R1(KGF)-West Russia only

@Fleetwood:

As a side note, not attacking z2 doesn’t mean the Allies get a totally free pass in the Atlantic. Say Germany commits a sub and 2-3 fighters to the Med cruiser. 2/3 of the time the sub lives. If Germany builds a bomber G1 and the med sub lives and the Baltic subs escape, they will still be able to kill a round one Allied move to z8 2/3 of the time. That’s 3 subs, 4 fighters, 2 bombers vs 2 destroyers, 1 sub, 1 carrier, 2 fighters, 1 cruiser, and 4 transports using this calculator. http://www.dskelly.com/misc/aa/aasim.html

Are you saying that Germany should buy a cruiser and a destroyer for the Med on G1, and not use the Z8 sub to splash the Canadian transport, but retreat it into the Med (Z13 is as far as it can reach)? This takes away half of Germany’s income, which means it can only commit 20 IPCs to the land battle with Russia, and allows UK to retain both of its Atlantic transports. I don’t know if that is a good move…

@Advosan:

Which makes the AES Gambit (all rights reserved by B.P.Wrath:)) safer for Russia.

Oo no.  I am not that baby daddy.

@Mallery29:

E.Europe as the territory, not as a whole

Let me rephrase: Allies control E. Europe, they control the entire Eastern front and deny its income to Germany and secure it to themselves. Let Japan have Africa (and divert units away from Russia).

Lads and Lasses,

First time on the the site, but I’ve loved what I’ve seen so far! There is a lot of great strategic advice, especially at the beginning of the game.

I was wondering if anyone had an picture of the game with all of the pieces placed prior to the first turn.  It would be great to be able to see the board and pieces in place, so I can envision the moves and see what the opposing players might try.  Maybe it’s because I’m a noob, but  I haven’t been able to memorize the board at the start yet.

Any help would be much appreciated!  Thanks in advance!

Hard to say - all depends on the magnitude of the threat from Germany.

Going full KGF with a pretty standard German opening round means that the sea zone next to Algeria is threatened by 2 subs 3-5 figs and a bomber.

I almost always buy an AC + Destroyer.
Maybe also a Fighter (UK maybe require 1-2 figs on their AC).
this leaves room for 1 transport + 1 tank

I often land in Algeria with 4 units round 1 - meaning I sacrifice the two transports.

Giving me the possibility to move in next with AC + 2 figs + cruiser +2 dd and maybe join up with the UK navy.

Germany can beat this, but not likely without substantial losses, if they do my next buy will be similar, and reach Europe together with the pacific battleship.

@Zhukov44:

That fig to egy move is devastating when it works.  If Germany doesn’t take Egypt, then UK gets the ez fleet kill on UK2.  It’s an interesting gamble, but it has potential to go wrong if Ukr doesn’t go Russia’s way or if Germany gets a lucky roll in Egy.

It certainly stretches Germany out and forces them to take tons of risks or omit a major battle like SZ2.

Russian fighter in Anglo-Egypt Sudan?

(Re:  German 2 inf / 1 art / 1 tank / 1 fighter vs AES forces)with the additional fighter: [52.6% Attacker, 8.7% Tie, 18IPCs lost]

61% chance Russia shot itself in the ass.

Just to clarify….the OP is referring to the AE gambit in low luck.  So he’s not really risking much by taking one less fig to UKR…he will still take it 100% but just with higher than av. losses.

It’s difficult to judge the efficacy of the gambit because whether it works or not depends on dice and the German player’s reaction.  If Germany ends up skipping SZ2…then it worked.  Or if Germany fails to actually take Egy, it worked.  The main risk is if Germany goes to both 2 and Egy and succeeds…  On the other hand, sometimes Germany will go to both 2 and Egy and get diced up…even 2 is not a sure thing in low luck because of the Russian sub.

@Hobbes:

@special:

next turn the W.Russia stack should retreat, no matter what Germany does (but yes, Karelia is about their best choice).

As long as Germany controls Eastern Europe, Russia should keep a stack on West Russia as long as possible. With it, it can trade 7 IPC worth of territories with the Germans and keep their advance in check. If it pulls out the stack then Russia is effectively allowing a ton of IPCs to the Germans: Karelia, Belorussia, Ukraine, West Russia.

true, but if Germany puts enough troops in position to defeat the W.Russian army (like in your example, + air force + units from other territories that probably can reach W.Russia), i am inklined to pull back (or turn south, depending on the situation).
Against a German player that will take W.Russia with the minimal amount of units, i will take W.Russia back the next turn with some inf + fighters. I know that is a game that won’t last long in Spring 42.
Call me a semi-agressive Russian 😉

that said, consulting the map i notice that i usually take Belarus and ukraine while keeping a stack in W.Russia, backed up by Caucasus and Russia. Clearly i don’t know this map by heart (yet). So i guess i was  agreeing with you, heh. 😄 sorry for that
Keeping W.Russia (and trade Ukraine, Belarus or even Karelia when possible).

edit: i do usually retreat my tanks, though