Soviet Union first buy

I’m in the process of playing my first game and I went with 5 inf, 3 arm.

I really wanted to buy a ftr, but couldn’t justify the (immediate) loss of units given the damage Germany can do (and did do) on G1.

I finally figured even with a ftr, I’d probably have to commit rt (possibly arm) in other trading battles, so I decided to go with getting more units on the board.  I also wanted to try 6 inf, 3 rt but felt I needed the two movement points from armor.

I will look to add a ftr or two at some point but I decided to take a wait and see approach.  I was thinking R2 might be a better opportunity, you should have slightly more income and you get to see two German turns and get a feel for when the heavy stacks will be and just how much trading you’ll need to do.

I’m holding off my vote until I play a few more games b/c I’ll probably try several of these options.

Nice poll, but totally useless in the 41 scenario since the Russian buy depends on the G1 turn.  :wink:

1 ftr, 5 inf, 1 R&D  :D.

You need fighter(s) to trade efficiently with Germany.

Russia would love to have War Bonds or Advanced Artillery.  Rockets aren’t a bad deal either.  Increased Production is good too.  With Italy controlling the Southern factory, Germany has limited production capacity compared to its budget (especially if using National objectives).  This means Germany probably buys some air units or tech and Russia could be facing Rockets and/or (possibly heavy) bombing raids.

I bought Russian tech one game an got Mechanised Infantry and then Paratroopers.  :( 
I really don’t know if tech is worth five Russian IPCs on turn one or not.  It may depend on how many turns the game expects to last or on whether or not that money is needing immediately on the ground against an early all out Unternehmen Barbarossa.

I’ve only played twice, and not yet played the Axis nor otherwise studied the East European theatre from the perspective of the German opening.  It’s still somewhat speculative for me - I need a lot more game play and study.  :)
I agree with Driel310 that G1 should influence Russia’s opening builds.

If playing with techs, which my group always does, then Russia should spend 5 IPC for 1 Research Token, because he can use every single Land tech except perhaps Paratroopers.  The remaining IPCs probably should purchase 4 Infantry units, 2 Artillery units, and 1 Armor unit.

If I weren’t playing with techs, or if Germany had an incredibly good turn, losing absolutely nothing, then I would probably purchase 4 Infantry units, 2 Artillery units, and 2 Armor units.

Russia already has a lost of Infantry, but what he doesn’t have is any offensive punch to take territories back, and he needs the mobility of the Armor units to hit where needed.

1 Fghtr, 1 Tank, 5 Inf    nee to start building an Air Force

5 subs in Black Sea, to kill Italian navy ASAP

Can only place 4 subs there and a defensive counter is to build a DD
4 subs vs BB, 2 CA, DD is a weak attack
USSR land weakness will be exploited.

4 tanks, 1 fighter

2nd rd 1 fighter, rest on infantry.

@jeffdestroyer:

Can only place 4 subs there and a defensive counter is to build a DD
4 subs vs BB, 2 CA, DD is a weak attack
USSR land weakness will be exploited.

Read my signature.  :-D

@Adlertag:

Read my signature.  :-D

For correct English, your signature should read, “Oh, and death to the Allies!”
:-)

@Gallo:

Mech infantry would be great… Paratroopers, yuk! I can see your frustration!
it would like Bands of Brothers meets Enemy At The Gates (we can call that “Bandovich of Brotheruskis”)

Mechanised Infantry was alright, but Germany also had mechanised infantry,and U.S.A. was farting around in the Pacific.  I couldn’t mount much of an offense.

@Gallo:

Russian Officer: “We don’t have enough parachutes and guns, so you’ll go on pairs: one of you gets the Parachute, and the other gets the riffle… ah! and we don’t have cargo planes either, so we’ll catapult you behind the enemy lines”

That’s very funny!

I like to buy 2 tanks, 2 art, and 4 inf for R1.

Just buy Inf and tanks,  no aircraft, uk can send aircraft over to russia

While its true that the UK can send over planes, IMO the main impetus to buy planes as Russia is to attack, not defend. When you are doing the back and forth trade battles with Germany it’s far better to be able to use a plane and 2 Inf than a Tank and 2 Inf because the plane does not have to land there and be subjected to the inevitable counterattack. After a few turns, a plane will pay for itself compared to a tank. The question is whether you HAVE a few turns to realize that payoff or do you need the extra bodies on the ground to survive with instead.

6 Tanks
4 Tanks, 1 Fighter

Either of those are good, strong, Russian 1 builds.  You have lots of infantry, you need something with balls to hit the Germans with.