• I was reading through some past threads, and I came across the term “Canadian Shield”.  I couldn’t find an explanation of what this strategy was - can someone shed some light on it for me?  Thanks!

  • 2007 AAR League

    It’s the same shield that Captain America wields except it has a red maple leaf on it and Captain Canada carries it.


  • No kidding?

  • 2007 AAR League

    Actually it’s a double whammy attack on the US where Germany does a mass landing in East Canada and Japan then follows up with a mass landing into West Canada to force the US into defending Washington so that Japan can take Western US.

    Generally, it has to happen on turn 3 because of how the German navy is positioned and the fact that Germany can’t linger in the Atlantic because the Allied navies will crush them if they stick around any later than G3.  G1 naval build in sz5, Med fleet to sz13. G2 German fleets link up in sz7. G3 land in E Can. On the other side Japan is doing the TP/ground unit buildup for the J3 landing.

    It’s easy to spot and just as easy to thwart. You’ll see it coming from the German side much more easily because Japan’s buildup with TP’s is a normal occurence. Suffice it to say that if both Germany and Japan build transports on turn 1 and Germany links the fleets on G2 but Japan doesn’t hit Hawaii(which would threaten W US and cause an immediate buildup there) on J2 then you’re opponent may be thinking about it.

    It’s one of those things that you will only fall for once. I’ve never seen it or heard of anyone I know falling for it but, according to the Caspian Sub guys, it’s been used often enough that it warranted a paper on it’s benefits. Go to their site, they know many more details about it.


  • Thanks, that clears things up for me - I appreciate the help!

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    I’ve pulled it on a few people.  Generally it’s the guys who think they are really good players (or may be really good players in reality) that fall for it, because they don’t think anyone will actually try it.

    It’s a strategy of subterfuge.  Germany pretends to be setting up an Operation Sea Lion while Japan pretends to be doing it’s normal attack Russia strategy thing.  Then, if and only if, America does NOT build up massive land troops in W. USA, Germany and Japan can take Alaska, W. Canada and E. Canada forcing America into choosing between W. USA and E. USA.

    Honestly, I have better methods of taking out America that do not draw down on German ground equipment or rely heavily on my opponent failing to see the threat from Germany.


  • @Cmdr:

    Honestly, I have better methods of taking out America that do not draw down on German ground equipment or rely heavily on my opponent failing to see the threat from Germany.

    such as…

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Gee, if I give away all my secrets, how will I win in the next tournament? :P

    I’ll give you a hint, it has a lot to do with America not preparing itself properly.  Properly prepared, no way America is the first nation to fall.


  • OMFG.  Join Caspian Sub Yahoo group already, they’re the ones that wrote the paper on Canadian Shield that all these discussions about.

    Canadian Shield’s a strategy you undertake under certain conditions that force the opposing player to respond in certain ways.  It isn’t all about subterfuge, it’s about GOOD CHOICES.

    Axis and Allies is a game with perfect information; the only questionable thing is dice outcomes!  You can’t SNEAK UP on your enemy.  Either your opponent is a dummy that doesn’t see your attack coming, or you undertake a long-odds battle that your opponent doesn’t think you’ll even try; that’s the limit on “unexpected” attacks.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Canadian Shield is a subterfuge move.  If America sees it coming, then they can thwart it.  If they do not, then the Axis can pull a fast victory before the Allies get rolling.  However, it’s all about deception and cunning, not really about “strategy” really.  Not if you consider Strategy to be something that you unroll over the course of eight to twelve game rounds (not country turns, full game rounds.)

    It’s a GOOD subterfuge strategy.  But it’s still akin to the Round 1 German roll for Long Range Aircraft so they can do Operation Sea Lion on round 1.  Not a strategy so much as a quick and dirty tactic to end the game.


  • I thought a Canadian Shield was a diaphram made in Ottawa, eh?


  • Oddly enough, this question is very relevant. I was talking with my dad about, you know, oil, and he mentioned a geographic formation called the Canadian Shield. I just Wiki’d it, and it’s for real. A big plateau (or shield I guess is the term) in central and eastern Canada.

    So: Is this where the strategy got it’s name from? I always assumed that Canada came from the basing in WCan and ECan (obviously) and the Shield part was just some cool noun. Plus, it’s kinda like a big shield coming down from Canada and smushing WUS or EUS. That’s the most sense of I could make of it, so I’m wondering if this geographic formation is the true inspiration.

    Anybody know? Any subbers wanna chime in?


  • Wow.  Yes, the Canadian Shield was a term I thought no one would pick up on.  I have spent a lot of time on the Niagara Escarpment and I picked up the term in reading about the geology of the area.  It’s also a sarcastic pun since the ‘Canadian Shield’ move involves blasting through Canada ;)

    There’s also a bit of geology/geography in the appendix in the original paper (Paper #13) that discusses the Detroit River and the “straits”.  Several of the core CSub guys are Detroiters, and we think of Canada as that land down south.  Like Ohio.

    (Check the map if you don’t get it)

    Peace

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    And they say you can’t learn something new everyday. ^_^

    Anyway, I always thought it was because Germany shields Japan’s invasion.  Didn’t know it had anything to do with Canadian oil!


  • :-o
    This is scary, I’ll have to try it soon. :roll:


  • @Crazy:

    :-o
    This is scary, I’ll have to try it soon. :roll:

    Canadians are hot, eh.

  • 2007 AAR League

    Although this strategy is interesting and obviously game changing if successful, there are so many things that can go wrong with it as I discovered just the other night.  I used this strategy in a game against two other decent, but not superhuman players, and it was thwarted.

    For one, as soon as you buy three transports in the Baltic, the Allies instantly realize and understand the German player has now committed to an amphibious operation against the Western powers somewhere.  The Allies’ first assumption is that you are going after Britain, as America still appears too far away.  If you spook the British enough, they will attack with their air force which, depending on how the dice rolls go, will hurt your assault on America a little or a lot but, either way, your invasion force will be reduced.  If they keep their air force and buy defensive land forces or naval forces, when you move your fleet to SZ 7 in RD 2, it is wide open for assault by all British naval and air forces and in the case of my game, a follow up attack by American naval and air power which by this time is positioned in UK or Algeria or both.

    This problem can be solved a couple of ways I suppose.  The first, moving the Med BB along with the transport (which is part of the overall strategy) to link up with your fleet in SZ 7 increases your odds of success.  However, if your dice rolls go bad and you aren’t able to destroy an Allied navy position outside of Algeria that fleet is blocked and you are beat.  A more logical conclusion, which was not written in the original strategy, is to forego the 2 inf and 2 arm purchase Rd 1 in favor of a carrier.  That way, in the best of cases, you have 5 trns, 2 subs, 1 BB, 1 AC, and 2 ftrs positioned in SZ 7 and the chances that the Allies will attack you continue to go down.

    There is, of course, the constant possibility the Allies will, by pure chance or plan, block your assault by placing naval units in both SZ 8 and SZ 12 which is not entirely insane.  As someone else said, this strategy is one you only use once and only if you’re willing to get gray hair by constantly praying the Allies won’t attack you or place ships in places that are bad for you.  If the strategy fails, the game is basically over because it will take Germany so long to bounce back against the Russians.


  • 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

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