I have been playing the game for over 15 years and I have seen many things done with both sides. I can win with both sides, but no matter what stratagy you use, you have to have teamwork from your ally. I can usually criple germany in 3 rounds with Russia and use the rest of the allies to clean up germany by round 6. The key is to be smart and aggressive. Let me explain, and see if you can adapt this to your style of play……
This game to me is a game of options… You always have options with what to do every round. The trick to winning is to limit the enemy to options that they have and increasing yours.
This is where teamwork comes in. Most people I have played against, see’s russia as very weak, and they play them defensively. I can’t play that way. My first round purchases for Russia is 6 artillary. This will do a few things for you…it creates options. Doing this for your first 3 rounds along with attacking Germany every turn will make you stronger. Buying the artillery adds an offensive option to you your stratagy. First round combat movements should consist of attacking Norway with 2 fighters and 3 infantry from karelia. You will limit the fighter from norway from attacking the british fleet in SZ2, and it gives you an easy 3 ipc’s. Then attack west Russia with everything else from russia, your tank in archangel, and artillary and tank from caucas. You should win both battles with little loss. Your non combat phase, move 3 infantry from archangel into Karelia and land 2 fighters into karelia. Move 2 infantry from kazakh into Caucasas. 2 infantry from yakut to Buryatia. 2 infantry from novosibursk into sinkiiang. 2 infantry from E.N.O into Novosibirsk. Move your submarine from sea zone 4 to 2. Place your 6 artillary into caucasas. What this does is creates a wall for germany to attack. If Germany goes on the offensive they will be very weak for a counter attack by britian and russia. Caucasas will have 5 infantry and 6 artillery to defend with. Karelia will have 3 infantry and 2 fighters to defend with. West Russia will have 3 tanks, artillery and at least 1 infantry to defend with. If Germany attacks either one of these they will have to attack in force. They will be hurt badly and then you’ll be able to clean up with your other units the next round. Doing this will put you at +5 ipc’s for your next round, and will give you alot of firepower to attack Ukraine in round 2 from west russia and caucasas.
If I am Germany my focus is to keep britian land locked. I usually will use 1 sub from zone 8 to attack 2. Fighter from Norway and bomber from Germany to attack sea zone 2 also. Sinse Russia took norway, Germany no longer has that fighter. So you limited Germany on its options. Germany lands a tank and an infantry into Norway and captures it losing the infantry. Germany loses the sub and bomber leaving the battleship and troopship for britian. German bomber hits the Russian Sub for fodder. germany then attacks your battleship in gibralter and you lose that, at a cost of 1 fighter for them. Basically your British fleet is still intact for future assaults on Europe.
Britian… Purchase 1 IC to be placed in India and 1 troopship, 1 infantry, 1 artillary to be placed with northern fleet at Sea zone 3. Combat moves should be bringing a tank from canada and infantry from britian to land in Norway. Bring BB from sea zone 2 to 3 for bombardment with troopship carrying 1 tank and another infantry from britian for support. You can use your 2 fighters to attack German surface fleet in the baltic. Your bomber can support the fighters, but Taking more money from Germany is more important. Use sub from australia and attack Japanese Sub in sea zone 45. Use carrier fighter to attack transport in 59. You want to maximize your limited naval strength in the pacific for defense. Don’t attack the Japanese fleet. But make them chase after you. I’ll explain later. Non combat moves…land fighter back on carrier. Bring fighter fromegypt and land it in india for support. Move infantry from jordan to egypt. Infantry from persia to india. Infantry from S. Africa north. Land fighters from baltic back in britian. Bomber the same. Move destroyer from sea zone 15 to the rest of the fleet in 35. Place new units with fleet in sea zone 3. New IC in India. Britians goal is to attack Japanese interests in Asia, limiting their options for attacking Russia. Build 3 tanks in India the next few turns and keep putting 1 infantry, artillary, and a troopship in the atlantic. The next round you should still have Norway, so britian could build an IC in Norway so they can keep building tanks and moving them into the Russian lines later in the game. Britians purchases for turn 3 should be 6 tanks. 3 for Norway, 3 for India. Basically with tanks in india you should take Burma and kwantung by the 3rd round. British units should be mixed in with Russian units in Europe.
Japan has to build an IC in Asia to match the brits, otherwise They will starve to death and britian will overwhelm the pacific. Japan most likely will not attack Russia this round. If they do they will be very weak for the british armor onslaught that will happen in the next few turns. The Japanese fleet will have to respect the US fleet as well as the British fleet. Japanese options are limited at this point…
US… purchases- 2 troopships, 3 infantry, 3tanks, All to be placed in the eastern US. Combat moves… Move 2 transports, 1 destroyer, 1 tank, 1 artillary, 2 infantry, and 1 bomber and attack algeria. If you still have China use fighter and attack any troopship of the japanese. If you still have your fleet in hawaii merge them with your transport and battleship. You can meet them in wake and attack wake island using 2 fighters, bombardment, and 2 infantry. This will basically show Japan that you are there and you will attack anything open. They will have to put some energy towards your fleet. Don’t attack their fleet, let them attack you. Carriers defend best and a fully loaded carrier will wipe out a small fleet on defense. This fleet is basically there to keep Japan honest. They won’t be able to divert all there attention on mainland asia and if you don’t lose your fleet, you don’t have to build anything else until Germany gets wiped out. This will allow you to focus shuttling units into Europe. Germany will most likely lose interest in Africa by round 2 because of the russian advance and the british buildup in Norway. Non combat moves… move destroyer from sea zone 20 into 10. land bomber in egypt. Move fighter from E. US and land it in britian. Fighter from W. US lands in Hawaii, or on carrier. Fighter in China should stay. Move infantry from sinkiiang into China. Place new units in Eastern US. Your purchases for the next few rounds should be the same as your first round purchases. If Germany doesn’t attack your transports in sea zone 12 their next round, you can send them back to the US to bring more units later, or you can keep them around Europe and land them in places in europe to help with taking it. Doing this constantly will keep Germany pressured from 3 sides and you will limit their options.
After you get Germany weakened by round 2, try and develope combined bombardment, with Britian and the US. This will give you more firepower later on. If you get combined bombardment, you can buy 2 destroyers for every one battleship. Thats twice the amphibious firepower for your money. If you build a fleet with at least 2 fully loaded carriers, 4 destroyers and, and at least 4 transports, you will have a powerful navy that has alot of bite. Play with it and see what happens. I promise, you will never purchase a battleship ever again.
The key to this stratagy is teamwork. There will be times that Britian and the US will play a supporting role to Russia. Russia will have to do alot of the dirty work, but during the British and US turns, they will reinforce the Russian lines. The British and Us bombers should strategic bomb germany every round. For every dollar germany loses thats one less tank or infantry that they can buy. Every bit helps.
Stick to the gameplan I set up, and the allies will have Europe captured by round 5 or 6. Japan will be weakened drastically and will fall by turn 10.
Try this out, and let me know what happens.
