Copied and pasted here since the link was not provided in the OP:
Axis & Allies 1914
Reports from the Front.
A walk through round one
British Empire
Britain’s World War I military deaths were more than twice that of World War II.
As the First World War began Britain had the largest navy in the word. No surprise there, I’m sure. Most of this naval power was positioned in home waters and known as the Grand Fleet. Germany with its “High Seas Fleet” also maintained a home waters posture. Both powers kept each other at arm’s length and notably came out to meet each other at the battle of Jutland. This naval standoff is presented to both you – the British player and the Imperial German player. It’s always interesting to see how different players deal with these fleets. Let’s face it, the power that dominates the North Sea will establish for him or herself the right to drop in and pay a visit to the other anytime he or she feels like it. An unexpected German visit in Scotland or Yorkshire would be no more appreciated than such a British visit to Kiel or Prussia.
As the British player you will also have ships in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. These ships will be instrumental in the movement of your forces in these areas of the world. As the British Empire player you have a unique situation and capability. Britain may place newly purchased land and fighter units in India during the Mobilize New Units phase of the turn (Phase 4). These forces represent troops from India and the Pacific British Crown colonies and they are staging in Bombay. With the help of the Indian Ocean fleet these forces can make their way to Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe, or where ever else they may be needed. Of course, as usual, ships can only be built in sea zones that are adjacent to controlled territories that have a naval base symbol on them.
In contrast to its navy the British Empire had a comparatively small land army. Most of these troops were serving in some far off colony. It would require time and effort to strategically better place them along the front lines of Europe. In any case - It was always a long way to Tipperary.
As I see it, other than the obvious critical deployment in Europe against Germany, Britain has got to not only defend Egypt but it has to force the Ottoman Empires resources to be spent defending itself from British advances along their common borders. To leave the Ottoman Empire unmolested is to assure the quick and total defeat of Imperial Russia. Oh the intricate ins and outs of the strategic balance of power – don’t you love it!
As the British Empire begins its turn it has already been attacked by German submarines and has suffered the loss of a cruiser and critical transport ships off the coast of Canada. The home fleet is facing, when including Germany subs, a larger German navy than its own. Britain’s income is a modest 30 IPCs. When contemplating its first turn’s unit purchases, which is often difficult for every power, it seems to be even more perplexing for our Anglo-Saxon friends. Should IPCs be spent on ships? That seems counterproductive what with the obvious demands for a large land army in Europe. Still, this large land force will require more transports than Britain currently has in its home waters (one transport). More transports will require more protective war ships. Bite the bullet… Britain purchase 2 transports and 1 cruiser. This leaves her with 9 more IPCs to spend. How about a fighter? I mean Britain is after all a super power and should have a Royal Air Force and with their flying range of 2 spaces they don’t have to take up any room on naval transports carrying forces to the Western Front. It goes for it… the fighter is purchased and placed in the Mobilization Zone located on the map. With 3 IPCs remaining an infantry units is of course added to this list of purchases.
As with all the powers, this first turn is critical. It sets the tone for the rest of the game. Britain feels compelled to place lots of pressure on the Ottoman Empire. Its initial movements will reflect this.
The Royal Navy and the armies begin to move… The Indian Ocean fleet, located in Bombay, loads the Commonwealth troops (1 infantry and 1 artillery) onto the fleets transport, and together with a cruiser, and battleship, sails up the Red Sea coastline where it will conduct an amphibious assault operation against Ottoman forces in Trans-Jordan. This assault will be supported by British forces in Egypt. The Suez Canal is crossed by 6 infantry and 2 artillery. When it’s time to conduct combat this British force of 7 infantry and 3 artillery, along with the battleship’s supporting offshore bombardment, will attack the Turkish force of 2 infantry and 1 artillery. I think the Brits may managed to get the Turk’s attention. If they don’t with all that, then they certainly will when Britain moves into Arabia and mobilizes that countries aligned Arab forces.
In Africa the British player sees no need to delay. He attacks German East Africa from both British East Africa and Rhodesia. These forces consist of 2 British infantry against 1 German infantry. At the same a British infantry unit in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is moved to Egypt.
The British Mediterranean fleet located in the Easter Med is directed to sail through the canal and head for India where it hopes to pick up additional commonwealth units in India that will help continue the flow of forces against the Ottoman Empire.
The South African forces remain in place. It is decided that an attack on Germany’s South West Africa territory can wait. London wants to see how the battle in German East Africa goes.
Canadian forces are still feeling the presence of German submarines and a lack of transport. They remain in place, at least for this turn.
Some of the British Expeditionary Forces in Britain are loaded onto the only transport Britain has available at the moment. One infantry and 1 artillery join the French forces in Belgium. This force is certainly not large enough to conduct any offensive operations at this point but they certainly can be useful in defensive posture if and when the Kaiser decides to launch a counter offensive into Belgium. This being a reinforcement operation and not an amphibious assault, there is no battleship offshore bombardments.
