Best posts made by Ichabod

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Taamvan,

Major IC due to timing I think brings this risky adventure much more risky because of no war units being purchased G1 period. But I see your point of timing vs. cost. And I do agree that the surprise factor is important.

If purchasing a Major IC, then all of the boats would be purchased on Turn 2, then used to hit the Caucasus on Turn 3.

If purchasing a Minor IC, then transports would be purchased on Turn 2, then used to hit the Caucasus on Turn 3 (then Germany would place new units (carrier + destroyer + fighters) there for protection). So I don’t see the actual time saving by purchasing a Major.

If purchasing a Minor IC on Turn 1, I would also purchase 3 artillery and 2 infantry (5 ground units) to try to mitigate the naval purchases. Remember, often people used to purchase a carrier + 2 transports, or a destroyer and a sub and no ground units to “fake” Sea Lion. Some still purchase all naval units on G1 and still make it to Moscow.

Anyone know if this tabletop simulator is available yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N3E8hNlavc

If you play against me…you might end up having to use more ground or planes than you want to hold Yunnan on turn 2 in order to land planes there on J3 (for your India take down J4).

For instance, I recently started sending everything into Yunnan on C1 and attacking Hunan too of course if I can. All builds are placed in Yunnan with the point in mind to kill Japanese units to lower the stack going against India. Hence you might have to buy an airbase placed on FIC or Shan State.

Also, in all discussions, I assume the allies get a bid. Rare to find opponents playing straight up. I always give at least 7 IPCs in bid money to China:  1 artillery in Kweichow and 1 infantry in Yunnan…again with the goal of hurting Japanese plans with some lucky dice.

I say all of this with the caveat that I do lose a lot of games. So, you can take it as just 2 cents.

Instead of Mech…If allies are going heavy enough in Europe (not 100%), but enough to make Germany build defense in their west, a better option is to purchase mostly artillery instead of mech. And retreat all infantry. Don’t waste 1 inf in a territory to prevent a free walk-on. Mostly just results in a lost inf. In theory, if going heavy against Germany, there will be plenty of allied fighters in Moscow to prevent a G6 or even G7 Moscow attack. Once the Siberians come back and pair up with 25-30+ artillery, Russia’s stack is very lethal. I’ve run into a player online triplea (one of the guys who helped create BM3). He does this strategy very well. US makes significant landings, and Russia become defensive; but very lethal. Germany can’t come to Bryansk.

@weddingsinger
I’ve played against a group in Nashville a few times. They like Allies. This was several years ago. They bought mech mainly for defense. Mech could drive up to Belarus quicker and reinforce the defense stack. Mech could work for Russia on the front end (maybe slowing down) the German advance into Russia. But I don’t think it will work against a good German player or really be very helpful on the back end like turn 6 or 7. All of those mech in Moscow instead of artillery.

@simon33

His question was, what’s the best buy for G1 regardless of actual intend to do Sea Lion, while not costing too much against the more likely invasion of Russia.

I don’t think the CV and 2 trans. are the best that won’t cost too much against a more likely Barbarossa.

I’ve heard people debating 2 bombers/1 sub…ect. Myself I think 1 destroyer / 1 fighter / 1 bomber. Anyways, they all have similar pros/cons.

@seancb

I think a sub spam purchase is easy for the UK to mitigate if there isn’t 2 subs off Canada and they have the destroyer in sz 109. After the UK has Canada free, it’s easy for them to drop a destroyer there…German subs than have to scamper off the coast of UK.

You might get 1-2 good rounds of convoying.

However, if doing the sub thing, need to start it off right from the beginning.

G1 Purchase 3 Subs, 1 Bomber.

I learned that from someone I play with regularly online.

What you do you is ignore SZ 110 on G1.

Hit 109, 106, and 111 in order to clear all destroyers. There is a way to send enough Air to both 111 and 109 to ensure UK doesn’t scramble or it (dice permitting), usually a lopsided victory in Axis favor.

If you win all 3 zones with subs over, you might get 9-10 IPC convoyed turn 1. If everything being fair dice, UK may have to turtle purchase UK1, which means you may get another good convoy UK2 (because of the 3 sub purchases G1).

@seancb

I will be going to work at 0800 central (0900 EST).

Evening time around 6:30 PM EST I’m usually back and settled in. I’ll be on around that time.

GHG,

My preference is to play global via table top. But being a father with a 14 month old son and a husband to my wonderful wife, I can’t justify dedicating a 12-14 hour Saturday more than 1x per 2-3 months. Playing a few hours of triplea in the evening after my son is put to bed is sometimes the only way I can play. Yes, triplea isn’t the same, but it’s a good electronic version.

Amongst the triplea global 40 regulars, Sea Lion has recently become very popular again. A few months ago, I started a post called “Tan Skies” (meaning large stacks of UK fighters getting to Moscow being a problem for Germany). Players are really tired of aggressive UK strategies like your plan and lately seem to be testing the limitations of Sea Lion again. An opponent recently pulled off Sea Lion against me and it wasn’t pyrrhic (he only had to take like 2 plane hits). He declared war on Russia G2 in order to snatch E. Poland. This was easy because he positioned his ground on G1 like he was going to do Barbarossa but his forces were evenly positioned from Romania on up to Poland so the Russian player couldn’t tell if he was going to go north or south of the Pripet marshes. Grabbing E. Poland on G2 really puts Russia out of position for subsequent threats of Germany and helps to block Russia from immediately getting lots of NO bonuses. I was shocked when he bought a ton of transports G2 even though I placed the “responsible” 6 infantry / 1 fighter on London. His reasoning for still doing Sea Lion despite 6 inf/1 fig was that the US was setting itself up for a KJF strategy and he needed to slow them down. The US navy was in wrong place to where they couldn’t immediately move any ships to New Brunswick. His G1 purchase I think was 1 bomber, 1 sub, 4 infantry. The axis won this game.

Until this game, it hadn’t really occurred to me that 8 infantry / 1 artillery is a better defensive purchase. Duh… We buy the 6/1 so we get 1 useful fighter. If Germany purchases 1 transport on G1, I’m now more inclined to purchase 8 infantry/ 1 artillery for London against good opponents. I’ll still buy 6 infantry / 1 fighter if a German opponent purchased like described above. But it was rather shocking.