1. An all out R1 attack on Finland, EE, Ukraine & possibly Manch is a terrible set of attacks. I can only assume the author does not understand the basic math behind the game. The odds for all the European attacks are terrible. Russia will not have 1 or 2 units left in each place; rather, they will be lucky not to lose 2 of those 3 battles. Further, you leave the Baltic in-tact, unless you risk another bad battle of sub & tranny vs sub & tranny. As noted, Germany will respond with Inf first. Finally, the 2 Russian fighters are the most important Allied starting pieces and cannot be thrown away…else Russia has no ability to trade in Asia.
2. The UK should never decide what they are going to do on UK 1, until after the German move. Knowing this, the Russia should never commit to an India defence on R1. It is fine to move some armour or even a trooper or 2 to Persia…but those Ftrs should NOT go to India on R1. You are tying UKs hands.
3. Depending on bids or not, extra G1 tranny buy or not. (Assuming not). If Germany takes AES on G1, then the UK should take it back immediately on UK 1 by using the Syria Inf, 2 India Inf, the India Ftr and the UK bomber. You will vacate Asia earlier giving Japan a good start…but you stop the Afrika Corps before they get started. Move up your S Africa Inf, land the Ftr & Bomber with them in Kenya (or in IEA). If Germany retakes AES with 2 Inf on G2, you retake it again with Kenya & your air. The point is that if you bottle Germany to the mainland immediately they are virtually out of the picture and will have to go entirely defensive. The 9 points in Africa are the most important points in the game from an economic point of view. If the Allies hold Africa at the outset with minimal extra troops, establish the full pipeline immediately, and have no real distractions in Europe/Africa…then Germany is cooked and you need only worry about Japan.
4. Personally, I never build Indian ICs…but if you want to the rules are this: never build one if AES falls on G1. Only build one if you place the Syria Inf and AES Inf there on UK 1 and the armour in Persia. Additional backup of Russians in position to retake and the UK bomber in India is/are gravy.
5. Presuming you have done #4…Japan CANNOT attack with 4 Inf, 2 Ftrs, 1 Bomber. The FIC/Burma Ftr MUST first clear the UK tranny from the IndiaSz. This leaves only 1 Ftr to attack India. Do the math…this is a terrible attack for Japan on J1. Just landing the 2 troops via tranny is scary…if your FTR gets pegged by the UK tranny your attack will be a total disaster. Even if you land them, the main battle sucks for odds. Further, you severely impede the ability to attack China and Pearl, you have at least 1 tranny (if it lives) in IndiaSz which is easily pegged by the UK bomber (1 reason not to put it into India). Further, you likely need the other tranny to reinforce FIC/Burma (assuming you attack China as well)…this whole scenario is folly for Japan on J1 if the UK has 4 Inf & Ftr there.
6. Russia should never attack (take) Manch on R1 unless UK is going to follow-up in Kwang on UK 1…in which case, UK forgets about Germany/AES and goes with the Kwang surprise and lands their Ftr in China as well (assuming it lives). This is the one exception to the wait till Germany goes rule for the UK. If Russia commits and takes Manch you are foolish Not to expect/plan for the UK to follow-up. Otherwise, Russia has wasted 5 Inf and an armour of its Eastern force…units which are critical to slow Japan. Having them squashed for no reason on the inevitable J1 counter is folly. But take Manch AND Kwang and its worth it, reducing the Jap to 2 Inf on the mainland, likely keeping China & Pearl safe and slows the Japs 2 full turns.
7. Similarly, Japan should never decide until after UK 1. Hitting Pearl (at least Lite) is usually preferable to no Pearl at all, but it depends on too many variables to list here in full…Kwang Surprise? Skies Over Siberia? etc Which Allied opening is being played? Against a solid Allied player you should never expect to take India on J1 unless it is a 1 Inf freebie walk-in. There are simply too many other things to do…unless the Allied player is very weak.
8. The early J swarm strategy ICs/Armour is fun but easily defeated by a solid Allied player using standard orderly retreat and Yakut wall strategies. If you do not make an immediate breakthrough…which you won’t against a solid player…your armour heavy forces will simply sit around and wait for more Inf to arrive. This effectively worsens Japan’s start and slows the overall threat to Russia proper. The upside is a first couple of turn easier exapnsion, but typically every single place you get, you can get with just the Inf push anyway. In the early to mid-game the Asian front is typically defined by NUMBERS of units, NOT type of units. In short, Japan has more than enough Air to make all the nickel and dime attacks it needs to make on the mainland after J1…thus sheer unit volumes ie: Inf push…is far superior to theoretical armour heavy attacks…which won’t be given with orderly retreat…thus you will sit and wait and have the wrong mix of units 2 turns later.
9. Japan does not need ICs to win. The majority of my games see no Jap ICs bought ever. I typically want at least 9 Jap trannies by mid-game. I’ll leave why and what to do with them for another post…as this is getting too long.
10. Nothing. Just here to make this an even 10 :)
