USSR question

Yeah, I see what you mean.  In most games it does seem like USSR is pretty much always on the defensive and is hard pressed to beat the Germans back.  Yet, in the actual war, once that first nasty winter stopped the German advance, the Soviets let some pretty substantial counter offensives.  After Stalingrad and Kursk, the Russians pretty much rolled the Germans all the way back to Berlin.

However, I have seen games where the USSR gets the upper hand and ends up invading German territory, even capturing Berlin.  I have seen other games where the USSR puts up enough of a fight to stall Germany long enough that Britain or USA puts the hurt on them in the west, thus alleviating the pressure on Russia.  A lot of it depends on the capabilities of the players, particularly the German and Russian players.  If you have a really skilled Russian player, the Germans might not get very far.  If you have a really skilled German player, then Russia may be doomed.
Also, a lot depends on the luck of the dice.  I have seen Germany attack with huge forces and get whittled down drastically.  It doesn’t do very well for Germany to attack a Russian territory and win with only a couple of tanks left.

@knp7765:

Yeah, I see what you mean.  In most games it does seem like USSR is pretty much always on the defensive and is hard pressed to beat the Germans back.  Yet, in the actual war, once that first nasty winter stopped the German advance, the Soviets let some pretty substantial counter offensives.  After Stalingrad and Kursk, the Russians pretty much rolled the Germans all the way back to Berlin.

However, I have seen games where the USSR gets the upper hand and ends up invading German territory, even capturing Berlin.  I have seen other games where the USSR puts up enough of a fight to stall Germany long enough that Britain or USA puts the hurt on them in the west, thus alleviating the pressure on Russia.  A lot of it depends on the capabilities of the players, particularly the German and Russian players.  If you have a really skilled Russian player, the Germans might not get very far.  If you have a really skilled German player, then Russia may be doomed.
Also, a lot depends on the luck of the dice.  I have seen Germany attack with huge forces and get whittled down drastically.  It doesn’t do very well for Germany to attack a Russian territory and win with only a couple of tanks left.

I could not have said it any better. Great answer!

So far I’ve played only two games (actually I’m in the middle of the second one). In the first one, Germay played really poorly (I would say): German player captured London on G3 (UK played even worst) but didn’t attaked Russia (me). The result was that I declared war on Germany and invaded their territories right away, making a lot of ipc by Soviet’s NOs. Even if Germany managed to punch back, the Red Army was HUGE and with the USA comming from the West the Axis conceded.

In my second (current) game, I’m playing Germany and I’m about to take Leningrad (on G4).

I agree with knp7765, but I also I share Bishop’s frustration about the USSR

It is true that a good Soviet player can smack a poor German one and vice versa, but the real question is what would happen with two good players.
In historical terms, knp7765 recall is also correct… but, I have to add something: Soviet loses in the first two year of the war (especially during the first one) were the result of three factors: 1st, German Army better training and tactics, 2nd Red Army poor training and tactics, but 3rd: Because the Soviets had move their heavy industry far away from the front lines, beyond the Urals… I haven’t seen any AA version that allows for that and it’s a shame.
I elaborate what I mean: in every AA version income depends on territory, and now to on NOs. For Russia, that means that she gives up territory to buy time (which is historically correct), but time doesn’t buy more income for the USSR. It only means more time to buy more units but with less and less income… historically that wasn’t the case: in the actual war Moscow gave up territory and the capacity of building weapons during 1941… but after that the USSR experienced what in AA terms should be an enormous increace in IPC/Production.

In order to represent that in the game the USSR should have something like America has now in AA40: an increment in income after a given turn (of course not right after the begining of the war, but at some point after the war declaration by Germany).

I’m not sure about how to design that though, but I think it could be a good idea if a more historical game for Russia is what we want.

Through all the games i’ve played as the Allies (mostly 1942 though) Russia has been able to play an even larger role than historically accurate much quicker. in the 1940 version (1 real game so far since i bought it last thursday) Russia played an important role. i think it (as previously stated) all depends on who is controlling what and what they like to do. if they are just building infantry and fighting a war of attrition they won’t get very far, however; if russia has a slightly more balanced attack and germany is over aggressive then it is possible out out flank germany and do some serious offensive damage.

In AAR and AARe it is perfectly likely that Russia will push into Eastern Europe and the Balkans before Germany falls.  Especially if they go on the offensive very early in the game.

In classic it is also perfectly likely that Russia could take Ukraine and Eastern Europe (or at least trade E. Europe) before Germany falls and Japan gets to Moscow.

In 1940, it is a bit harder, but I have seen some games where  Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia fall, Hungary, W. Poland and S. Germany are traded with Russia.  In this one, I am not sure if this is “normal” or not, because the game is so new.

However, in each game I have played (Classic, Revised, Anniversary, 1940, etc) it seems plausible that Russia could press on Germany before Germany or Moscow fall.  It really depends on the strategy being used (Turtle in Russia to slow the Germans down, killing them by attrition and stretching their lines vs Attack like mad, ignore Japan, and push as hard on Berlin as possible before losing Moscow to Japan) whether or not Russia can, or does, invade and control significan portions of Europe.