Arsenal of Democracy

  Playing the "Wallies" 
(Western Allies) Totaler Krieg!

Know going in that every British infantry step is precious – oh, so precious! Throughout the game, you will never have enough of them. For it is the British infantry step that puts their Support units in play: the RAF, the Royal Navy, Fighter Command, and even the Western Allied Fleets and Heavy Bombers. It is the British infantry step that forms your earliest HQs and will have to intervene at every crisis point (at least until the Americans can be easily found across the map). It is the British infantry step that must garrison the supply lines among far-flung ports of the Empire in Malta, Egypt, and the Middle East. There is no rest for the British infantry step.

It is axiomatic, therefore, that you must squeeze as many British infantry steps as possible out of the Western Allied hand of Limited War cards, and then keep their losses low, if your are to survive the early stages of the game. The British replacement rate is pathetic compared to the German and Soviet rates, and the British are often fighting for three corners of the map to the Soviets’ one, but somehow you must make it all work.

The other key element to your survival is a favorable accounting of Western Allied Support units. You can't have enough ships and planes backing up your war effort, and if the Axis come at you with their full might, it will be your Support units that will ultimately decide if the enemy armies get across the English Channel or overrun the Mediterranean. 

The Western Allied position is, arguably, the easiest and most difficult to play. It's easy in that you have the fewest pieces to concern yourself with and often spend most of the early game simply reacting to Axis moves. Your turns will undoubtedly be the fastest once France falls. The Western Allied position is the most difficult to play because you have watch the Axis' northern, western, and southern fronts; you must always look for opportunities and always strive to throw the Axis a little off-balance whenever you can. There is much you could do, but little you can do it, so effectively managing time, force, and space can really wrack your brain.

As painful as it sounds, your primary goal is to support the Russian war effort (where The War will really be decided) by distracting as many Axis forces and as much Axis focus as possible away from "The Main Event" in the east. So, until you've got enough big hammers to engage the Axis on a front wider than two or three hexes (i.e., circa Overlord) and can therefore help really bring the house down, all you will be able to do is mange three-rings' worth of distractions (north, west, and south) for the Axis player. It doesn't sound that glorious, but you'll have your moments.

Limited War: The Western Allied Card Hand

Britain's early survival depends in large part on a proper examination of the Western Allied Limited War card hand. Here's what you'll find:

Notice that two-thirds of of the Western Allied Limited War card hand is a Coalition card or one of its sisters. We'll discuss those in the next section. For now, let's examine some of the remaining third of those cards.

Four of these Limited War cards provide precious British infantry steps as Conditional Events (meaning you can get more than one in a Season): British and Commonwealth Mobilization, Operation Jupiter, and (with bad luck) The Dyle Plan. Commonwealth Mobilization requires something undesirable to happen to France in order to raise additional Commonwealth troops (without that crisis, these extra forces would have remained in the Pacific). If you can, therefore, wait to play this card until after France's fate is sealed or you'll get no replacement steps at all! Pulling you in the other direction (to play this card early) is a desire to play the US Lend-Lease Bill Passed card (with its extra Support unit: a Western Allied Fleet), for which Commonwealth Mobilization is the prerequisite.

British Mobilization is not a likely play during setup, but it is a sensible first-turn play for revealing on the second Season of the game after Appeasement ends. The British only receive one "real" army (the 1st) until Total War, and they need all the Air Support units they can get. If the Axis try an East First strategy and leave the West at peace, you might want to wait until the first summer Season to play this card in an effort to squeeze an extra step out of it.

The Dyle Plan is one of the two French Jokers up your sleeve (the other is your Pour la Guerre! card). This card is a combination French offensive/British defensive card, and the fulcrum of this balance is the fate of France. While France is fighting, it will generate conditional French replacement steps. If the Axis are in Paris (whether France continues to fight on or not), British "Home Guard" steps will be mobilized. This is one of the most important cards you will play during Limited War, so keep your wits about you and figure out how best to exploit the myriad of possibilities it offers. Sure, it's tempting to grab that RAF unit, but wait for it... timing is everything with this card. With both a Blitz and conditional replacements, it was made for a summer Season. But would a different Season yield a more desirable result?

