MOVED: Can We Please Get This Stickied?

The Allies have to control Turkey at the beginning of the Russian turn for Russia to move ships through the Straits.

Also, according to the rule book: “If a canal or narrow strait is controlled by a power not on your side, but with which you are not yet at war, you must ask permission to use it, which may be denied.”
So in a very theoretical situation, Germany could capture Turkey before being at war with Russia, and allow Russian ships to pass through the Straights. But I don’t think that ever happens.

It saves a bunch of time when grabbing islands, too.  From NSW, you can only really reach Java and the Carolines.  From Queensland, you can cause trouble all around.

I’m with ghr.  The strength of Russian infantry is in their mass, not left to die in a 33% that they take out an Axis Infantry with them.

the idea is not to defend every landarea, only the vital ones (italy, germany), then have meches + tanks + planes in range so that you can counterattack anything else.

it is not trivial for US to land in north italy if you defend it with 3-5 units, and are able to counterattack with 15-20 german planes + 20+ german landunits.

german mechs in w germany are able to counterattack most terretories in europe, if the german planes try to stay in range, then it is difficult to land.

the only two terrs that are not “covered” by this strat is norway and s italy. in s italy you need how much you need anyways, and for norway, if your fleet is alive, you can have 5-8 inf in finland, keep your planes within range and then be able to attack with about 25-30 units (depending on how many planes you have).

It is expensive to defend against an enemy that can land everywhere, so rather, counterattack than defend, if you are able to kill one load of americans, then the transports need 3 turns before they are back and able to threathen again.

@techroll42:

Actually, IIRC, there’s a helluva good reason: Mongolia. IIRC Mongolia doesn’t convert if USSR declares war.

Nope.  Only if Russia attacks a Japanese controlled territory bordering Mongolia before Japan does the same.  That means Manchuria almost specifically, but also addresses if Russia were to attempt to liberate Japanese held Chinese territories adjacent to Mongolia.  Note that Japan is free to attack chinese territories occupied by Russian soldiers and that will result in no penalty, as they are chinese (not russia) territories.

There’s absolutely nothing that penalizes either for a state of war between them.  It’s better for Japan if the US can’t land bombers in Russia and if the reds don’t reinforce china or india, but there’s NOTHING that prevents Russia from declaring war R1 and freeing movement for themselves (and their allies) on the pac board.

Soviet/Japanese Non Aggression Pact: Due to their mutual border conflct with Japan in 1939, the Soviet Union and Mongolia have a special relationship. If the Japanese attack any Soviet territory that is adjacent to any Mongolian territory, all Mongolian territories (Olgiy, Dzavhan, Tsagaan-Olom, Central Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, and Buyant-Uhaa) that are still neutral are placed under the control of the Soviet Union at the end of the Japanese Combat Move phase, in the same manner as though the Soviet Union had moved land units into a friendly neutral territory. These territories have Soviet control markers placed on them, and their standing army units are placed on the board and are controlled by the Soviet Union player from then on. This occurs regardless of the state of relations between the Soviet Union and Japan at the time of the attack, with one exception: If the Soviet Union attacks any Japanese-controlled territory bordering these Mongolian territories while Mongolia is still neutral, Mongolia will remain neutral and not ally itself with the Soviet Union. In addition, the Mongolian territories will never become pro-Axis unless one or more of them is attacked by the Soviet Union.

Attacking is different from declaring war.  Japan and Russia are free to declare war on each other without ever attacking each other at any time, over the entire length of the game.

@Krieghund:

Yes.

that can’t be possible
please put it in errata, or ask harry
but if you start to lose money in this game by taking territories (eg, Greece gets subtracted 4 IPC every round), than there’s something wrong…

@MEGAEINSTEIN:

China should attack SU on 1st turn to put pressure on SU

You mean Japan? I thought about this too.

@robbie358:

I’d like to see China roll for tech sometime.  War bonds, Improved Artillery, or Jets might be pretty useful for them.
Hey, if the Allies go Japan first (especially in the Alpha setup) it could be really useful for the Chinese to spend 15 bucks a turn on tech.  They won’t be doing anything else but buying a ton of infantry because they can’t move anywhere.

Why bother rolling for tech if they can’t move anywhere? I think that if China is doing well enough to roll for tech, they don’t have to roll for tech.