I might use some help with an allies game here

[knallbär]

I am on a game with a friend with me playing Allies.

It seems to me that my friend make some inefficient decisions but I still find me struggling to see an allied victory here.

Am I to pessimistic for the allies here. If not which decisions by myself have led to this bad position for the allies?

Gamefile: myGame.tsvg

P.S.: For those for which it isn’t obvious: I am a noob :D

[AndrewAAGamer]

Okay, yes it is obvious you are new to the game. I am only going to list the big mistakes I see. Read my article, Warfare Principles of Axis & Allies (By AndrewAAGamer), to understand better how to play Axis and Allies Global. Found here… Good Luck in the future!

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/35286/warfare-principles-of-axis-allies-by-andrewaagamer?_=1677726422604

Mistake #1, you are playing the Allies with no BId. The Axis have a significant advantage in Global 1940 2nd Edition. Bids for the Allies are anywhere from $30 to $60. See the League Rules for Bid information.

Mistake #2, you bought a tactical bomber with Russia on R1 plus all artillery. What you want is all infantry or 1 artillery plus all infantry. Russia early on is on defense and cannot afford expensive offensive units. While the German Player, amazingly, bought all navy on Turn 2 you didn’t know that on R1.

Mistake $3, you bought 4 US bombers on US1. The US needs a navy in the Atlantic, to stress Germany/Italy, and a much bigger one in the Pacific to fight Japan. Naval units come first before any Bombers.

Mistake #4, you vacated the Med with the UK fleet on UK1. That is a game losing move. As the UK you MUST control the Med. No matter what else is happening on the Board if you give Italy the Med the game is over. Again, read my article.

Mistake #5, you didn’t attack any of the Italian ground troops in Africa on UK1.

Mistake #6, you let the Germans annihilate your UK Navy in the Med on G3.

Observations:
Russia - Since Germany spent a fortune on naval units Russia is not doing too bad. You should consolidate your troops into a large stack instead of spreading them out.

USA - By not dropping in a single naval unit into the Pacific you have given Japan far too much leeway to run wild.

China - You left your ground units spread out and in range of Japanese ground units and superior air power to be wiped out.

UK - You gave the Med to Italy losing the game right there.

ANZAC - You didn’t do anything with ANZAC. Saving your money to buy a carrier is a mistake.

Read my article. Download some game files from the Playoffs to see how to improve your game.

[Myygames]

@knallbär

Your game is not optimal but far from being screwed. some thoughts for your US3 turn

• why not take Gibraltar with your two transports. The BB can bombard. you will get the italian bomber killed, nice.
• get all your ships including UK into SZ 91. Maybe one UK transport back to Canada, you can build 2 infantry there. Use SZ91 to threaten half europe in the future turns.
• build an airbase there in the next turns and bring ships into the med to deny italy its objective. dont lose gibraltar again!
• take two infantry from brazil to guiana, build a transport in new york that can pick them uo next turn on the way to gibraltar
• your bomber in french west africa can knock out the last italian transport. nice
• its very important to stabilize egypt. you must also collect a force there that can re-conquer alexandria and maybe more of north africa or against japan. build a minor IC there now and use your fleet in 76 along with the units in kenya and sudan to stabilize.
• build two infantry in south africa now every round. use your transport in 72 to collect them now, next round switch transports in 71 and 81. build two units there now every round plus 3 in egypt.
• the tactical in SZ76 should go to india as that is also threatened.
• buy only ground units in india from now on
• you need more US ships against japan. build a carrier at minimum, i suggest to put all but the one transport to the west with US. continue to not focus on ships in the pacific the following rounds.
• the transport in sz42 needs to die, use an anzac DD and safe the US ships
• not sure where your bombers in hawaii are aiming… you can move to amour and bombard for sure but japan seems to be ready to bring fighters to intercept you. you can try it nevertheless. alternatively relocating to queensland is not a bad idea and could also provide a few hit points for india should he press.
• china is not dead yet… try to safe the fighter at all costs. do as much damage to japanese units as possible.
• try to position some units in south australia to be able to attack western australia if he lands there. alternatively i also like a fast moving unit on the continent.

