I used this “Sea Lion Play Option Pass” Strategy on saturday, and it worked great.
G1 1 Strat Bomber, 1 DD save $10
Destroyed 110, 111, 106
UK 1 1 DD 1 Armor (4 Infantry on UK)
Declined Taranto
G2 ($78) 10 Transports, 1 DD
Bomb damage 18. German Tac disables Air Base. Take Normandy
UK 2 Declined to repair
Sea Lion Successful with 2 arty 3 armor 2-3 Inf left.
Japan destroyed UK East on Turn 3 or 4. Using Wedding’s plan, I’d recommend also that after you drop the first wave, you have another wave of 11 Infantry and assorted junk ready to drop on G4 in case you get diced. If UK does a really conservative build, this may not work in 1 round. If I’d had to drop a second round, I would have lost alot more ground to russia and USA. And, once you have the UK under control, its still minimal money (Germany = 52-54). repair and consistently build 3 infantry each turn to avoid a retake.
It is easy to forget that while this strategy takes UK out of the game, the other allies get pretty tough–several turns of Russia > 50, USA @ 80, ANZAC > 30. I was also pretty lucky that the UK navy all died and overall my luck was solid in the early game.
Russia took Scandinavia. Of the 11 Transports, 3 died taking Malta and trying to take Brazil. 4 lived in the med and 4 up north. Attacked the first US crossing fleet and secured bonuses with Italy. Later in the game, the USA returned in force and W Ger, UK, Rome were all vulnerable. I spent tons of money on infantry this game, a factory in Romania. Mechs saved me when I needed to stock S. Italy with forces–in the future I’d walk more slower infantry that direction as there is a recurring theme of Germany needing to cover/help Italy survive.
We used Mark Movel’s Victory Conditions and the Davemod v3.0, both of these led to a really competitive, vibrant game. Weddingsinger’s Play Option is solid, has a good chance of taking UK in 1-2 rounds of attacks–the harder part is winning the overall game in 10 turns without the income from Russia and with the other 3 allies at max power.