Options for Russia when Germany plays defensively

Does the 1941 scenario even work without the NOs? I solitaired it for a bit once and the board seemed almost empty of units after about three turns. Germany collapsed because its lost income from the rather easy NOs really makes a difference. Japan seemed rather irrelevant since it takes longer to gain momentum without the NOs, and Germany falls sooner to a KGF.
The 1942 scenario seems better suited for a non-NO game because it´s got more starting units and the theaters are better balanced. Germany is stronger so a KGF will take longer and Asia has got more options since India won´t fall as easily, China is tougher and the US Pacific fleet is stronger.

@axis_roll:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@axis_roll:

…, try a G1 IC buy in Bulgaria.

You mean Romania?

It is labelled as both Bulgaria/Romania
Similiar to Czech/Hungary

Sorry, I thought this was the Global 1940 thread

@Imperious:

That was busted on BGG along time ago. In fact i was the guy whom it was first tried against and failed twice, with the guy latter claiming he had an “unstoppable axis move for Germany” and "comments like “didn’t they even playtest this”

Needless to say i put him in his place, but i have no idea why he still clings to that idea. I posted strategy maps on this but admit it’s just one way to do it, but not the best. I favor a more balanced strategy because it is easily countered.

While a blitz shouldn’t usually work when everyone has plaed the game a few times, I think the concept is useful.  Example:  If you think G1 can get by building all tanks, the Allies have to keep an Axis blitz option on the table and prepare for it, or they are toast.  It is useful to show it can be done (with no real expectations of doing it) if the allies ignore it/ get awful dice, in order to limit ally play options.

the juggernaut that is the japanese fleet is virtually unstoppable….therefore you have to deal with the overland assault…sacrifices have to be made…all eastern russian forces must be combined to threaten manchuria.  in aa50 the loss of fighters makes it hard to attack manchuria.  so u have to take a defensive posture or attackif u r feelin lucky.  mass the chinese for a counterattack and build an ic in india and run 3 tanks out of there…try and close the salient…sometimes it works…sometimes it dont…dice

Front:

I think by the middle of a typical game, Russia should have 3 fighters going because they’ll need to trade three territories pretty routinely.

I am always amazed when I see people say they built an Industrial Complex in India and don’t follow up with saying worst idea ever.  Who are these Japanese players NOT taking the complex on round 2, again on round 3, again on round 4, etc until the Allies give up or are unable to liberate it again?

You have the firepower!  Round 2 you should have no less than 5 ground units and 5 fighters in range of India (compare to 4 or 5 ground units and an AA Gun and you can see how you have a significant advantage!).  Round 3, KNOWING that England HAS a complex there, and forcing Russia to send tanks to India instead of against Germany, you should definitely have half a dozen ground units and the cruiser/battleship for a follow up (plus any fighters you have remaining.)  From there it’s a matter of shuttling 4 to 6 ground units a round into FIC and then over to India to keep it from building units.

This shuttling should be a simple matter.  You only need enough units in SZ 37 and SZ 62 to prevent America from killing your transports (assuming you don’t just put ICs in Burma and FIC like I do) so you can bring troops down.  So what if America goes Pacific?  Russia’s throwing away tanks keeping you from building in India!  By the time America builds up, with Russia diverting 33-67% or more of it’s new builds to India, Germany should be just about into Moscow and looking to start a Sea Lion invasion fleet!

Yea, ok, I have a tendency to summarize the next 10-20 rounds, but I hope you guys can see where I am going.  Normally, Japan has to worry about an American flotilla in the Pacific for financial sake.  Normally Japan can’t even get into Moscow before round 5 and that’s assuming there’s nothing in the way!  But in this case, Russia’s sending so much down into India to keep it from building Japanese units that Germany is virtually unopposed.  (I’d also advocate, for the first time in my life, that Germany go for a tank dash if Russia’s sending so much down to India.  May as well!)

Yup, I def agree that Japan ICs should be located in FIC/Burma/India. Honestly, I don’t see the point of putting a factory in Manch.

I like to make a hard push towards India on J1, taking out Burma and both 4 IPC British islands so that I’ve got plenty of ground units to take and hold India on J2, as long Germany was successful at clearing Egypt and the Soviets didn’t send troops to Persia R1 (which I’m starting to think might be a good idea).

This allows an IC on Burma J2, and an IC on India J3, which means Caucasus starts to hear the Jap tank treads as early as J4. I find this really helps relieve some pressure on Germany.

If Germany did not manage to clear Egypt, or the Brits have Soviet assistance in India/Mid East, then I’ll go the Burma/FIC route for the factories instead.

@Subotai:

I would like to play against this strat in TripleA low luck game, but sadly AA50 is not finished yet for release in the stable version.

If I think a strat is vastly inferior, then I could possibly be interested in playing reg dice, eventually good dice rolls can only bring you so far.

There’s un anstable version, but it works perfect.

http://triplea.sourceforge.net/mywiki/Forum

The only thing I noticed so far are some error messages in History. But you can ignore them, and still look at it.
For the rest, it seems to work great.

I agree with putting down as many units as possible as Germany and even Italy because the UK and USA can easily muster a massive bomber force for cutting down your production in just a few rounds.  I personally hate to lose the Baltic fleet because you just opened the path for naval invasions with minimal counterattacks.  I know the airforce could strike those fleets but that means they are not attacking Russians.  I strongly favor a ship/land unit build first turn to protect your fleet from a turn 1 UK slaughter fest.  Heck if Italy saves 3 IPCs and meets their NOs while also taking Trans-Jordan, they could build a carrier and have one powerful fleet to contend with.