What is “SU2”?Â
Sorry, SU=Soviet Union, so that’s the Soviet’s 2nd turn. My latest post is talking about the way the board looks heading into Germany’s 2nd turn (“G2”).
after SU2 the Russians hold: W.Rus 6inf, 2art, 4arm, 2F(UK) amd Cauc 5inf, 1art, 2F, Ukraine 6inf, Belo 2inf, plus 5inf reserve in Russia and 2inf in Kaz, so their lines are not exactly paper thin.
That does look pretty similar to a lot of games I’ve seen, with the exception that Ukraine is pretty built up. I assume that Germany DID hold Ukraine at the end of G1, but that Russia captured Ukraine on SU2. (Germany shouldn’t let Ukraine be held by the Soviets after G1). If that was the case, and Russia commits forces to the Ukraine, it runs into the problem of a German attack, which can come in two flavors.
The first flavor is Germany attacking with moderate forces, and pulling back; after Germany retreats, it moves infantry up to reinforce for a strong and threatening position. Russia can’t counterattack (noplace to counterattack to because the German defense is so strong), and Russia loses maybe 4-5 infantry in exchange for 2-ish German infantry.
The second flavor is Germany going kitchen sink attack, and maniacally attacking Ukraine, trying to suck Russia’s forces into the west, while Japan attacks from the east.
Germany COULD get unlucky. The worst case scenario for Germany is Germany attacking with moderate forces, ACCIDENTALLY wiping out all the infantry in Ukraine, thus being forced to take and hold the Ukraine, thus being vulnerable to Russian attack from West Russia and Ukraine.
Germany could ALSO get lucky. The best case scenario for Germany is attacking with moderate forces, wiping out the Ukraine forces with no losses, and being able to reinforce Ukraine to a degree that Russia will find it horribly costly to attack.
Being surrounded at Karelia is not a problem. The Allies usually do not build a mighty ATTACK force at Norway, they are usually just concerned with holding Norway.
Yes, but let’s say G2 takes Karel, but then SU3 moves 5-6inf into Arch, so even if Allies only hold Norway 1 round, can Germany defend Karel from both sides? (Remember, W.Rus has 6inf 2art 4arm, so SU has offensive punch.)
Germany can hold Karelia for a long ass time, because infantry marched up from Germany into Eastern Europe hit Karelia next turn. The major problem with Norway is that if Germany hits Norway early or late, that’s forces diverted from Russia. Imagine, if you had a lot of German stuff in Karelia on G2, and attacked Norway; those units would march back to Karelia on G3, and into Archangel on G4. But instead of attacking Karelia on G2, you COULD have attacked Archangel on G2 . . . two turns of difference. Pretty significant.
What you mention is quite right, though. It is a pain to try to hold Karelia. But there are two things to keep in mind. First, if Germany doesn’t control Karelia, the Allies can get a transport chain going from London to Archangel, and feed forces into Moscow. This is a big pain in the ass for Germany. Second, although that first point is true, Germany CAN afford to NOT beef up Karelia. (There usually isn’t a problem with beefing up Karelia, but Germany can afford to go the southern route as well).
That is - if Germany beefs up at Ukraine, threatning W. Russia / Caucasus, Russia will almost certainly not be able to defend W. Russia, Caucasus, AND Archangel. Russia will have to pull back from Archangel, or Russia will lose W. Russia (very bad positionally), or Caucasus (very bad because Germany can now drop four more units a turn right near Moscow).
Conversely, if Germany beefs up at Archangel, Russian forces concentrated at W. Russia/Caucasus or Ukraine have to be diverted north.
The trick is threatening Russia on the north and the south.
My main problem with the strategies discussed for Germany is that many of them seem to assume that SU is simply sitting around waiting to get crushed, whereas in my experience it grows quickly into a monster if not repeatedly attacked from turn 1 forward by German ground units, ground units and more ground units (with fighter support and possibly even sbr).
Hope you’re not talking about me . . . I assume that SU runs around trying to snatch German territory, only giving ground when forced. I often build 8 infantry in Moscow on SU1, but that’s an AGGRESSIVE move for control of Karelia/Belorussia/Ukraine on SU3.
And that is how you bid!
:lol: newpaintbrush, that’s funny, have you actually pulled off G1 London blitz in a tournament?!
Nope. The closest I’ve come was G2 SeaLion. It was pretty obvious, but the Allies didn’t see it coming. I won a mug. :lol:
I think there are too many work arounds for the Allies for 1 AC for the Baltic to scare them.
Agreed, Darth.
Yeah, Caspian Sub Yahoo group has a paper mentioning that 2-3 transports could be a better Baltic purchase. It’s interesting. Right now, I haven’t really decided whether a carrier, 2-3 transports, or NO buy for the Baltic is better. I don’t know if there’s a clear-cut answer; it probably depends on the Russian moves. But I’m pretty sure that with more analysis, I can figure out the optimal response dependent on the situation.
I’d pull back everything to EE, leaving 1 inf in Ukr, I wouldn’t counter Belo, but I’d take Kar.
I’d hit Egy. (I would have also placed my bid, if any, in Lib).
I’d also probably leave only inf and ftrs in WE, armor should be in EE to threaten against an aggressive Russia.
Place at least 2 inf in SE.
