Allied Playbook Draft v1.0

Taamvan,

Great job. Excellent, exhaustive. Tremendous accomplishment. Succinct! May I read this on my YouTube channel? This should be a sticky thing.

Now, on to advancing the football. The next step might be to make up a book that could be sold at HBG or a kindle edition or self publish. I’m not kidding. This has been a goal of mine, but I haven’t been able to get to it. In my experience there are many one hit wonders. People who played once and said, “This game is not for me.” Some of it is probably because of imbalance. Some of it is because of being overwhelmed. I was recently overwhelmed by the rules to 7 Wonders. It reminded me of my first time playing AnA. If we could hand them a book like this one, preferably with illustrations, they will see the panoply of options and execute one, have fun in getting it done (even if they lose) and say to themselves, “I want to come back and try that Berlin Bank job out.”

Taamvan, if you can do this, that would be great. Say it here. Claim the “rights”. If you can’t, can someone out there with lot of time on their hands, get this done. I was going to set up a Patreon account and ask for a 5 or 10 or 20 dollar donation. Even more if you produce something special.

In talking with Tristan, Larry and Tom and Levi, I’ve concluded that the audience for such materials or my videos or even posts on this site are not the pros. It’s for the people who are being beat by the pros. It’s for the beginners and the middle tier that could benefit and be encouraged to not shelve this game, but try something new.

I would include in such a book an explanation of bidding and handicapping. I have a video where I discuss this (Ivans or Jerries, depending on which side needs handicapping) This is a very practical suggestion and should not be ignored.

Perhaps you could also address the difference between a one day tabletop event and an online play it out to the end game. The tabletop discussion should include some house ruled victory conditions. What think you? Here’s to playing Axis and Allies for the next 50 years!

@crockett36 @taamvan I second crockett36’s thoughts re: a book/booklet. I’ve written one, myself, and hope to sell it through HBG (I’m currently in the process of editing). My booklet addresses overall strategic concepts - not specific strategies - so a “playbook,” when read in tandem with my project, would benefit beginner and intermediate players greatly.

Also, while I don’t address bids or handicapping, I’ve included a set of house rules I’ve developed and playtested over the past couple of years. This rule set adds depth and historical flavor/accuracy while opening up new strategic options and may even eliminate the need for bids…and manages most of the above through additions, rather than changes, to OOB rules.

@The-Pripet-Martian sounds really interesting. It’s Like Thanksgiving, you can add, but never subtract

new addition: the Bryansk kill box! check out my game against Trulpin.

Warning, destructive feedback incoming.

But frankly, this is entirely useless. It lists some “strategies” that either don’t work at all or heavily depend on the context of what the Axis do.
This does not tackle the basic strategic considerations for the Allies AT ALL and is rather harmful than useful for players.

When I find some time I will write down some things that I would call “elements of an Allied playbook”.

@JDOW we will be waiting.

To be more specific: There is no such thing as long term plans with detailed explanations what to do. There are abstract objectives that one should try to achieve.
Most of those objectives are situation-based, I go into more detail later.

So an Allied playbook could start like:
As Allies there are a couple of “all-time” objectives

• Do not lose Moscow (cheaply)
• Do not lose Egypt (cheaply)
• Do not lose India (cheaply)
• Keep an economic lead

So before anybody starts like “but I lose Egypt/Moscow/India often and still win” the answer is “you won DESPITE you lost it”. The key word is the “cheaply” at the end. Allies usually cannot do anything about it if one power wants to take one of these cities no matter the costs. So the question is not “Did they get it” but “At what price”? If the price is too high, those achievements are pyrrhus victories
Ok, so “how to not lose Moscow”?
Again, it does not make any sense to determine a strategy before you saw the G1. The G1 HEAVILY influences the way Russia is to play, so as Allies, lean back wait for the German turn 1 to complete and then ask the following questions:

• What did Germans buy? Naval or ground or air?
• How many planes did the Germans lose?
• Did any fast mover die on French soil?
• How many inf did the Germans lose at Yugo?

Based on the answers, the overall strategy can be determined as:

• If the Germans played all against Russia (ground buy, no planes lost, good dice Yugo and France) --> Turtle with Russia!
  Against well-played Anti-Russian Germans the Russians CANNOT go offensive. They won’t be able to stop the Germans if supported by Italian can openers.
  Thus, buy 11 inf 1 art and turtle.
  By the way, I could write pages full of considerations on “How to turtle correctly”, playing Russia correctly is some kind of art to me which is underestimated by many players (my personal opinion) but let’s keep it simple for now.

IF the Germans lost a lot of planes/fast movers/inf at Yugo and IF they went Naval G1 -> Then Russians can create more attacking power. I would still advise against 6 armor and rather buy like 7 art, 3 inf, or 4 art and 7 inf.

What about the Siberians? I do not have a clear answer on that but I usually keep 12-15 dudes close to the Japanese. I do not like keeping all 18 there because it has value to have a few dudes that can back up the Chinese in the Eastern China.
Also I do not like to move all 18 guys home. This leaves Japan too much freedom to focus on India and to achieve a major Axis objective: Get India cheaply!

