We need an allied playbook.

@DessertFox599 I agree about Iraq and against a German player who goes hard at Moscow, Persia is the safer choice. UK can (hopefully) put a complex there and start sending stuff north immediately. Your 2 transports can shuck to Cairo easy enough instead of needed a factory in Iraq or Cairo.

Persia is the most useful but also the most exposed location. Troops from Egypt/South Africa take an extra turn to reach it overland. I don’t know how much of an issue that is but it’s enough for me to prefer the Persia factory.

Not sure what you mean about it being safer though. Troops retreating from Calcutta get there one turn earlier?

@simon33 Safer to take UK1… since no chance you’ll get diced.

@DessertFox599 using bombardment and air power almost guarantees the slaughter of the ground troops, even if you lose your own.

I’ve never understood why anyone would be even slightly interested in taking Iraq on turn 1 – it’s literally impossible for the Axis to activate it before UK2, you can take Persia from the same sea zone, Persia is worth the same amount to your economy, and Persia comes with 2 free troops instead of opposing you with 3 enemy troops.

Even if you have nothing better to do with your bombards and air power on UK1 (which is almost never the case), you should still prefer Persia to Iraq because Persia strengthens your forces and Iraq weakens your forces.

I’ve always found it restricting for air units traversing back and forth between India and Egypt. It’s also 2 more bucks in the British pockets per turn.

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

I’ve always found it restricting for air units traversing back and forth between India and Egypt. It’s also 2 more bucks in the British pockets per turn.

It’s only 2 more bucks if you also activate Persia. Are you sending both the SZ98 & SZ39 TTs to SZ80? And air from India - that has to land in Trans-Jordan. I think there are better things to do with India’s planes, and I’m nearly certain there are better things to do with the SZ98 Cruiser.

It’s also not much of a restriction for air. Air can attack UK2 with ground troops and then there’s no more restriction.

I really don’t know what better things i would be doing with the cruiser or the air. the air could help garrison Yunnan? the cruiser is currently steaming toward the Med to reinforce Naval superiority. that’s why it didn’t take a potshot into Iraq?

I see most players stacking Egypt or Yunnan. My troops will be there when the time comes. Though as discussed before, I will not value other cities over the needs of Moscow, in her hour of need. And I surmise that I cannot keep all five of the previously mentioned cities if the enemy is determined to take any but Moscow.

Yes I sent both transports to 80.

The air is probably better used in stacking Burma if there’s been a J1 DOW. Although some may say that the J3 Calcutta crush is a waste of time and the allies should just allow it. I’m not convinced of that one.

The SZ98 cruiser normally either does Taranto or participates in a SZ92 stack. The SZ39 one has more latitude.


dessertfox asked me for a taranto version of my opener. this was a no scramble? would you have scrambled?

allied playbook turn 1engl-taranto.tsvg

@simon33 the advantage in this game is with the attacker. I’m trying to make even my defenses into attacks with methods like fade and strike, air used in ground support, staying close to the coast. I want my planes to kill every turn, not sit in a huddle.

@crockett36

I might consider scrambling against that but probably wouldn’t. The math shows up as each fighter scrambling gives you good odds to take out a UK fighter, but only 1. (there should also be a German fighter there to make it an even 3).

Also, your G1 makes it so UK can take W. Germany on their turn. Busting that into a mIC would be a nice win for the Allies.

London with zero fighters and a German navy afloat is worrying - even with the U.S. going hard to the Atlantic, I might consider Sea Lion, but mostly it means Japan will go hog wild in the Pacific.[link text]

Your Japan opener is a bit off. Japan needs to hit Yunnan J1 no matter what. I’ve attached a version where I also did the slightly riskier attack including Hunan, but the safer choice is to send that inf and planes to Kwangtung.
triplea_33316_jap1 (1).tsvg

I don’t get the Yunnan thing. As China and/or the English I’m going to whack that every time and succeed. Is it bloodletting?

@crockett36 It blocks China from buying artillery. Very useful down the road to limit their counter attacks.

Its also the largest group of Chinese troops you can hit and you can do it without any real risk of losing.

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

I don’t get the Yunnan thing. As China and/or the English I’m going to whack that every time and succeed. Is it bloodletting?

Without significant bid units, it’s absolutely worth hitting. You could strip an inf (in a J1 scenario) or the artillery (J2+ scenario) if you’re concerned about losing too many ground units. Most players wouldn’t though because the desire to take the territory is so high. Once you take the territory, China needs to move units in to retake it, normally at least 2. You can then hit these units J2 in most games. If you don’t take the territory, China can evacuate and also buy artillery, which will totally be able to hit anything moving in J2. And collect the NO.

I don’t get why would even think about not attacking Yunnan without a significant stack there?

I go back and forth on the Yunnan question. For all the reasons you point out, @simon33, I like to hit Yunnan J1 when I can…but I also consider it crucial to clear Yunnan on J2, and I find that if I’m declaring war on J1, I often burn through all of my land units and wind up with nothing to hit Yunnan with on J2 except for the 2 infantry that start in Siam. The Kwangsi infantry go fight and die in Yunnan or Hunan, the Kiangsi infantry are stuck in Hong Kong even if they survive, and my 3 transports are busy with Borneo (1x) and Philippines (2x).

So if China stacks Yunnan with, e.g., 8 infantry and a fighter on China 1, plus 5-6 units from the UK, then even with no bid, I don’t necessarily feel comfortable attacking that stack with only 2 infantry and air power. Sometimes I will, if the J1 attacks went well and the USA seems busy, but if I lost a plane killing the UK BB and the USA is going KJF, I don’t necessarily have 3-4 planes to spare to kill Yunnan on J2.