So, four cards can get you conditional British replacements, and two of them also provide additional British Support units. There is one other Support unit lurking among the Wallied Limited War cards, and that is a Fleet that sails with the US Lend-Lease Bill Passed card. Of course, to play it, you must forgo Operation Jupiter, it's Blitz, and its potentially perilous conditional British replacement steps it proffers. Usually, the Wallied Fleet Support unit will serve you better in the long run, but you still have the option with Operation Jupiter to spit in the eye of American public opinion and seize a bit of initiative yourself. Anyway, this is an either/or choice that you'll have to make, but conservative play should steer you toward the US Lend-Lease Bill Passed card and the additional Fleet.

Limited War: Playing (and Praying) for Political Events

It is during Limited War that you will play most of your Coalition cards. These are weighted to get you to the Allied Guarantee Table about 1/3 of the time, and from there to the Allied Conference Table about 1/3 of the time, with the result being Military Aid about 1/3 of the time. Maybe it would be better to look at the numbers. 

In Table 1, you see that when you pick up the die each Political Event Segment and start down the path of a Coalition Table roll, over half the time you'll get a flat out No Result. If it is Limited War and there are no Axis Minor Countries in play, you have to include Allies Support Nationalists and all of the Axis Aggression Table results but Greater Germany, too, as de facto No Result outcomes, so that's another 15% you can add to a "yawn" outcome. So, early on, a Coalition card will probably net No Result about 67% (or roughly 2/3) of the time, which is the vast majority. That's why this outcome is know around our gaming table as "the usual."

Now, add another 7% for the only truly bad result in the mix (Pacific Commitment), and what is left (about 25%, or roughly 1/4) is the chance of something patently good happening. That is, achieving an Aggression - Greater Germany, Military Aid, or Churchill Pressures Neutrals result (these results you can always use, even though the latter might pan out to be another dead end if you opt to take your chances on the Aggression Table). So, figure for every four times you do the Coalition Table Rain Dance, the gods will throw one useful, effective lightning bolt on the map to help you either in the form of a free replacement step, a Neutrality Marker, or a free Allied Minor Country. (Of course, the gods could hinder you, but most of the time they will simply ignore you.) Even then, it seems like good things do not come out of Coalition cards as often as they should statistically, but they do.

Lightning Bolt #1 - Military Aid: Even if you only get a minor ally replacement step to beef up the forces of France, another minor or, failing their survival, a free British or Soviet infantry step, that's a "good thing." During the early turns, every step you have on the map is precious, so revel in each Military Aid result you obtain. Once the Axis Tide starts to rise, these are the only minor ally steps you'll be receiving until the US Commitment Level begins to wax.

Lightning Bolt #2 - Churchill Pressures Neutrals: The bird in the hand for this result is to simply take the Neutrality Marker and let the Axis player try to move it somewhere else. Generally, if you pick Hungary or Vichy France, it will cause the Axis player some consternation. In a Random Campaign Game, Siberia, Armenia, and the Ukraine all have possibilities, as do Croatia and Austria-Hungary. If you want to gamble this bird in the hand for two in the bush, you can always take the Aggression roll. If Vichy exists, playing safe like Winston did by sinking the French Fleet makes a lot of sense.

Lightning Bolt #3 - Aggression: Your greatest hope is Axis Aggression, especially early in the game during the initial Allied Crusade period when the Axis are more likely to obtain a Greater Germany result. Assuming that Poland, Belgium, and Denmark-Norway have been spoken for, that means Germany must pop against either Yugoslavia (a fairly tough nut), Hungary, the Baltic States (both of whom can usually be selected as Soviet minor allies, which can be quite annoying for the Axis if they do not wish to break the Nazi-Soviet Pact), or Italy (a German nightmare scenario if there ever was one).

