Let's talk the Taranto raid.

@Cornwallis I am not a fan of marching American units through French West Africa to support the British. I like to have my Allied fleet closer to Western Europe to force Germany to be at least partially defensive with land units to defend the Fatherland.

If Germany buys some fleet in G1, you definitely want to be able to combine the UK Med fleet with the American fleet with airbase support in Gibraltar. Gibastion is risky in a no-bid game, but you have to take risks as the Allies since you start off with such a disadvantage.

Here is the end of Turn 1 in the Adam514/Farmboy playoff (BM). The UK fleet then moves SZ110 on turn 2 with the protection of a new aircraft carrier that is built that turn, along with assistance of a couple American planes. The strong protection in Algeria was a key part of the turn 1 moves as it prevents the Italians from taking the territory and allowing a landing spot for the German airplanes to attack SZ92. Truly genius gameplay by Farmboy.

I see the main weakness is the Italians could attack either SZ92 or Egpyt on I1, with a 13% chance of victory that would essentially mean “game-over” if the Allies get diced.

I would be tempted to take that gamble if I played against Farmboy and indeed I did a bold early-game attack on SZ92 in last years playoffs when he slightly miscalculated the required defenses. He faced a tough decision: scramble for a better odds of defense, but if he lost his UK fighters then Egpyt would likely be crushed. He opted not to scramble and the devastating losses were impossible to recover from. Small mistakes are game-changing on the UK opener.

Let me expand on the reasoning for a risky I1 attack that has a 13% odds of success like in the top picture above. Farmboy is a significantly better player than me so my estimated odds of winning at the start of the game will be about 20% if I had a fair bid, and only 6%-ish in an OOB match with no bid. Yeah, I would need a dice miracle to pull out that victory.

Hence, I get odds tables like the one shown below. If I attacked either Egpyt or the fleet and get great dice, my odds go way up of victory. If I get diced as the Italians on I1, it isn’t that big of a change since the Italians were not expected to contribute much beyond the can-opening in the Eastern Front which they still can do even after loss of the fleet. When you look at the overall chance of my winning the game, it goes slightly up in a “fair” bid match and way up in the no-bid scenario.

Lesson of this story: take the gamble when you are playing against a superior opponent or if you are playing OOB Allies with no-bid. If the dice are absolutely awful for the Allies on turn 1, concede the match or find another crazy-risky attack to have a chance of winning. Playing conservatively against a superior opponent will inevitably make you lose the game.

Some opponents hate my aggressive under-dog play style and won’t go against me unless it is Low-Luck. I won’t play low-luck against a superior opponent since there is no way to come back against minor mistakes.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris what is holding italy from attacking the fleet? US might not be at war so italy can attack with its fleet and bomber so 6 against 6 units. Germany can finish off easily.
I don´t know what germany builts but our germany usually builts sub/DD/ carrier so they can attack with two bombers and 2 fighters.

The US doesn´t need to continu chucking troops to egypt. Only the mechs continu to egypt. The infantry can stay in West Africa and once the combined allied fleet is large enough they can combine next to gibraltar. The Sahara express can also be done when going for KJF since it requiers almost no US investments.

As Allies you can´t write a playbook bc you need to anticipate. I want to hand some ideas to players they can try and which I don´t see (often) online .

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris couldn´t italy simply go Syria and take greece so on I2 they can Chuck in more troops and go after Iraq and more bonusses. Gibastion is nice but has so much “what ifs” and italy has more options towards egypt.

@Cornwallis

1. The United States is obviously at war in that Farmboy match which is why his units can come to Africa and Gibraltar. Germany built only ground units which is the common G1 strat now as they can reach Bryansk on the G5 which is very pivotal part of the game, forcing Russia to turtle in Moscow for the mid-game. Over-spending on German navy is a common mistake of novice players and one of the main reasons why people fail to consistently win as the Axis in OOB matches.

2. Italy could have gone to Syria on I1, but getting that nice Greece/Southern France bonus is wonderful for their economy. I usually find that Italian forces in Iraq get quickly overwhelmed by the British without too significant of casualties. Planes can hit it easily from Egpyt and India making the location difficult to defend in the early game. Personally, I like using the transports to take Cyprus and Malta which are expensive for the British to reclaim without losing transport/ground units themselves and is a major drain on the UK production until the mid-game. I am not saying your idea is bad, I just haven’t seen it successful enough to make much of an impact.

