This is actually game #14 of East & West (between myself and @The_Good_Captain) dating back to December of 2021.

Below is my recap of the game, up to the end of round 4; a friend had asked for something of a deep-dive on the NATO strat, and how the game state had gotten to where it was, so there is a lot more detail given to that (also, because the NATO perspective is my perspective, obviously.)
For those unfamiliar, in this game NATO consists of 3 powers: Western Europe (WE), British Empire & Commonwealth (UK), and the United States (US).

This is the 2nd game which TGC has edited together YouTube videos for; you can check those out here:

Soviet opening
NATO turn 1 recap; Soviet turn 2
NATO turn 2 recap; Soviet turn 3
NATO turn 3 recap; Soviet turn 4

Also, check out his channel for videos of our previous game, plus other games – including multiple 1914 playthroughs.

Rounds 1-4 recap

Atlantic

Rd1:
Soviets sent all subs + 1 fighter against the North Sea; the SZ was cleared without loss, but this meant the subs were stranded without any surface ships for AA cover.

On the counterattack, UK’s fleet + 1 bomber wiped out the surface fleet without loss, while the remainder of their air force attacked the subs, scoring 2 hits. Because WE had moved a transport into the Irish SZ (shipping the lone infantry from Portugal to France) the remaining Soviet sub could only submerge, or retreat to the Batlic; it opted to do the latter.

The US moved their sub (from Iceland) into the North Sea to keep the other sub penned in, and prevent it from being used in concert with any air power against the main NATO fleets.
UK places 2 transports in Ontario; US places 3 transports off the East Coast.

Rd2:
Soviets sent their sub after the Americans’ but opted to retreat back after one round of fire, with neither side scoring a hit. US fighters based in France were able to sink the sub.

Overall losses: USSR: 3 subs, 1 transport, 1 cruiser US: 2 transports, 1 cruiser Pacific

Rd1:
The Soviets did the standard “Tokyo Drift” setup. US opted to salvage their sub from the Japan SZ, with the Soviets losing 1 sub and retreating the other to Marcus Island SZ; the US sub at Guam also survived, and retreated to Okinawa SZ to join the other retreating US sub.

Both US subs, both US bombers, and 1 fighter were sent to clear Japan SZ; a cruiser and fighter from the West Coast + the sub at Hawaii were sent to clear Guam SZ. Only 1 sub was lost (in the Japan SZ battle.) US navies grouped up around Guam and Hawaii.

Rd2:
Soviet fighters were sent to sink the lone sub in the Japan SZ; they missed, and the sub opted to submerge in place. This kept the sea lane open for the US transports, for a possible landing in Korea.

The US bombers (which had landed in Japan) were sent against the remaining sub at Marcus Island, along with 1 fighter. The sub was sunk, with 1 bomber moving to Panama and the other moving to the Eastern US to rendezvous with the nuke. A token force was left in the Pacific, with a transport depositing the armor (originally from Okinawa) at the Western US; all other naval assets were moved towards the Panama canal.

Overall losses: USSR: 2 subs, 2 transports, 2 cruisers US: 1 sub, 1 cruiser, 1 battleship Africa / Middle East / Central Asia

Rd1:
Soviets do the standard Turkey attack, with only 2 attacking infantry surviving.

WE sends infantry in Africa eastward; armor from Italy is transported to Sudan. The fighter from Indochina lands in Pakistan, along with 2 infantry via transport; the remaining infantry walks forward to Burma. French paratrooper lands in Pakistan. Fighter from France lands on the UK carrier; entire WE and UK Mediterranean fleets are moved to the Red Sea. UK fighter from the Mediterranean goes to Pakistan. WE places infantry in Madagascar and Mozambique.

Cruiser from South Africa moves north, into the Atlantic; infantry move to Mozambique, armor moves to Congo. UK pushes everything forward, from India into Pakistan. All Australian assets are moved to India; Burma’s infantry moves to Indochina to protect from paratroopers based in Siberia. Indian navy moved to Persian Gulf.

