Best posts made by JDOW

Greetings all,

I just wanted to drop a little appeal/invitation to all players that post and discuss general strategies to move the discussion or at least add to the discussion experience in actually trying it in games online.
I think it would help many players in this forum to get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

So guys: Do not only discuss in theory but also put your strategies into practice in the G40 league.

New players are always welcome, in case you feel insecure about how to handle the tripleA client and how to find opponents and handle games, the league community is very friendly and helpful.

Cu on the other side hopefully! :-)

Congratz to the new league champion, Farmboy. Well played!

I follow the final closely, and it was an atypical game on the Eastern front.
The Germans were slightly behind schedule on the Eastern front and after turn 6 or so the German stack moved to Bryansk, allowing the Reds to launch an attack. The odds were clearly below 50% but in case of a success, the game may have been over in favor of the Allies.
The attack did not go the way the Allies wanted and left both armies crippled, including the Russian airforce which suffered from a 2/3 AA success by the German F.L.A.K.
I think one could argue that, from here, it was an uphill battle for the Allies.

The Axis headquarter remained calm and kept a cool head. Germans were not forcing any matters on the Eastern front but focused on stability, while establishing the Atlantic wall, including a massive German fleet protecting WGR and Germany. A fleet arms race developed in 112 and 110 while the Germans continued to stabilize on the Eastern front.

Japan was mostly uncontested in the Pacific. She let India grow to a massive size and never made a serious attempt to take India while focusing on dominating China and slowly eating up Eastern Russian territories, facilitated by Stalin’s order to send the entire Siberian army home. The Siberian army secured the survival of Moscow after the battle at Bryansk, but left Japan uncontested on the main land.

This way, the Axis achieved income parity, which, in many cases, leads to a slow death of the Allies, especially as Gamerman concluded the fall of Moscow was inevitable.

Thanks to both participants for the great show, what a pleasure this game was to watch!

@axis-dominion said in Post League Game Results Here:

long game as is typical with our matches… big fireworks in the end but results were ultimately not in allied favor

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/40655/l24-bm4-adam514-axis-vs-axis-dominion-allies-21

Congratulations to Adam for winning the most epic battle I have ever witnessed in a top-tier competition encounter.

I highly recommend that everyone download the game’s history and play through it themselves.

@taamvan said in We need an allied playbook.:

this convo is just a digression from that original goal. I dont think there can be an allied playbook without it being an endlessly complex series of if thens. crockett brought it up so maybe he has a different view.

The key problem I see in 95% of all the discussions is that people think the game can be analyzed by making concrete plans on what to do in turn 1, 2, 3. 90% of this is pointless for 2 reasons:

• In contrast to chess, there is luck involved and one can never predict the exact position at any point. Not even at G1 as there is plenty of options on how Allies spend the bid.
• A naked plan is worth quite little in A&A unless the player understands key principles on HOW to operate plans and on WHAT is important as Allies.

If I keep the analogy to chess many plans I read here are like: In order to win with white, play e4, then castle queenside and then make a mating attack on the kingside.
This is useless advice, because it means nothing if the player does not understand fundamental principle of chess.

Back to A&A: 2 players can execute the exact same plan as they are often discussed here in the forum: Round 1 build this and round 2 build that, do this and that etc
The outcome of this (even when assuming average dice for everyone) can be fundamentally different depending on the knowledge of the players on HOW to execute a plan.

The differences in experience, skill and understanding of fundamental principles of A&A are often so big amongst various players, that the outcome of executing a plan can be black and white. Total success or total failure, massively depending on either the skill of the “attacker” or of the “defender” in this situation.

This leads often then to conclusions which are entirely wrong “ABC does not work” --> Just because you failed to execute it, this does not mean it cannot work
ABC is imbalanced (often heard for Dark skies) --> No, it is not necessarily imba, maybe you just lack understanding of key principles in order to player properly against it.

My general advice would be: Think less about plans on what you do in turn 1, 2, 3 but think about key principles and key objectives you want to achieve and then the most important part:
Work on the details on how to execute a plan efficiently, such as:

• How to trade efficiently
• How to avoid blockers
• How to pose as many threats as possible
  and many more

This is certainly not easy, and in case I would elaborate on that, I would certainly do a video series about it. Just writing all that stuff down is so dry and cumbersome.
To me, it only makes sense to explain these principles on the board, but the TripleA board using a screencast and now recording an actual board with a camera.

@AndrewAAGamer said in Post League Game Results Here:

Thank you @gamerman01. Not playing this game anymore is my way to move on from a very negative experience for me. It is not worth the points to have to deal with it or think about it. I have met some very nice people on this site and I hope to continue playing against them and others I have not played against yet. Overall my experience here has been pleasant. I appreciate your effort in helping this site be a good experience for all.

I read through your game thread and it was a heated discussion. According to what I read it felt for you that trulpen did some weasel-ish move by not giving you notice of an obvious blunder you made while you think he should have as I think you gave him notice on a blunder on his side before.

I do not want to judge this situation at all, nor do I want to dive in deeper, all I would like to say is that I played trulpen twice this year, and he was a good and fair opponent. He is ambitious and eager to win, but never crossed any lines and so I think he did not in other games.

