From: mpbodlae@cs.ruu.nl (Maarten Bodlaender)
Subject: Re: A&A: Why does America fight Germany?
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 12:33:18 GMT
Organization: Utrecht University, Dept. of Computer Science

In <1992Dec14.224123.9825@Virginia.EDU> pca8c@Virginia.EDU ("Phil Abel") writes:

>I talked briefly about my Karelia strategy in another message
>somewhere, but will elaborate here...
>
>TURN1:
>As per your games, the Soviets take E. Europe and then put
>everything in Karelia save for an infantry in Caucasus. 
>Germany's first turn is to take E. Europe back (no problem).
>ALSO:
>Germany can attack Caucasus with units in Ukraine (I will
>leave one infantry in Ukraine behind) and possibly commit
>a fighter to help. On this turn I buy all armour.
>
>TURN2:
>The Soviet dilemma is now clear. German forces are threatening
>the empty capital. They must counterattack Caucasus. Moreover,
>since all their armour were forced to remain in E. Europe for
>certain death,
I admit I'm a little bit shaky in my knowledge of starting
forces, but as far as I recall the Soviet can save his armour
for the second turn by allowing more hits on his infantry,sending
only air for firing power. This way, whatever the soviet attacks 
will be undefendable by him, if indeed he captures it. The main
thing,though is that the Germans now lack power to attack
Karelia on their first turn. An alternate course for the Soviets
is to capture Ukraine and let the Germans attack Karelia on the
first turn. If the Germans seriously attack Karelia, they will
lack the power to destroy the Allied fleet.
>they now only have a couple fighters with which
>to do the dirty work in an attack. Therefore, they will have to
>commit a substantial number of infantry (4 or 5?) to ensure
>they get the job done. Moreover, they may also get greedy and
>attack the sole infantry in Ukraine. There's a couple more
>infantry. Bottom line: Soviets must commit precious forces from
>Karelia.
>
>Now, there are still a load of men in Karelia, and a fighter or
>two (depending on what they do with the fighter in Asia) but
>I have found that if Germany commits EVERYTHING against it, there
>is a fine chance of surviving with a fair number of armour.
A nice description you give here. Only I see some possibilities
for the allies you're not considering. In most of our later
games of A&A, England and USA pump as many infantry,air,etc as
possible into Karelia. Provided you have not completely demolished
their fleet in turn one, Karelia will now be far tougher, as
the fighters now will live long enough to eat up your valuable
armour.
>
>Basically, the soviets now need outside help to throw off the
>German juggernaut. The brits/US can help out by possibly
>landing fighter(s) in Karelia, but the combat there usually
>only lasts a few turns, lessening the overall effect of their
>presence (and we hope the allies will be greedy and save their
>aircraft).
As I said, this is the most favorite course for the Allied player
where I come from. Important is that the Allies really commit
themselves to the task of defending Russia. Half-hearted
approaches are doomed to fail.
>
>Variant: If you feel lucky... Instead of transporting armor to
>Africa, use a fighter, and use transport to move Southern
>European AA gun into Caucasus. The soviets now may lose one or
>both of their fighters, causing them to commit more infantry
>there. The result: Karelia even weaker! tee hee...
A&A is a game of economics. Karelia is 3 points, Africa is worth
(?) 9 or more. Both players do good to capture Africa, as it
usually requires only a small number of units. Plus, as the Allies
will destroy your Mediterranian fleet, it's probably the last unit
you'll ever transfer to Africa. If your land units die, you cannot
conquer land!
>
>This certainly isn't a sure thing, and calling it a big risk is
>an understatement. There may be an obvious counteraction to
>this that I have overlooked as well. But the way I figure, might
>as well try an all or nothing gamble instead of waiting for slow
>and certain death... 
Well said, only too true for the axis player.



Maarten Bodlaender - Game Junk.