Russian Offensive on R1 Opener

ICinBrazil

Earlier in these threads it seemed like W.Rus (stack) and E. Ukr were the main targets to hit and best option. Now it seems that more people have opened up to W.Rus stack and Baltic States combo. Do you guys still hit E. Ukr at all when you hit Baltic?

I haven’t been active on these threads, but I’ve read many of them. My friends and I just started placing 42.2 again. I’m looking to optimize or refine some of my strategies or just get an idea of what some of the more experienced players are doing now. We’ll start with a common topic and I hope to move to others as well. Thanks!

calvinhobbesliker

Do you mean Ukraine? There’s no East Ukraine in 1942…

ICinBrazil

Yes. I meant Ukraine. Not E. Ukr…sorry, that must be AA50 talking.

drsnidely

Welcome ICinBrazil. If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend Black Elk’s “all the Russian openings” thread. It’s stickied at the top of the forum. It’s a little long but extremely informative and gave me a much better idea of what you can do with Russia.

To answer your question, I’m fond of the W. Russia and Ukr strafe, but I’ve had mixed results with it.

ICinBrazil

I’ll give it a look. Thanks a lot drsnidely and to everyone who voted.

Witt

I hit 3. Baltic can be a close run thing, but I do it anyway. Ukraine and West Russia are the other two.

Black_Elk

Here is a Baltic Gambit, and a few other fairly standard Russian openers that I have been considering lately from the perspective of a German strategy guide.

For a Baltic hit with W. Russia stack, I was working from this position as G….

And here are some images (attached below) with OOB example games showing the Russian situation on G1, immediately after a Soviet opener. In each case the Russians have achieved their primary combat goals, with somewhat better than average results. They have each made aggressive builds (e.g. purchases that include artillery or armor) and their non combat moves and fighter landing positions are optimized for a KGF focus by Allies. These are the sorts of games that I am looking at when considering how best to play Germany in general. That is, playing Germany when they’re starting from a position of disadvantage - where the Russians are just crushing at the outset! As opposed to say, a situation where the Russians rolled poorly, and the Germans hit hard smoking the Soviets on defense! In those situations bolder German strategies might be called for. But I wanted to look first at things, when standing between the rock and the red place.
;)

The first image shows a Baltic play on non com…

The second pair of images show Ukraine openers after placement…
Ukraine (heavy) Strafe - 3 tanks and Ukraine (light) Take - 2 tanks.

Black_Elk

Here is a Belo blast game…
followed by a Triple Hit game (Belo, W. Russia AND Baltic states) for a 30 ipc play…

Black_Elk

And finally a pair of showing a W. Russia stack game (with Egypt cover)…
And a crazy Yak Attack game (where Russian fighters are used to sink the German transport in sz 5) less common but also interesting.

These Russian sample games all show a clear preference for sending 1 infantry unit to reinforce Szech in China (to keep the US flying tiger and 2 infantry units alive), and to withdraw from Bury and Soviet far east.

ICinBrazil

Wow! :-o This is all very well put together and thorough! Thanks a lot Black_Elk! It’s nice to know that there are other possibilities out there for Russia. Can’t say I’m into ditching Caucasus so early on, but I’ll have to try it sometime and see how the German player reacts. Yeah, Szech and Bury moves make sense.

I think I got a good feel for Russia now. I’m working on different moves with US1 and UK1 now. For UK, I’m not referring to purchases. I’m trying different tactics with the their navy in Aus and India. I consider the following :

If bid (Egypt and/or SZ35 SS probably) then I’ll be tempted to hit EI and open up with a KJF.

If no bid, then I’ll be inclined to try a KGF. With my first choice hitting SZ61 and sending the rest to the Med. Depending on the board I might go full Med. Not so sure how it goes if I send it south around Africa or even trying to combine on SZ30 yet. As for the Australian fleet, I’ll probably send them east instead of combining them with Indian Ocean units in SZ30; another option I haven’t attempted is hitting Solomon with the Aus fleet (and maybe in conjunction with a risky Borneo–probably not.) The US could go Solomons as well in that case.

I’m sure that are plenty of alternatives, but right now that’s what I feel like I’m working with.

For USA…well, perhaps for another topic post.

innohub

I used to like W Russia + Ukraine Hit and Run, but now like BeloRussia + W Russia combo more. Both are viable option.
Or just hit W Russia and start from there.

Black_Elk

One thing you might have fun with ICinBrazil is just leaving 2-6 infantry in Caucasus. This can put Germany in a bind, since they have to commit more units to the fight and risk losing them on counter. This can often deter an attack on Caucasus altogether so you don’t have to trade it light or give the income to G in the first round.

Russian Offensive on R1 Opener

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