All I want to say is that sometimes things go South in a game but I would consider this an exception and not the norm.

I definitely hope you may call this under the bridge soon and continue playing league games. It would be a shame to lose you here because of this unpleasant dispute in a single game.

Hi everybody,

I’m Tobias from Germany.
I played my first A&A in the mid-90s and got re-introduced to the game in about 2011-2012 when a colleague invited to play the game. Playing Japan in the first game with no clue what to do I started to look out on the internet to find some strategies.
Boy, I would love to see how we all played this game back then. If I recall correctly we forgot to put the Chinese fighter on the board as well as the Naval base at the Philippines:D If I recall correctly I made some crazy excursions in J2 to Canada and fought for California for 1-2 turn while doing a J1 DOW LOL. I found a way for the J1 DOW in this forum and that is the way I got introduce to this community.
Later, I guess in 2012/2013 I learned about the tripleA online client and league play. At first, I played with a friend in the online live client before I found out about the option to play less stressful league games.
I played my first league game in 2013. Since then I participated in every season.

Next to 1-2 games 1941/1942 on a board game I have played G40 global online exclusively. Since last season, I play BM only, because I believe BM is a great addition that does not only make the game more balanced, but also just a better game in general. Kudos to the creators of BM!

Cheers,
Tobias

I am very sorry to hear that but I, of course, totally understand.

I can’t say it any better than Witt, so I just quote and second him.

@witt said in League General Discussion Thread:

@gamerman01 you have been a great representative of this forum and what you have done for the League is immense. You can’t be thanked enough .
We will miss you, but totally understand .
Keep well, my friend.

@gamerman01 said in League General Discussion Thread:
Who’s interviewing next?

I vote for AD :)

@taamvan said in State of the Onion G40 2019:

Hey crew!

I think we are still trading around some great ideas. To throw in my two cents

Going all Atlantic or all pacific isn’t historical, but its much more effective than splitting
Going KJF is much more satisfying in some ways than KGF–with KJF you stand a better chance of toppling or surprising and seriously disrupting Japan than Germany.
However, you can’t defeat Japan and while you’re suppressing Japan: Germany takes the game and so we need to prepare USA for a KGF regardless of what the Axis do or what their plan is
This dynamic means that the everything the Allies do should flow towards moscow and be in place before the culminating battle

ANZAC 3 planes to java (dont forget many players think you cannot land on dutch islands without capturing them that is incorrect) and then all 6 of those allied planes go to persia, then russia

You cant lose on the pac board, so ANZAC should turtle after the intial 3–includes infantry because of limited production then protect sydney. Same Hawaii–guys dumped here early count for alot and can be supplemented by fighters even if you never buy fleet over there
Taranto must be done, but that costs you alot of fighters–so UK must be garrisoned starting from turn 1 and continuing all game, no exceptions (and no factories, airbases, or tank SA buys until its clearly safe and Germany is headed elsewhere). Not doing taranto makes Italy rage which is way worse over time for the UK than just dealing with them from game start
UK East wants sumatra and ethiopia and yunnan but you should take persia turn 1 and do what you need to do to keep egypt safe all game (tobruk? turtle? up to you)

The best KGF I’ve seen has the USA transition directly from SZ 91 to norway, then finland, building bases as we go–so at some point you’ll want to destroy the German fleet to ensure they can’t do anything about it. If Germany wastes time or flinches you will be able to go over the top and take back leningrad thats 3 factories pouring out tanks

A combination of US north and UK south rescue forces is the only thing that can prevent the income flop whether moscow dies or not
for russia, more fighters is better than armor or mech or tacticals because they dissuade the crippling stratbombings
for UK, more fighters is better than more men and ships because you go after the US and can support a US landing
realistically, USA only gets 1 wave of ground troops before the russia game is decided–do not waste 1 man

Finally, USSR is too weak and Germany too rich–your patch/set bid should address this, not alter the overall game dynamics vis UK/USA v Axis (insert pitch for Taamvan Mod v3.0 here)*

I emphatically agree that large bids are not needed for anything short of league/master’s play–12-20 is plenty and the allies consistently win games of mixed skill

good luck have fun boys

Hi taamvan,

thanks for sharing your thoughts. While KJF or KGF are somehow viable options, I disagree on a bunch of your statements.

“Going all Atlantic or all pacific isn’t historical, but its much more effective than splitting”
I do not agree on this. The magic in good play with the Allies is to achieve much with little. I believe splitting is essential because I believe that one power will eventually win in case a KxF is played relentlessly. Also, given the defender’s edge in A&A, Allies can actually achieve a lot by splitting in case they manage to exploit the defender’s edge in both theatres optimally.

“Taranto must be done”
Disagree. I believe that Taranto is a viable option but moving the fleet to 92 UK1 is certainly a viable option, too which I meanwhile prefer in most cases. Taranto is keeping Italy down but trading UK fleet and planes mostly against Italy at an even rate. (considering the counter potential Italy and Germany have against taranto). There are better ways to crush the Italian fleet at a way better TUV-exchange rate than in Taranto. Also, as you mentioned, the lack of UK planes makes it harder to secure US beachheads in either Normandy or Norway.

