Allied Strategy Guide (By Mogami)

[CapAndGown]

This was posted by Mogami under the Japanese Strategy Guide thread. I thought it deserved its own thread. In fact, I think both guides rate a "sticky."

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Hi, In scenario 17 (or 19) The Allies are on the defensive.
The very first task for them is to understand what the Japanese players long term plans are. Port Moresby, Lunga, SOPAC?
Untill the Allied players knows for sure he should

A. Halt construction of all bases that the enemy might capture in near future
Port Moresby, Cooktown, Cairns, L'ville

B. Insure the safety of his 2 primary bases. Noumea and Brisbane

C. prepare a rapid response force to meet Japanese threats close to these bases. (have ships enough to run a Bde/RCT by fast transport once target base is clear)

SWPAC begins with 7th Div in Brisbane and Bde in every city.
order Cooktowns garrison (except baseforce) to move to Cairns
Have Carins garrison move 1 hex south (on beach hex enemy can land on (except base force) This prevents enemy from dropping a few squads and cutting off retreat. Now he must land at least 2 Bdes to do this. 7th Div sends 1 Bde to Townsville, 1 Bde to Rockhampton and retains 1 Bde in Brisbane (giving each of these cities 2 Bdes for defense.

SOPAC begins with Americal Div in Noumea. There is no reason to move it anywhere unless it becomes clear enemy has designs on L'ville, or Efate (since if he goes for Noumea he must bring 2 Divisions and that he does not have in May)
The transport Aircraft can fly troops to L'ville/Efate if needed with the Fast Transport TF moving more.

Prior to the end of May if Japanese are moving against SOPAC the 3rd Aus Div arrives in Brisbane. The Japanese do not have the means to go for SWPAC bases (other then PM) and SOPAC at same time. This allows allies to move the entire div to Noumea.
(remember to keep enough transports in Brisbane for this if needed.)

If Japanese move against SOPAC all level bomber groups with range should redeploy to Noumea.

If Japanese move against SWPAC all level bomber groups should base in Townsville, Charter Towers, Rockhampton.
Enemy must telegraph intent by trying to knock out airfields on bases he is going to try to capture. These bases should have all air groups moved away. (and garrsions as well)
Cooktown and Cairns should not be defended except by air attacks on transports moving Japanese to them.
(Cairns can be defended if the Bde has secured the escape hex.
(the Cooktown Bde defends Cairns while the Cairns Bde holds open the escape route. This makes Japanese bring at least 4 Bdes to Capture/cut off Cairns. Moving the Bde from Townsville up
to help pretty much keeps the route open, but be carefull leaving Townsville too weak. Townsville is the important city. It must be held at all cost.)

Townsville is city where all northern troops move to defend.
(it will have almost 3 divisions worth of troops by end of May)
Let Japanese land at Cooktown or Cairns then you have a steady target to attack and train airgroups on. Also when in June or July the 2 further SWPAC divs have arrived you can recapture.

The allies need not fear Japanese attempts early in game to reach deep. These efforts will prevent them from ever making a serious offensive because of the drain on resources and lack of building up their logistics tail. (they consume large amounts of fuel and supply. Wear out the ships and leave the combat troops hanging out to dry. It requires a period of supply/fuel build up before commencing an operation. These early attacks can win if..
The allies have spread their forces out. If the allies have tried to occupy further advanced bases (Lunga) Or tied their defensive strength down in bases where it can not be accessed (Port Moresby)

The Japanese must move quickly it is true. However in a 610 turn game quickly translates into being ready to make a move from secure bases to occupy new/enemy bases within 90 days. (not on May 15th)
The Allies must be able to never take a step backwards. So they move slowly. The real issue of who will control what bases is really up to the results of the fleet combats. The attacker needs the same ratio of ships he needs in land combat strength.
It is not advised to leave landings or transports un protected in the middle of an offensive.
Operations in UV must be well thought out in advance and prepared. Before sending a force to capture an enemy base you must

1. Preform detailed recon over a period of time to obtain accurate data on forces defending. (so to avoid being suprised apon arrival and finding yourself out numbered or unable to achive needed odds to capture base. You do not want to send too much as this limits speed of other offensives and uses more supply/fuel transports then required. (Send the right amount to do the job.)
To confuse enemy preform recons, bombardments on more then one logical choice for invasion.