All the movements that are going to be made this turn have been made. That means it’s time to conduct combat. It looks like there are two battle to be fought.
Let’s take a close look at this British attack on Trans-Jordan. This is a great move! It immediately places the Turks on the defensive. Their small force will hopefully be overrun quickly and the British will have a strong established presence there. They should easily be reinforced from nearby Bombay. Of course if the war in Northern Europe or even the smaller wars in Africa go badly, Britain’s adventures in the Middle East might have to be reconsidered.
Britain begins this assaults with a combined land and amphibious assault against Trans-Jordan. Before the battle board is loaded, and with part of this assault being an amphibious assault, the question must be asked… “Is this a hostile sea zone?” Will, it’s of course not a hostile sea zone. There are no Ottoman naval forces in this Red Sea, sea zone. Had there been enemy ships in this particular sea zone a sea battle would have had to occur. If the sea zone had contained some Ottoman subs or transports then the British player could have decided to ignore them and go directly to the land combat. If sea combat had been required, The British player would have simply declared his intent to offload his transports after the sea battle. His units would have remain on the transport for now, and would offloaded into Trans-Jordan if he had won the sea combat.
With there being no sea combat, the land assault begins… the battle board is loaded To represent the naval bombardment, that the battleship offers, a die is placed in the “Battleship Offshore Bombardment” box on the battle board… this die will be looking for a 4 or less when its rolled! To be clear… this bombardment can only occur if there was no sea combat.
All the attacking infantry, including those coming from Egypt and those being off loading from the transport, have a die placed for each of them on the battle board.
In this case seven dice are placed in the “Attacking Infantry” box. Three dice representing the British artillery are placed in the “Attacking Artillery” box. With there being 3 artillery dice, 3 infantry dice are promoted to the “Infantry with Artillery Support” box.
The Ottoman forces, 2 infantry and 1 artillery, are also represented by dice placed on the battle board. Being defenders none of the infantry are promoted by the presence of artillery. HOWEVER, this defending artillery will be making a a pre-emptive strike against the offloading units as they come ashore. Any other units attacking the same territory that did not enter it by sea are not affected by this pre-emptive strike. The defender rolls one die for his defending artillery unit, scoring a hit with roll of 3 or less. One amphibious assault force unit will be immediately removed if a hit is scored.
When you think about it, this artillery unit will actually fire twice during the same battle, once during the pre-emptive strike, and again during the land battle. Just one more comment on pre-emptive strikes… These strikes are not made against reinforcing units that are being offloaded by ship into a contested territory. For example, if Germany had an artillery unit in Belgium it could not make a pre-emptive strike against those British forces that are landing there this turn. Hope I’m not getting too technical here.
The dice have been rolled… The pre-emptive defensive artillery die scored a hit. A British infantry was immediately removed from the battle board.
The “Battleship Offshore Bombardment” die is rolled it scores a hit with a 4. The hit is noted by placing the die on the defenders side of the battle board. This is simply a way of keeping an accurate count of the number of hits scored. Next the 3 “Attacking Infantry” dice are rolled. Two more hits are scored… there is no need to continue rolling; all the defending Turks have been eliminated. They will be removed from the map, but first they fire back. Their 2 defending infantry and 1 defending artillery are rolled together – are all looking for 3s or less. One hit is scored and the British have captured Trans-Jordan. The British player places a British roundel on Trans-Jordan. Both the British and the Ottomans adjust their Production Chart markers. The Ottoman Empire has lost the 1 IPC that Trans-Jordan offers and the British Empire has gained 1 IPC. The units on the map are updated. All the Ottoman forces are removed and one British infantry is removed. All together Britain lost 2 infantry… Turkey lost 2 infantry and 1 artillery.
The British attack on German East Africa from both British East Africa and Rhodesia is the next battle to resolve. The British are attacking with 2 infantry, the Germans are defending with 1 infantry. You may not need to use the battle board for resolving such a small battle. That’s totally up to you of course. In any case, the British player rolls 2 dice looking for 1s or 2s. No hits are rolled! The German fires back, looking for a 3 or less. It too misses. The battle is over. German East Africa is now a contested territory. German will not receive income from this territory until it re-establishes uncontested control of it.
Other than collecting its 31 IPCs and placing its newly purchased units, the British player has completed his turn. There are only 2 places on the map where the British can place new ships. Those are off the Southern Coast of England. Sea zones 8 and 9. All 3 of the purchased ships are placed in sea zone 9. Sea zone 9 now has a battleship, 3 cruisers and 3 transports. The fighter is placed in London and the purchased infantry unit is placed in India.
It’s now the Ottoman Empires turn.