I’ve been messing around with my Russia + UK game (my friends and I always play them as one person), and I’ve come up with the interesting idea of moving one (or both) of Russia’s starting fighters to assist somewhere else than the german front.
I began by deciding to play as a conservative Russian, and to not do any attacks, just simply mass units and defend, at least for the first turn.
I had first tried messing around in western Russia, to slow Japan, but the fighters can’t really do anything big enough for me to try it in a game with my friends. Japan doesn’t really start to massively assault western russia until J3 (or J2 if he’s quick / risky).
Then I pondered helping out the UK. I tried both bringing my fighters to AE Sudan, and India (both can reach both), with some interesting results. G1 usually consists of attacking AE Sudan, but with 2 russian fighters there defending at a 4, it’s a bit more of a stretch. Germany can come with a tank, an infantry, and either 2 more inf or a tank. It’s a close call either way, really, and in my tests UK usually wins with 1 or both russian figs surviving.
This early African victory is actually pretty damn decisive. The UK can drop a factory in AE Sudan now, moving the Iraq infantry in for defense, and moving the southern africa man up for next turn. If you wanted to be reckless, and personally i dont, you could also take some infantry from india to defend it. I don’t like that idea much because India is a prime target for the Japs.
Having a factory that can drop 2 units a turn in AE Sudan is amazing, on so many levels. First, you can threaten Southern Europe with ease, making Germany actively defend it. Second, you can easily take whatever you want in africa (although leaving some for america is optimal). Third, it allows for the dispatchment of tanks to the Indian front or Russia. Fouth, it’s next to 2 godly sea zones. From either side of AE Sudan, you can hit Libya, Algeria, Western Eurioe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Ukraine SSR, Caucasus, Iraq, Persia, India, and various parts of British-controlled Africa.
After that test, which worked out fairly well, i tried using the Russian figs to defend India. This worked out awesomely. The Japs couldn’t attack it till at the very best J3, giving the brits 3 infantry and 3 tanks (or however you like to mix it up, maybe another fig).
on the british turn, the Brits can move the figs in their land into Russia to make up for the russian figs lost to other areas, and eventually the units could be switched back. This essentially creates only 1 vunerable time, namely G1, and because i’m playing conservative Russia, it’s really not THAT weak a vunerability.
So what do you think? How bad can Germany hurt Russia on G1 with no Russian Fighters defending? Are either of my strategies worth the risk?