Roadblocks: A Cunning Rule Exploitation
It may not sound very courageous or courteous, but you should play
with every trick the rules allow and a nice roadblock can sure be a game
winning move.
For instance, let’s say that you have a couple of transports off
the coast of the Western USA, and the Japanese fleet and a stack of
Japanese infantry are in Alaska. It looks bleak as the Japanese will be
able to knock out your two transports and then do an amphibious invasion
with a large army. The US will get an opportunity to build troops to
defend the Western USA, but that of course detracts them from their
strategy to focus on Germany.
But wait, it will eventually detract them, but doesn’t have to on
this turn.
Those two transports can be turned into very effective roadblocks.
One can be moved off the coast of Midway and the other can be moved into
the sea zone off the coast of Western Canada.
The Japanese player will be frustrated and may decry the historical
inaccuracies that force his huge fleet and invasion army from being held
up by a pair of seemingly insignificant transports, but that’s life
– or at least, that’s the official rule.
Roadblocks can work just as effectively on land, as a single infantry
in Caucuses can keep a few German tanks from blitzing through and taking
Russia with the help of air support.
So whenever you can, don’t forget to trade space for time, and slow
down the attacker through the effective use of just a single lowly
transport or infantry. |