Lightning Bolt #4 - Churchill Supports Nationalists: In the name of mischievous malevolence, however, the best thing you can get is an Allies Support Nationalists result. Of course, this result might as well be No Effect prior to US Entry (when partisans arrive) and before the Axis have a minor ally. Later in the war, by "supporting nationalists," you can spring up a partisan unit on a city that the Axis left temporarily empty between Seasons. Before the US enters play, though, the other neat trick this option affords is to allow you to point to PanzerArmee Afrika and say, "eliminate the Italian step from that unit" and watch that army have an emergency breakdown, possibly resulting in overstacking! (This ploy also works with the Axis' Med HQ and the combined German-Finnish army.) Nothing is quite so irksome for the Axis as breaking down these units that were such a labor to combine in the first place (hehehe). Alternately, you can kill off a one-step Axis minor that was garrisoning a Soviet city so that the Russians can suddenly spring up some replacements there! (Make the Axis learn that lesson the hard way, if you can: they must always garrison Soviet cities with either German corps or two-step minor ally units.)

Western Military Aid

The standard alternative version of the Coalition card is the Western Military Aid card. Like the Coalition card, this card features a Political Events Table with a die rolling Rain Dance that you hope will net you a benefit. Unlike the Coalition card, it is heavily weighted to produce Military Aid, particularly when the Axis Tide is rising. See Table 2, below, for the outcome probability breakdowns of this card.

At some point, though, France will probably be lost. It is then important to embrace the better part of valor (discretion, that is) and know how best to quickly evacuate the British when the situation in France becomes hopeless. Slapping a beachhead marker in the English Channel works just as well when you have a full stack Brits that want to pull off an Operation Dynamo (the evacuation from Dunkirk, 1940) as it does when an Axis stack wants to try an Operation Sealion (their proposed invasion of England in either 1940 or '41).

One interesting French defense is the "good offense" plan. This means revealing the Dyle Plan (or Blitz Coalition) card during the Summer of 1940 and counterattacking with the benefit of the armor shift that French and British tanks can provide. Anything that makes the Axis player play more conservatively in France (like threatening with the RAF or Blitz counterattacks) is definitely a "good thing," particularly as you are trying to hold on to the vital "last" objective of the campaign: London.

England Stands Alone

The time between the fall of France and Total War is delicate. Usually Italy will join the Axis at this time, or maybe Spain (leaving the Axis to hope for a favorable Treaty attempt with Italy, which is probable). In either case, the pressure will be squarely upon the British Empire, possibly in the North Sea facing a direct German crossing, and certainly across the Mediterranean where Gibraltar, Malta, and Egypt will be threatened. Now you must truly make a stand and survive until the Soviets and Yanks get into the act.

Remember, you have two great pieces that "get into the act" around the time that France Falls, and they are the BEF HQ unit (your first mobile British HQ) and the "Garrison" fortress unit (a go anywhere, instant defensive strongpoint). While neither of these units are particularly strong, they do provide shifts and, when supported by the RAF, can be the bulwark of a defense that can blunt an Axis drive. Where, when, and how you deploy these two units will probably speak volumes about the early British war effort. Pay attention to these units!

A land campaign in England (and occupation of its southern cities) can cost the Axis dearly in terms of time and step losses, neither of which the Axis can easily afford if they're to land their best blows against the Soviet Union any time soon. You must make England as protracted and costly a campaign for the invaders as possible. While London is the key, don't let the Axis walk into Southampton for free. Once they establish themselves in Southampton (or London), driving the Germans out of England becomes a very tough job. Make England a tough nut for the Axis; remember they need to occupy cities in Britain to improve their chances to obtain a collapse result from their Operation Sealion card, so fight them for the streets of every city on the island that you can. Many invasions of England do not culmination in a British Collapse, so keep fighting!

