We need an allied playbook.

@M36 more details man! inquiring minds want to know.

@crockett36 Details? What is it specifically you want to know?

@crockett36 Lol - no worries. It worked once. But that is what I appreciate about this forum/thread. I like seeing how others play the game and learn from it. To your credit, I saw your video about how you went with Malta (in subsequent games) and was thinking about that move, but I went with the French ships because it worked before. I was second guessing that after a round of combat…:relaxed:

I haven’t ever had sea lion attempted on me. A lot of the dialogue in this thread is focused on defending a scenario I’ve never seen play out in a game I’m playing. But I am mindful that the Italians can get tough to deal with if their navy is allowed to consolidate. Swinging the UK Med up towards sz110 to block the Germans seems to leave too much intact for the Italians in the Med.

How do you (@crockett36) deal with a consolidated Italian fleet, after you have merged the UK fleet around Malta (with some fighter cover that can scramble), AND the Italians don’t attack UK? I think I remember you saying in one game the Italians attacked and it was a mutually destructive battle, but in another they just sat in their harbor for many rounds?

@M36 what your plan is to kill the H-man. Composition of army, which nation does it, what round?

@Guam-Solo oh, my conscience is clean! Relief. Yeah, I’m hoping he sits at home and blusters and even adds to his navy.

how about this format for an allied playbook? BW printed maps, arrows and dots for movements.

@crockett36 Pfft…why didn’t you just post this picture on page one of this thread? It would have saved us all a lot of time. :grin:

I went to college. First thing you do in a class is teach theory the second thing you teach is history last thing you teach is reality, the future and how to make things happen. Still …yeah you’re right!

@crockett36 missing a fighter and the navies.

@Argothair said in We need an allied playbook.:

@weddingsinger said in We need an allied playbook.:

Would you like to do 2 games at once, playing both sides? Otherwise, I wouldn’t mind starting as either side, but tend to default to Axis.

You know what, I’m sorry to get your hopes up, but I think the two games I’m currently playing have got me fully occupied – I forgot that Russia can declare war immediately after Germany takes London, so I suffered what was effectively a surprise attack on my forces in Poland (I would have stacked up differently if I’d realized I was being attacked that turn), so now I’m in two fierce Global games that could go either way. That’s enough for me for now. If you like we can play a casual game as soon as I’m done with one of my current games.

Sure thing.

A couple of threads down I’ve got notes on setting up Germany for a Sea Lion option that might help in the future, like stacking your Germans in Romania to force the Russians to stay North.

/I like an optional Sea Lion in case the Allied player does a good defense. No sense in wasting 70+ ipcs on transports and navy Germany doesn’t need.

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

Btw, if you’re going to playtest for fun I’m up for it, but I take two turns a week maybe. And i only do OOB, no bid.

1 or 2 turns as in ‘its Russia’s turn’? Or complete rounds?

I’m usually good for 0-2 nation’s turns a day.

@crockett36 Well it’s all about understanding the history my friend. The 2nd world war was won by the allies on December 7th 1941. The United States is the allied hammer that must crush both Germany and Japan, but it’s important to prioritize on the more dangerous monster; Germany.

Why is Germany more dangerous than Japan? Well primarily because of geography. They eliminate one allied power round one, are within striking distance of another on round two, and can march across the steppes to eliminate a third rather rapidly. Japan cannot eliminate any major powers. The US is essentially unconquerable, Australia is not a major power, and UK Pacific is only half of a power.

Secondly it’s because of their military composition. Germany has a large Air Force for punching, and tremendous ground forces that are relatively easy to replace. Japan has few ground forces, a massive Air Force, and large navy which is extremely costly to replace. There is no “cannon fodder” naval unit. The cheapest one is 6 IPCs.

For this reason I make sure that my first couple of purchases as the US enable me to take immediate offensive action once at war. Force the Axis to engage the US as soon as possible because US units are easily replaced, while Axis units are not.

