Allied Strat Article

Thanks for the pics!  Yea I might get this game sometime next month.  Not before I get my AAM though.  :-D

Frimmel has posted a very good overall strat article at http://www.axisandallies.org.
(indeed!) :-)

The major fault I made in my first game with allies was to play far too offensively taking unneccessary (initiative) risks considering having the big air advantage in the back.

I would like to add some guidelines to even improve Frimmel’s basic outline:
1. Increase Germany’s supply consumption!!!
-> Let Germany move westwards freely (without an attack first) as few as possible. Place single units at the front if need be even if you know they are sacrificed to force Germany into attacks! If Germany has to attack on all 9 hexes westwards (almost) all the time it needs (at least) 9 for the attack and 9 on the move and will quickly run into supply issues!

2. Take advantage of weak flanks!!!
-> If you want to be a little more offensive (mostly on occasion) take advantage of the fact that the Allies reinforce after the Germans so you can easily concentrate on weaker targets at the frontline to outnumber them! Never get full scale at the German spearhead before air support is available!!!

3. Delay is the key to victory!
-> Delay Germany’s speed at all cost: Sacrifice troops (s. 1.), save troops from overwhelmed situations for later more effective use in stacking, block roads (against German tanks), attack weaker spots, move supply away from the front with your trucks, …everything that slows down Germany’s progress and takes you to round 5 to get the planes will improve your chances.

Good luck, Allied Commanders!

P.S.: Last game we even had some German “Ardennes” tanks typically fallen back behind the frontline because of no fuel!
Needless to say it was a overwhelming Allied victory!

Hi All

Us Aussies are always behind on the latest avalon releases. As a long term fan of the original , a recent buying spree has a mate and I playing BOTB and D-Day fairly regularily. Have now reviewed the posts , and still struggle to see an allied victory. I agree the artical is good and a fine line defence can slow em down but unless you get extremely lucky Axis player always win.

We have game tested that in the first trun the axis player merely wins initiative and the allied player can attack in line with other rounds. Solves the supply problem and the game appears to balances nicely. By game testing I mean played once.

Intersted to hear your comments on this rule change, although i see the posts on BOTB have dried up given the age of the game.

Cheers Troy

Hello,

I bought BoB about a month ago and meanwhile I’ve had 5 games with my gaming buddy, all of them with wins for G. I’ve played G in most of those games, and I’ve noticed a 1 thing on the last game (which was the closest one so far) that I found interesting.

First, the way tank blitzs can really hinder the allies movement: on G1 I blitzed 1 tank to the hex NE of Malmedy and another to the SW of Vith (blocking reinforcements from reaching Vith, unless they are tanks). But the worst was on game 6: G had taken Werbomont and La Roche and was threatning both Liege and Bastogne. So I blitzed 2 tanks, one to the SW of La Roche, another to the SE of Huy: this had the effect of preventing any forces on the Bastogne/Ortheuville area to reinforcing Liège, while stopping tank reinforcements from reaching the northern area. My main attack on Liège failed to dislodge all Allied forces there on turn 7 but the stack that was threatning Marche resupplied from Werbomont and 2 tanks blitzed to Huy and Ciney, winning the game for G.

So, the question is, how to deal with those blitzing tanks? I’ve found that losing one tank due to counterattacks/having him immobilized for lack of supplies can be well worth it because of the amount of tanks G has (and by the late game you can’t attack with all of them due to stacking limits/lack of supplies).

Wouldn’t that increase the risk of the city stacks being too small to hold against an attack? But perhaps the payoff comes on the late turns when you can move those units to reinforce critical sectors as G is forced to abandon some areas due to the lack of supplies.

@frimmel:

You aren’t trying to hold the hex. The payoff is that the Axis can’t blitz because there isn’t an available hex to blitz into. It is difficult to explain without a map.

I understood what you are saying: basically to have a continuous (as needed) 2 hex line, the 1st echelon to delay G’s advance while the 2nd to stop tanks from blitzing through the front line (retreating units can provide this but it can get tricky if there’s no retreat, either because they are destroyed in the attack or G doesn’t attack at all to prevent this).
What I was considering is that you’ll have to anchor that line, usually at Bastogne and Eupen/Verviers to prevent G from gaining enough VPs to win the game. To do so you’ll need plenty of units at those cities so that there will be at least 1 left there after the attacking phases to prevent G from moving there and allowing for you to move back your retreating units/reinforcements. But to man that 2 hex line it will take a lot of units (10+), that won’t be available for the Bastogne/Northern stacks, thus you risk losing those cities, which makes things a lot harder for the allies.

Well, gotta try playing with the Allies a little more, I guess. I’ve tried playing it Solitaire last night and G still won again, although it got lucky on the dice and wiped out all units on the 2 northern hexes on the first turn.

Thanks for the pointers.