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!

@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.

@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.

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.

@djensen I just changed my username then!

@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

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!

@elche said in Elche (+18) vs Gamerman01 (x) BM4 rematch:

The fig in sz111 was nice.
Looks interesting without Vichy and german Navy. Never had a planed non-Vichy game.
Or will you attack with Italians ? If not I can use french ships and inf in Northafrika ?

I believe, in the long run, Vichy hurts the Axis more than it helps in total.
There are certainly benefits, especially if Axis goes for some kind of Blitz on a certain objective.

In case Axis is not afraid of having a longer game, slowly grinding their way through, the income benefits and extra territories for bases Allies get outweigh the early benefits Axis gets.

@trulpen said in Post League Game Results Here:

Playoff finals BM4

trulpen - axis-dominion 0-1

Congratz AD, back to back Champion!

Fastest played final ever!
Almost missed it^^

Gratz re AD and well played farmboy.
I really believe you had serious winning chances in this one. The Germans were on the rope and even Japan was slightly behind schedule, until they took Anzac
Even after Anzac got lost I think the Allies still had a good position. But then it slipped away somehow.

Again, well played both and it was fun to watch!

@jdow

@farmboy I know for sure, that, back then, the calculator was bugged when using Japan.

The bug I found is that it ignored AA. That could have huge consequences as big attacks on India disregarded AA.

However, the bug seem to have switched. I just tried out Japan vs India (10 figs vs 1 AA) and the expected TUV was 0 which is correct.

Then I did Japan vs Russia and 10 figs vs 1 AA gives you +5 = AA is ignored

Thus, you know that when Japan attacks Russia, defending AAs are kind of ignored.

The game was interesting to follow, thanks much to both participants for the entertainment!

Can’t believe Pejon gave 94% on his fleet:D I can imagine losing 17 transport would have hurt a lot.

I still think though that just winning would have not been enough for Germany.
Let’s pretend Germany would have won with 5 bombers remaining. Still a pyrrhic victory I guess. I still think, they’d never had enough juice from there to kick the Allies out of Spain, Norway or to deal with the UK/Russia stack. Allies had like 40 planes that could have hoped around.

What I am saying is: I believe this was not a 94% vs 6% battle but Axis needed a very good outcome and anything but total annihilation keeping a bunch of planes alive may have only prolonged the Axis misery.

But it is a maybe. Making all those units immobile would have certainly limited the Allies’ options and maybe Axis could have slowly crawled back into the game after a successful attack.

In the end, it was an unnecessary opportunity for the Axis to come back and Allies should have certainly increased the defense with an airbase either at Spain or Portugal:)

@panther many thanks!

Does anyone know the reason why turn histories can‘t be posted anymore? Did something on the forum change and the tripleA client needs to be adjusted? Is anyone working on a solution?

@andrewaagamer Just wanted to mention how great the Allies’ dice were in that previous round.