Elche +10 v Gamerman01 BM4

I played a very strong game against you, but of course far from perfect.

As the more experienced player, here are my observations:

UK3 attack on FIC,
UK has 1 INF, 1 ART, 2 FTR, TAC
vs.
3 INF, AA, FTR

This subjects all India’s 3 fighters to AA fire
The overall chance on the battle is 67%, hit and run 1 round is most likely that each side loses 2 ground units, and the 3 Indian air are subject to AA fire. The Chinese have a strong stack in Yunnan, so this attack weakens Japanese ground forces, however, the UK units could have defended Yunnan and even better protected it.

The dice were punishing, 1 fighter down to AA, and even both sides had a strong first round roll. The above average defense roll with an extra hit took out the Indian tac, and now India is down to 1 fighter from 3 - this was very painful for you in subsequent rounds. The daring attack could have paid off with luck, but it was even more likely to be very painful. The Japanese lose 3 ground units from a little Indian luck, but India is punished and the Allies lose extremely important pieces in one of the most vulnerable points on the map

This was immediately followed by a stack on Yunnan that was vulnerable to a Japanese attack, most noteably the purple fighter, which is one of the most important pieces on the board, especially against me when you know I will go for India and skip half of China (where the flying tigers could then wreak havoc). The last Indian fighter and the Chinese are on Yunnan, so I attack it.
6 AA shots missed, but the opening attack roll is average.
The Chinese defense roll was almost 2 under, so the dice are punishing what I think was a mistake.

The average expected losses for Japan was to lose 10 units, of which 1 would be a fighter to AA fire. The Japanese only had 7 ground units, so to finish off the stack, would lose about 3 fighters and not be able to take Yunnan, or lose 4 fighters and take.

This does not seem to be a terrible result for the Allies, but the attacker has the option to retreat each round, so this was a volatile battle.

The dice did favor me, and if you got lucky on the AA, well, it might have actually been good for you. Anyway, big risk, and the dice punished it. It can definitely be argued that it was a good risk to take against a more experienced player.
But it was a very big risk, especially with attacker option to retreat, and if you look at the map after J4, the Allies in China and India have no air and are very weak…

But, after J4 you do have the American fleet at the Carolines, which is excellent for your Allies

I do realize that I may not know your reasoning behind some decisions, and that doesn’t mean you were necessarily wrong. Like the defense at Yunnan, could relieve considerable pressure on America if I lose quite a few planes.

This leads to what I am sure is the biggest weakness in your game, and it is probably you just don’t have a ton of experience yet -

Well, 2 weaknesses. You tighten these up and you will be much more successful, and you are already quite successful.

#1 is you fire your bullets as soon as they’re in your gun.

It’s a very strong strategy with the Allies in G40 as you know, and I am not saying you were just too aggressive - your aggressiveness and risk taking were very smart and wise against me. Indeed, many opponents against me will play safe and conservative as if they are playing to not make mistakes, or against someone at an equal level, and they are quickly annihilated.
I will explain what I mean, here, in a minute

#2 is land war, when the opponent has air superiority.

I will also give examples of this, from this game, and explain why different play would be much stronger

Emojis disappeared with the site “upgrade” and they’d better bring them back, they are very important.

FIC was not a game-breaking decision, I am going to give you more.

The biggest example of #1 firing your bullets as soon as they are in your gun, is USA8

You had a serious threat on me with 4 USA transports, 2 in 91 and 2 in 92. This is a very powerful position you had there. Egypt was under your powerful siege, and other areas on Europe were vulnerable.

The transports in 91 and 92 threaten everything from Norway to TransJordan.

I played many, many games of Axis and Allies until I really learned this lesson, and it is the knowledge that champions have.

That is threat projection.
I know you understand this quite well - when you have to defend many places against a few units.
USA8 was one of the two moments of great relief to me.

You fired all 4 transports at 4 places - Norway, Denmark, Normandy, and Greece.

There were no transports at EUS, so now there is zero threat on Europe after I clean up these 4 areas. Even though you don’t get the immediate income, holding at least 1-2 of these transports “freezes” a lot of Axis units all over the place.

Actually, you had similar trouble in the Pacific, where sometimes there were no transports, or not enough, to threated actually taking land. This is an area where you can greatly strengthen your game.

The 2nd great relief in the game for me was Russia 5, noncombat move

Many Russian ground units were sent north (Vologda) or east (toward Japan) when they were sorely needed to face the German army at WUK. Germany was going to have to back up to Bessarabia and I think the USSR was going to be able to move in East Poland by R7, which was a big concern to me.

The 2 artillery, mech and armor especially, was the pressure relief I needed.

R5 combat is also a very good example of what I mean in #2 below, land war without air superiority. This really hurt you in our playoff game, and I point it out as a friend who is sure this point will make you much more successful -

OK, I didn’t really have air superiority at this point, but my tip still stands, here.
You attacked Ukraine with all air to make sure you took back the complex so I couldn’t build there - nothing wrong with that.

But then you had no air support for 5 infantry, 2 artillery in Bel against 3 infantry, AA. You had a good result, losing 2 infantry and wiping out 4 Germans. I understand not wanting to fly over AA (we just talked about FIC), but attacking small German stacks of ground with larger Russian stacks, really hurts the Russians.

So G6, the Germans attack Bel back with infantry and artillery, and the Germany lose 4 units to 5 Russians, so the Russians didn’t lose as many units as the Germans.

Except. The German units that countered Bel came from the North where they couldn’t help the main army in the Southern push, but the Russians that went to Bel were with the main Red army in Bryansk, so basically the Germans took out Russians from the North where Germans weren’t needed as much, so Germans in a weaker position traded with Russians that were in a stronger position.

Hey, I’ll throw in with all this constructive criticism - you are still improving rapidly and the standings and your success against strong opponents shows that!

I point out the Russian front and the Indian front especially, because as you know these are 2 of the most important Allied weak points that determine the outcome of the game - they are critical. So these tips may help you in the most important areas and times of the game.

Remember that thing about the 4 American transports in 91 and 92, also, that was such a huge pressure relief for me. It got you short term income, but that income is spent on the continental USA where it takes time to get those units to the front.

This is a nuance that many Axis and Allies players don’t understand well enough, and why I crush them -

A player may pick up an NO and 10 IPC’s for 1 turn by landing on Europe’s beaches, but those ground units are terribly important for threatening bigger things. If a player lands them and they are easily destroyed, the threat is gone. The 10 IPC’s are spent a turn later, and those units are on the US. Then they move out another turn later, and it is another turn later that they actually get to the battle.