Well, here seems to be another thing you can try in an actual game to
see if super-Balbo can be stopped.

>>> Håkon Fløystad <hakon.floystad@...> 13.01.2009 23:21 >>>
> I still think it's worth the US entry to prevent Italy from
> having the initiative in '39 and '40 in the Med.

I don't claim to know which is better. I am pretty certain, though,
that it's not worth it for Italy to dow first in 1939.

And if you play vs me, then you needn't worry too much about stopping
me from threatening Egypt, since I'm not planning on doing that anyway.

> A thought: has your CW player ever sent in max HQs to Russia
> along with a plethora of ground strikers in order to blunt
> the attack of the Italian super-air force? Seems to me that
> you could have 11 units in Russia as well, including a couple
> CW AT stacks with supporting aircraft to take over a few key
> hexes (Crimean peninsula entrance hex for example).

It certainly has been talked about, but I think the most that I've seen
is 2-3 CW hq, and they have mostly been keeping to the north, in fear of
being cut off from supply. 1 turn of bad luck, and the entire force is
likely to die.

11 units, that would include all your HQ's (ie no pulling them out
after dropping off the forces). 2 stacks, thats 6 out of those those 11
units, of which 2 will be HQ-I. To keep the stacks fully mechanized
would require 8 land units. That leaves room for 3 planes, while
allowing Italy and Germany to send pretty much all they've got of
reserves to compensate.

I remember setting it up, once. It didnt look quite as fearsome on the
map, as it did in theory. And if you're a bit unlucky, those units flip
at some point, and Germany just bypass you, keeping you out of supply.
After that, your units can more or less be considered out of the game
for good :)

It would be fun to see someone try, though, but I personally think that
other tactics can achieve more at significantly less risk.

Cheers
Hakon