Sometimes just the threat is enough…
If the Allied player screws up their T1 and T2 moves enough so that the Germans can unite their fleet without Russia making massive gains in Central Europe, just the THREAT of landings in UK, ECan and EUS can be enough to tilt the game in the Axis favor…
Nice thing about united bulked up German naval forces in SZ12… they can hammer Caucuses in 2 turns, or block the Brits at SZ6 in 1 turn… IF they don’t get the freebie landings in the Americas…
Again note that I prefaced this with IF the Allies screw up their T1 and T2 turn moves enough (as my opponent seems to have done in my final DAAK Tournament qualifier)
Really the key aspect to this move is that you don’t have to land the sucker punch to make the move have a good effect.
If you buy the transports and the Allies thwart you, you then have your suicide fleet ready to take down the Allies for a couple rounds.
If you stage with Japan, you can mess up the US transport plans for a round.
The move is primarily designed for FTF games that will only last 7 rounds at the most. In a domination game, the move is likely not as effective unless you do land the full punch. But in a FTF game if you take out 1/5th-1/7th of the Allies actions, the effect is devastating.
In the cases of partial Shields, you don’t have to pull the trigger on the main move to get value from the setup. You are leveraging your potential move into a counter on the part of your adversary. That option costs you little-to-nothing if you buy 2tra with Germany in any case or shuck units to BUR with Japan.
One other thing to keep in mind is that the concept was generated from FTF tournament venues where initially EVERY player except the CSub guys were playing KJF. That meant an underpowered UK and a West-shifted US focus with an emphasis on ships, not ground. If the US moved to the Solomons early or staged off of Mexico due to a threatening Japan, the move is devastating. And it did knock out a former Origins champion in one game and two Masters winners in another game.
After a few papers and tournaments, KJF has diminished dramatically. Partly due to Landbridge, Canadian Shield, and debates about the IIC (India IC).
Peace
Mazer Rackham
Is all that based on classic or revised?
LT
Revised.
@Mazer:
One other thing to keep in mind is that the concept was generated from FTF tournament venues where initially EVERY player except the CSub guys were playing KJF.
KJF was big in FTF tournaments? You gotta be joshing me. Was it ever big in online play or tourneys? I’ve only played maybe 30 games of AAR (and most of those recently on TripleA) and I’ve only ever seen KJF once or twice. And that one time it was the US buying all air or something – so that was more of a KAF.
@Mazer:
One other thing to keep in mind is that the concept was generated from FTF tournament venues where initially EVERY player except the CSub guys were playing KJF.
KJF was big in FTF tournaments? You gotta be joshing me. Was it ever big in online play or tourneys? I’ve only played maybe 30 games of AAR (and most of those recently on TripleA) and I’ve only ever seen KJF once or twice. And that one time it was the US buying all air or something – so that was more of a KAF.
The GenCon and World Boardgaming Championship tournaments both feature altered victory conditions if I remember right. Again - if I remember right, which I may not, I think they’re both different. Anyways, I think both had incentives for Pacific play, like additional victory cities, plus you had to consider the time before the game ended. It takes a while to get an Atlantic chain going, and Pacific progress is faster.
Anyways - you get a lotta different levels and kinds of competition with different playgroups.
KJF was big in FTF tournaments?
It’s interesting how a few subtle differences in the rules can have a major impact on strategy. GenCon/Origins used the original VCs with an IPC bonus for owning them at the end of the game, and for a couple of years KJF was the ONLY way the game was played. It took a while before that was broken.
I still maintain that the biggest problem with FTF tournaments is the lack of either a “shot clock” or a set round count (each game WILL be 5rnds, or 8rnds, etc.). There is a world of difference between an 8rnd game and a 5rnd game in terms of bid and strategy. The shift can even be as major as going from KGF to KJF.
Peace
Canada Shield
Shortly after Captain America wasn’t there a Captain Canook that faught the Russians during the cold war?
Yeah, but I heard he mostly drank alot of beer watched hockey and said stuff like “what’s up eh?” So he got fired.
KJF is still my favorite method in AAR. Almost no one remembers how to thwart it, and even if they do, they almost have to get perfect dice to succeed. (By perfect I mean they win with the forces they expected to win with, not that they get all hits and the defender all misses.)
