So here’s my after-action report for the game we finished tonight. I was Germany and Italy vs. 3 allied players in Russia/France, UK, and USA. I did my typical G1 craziness and beat down France and Yugoslavia. Much to my surprise, the UK player did not build anything actually in the UK, let alone bring his fleet out to stop an invasion. Italy got their fleet trashed, then managed to regroup and take Greece and eventually (on I2) Egypt. G2 I built 7 transports and wiped his navy off the map with my air, G3 I invaded England and took it. It was turn 4 before I ever devoted resources to Russia. Meanwhile, Italy took THE ENTIRE MED and by turn 7 was raking in 34 bucks a turn… enough for a whole bunch of fighters and infantry.
Turn 4 I had a decision… built Navy to contest the USA or plow into the now very-formidable Russian front, I chose the latter (could have been a mistake). With my 92 bucks on turn 4 I bought a whole lotta tanks and I did the minor in Yugoslavia-thing to get troops to Africa (like I needed it, should’ve just sent my navy down from England into the Med) and built up for the Russian campaign. I ended up going north and hitting Leningrad with 17 tanks, 24 mechs, 10 artillery, and 4 inf. It was at this point we ended the game. The USA had built up his fleet enough to go to Gibraltar and kill the Italian fleet, and was sitting there with a sizable force. There was 10 German infantry in France ready to hit any landing zone in Europe, 12 infantry and 2 fighters defending London, there were 10 infantry and 4 fighters and 3 tac bombers in Southern Italy ready to repel an invasion, Italy owned Iraq, Persia, and India, and I was two turns away from Moscow with no sense of urgency to attack.
Final IPC count was Germany: 77 Russia: 23 Italy: 34(was going down because of allied ships in the Med now) USA: 68.
We ended up rolling the dice for Moscow, assuming a 2 turn Soviet build of just infantry (10 a turn for 20 total, seemed a bit high) and a build of 6 tanks for two turns in Leningrad. He ended up defending with 48(!) 2s. We came out of it he had 4 art, 4 tanks, and 2 fighters left to my 3 tanks and bomber. My point was that I didn’t have to attack him right there as I was not sufficiently threatened by the US fleet.
Who do you guys think would have won? I call it at tie at best, but opinion was against me, they all thought they were going to win by virtue of an Italy crush. I though that I would have taken Russia eventually. Did the Sea Lion build on turn 2 kill my chances of taking Moscow? Could I have been there 2 turns earlier with the same force minus the 20 Russian infantry? Please let me know.