I agree with the shield and sword statement. It is my experience that Germany on its first turn should buy a transport for Italy and all men. Regroup your tanks and all your infantry into Eastern Europe and plan to take Karelia on turn 3 if possible. Turn 2 can work but can be costly. Germany should buy mostly all men on turn two and three as well and move them into Eastern Europr so as to overwhelm Russia and get ahead of their infantry total. Once Germany has more infantry than Russia attack Karelia with men and tanks only, save your planes. From Italy send two full transports every turn into Egypt and Trans Jordan until you secure the Suez and subsiquently Africa. Meanwhile Japan hits China, and India and then all out Russia, while still maintaining suppremacy in the Pacific by staying one step ahead of the US and as someone else mentioned take out as many US and UK ships as possible while not over commiting your fleet and only losing the cheap expendable replaceable pieces. An IC is a good idea if you are sure you can hold it: Manchuria is good to go after Russia, but can be reinforced by Japan transports anyway, FIC is safer but India is the best of both if you can capture and hold it, because it is two squares “a tank blitz” away from Caucauscus and Trans-Jordan and you can move fleet through the Suez if needed and assist Germany in conquering Africa as required. Not to mention taking precious money away from the UK. Japan would then purchase three tanks every round for India (or FIC) and keep that up until Russia falls. From India or FIC you can also launch a strike on Australia and New Zealand to further hurt UK. If UK buys an IC on India, Japan MUST capture it at all costs or UK will get the upper hand and its game over. If Germany and Japan hit fast and hard as a unit first at UK to bankrupt and “stall” them and get the valuable money they need and at US to “stall” them, then maintain that stall on both of them and go all out Russia so as to hit Moscow on the 5th or 6th turn from both sides, the Axis will have an IPC victory easily or if using victory cities (AA50 and new) or complete victory rules they will be on their way to world domination. :-)
USSR Strategies
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the only hope i have seen of RUS holding out with a concentrated axis effort is:
totally screen/space for rent, fly in allied fighters. as in original A&A, stack INF. reserve ARM and ART for localised counter attack @ Moscow (better odds). use the only 2 fighters and piecemeal INF for local counter attacks.
wait for a major allied landing in europe. conquer berlin. and build a battleship in the caspian as a tribute to the struggles of socialism.
prey the that GER player does not know what they are doing.thoughts?
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You must put that in the form of a question.
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Dear Octo,
What do think of the above strategy? thoughts? experiences? alternatives? what have you tried in the past? what would you buy as RUS? how have you found ART effecting RUS strategy? do you split or concentrate? do you tit-for-tat with GER or hold and prey? do you make caucasus the focal point of your western front defense? do you screen or stack against JPN?
how do you get moscow to hold against a experienced GER player?
Flush
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You have it dead right Flush. Everything you say is “correct”, with the caspian BB being right on the dime.
Are you sure you’re having problems with Germany?
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Thats about all russa can do except in cases where the almighty dice are in your favor. In that case, you might get to do more.
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I think you need an education in the West Russian Stack…
I have a game offer open to you Flush, posted details of the offer in the German Strat thread…
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Flush,
A complex yet simple answer to your questions is, “I buy what is necessary to do the job required.” I know that sounds stupid but we can break down the role of Russia versus what you would like Russia to be.
The first move for Russia should be to put Germany on the defensive by removing key pieces from play (West Russia and/or perhaps a second territory of choice). Germany then has to choose how to deal with Russia. If the German player decides to do a Naval build, then I might continue to press the attack on Germany with Russia due to lack of funds on ground units. If Germany spends it money soley upon land units, then a more defensive posture in necessary.
Keep in mind that units are purchased to serve a purpose. These units may or may not give you the initiative to control the tempo and pace of the game. An unwise build may cost your team the initiative in the game (for example, if I see too much armor being built, I can turn the direction of the game). How much armor constructed will cost the game? Good question, that is where the wisdom and experience come into play.
I deal with Japan in a number of ways with Russia, but it is also in conjunction with the Western Allies. Germany can do a few things to disrupt the Allied naval movements, but you must exploit that with Russia to even the odds. Find out how and where the enemy is weak and exploit it.
As for artillery, I don’t see Russia needing too much of it. Russia needs a bit of flexibility to deal with Germany and Japan for the spearhead could come in multiple places (sometimes even at once). Also, Russia does not stand alone. Use your helpful Allies to deal with the unfriendly invaders on approach to Russia.
Russia should keep pressure upon Germany to not allow Germany to do a build up without losing all of its Eastern European territories.
Hint: you don’t do this with Armor.
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that’s more like it Octo. I expect nothing less from you. do you commonly use “space for rent” strategy on that front?
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don’t mean to intervene, but why wouldn’t you use tanks, they are perfect for counter assult, i played russia in a five person game once, and, i persnonally took on germany, and japan, while the rest of the allies casaually built up a navy, by the time they came, i had asia, and berlin, along with most of German terriory, so agian why can’t you build tanks?
