Soviet Union Strategy

Well the advantage of this move is the money from the Middle East will go to russia then instead of London, this might be a good strat if London is captured.  The only problem is as Russia you cannot take these squares until you are at war with Germany, while India can take Persia on UK2.  So do you want to wait another 2-3 rounds for the Russians to capture and /hope/ the Italians don’t beat you to Iraq?  Or would you rather just capture them as India like normal and have those units meet up with the troops in Africa?

I take them with India, but if Italy starts to fight for the area I quickly start to funnel russians there so they can push Italy out and reclaim the ipcs.

Russian strategy:

Crank out infantry, “Crunch all you want, we’ll make more”

All infantry builds don’t work anymore.

With JUST infantry, or even “Mostly” infantry, you have no attack capability.  Russia is SO large, you can’t defend all the angles at once, and you can’t take anything back the germans don’t want you to have, UNLESS you build the units that can take things onto the offensive.

All infantry is like cutting off your own legs indeed, a bad choice.

When Germany is clearly building for a Sea-Lion, sorta ignoring Russia, i like to show abit of muscle in Russian purchases and moves, hoping the aggression will make Germany nervous. I might buy a bomber or an air unit, together with artillery (great for teaming up with the many infantry thus increasing Russian counter-offensive power)

But i always start with the slow land units, further turns i’ll buy a few mechs and an occasional tank. And infantry, of course. If i feel cocky i’ll buy abit more airforce. have never bought naval units; probably never will.

If Germany goes Barbarossa from turn 1 (i never had this happen) i think i’ll still go with art/inf buys turn 1, the possibility of counter attacks makes that the Axis have to move more cautiously. But if the Axis give me some slack, i’ll gladly take it ;)

Let me ask you something. If all Russia does is fortify and hold up in Moscow, how can the axis win? An all infantry build doesn’t necessarily spell defeat for Russia. Germany/Italy needs 8 Vic Cities to win, so if Russia just gets massed with 70 or so infantry by the time the Germans get to them, and the English do the same, there is no way the axis can win in Europe.

@KillOFzee:

Let me ask you something. If all Russia does is fortify and hold up in Moscow, how can the axis win? An all infantry build doesn’t necessarily spell defeat for Russia. Germany/Italy needs 8 Vic Cities to win, so if Russia just gets massed with 70 or so infantry by the time the Germans get to them, and the English do the same, there is no way the axis can win in Europe.

Well - if Russia is down to a handful IPCs each turn, you start cutting away the “70 or so” infantry because you can kill more than they can replace. You should have Italian and German troops and potentially Japan as well to triple-team them.
The question is then whether you can do so while keeping USA out, but if both Russia and England turtles that hard, Europe/Africa should be pretty much axis controlled for a large income.

tanks, tanks, tanks thats the way to go. 4 tanks-1 fighter turn 1.  5 tanks-1 fighter turn 2, if possible- should be. Then as many tanks as possible. If 1 battle goes bad for germany, russia can counter. Like the idea of moving south to take middle east ipc. Going to try the abandoning novogorod idea next game- something different. Can defend southern rich territories.

Building a navy in the Black sea is a bad idea if Germany goes after Russia. I agree w/JimmyHat that invading Iraq is a bad idea. Let the UK have it. And building all Inf every turn is a bad idea. Russia should build 9 Inf every turn, so you can put 3 Inf in the Nov, Vol and Sukr minor IC’s every turn. Then build 2 Art’s or 1 Tank, 1 Mech w/the extra 10 IPC’s every turn. Or, combination thereof. By Turn 3 or Turn 4, Russia will be able to match Germany Inf for Inf and will have a nice compliment of Inf to Art to Tanks. Then, you put your troops evenly divided into Bel and Nukr. Germany has two options at this point :

• Go south and north w/evenly divided forces - As Russia you put all your troops towards one advance, kill the Germans, then move your forces towards the other stack.
• Go south OR north - As Russia you move all your forces towards the defense of the direction that the Germans are going. If Germany wants to make any headway, they have to attack the big Russian stack at some point, which usually is not good for the Germans, as the German Inf will be attacking @ 1’s and the Russian Inf will be defending @ 2’s. Then, after the Germans are destroyed, you go on the offensive. Most if not all of the German tanks will be gone at this point.

@lamdan:

tanks, tanks, tanks thats the way to go. 4 tanks-1 fighter turn 1.  5 tanks-1 fighter turn 2, if possible- should be. Then as many tanks as possible. If 1 battle goes bad for germany, russia can counter. Like the idea of moving south to take middle east ipc. Going to try the abandoning novogorod idea next game- something different. Can defend southern rich territories.

With all those tanks, wouldn’t it be better to buy some tac bomber instead of fighters? (i mean, if you have counter strikes in mind)

With Russia, I always like to play on the counterattack:

My buys are generally infantry, artillery, fighters and divebombers. At least one plane per turn.

have some of weak buffer territories, just attractive enough to be attacked by the Germans, to have them take the territory with only tank left. Behind that territory you should have an all infantry retaliation force, counterattack with the infantry and artillery and back them up with your planes: voila: new buffer created, one turn bought.

