How do you turn the corner with Russia


  • Welcome to the forum KGrimB

    Russia’s job is to survive while its allies get themselves in a position to help, by coming north from the Middle East and/or landings in Europe and/or fighter reinforcements to Moscow.


  • I think you’ll find Russia is the least fun to play in this game. You have to pretty much buy infantry and hold out until the later rounds. Then hope your Allies weaken Germany enough where you can eventually move forward.


  • You can move forward, when the us and british can land and germany must concentrade their ressource for them.
    you get +3 ipc for earch european pro axis or original italian / german territory, this make russia strong at the end.
    the best way to attack is south europe (greece, bulgaria, …), because you have a factory in ukraine and the axis cant defend theire your troops.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    If Germany comes straight at you with everything it can (the G1 Romania Factory buy is a big clue), then you will need to be conservative and that means not buying “luxury” units (anything but the cheap stuff), making spoiling attacks, or splitting your stack in multiple directions in order to retake your shrinking money supply.

    In the Global version, you do get the 37 IPCs (most versions its 24 or less) and there are some ways to make that bigger

    1. take Iraq with a special expeditionary force, since you get the $3 NO bonus.  Problem is that the UK has 2 chance to take it before you have 1, and it may require a dice battle in order to win it with Russia, also diverts key mobility units.
    2. take scandanavia at some point.  This is really tempting because you get the bonuses and your other allies can help.  the problem is the geometry of spaces up there and the german Baltic fleet trap the Russians in scandananvia away from their capital
    3. Novosibirsk is lost.  You can’t really hold or retake St. Petersburg from the Germans, unless they make a mistake.  If somehow you can make this battle difficult or impossible, do, but it wont be easy.
      4)  once China is gone, you’re cooked because youre double teamed and backdoored.  An early and ongoing intervention in china by USSR and UK is great, but you need to dedicate and focus all 5 of your eastern teams to stop Japan.  Remember there is no consequence for Russian declarations of war against Japan (only crossing the border loses your Manchurians), so the Russians can freely enter china by declaring an early war.  The UK can too, but they have to step up and they lose the ‘trigger’ that brings USA into the war.
      5)  Work your convoy NO.  A smart german will fight for this.
    4. if Japan doesn’t take your east, you’re better off than in most games

    The retention of the 7 income from the Russian east, 5 from Iraq and 5 from the convoy NO can make the difference between triumph and defeat.

    Brining in a holy-heck stack of fighters from the other allies by Turn 5 is awesome.  Many AAA games have Moscow turtled past turn 8 with a jumble of other Allied efforts to relieve/protect Moscow.

    You probably can’t stop Russia from getting shredded but you have to stop Germany from taking your $$, they typically conquer Moscow just in time and use that $100 payday to end any hope of Western Allied relief…

    American needs to cross knowing that it will face around 8 small planes and 5-7 strategic bombers, a navy worth at least 12 hits will be required to stick together, though it can be made of UK and US units.  If you are uncertain that you can withstand the concentrated attack of the Axis, then don’t put all your transports in one pile where they all die;  spread out the risk.  Be careful using screens/blockers because Italy can kill them (sometimes very far away using purchased Strat bombers) before Germany attacks…


  • @Private:

    Welcome to the forum KGrimB

    Russia’s job is to survive while its allies get themselves in a position to help, by coming north from the Middle East and/or landings in Europe and/or fighter reinforcements to Moscow.

    What do you mean by fighter reinforcements? I know you can defend together but can I attack with American planes landing in Russia?


  • @WinterAdler:

    You can move forward, when the us and british can land and germany must concentrade their ressource for them.
    you get +3 ipc for earch european pro axis or original italian / german territory, this make russia strong at the end.
    the best way to attack is south europe (greece, bulgaria, …), because you have a factory in ukraine and the axis cant defend theire your troops.

    Ok so for now just hold on with infantry and make small attacks until the allies land.


  • @KGrimB:

    What do you mean by fighter reinforcements? I know you can defend together but can I attack with American planes landing in Russia?

    Initially primarily for defence, as holding Moscow is the objective, but as the position in R improves they can be used to support attacks, for example by UK units coming up through the ME, or by US landings via Norway.

    Of course if Moscow becomes indefensible, a retreating R stack can help save the day!


  • Thanks for the advice everyone. I will defend Moscow. Do you think going for Finland and Norway is viable?

    I have enough troops to take the Baltic states back, but they would die to a counterattack from Warsaw. So right now I think that sending troops away from Leningrad to go fight in Norway would cost me the ability to threaten Baltic states.


  • Everyone posted it but in G40, USSR is so weak from the start that your best chance of surviving on your own is hoping the Axis doesn’t tear into you until turn 4 however because you got attacked right from the get go, you will need reinforcements from your allies in order to protect your capital. However, if you do accept help, make sure its more than 5 dollars worth of help.


  • In my experience as Russia, buying only infantry with occasional artillery for the first 4-8 turns depending on Germany’s moves usually works.

    The best scenario for Russia is when Germany builds a large navy and tries to beat USA on their home turf (or sea :-)). This allows Russia to build without much interference. If this happens, I would recommend building inf., art., and occasional tanks/planes. The inf. and art. is cheap while still being a decent attack force and the tanks/planes gives you high hitters.

    However, if Germany goes entirely your direction then prepare to buckle down and buy inf. for 6-10 rounds. If you get to a position where you begin to out build Germany on your front, then buy art. This allows you to turn all the inf. you already have into a more effective counterattacking force (combined arms). Germany also usually has more expensive units (i.e. tanks and bombers) than they do cheap units (i.e. inf. and art.). If that is the case than doing trade-offs will be in your favor. Attack their expensive units and only lose your cheap ones.

    All that being said, Russia will always need Allied support to deal with a determined German invasion. Having the British build a minor IC in Persia or an American one in Norway usually works well.

    Anyway, I hope that helps!


  • I am usually USSR and I have still haven’t put in place an effective defensive strategy if Japan attacks as well and even more so if you need to defend China.


  • What about building an airbase in Soviet Far East and having the Americans send stacks of fighters through Asia, first threatening Japan and then moving onward to reinforce your troops in or near your capital?


  • @larrymarx:

    What about building an airbase in Soviet Far East and having the Americans send stacks of fighters through Asia, first threatening Japan and then moving onward to reinforce your troops in or near your capital?

    Not sure if that is a good idea, I think it would be best off just having US sent air power anyways and then have the eastern Red Army capture boarder Chinese territories for US to attack from.

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