Germany dows on russia, cruiser on transport, does it stop it loading up?

In order to delay a German crush on Moscow you will need the help of US/UK.

The Allies need to at least threatening a landing on S.Fra, Normandy, Norway, Denmark, N.Ita or S.Ita. Everything else is bogus. If you can’t Force Germany to build some ships then they will have free hands on Moscow and it will not matter what they do or how they die.

And, when Germany captured Moscow, they will be in London/Cairo in No Time!

Germany has to send all his assets towards the East. Everytime Germany has or needs to build ships is one to two units less who can march towards Moscow.

If you want to delay a German march towards Moscow, then build up a JFK devinsive line.
J= Novo,Bela,W.Ukr, Ukr, Bessa
F=Bela,Smolensk, W.Ukr,Ukr, Bryansk
K=Smolensk,Bryansk,Rostov and Russia from where you refit and supply your troops.
You have to time it and have to be powerful enough to knock out any Ita Canopeners.

It may help with an all out KJF plan if Russia decides to ignore the German advance and become a thorn in Japan’s side.

It may allow for more US resources to be directed at Europe, but they may be too little too late if Moscow were to fall easily and/or earlier than it should to the Germans.

I’ve played it out a few times, with significant Russian intervention in China, but Russia gets zero economic benefit and places a lot of resources in China that have little impact mid-late game for a crippled or defeated Moscow.

As the highest quality play by Japan is minor IC on the mainland, Japan can send 3 Mech with aircraft flown over them to clear out small infringements of the Russians in China.

IF I were to create problems for Japan, on R1 I would:
Buy 1 Arm, 2 Mech, place them in Stalingrad.
Move 1 Arm, 1 Mech from Moscow to Stalingrad.
Keep the 1 Arm, 1 Mech that start in Stalingrad there.
Fly your 2 Ftr and 1 Tac to Stalingrad.
R2 move into China (Sikang)
UK2 DOW on Japan (if not already at war) move all ground units into Yunnan, which hopefully is a reinforcement, but it may be a liberation depending on how China does there.
R3, move those units from Sikang into Yunnan, reinforcing the Brits and probably halting a Japanese takeover of the Burma road there.

I’m not suggesting this strategy. But it WOULD create problems for a Japan player that does not build IC on the mainland.  Additionally, if UK has to DOW on Japan, this places the US out of the war for a while, which further hurts Moscow in the long run.

Of course, those fast moving units in Stalingrad can:
Be redirected to NW Persia on R2 if at war, and they are more than enough to claim Iraq and get some additional income for Moscow - so there IS flexibility.  
If Moscow is still waiting for war, those units can all move directly to Bryansk on R2 and be in position for a R3 Strafe anywhere in Russia that Germany ends up on G3.

Personally I’d suggest one of the two options directly above before intervening in China.  There is little economic benefit unless you are in a KJF Allied strategy where bogging the Japanese down in China creates immense economic problems.  In particular I wouldn’t want Russia playing a defensive strategy in China throwing its units to the wind.  I’d rather be able to blitz across Northern China, far away from any Japanese IC and/or reinforcements.

What I like to do is unload usa on Normandy. UK goes right after and loads up on USA transports, then it offloads a counter attack the next round wherever USA brings the boats.

:)

If I’m going - I’m going.  Russia and Mongolia are not very big deals as Japan.  If Russia goes aggressive, just counter-attack and start taking their money.  You should have enough transports to deal with their infantry push - especially if they go R1 or R2.

It really depends on which method you prefer.
A G1 attack can catch the Russians a little off guard and take advantage of their defenses still being relatively thin. The downfall is that Germany’s offense will also be a little thin and be more prone to Russian counter-attacks.
A G3 or G4 attack allows Germany the maximum build up time before Russia can declare war and can make for a much stronger punch into Russia’s borders all along the line. I often wait until G4 because you can hit Russia on 4 fronts (Romania > Bessarabia, Hungary > E Poland, Poland > Baltic States, Finland > Karelia) and have a very strong front line after the battles - harder for Russia to counter attack. The downfall of this is that Russia also gets 3 turns of build-up so they will have more stuff for you to fight. Generally, Germany will still have more than Russia, but if the dice don’t favor you, your front lines could get really ate up by the time you reach Moscow.
A lot depends on what USA does when they get into the war. If they go 80%-100% Europe, your Russian offensive could peter out fast because you have to fend off an American invasion or try to bail out Italy. On the other hand, Japan should be doing very well in the Pacific and you may get an overall Axis win that way.
If USA goes mostly Pacific, then you should be very successful in Russia. The UK will be busy trying to fight Italy and your U-Boats while you pour tanks into Russia and steadily grind them back. However, If Japan plays poorly, it’s possible the USA could wrap things up in the Pacific early enough to still come over and cause trouble for you in Europe before you can take Moscow. Then it’s the dreaded TWO FRONT WAR for Germany.

My two cents says - if Germany attacks G1, then builds armor repeatedly, they’ll see a shortage of infantry soon enough. Their entire western flank, as said by others, will be eroded quickly. Killing tanks with infantry/artillery and a couple planes will be a nice laugh.

Don’t forget the power of the strafe to whittle down your opponent’s fodder, then fall back into reinforced positions.

As far as infantry vs. aircraft, oh yes. Most of my early games saw me buy an aircraft for the first three rounds - I like 4 fighters/2 tacs with Russia - but I’ve abandoned that over my past 3-4 games in favor of the all meat and potatoes purchase… land units only. After all, this isn’t a trade war we’re interested in, but a game of taking and holding key positions. The days of trade wars are over, imo. They were left behind in Anniversary. Aircraft can’t take a piece of land… all it can do is kill and retreat. I now prefer to set up overlapping defensive structures with a slowly growing mobile reserve, to be able to threaten multiple places.

Russia has to learn that they don’t have to fight for every IPC. Some are ok to let go. A trade war will result in a gradual erosion of Russian land units, and death.

Yea, I suppose it’s unlikely for allied units to be trekking across Russia. Still it is a bit odd that in the same round a Russian fighter can land on a US carrier in the Atlantic but not in the Pacific.

I guess the rule is the way it is in the interest of simplicity. It did sort out the whole Russia going to war with Japan in order to take neutrals in Europe thing.

It’s per turn.