Looking for advise on Russia here.

[Kzinti]

I clearly screwed up Russia somehow and allowed a German bowling ball to just roll right over me.  Interested in thoughts on what I should have done better.

Appreciate any insight.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36601.0

[Shin-Ji]

Honestly, except for all the tanks (I mainly looked at your buys), seems like a pretty standard game so far.

Remember, Russia always falls.  The only question is what will Germany be left with after that.  You gotta make it hurt.

I like a lot of Art with my Inf.  Having a few fast movers is helpful in the later stages of the game, during the siege of Moscow, but unless you want to mess with Japan or take Iraq (both worthy goals), they aren’t all that useful on the German front.

[oysteilo]

@Shin:

Honestly, except for all the tanks (I mainly looked at your buys), seems like a pretty standard game so far.

Remember, Russia always falls.  The only question is what will Germany be left with after that.  You gotta make it hurt.

I like a lot of Art with my Inf.  Having a few fast movers is helpful in the later stages of the game, during the siege of Moscow, but unless you want to mess with Japan or take Iraq (both worthy goals), they aren’t all that useful on the German front.

I just looked at your game too. And I agree with Shin Ji. Personally I like to place 6 art in novgorod/ukraine on R1, but your buy is not bad either. What makes it hard for you is the G2 Russia DOW. I also think if you plan on buying 5 tanks on R2 maybe 6 art for nov/ukr R1 is even better for a possible counter. I also think on R2 you should place inf (1,2 or 3) in ukraine. You need to expect italy taking western ukraine and then it is a walk in the park for Germany to take ukraine. However, I think your big mistake is on R3 where you move your stack to smolensk. why? I think splitting the stack between moscow and tambov is better. From Tambov you can retake rostov and delay loosing volgograd. On R3 the rusiian figters must land in moscow to prevent the italien bombing raid. With the bomber in eastern poland you know that will happen

[teslas]

Just don’t buy tanks unless Germany preps for Operation Sealion.

You have two options in a non-lion game:

1: Mostly tons of infantry.
This can basically do nothing but hold Moscow. Germany is likely to just drive south and take the Caucasus/Volgograd/Middle East money. You’ll hold Moscow, but at what cost?

2: Infantry/artilery.
This is slightly weaker when trying to hold Moscow, but allows you to punish Germany for any mistakes, and allows you the option to push back out of your Moscow stack if Germany diverts itself southward and leaves an anemic stack outside of moscow (such as in Bryansk). A good German player will not make a mistake, but a good Russian player will force the German player to be honest and make no mistakes. Artillery let you do that.

In a sea lion game, assuming Britain/America didn’t totally drop the ball, it’s completely the opposite. You get to be the aggressor. That’s an entirely different discussion.

So, you normally can’t tell what type of game it is until G2. This means for R1, the best thing for you to do is prep for either, and what’s that? As the other two guys above me have said, and I agree: artillery. They are slow, so R1 is the only time you can build them and hope for them to push into Germany in the event of London falling, and if it’s the Barbarossa flavor this game, then they are still useful.

If/when it does come down to the Moscow fight, as the Russian player, you need to decide if it’s worthwhile to stay your ground and kill lots of Germans, or to head south and hopefully help defend Egypt to prevent an Axis win. Many Russians I’ve seen never consider the fact that you are sometimes able to just up and leave Moscow, saving all of those units to join up with the brits in the middle east.

[WILD BILL]

I agree that the heavy mech/tank buy was a luxury that Russia simply doesn’t have especially in a straight Barbarossa game. Germany’s purchases of 6 mech G1 was a really good indicator he was going for Moscow because mech simply aren’t a good buy for Sea-lion. After his G2 attack and tank purchase you could see roughly what he had coming at you for a G5 attack on Moscow, but you bought tanks anyway? I guess you under estimated the situation?

Like the others said a few art in your minor IC’s at the front is helpful in case he makes a mistake, splits his stack to go for Caucasus or maybe can’t bring in German air cover (the later isn’t the case in your game because of the Italian can opener though). I normally add a couple frts to the Russian air force so I can clear multiple weakly def axis held territories w/o much risk. Those extra fts can also threaten to dogfight if/when he SBRs Moscow (you defiantly dropped the ball there allowing him to bomb Moscow in the 3rd round w/o the threat of facing your ftrs).

Speaking of ftrs, you flew the French ftr to Russia, but that was the only one (unless I missed it). IMO the UK needed to get some ftrs to Moscow asap via Scotland, or Persia. I know that you had other plans for the RAF (indicated by the airbases you bought), but if Moscow falls too early/easy then those plans just got tossed out the window (game might be over). UK ftrs in Moscow (with mostly inf buys from Russia) can at least delay the Russian onslaught for a couple rounds so you can get your Far Eastern inf home. Plus the extra air might cut back on the SBRs on your capital. You can always fly the English air out (or part of it) once you have delayed him a couple rounds.

I also like to set up the the starting Russian mech/tanks and an inf to take N Persia then Iraq, it’s worth 5 IPCs/turn (keeps your income up as you loose all those 1 IPC territories). If you manage to delay the Germans with UK ftrs in Moscow your mech & tanks can still get back, or trade/def territories in the south.

Like the others said if you are going to lose Moscow by a landslide (not going to take out his land force and some planes), consider abandoning it. You can still reek havoc with that giant stack, just think of what it could do to Japan LOL. But seriously, in your game the UK has good position in the Mid East. With the help of the Russian mob, maybe build IC’s in Persia/Iraq and start pumping out units. Sounds like you already have a sizable amphib fleet to threaten Europe by sea, make it a 2 front battle. At this point you have to protect Egypt, and/or take a victory city on the Europe map (maybe Rome?)

Looking back the Japanese took a big hit on their air force when they air swept the Chinese (8 planes?), is that something you can exploit (maybe a few Russians in China could distract them as the other allies set-up?

[Kzinti]

Thanks for the advise everyone  :-D

Appreciate the insights!

[Nippon-koku]

Another purchasing strategy you may consider is 1 fighter and the rest inf.  First couple of turns you should be able to do 9 inf and a fighter.  Helps with bombing raids on Moscow and those 4’s can really come in handy in big battles.