TITLE: RED DRAGON
**OBJECTIVE:**To delay moscow’s capture - whilst stutter stalling/defeating Japan, allowing the allies to pour additional resources into the atlantic
ASSUMPTIONS:
-Against 100% focus, Germany can win in Russia almost everytime
-Even with 100% focus, it still takes Germany 5-6+ turns to capture moscow.
-Russia has good reinforcement access to China
-Bid of 13+ definitely matters. Albiet 20+ is better. (Average is 26 these days?)
-Bid 1 inf YUN, 1 fgt MOS, (rest in subs in Med or wherever you please)
CONCEPTS:
#1. Russia will fall no matter what you do. So why not upset that nicely “balanced” scenario Japan has in the pacific? and do a controlled russian retreat.
#2. Russian Air Power is a menace for Japan. with a R1 fgt build, by R2-R3 Russia can have 4-5 planes in China causing all kinds of chaos, moving right where it’s needed at the last second.
#3. By either stacking Yunnan, OR being able to recapture it everyturn with China, Japan is not able to focus well against india.
#4. MEC builds in India can reinforce yunnan. Russia can move from Stalingrad into china, to Yunnan to India. And this creates major headaches for japan as there are counter attack possibilities galore, and a shiftable defense.
#5. India can be saved with Russian support. India can later be used to fight Germany back up through the middle east.
#6. Move russian siberian forces back from the coast J1. But then move them right back to the front line J2. (unless there is good reason not too) Now you’ve got some threat power. WITH PLANES TOO IF YOU WANT!
#7. Just 3 mech a turn is enough to supply china with strong possibilities. More is up to you!
#8. When Moscow looks doomed - Fall back into / towards ME or China. If japan’s been punished in China, China will be happy to keep the Germans off with their IPC’s, and lets be honest - germany will be busy trying to win the game.
#9. Remember you have a 1, 2, and possibly 3 punch with China, UK, Russia. This is devastating for Japan to calculate against.
#10. The allies will need to be strong in Egypt, and have a considerable naval presence in Europe. By Shifting Russia into the pacific for early gains, the hope is USA can shift into Europe to make up for the loss of pressure.
#11. Like italy is the Panacea against Russia, Russia is the Panacea against Japan. Russia always gets the last word before Japan goes!
Bottom Line
-China becomes new Russia, and you WILL make Japan suffer horribly, if not be entirely relegated or defeat. Hopefully in time to save Europe!
DISCLAIMER
-Every game is different, use the concepts I’ve posted to develop your defense yourself.
-Please discuss positives and negatives or additional concepts
-This doctorine is more theoretical than my other one, but I am a believer in the concept
Today’s front page headline…
Gargantua makes his return to the Global forums with a tremendously well thought out post for a brilliant Russian strategy.
Someone mentioned that the mech+armor pair in Volgograd can rush into sikang china on R1, and be in yunan on R2, along with the UK stack. Additionally, the Russian planes can fly direct to Yunnan.
However, to enter China, Russia must be at war with Japan (p21). China is an ‘unfriendly neutral’ until Russia is at war with Japan so Russia cannot noncom there. “Japan considers movement of units into China by any other Allied power as an act of war against it.” p37 Even if Russia is at war with Germany, that doesn’t affect the eastern board.
This can be a “diplomatic declaration” war against Japan (without any combat move to back it). This means that you could potentially not attack Korea or Manchuria and would still get the Mongolian troops if Japan were to attack you in return, leaving a disincentive in place for them not to attack the Russian East.
One thing I’ve thought about a lot is keeping all (or most) of China’s money. Since china has no limits on where the infantry can appear, or how many, and Japan can’t kill units that aren’t on the board yet, it seems to me that China could really take advantage of dropping 3 turns of money (10 infantry) all at once. Or, you could save the money for that one turn that you are permitted to buy artillery, though you start with so few infantry this may be a bust.
Since japan goes after Russia, it would be tough to use this Russian pair of units to grab a territory and then stack it with Chinese men without them getting killed. Since Uk goes after China, same problem.
But the Red Dragon thing has some cool possibilities because with nothing more than some declarations of war, you gain the flexibility of having “5 spicy allies” dogpile japans heartland.
You do mention that you would move the Russian units away from the coast, then right back. I like this move because its a feint, during a J1 japan will move away from SZ 6 and then your stack can stand after R2 as a threat in being. However, if we move the mech+armor into sikang on R1, you could leave ALL the Russians in Amur on R1, as bait. I’ve seen several games where japan attacks this stack with everything, which can go badly and even if it is successful, pulls Japan off their original plan.
My variation of the above is to put 1 infantry in Yunnan and 1 artillery in each of the Siberian territories.
Any leftover is spent in China (infantry or artillery).
The 3 artillery make the 18 infantry stack a much bigger offensive threat and defensively stronger. Mechanized units are directed to increase the threat and planes brought over to help.
My thought is that it’s better to slow down Japan which operates on early won momentum.
This free up the US to go heavier in the Atlantic (it’s important to still harass Japan by killing blockers with subs) and deal with Italy. India / Anzac can afford to be more aggressive because of the pressure on Japan.
The US supply lines are shorter in Europe. In one turn the US sends its troops to 91 and can help maintain a naval presence in the med or retake North Africa. Going after Japan decisively is difficult.
If Japan keeps going on the offensive early on, the combination of Russian, UK, Anzac and US attacks will usually wear them down in many small battles where Japanese land suffers. If Japan picks their spot and push more cautiously on land, it will take them a long while to take over India and China. At some point, it may be time to move fighters (e.g., Anzac) over to Moscow which causes to Japan take over some ground, but if Japan’s IPC growth was slowed it delays India’s fall and still puts Japan far from victory.
By then, US and UK better do well in Europe in order for allies to win the economic game.
Very nice article and good strategy… but a question… is that dragon in the header communist, and if so, where’s his hammer and sickle?
To be honest, I haven’t had too much success with USSR in China.
I’m more inclined to go after the Middle East. A G2 DOW makes it easy enough to grab Persia and Iraq with 2-4 units including the Stalingrad tank. I guess you can do both up to a point.
I’ve thought some more about the details of this strategy. Firstly, it is not advised against a G1 DOW. So if we proceed on the assumption there is no G1 DOW, I like these builds/moves:
place 2 inf in Stalingrad
move the 2 inf in Caucasus to Kazakhstan - China bound.
move a tank to Turkmenistan.
move a AA gun towards China
remaining 2 mecs + 1 tank + planes move towards China.
UK West India inf activates East Persia
That way you can still take Iraq with a G2/G3 DOW.
Downside - are too many troops being stripped from the Eastern Front?