The Axis could go nuts and use their Lebensraum card (presumably in the Summer of 1941) to keep running down the West while ignoring the Soviets (i.e., keeping the Nazi-Soviet Pact in place to shield them in the East, probably because the Soviets have previously revealed their General Mobilization card; this means that the Axis don't have to worry about a Stalin Challenges Germany play and so they're running wild in the West). If this happens, the Soviets will get to grow for a year and, when the Axis do finally face them, they won't have their Barbarossa card with which to kick off events, but that's the future. Your immediate situation in this case stinks. You'll be facing the Mark III Germany army, backed by plenty of German replacement steps, all alone. About the only good thing that comes of this is that Limited War Restrictions are lifted, so you can form three-step units (big deal – you can raise the British 1st Army to full strength; well, at least the Soviets can build three-step HQs with which to resist the initial Axis invasion...) and now the Allies can freely declare war on neutral Minor Countries. Again, this won't help you so much, but it will put Stalin in the driver's seat as he'll be able to flatten Finland at will, etc. In fact, he'd better. You'll be taking a shellacking so the Russians better darn well be making up with successes what you're suffering facing the Mark III German army alone!

Keep the Mediterranean in Play

Gibraltar and Malta are also both worth holding on to at almost any cost. Even after a British Collapse, place your unassigned unit in Gibraltar and invade Malta right away (that, at least, will keep the Mediterranean in play and force the Axis to continue to leave garrisons there). In Egypt, thank goodness, there is a little ground to give (and take from Libya), so draw the Axis into sending steps to North Africa and then do all you can to make the odds so unattractive for them that they simply don't care to risk a lot of die rolls in combat. Eventually, the Americans will come to the rescue.

The Zen of early Western Allied play is this: If you can figure out what is worth the price of a British infantry step – and when it's appropriate to pay that price, you will be in excellent shape when Total War breaks out and the US units come into your clutches. If you're too frugal or extravagant with the sacrifices that British infantry units are called upon to make, you'll have either given up too many units or too much ground (and too cheaply for the Axis!) to stage an easy counterattack into Europe.

It's hard to be a dispassionate bean-counter when France, Greece, or even Egypt are on the Axis chopping block, but Totaler Krieg! is game of time and space – and for the Western Allies, the British infantry unit is the fulcrum where you must ultimately balance the two during the early war years. They are all you have for defense early in the game, and you'll need plenty of them to build the more powerful British Army units that you receive after Total War breaks out. Don't feel bad when you're playing US cards and choose to take British infantry steps in lieu of the British armored steps offered. There's a very real chance that they'll be more needed than the tanks since they are the building blocks of your big British armies and much needed HQs.

Limited War: Axis Go East First

This initially seems an easy situation for the Western Allies. The Totalitarian enemies of Democracy are killing each other and you can just sit on the sidelines and enjoy the show. However, a whole new dynamic opens up when Appeasement reigns in the West and the Axis are pummeling the Soviets. When this situation occurs, your goal is to keep the Axis player as distracted as possible with events in the West. Don't let him focus solely on the East; you've got to mentally put the Axis player in a two-front war, even if it's only really a one-front war.

Make a note of the following:

Get your Lend-Lease card into play as quickly as possible. The Soviets will need all the help they can slowing down the Axis and every little bit helps. Remember to crush Persia right away and make it a Western Allied Minor Country. If you get a Military Aid step, consider the Persian Reserve corps as a nice unit to have on the map "just in case." You may even want to keep a British presence near the Soviet-Persian border to keep wayward Axis forces from crossing.

While Appeasement is on, you don't get the Western Allied French replacement step, and once the Allied Crusade drops to zero (probably in the Spring of '40), you won't get that Western Allied replacement step, either. France really goes for the whole Appeasement thing (to keep Germany focused eastward) which is no help at all to you. Suddenly, those sporadic Military Aid results become the building blocks of the French army.

