Need help with russian strat

[Furher of the Third Riech]

Thanks so much, This article is just what i needed. But just one question, wouldn’t a ukraine strafe be a little too risky? :-D

Sincerely, Hitler

[barney]

IDK I don’t play 42

[Argothair]

It sounds like you’ve got a good handle on some of the basic strategy ideas. Here are some more things to think about:

1. What is America doing while Germany builds a ton of planes and Japan sends tanks to Moscow? If Japan is building 4+ tanks a turn and sending them west, then by turn 4 America should be able to waltz in, smash the Japanese navy, and grab both Borneo and East Indies. Alternatively, America could build carriers and destroyers to help protect the English Channel for a British invasion, or America could build bombers and strategically bomb Berlin.

2. Are you retreating the Siberians so quickly that Japan’s tanks go unopposed? It’s usually worth sacrificing an infantry per turn so that the tanks can only move one space at a time. Even if Japan builds a factory in Manchuria on turn 1, that still means tanks land in Manchuria on turn 2, so the tanks shouldn’t even be able to attack Moscow until turn 6.

3. When Germany goes heavy on planes and subs, that means Britain has an opportunity to shift to the south – consider building a factory in Egypt, and cranking out some tanks of your own in Egypt and India. They can be used to reinforce Moscow, or as a nuisance attack to slow down the German drive in, e.g., Archangel or Ukraine.

4. Are you making good use of your AAA guns and fighters? Putting 2 Russian AAA guns and 2 British fighters in West Russia while evacuating your tanks from West Russia to Moscow can make Germany think twice about a large, early, air-heavy attack there. Even if Germany ultimately takes the territory, it might just be way too expensive for Germany to be a good trade.

[Furher of the Third Riech]

1. America is tustling with the German Kriegsmarine, and since its u boats galore im worried about the carrier, as even a couple of destroyers couldnt handle this (talking 6 uboats, 2 he has purchased) so the us has completely let the pacific go. I thought this was appropiate as moscow was a priority at the time. i guess im wrong.

2. I dont retreat them too quickly, thats not actually the problem. The problem is that japan just steamrolls china and is knocking on my door earlier than i expect, even with the kazakh and novo infantry. (He doesnt go for the manchuria factory, he uses transports.)

3. I agree, since germany is too busy trying to stack ukraine early he doesnt usually get africa as quickly as he should.

4. I do put the russian AAA’s there, but i dont get any fighter support from britian until like turn 4 when american lands in Eurpoe, as for some reason japan just likes to park there bomber on the east indies, and bring there carrier and cruiser down too, making it extremely hard for britian to take the money islands. by the time the us does contain japan, either russia has fallen, and/or it is a dragged out game where UK is just trying to spam infantry at there capital to spite a sealion. (sry for late reply, had to go somewhere)

I’m about to go to bed so i will reply tommorow. Thx for the tips :-D

Sincerely, Hitler

[Herr Rommel]

One thing that I like to do with Britain is to load the 2 infantry from India onto the transport, move the entire Indian fleet off the coast of Borneo, and attack Borneo with 2 infantry and 1 fighter. Granted, the British pacific fleet will mutilated on J1, but you now have Borneo and a little extra $$. Plus, Japan has to earmark 1 transport for 2 turns and possibly some aircraft in order to retake Borneo.

I usually like to throw all of Caucasus, the two Moscow tanks, and 2 fighters into Ukraine. Germany usually is left with about 1 tank and 1 fighter while Caucasus loses a handful of infantry. That means that if you pile everything else into W. Russia, you should be safe from counterattack on G1 and G2, especially if you throw the two British fighters and the American fighter into W Russia on turn 1. Germany can counterattack on G2 if loads of aircraft are purchased, but only at the loss of the eastern front.

If Germany is spamming subs, just buy a destroyer or 2 and move some of the pacific fleet into the atlantic (preferably the battleship and cruiser) and buy two cruisers. By A3, the Germans will be cowering at the mighty American fleet.

[Furher of the Third Riech]

Thx for the tips, I will use them in my game today. But what about the Aussie fleet? i assume i will have to bring that up to the atlantic. As for the americans, this seems feasable, as germany has to much to worry about and can’t afford to turn there full attention to the americans/UK. As with moscow do i have to occupy ukraine, or just strafe?

thank you all for your support, and wish me luck in my game.

Sincerely, Hitler

[Herr Rommel]

You only have to strafe Ukraine. Occupying it guarantees that the force that you plant there will get destroyed. Strafing just cripples Germany’s offensive power on G1 and even on G2 a little.

One other thing, if the German navy doesn’t destroy the transport off the coast of Canada, it might be worthwhile to transport the tank to either Norway, NW Europe, or France, depending on how heavily they’re defended. If your opponent leaves one of them (with France being your highest priority) with just 1 infantry, that’s your green light to send the tank there. If your opponent leaves France as wide open as that (because he’s turned his full wrath against Stalin), then snapping up France not only gives Britain an extra 6 bucks, but it also forces G to divert some forces to knock off the tank, and, as an added bonus, you get the satisfaction of trolling Germany :-D

Let us know how your game goes.