2. Close the target to resupply reinforcment. (this means having mines placed on enemy approach routes, TF's on target every night to intercept enemy relief efforts. (Bombardment TF's, this serves dual purpose of closing target airfield, destroying supply and disrupting enemy troops defending)

If you are incapable of doing the above then your attack will fail (and deserve such failure.) Attacks are only justified where the enemy has left an exploitable weakness.

[mogami]

Greetings, My current views on allied strategy are of course based on PBEM games scenario's 17 and 19.

The persons who led me to these ideas
U2(Dan) my main adversary
Erik R always allied, never afraid
Arto (I think he needs pills to calm him down)
AdmDadman (if at first you don't succeed, send a whole lot more)
Bosun (I have to stay quiet, as I am still worried about this game)
Silkworm (If you missed this AAR go find "Mogami versus Silkworm-one of us is crazy) This game proves anythin is possible if you discount it rather then prevent it
Sonny (the game AAR will appear soon)
Gus, ROWLF, and all my previous PBEM opponents.

The real trick, is not having a sequence of orders in the early days of a campaign, but to keep aleart and take steps to discover what the enemy intends to do. It may not be required to run Northern Command units all over the place.
Be ready for anything. The enemy is always looking for a place to inflict damage. Do the same. The allies do not have much to work with for 30-60 days. Don't sacrifice material in hopeless fights but always be ready to make the enemy pay if he is careless.
The single most important thing you must ever do in any game against another person................
Know his mind! Understand what he wants to do, what he will risk, what he will not risk, and what he fears. This takes time to learn. While you are doing it, don't lose more then you can afford, and don't TEACH him these lessons about yourself.
There is no sequence to follow to victory.
Remain flexable, but don't go limp.

[Admiral DadMan]

Originally posted by Mogami
Greetings,
My current views on allied strategy are of course based on PBEM games scenario's 17 and 19.

The persons who led me to these ideas...
AdmDadman (if at first you don't succeed, send a whole lot more)...

I don't do things by halves...

Once you get on the strategic ladder, you can't get off, unless the enemy throws you off...

[denisonh]

So the strategy is essentially wait and see, with some defensive shuffling of land based units?

I wholeheartedly agree with the agressive recon and determining what the enemy is up to, but also like to take some action to put the Japanese off balance early on.

I am playing/played in 8 PBEM games as the allied, and have taken some action to "defend forward". Since I still have a couple of PBEM in the early stages, I cannot be too specific, but have essentially used the same approach for each game.

The more assets and time the Japanese expend enroute to the auto victory objectives works in the Allies favor (somewhat historical, I think). The IJN has the initiative, but I see no reason not to try to contest it. Yes, you are at a disadvantage, but there are options available that can hamper the IJN early.

And assessing your enemy is critical in deciding on what to do. Assuming the IJN player is super aggressive is a good start, but that assessment needs to be reviewed as the game progresses.

If the IJN player is tenative at first, it is the perfect opportunity to "defend forward"

Making the IJN fight over places like Gili-Gili, Buna and Irau are better than PM or Luganville (What do think Sonny?:) ).

Yes, there may be some risk involved, but executing any kind of military operation involves risk. And succcessfully managing risk is one of the keys to winning campaigns.

So taking no risk seems to me to be a defeatist strategy that allows the IJN free hand to execute his operations with little or no interference in the opening stages of the campaign.

[denisonh]

Of course, I forgot to mention that the Allied strategy is in large part affected by the scenario and level of commitment.

If I was like Mogami playing as the Allies in SC 19 with 200% IJN level of committment vs 100% Allied, then my comments are not really valid for that situation.

If you are playing SC 17 with 100-120% IJN vs 100% Allied, then it is a little different....

[Chiteng]

A couple things you didnt mention:

Do NOT get your air groups at Port Morsby trapped by damaged
airfield. You must anticipate when the field will be closed and withdraw before then. This is critical. You cant afford to wait 12 months (or is it 3 months) for the airgroups to be returned.

Time is important. Everything conspires to consume Jap time.

Sure no one wants to lose whole units, however stalling the Jap
at Cairn is usefull also. There is a sad lack of BF in Australia,
so you must make certain you dont lose any,

I dont see how the Ten Jap CV can seriously threaten Australia
and its monster airbases, but I suppose it can happen.
I like to fight, so I dont abandon anything. However that may not
be an optimal strategy,

[panda124c]

Keep the enemy guessing as to what your intentions are. Do things that draw his attention from the area you are really interested in. Learn to play poker and alway keep an ace up your sleeve.