Siberian strategy

Stack 18 troops in Amur and a competent axis player will quickly change their strategy to Crussia. Those 18 troops will be dusted off and then there won’t be anything much at all to slow Japan down from quickly getting up to 7-8 IPCs worth of Russian territory.

In my opinion, Japan should always work together with Germany and Italy to declare war on, and invade, Russia on Round 1(although Italy is not within range to send troops yet). Stacking 18 infantry is only going to get 3 hits and makes it easier, not harder, for the Japanese to run through Russia from the Far East to Moscow. Just like the Russians did in real life against the Germans, both East and West you need to retreat and only leave an infantry on the territory if they are able to blitz with a tank.    Letting the Japanese destroy 59 IPC’s(18 infantry plus an AA), which is 2 turns worth of average Russian income, only helps the Axis. And as Russia, the outcome of the game rests on you, and your ability to follow three key ideas:

1-Buy smartly
2-Retreat
3-Don’t lose Moscow

Good luck playing Russia and God Bless you from AxisandAlliesGeneral

Stacking in Amur is suicidal. Japan can reach it too easily and with too much. You’ll get a half dozen hits or so before being flattened by the Japanese airforce and once those troops are gone, the far east will be blitz’d quickly and the Soviets will be starved far worse than usual. Unfortunately, having just infantry and AA means you’ve got very little offensive power and Japan’s enormous airforce means you’ve got even less defensive ability. So their job is really to make the best out of a bad situation.

I send the 6 INF closest to Moscow back. They’ll be essential and make it in time if Germany decides to go head on for Moscow.
The other 12 INF 2 AA will be moved to Buryatia. Any further forward and a Japanese attack on Amur will leave them cut off and as good as dead.
On R2, I’ll send 2 AA and, depending on Axis play, possibly 6 INF back to Moscow. If the Japanese airforce hits your infantry the stack is dead, so the AA are next to useless there. They might make a huge difference in a German attack on Moscow though.
For the rest of the game, those 6/12 Infantry’s job is to force the Japanese to commit. They’ll need to move significant air/land forces in position to hit the stack, at which point you retreat. Then repeat. Every step it makes forward forces Japan to commit enough of it’s troops and have planes in range to attack a 6/12 Infantry stack, and enough troops to defend against an attack from one since it can’t land it’s aircraft after moving forward. This helps take pressure off India, China and The Pacific.

At Yenisey, Japanese troops will be in range for your fighters/tac(s) out of Moscow. Probably, Japan will have 4-6 ground units - possibly with some following further back. In other words: they won’t have enough to push any further forward without being destroyed in a counter attack. If you get lucky, they’ll move forward and die. If not, you’ll trade Yenisey back and forth with small attacks for a couple turns. Either way, buying time and killing scarce Japanese ground forces is really the best you can ask for.

They only make it from a G3 DOW if Germany can be slowed down by a turn.

There’s an average of 7 hits round one if 6+ planes are included in the attack. Depending on the attack you’ve got to expect to lose 10 or so inf and a plane as Japan.

Normally, inf move south from Manchuria J1 so Amur is normally occupied J2 and onwards.

The correct answer is 0 on R1. If the Japanese player doesn’t threaten and leaves few defenders in Manchuria or Korea with no air within range, then you may consider stacking in Amur as a threat. Otherwise back up and play defense. Let him come in and give you the Mongolians. You should only invade under the right circumstances.

The first stack will make it on R6. Technically, a 2 turn German delay assuming a G1/G2 declare but with the 11 INF 3 ART in Germany being involved in any attack on Moscow. Frankly, if you can’t keep the German’s out of Moscow for that long, regardless of the German declare, you need to seriously reconsider your game.

@eames57:

What are the pros and cons of marching 6 guys west across the steppe instead of stacking 18 in Amur on R2?

Pro: may help defend Moscow.
Con: Eastern force is far easier to take down.

My preference is withdrawing to Moscow.