Just some suggestions from a quick view. good luck to you!

[Myygames]

@knallbär edit: you can probably take gibraltar AND position yourself safe in 110, maybe take holland. you have opportunities there…

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer Thanks for the really good advice here

[knallbär]

@myygames Thank you also for the good advice

I managed to take out the 5 remaining air forces from germany with the BB and the fighter/tactical + Str. Bomber. This causes the germans to stay with only 2 Bomber and 1 Fighter. Unfortunalty in this way i missed the oppurtunity to snipe the transport with the str. Bomber.

Unfortunatly my had to made my move before i received the good advice from you all

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer

The idea of the bomber was, that I get 4 Units with an attack value of 4 which are very mobile and can be bought quickly over to the Pacific or the Atlantic when needed. 4 Cruiser can better protect my fleet but are very unflexible and bound to my navy in one theatre. I would go with the principle that in principle airforce has more value per IPC than Navy.
While I fully believe you that it was a mistake I struggle to see why.
The thing is: I cannot see how I could compete with Japan in Navy and not neglect the Atlantic theatre. With Bomber I can easily threaten Japan from Hawaii (with the rest of the fleet) and

And about the ANZAC: I admit that i really have a hard time understanding what I should do with them at all. Maybe I could go for Airforce to threaten the airspace surrounding Australia… Transports would be one-shot components as they would get sniped very easily by the Japanese Navy

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer

another question is: When you say i should avoid buying mostly anything other than infantry, does that mean I should not reconquer areas occupied by the germans? Because with only infantry and 3 Airforces I cannot fathom how I cannot possible reconquer areas.

[AndrewAAGamer]

@knallbär said in I might use some help with an allies game here:

@andrewaagamer

The idea of the bomber was, that I get 4 Units with an attack value of 4 which are very mobile and can be bought quickly over to the Pacific or the Atlantic when needed. 4 Cruiser can better protect my fleet but are very unflexible and bound to my navy in one theatre. I would go with the principle that in principle airforce has more value per IPC than Navy.
While I fully believe you that it was a mistake I struggle to see why.
The thing is: I cannot see how I could compete with Japan in Navy and not neglect the Atlantic theatre. With Bomber I can easily threaten Japan from Hawaii (with the rest of the fleet) and

Exactly. Since you cannot compete with the Jap Navy the US must build a navy to be able to compete. Buying bombers just slows that process down.

Atlantic first: The US needs to send enough to the Atlantic to take Norway and threaten Berlin with the 1-2 punch. We are not going to worry about the Med because that is the job for the UK and that is the main purpose of the Bid to assist UK in taking out Italy in Africa and the Med.

Taking Norway is a major stepping stone on the path to Allied victory. Everyone is different but I like to send a US DD, AC, Ftr, Tac and Bmb into the Atlantic along with 3 fully loaded transports. This is enough to get through any 3 fighter scramble and take Norway. Once Norway is in Allied hands that is one gigantic headache for Germany plus it takes Sealion off the table.

Pacific Second: Everything else goes into the Pacific. Gaining a superior US fleet against the Japanese is a multi-step process. First you have to get your fleet big enough to not be wiped out by the Japanese and that takes aircraft carriers and fighters with a very small destroyer contingent. DO NOT buy cruisers or battleships, they are not a good value for your money. Once your fleet is large enough to not be destroyed by the Japanese then you add more carriers and tactical bombers. Once the US fleet can destroy the IJN Japan is toast. Along the way the US has to take the Caroline Islands. This puts the Japanese in a precarious position because the US Fleet now threatens homeland Japan and the Money Islands. As soon Japan cannot blow up the US fleet they are forced to move to SZ6 or they lose the game and that means they lose the Money Islands.

And about the ANZAC: I admit that i really have a hard time understanding what I should do with them at all. Maybe I could go for Airforce to threaten the airspace surrounding Australia… Transports would be one-shot components as they would get sniped very easily by the Japanese Navy

ANZAC is just like India and China. They cannot do a lot but what they do is very important. Japan starts with a bigger Navy and Air Force than the US however, the Allies combined collect far more money than Japan does. While the US is concentrating on building a comparable fleet Japan has to spend money on minor industrial complexes, transports and ground troops to take the Money Islands, China and India. The role of China and India is to force the Japanese to spend money on ground troops and stall for time. The longer they can last the longer it is before Japan can turn 100% of their attention against the US.