Sincerely, Rommel
Hitler’s best General

[Furher of the Third Riech]

Well we just finished our game, and guess what, the allies won!  :-D I tried to remeber all the tips you guys gave me (extra thanks to herr rommel) and as it turns out, japan tried to stretch herself too thin, and wind up trying to take china, india, east russia, and all the while trying to hold off the us. Once the us slapped a fully loaded carrier and some transports plus the battleship all off the coast of alaska, japan just pretty much gave up and turtled. Moscow still fell, (Hitlers Lufftwafe got some lucky hits) but we captured tokyo a full round before stalin surrendered. Also, germany was too focused on russia leaving africa completley open, leaving the uk to deal with india and japan.  so we took shanghai and manilla, and won the default game.

i want to thank you guys for the tips, as the only reason we really won was because after the ukraine strafe ( that went amazingly well) germany tried to stack ukraine even more, with japan trying to send fighters and completley ignorging africa. So basically the uk was unscathed besides the routine G1 fleet mutaliation and pretty much did a KJF.

feeling as we did so well (stalin did all he could) should i really keep the russian bomber? I used it as i think i could balance the game but it seems like the allies did so good they dont need it.

Anyway, thank you for all your’re support, and i will keep it in mind for my next game.  :-D

Sincerely, Hitler ( Rommel is his best general)

[Herr Rommel]

Do you use the bomber when you are grabbing a deadzoned territory (example Karelia)? If you are using it like that, then you can keep it. I haven’t played enough games to tell what the best bid is for Russia, but I usually just plop down 4 infantry or 3 artillery. I do that because my ultimate goal for Russia is to survive as long as possible. I usually put 2 infantry in Caucasus, 1 in Moscow, and 1 somewhere in the eastern portion of Russia to slow down Japan.

If you want to make Russia last longer, Britain buy 1 fighter per turn for 3 turns (preferably 2 per turn), and plop them in W. Russia. America should move their current fighters towards W. Russia as fast as they can (excluding the one in China) going to Greenland, then Iceland, then to W. Russia or Moscow, depending on how Stalin is doing. America should then buy 2 fighter per turn and move them as fast as they can to W. Russia. By turn 5, you can have over 10 fighters stacked in W. Russia, which is enough to make any German think twice.

If your friend wants some tips on how to play as Germany better, check this out: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=35951.0

Rommel

[Furher of the Third Riech]

Thx for the link, as my friend does kind of tunnel vision on objectives for a bit too long (He’ll ignore britain if gunning for the russia). I guess i keep the russian bomber as like you said its good to use while light trading, though my main reason for using it is to try and free up sz 5, so the americans and british can unload.

(P.S., do you think i should have bought A&A 1914, or bought 1942.2?)

Sincerely, Hitler

[Herr Rommel]

I can’t tell you if you should have bought 1914 or 1942.2. I’ve only played 1942.2

[drsnidely]

If you have the money and the interest i definitely recommend picking up 1914. It’s a very different game with a very different rule set. Althought the production values aren’t as great on that one (same units for every power, more cheaply made plastic). I can’t say which is better; I like them both.

[Cow]

1914 is the better game.

This one they did not know what they were doing in remaking it and it is just too ridiculous for the axis to win.

#1 transports no longer defend themselves
#2 more axis units
#3 southern europe ic, this was a big thing for usa to take and hold… it could make 6 tanks a round and eventually take berlin
#4 KJF not even a thing anymore barring a heavy bid
#5 uk too poor to even build a fleet / no safe seazone to build in
~
With 1914 you have 4 strategies. All viable. Pretty balanced game. Russia and france can get smoked if the axis play it right. Usually GG.

[Furher of the Third Riech]

1. im sorta ok with transports not defending themselves. Gone are the days of stacks of transports defeating battleships and destroyers. Transports do have light armament, but not enough to sink a battleship. I do have a house rule that you can only destroy the amount of transports as the number of attacking units, to avoid the unrealistic destroying of infinite trasnports.

2. The reason for this is to prevent germany from collapsing too quickly. Think about it, at most germany is going to have to survive a 123 punch by the allies. Of course, thats in theory, as allied help only really takes place turn 4. If you can keep russia alive until then, the allies have a good chane of winning.

3. And thats exactly the reason it was reduced to 3. 6 tanks a turn? theres no chane for germany to win under those circumstances.

4. I partially agree. It takes too much pressure of of germany to go KJF, and its pretty much up to russia to hold out bar a little fighter support and withstand the onslaught of germany. So basically its easier for russia to fall, but if it can hold, or they can take tokyo fast enough, the allies can win (Russia seams like the only country that has to hold in this game  :|)

5. its not that UK is poor, it actually has a pretty average income. Its just they have a million things to do like take the money islands, make sure germany doesnt get africa, help russia, prop up india, etc. They can drop a navy, you just can’t let africa go until something like G3.

I was looking at 1914 and it is certainly different as a departure (though on a good note) of the old A&A formula. The only prob i have is austria hungary being absurdley more powerful than russia. But other than that, i seem to like it (1942.2 is better simply due to the fact that the map is big enough, and russia actually has units.)

Sincerely, Hitler