Allied General

Allied General

Aiming 101: 
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In Allied General, as in any wargame, you have to study the 
terrain, the victory requirements, and the units at your 
disposal before starting. When you start a new battle in 
Allied General, take time to look at the strategic map. 
There are several important things to make note of: First, 
white hexes are your high-value hexes, and must be 
adequately defended in order to win. 

More importantly, green hexes are the objectives. 
Not every city is an objective, so you have to see where 
the green hexes are and figure out the best way to get to 
them. Roads are essential to moving troops fast, and seizing 
control of important crossroads will gain you vital mobility. 
Some cities must be seized because they lay astride important 
crossroads, because their proximity threatens your lines, or 
because they are near important objectives and will be useful 
in producing and repairing units. Airfields are also important 
targets to capture where possible, because controlling the 
enemy's airports will limit their ability to use air power 
against you and give you increased air-strike abilities. 

Finally, you have to study the units you're given at the start 
of a game, the units you can buy, based on the historical period, 
and the possible upgrades. There are several important numbers 
associated with units, the most useful being experience, strength, 
and hard and soft attack. Defense ratings, initiative and - for 
units pushing deep into enemy territory - spotting ability are 
also important factors to consider. 

The composition of your forces is crucial, especially in campaign 
games. When you start a new battle, upgrade units wherever possible 
to the best currently available, and always use elite replacements. 
You'll want to build elite, over-strength units through replacement 
and successful battles. A tight selection of strong armor and 
advanced infantry (such as bridging or paratrooper infantry) 
should be the core of your group. A few 15-strength units can cut 
a swath through most opposition. 

Finland:
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OK, that's enough of the grade-school primer; it's time 
to get down in the mud. Let's take a look at the 
Russo-Finnish battle on the Karelian Isthmus, which can 
be tough to win as the Russians. The victory requirements 
are to take two southern cities (Summa and Taipale), 
the northwestern city of Tali and its port at Viipuri, and 
finally the northernmost city of Sortevala. The problem is 
the Mannerheim line: a rigid defensive line of pillboxes 
and World War One-era forts bisecting the Isthmus. 

First, you'll need to understand your forces, which are a 
mishmash of good and bad units. The conscripts and auxiliary 
units are awful, and the best (and most historical) use for 
them is to charge pillboxes and divert Finnish fire - in 
effect, these troops are cannon fodder. Also useless are the 
BT-5 and BT-7 tanks, which seem to be made of papier-machŽ. 
If you use them, you'll lose. Upgrade as many as you can to 
KV 1/39s; they're slower, but have much better defense and 
attack ratings. You'll want to start with five or six of them. 
You'll also want to get another engineer unit or two, which 
you can do by upgrading a Regular unit. 

Lay some artillery fire on Terijok, near Leningrad. 
You have two cruisers and plenty of artillery, so you can 
weaken it enough for the adjacent conscript unit to take it 
easily. This clears the road to Summa. You'll need to organize 
two battle groups (Eastern and Western) based around the KVs. 
Divvy up the infantry, cavalry, and artillery between the two. 
The Western group will push towards Summa, then up to Viipuri, 
while the Eastern will hit Taipale and then make a dash for 
Sortevala. Any extra units should go with the Western force. 
Mount the bridging engineer and send him north with the 
cruisers, and mount the paratroopers and send them as scouts. 

Saddle Up!
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Move out horse cavalry first to get a feel for the area, 
then send up conscripts, other infantry, armor, and artillery. 
There will be a major bottleneck if you don't juggle your units 
just right to keep the roads clear. This can paralyze you long 
enough to cost you the battle. Speed is crucial. 
 
Once you've pushed north a bit on both flanks, both battle 
groups will instantly run smack into the solid wall of the 
Mannerheim line. You're only going to pierce this at the two 
cities, avoiding the center. Use conscripts to draw fire from 
the pill boxes, then pour artillery on them and start to break 
down the cities' defenses with stronger infantry and armor. 
Each city has a 37mm anti-tank piece, which you'll need to 
clear with artillery and infantry, so your tanks can maneuver 
in peace. Take out enemy artillery as quickly as possible, 
and keep your own artillery fire up. It should only take a 
few turns to liberate both cities. You can use your 
paratroopers to either harry units from behind the Mannerheim 
line, or save them for the attack on Sortevala. 

Keep moving up the coast with your cruisers, laying fire on 
the forts while staying out of range as much as possible. 
Watch out for the two subs patrolling this area: they're 
not much, but they can take a bite out of you before they 
go down. You're going to want to bring these ships into 
the channel (which will draw shore fire), so you can begin 
to pound Viipuri. 

Finnish Them Off:
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Once both cities are liberated, secure the area by using 
armor to track down the few artillery pieces, then push 
both battle groups north toward their objectives 
(Viipuri/Tali and Sortevala), leaving only a small 
garrison behind. You might want to take the opportunity 
to pick up some new KVs. Some Finnish infantry will slow 
you down - and they are, pound for pound, much better 
than the Russians. They'll put up a tough fight, but 
don't get bogged down: keep moving. Get your engineers 
in on the northern side of Viipuri, and lay in for the 
siege. It will take heavy barrages to loosen these hexes 
up, so don't commit your infantry and armor too soon. 
Chip at them for a couple turns, then go in for the kill. 

As with any good battle plan, the key is to stick to your 
objectives. Don't try to crash the whole line, and don't 
get bogged down in the forests or swamps. Properly 
weakened with artillery fire and polished off with a tough 
armored punch, the Finns can be beaten with a major victory 
in less than ten turns.

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