ANZAC and Sydney, while not in as much danger as India and China, thanks to the US Fleet, must force Japan to trade resources with them. Every Jap ship or ground troop that ANZAC kills is that much money coming out of the Jap budget to spend against India, China and the US Fleet.

Different people use different strategies. Some like to build destroyers to augment the US fleet defensively or to act as blockers. Some build transports and trade the Money Islands. Whatever strategy you use is up to you but the goal is to force Japan to spend resources against ANZAC draining their budget.

[AndrewAAGamer]

@knallbär said in I might use some help with an allies game here:

@andrewaagamer

another question is: When you say i should avoid buying mostly anything other than infantry, does that mean I should not reconquer areas occupied by the germans? Because with only infantry and 3 Airforces I cannot fathom how I cannot possible reconquer areas.

In a normal game Russia is not trying to reconquer anything, they are trying to survive.

Germany starts the game with 37 inf, 5 art, 9 arm and 4 mech that can go against Moscow. This includes Finland and Bulgaria and not the inf or art going against France on G1. That is 201 TUV plus 12 planes. Russia has 34 inf, 3 art, 2 mech and 2 arm plus 3 planes. This includes 6 Russian inf from the East. This is only 134 TUV. The Germans typically collect $30 + $66 to $68 + $51 + $49 or $196 that can be added to the Moscow push while Russia collects $37, $37, $37, $34, $24 + $20 assuming no additional monies from the Middle East or Africa or $189 almost the same because the Germans cannot spend all their money on Moscow forces and due to 1) they have to start defending the Atlantic Wall around Turn 4 and the logistics train is too far after Turn 4. So the collected monies are about the same though Germany will spend some money on troops via Novgorod and Ukraine and maybe even Volgograd before it is over.

Thus, against a concentrated effort by Germany Moscow cannot go toe to toe with the German ground forces and therefore infantry is the best buy to protect Moscow. A wise German Player is not going to spread their forces out and allow Russia to snipe at them. They are going to come as one big steamroller and at best Russia will have a lone inf or mech to deal with. Since the territories fought over are usually going to worth only $1 and Russian infantry defends as a 2 versus German infantry attacking at a 1 it is better to ignore those lone troops.

That tactical bomber build allows Russia to hit two dead zone areas with an infantry, fighter and tactical which is why you bought it. But you are trading a Russian infantry for a German infantry which is not a good trade and you gave up 3 ground units (2 inf + art) which are worth far more in the defense of Moscow than that lone tactical is.

Now, if the German player ignores Russia and spends their money on ships, as in your game, than by all means buy offensive units but you still want infantry and artillery first followed by some armor if you are able to push forward.

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer Thank you for the really good advice here. That clarifies a lot

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@knallbär

Do I need to use TripleA to see your file?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@knallbär

Man, this is hard.

Here’s what you should do:

Depending on the circumstances, attack Germany if the opportunity is there. Otherwise follow standard AndrewAAGamer’s procedure on the Eastern Front.

This reminds me of how when I played against myself Germany always let the Soviets attack then wipe them out in a backhand blow. Wins the game every time.

Kill Iraq. The 3 infantry are more dangerous when united with Italy. Plus you get 2 IPCs.

The Soviets should declare war on Japan. Killing the 18 infantry sucks up a lot of resources and otherwise will force Japan to defend Manchuria and Korea. Grab Korea for a cheap 3 IPCs.

I’m not sure is it too late yet, but pour units into China as both the Soviets and India. India should be the chief helper here. Moving units there will create a bigger buffer zone between India and Japan. Soviet aircraft and tanks will work well in the vast spaces of China. Defending India from amphibious assault will be tough though.

You should grab French Indochina and Siam. Even if one unit is lost, you still gain IPCs.

Build a transport fleet and invade Europe.