Rd2:
Soviets invade Iran with everything from Turkey, Georgia, and Turkmenistan. Soviets move more tanks into Georgia.

WE does no combat this round. Infantry are again moved east, into Sudan; the tank from Sudan is transported to Pakistan, while the 2 infantry placed last round in Africa are also transported to Pakistan. The 2nd WE fighter lands in Pakistan, and their remaining armor is moved from France to Algeria. The bomber moves to New Guinea. WE places in Indochina and Africa.

UK attacks Turkmenistan (1 inf, 1 arm, 2 ftr vs. 1 inf) and captures the territory without loss; all attacking equipment is moved back to Pakistan. Indian units move to Pakistan, Burma infantry to India; the infantry and armor originally from South Africa are transported to Pakistan. Transport at India moves back to Australia; UK subs rally in the Red Sea, carrier moves to Persian Gulf. Paratroopers from Italy are landed in Pakistan.

Rd3:
Soviets counterattack Turkmenistan, pulling their fighters from the far east to do so. They rally their forces in Iran.

WE uses their armor to attack Turkmenistan, and their fighters + cruiser to attack Turkey, losing only 1 infantry in the Turkmenistan battle. Armor in Algeria moves to Sudan. Bomber brings paratrooper from New Guinea to Pakistan. Infantry from Madagascar and Mozambique are again transported in, as well as the 2 infantry that arrived in Sudan last turn.

UK uses paratroopers and fighters from Pakistan to attack Georgia, capturing the territory with only 1 loss. Transports ship infantry from Australia, Ceylon, and Singapore onto the mainland.

Rd4:
Soviets are forced to pull infantry from Romania for an amphibious assault into Turkey. They also counterattack Georgia and Turkmenistan, recapturing all 3 territories at a loss of only 1 infantry. Iran is heavily reinforced, with additional fighters, as well as a heavy armor and bomber.

WE attacks Turkmenistan and Turkey again, but fares much worse in both attacks this time, losing 4 infantry in total but still managing to capture both territories. The French armor finally reaches Pakistan, while the bomber is sent back to Europe. Infantry are placed in Indochina, Madagascar, and Mozambique again.

UK sends 1 infantry to cover the empty Turkmenistan, but otherwise reinforces into Pakistan.

Overall losses: USSR: 17 inf WE: 14 inf, 1 arm, 1 ftr UK: 3 inf Neutral: 2 inf, 1 arm, 1 ftr Europe + Mediterranean

Rd1:
Soviets do the standard attacks; only 5 infantry remaining in West Germany, 1 in Greece, but all 5 in Norway. Soviets rally in Poland and Romania, as is customary.

WE trades an infantry with the Soviets, over Yugoslavia; the Americans move 1 more infantry in to reinforce. Infantry are placed in France. UK forces move from France to Italy.

Rd2:
Soviets invade Finland (without loss) and counterattack Yugoslavia.
WE infantry are moved from France into Italy, to oppose the new stack in Yugoslavia.

British marines from Canada land in Komi (unopposed) and Norway (w/ naval bombardment). Infantry from Gibraltar and Algeria are landed in France.

US activates the classic shuck-shuck; the US Mediterranean transport arrives in the Irish SZ.

Rd3:
Soviets invade Sweden and Switzerland, losing 3 infantry in each battle; also counterattack Norway and Komi. Soviet forces marshal in Ukraine.

Italians perform the now-infamous bayonet charge into Yugoslavia; 3 infantry killed, taking no losses. UK mops up the remaining infantry in the territory, while also exchanging infantry in West Germany (w/ naval bombardment). South African cruiser reaches the Mediterranean.

Spain joins the war, on the side of the US.
US forces in Italy and France (bolstered by Spanish units) combine to strafe the Soviet stack in Switzerland, regrouping in France; US drops the nuke on West Germany, immobilizing 2 fighters in addition to killing 5 infantry. Arab Outrage leads to the Suez Canal being closed to NATO. US bomber arrives in France from Panama, with 1 paratrooper.