Naval battles, if not properly set up (and no sim I have used has been accurate in how they will turn out even Frood) can turn a game in the pacific dramatically. I think the problem with the sims is taking into account submarines and altered orders of loss, etc. Anyway, Japan really cannot afford a battle against the English navy, the American navy and marines and a few Russians at the same time. The trick is not letting Germany go insane and get into the 50 IPC range - something England and Russia can easily handle with conservative moves and normal dice results.
Back on topic, however, I like to set up the Canadian Shield because it does NOT negatively impact my original goals of Kill Russia First AND it puts the Allies in the position of trying to defend both North America and England. That’s the big thing. Your German Navy, Airforce and Armies are in position to invade England just as they are E. Canada! Likewise, the Japanese transports can easily land troops in Buryatia and send the 5th one out to collect from islands without any negative impact on your plans.
And to me, that’s always the best strategy. You force your allies to react to you while not being committed to any specific attack.
So we know that Canadian Shield is an Axis strategy to take the US.
The term Sea Lion has been adopted as the term to use when the Axis (Germany) plans to take the UK.
Is there a term for the traditional Axis strategy of going for Russia?
@LT04:
So we know that Canadian Shield is an Axis strategy to take the US.
Having read the Canadian Shield Caspian Sub paper, I would say that Canadian Shield is NOT just an Axis strategy to take the US.
The term Sea Lion has been adopted as the term to use when the Axis (Germany) plans to take the UK.
Is there a term for the traditional Axis strategy of going for Russia?
Not really. There’s “Tank Dash”, there’s “Infantry Push”, but generally a strategy of going for Russia is so common, it doesn’t have its own name.
You can make up your own name. Like “Adolf and Tojo visit Eastern Europe”
bom chick a wow wow
Lets go with Axis Vodka run. :mrgreen:
I’d agree, Canadian Shield is not really an attack designed to conquer America so much as it is a method of neutralizing the Americans early in the game. (They now have to take out your invasion and recover. That’s going to be at least 5 rounds if not more if you pull the procedure off.)
Meanwhile, Germany has taken all of Africa and is pushing on Russia (hopefully even has Brazil, since America is without a navy and busy elsewhere) and Japan’s pushing out tanks to break Moscow before America can recover.
You don’t think if the Axis pushed hard enough they could take DC?
I think the death blow would have to come from Japan b/c Germany still has to contend with the other two allies. Also Japan more then likely would be the first to reach W US in this scenario.
Japan may only have to hold W US one round before deploying home grown in the W US IC.
I think a great deal of this would all depend on what US built on US 1 & 2. If they decided to go major troops and minor navy I don’t see how it could work. It is to hard to import a war very far from home. (that’s why Japan would have to take and hold W US above).
If the US went more navy to support Africa or W Europe Germany may be able to dance around the US to get to E Canada and secure a foothold.
In any case Japan would have to do most of the work b/c I just can’t see Germany being able to 1) pasify the Russians very long. 2) avoiding the UK and 3) managing to get to the US without a black eye to hold E Canada.
LT
Oh sure, given an unwary American player and no assistance from England plus a perfectly timed invasion, the Axis COULD take DC.
But why? After this is pulled off, if your opponent does not surrender, why not just be a thorn in America’s back side and send tanks racing across the Siberian landscape and across the fertile plains of the Ukraine and Caucasus to take out Russia all but forcing America and England to concede?
@LT04:
You don’t think if the Axis pushed hard enough they could take DC?
I sho’shell don’t.
Fo sho’ly sho.
For an example of just how hard it is to take out DC, I had a game against Jen where she took LA on Japan 3. She did take DC in Round 9. Oh and Russia went bye bye before the Americans.
I am not saying that Japan would have to hold DC just that Jen said that it would take 5 rounds for the US to recover. Now add 1 maybe 2 rounds to retake the capital plus now you have forced them to deal with an empty piggy bank stalling troop production.
Since as we discussed before this would be done mostly by Japan, Japan could also assist to a lesser degree through E Asia. This would give Germany a large step up for a Sea Lion.