Beyond this, the main tenet is to do what the Allies did in the real war to win. This means concentrating on Europe while protecting ANZAC and Hawaii, as the Soviets to retreat for time and space, and to invade Europe as the west as soon as possible, even at the expense of the Mediterranean.

Keep in mind this all just my opinion. If anything I say conflicts with AndrewAGamer, choose his word over mine.

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer

Hi andrew, I have another question regarding the russian play: Shall I move the 18 Inf from far east to moscow or should they stack at the japanese border to become a hassle for the japanese and hopefully take a bunch of groundforces out of asia?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@knallbär

I know you didn’t ask me, but I’m not sure. Considering you’re already a few turns in (assuming you’re asking about your current game), the infantry might arrive too late. Best to keep them as a distraction for Japan.

[knallbär]

@superbattleshipyamato

Sorry for the confusion. I won the last game already (that game for which i made the thread).

Know I am talking about general russian strategy.

[AndrewAAGamer]

@knallbär Great Question!!!

This is a very hot topic, and I would not be in the position to say which way is the best way, however I can provide information as to the three most common moves that I have seen and both pros and cons of those choices.

Move all 20 units back to Moscow: 6 infantries can make Moscow by Turn 6 while the other 12 infantries and 2 AA guns can make it on Turn 7. This means 6 infantries make it before the Germans make what is their normal Turn 7 attack on Moscow and if Moscow holds all units can make it for the defense of Moscow.

Pro #1: This provides the most short-term protection of Moscow. These 20 extra units allow Moscow to hold to Turn 11 or 12 versus the normal 7 or 8. Those 20 units are worth 64 TUV.

Con #1: With those units gone Japan will most likely start attacking the East Russian Coast (Siberia) on Turn 2 or 3 at the latest. Going for Amur on about Turn 4 or 5. Rolling up the east flank getting to Yenisey by Turn 6 or 7. This costs Russia about $22 by J7 which means Russia loses out on 7 infantry (and thus only really gains 11 infantry and 2 AA Guns) and Japan gains that same $22. Going forward each Turn costs Russia $7 while Japan gains $7.

Con #2: With no Russian troops in Amur Japan is free to send all ground troops against China greatly improving their China attack.

Leave all 20 units in the East: Leaving all 20 units in the East, usually going to Buryatia on R1 and Amur on R2, puts pressure on Japan to defend their northern flank and protects the eastern Russian front.

Pro #1: Forces Japan to put 10 infantry, AA gun and 2 fighters in Korea to protect Korea from a Russian invasion. Those troops are badly needed for the attack on China and thus without them China will hold longer and collect more of their own monies.

Pro #2: Russia does not lose any IPCs due to a Japanese attack so in the long run they collect more money.

Con #1: Without the eastern troops Moscow is more at risk of falling and if Germany cannot take them on G7 they have time to build up for a G8 or G9 take since no additional troops are coming.

Move 6 infantry back to Moscow: This compromise provides more defense for Moscow before the normal German Turn 7 attack, 6 infantry, and still protects the bulk of the Russian eastern money though fewer Japanese troops are needed for the defense of Korea so more pressure is put on China. Those 12+2 units are probably not strong enough to stay in Amur and will linger in Buryatia waiting to move to Amur if Japan leaves Manchuria too weak. Being in Buryatia allows Japan to take a little Russian territory.

In summary: Bringing the troops back is more of a short-term solution and favors the Europe side of the board. It takes Germany longer to take Moscow but at the same time makes Japan stronger. Leaving the troops in the east weakens Japan significantly but puts Moscow more at risk, though Russia will collect more money until Moscow falls. Bringing back 6 infantry is a compromise that still protects Russia’s money however Japan is able to free up more troops going against China.

So, what is more important to you? Do you want to hold Moscow longer? Do you want to make Japan easier to control? Really that depends on your overall strategy and where you are putting your emphasis of attack.

Hope that helps…

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@andrewaagamer

That’s pretty much how I would’ve summed it up as well.

By the way, I would like to add that 18 infantry kills a lot of Japanese, and considering how hard it is to get units on the mainland Japan will have a tough time.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@knallbär

Glad you won the game! Did our advice help?

[knallbär]

@andrewaagamer
Thank you for the sound advice