Allied Playbook - G40 Collection of Essays - Compiled by jacobgeo24 Nov 18-19 2023

[jacobgeo24]

@pacifiersboard Thank you for the advice, I will surely use some of it during our tournament and don’t worry about the Russia player, he will be commanding the USA as well! And of course we value the time we have together and our fellowship much more than who wins a board game!

[jacobgeo24]

@SuperbattleshipYamato Yes I know it has been tough to play the game with people and I have been so lucky to learn the game. My dad played Classic with his friends when it came out in '84 and in 2018, a friend sent him a copy of revised to get him back into the game. He then taught me and we played our first Axis and Allies game in June 2018. I then introduced my friend who loves history to the game and taught him how to play, and we would play against my dad together and then against each other for years until 2022 when he taught his friend how to play and it has been a chain reaction. All you have to do it just teach someone who has time and won’t immediately turn you down, maybe someone who is interested in history will be easier to hook on with. But, I am lucky that my dad had played before and taught me because otherwise I wouldn’t have found a way to introduce my friends to it and grow our community. Now I am so grateful that members like @AndrewAAGamer, @crockett36, and many more along with all the guys on youtube like GHG, Good Captain, all the guys who play G36, Hilltop Pillbox, Board Game Nation, and so many more are around to help grow the game and bring more knowledge to people like me and my friends. They are helping to create a new generation of young Axis and Allies players like myself.

[barnee]

@jacobgeo24 said in Allied Playbook - G40 Collection of Essays - Compiled by jacobgeo24 Nov 18-19 2023:

and won’t immediately turn you down,

Sounds like how I met my ex wife lol

Sorry. Good action here. Keep Rocking. In the future, after you’ve enjoyed OOB, this is a fun house rule mod https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/36945/axis-allies-global-1940-house-rules-expansion

[jacobgeo24]

@barnee Thanks

[jacobgeo24]

Hello, I have recently gone over the PDF again and I have realized that there have been many conflicting UK strategies, I know we have addressed the issue of the Taranto raid, but beyond that there is a lot of debate on what should be done as the UK in Europe specifically.

I see UK pacific as much easier to understand, their job is to halt the Japanese and not loose Calcutta at all costs and possibly get support from UK Europe from the Middle East if the UK goes down that route and Anzac Planes. Other than that, try to be a thorn in Japan’s side, slow them down and stifle their progress. But for UK Europe, I’ve found it more challenging.

GHG’s Middle Earth strategy is one of the most popular strategies on the forums and he has constantly backed it up for years now, but people have pointed out that it is not the best UK strategy, and that against a competent player, the UK would not be as successful with Middle Earth. And especially the, “I don’t care about losing Egypt,” line he said in his video brought up some controversy too.

Some folks like to put the pressure on Italy, while the others lets Italy mind it’s business and go for landings in France or Norway, and I am not sure which one is the way to go. More commonly than not, there seems to be a commonality in games that the UK puts effort into the Middle East or North Africa and sometimes sub-Saharan Africa, but there is a lot of variability in the strategies of people games. Some advocate for factories in Egypt, in Iraq, in Persia, building out of SA and shucking, and some are completely against Persia and want only Egypt and Iraq to have factories. And then there are others who are skeptical and generally more apprehensive when it comes to Middle East factories, I have seen this point brought up by @crockett36 before.

And what is the proper first turn buy, because I know for many it is the standard 6 Infantry 1 Fighter build to deter Sealion, but I have seen it varied now with the airbase on Gib for Gibastion, Uk1 Factory in Egypt, and such. Is this enough to deter a sealion, should I be defending London UK1, or can I spend money elsewhere?

I’m just not sure, when I have played before, I don’t really have a coherent Uk strategy, mainly because I haven’t played Allies in a while, and I find myself struggling to find a way to use Uk effectively unlike how I can use USA and Russia well. I know that many regard Uk as the most dynamic and most challenging Ally to play, and I was hoping to see what consensus was now on UK strategies and how I should be playing them.

Thanks!

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@jacobgeo24

I don’t have any solutions, but I agree UK Europe is hard. I handle the US pretty well against both Europe and Japan, and I just need to refrain from attacking too much as the Soviets.

With UK Europe though it feels aimless at times. I don’t usually build industrial complexes in Egypt (never really thought about it), so a Mediterranean strategy is sometimes difficult to adequately reinforce. Additionally the lower income compared to the US makes it hard to build enough ships and create a stable shuck of ground troops the way the US can choose to do.

In almost every game of Global 1940 I’ve played, the Allies always lose, but that’s more to mid and late game mistakes than deficient openers and/or grand strategy.

