to kill it.  But you are right, they will probably lose a fighter or two.  But if that little fleet includes everything, it means Eygypt was not retaken and the Kwangtung TRN was not sunk.  The Axis is in pretty good shape then and can probably afford to let that fleet go in order to concentrate on more important targets like China, Pearl, maybe Bury, and/or gearing up for a J2 assualt on India.