This way USSR will not lose its expensive units and eventually build up a rather impressive airfleet. When the Germans are faced with a western front, prepare for the march to Berlin! :evil:

Has anyone ever considered the following IF the Germans do not threaten SeaLion: UK positions their stack of fighters in Scotland. Once Germany goes for Russia, they move them all to Leningrad and make it a fortress.

@Xandax:

Planing my next global game coming up next month - where I’m properly going to play Allied (my turn).
I’ve got some ideas that I want to send some Russian tanks south, take Persia - use those inf with the tanks to take Iraq and then depending on situation, push into Africa and hopefully surprise Italy in Egypt.
That means by turn 3, I expect to attack Iraq with about 3 tanks, the 2 persian inf and possible a mech or two.
Those 2 2 IPC countries would then help make up for the IPC loss from invading Germans and Japan.

Depending on whether Germany does Sealion or Barbarossa, England will then also place some tanks/mech in South Africa and try and link up with the Russians. If my dice holds - they should be linking up in Egypt in turn 5, while having secured the majority of Africa from Italy leaving only the North contested.

It’ll be a bit of a gamble with dedicating Russian resources to something as offensive as this, but if playing an offensive defense (trying to ping pong the zones in front of moscow, buying time for asian troops to walk home), it could hold out. Especially if Germany goes Sealion which I have a suspicion they will.

How can you attack Iraq on turn 3 when Russia is neutral until turn 4?

37 Ipcs  2mech , 2 tanks , 2 arty, 3 inf.  If Germany does not attack you G3 then buy ships and planes or whatever . Germany just lost the war.

I don’t get how the Soviets can match the Germans “Tank for Tank”. The German economy is usually around: 45-55 whilst the Russian at most 37.

4 inf + 4 art + 1tank (34 IPC), save 3 and buy a second tank every other turn.

Although I like the idea of using planes to hassle…

A) You cannot have as many tanks as Germany round 1.  You just cannot afford it, nor do I think you want it.
B) You dont have enough infantry to start with, you need more! 
C) Infantry move slow as molasses going uphill in a siberian winter, build them early!
D) You do need tanks!  I like round 3 and then to go all tank builds at that point. (I should then have 2 rounds of new infantry + starting infantry to move forward.)
E) I’m not a huge fan of buying aircraft, airbases or naval units for Russia.
E1) 3 Aircraft is all you can field for your fleet in SZ 115 anyway, you have 3, why make more?
E2) Aircraft are expensive!  2 Infantry + 1 Artillery = Fighter, Infantry + 2 Artillery = Tactical Bomber and 2 Armor = Strategic Bomber.  All of those have more utility for Russia, IMHO.  You need to take and hold land, not trade it!  AND!!!  You don’t have an Italy to take the land in front of you so you can reinforce with your planes!
E3) Russia can earn in the 40s for most of the game, Germany earns in the 60s for most of the game, which one can afford luxury units?

IMHO, I have never seen a Russian strat bomber work.  I have seen an Airbase in S. Ukraine work, but only in keeping the Italian fleet dead.  I have not seen an armored unit only purchase strat for Russia work, but I’d love to see someone try it against me! (PS same goes for German armored unit only builds.  Tank dashes are not wise, imho.)

@captainhook:

I don’t get how the Soviets can match the Germans “Tank for Tank”. The German economy is usually around: 45-55 whilst the Russian at most 37.

End Germany 1:  7 Tanks
End Russia 1: 2 Tanks
Result: No match

End Germany 2: 7 Tanks
End Russia 2: 2 Tanks
Result: No match

End Germany 3: 10 Tanks
End Russia 3: 8 Tanks
Result: No match

End Germany 4: 15 Tanks
End Russia 4: 14 Tanks
Result: Match

It can, theoretically, be done.  This assumes Russia goes heavy on the infantry for rounds 1 and 2 and then almost exclusively tanks for rounds 3 and 4.  It also assumes a standard German fleet buy on round 1 and a focus on infantry for the rest of the rounds (ie, starting round 3 Germany buys 3, 5, 5, 5 tanks).

Just to diagram how a typical game MIGHT go.

@Larrie:

How can you attack Iraq on turn 3 when Russia is neutral until turn 4?

I miswrote that - mean turn 3 after war. I want to take Russia through Africa to see if they, double teaming with the English can piggy back on each other. And help being about 5 additional IPCs to Russia to counter the most likely Japan far-east invasion drain.
So the sooner Germany goes into Russia, the faster I can be in Africa, so I’ll try some baiting ;)

@Cmdr:

End Germany 4: 15 Tanks
End Russia 4: 14 Tanks
Result: Match

15 = 14?  Paradox inbound.  :-o

Edit: Also, why is keeping up with tanks so important?  I would think the Russians would want to keep up defensively with infantry.