[AndrewAAGamer]

If you have not read my Essay, I suggest you do. You can find it here.

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/35286/warfare-principles-of-axis-allies-by-andrewaagamer?_=1701480053712

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@AndrewAAGamer

I think he was looking for more specific suggestions like exact first turn buys and Middle Eastern/African industrial complexes, not just that (very well written) paragraph about UK grand strategy.

[AndrewAAGamer]

I don’t think you can reasonably reply with a definitive answer. It depends on so much. What did the Allies buy with the Bid? Where did they place it? What did Germany do on G1? What did Japan do on J1?

UK Europe should keep in mind the guiding principles. On UK1 your main focus should be A) Defend your capitol (London) and B) Hose Italy. How you do that depends on what you lost on G1 and if you want to do Taranto or Gibastion.

[jacobgeo24]

@SuperbattleshipYamato No it’s fine, what Andrew sent is good, also I do have a printed out version of the Essay out that I found a while back online and I make sure to keep that with my G40 game. I know it is tough to always get into the specifics of each nation because of circumstances but the advice that @AndrewAAGamer gives in his paper is helpful. It lists the responsibilities of UK and how they should approach their general strategies well. Also we generally play OOB with no bids, yes I know it is hard for the Allies to win but we appreciate the challenge and it makes winning with them all the more rewarding. I have found ways to consistently win as both the allies and the axis in OOB G40, but of course I and my usual opponent aren’t perfect.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@jacobgeo24

Glad it helped. I learned so much from that as well.

[crockett36]

I would not dare to disagree with Andrew. I would say that there are some pathways that are firm.

Can you go wrong with a protective build in London t1? In almost every proposed German scheme, it works. You have one job as Churchill: stay in the game!

Depending on the bid and the German buy, Gibastion can be the defense of London. In that case, an airbase is necessary in Gibraltar. So only four units to London. In that case it is very risky to remove any units from the isles. Do not do Gibastion if he buys three aircraft. Take the win and outbuild the Krauts on the Eastern Front. He’s just given you another turn of holding Moscow.

I do think Cornwallis’ alternative is a live option I’m going to try. The biggest drawback with Taranto is the depletion of active units in the Med and the planes that are removed from the defense of the homeland.

As to the Med, I like removing the units from Malta to Egypt. Even without blockers Italy would not take out an Egypt supported by all retreating units. Not the first turn at least. Activating Persia with an artillery gives you a transport load of reinforcements for turn 2. The planes can go to Tanganika and also reinforce turn 2. Or land on a carrier in 81 if Cornwallis persuades you. Send the Indian navy to assist in the Med.

That’s a good start and rather cautious. Operation Ricochet is all about being around for come back when the Axis air can’t be everywhere, all at once. I

[crockett36]

@crockett36 https://youtu.be/Aa8093QzXpY?si=9825U8z3LKHC-HzS

[crockett36]

@crockett36 This is my reaction and modification to Cornwallis’ English opening.

[crockett36]

https://youtu.be/R6FrkLbFmYg?si=cQJ2gc1QgeWrQgkg

Taranto

[Cornwallis]

@crockett36 i don´t throw away the transport. I use it to activate Iran with the inf from Sudan.
I attacked somalia with inf and art From India bc in our games J1 happens alot.

[jacobgeo24]

Oh also I notice a lot fo people attack Iraq Uk1 instead of Ethiopia or just saving the units. They normally do this by using the transport in 98 and taking stuff off of Alexandria and the mech off of Cairo and air support from India to do this. Is this a good idea or should we rather keep these units in the Egypt-Sudan general area and attack Iraq later with Persian troops?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@jacobgeo24

Generally speaking, because of the availability of Indian air units I find it easier to attack Iraq than Ethiopia and still attack in other areas.

[crockett36]

There is so much I would like to do with England on turn 1. But when ABH, perhaps the best current allied player in the world, says to protect the capitol first turn, I think we ought to do that. Andrew also says it repeatedly.

There is a temptation to adventure. You could do sooooo much with your forces IIIIIIFFFF! So a lot English strategies are about controlling impulses.

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

@crockett36 I am hardly the best player in the world, and Allies is not my favorite side. Still, it has been proven that in a typical-luck no-bid OOB game with minimal London build on UK1, Germany can easily take the capitol with Sea Lion.

Of course we have so few examples of high level game play with such a strategy since nobody good wants to be playing no-bid OOB games anymore since the odds of winning for Allies is under 10%, with most of the victories coming from bizarre dice outcomes. Perhaps the playbook should be placing the Axis into situations where luck is important, such as enticing them to do a G3 Sea Lion… roll the dice and see if they get a horrible outcome.