T1 attack on Trans-Jordan

[Duke of Zork]

Is it best for the Germans to attack Trans-Jordan on Turn 1? Lately, that seems to result in the loss of the Battleship and Transport. Or might it be better to keep them both in SZ15, and just keep ferrying troops to Libya?

[Davy_Hall]

Still a risk there on the counter-attack with the UK destroyer, bomber, and Egypt Fighter but yeah it's an option. Also sometimes will use it to hit Ukraine or Caucasus depending on the open. Some people like to take Gibralter or the cruiser. Lately I've been seeing a lot of Carrier buys on G1 to keep the fleet a little longer. Anything comes with risk. 94% for the BB to survive the TJ attack but it does mean if you play 50 games in a season you're probably going to lose it anywhere from 0-8 times and if it's closer to the 8 it can feel pretty brutal especially if you lose 2 or 3 out of 4. I usually make my decision based on where I want the transport contents if they survive vs whether I might lose the battle.

[rocky1242]

Even if TJ goes right, it doesn't accomplish a whole lot. UK can just retake TJ and hit the fleet with 2 fighters + bomber.

[verhlord]

It delays the UK navy, which is great for Axis. I'm experimenting with buying a carrier G1, then if the battleship dies your transport can pull back to the carrier so it's much less disastrous, but maybe with that opening attacking Trans Jordan G1 isn't as good as just supplying Libya, not sure

If you do standard G1 buys though attacking Trans-Jordan is very strong. It's not necessary though. Some super high level players don't do it.

[Juggernaut]

Respectfully disagree about TJ not being useful. Agree with verhlord. Either you (suboptimally but viably imo) open carrier G1, or open DD and reinforce or hit Ukraine/Caucasus with the starting BB trans to win harder and save your BB, or you typically hit TJ. There's just not really anything else profitable for them to do.

There are some gambits which do Gibraltar or into the Atlantic, but I haven't really been impressed by any so far. Usually, it's just a sacrifice of the ships for 0 pressure on London or Africa. Maybe you could force an uncomfortable UK open with a very specific objective in mind.

You want to clear units in the middle of the map; TJ makes it so the UK cannot land fighters in TJ or save their bomber from the BB battle. This draws US and USSR fighters to save the TJ stack from an amphib if allies forego the BB battle. I am very happy when allies trade 1 plane and possibly 2 for a BB that is dead to a strong US player on like round 3, as I don't typically draw a ton of troops away from Moscow and into Africa that is 1 turn away from a US 12 complex anyway.

India pressure is increased by forcing a recap, and closing the med makes it so that the UK has to drop the navy or wait for it to round South Africa and lose pressure by doing so.

I just don't really see how foregoing TJ doesn't give a strong player a lot more options against you, unless you have some super specific strat where you want to deadzone UK sea zones on UK1.

TL;DR: TJ forces Allies to respond to Africa and India, the TJ stack of UK retreating, and makes the UK purchase ships for early pressure. May even force the Americans into Africa early and decrease G pressure.

[rocky1242]

That's fair, I still go for TJ a lot, but there are other options.

[ReoHays]

Letting the UK fleet escape through the med is not something I like to do. Taking TJ forces them to loose it or run it to S. Africa. As the allies I loose the UK fleet that starts in the Indian Ocean, but I try to take some Axis IPC's with me.

[Juggernaut]

G1 Egypt is a medium risk, high reward battle. I almost always take it as it is impossible to lose the bomber on one round of rolling.
If you kill the units it’s disaster for UK in India and USA in Africa. Really all that matters is that fighter.
The reason I didn’t address Egypt is cus it’s rare and still closes the channel so it’s essentially an alternative TJ battle. good call

[Sergeant_Pepper]

Like Juggernaut says: on 1942 rules, with G bomber in Germany rather than Ukraine, I always go for Egypt. Eliminates the Egypt fighter and closes the canal - severely limits UK1 options. Pulls UK infy and transport to Egypt and away from the money islands. TJ accomplishes some of these same objectives but to a lesser degree. Also opens door to G factory in Egypt, which seems a better use of 15 IPCs than a Carrier in the med.

[rocky1242]

Well generally I like to use strategies that make it so I can still win even if I get bad dice, not ones that make me win really fast if I get good dice.

[chaosguy]

I dunno, while its got pros and cons, knocking out Egypt and then sending a single tank on blitzing tour of Africa seems a better direction (which also may be controversial but +5ish to Germany and -5ish to UK seems like it would help any strategy). Carrier or not, that fleet is very temporary- if it is somehow alive on turn 3, thank the power of your choice.

The BB seems like it mainly exists from a game-play set up perspective to protect the transport, which is vital to reinforcing Africa- which yes is a sideshow, but if you can convince the Allies to waste time stopping you by just dribbling in a few extra IPC it can be invaluable. Due to that the Allies really HAVE to take out the BB to get the transport, after which whatever did it will make getting another in the Med pointless as they'll just do it again. You want its brief life to matter as you'll have bigger fish to fry real fast.

TJ may or may not fulfill that, so there could be cases, but Egypt is the more consistent prize.

I like the Ukraine idea talked about above though haven't seen that in action yet.