USSR Strategies

[Botider]

Octo is right on ...

Keeping the Germans at bay is a tricky task, but with sufficient assistance from UK/US, the Russians can be a bear! If the German player goes full-force for Moscow, usually the British and Americans are landing in Western Europe within 3 or 4 turns and her warmacht goes scrambling westward. Forcing the Germans to stretch themselves to the East leaves them vulnerable. They are infantry-starved, and it's a long ways from Germany to W Russian and Ukraine one step at a time.

My success as Russia has been to follow Octo's general advice ... build mostly infantry and counter-punch when it is economically to my advantage, e.g., when Russia can kill more units than it loses. On many occasions a short-sighted German or Japanese player has stepped within a space of Russia only to have 45 infantry and half dozen artillery step out and swat them like a fly. My favorite tactic is to "strafe" these wayward souls ... bring enough firepower to kill all but one or two units, and then retreat back to Moscow. Most of our games are low-luck, and this makes it particularly easy to kill ALMOST all the enemy units and still be able to retreat. In a dice-rolling game, this can backfire if you "accidentially" kill all the enemy units and get stuck in Novosobirsk or West Russia and the enemy can slipped past you.

Good board ... keep the strategies coming. Always enjoy reading other gamers' experiences and advice.
--
Bo

[Octopus]

Strafing is an art, indeed.

I find it more of a problem that Germany encounters than Russia.

I have a different solution for the Russians, but they cannot keep it up for long without help from the allies.

[88 Millimeter]

Switch and Octo touched on two points which I'd like to expand on, and they go hand in hand.

Switch spoke of the W Russia stack. W Russia commands 3 territories, all vital to Russian (and therefore German) interests in varying degrees- Karelia, Belorussia, and the Ukraine. A strong Russian force in W Russia forces Germany to choose a path and go in strength, or to sit back and trade units and territories. The W Russian stack also teams nicely with troops freshly placed in the Caucasus to enable a reasonable deterrent to Germany moving in force into the Ukraine. If the other Allies are properly doing their job, Karelia should be in the hands of a multinational force by the end of turn 4, preserving the 2 valuable IPCs for Russia without Russia having to do the work. That leaves the W Russia stack/ Caucasus combination to deal with Belorussia and the Ukraine.

Octo spoke of initiative. If you were to go back through all of my posts, you'd see that I've spoken on this topic many times. It's IMO the single most important mindset to have in A&A. You must dictate the pace of the game, or at the very least attempt to appear as though you are. Take a look at the Russian/ German front. If Germany can get lodged into Karelia, they have access to Archangel, W Russia, Norway, and have pinned down 2 Russian IPCs. They can now in one move directly threaten the Russian capital. They can keep out the other Allies for a time. In short, they have gained the initiative in the north. The Germans are dictating the terms on the front. However, If Russia gets lodged into W Russia before Germany can get into Karelia in force, then Russia now has access, as noted above, to Karelia, Belo, and the Ukraine. Now Russia has the initiative, and Germany is forced to react to Russia, not the other way around.

It's my humble opinion that forcing the other player to react to your moves (in this case the very definition of initiative) is one of the keys to consistently good play.

[Botider]

That's an interesting observation, 88... dictating the pace is obviously something Russia would WANT to do, but it is also something that is largely out of the hands of Joe Stalin. Since Germany has considerably more production capability at the beginning of the game, Russia can only control W Russia for so long ... and only if the German player lets him. But your caveat is the key: if the other allies are doing what they're supposed to be doing (i.e., arriving in waves from the west within 2 or 3 game turns), then Russia can give Germany all it wants, and then some.

Happy hunting!

[88 Millimeter]

Botider- another thing Russia can do to dictate the pace is to kill the Ukraine on R1. Germany has to take it back, meaning that a strong Karelia is not an option on G1. It doesn't allow Germany to pile up reserves in E Europe. And only 5 German Fighters makes for some interesting choices for the German player. Finally, if this combat is coupled with an R1 purchase of 3 Inf/ 3 Arm, Germany can be hit hard in either Karelia, Belo, or the Ukraine using W Russia as a staging point and rolling the Armor through from Russia/ Caucasus.

You're right, eventually the pendulum would swing for Germany, but by the time it does the UK and US should have a pretty significant presence in Europe.

[Sankt Hallvard]

Regarding what you say about 'dictating the pace', you can have it examplified in my match in the revised tourney right now vs. Mojo. I opened with an aggressive R1, buying 2 inf, 2 art, 2 arm and going all in into ukraine and w.russia. Sure, with good dice you have a very strong position. But in my case I lost 6 inf in w.russia which in turn led to Germany piling up in Karelia after all. Suddenly Germany is dictating the pace instead.

Germany bought mainly a big stack of inf and is posing a big threat to the weakened Russia. On the other hand Germany is down to 3 figs and 1 bomber luftwaffe and practically no baltic fleet. That opens up a possibility for UK to set the pace in europe. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

[Flush]

The advantage of attacking, is choosing the time and the place of the engagment.

[triforce]

the advantage of defending is stronger units.

[ncscswitch]

Sankt...

Your game is a bad example...  Your opponent over-extended by trying West Russia on G1.  Most players would have left that combat out, and had superior force positions for subsequent rounds.

Also... I tend to disagree (at times) with a Ukraine strike on R1.  Against SOME players this is a good move, against others, a Belorussia strike (and West Russia of course) is the superior move.

A Belo strike allows the Allies to take control in the North far more quickly (Turn 3).  The trade off is that Russia must be set to defend Caucuses against a stronger force (which is possible, especially if Germany over-extends on G1, and if UK abandones India to re-take Africa on UK1)

[Flush]

Attacking = Suprise The defender is reactionary

[triforce]

I am almost never suprised by the attacks my oponets make.

[Sankt Hallvard]

Switch.. it's still a good example. Even if he overextended he has the upper hand in Karelia. (which was my point) He could have had 3 more inf alive, but that's hardly a game breaker.

I think the Ukraine move is pretty good(but risky!) since you take out 1 German fig. Germany will have 5 figs and 1 bomber left to trade karelia and/or ukraine, kill a british BB, kill a british DST and take Egypt(?). If he wants to press on all those fronts the odds of losing an additonal fighter and an inf here and there increases dramatically. Further it reduces the need for UK/US to buy defensive naval units with a weakened luftwaffe = quicker troop insertion into Europe.

I'm not saying striking Ukraine is superior to Belo, but IMO it lets the German player have more flexibility. (which generally is bad)

[Nix]

Im a strong advocate of Russia sending 2 Arm to Yakut and 6 inf To Buryatia on R1, to go mess Machuria up a bit...

Ties up Japan atleast 1 round, ussually more.  (usually followed by Allied partial offence vs Japan.)

[yamamato456]

That sounds like a good idea, but I haven't seen anyone use it in the games on the board.  Maybe you should try it out.  Will it leave the German front a bit weak though?  Would you be able to attack Ukraine?  Would you lose those tanks quick against Japan?

[ncscswitch]

Actually, I have had a similar strat used against me... and crushed the Russian offensive in China after they moved through Manch.

Was annoying, and slowed Japan, but was far from debilitating.