“I emphatically agree that large bids are not needed for anything short of league/master’s play–12-20 is plenty and the allies consistently win games of mixed skill”
Well, even in league games, the Allies have a decent win rate even at lower bids, but the better the competition, the higher the Axis win rate.
On the highest level, in Vanilla games, any bid below 35 gives a clear edge for the Axis, I believe the equilibrium lies in the 40-45 range for Vanilla.
And even in BM, people slowly but steadily realize that after enjoying the thrill of playing the Allies with all those new NOs, that Allies need a 10-15 bid to have equal chances to win against Axis.
Again, this is based on Axis played on a high level.

Best regards,
Tobias

@djensen I just changed my username then!

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/34709/19l-semifinals-axis-dominion-vs-jdow-allies-18-bm3/212

AD over JDOW (Allies + 18) in the playoff semi-final. A blunder ended the game. First loss in 2.5 years :(
Overseeing a neutral crush ended up in a death blow against the Allies. A rookie mistake.

It was a tense game that was in an arms race to get or to protect Egypt. Both sides had chances, difficult to say who had the upper hand. I believe the Allies had the chance to hold Egypt and to make sea lion at least costly for the Axis. In case Egypt would hold, I believe the Axis would have been in trouble as VC victory was out of sight then.

But the blunder happened and the game ended.
AD played well and deserves the final. Good luck, Sir!

@JDOW said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@Aaron_the_Warmonger said in Why is Taranto raid so popular?:

@oysteilo O my, i forgot the airbase goes on the rock, which makes it very effective in defending future US ships to the west… man… this is getting juicy…

The AB also protects Gib for you as you can bring the planes over from there if required.

This should read: The AB also protects EGYPT…!

@Sovietishcat said in Post League Game Results Here:

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/34734/vonalba-axis-vs-sovietishcat-allies-bm3/27

Sovietishcat over Vonalba, bumps rule, no news from him.

Congratz Adam. Well deserved.

And props to AD as well who showed us a great game!

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.

Welcome back Gamerman, glad to see you playing again!
Looks like MARTI wants to welcome you by giving you very fierce defense dice in round 1 :)

@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 :-)

Farmboy, I know I’m late to the party, but I wanted to congratulate on your back-to-back league championship! What an incredible achievement to defeat Adam’s Axis in the final.

I have to say, after the G1 110 disaster, it seemed like the Allies’ advantage vanished by turn 8 or 9. At that point, I would’ve bet on the Axis. The early Europe play felt a bit sluggish - Egypt was temporarily abandoned, and the first major U.S. landing was to liberate Egypt instead of securing a beachhead. Despite delays, Germany managed to break through Bryansk, alongside with some very expensive Russian blockers that weakened their position.

On the Pacific side, Japan had favorable early dice and took India with relative ease, even with an early British Indian Ocean fleet. Japan’s dominance at sea was clear, though the Chinese-Russian cooperation posed a thorn in their plans. However, with India already taken, that threat seemed manageable in my opinion.

Your consistent, error-free play was impressive. Though cautious at times, it was precise, and you managed to exploit Germany’s weakness in the skies until they eventually collapsed. The subtlety in your strategy was remarkable. I especially liked how you kept ANZAC aggressive, even though Japan was just one victory city away. While not all the island trades seemed efficient, you kept Japan occupied, preventing them from launching a decisive attack on Sydney or Hawaii.

One question, though, regarding the Russian strafe-stunt back to Moscow - did you miscalculate earlier? It seemed like you could have just stacked Bryansk, and the risk of the strafe felt unnecessary to me.

Again, congratulations on a very well-played game! Certainly a game for the books to study on Allies play against Axis giants!

Ladies and gents,

I would still like to invite you to follow trulpen’s example and join the league. Trulpen is the perfect addition to the league.
He fuels the competition because he is a strong player, he keeps the league active by playing many games and he is a great sportsman and fun to play with.

Guys, follow his lead and join the league!

Hi everybody,

I’m Tobias from Germany.
I played my first A&A in the mid-90s and got re-introduced to the game in about 2011-2012 when a colleague invited to play the game. Playing Japan in the first game with no clue what to do I started to look out on the internet to find some strategies.
Boy, I would love to see how we all played this game back then. I guess we forgot to put the Chinese fighter on the board as well as the Naval base at the Philippines:D If I recall correctly I made some crazy excursions in J2 to Canada and fought for California for 1-2 turn while doing a J1 DOW LOL. I found a way for the J1 DOW in this forum and that is the way I got introduce to this community.
Later, I guess in 2012/2013 I learned about the tripleA online client and league play. At first, I played with a friend in the online live client before I found out about the option to play less stressful league games.
I played my first league game in 2013. Since then I participated in every season.

Next to 1-2 games 1941/1942 on a board game I have played G40 global online exclusively. Since last season, I play BM only, because I believe BM is a great addition that does not only make the game more balanced but also just a better game in general. Kudos to the creators of BM!

Cheers,
Tobias

Hey all,
is there any news?

At least forum dice but be a nice feature for the league to have it back again.