• • You will get insights into what possible card draws you will be getting.  Longer term, you can determine EXACTLY what cards you will have and plan accordingly!  It’s nice to know things like the earliest turn you’ll draw “Fall of the Tsar”.  Or the latest turn.
  • More importantly, you will get insights into your opponent’s hand!  It’s not uncommon at all to know what the bulk of your opponent’s cards are and to be able to plan around that.  For example, if they only have one 4-OPs card in the mid-to late game, you can almost guarantee that it will be played as an RP and you can probably figure out what he’s going to be doing that turn.
  • Knowing the possibility (or likelihood) of a card like Grand Fleet, High Seas Fleet, or Kemal being available can be very helpful for planning your move.

Unless you have perfect recall and an intimate knowledge of all the cards, you need a process to accomplish this; the following is how I do it using separate “piles” of cards for each side.  This can be done using the physical cards or within VASSAL, spreading the cards out on the electronic map.

• Piles 1 & 2 (WAITING):  Cards that have not entered the game.  This will include your Limited War and Total War card sets, respectively.  These cards will be consolidated into other piles as the appropriate war statuses are reached.
• Pile 3 (OUT):  Cards that are out of the game.  This consists of cards played as events.
• Pile 4 (DRAW):  Cards that are in the draw deck.  This consists of cards that are in the game but haven’t been played since the last shuffle.
• Pile 5 (DISCARDS):  Cards that are discarded.  This consists of cards that have been played as anything but events since the last shuffle.
• Pile 6 (HAND):  Cards in a players’ hand.  Obviously you will know what’s in your own hand, I’d recommend just counting out, facedown, cards from your opponent’s “4” pile.  If you know a card that’s in your opponent’s hand, put it in this pile FACE UP.

• It’s good to bring the Yud after a CP SR play.  That will hamper his reaction and force an OPs play.
• It’s GREAT to bring the Yud after you’ve played Cloak and Dagger so that you know whether or not Kemal is available to the CP that turn.
• Sequence this reinforcement within your turn in an appropriate way that allows you to maintain the initiative.  For example, if you have a BR army reinforcement you want to get in this turn, play YUD AFTER that BR reinforcement event.  There are numerous follow-ons to YUD coming in that don’t involve a passive play like an event.
• Sometimes you benefit by bringing YUD in late in the turn because you’ll have seen some CP plays that might indicate whether or not Kemal is available.

The next thing to consider about the event is WHERE to place the army.  Here are some thoughts:

• Kars is the most common location.  That immediately threatens the linchpin of the Turkish defense in this region, Erzerum.  The downside is that, even if SRing isn’t an option, the Turks can bring TUc’s from Mosul and Ankara into that defensive position.  Another factor to consider is whether the Erzerum position was already reinforced by the CP, if so, Kars is probably not appropriate unless you know he doesn’t have Kemal and you previously brought in another RUc into Kars.
• Batum is the next spot to consider – and is currently my favorite for reasons I’ll now explain.  When Yud shows up there, the natural CP response is to retreat the TUc in Rize (via OPs or SR) into the Trebizond fort.  My AP response in the next round is to move CAU to Kars which will often retain the initiative as the CP must again respond.  (To head this off, the CP will have had to reinforce/retreat Rize AND reinforce Erzerum in his initial response.)
• Finally, there is a slower play involving an initial deployment of CAU to Erivan.  The followup move is to move CAU to Eleskirt where he can threaten two TU positions.  I’m not a fan of this move as I think it is too “slow” a move.  Another line of strategy springing from this deployment is to send CAU south to support an attack on Baghdad, supported by BRc’s coming out of Basra, but it will be rare if the CP can’t get a stream of reinforcements down there in time to stuff this assault.

Finally, it’s worth detailing WHAT one is trying to accomplish with YUD:

• Ideally, YUD crushes the Turkish corps in front of it and drives forward in a way that will collapse the Turkish lines to the south.  Dreams of Constantinople are fine, but recognize the AP will need to have a lot of RUc’s and maybe even BRc’s supporting that kind of a campaign.  And it’s still not likely to happen against an experienced CP player.
• Meanwhile, in the real world, you’ll have to be more constrained in your CAU-inspired visions.  Near term, you want to maintain the YUD force long enough to gain synergies with Allenby once he shows on the scene.  If there is even a 50% chance of flipping YUD, I will not attack with him.  Instead, I might dig with him or otherwise just move in a manner aimed at forcing a reaction.
• Long term, YUD is useful when attacking when you have an attack marker on Allenby AND Yud.  Resolve the Allenby assault first, assuming an AP win there is more significant than an AP win with Yud.   The CP will have some tough decisions to make and the AP can always choose to NOT attack with YUD if he senses the CP is withholding Kemal to force a YUD flip.  If Russia seems destined to fall, you’ll want to make sure you save Baku so get that Tbilisi trench dug before you have the guns of the AOI or YLD armies facing you.
• Above all, recognize that bringing in the Caucasus army is an initiative stealing event.  Don’t waste it!  Played correctly, it can definitely force the CP to suspend some of his other plans for the turn.