I don’t think I have yet lost Moscow before they get there, but with perhaps 20+ games of G40 under my belt there are plenty of lessons for me still to learn.

And quite often the Mongolia rule keeps Japan out of all but the three most easterly territories for quite a number of turns.

While those Amur units can slow down Japanese progress in China and/or India, it is easier for Germany to win this game than Japan. The defence of Moscow is much more crucial than those eastern territories. And if/when Moscow falls a saved Russian stack retreating to the Middle East can save the game for the Allies.

I don’t see a benefit for leaving any troops in Amur.  That is right on Japan’s front door and it is easy for Japan to deal with them when it is convenient.  It is still suicide for the Russian troops - just suicide on a smaller scale.

I don’t see that it offers much benefit in terms of Russia being able to assist China either.  If Japan wants China, she will get it.  The job of China is to die as slowly as possible.  And Russia is under pressure from Germany so they typically don’t have the units to spare in assisting China.

Is the idea that the troops left there are bait? Otherwise, I can’t really see the why.

I usually leave 6 behind just to provide a bit of a speed bump for Japan if they decide to go north. Not enough to pose a threat with all of the other 14 units heading back to Moscow.

The game doesn’t give Zhukov anything to work with. Where are his tanks and artillery and aircraft?

In addition to the 15 infantry divisions, there were also like 1,500 tanks and 1,500 aircraft stationed there to keep the Japanese at bay, and these were all battle hardened Khalkhin Gol vets.

Just for point of reference the entire Japanese Empire was fielding what like 4000 aircraft at the time? 1000 and change for the Army, like 3000 and change for the Navy. And the Russians were consistently out producing them in the air year to year.

I know there is no pretense of relative unit numbers in A&A, but you’d think the Soviets would have at least 1 air unit in the Far East, to Japan’s 20+.

Maybe a single tank in the Far East to show why Stalin was willing to entrust dude with fate of the entire Soviet Union when the Germans came knocking.

Instead Japan just smokes Amur on this board, if the Soviet player looks to history as any kind of guide for how they should be playing. Oh well. Guess it’s bounce or die.
:-D

Every time someone brings up realism in AxA i re read Khalkin Gol and how tin pressed tanks and 19th century japanese junk was supposed to take on a real modern combined arms force, over rough terrain, even a thrown together Soviet version transported into the wilderness and supported by cossack riders

japan fought a few skirmishes and gave up…and then 2 years later decided to attack the other future superpower on the water and islands…

zen like wisdom vs suicidal egotistical military junta?

not all tanks are created equal (except in AxA to keep things simple)

at least G41Oztea gives us a viable eastern force, but then the fantasy fun Axis advantage evaporates

good points, SH

they did make an amazing account of their technological progress and bravery, but thats not enough and just like Hitler, they made sure they traded friends for enemies at a rapid pace until there were no friends and theyd made a (semi) unprovoked war every other power on the planet

once they’d shown the soviets how weak their power projection and logistics (and equipment) were, and lost a few battles, they made their situation worse than if they hadnt probed and provoked at all.  All those soviet units just went back west gradually, sometimes arriving off the TSR right in time to stop the nazis.

Maybe a standoff would have been better but the entire era is one of fatally agressive decisionmaking and self-destructive ambition

At the very least the 64 IPC value of units in Siberia should be redistributed into mobile units that give the Russian player flexibility to return to Moscow or send some units to China sooner.

I usually do what GHG does, if the Japanese attack those six, you get six for the six you lost in the attack. Often by round 3 or 4 you have a general idea of what the Axis are doing. If its Crussia, then I send 6 to Moscow, and leave the other 6 behind. If China is in trouble, then those 12 enter China. Otherwise they go to Moscow along with the AAA guns. That’s my take on it.

That’s an interesting idea, I’ll try it out at my next game

If Germany buy men for Russia G1 I “rush” all 20 units back. If Germany buy navy I group them in buryatia with the option of moving them back to Amur on R2

Sometimes I also move the Burytia men (6) back to moscow anyway on R1