The general strategy of “1 inf blocking, retreating stack behind it threatening counterattack” is the basic building block of Russia’s defense against Germany.
The thing to keep in mind about 1940 Global is how ridiculously large the distance is from Germany to Russia. The closer Germany gets to Russia, the more dangerous the Russian counterattack becomes simply because Germany can’t replace lost units with any relative speed, even if they’re using transports to ferry troops to Leningrad.
Any chance to strike back with good enough odds to strip Germany of their infantry cover means by the time they get to Moscow they risk naked tanks and fighters against a large force of defending infantry. Having enough artillery within your counterattack forces will be key.
Just moving your forces back toward Moscow every turn and waiting for defeat will almost always get your capital sacked.
Well, it depends honestly… on how many turns you want russia to survive, obviously exchanging units and making bank serves you in the long run.
I don’t like leaving 1 infs in spots… italy nutcrackers and there is nothing you can do anyway. As long as Bryansk can counter attack a german stack you are good… if you fall back to moscow, put what you need on moscow and some stuff in the back of moscow to counter in many spots.
but yeah russia is full of suck… they don’t get enough air to do skirmishes effectively.
This is a little off topic, but when trying to relieve Russia as the USA or UK, I find that I am often able to land a few troops on Africa, Europe or Finland within a few rounds, which Germany then turns around and squashes, sinking the small navy also with all its German planes. Is that worth it to annoy Germany, or do you generally wait until you have enough units to take and hold what you attack? (which may take too long to save Russia)
I think every little attack is a diversion of German resources, so worth doing. If you do not land places, you allow Germany a free run at Russia.
North Africa has to be done. The most annoying place For the Allies to land if you are Germany, is Norway. Sometimes you cannot take it back as and it can spell the beginning of the end for Germany.
every little attack is a diversion of German resources
Truer words may never have been spoken.
There is a problem though Der Keutnstler if all your fleets keep getting wiped.
Well if I wait until I have built enough carriers and BBs etc that will withstand an air attack near Europe, then it can be too late for Russia or Japan gets ignored and too strong.
I prefer landing early and often. Even the presence of 2 Armor/Inf a turn into Morocco create headache for Italian NO’s.
Conversely, landing them in Gib helps protect the valuable seaport for 3-space moves forcing the Axis to address the potential 1-2 punch of Allied amphib landings into must-reinforce locales such as Denmark and Norway.
Gibraltar can be a funny seasaw affair, but if Italy is kept going West, cannot get the oil.
Allies must keep up the pressure, wherever and whenever.
@Der:
For example, do you leave one infantry in each bordering territory like this to foil blitzing, or is there something better to do? Do you just do this all the way back to Moscow?
do not leave your infantry for blockers
germany will take those territories with overwhelming forces. ussr will lose the infantry and have a 1 in 3 chance at taking an infantry from germany.
it is even better for ussr if germany blitzes. if they blitz through the territory deeper into ussr territory you can then kill their tanks in the counter attacks. if they blitz the territory and move back to leave the newly captured territory empty you can take it back easily on your turn. a good german player will not do this as they are going to keep pushing their stacks towards moscow.
@Der:
And in a case like this, is it better to come out and attack the surrounding territories with minimal forces to get them away from Moscow, or just hunker down and buy more infantry?
if you know have enough forces to hold moscow for a few rounds then attack away.
if you are preparing for the capitulation of moscow then use those 4 ussr planes to kill german units. you can trade 1ussr inf for 1ger tank, which will help for the eventual battle of moscow.
