I posted my opening German moves for a recent game, and this community seemed surprised that I left the UK battleships alive. So, assuming you are not planning any Sealion, do you attack the Royal Navy, and if so, how much?
I only have two global games under my belt, but I’ve played E1940 5 or 6 times (I’ve played every game as the Axis). The only G1 attacks I make on the Royal Navy are sending two subs against each of the two destroyer/transport groupings, and the 5th sub against one of the non-destroyer targets for a pot-shot.
A lot of people like to go after the UK battleships (because they’re worth 40 IPCs?), but I’m ok with letting them live for several reasons:
-generally, I don’t try to contest the Atlantic as Germany. I’ll build up my Fortress Europe defences, but I’ll let the allies do whatever they will at sea. As such, the only real use the UK player gets from these battleships is for bombardment. Even assuming that the UK player will land troops every turn, he’s only taking out 1.5 of my inf/turn on average, or 4ipcs/turn.
-I have been burned on my initial invasion of France if I don’t bring all available ground and at least 3 planes. It sucks to spend 45 minutes setting up a board only to lose the game with failed risky G1 move – others may have different experiences, but I failed to take France enough times that I consider attacking without a lot of air cover a “risky move.” Also, I like to save as many tanks/mechs as I can from the engagement for my G1 or G2 Barabossa.
-the most annoying thing the UK player can do early on is to land troops in one of my territories. It doesn’t even have to be a threat to me, but a landing will disrupt my plans for Russia. Taking out the transports pushes the earliest landing to UK2.
-if the UK player can only really use his battleships for bombardment and i destroyed his transports, the battleships can do nothing but protect his sea stack.
-by the time the US gets involved and the landings get serious, the naval force around Britain becomes unstoppable anyways – taking out a couple battleships from that force doesn’t really change the fact that there’s a gigantic navy on my doorstep, and I am going to have to deal with landings.