So recently tried a Germany first move in two games. Results were same but need to know what everyone thinks about how effective it is. First purchase is 7 inf and 2 tanks. Subs in 7 and fighter in Germany attacks UK Cruiser and Destroyer off Gibraltar. Fighter in Poland attacks UK Destroyer with German Sub east of UK. If waters clear, attack with transport south of France swings around with 1 inf and 1 tank. Transport and Cruiser north of Germany picks up a tank and inf in poland and attacks UK. Fighter in Norway, Fighter in North Europe and Bomber attacks UK as well. So recap: UK capital attacked with Cruiser shot, 2 tanks, 2 inf, 2 fighters and 1 bomber. UK defending with AA gun, 2 inf, 1 tank, 2 fighters, bomber, artillery. Both times we have tried it, UK left with one fighter but we think it may be successful 30-40% of time gaining UK 43 IPCs to Germany collecting 44 IPCs. If unsuccessful, UK still weak needs to spend on navy and mainland defense.
Opinions?
Unfortunately, you don’t get the cruiser bombardment.
You have to bring the transports + escorting naval units into the SZ during combat move phase, unloading only if the battle in the SZ is successful. You can’t choose whether or not the Cruiser participates so it can get a bombardment.
More importantly, this also means that you cannot bring the transport from SZ13 (south of France) to aid your Sealion attempt, as the UK Navy off Gibraltar (SZ12) still blocks it.
That drops your odds of success to basically zero.
Even if these rules weren’t the case, I wouldn’t hedge my bets on a first-turn-kill that only has 30% of success (estimating on the low end because your battle to clear the waters around UK also needs to succeed and I’m too lazy to run this scenario through the battle calc). It’s low odds to succeed and even if you win, one of two things will happen:
1. UK can retake London B1 via its surviving fleet + the Tank from Canada (it’s unlikely you’d have many ground troops in London unless you got extremely lucky).
2. If UK fails, US will surely succeed in liberating London A1 with its starting units.
This strategy also gives USSR a free round to reorganize its forces and collect a good chunk of its income compared to a normal start. Additionally, UK’s fleet off Egypt, along with most of the Egyptian forces will have a turn to evacuate ahead of I1, allowing them to march towards more strategically important areas of the board (India, Caucasus, etc.).
You can Sealion in the 41 scenario for sure, but it takes a bit more setup. Try buying a Carrier G1 and landing some of your starting FTRs on it, for starters.
Man, this makes me miss AAR and the 1-2 TRN Baltic buy G1. Shenanigans and misdirection are so much tougher with defenseless TRNs. Buying the Baltic Carrier is like waving a red flag (or bullseye) in London’s face especially in 41 where the UK have no real disincentive to dropping 35+ IC in the water UK1.
It is really unlikely that you take the british isle like that. As noted above even if you would succeed the allies would easily be able to conquer the territory back. This would leave the germans in a very weak position. To avoid getting pressed between russian and english/american forces you would have to rely heavily on Japan throwing forces to russia. This would leave the americans unchallenged…i think it comes close to suicide…
Well just so the game is not “broken” we interpreted the rules same as y’all mention that the transport south of France cannot participate in the amphibious assault of UK because of the UK ship outside of Gibraltar. We did run the scenario several times allowing the German sub to clear that water then allowing the German transport to go around and attack UK with the contingent from the north Germany and it worked about 40-50% of the time. I agree that UK or US can retake UK but losing 43 IPC the first turn and not being able to purchase as well as Germany getting 43 IPC’s makes it hard for allies to win. Any Russian attack will be met by a huge force with Germany having a ton of money to spend.
@rickygraham as @DouchemanMacgee points out, the issue isn’t just the interfering Cruiser, but also the mandatory simultaneity of all combat moves. You can’t clear SZ 12 and then move the transport to SZ 7, because you have to make all combat moves simultaneously. Only combat resolution (rolling dice) happens sequentially, after all combat moves have been completed. Once the dice start rolling the combat move phase of your turn is over.
So, the mediterranean transport cannot pass through SZ 12 on its way to SZ 7 until Germany’s non-combat move, at which time it is too late to conduct an amphibious invasion there.
Your analysis is absolutely correct in that, were this possible, it would be game-breaking.
Incidentally, what the UK navy in Gibraltar is doing (to that transport) is called “blocking”- it’s a very useful tactic to learn and make use of. Great use for destroyers (fling them out in front of enemy transports and naval groups, just to hamper movement, and especially to prevent one group from joining up with another). Don’t try to use or transports for blocking, though, since enemies can choose to either ignore them or simply steamroll through them, respectively (different A&A games differ on the details of how transports/subs work).
Perhaps it is not the case in all versions, but at least in my version it is not even possible to move the transport from the south of france into the atlantic, cause you first have to free Gibraltar, which is under british control. It is not possible to do that without this transport, cause Spain is neutral and so the only way to get a unit to Gibraltar is an attack from sea.
Ups, my fault. Gibraltar is not considered a canal, so in theory u can pass with transport, but only to be stopped by the destroyer as mentioned earlier in this topic.
BTW: We play Gibraltar-Morocco as canal as a house-rule, perhaps that explains my post above.
