From: keith@cco.caltech.edu (Keith Allan Schneider)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: A&A - Can Allies ever win (II)
Date: 11 Nov 1992 21:38:49 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu

>Also remember that the basic idea to winning with the Allies is: BUY
>TIME. The attack on Eastern Europe in the first turn theoretically
>prevents a German first turn assault on Karelia. Also recall that

If Germany does attack Karelia on the first turn, so much the better.  He
will have left the British and American navy alone (presumably he used his
air force to attack Karelia as well), and I don't think it is very probable
that Germany actually survive the battle (against all of those Russian
infantry) without losing some of the tanks (remember he doesn't have much
fodder close by the first turn).  And, if Germany leaves just tanks in
Karelia, what better for the allies to pound on?  Once Germany loses its
tanks, it is pretty much a goner.

>Caucasus lies in between Ukraine and Russia, so until Germany takes
>this, you don't have to guard Moscow. Also, generally, if Germany does
>not build mostly infantry (which is by far the most effective means of
>assault for them), you will quickly attrition all their fighters and
>tanks away, thus making the assault on Russia successively harder. 

That's right.  When I play Germany, I will always retreat before I lose
any tanks or planes.  No attack is worth losing these (they are difficult
to replace), unless you are going for Moscow.  Of course, it would
be nice to kill off the Russian fighters or tanks...

>>Some remarks have been made regarding the far east, i.e., to build a factory
>>in India or even in China or the U.S. area next to China, or to use the
>>brithish
>>forces in India to attack the japanese area next to  India. For my opinion,
>>any factroy in the far east will be taken easyly by Japan. Russia can't
>support
>>such a factory, it needs help by itself to defend Karelia and/or
>Moscow, instea
>>d.
>>And to attack from India is a stupid idea, too. The british forces are not 
>>strong enough. And even if they would win, Japan would retake any lost
>>territory
>>easyly.

>I will generally agree that any factory built in the Far East is
>basically a giveaway to the Japanese. However, if you consider the
>Allied forces on the board at the start, it isn't much. If you wait, the
>Japanese will roll right over them anyway. The key here is to stall. By

One of the most effective ways to stall is to build an IC in India.  Britian
can get quite a force their pretty quickly.  Nothing that Japan can knock
out right away.  It is particularly effective if the Russian planes and
perhaps some American units get sent there.

>attacking with almost anything there you can go a long way towards
>gaining time for Russia. And let me point something else out, as well.
>If the U.S. and Britain have Germany on its knees, Russia can almost
>singlehandedly hold off Japan until the other two can come. Japan is
>limited in mainland forces, whereas Russia can just pound away with
>infantry (although you are most likely advised simply to put them in the
>way since they are twice as better on defense than on offense). 

Most Japan players seem to build industrial complexes on the mainland
rather right away.  It is probably a good idea to build a large number
of infantry (make sure you keep them in a large group) to threaten
Moscow.  Russia can't defend both Moscow and Karelia.  Of course, German
is hard to defend too.  The best way is to build all infantry, I guess,
but the allies can still easily get a foothold somewhere.  America
can land a large force in North Africa, from where it can reach any
number of places (like Southern and Western Europe, and others).
.
keith