Also, I am not a fan of sending lots of Russians into China. I wouldn’t way it cannot be good but this imo exploits players that play too slowly against Russia.
Well played Axis keep the pressure on Russia early and I believe they need their full force to face this. But this is certainly up for discussion.

So this is how I would teach someone to play the Allies and it is just 1 out of maybe 30-50 lessons I am afraid.

Example of a situation-based objective.

When I played a play-off game vs ME1945 he made a naval buy G1 and a J1 DOW.
Under these circumstances, any plan I might have had would become useless and I had to focus on a situation-based objective.
The situation-based objective was the Germans threatening to take Gibraltar and to place their fleet there and have a lot of options from there the Allies don’t like.

So in the given situation, the objective was: Do NOT allow the Germans to take Gib and to place their fleet there.
As a consequence of that, I bought like 6 subs and placed them in 101. Something I never did before but something which I considered necessary.
This example should illustrate again the uselessness of plans on how to play the US before a game started.
For US the same applies as for Russia. Do not bother about planning but wait for the J1 to be complete and THEN determine what your objectives are and act according to it.

And this goes on and on. After J2 a lot of variables have changed and you need an understanding on how to react on these variables and definitely not and big plans on how to play turns 1-5 with the US before the game even started.

@taamvan and @JDOW , this topic is going to be great!!!
I can feel it!

@taamvan said in Allied Playbook Draft v1.0:

@JDOW Achtung! Constructive Non-Rebuttal Incoming!

Thanks man, much appreciated! Sorry for my aggressive tone. I admit, I am kind of annoyed (although I know it is absurd because there is no rational reason to care) about the fact that basically every strategy thread is based on these one-dimensional ideas that are useless to me. And then I say another try of a player creating some kind of playbook and then I saw “oh dear, one dimensional deterministic stuff again” and I reacted very impatiently.

I would say you explained it nicely in your response. Your guide is a list of ideas that provides inspiration for possible plans and objectives one could have. I think it would benefit from adding a disclaimer that clearly states that it is always a bad idea to stubbornly follow the plan and always check whether the opponent’s play makes you change your objectives and your play.

I am heavily considering giving the community something back and for now, I would say that my playbook would all be about 2 things:

1. Objectives: All-time objectives and situational objectives
2. Execution: A&A is a game of details. 2 Players can have the exact same strategic ideas, one succeeds, the other fails miserably because of poor technique.

But I would guess videos explainings moves using the tripleA client would be the better medium than writing wall of texts in the forum.
Maybe I’ll start a series one day, let’s see.

If I wrote the playbook that way, I could save alot of text by just saying “Dont bother with Sea Lion unless your opponent fails to protect the UK”

Yep, exactly. this is how I would tackle sealion in my strategy guide :-)

If this is a list of potential allied gambits rather than what I would call a playbook, one thing is missing.

Korea landing.

USA lands on Korea from Midway, Hawaii or the Carolines. USSR uses its Amur stack to reinforce said landing and keeps Mongolia alive. Next turn, USA can land planes and build an IC and also start attacking Manchuria. This can be aided by a naval base on Midway, which requires 3 DDs to block.

The good part here is that a large force is needed to stay north to stop this move. The bad part is that you aren’t threatening the money islands.

One playbook I will write. If there is a G1 DOW, build IC on Persia UK2, fighters UK3, move to Moscow UK4. Next step: win.

A couple of things come to mind in reading these surprising responses. Pedagogy is tricky. Learning takes place in stages that can seem wooden, dull, boring. These stages are, nevertheless, important.

Secondly, My strategic objectives, both defensive and offensive, are goals. Taamvan’s summary is a list of what’s in the toolbox to accomplish those goals.

Thirdly, in my view, Oob is a great starting point. Throw in some variation like YGs point system, time or turn limits, house rules, bids or handicaps and some of these tools that are currently unhelpful become actionable.

I also think fun has got to be a thing. There’s a lot of orthodoxy around here. A lot of pressure to conform to dogma. And attitude and pride. I suppose it comes naturally. To play the game you have to be smart. To be the best you have to be gifted. To have fun you just have to relax and show up. And that is why I’m here. And that will keep new people coming and regulars staying.

These guides or playbooks are not for the elites. “Ruskies don’t take a dump without a plan, son!” Everyone needs a goal or two, a big plan, tools, and the willingness to abandon the plan when the situation calls for it and go with a different scheme.

Btw, some of these plans should work because they did work. That would be the game we want. G40 is the wonderful, yet incomplete game we have. G40 was literally driven by a need to make sealion possible. That twisted the set up, the map and the rules. Someday we will either get a mechanic from on high that brings "balance to the force"s or we will communally agree to one. Gl,hf! Enjoying the robust discussion!