The Adam-Farmboy match is Balance mod so there are additional incentives for both Axis and Allies to hold the islands in the med.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris yes the all out rush to moscow is hard for allies to defend against but also makes for a boring game. Playing with a german fleet buy on G1 buys germany time to built up a land mass bc they can keep allies away from gibraltar and it opens opportunities for germany to enter the Med which helps italians around gibraltar. We´re not novice players but searching for alternatives strategies.

The Allies in your games, Do they go KGF or kJF?

@Cornwallis I play mostly OOB with Bid now. The general gameplay involves Germany slowly advancing on Moscow and capturing it around G10-G14 while making it costly for the Allies to have a strong foothold in Western Europe. Meanwhile China gets enough support in the bid to prevent the fall of India for quite a while.

The United States spends the first turn of income in the Pacific but then shifts towards Germany to allow an eventual invasion of W Europe or Scandinavia.

You should look through more League matches of top players like Andrew or Farmboy to get battle-tested strategies that can win even with +50 bids for the Allies. Small details make a huge difference when you are facing a master who can battlecalc all scenarios and find minor tactical flaws. One extra fighter can make a huge difference in the expected outcome of a battle.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris we have almost the same sequence with Germany. Does your Japan always DOW on J1?
What can US do with one buy in the pacific?
KGF is easier in theorie but i honestly think KJF more often gives US more money and stops japan more easy. Bc germany can easily stop the Allies or at least delay them.

@Cornwallis if the Allies don’t have a major bid in the Pacific theater, J1 is standard. It gives such a huge advantage to be able to take islands before the Americans have any support in the region. In most League OOB matches with 50+ PU bids, the Allies will get an extra inf in Yunnan plus two more Russian fighters that provide enough support to hold that territory on J1. Sometimes the Allies can stack Yunnan with so many forces it can be retained even on J2. Hence, strategies are shifting to delay Japanese declaration of war until later in the game.

The United States need enough fleet so that the combined navy can sit off the coast of Australia without fear of being sunk, and have a potential move towards the coast of Japan to prevent that Axis power from crushing India for an extra few turns.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris The best way to put a wrench in part of the J1 sceam. Meaning not just the first round my the J1 Strategy it’s self that is a strategy for the whole game, if done probably, is to middle east it with U.K. you basically make India a big no for the Japanese player.

@FranceNeedsMorePower

Japan doesn’t need India to win the game though. If we’re playing with OOB rules, they need 6 victory cities and two of them can just as well be Honolulu and Sydney.

@TheDesertFox Point is it scratches you option form there list. Then you know exactly where they have to go. Plus HAwwi and Sydney are relaitivly easy to defend especially if they put no pressure on India.

@FranceNeedsMorePower

You might know where they’re going but how do you plan to stop them with only infantry on Calcutta and no naval authority in the Indian ocean? And what do you do as America if Japan chooses to conduct a J1 Pearl Harbor? That’s one of the two victory cities I mentioned out of your control right from the get go.

@TheDesertFox Is should have said I would be using a custom ME where you buy other units than just defense. You can also build a fleet in that area than haul it over it takes time but works. You can also use the South Africa Factory to. ME with time can become an unstoppable force but it take a lot of time. The only way ME works properly is a full length game. If Japan attack Pearl Harbor it does not stop the plan. If anything it’s good in my opinion because the U.S. get in the war right away. Hawaii is easy to defend as America. Plus if your out IPC’ing Japan (which mean U.K. needs to pressure Japanese controlled China) it’s almost impossible for Japan to catch up and take Hawaii.

@FranceNeedsMorePower

Very interesting ideas. Do you have a template/video that shows this custom ME? I’d be interested to see how it works for myself.

@SuperbattleshipYamato @TheDesertFox Yes to Yamato and no to Fox. I could make a video i the future but right now I’m playing G42 with my Father so the board is tied up. I also don’t have time to make a template currently but I will try in the future. If I do I could copy you on it when I get around to it.

@FranceNeedsMorePower That’d be really cool! I’ve been wanting to replicate middle earth strategies and examine them myself. So far I’ve only been able to investigate general hand grenades.

@TheDesertFox I could start on the project but don’t plan on it being finished for a decently long time. I will tag you on it when I get around to it.

@FranceNeedsMorePower

Does your custom ME mostly follow the structure of GeneralHandGrenade’s? Does it involve just the UK or does it kind of have some cohesion with an American strategy too?