The most effective russian players I’ve encountered are the ones that are able to build up a force that is able to threaten a counter on a german stack. If a good german player wants to go for Moscow they are able to get it, however I’ve seen plenty games where the UK/USA are putting enough pressure on the German player for him to stop just in front of Moscow. If the Russian player only has bought inf at this point there is not much of a threat for the German player to keep russia contained and slowly kill it economically. However if there is a stack of paired inf/art the pushback power is a lot bigger and thus Germany can be challenged and Russia may be able to break the German wall.
Building mIC's in both Egypt and Persia?
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If I get a bid of 12 or more for allies, i definitely think an IC in Egypt is worthwhile.
In order to make it work: (1) the USA must spend heavily in the Atlantic on rounds 1 and 2 (like 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, 1 sub, and transports for USA r1, and additional transports and subs for round 2); AND (2) UK’s r1 purchase must be heavy on sealion defense (e.g., 6 infantry, 1 fighter for UK)
Axis players may one of several ways:
(1) Pursue a costly Sealion against a fortified UK, in order to neutralize the factory;
(2) Attempt to take the factory without Sealion (this will require that the Axis avoid USA involvement in the war for the first three rounds, since the US’s presence in the atlantic would make controlling the med difficult to impossible. Japan’s hands are tied as well, since it can’t DOW against UK/Anzac without getting USA involved.
(3) Simply ignore the factory, forget Africa, and just focus on Russia.
All of these outcomes seem strategically advantageous for the allies :)
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If I get a bid of 12 or more for allies, i definitely think an IC in Egypt is worthwhile.
I think bids are far outside the scope of this specific conversation, but since you mentioned it, I think that the way you use bids by adding extra units to the initial set up, ruin the game balance in earnest and are both moot and lame. At the same time. In a slightly derogatory way. Now if you play against real men, they will probably offer the US NO bid, which gives US extra NO money, distributed each and every turn. This money will not come to effect before Turn 3 or 4, so they will not ruin the first Turn set up balance. IMHO anyway, not alway but sure in Norway.
And in this case, the Persian factory is more worthwhile