@JDOW said in Allied Playbook Draft v1.0:

Again, it does not make any sense to determine a strategy before you saw the G1. The G1 HEAVILY influences the way Russia is to play, so as Allies, lean back wait for the German turn 1 to complete and then ask the following questions:

What did Germans buy? Naval or ground or air?
How many planes did the Germans lose?
Did any fast mover die on French soil?
How many inf did the Germans lose at Yugo?

Based on the answers, the overall strategy can be determined as:

If the Germans played all against Russia (ground buy, no planes lost, good dice Yugo and France) --> Turtle with Russia!
Against well-played Anti-Russian Germans the Russians CANNOT go offensive. They won’t be able to stop the Germans if supported by Italian can openers.
Thus, buy 11 inf 1 art and turtle.
By the way, I could write pages full of considerations on “How to turtle correctly”, playing Russia correctly is some kind of art to me which is underestimated by many players (my personal opinion) but let’s keep it simple for now.

IF the Germans lost a lot of planes/fast movers/inf at Yugo and IF they went Naval G1 -> Then Russians can create more attacking power. I would still advise against 6 armor and rather buy like 7 art, 3 inf, or 4 art and 7 inf.

100% THIS!!! There is a reason there is no Italian playbook, you cannot know what an optimal turn looks like until all fights are had and all pieces moved. I find that having a set of preferences is, strategically, the most rigid one should be when the initiative is not yours. Some of the worst games I’ve played have been when I’ve tried to shoe horn in a strategy that doesn’t suit the scenario.

@Ghost-Army so Mussolini had no plan A or B or C? Eisenhower had no plan a b or c? Strategic planners makeup plans and make up contingency plans I don’t see how this is controversial

@JDOW, got a question about your “don’t lose Egypt cheaply” goal. In a current game with trulpen, as allies I lost it pretty cheaply. Situation UK1:

• SZ92 stack done with 3 UK fighters (tac died in SZ96, bomber attacked SZ106)
• No bid units (10 bid went on ftr Scotland)
• No Ethiopia or Tobruk attack
• Vichy imminent

Now I wanted to keep Egypt I1 (obviously) but also without needing to expend an infantry on a blocker in Alexandria and also use my mech to keep the Syria inf allied. These seemed to be exclusive goals. Ultimately I chose to keep all the troops on Egypt. Was this the wrong call? I’m inclined to think so. I went on to lose Egypt I2 & I3. Annoyingly, Cyprus was claimed by an unescorted TT I1 which I couldn’t sink. I suppose if I would have moved the SZ71 DD to the Red Sea they would have at least needed to expend a DD in SZ98 to protect that, if it would have been worth it.

I suppose there are a few things I could have done differently, putting the bomber in Gibraltar would have been useful.

As Axis, this move (i.e. moving everything towards Egypt) sometimes works for me, but usually not. Perhaps the SZ110 scramble is the difference? I’m not really sure.

Anyway, would you recommend the Alexandria blocker in this situation, something different, or should I just have not gotten into the situation in the first place?

I feel this is a useful question for all in an allied playbook.

Thats the risk when you took when you scramble 110. You lost 2 UK ftrs that could have contributed to the situation. Then you went after the sub taking a dd and the bomber out of play. In total you moved away 1 dd, 3 air units, and an art that all could have helped you defend Egy. Nothing fancy about Italy’s play. I think you just have to consider that when you plan UK1 and decide to go with z92 stack.

@ksmckay Thanks for the thought. I did think about doing Taranto here but I decided to keep it conventional. Perhaps that decision was wrong, although without bid units Taranto is relatively high risk. If you lose, it’s pretty nearly game over unless the allies have something else quickly. I really dislike the idea of a no scramble to SZ110 in this scenario (bid ftr Scotland, both fleets attacked evenly). I would certainly rather risk a Taranto raid than not scramble.

It does seem that trying to keep Iraq for the Aussies was not a good idea here.

@simon33 Sure, the scrambling worked out fine and was probably the right call. But you have to be willing to trade some other objectives in exchange for killing the luftwaffe. I think after you scrambled, you could have ignored the sub and did some different things in the indian ocean so that if Italy went for Egypt you could defend it. It just seems like you went for almost every UK option available and that means you were too thin to defend Egypt which is a lot to give up in the early game. You cant do everything.

@taamvan Clarification: In the Sneaky Karl scenario, can the Japanese still move their fleet through a sea zone with UK or ANZAC ships after an unprovoked DOW upon the Japanese? This makes a difference in Japan’s approach toward Calcutta if they have stacked invasion forces in Kwangsi and their fleet in sz 36. I was playing a game in Triple A and tried to use a UK destroyer in sz 38 to block this fleet from reaching India. However, in Triple A the Japanese ships during combat movement went by it stopping in sz 39 to invade India. ANZAC had already declared war so the political situation read that Japan and UK were in a state of unprovoked war. I apologize for this question as I know this isn’t the purpose of this thread. :grimacing: Appreciate any clarification though. For what it’s worth, I’m not a beginner, but not an expert either – I like the idea of a playbook for newer and mid-tier players. I’m recruiting players here in Guam and most would benefit from something like that.