Posts made by GuamSolo

@barnee Will do!

I can also add that the UK went with a middle earth tactic and had help on the way to Moscow if the Russians had stayed in the game even just one more round…

By ‘landlocked’ I meant that there was no Royal Navy present and not enough UK aircraft to help. G1 took out 110 and 111, built an airbase in Holland and parked a small German fleet with an aircraft carrier in 110. I had a round of destroyer builds in 109 but the Luftwaffe just took it out. By UK 2 the Med fleet was gone primarily to one sided rolling. I saw Crocket36 combine the UK Med fleet with the French destroyers off of the coast of Southern France. This worked for me once before, but in this game it went terrible. The Italians rolled hits with nearly every roll in round 1 of the battle and the UK landed one hit… Order of casualties was tough because the Italians took Southern France first which meant I couldn’t take a hit on the UK aircraft carrier because the 2 planes would have nowhere to land and die if Italy withdrew. So Italy ruled the Med investing in ships each turn while the US was kept out of the war for as long as possible. The UK would have been fine in the long run, but the game was lost early when the (novice) Russian player threw a lot of his forces at a concentrated stack of German Armor/Infantry in Western Ukraine. Russia lost 85% of his attacking forces in the battle and ultimately opened the door for Germany to Russia. The trouble with new players is knowing how much to coach vs. letting them play their own strategies out while not controlling it too much so that they don’t have fun. UK would have recovered in a longer game, but the first two rounds really set them back.

I played a game this week as Britain and the axis won. It was a learning game though as all the players were new except for Germany (and myself as UK). The German player just throttled UK and land locked them. The game is hard to assess in terms of strategy because the newer players are either too cavalier with units or turtle for lack of experience. But the UK struggled so I’m interested in any UK ideas that other players employ.

@M36
Well I’d love to see that.

@crockett36
Eventually - when time permits of course - I think it would be great to see you sitting in front of the map and summarize it all while walking people through the board. But I don’t say that to take away from any of the work you’ve done. Blessings!

Wow. Thank you Crocket for the time it took to think this through, both in strategy and in writing it. Plus I heard somewhere that you moved in the last year? And have 7 kids? So…that’s a busy schedule and you finished a great piece of writing.

@Kingme This thread is about an allied strategy to beat the axis.

I’m thinking of ways to summarize, or outline the overall allied playbook. @crockett36 would you say something like this is a fair representation what you have laid out?

1. Realize Strategic Objectives that will allow you to both nibble at the axis powers and build a shucking system. This can be deciding to station the Pacific fleet in Australia to threaten the money islands or Philippines as opposed to sea zone six. I draw this from your post earlier in this thread:
   "The four most plausible targets are, in no particular order:

Queensland / Indonesia / Philippines
Sea Zone 6 / Korea / Manchuria
Southern Italy / Northern Italy
Norway / Denmark / Western Germany / Berlin"

The US can’t go all in with units to achieve these objectives at the expense of building a shucking system. It must do both.

2. Engage in economic warfare by taking away territories or national objectives that fuel the economy of the axis war machine.
   This must also be guided by the principles you (Crockett) laid out regarding preserving allied units and sometimes allowing the axis to win with a goal of counter attacking. These principles stated were:
   "Therefore the principles that guide this Allied US strategy playbook are:

to preserve the Allied starting units
to give ground where it is hopeless or prudent
to determine the place of the battle when possible"

3. Finish purchasing units needed to shuck troops into the European theater by turn 4 or 5. That guides the U.S. a lot. This also comes from your last point:

“Let me say it again, our logistical system of transferring units over water must be mostly complete by turn 4 or 5 at the latest so that we may match the industrial output of the Axis with our own.”

These are three of the best things said in the thread IMHO. As the thread gets longer I like to summarize the thread this way so that if I am teaching a new player they can see the main points altogether.

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

Let me say it again, our logistical system of transferring units over water must be mostly complete by turn 4 or 5 at the latest so that we may match the industrial output of the Axis with our own.

That is a very good point to give new players when they read up on an allied strategy.

@Argothair Solid thoughts on the neutrals as well.

@Argothair Is the Spanish Beachhead used much by experienced players? I’ve always thought is was a poor man’s Normandy, like a fast-tracked D-day that requires less build up. It’s only been used one time in a game I’ve played in, but I saw Young Grasshopper post a pic recently where he used it. I don’t see any Youtube tutorials on this strategy by YG, GHG, DTroy, etc…

@crockett36 Am I reading this correctly, you can listen to a thread?

I’d be interested in this also–seeing as how I play a lot of solo games myself.

Didn’t Hitler think he could just bomb Britain into capitulation? Seems like “boots on the ground” is always necessary and US needs a shuck system in place for this. Aircraft can’t take territories and can’t defend fleets needed to bring in troops to Europe–if US leaves shucking to the Brits. Have you play tested the light skies strategy against good opponents?

@aequitas-et-veritas Good observation. I appreciate all the input in this thread so far and have used parts of it in my last couple of games. I think Crockett’s belief is that reactionary strategies are often (not always) lazy–or at least they cause vacillation or even paralysis in achieving strategic objectives. For a new player it can be difficult to comprehend how to spend the U.S. IPC’s, or that what you purchase rounds 1-4 say a lot about your strategic objectives (or lack thereof). I think new players also miss the importance of economic warfare on the axis. In this sense, sorting out allied strategic objectives (and necessary purchases to achieve them), and then calculating where to sandbag the axis (economic war) make for two very sound pillars of strength for the allies. Perhaps somewhat akin to Young Grasshoppers “4 Pillars of Strength” for the Japanese. As a new player I would find these immensely helpful (even now I do).

However, I think @aequitas-et-veritas’s suggestion of a J1 or G2 DOW context makes sense as well. The beauty of Cow’s Japan playbook is that it gives a new player a script to follow for several rounds. Turn order affects this for the Japanese and German playbook as they can decide when to attack and bring U.S/Russia into it–and especially the ability to strike at allied pieces before they can be repositioned for safety. In some J1 attack scenarios Pearl is attacked and in others it isn’t. So I think scripting is more of a challenge. The beauty of Crockett’s “playbook in progress” is that he has given us 2 pillars of strength with flexibility to respond to different axis opening moves. If I recall correctly, Cow was pummeled for his J1 DOW suggestion for awhile. It took some time for the community to change the widely held view that keeping the U.S. out was a better way to go. I see playbooks as a work in progress, with trial and error, working towards a coalescence of thought.

It would be awesome to see you, @aequitas-et-veritas, throw out a straw man J1 or G2 DOW script for the allies! I say that with respect and humility because so far I’m reading and taking a lot from the thread without sitting down and stabbing at strategic inputs myself…

Staging the U.S. fleet in 102 - is this the move you mentioned earlier in this thread that is meant to ward off a Sea Lion invasion?

@GeneralHandGrenade Ah - ok. That settles it and totally answers the question, thanks again.

@crockett36 I like the nibbling strategy. One questions for you on another part of this thread - If you use a transport from India on UK1 to land troops in Persia for the goal of building a minor IC then does this become part of the Pacific side, or rather a Union Jack roundel is placed in Persia? I was able to play a game over Christmas and utilized your opening moves for UK but got stuck when the consensus was that it was Union Jack roundel - and thus UK Europe could not place the Minor IC in Persia. What am I missing in the rules? Is every territory on the Europe map going to always go UK Europe despite British forces from the Pacific side crossing over and taking the territory (and vice-versa)? Thanks.

The video I’m referencing is on Youtube - English British Strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtziXSzJR6o