@weddingsinger it’s an unusual season for me with a wife that has had complications from gall bladder surgery. She’s going to be okay, but won’t be up to speed until May.

In addition, I’m getting more cautious about my moves after a huge blunder in December in which I threw away a game because of excitement. I had just captured Moscow and was sitting on 100 ipcs and I set up my defence around denying the British Denmark. Only the Americans easily took Denmark, and the British my cash. I messed up the turn order because I had recently played classic and another global game with a tweeked turn order.

So I can try to do 3 nations per week. I’m way behind that right now in my current game, but February and March are birthday months around here so every weekend has been super busy.

I would imagine I could be a little less cautious because we’re trying to hammer out British openings. So run three turns and confer? Or a straight up match? Either is fine with me, if you can be patient. I love playing the game.

@M36 don’t tell anyone, but I think I’ve hit upon something. English channel.
Composition of us army 75/25 air/ground. Stay near the coast and use the ships to bombard. 3 us carriers, 1 British. Aim for 8 to 12 fighters, 4 men go ashore, grind up defence and let Brits walk in and take over.

@crockett36 Now that’s a plan I can get behind. Germany must either suffer the bombardment, or counter attack because that complex will be their downfall if it stays in allied hands.

Of course they could theoretically sink the fleet with the Luftwaffe but hey, any forces fighting in France are NOT fighting in Russia. Win win for the allies.

@crockett36 rinse and repeat

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

@M36 don’t tell anyone, but I think I’ve hit upon something. English channel.
Composition of us army 75/25 air/ground. Stay near the coast and use the ships to bombard. 3 us carriers, 1 British. Aim for 8 to 12 fighters, 4 men go ashore, grind up defence and let Brits walk in and take over.

Something like this you want plenty of U.S. ground troops to take Normandy and then the U.K. can land fighters there to help keep it.

Presuming the usual German air force (3-4 fighters, tacticals and bombers), 2 carriers and 3 fighters for the scramble zone, then maybe 1-2 destroyers is plenty to keep your ships safe.

Now, I’d argue a strong Japan is still a problem since around J5 they can be making about as much as the U.S. and start gobbling up Russia/China with ease and head to Moscow… but if you want to go hard at Germany with this, the first 2 U.S. buys should do nicely… If J1 and you can do it quickly, I’m in favor of getting Norway just so the U.S. and UK can bomb Germany endlessly, but…

A U.S.1 buy of either 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, and 3 transports or 2 carriers and 2 transports for the Atlantic side does nicely for your goal. The U.S. already has the planes to outfit 2 carriers and the men to fill 4 transports (if you take Brazil), and then the cruiser. If a J1, you could be in position US3 for an attack on Normandy, Norway, or Italy, but a US4 seems better, because a US2 buy of bombers can land on London US3 and then help clear Italy’s waters or sz112 on US4.

US2 I might buy some subs instead of all bombers if Italy’s fleet is the target and you want the U.S. to be able to hit it. Then you’d want 4 subs for sure, a 2nd U.S. carrier…

Paired with the UK stack of sz92, you’ve got some serious options… If Germany doesn’t take S. France on G1, UK doesn’t need a Gibraltor airbase to keep its fleet, though you might anyway because Italy could sink much of it, then Germany hit you G2 with bombers to finish off the ships. Buy a transport in Canada (assuming they sank 1), so UK has 2 transports in the Atlantic again.

@weddingsinger I’ll pass on the bombers and purchase a second wave of transports in case Germany sinks your first wave. For round one I purchase 1AC and 2 DD for the east coast US one plus 2 transports for the west and a pair of infantry for central. Now around two I buy three transports for the east coast plus enough ground forces to fill all my transports. Now you have 4 transports ready to attack in both theatres by round three.

The best way to play the allies is to know what the axis are doing or MUST do. First I do recommend playing the Balance mod since it does help balance out the game quite a bit. I was skeptical at first but trust me it does help. So this will be written with that in mind.

