I’m a relative novice in A&A, having only played two or three games of older editions up until now (and not doing particularly well, either :-) )
I’m looking forward to trying out 1942 Second Edition, and I’ve been reading up a bit to try to improve my opening. I think I understand how to play R1 (strafe Ukraine, all-in West Russia and abandon Karelia) and G1 (sink everything, planes go west to deter allied navy, ground forces go East for Russians) are fairly well-established. Where I am stumped is what to do for UK1 and US1 - or for those two powers in general.
The main difficulty as I see it is getting land forces onto mainland Europe or Russia as the UK and US. Previously strong Shuck-shuck routes no longer exist, and with transports no longer boosting defense, building a landing force is a very big investment. Landing infantry in Africa, Western Europe, or even Finland requires a very large investment to avoid the transport fleet being sunk by German air power.
Here are some questions I have for those of you with more experience with this edition:
1. Is pulling the Indian fleet back into the Mediterranean a viable course to take? This seems a lot more appealing to me than a suicidal smash into the Japanese forces, as it preserves a lot of UK material that will be worth its weight in gold if it can defend Africa by removing or blocking Germany’s med. fleet.
2. What should be done with the Australian fleet? Attempting a landing anywhere in range doesn’t seem like a particularly profitable move to me. I’d rather sail them around South America and join a larger UK fleet in a couple of turns. (In fact, would pulling the Indian fleet under Africa to meet up with the Australian fleet be worth trying?)
3. Assuming the two German subs in the mid Atlantic both go to sink the western US fleet on G1 (leaving my DD and transport outside Canada alive), what can I profitably do with my destroyer and transport off of Eastern Canada? Should I attack the subs? Move into that space but ignore the subs? Land the tank somewhere and sacrifice the fleet?
4. Would UK/US focusing on Strategic Bombing be enough help to keep Russia in the game vs. Germany? The 12 IPC bombers in this version seem like a great deal to me as a player of older editions. How would a UK1 Bomber/fighter/3 inf opening followed by a US Bomber (or 2 bombers!) + something else opening work? My thinking here is to base all of the bombers in the UK and SBR Germany relentlessly starting on T1, possibly purchasing another pair of bombers on Uk2/US2 if possible. This gets “help” to Russia faster (and cheaper) than landing ground troops, but I don’t have enough experience to know if this is viable in the long run. I just know that compared to landing ground forces, this is a lot cheaper and faster.
5. Would it be sound for the US to just ignore the Atlantic altogether? Even disregarding the Honolulu VC, it just seems like leaving your (strong) fleet in the pacific together and pressuring Japan to help keep India alive (and thereby indirectly protect Russia) while using 2-3 US1/US2-built Bombers to attack Germany early (as opposed to bringing over any kind of navy/ground forces to the Atlantic) might end up being a more efficient use of resources.
Any thoughts on any of these points would be much appreciated - or just general insights on how to play UK and US in general.
Edit: Said “Egypt” when I meant “Africa” - embarrassing.