Personally, I feel 10 inf is the best G1 buy in order to preempt Russia’s 10 inf buy. This allows those inf to move to the front early. The tanks can catch up.
If you’re going to do that, you might as well use your whole income and buy 9 infantry and an artillery.
If you park your meager fleet at wake on US1, you’re almost certainly going to lose it on J2.
In my experience, Axis are the ones with a disadvantage.
Wouldn’t it actually be titled “The British Bomber Gambit?” :-D
If I’m the Axis and I know it’s coming, I think I have a counter. But I’ll need to play it out first to see if it works.
You won’t know it’s coming, since if you take steps to prevent it on G1, I’ll simply do something else. :-D
I tried it once and it destroyed ‘The Warrior’ as Italy
Axis simply needs to capture the landing spots for British aircraft to foil the plan. There are 3 of them, but Germany gets two turns and Italy gets one before Britain gets a chance to do much.
G1: Take Egypt (2 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 2 Tanks, 1 Bomber)
I1: Take Trans Jordan (2 Infantry, 1 Fighter, 10 worth of Bombardment if need be)
G2: Take Gibraltar(1 Infantry)G1: Take Trans Jordan (1 Inf, 1 Tank, 1 Bomber)
I1: Take Egypt (3 Inf, 1 Tank, 1 Fighter, 10 Bombardment)
G2: Take Gibraltar (1 Inf)G1: Take Gibraltar (1 Inf)
I1: Take Egypt (3 Inf, 1 Tank, 1 Fighter, 10 Bombardment)
G2: Blitz into Jordan (1 Tnk)
On G1, Germany won’t yet have any indication of this coming, so I think it’s unlikely they’ll be taking steps to prevent it unless you foolishly announce your intent.
Even if you do, I’ve never seen a German player take Egypt on T1. I don’t seem to recall it being easy. I don’t think Germany can get as much stuff in Egypt as you indicate. IIRC, Libya begins with a German Infantry and Tank, so you can get 2 tanks, 2 infantry and a bomber. You can also get the fighter from Romania, but you will probably want him to help your destroyer clear the way for the transport. Even if you win the sea battle, and the land battle; you still acted first. UK could just go with their regular fleet build, you haven’t countered anything.
I’m certain a turn 1 Italian Attack is unlikely. With only 1 transport, Italy can only use two of their bombarding ships. This makes a successful assault on Egypt highly unlikely. Unless, of course, Germany attacks Trans-Jorden on turn 1. I’ve never seen it done and it would have the same issues regarding Germany knowing UKs strategy in advance.
Also, either Gibraltar or Algeria can be taken (or reinforced) on US1.
I’ve thought of a good strategy for the UK to nullify the Italian ambitions in Africa. If you build 2 bombers on UK turn 1 you can hit the Italian fleet on UK turn 2 with at least 3 bombers and 1 fighter. Which will allow you to completely destroy the Italian fleet 4 out of 5 times before any of these positive factors are added:
+If the Italian fleet moves to SZ10, you can hit them with the Australian fighter which should be landed in India or Madagascar.
+If your SZ10 destroyer is still alive you might be able to get him in this fight.
+If you land a fighter in Gibraltar on T1 you can use it to hit them anywhere or you might entice the Italians to move their fleet to SZ12, which brings us to:
+If the Italian fleet moves to SZ12, you can hit add any fighters in Great Britian to the fight as long as the allies control Gibraltar or Morocco.
+If you happen to fail in your task, chances are the Americans can finish the job.
Now there’s really only two things the Axis can do to attempt to counter this:
-They can keep the German destroyer with the Italian fleet, however since Germany goes before UK, Germany will have to anticipate this tactic before you take your first turn. Germany typically uses their fleet to attack your starting units at SZ13. This seems unlikely.
-Italy can build a destroyer on their first turn. Unfortately, this will kill your plans unless you moved a fighter to Gibraltar on UK turn 1.
The advantages to this strategy should be obvious. Without their fleet, the Axis lose Africa, without Africa, Italy’s production will drop to single digits practically taking them out of the game. Once the Axis lose their African territories, you can refocus all African units to India. The threat of your bombers will force Italy to bank their production until they have enough to afford a very large fleet. At 10 IPC or less per turn, this will take them a very long time.
Note: I was naming sea zones by memory, I may have them wrong. The locations I mean to reference are as follows:
SZ10: The Mediterranean sea zone north of Egypt.
SZ12: The Mediterranean sea zone south of France
SZ13: The Atlantic Ocean sea zone west of Morocco