Rd4:
Soviets re-secure Yugoslavia. Soviet forces are consolidated in West Germany and Finland.

WE uses their bomber to help retake Yugoslavia once again.

British armor helps to liberate Switzerland, while the British Mediterranean fleet wipes out the Soviet Black Sea fleet. Royal marines capture an only lightly-guarded Karelia.

US air and airborne forces liberate Norway, against minimal opposition. US marines capture Komi (w/ naval bombardment). Final US transport from the Pacific reaches the East Coast, as the shuck-shuck intensifies.

Overall losses: USSR: 54 inf, 1 trn, 1 sub, 1 crz WE: 12 inf, 2 arm, 1 ftr UK: 6 inf, 1 arm, 1 ftr, 1 sub US: 13 inf, 2 arm, 1 ftr, 1 bmb Neutral: 9 inf, 1 arm, 2 ftr

Opening Purchases for Western Europe / Overall Strategies

I’ve been thinking about this topic a bit, and have used a few different options in recent games, so I decided to lay things out.

Starting with 32 IPCs, here are your basic options:

10 inf [save 2] 9 inf, 1 arm 8 inf, 1 trn 7 inf, 1 spy [save 1] 4 inf, 4 arm

Spying Game (7 inf, 1 spy [save 1])
Generally the reason to buy a spy as Western Europe, is to essentially give the NATO team one more bullet in the cylinder, in terms of countering whatever they presume the Soviet spies are trying to do – whether that be counter-intel, influencing China, or trying to get minor neutrals on-side to beef up Soviet attacks (particularly in Europe). Now, this last one is, IMO, the worst use for the WE spy in particular.

Think of it this way: if WE gains Spain, that essentially means they get enough IPCs to place 1 more infantry, per round; if the US or UK gets Spain, that means they can place 3 more infantry directly onto the continent – never mind adding an industrial complex, if they so choose. I could potentially see WE influencing spaces like Thailand or Ethiopia in order to give a tiny, safe income boost and to better facilitate the movement of UK troops towards India, but those still wouldn’t be my first choice on a spying success, as WE.

The other issue is that once that spy gets killed, WE doesn’t really have the means to replace it; after rd1, you’re generally only putting out 7-8 infantry per turn, and I feel like placing 3 less than that to replace a killed spy just isn’t worth it. YMMV.

Mare Nostrum (8 inf, 1 trn)
My opinion is that you can play WE in two broad ways: as France, or as Italy. (If there’s a 3rd option, it’s basically “playing as Indochina” and supporting the UK in India – more on that later.)

Playing as Italy essentially means trying to dominate the Mediterranean – in close co-operation with the UK. You want your infantry in Italy for defense, but also so you can amphibiously assault Greece or Turkey, using a shuck-shuck. If you move your transport from Indochina to Pakistan on rd1, it can then reach the Cyprus SZ on rd2, potentially adding 2 inf from Indochina to an amphibious assault into Turkey, coming from the other direction; if the USSR attacked/influenced Iran, you can also fly your fighter from Indochina over, to add to the attack.

With 4 transports in the Mediterranean, WE can pack quite a punch – and because they own Greece and Turkey, liberating these territories themselves means more cash on hand. It’s also worth mentioning that, as a 4-IPC territory with an industrial complex, Italy can put out 8 infantry every round (enough to fill 4 transports) as long as you have the cash to do it. (Worth noting, if you are only down Norway, West Germany, and Greece, your income will be 24 – exactly enough for 8 infantry. This is why liberating Turkey can be so potentially lucrative, in addition to opening new lanes of advance.)

The reason to not go this route is if the USSR positions planes close to the Mediterranean, at the end of their first turn. In this case, it’s my preference to scatter the fleets out of range of Soviet planes; the riskier alternative is to send the lone WE sub with the planes from France to try and take out the Black Sea fleet (the fighter having to land on the UK carrier, afterwards.)