Now as far as the overall axis strategy we know that the Japanese MUST take the money islands. If they do not then they will lose the game. This is an unfortunate balance issue with the game since it forces a one strat approach to the game which is odd since the rest of the game has many different strategy options.

We also know that Germany can take london if they can but NEED to take leningrad, stalingrad and caucasus to win.

Italy is the sleeping giant of the axis forces. If you let them get a foothold in africa, if you let egypt fall, if they take persia, iraq, and northwest persia they become a powerhouse. If Italy is a powerhouse chances are the axis will win the game.

Also Japan controls the flow of the game since when they attack determines when the USA comes into the war. A J1 is strongest for Japan but weakest for Germany whereas a J4 is weakest for Japan but strongest for Germany. So always keep this in mind.

As Russia you need to build tanks and mechs. 6 tanks round one then 3 infantry in leningrad and ukraine and the rest mechs and tanks. Believe me when I tell you if I am playing against a SU player and they just stack infantry I know I can hit with many more 3s and 4s vs their 2’s which they won’t have enough since if you stack infantry you are telling me you don’t care about any territory but Russia. I already have a stonger income. Russia getting mechs and tanks lets them be much more mobile allowing them to move north or south or even punch through a gap in the german line and push into poland. Or even, what I love to do, is stack tanks in leningrad and bumrush into norway. Sure they might take it back, but the uk can reinforce Norway and it will buy you time since now Germany has to take that territory back AND they just lost 10 IPC’s of income AND you just gained 11 IPC’s to put in russia or down south. A big win. Russia is about buying time so that the USA and UK can hit normany or cruise into the med. You could also declare war on Japan and send some mechs from russia into china.

As for the USA, take brazil as soon as you and build up a combat fleet with very few transports. The allies must work together to win. They have to cover each other or you won’t stand a chance. The USA is the backbone in both the atlantic and pacific. So build Carriers and destoyers, maybe a Battleship and send that fleet first to gibraltar, then up to sz 110, off the coast of normandy. Once you have enough ships to cover any air power and fleet that germany has you can then build transports with the UK and start sending guys into normandy. The USA should focus on hitting the caroline islands as soon as possible and backing up that fleet with Anzac. From there take the money islands, put down Destoyers as blockers and so on.

The UK must hold egypt at all cost. Get a complex there round one, and one in persia by round 3 at the latest. Make sure you don’t lose london. In the pacific make sure you don’t lose India. Build up a navy if you can and keep slowing down the japanese. Meet up with the anzac fleet and take those money islands. You should land 2 infantry with your transport you start off with from india and put down some blockers. You might want to do a 2 sub 1 marine buy. Those dutch islands are worth a lot and if you have to make japan fight for them you are slowing them down.

China is china.

Anzac builds a navy hard and takes as many islands as you can. Anzac is the sleeping Giant of the pacific. If you can buy 23 IPC’s a turn or more worth of naval vessels you are putting some hurt on japan. And link up and reinforce the caroline islands.

France…

At this point i have to say that the “Allied playbook” is getting out of everybodys hands.

Please take a look again at cow’s Germany and Japan playbook and realize that he didn’t lay out a whole game, rather the start in detail and the main goals.

As for a Allied playbook i will repeat my self because you have to lay out a start and marching route for the Allies but NOT the whole game.
Things may change during the game and chances and opportunities arising for a swift blow.
And this is where you have to be ready as the Allied Player!

We need to line out:
G1 J1 G2 J1 G3 J1
G1 J2 G2 J2 G3 J2
G1 J3 G2 J3 G3 J3…and SL scenarios…

For the Allies in general i would allways recommend a purchase strat. wich gives you flexabilty.
A sturdy tank, Inf or Bmbr buy is not allways the best solution if you miss out good opportunities to change the gameplan for the Axis.
Delay the gameplan of the enemy, stall him, get more income then the Axis, deal huge damage so that he suffocate to get enough supplies to places he needs them.

Tipp 1:
If you get a chance to kill ita canopeners do IT!

If you get a chance to kill IJN TT’s kill them!!

Move on!