New Allied Strategies for Anniversary Edition

Without knowing the precise set up, production figures, and rule changes it is hard to select a preferred strategy.  Historically, Kill Italy First worked well, and it may very well be the best one to use, but it will depend on how Africa is configured and how easy it is to get troops to Egypt.  The Strategic Bombing Rules will also play a major factor in choosing a strategy.  There are still too many unknowns to say definitely.

I wonder if KIF will be the best way to go or not.  Yeah ok you take Italy they lose 10 IPC’s.  You still haven’t done any thing to the German war machine next door besides let them see you coming and start 100% INF builds in preperation for you.

Going by LHTR’s with Italy’s capitol gone Germany can take Italian spaces and increase their income without going through the trouble of resurrecting Italy to cut into German profits.

I’ll admit I have done that as the allies with Russian spaces.

Italy is actually NOT adjacent to Germany on the map… go look at it closely… should make things very interesting for attacking Italy.

@shermantank:

Are you sure? It looks like it to me.

Positive.  If you are a member of BBG, view this image:

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/362552?size=original

Basically, Italy and the Balkans (?) share a border that meets south of Switzerland, which is impassable, and is connected to France on the Western side.  Switzerland blocks Germany and Italy, permanently.

Anyone else ever notice that Germany always seems to be more eastern in the Axis and Allies games than it was historically?  Germany is always to the east of Denmark… wasn’t Denmark connected to the North edge of Central Germany?  Europe got it right, at least.

Attacking Italy (Southern) Europe was an option in the basic game - just not a clever option.

Italy is quite protected (from what I have seen of the map) - Italy being a separate player is a bonus to Germany - startegic bombing italy does NOT hurt German resources…

But I know too less of Triple A to decide exactly what to do…

@timerover51:

My apologies, Rakeman

But um, FYI, I am pretty sure anyone 3/4ths Germanic was considered German by the Nazis, but people without 3 generations of purity couldn’t join the SS.  So, I don’t think that you would be considered an untermensch.  Heck, many half-Jews served in the military, even in “safe” positions like officers, not just grunt work.

Agree, that was a bad joke, lets keep this un-political

@Richter:

Attacking Italy (Southern) Europe was an option in the basic game - just not a clever option.

Italy is quite protected (from what I have seen of the map) - Italy being a separate player is a bonus to Germany - startegic bombing italy does NOT hurt German resources…

But I know too less of Triple A to decide exactly what to do…

My comment with respect to Strategic Bombing was on using Italy as a base for bombers to attack Germany.  This was actually done during the war to split and avoid German air defenses.  I am assuming with the change in Strategic Bombing rules that the German player will place an AA gun in both Northern Europe and France to reduce the effects of bomber attack.  Attacking from Italy would avoid this.  However, if Italy can be persuaded to change sides, then an Allied attack on the Rumanian oil fields might be a viable option.

However, the ability of the Allies to attack Italy is constrained by the very limited US production capacity.  In actuality, during WW2 the US mounted a major offensive in the Pacific against Japan, mounted a strategic bombing campaign against Germany while building up the mass of forces for the D-Day invasion, and fought a major campaign in the Mediterranean Theater, all at the same time.  That is not possible in the game as it appears presently.

Also unknown is if there are any limitations to the number of Axis troops in Libya.  The port capacity of Tripoli put a cap on the number of troops that could be supported, the number diminishing steadily the farther from Tripoli they were.  It does not appear that there is a separate area for Cyrenaica.

@timerover51:

My comment with respect to Strategic Bombing was on using Italy as a base for bombers to attack Germany.  This was actually done during the war to split and avoid German air defenses.  I am assuming with the change in Strategic Bombing rules that the German player will place an AA gun in both Northern Europe and France to reduce the effects of bomber attack.  Attacking from Italy would avoid this.  However, if Italy can be persuaded to change sides, then an Allied attack on the Rumanian oil fields might be a viable option.

It’s still 3 moves from UK to Germany through the SZ 6 - SZ 5 - Germany route, so bombers wouldn’t care about AA in France and NW Eur.  If the Allies can attack Romania from Italy then USSR probably already controls it.

@timerover51:

Also unknown is if there are any limitations to the number of Axis troops in Libya.  The port capacity of Tripoli put a cap on the number of troops that could be supported, the number diminishing steadily the farther from Tripoli they were.  It does not appear that there is a separate area for Cyrenaica.

There are no other limitations for # of units anywhere in the game based on supply or any other factor (20 inf/planes on a tiny pacific island) so why would there be one for Axis in Libya?  I’m pretty sure we can say almost positively that there is no rule for limited Axis troops anywhere in Africa.

If there are no limitations on the number of troops in the rules, then house rules will be used to limit them.  Also, I will probably divide Libya into Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, or maybe Egypt into Egypt proper and the Western Desert to provide some strategic depth, possibly both and set different limits for Axis and Allied troops in each area.  The restriction on Alllied troops west of the Libyan-Egypt border would be negated by Allied command of the sea, allowing them to resupply troops along the coast via the Inshore Squadron.  Without this, I can see Egypt being a easy win for the Axis, with the Mid East disappearing to the Axis in short order.  From the initial set up, the game does appear to be biased against the Allied players.  With respect to naval forces the imbalance is pretty severe. Against good Axis players, I would say the Allies do not have much of a chance.

@timerover51:

Against good Axis players, I would say the Allies do not have much of a chance.

Or you could just leave the game balanced as is and split the good players between sides as intended. Your choice, of course, I know you want the game to be “balanced” so that even sides would produce an Ally victory every game, and then proclaim that it still isn’t balanced because your good Axis players beat your poor Allied players.

@03321:

@timerover51:

Against good Axis players, I would say the Allies do not have much of a chance.

Or you could just leave the game balanced as is and split the good players between sides as intended. Your choice, of course, I know you want the game to be “balanced” so that even sides would produce an Ally victory every game, and then proclaim that it still isn’t balanced because your good Axis players beat your poor Allied players.

I prefer to see the Axis annihilated, totally and utterly destroyed.

It is a game.

I prefer to have the side I am playing WIN.

@timerover51:

@03321:

@timerover51:

Against good Axis players, I would say the Allies do not have much of a chance.

Or you could just leave the game balanced as is and split the good players between sides as intended. Your choice, of course, I know you want the game to be “balanced” so that even sides would produce an Ally victory every game, and then proclaim that it still isn’t balanced because your good Axis players beat your poor Allied players.

I prefer to see the Axis annihilated, totally and utterly destroyed.

Then, try to read some strategic articles, I recommend the Strategic Essays of Don Rae, first of all the Infantry Push Mechanic, to learn how the Allies can win almost every game they play, for the Classic version.
For Revised there are a lot of interesting articles on this website that you may read to improve your game as Allies.
For Anniversary give some time and there will be also articles to be read.
Do not give up, try again and you will able to win!