Also while Appeasement is on, the Western Allied card hand has a whole new dynamic. Now your two League cards (Baltic and Balkan) and your Colonial Disputes card can be played. While the former are, in effect, just another variation on the standard Coalition card, the latter is your equivalent of the Soviet's Stalin Challenges Germany card. With it, you might won't be able to break your Policy (Appeasement) with the Axis as the Soviets can the Nazi-Soviet Pact, but you can sure stir the pot while the Germans are focused in the other direction. Obviously, all these cards improve with better higher Political die roll modifiers, so try to figure out when that Axis Tide will rise to 1 and play accordingly.

When the Germans reveal their Lebensraum card, usually in the Summer of 1940, they'll get a new Soviet Strategic Hex that they should be able to capture (Kharkov). Watch for an Axis Tide of 1 by the end of the Summer of 1940, therefore, and plan your Political Events Table selections accordingly.

Finally, after the Germans reveal their Lebensraum card, one more crucial dynamic changes. That is, a Churchill Pressures Neutrals result can change the Appeasement Policy Marker for a Change of Government Truce Marker. This means you can start burning the fuse down to a real shooting war with the Germans (although it freezes all your current campaigns versus Axis Minors in the mean time because a Truce is global where a Policy only affects the Germans). This also means you get your Western France replacement step again, the British get Mobilization steps if that card is played, and Pact cards and Colonial Disputes are "out."

When and how you'll manage to play British Mobilization, the Dyle Plan, Commonwealth Mobilization, and US Lend-Lease Bill Passed is your own problem. Somehow, you'll want all of these played prior to Total War, preferably with the fewest Western Allied steps forfeited in the process. Good luck figuring this one out. 

Total War: Axis Open it by Striking West

If the Germans when East First, they may very well open up their first Total War offensive in the West. That is because they will probably have collapsed the Soviet Union and be shifting forces westward to deal with the threat along the Rhine. No doubt they're still holding Case Yellow to keep your ulcer churning, so even though the Germany army in the West won't be huge (Russia still requires a big garrison), but chances are it will be enough unless you have everything in place and plan a fierce resistance in France.

How the Axis player segues into Total War after playing the Lebensraum card is always an interesting thing to watch. What he might do at the end of his Russian Campaign is play Mobilization Limits in the Winter of 1941, Speer in the Spring of '42, then Case Blue in the Summer of '42, and Case Yellow (to close the deal on France) in the Autumn of '42. Thus, you could see some Americans helping defend France (just don't lose any there).

Well, there are a lot of ways for the Axis to ooze into Total War if they go East First, but almost ever plan will quickly put France on the chopping block because it will greatly ease the Axis' war burden if France can be collapsed before the Americans can be brought to bear. Know that. After Russia, the Axis will hit France. What you do about it is up you, but the blow is coming. Be ready for it! Both sides are working without a safety net at this point – see to it that fact plays harder on the Axis than you.

Total War: Axis Open it by Driving East

Again, this is the historical road taken. Try to distract the Germans enough so that they're not entirely focused on Russia, but not so much that they commit the resources necessary to break out into the Middle East or pull off a sudden Sealion for which you are not prepared. (Yes, the Axis can play the Barbarossa card and attack in both directions – and England isn't ever safe until it's filled with Americans!) Try to hold things together, pricking the Axis forces when and where you can, and wait for the US to arrive in sufficient numbers.

Not only does the West need to distract Axis forces from the war's Main Event taking place in Russia (i.e., making the Axis commit to garrisons in Den-Nor, Bel-Hol, France, and elsewhere – plus putting some of their useful troops in Africa to deal with you instead of forming another army group to pound the Russians with), but the Western Allied player must also go after the Axis player's mindshare. Be a distraction to the Axis war effort! Be a nuisance! Threaten! Don't let the Axis player focus entirely on Russia, or if he does, make him pay for every neglect-oriented mistakes he makes in the West. One of the hardest things for an Axis player to do is to fight those two very different kinds of wars in the East and West. (That's a tough mental shift to make perfectly each and every turn.) Though your clever play, never let the Axis player forget that he has to fight on multiple fronts (and not just the Russian Front).