If you choose to gather all of NATO’s navy around the Algeria SZ or Italy SZ to beef up your defense against a Soviet naval attack, the problem is that either your transport from Portugal will be out of position, or the UK carrier won’t be positioned to help with the Turkey attack – meaning on WE2 you might have to settle for attacking Greece, or not attacking in the Mediterranean at all.

Spend it All! (9 inf, 1 arm)
As the name implies, the reason to go this route is that it allows you to spend all of your money. The tank gives you a little extra offense on land; ultimately, what you need to quickly determine is whether your tanks should be in Italy or in France, to counter-attack Yugoslavia or West Germany, respectively. If the Soviets have a bad S1, they may be weak enough in West Germany to be counter-attacked right away, but generally Yugoslavia will be the easier target on WE1. However, because of its central location, often the USSR will opt to drop their stack down in Yugoslavia after the first round, so WE needs to make sure their tanks are positioned where they can actually strike back, long term.

Armor Doctrine (4 inf, 4 arm)
Since WE is generally not ever going to be richer than they are at the start of the game, WE1 is when you need to make your expensive purchases – if at all.

Going with this option essentially gives you 2 less units on defense than if you go with all infantry, but the offensive power can be particularly potent against a weak West Germany position for the Soviets. Ultimately, the trick is to inflict as many casualties in as few rounds of combat as possible, and to spare as many of your own infantry from your attacks as you can manage. That’s how you gain the economic advantage in this dead-zone management microcosm. Now, you could position your armor and infantry in Italy (particularly in a strategy where the US and UK are bankrolling France’s defense) but overall I view this strategy more as a “playing as France” type of move.

The other consideration when playing as France, is what is your secondary target (if your primary target is West Germany)? Two distinct options present themselves:

Greece Norway

Now, either territory can easily be within shuck-shuck range of France (either in the Mediterranean, or in the North Sea / Barents Sea, respectively) however, a fighter stationed in France is more easily able to hit Norway, and return back to France for defense – which is why I would recommend this tact, when playing as France. In either case, you will need to coordinate naval coverage with your allies, so make sure to take that into consideration. Also, a single US transport can feed 2 infantry from Iceland into Norway every round, in addition to any support the UK can quickly provide, from their capitol.

Read and React (10 inf [save 2])
Obviously, this is the generalist approach. I would argue that if you plan to support the UK in India by placing 2 (or even 1) infantry in Indochina, this is probably the build you’re going to use – not to say that you couldn’t use one of the other high-inf options. With that in mind, you can also use this build if you’re just going to focus on defending Europe; maybe the Soviets don’t give you a good read one way or the other, but you know (for example) that you don’t want to drop down an extra transport because there are too many planes circling around.

If you are going for an India focus as WE, my suggestion is to use your transports to immediately route your tanks through Africa. From Algeria to Sudan is 2 spaces, so with the right planning and maneuvering of transports, you can get a tank from France to Pakistan or India by WE3. Sending the starting tanks from both Italy and France (plus getting the infantry from Africa over to Pakistan) will keep your transports occupied for a while.

As such, you need to decide what you’re going to do with your transports afterwards: are you going to pivot to “playing as Italy”, or do you want to use Mozambique and Madagascar to shuck 2 additional infantry to Pakistan every round? You’ll need to have a good read of the map, and know what options will work for you. (Alternatively, if you went the “Spend it All!” route, shipping a 3rd tank over might give you an extra round to decide on your next move.)

One thing I like to do when I focus on assisting India as WE, is to send the bomber (with a paratrooper) to Pakistan on WE1; you can then send the bomber to New Guinea on WE2, and bring the infantry from there, as a paratrooper back to Pakistan (or India) on WE3. This might not be the best use of your bomber (so feel free to do something more aggressive, if the opportunity arises) but it does free up your transport from trying to pick up that lone infantry, FWIW.

@CWO-Marc
Thanks for your thoughts. I intend to revise the top posts for this and the other two “expansion posts” sometime this weekend, I now have some food for thought.

Thanks again!

-Midnight_Reaper