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Saved…
In all honesty, if Russia achieved that much, your German and Japan opponents were not up to par.
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do you commonly use “space for rent” strategy on that front?
The “space for rent” is used for special circumstances that typically doesn’t involve the Russians.
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what is space for rent?
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I think with Octo and his “space for rent,” he likes to leave open a territory for you to take. Next round, he comes down on you with a massive/large force and crushes that spot. I think that’s how his “SFR” goes. :|
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I think that’s it. With Octo he often leaves Western Europe as a 'space for rent" when he plays as Germany.
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So you trick your oponenet into taking a “free” territory, and then you hammer them, costing them lost of IPC’s in lost units?
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Octo is right on …
Keeping the Germans at bay is a tricky task, but with sufficient assistance from UK/US, the Russians can be a bear! If the German player goes full-force for Moscow, usually the British and Americans are landing in Western Europe within 3 or 4 turns and her warmacht goes scrambling westward. Forcing the Germans to stretch themselves to the East leaves them vulnerable. They are infantry-starved, and it’s a long ways from Germany to W Russian and Ukraine one step at a time.
My success as Russia has been to follow Octo’s general advice … build mostly infantry and counter-punch when it is economically to my advantage, e.g., when Russia can kill more units than it loses. On many occasions a short-sighted German or Japanese player has stepped within a space of Russia only to have 45 infantry and half dozen artillery step out and swat them like a fly. My favorite tactic is to “strafe” these wayward souls … bring enough firepower to kill all but one or two units, and then retreat back to Moscow. Most of our games are low-luck, and this makes it particularly easy to kill ALMOST all the enemy units and still be able to retreat. In a dice-rolling game, this can backfire if you “accidentially” kill all the enemy units and get stuck in Novosobirsk or West Russia and the enemy can slipped past you.
Good board … keep the strategies coming. Always enjoy reading other gamers’ experiences and advice.
Bo
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Strafing is an art, indeed.
I find it more of a problem that Germany encounters than Russia.
I have a different solution for the Russians, but they cannot keep it up for long without help from the allies.
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Switch and Octo touched on two points which I’d like to expand on, and they go hand in hand.
Switch spoke of the W Russia stack. W Russia commands 3 territories, all vital to Russian (and therefore German) interests in varying degrees- Karelia, Belorussia, and the Ukraine. A strong Russian force in W Russia forces Germany to choose a path and go in strength, or to sit back and trade units and territories. The W Russian stack also teams nicely with troops freshly placed in the Caucasus to enable a reasonable deterrent to Germany moving in force into the Ukraine. If the other Allies are properly doing their job, Karelia should be in the hands of a multinational force by the end of turn 4, preserving the 2 valuable IPCs for Russia without Russia having to do the work. That leaves the W Russia stack/ Caucasus combination to deal with Belorussia and the Ukraine.
Octo spoke of initiative. If you were to go back through all of my posts, you’d see that I’ve spoken on this topic many times. It’s IMO the single most important mindset to have in A&A. You must dictate the pace of the game, or at the very least attempt to appear as though you are. Take a look at the Russian/ German front. If Germany can get lodged into Karelia, they have access to Archangel, W Russia, Norway, and have pinned down 2 Russian IPCs. They can now in one move directly threaten the Russian capital. They can keep out the other Allies for a time. In short, they have gained the initiative in the north. The Germans are dictating the terms on the front. However, If Russia gets lodged into W Russia before Germany can get into Karelia in force, then Russia now has access, as noted above, to Karelia, Belo, and the Ukraine. Now Russia has the initiative, and Germany is forced to react to Russia, not the other way around.
It’s my humble opinion that forcing the other player to react to your moves (in this case the very definition of initiative) is one of the keys to consistently good play.
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That’s an interesting observation, 88… dictating the pace is obviously something Russia would WANT to do, but it is also something that is largely out of the hands of Joe Stalin. Since Germany has considerably more production capability at the beginning of the game, Russia can only control W Russia for so long … and only if the German player lets him. But your caveat is the key: if the other allies are doing what they’re supposed to be doing (i.e., arriving in waves from the west within 2 or 3 game turns), then Russia can give Germany all it wants, and then some.
Happy hunting!
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Botider- another thing Russia can do to dictate the pace is to kill the Ukraine on R1. Germany has to take it back, meaning that a strong Karelia is not an option on G1. It doesn’t allow Germany to pile up reserves in E Europe. And only 5 German Fighters makes for some interesting choices for the German player. Finally, if this combat is coupled with an R1 purchase of 3 Inf/ 3 Arm, Germany can be hit hard in either Karelia, Belo, or the Ukraine using W Russia as a staging point and rolling the Armor through from Russia/ Caucasus.
You’re right, eventually the pendulum would swing for Germany, but by the time it does the UK and US should have a pretty significant presence in Europe.
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