Even in those games when there are two Axis players (and, hence, there is more Axis mindshare to go around), natural "human friction" between the Axis player's respective situations usually creates enough division of command to keep them operating at less than 100% efficiency. It's not long before the East and West commanders start to see the other guy's command in the "abstract" and feel it only as "why is he hogging all the support units/reinforcements? Can't he see what I could do with them?" Do you best to play that up with your table talk.

The Turning Point

You don't need a huge US build up before committing the Yanks to battle. The two great weapons you have are the Liberation of France and Italian Armistice Blitz cards. While Vichy can be quickly liberated and the North Africa theater made far more interesting (although a prepared German can almost always beat you to Tunis where you can best threaten Italy from), if that operation is going to cost 3 or even 2 steps, then you might want to hold off until you're better prepared to pull it off with fewer casualties. After that, the threat of an Italian "Avalanche" is almost as good as achieving one in terms of forcing a strong German commitment to the Mediterranean. Remember, the goal here is to create a second front that is big enough to take some of the pressure off the Russians, but not so big that you can't adequately defend your line and the Axis have enough room to bleed away your still slowly arriving steps. Keep your "Second Front" small and manageable.

Closing The Ring

The big British and US units really come to party with the US Commitment Level 3 ULTRA card, so plan that for your first Level 3 US card. The Overlord offensive provides conditional replacements, so, again, try to play that one for a Summer's triple-helping of fresh steps. The Allied advantages in air power and sea mobility must be exploited in order to best allow your growing armies and headquarters to bring down the Axis defenses like a house of cards. You must concentrate your forces on a front that is in proportion to their size, and hit the Axis as hard and fast as you're able to. Keep committing your planes to battle and praying for low Delay rolls – it's what the Western Allied player must do to win!

A word about Allied naval transport capability. It's not that huge. You've got to stretch it by using Support units for additional transport capacity, and by using the Allied 15th HQ unit SHAEF Logistics Marker to take replacements where you need them (and, thus, not need to ship them there). Once you make a landing commitment and build up your forces across the water, you're pretty much stuck there because of the time it would take to evacuate your forces due to your limited naval capacity. Consider any major trans-oceanic landing, therefore, a one-way trip. Where you go, must must make a commitment to stay and win!

You've got plenty of advantages, even if not the largest army on the board, so make the most of what you've been given and find that chink in the Axis armor. They can't be strong everywhere – he who defends everything holds nothing. Brutally exploit any weakness in the Axis defensive deployment. By the time you're playing Level 3 and 4 US cards, you'll steadily outpace the Axis replacement rate, so you can even afford to make them bleed a little extra by making some low odds attacks and accepting exchanges.

Fighting the Soviets

Due to a Separate Peace or when playing a Red Star/White Star scenario, you may find your late model Western Allied forces fighting the Soviets. Just be sure to shut off Lend-Lease to the Soviets if you're going to be fighting them!

The same tactics you've been using the kick German butt also applies to the fighting the Soviets, only you've got to count on high-odds attacks to rain down really favorable attrition results in battles. You need to chew up the Red Army in huge chunks if your to slow them down and keep from being overwhelmed by their massive numbers. And the hell of it is that they'll probably have HQs everywhere, too, keeping their front lines well defended and not retreating.

If you're fighting the Soviets along their strategic flanks (because the Germans are fighting them "up the middle"), pour a force into the Middle East as quickly as you can. You may not gain much out there, but you can certainly lose a lot. If you can get the Axis to give you some room to maneuver in the Balkans, that would be great. Otherwise, Scandinavia might be about the only front you can easily swing against the Soviets, and it's a long way to Leningrad. No matter how you look at it, those Soviet Strategic Hexes will hard for you to have and probably just as hard to hold.