Russia

@Uncrustable:

Massing on Poland R1 would be a gift for the CP
Germany attacks G1 then AH joins in AH2, Russia has less reinforcements then do Germany and AH and must retreat, now Germany does not have to commit as many rounds of troops towards moscow

I believe the basic line of thought is, the sooner Russia loses units, the sooner they are eliminated from the game.  Making a stand in Poland causes Russia to begin losing units turn 1, not to mention Germany has a pretty short supply line there.  Russia will lose its units on the defensive anyway, but if you can delay it until turn 3, 4, 5… the longer they will be around.

@Uncrustable:

Love when people tell about some great start they use vs bonehead opponents

Well arn’t you just a peach. The base strategy worked great, I then just illustrated how it got out of control for the CP player (that and the mini dice really love me)

Well AH stacks south of poland (cant think of tt name off top of head), if russia stacks poland then Germany attacks then AH attacks too and it is not a good thing for the allies unless they get crazy good dice.

on R2 they will have no choice but to retreat (or be annihilated by german and AH reinforcements) and now Germany and AH do not have to send as many units towards moscow to take it

i have played 5 games and the ONE CP victory came when just this scenario happened, the dice actually split went pretty well for russia on poland but then russia fell way too fast and Germany got too big too fast AND starting sending new units towards towards France 2 rounds sooner than they probably otherwise would have (a huge deal in this game)
Germany then sent its remaining moscow force to iraq and help the autobots take india and the CP were victorious

as russia you must build INFANTRY with maybe a fighter here and there and you MUST NOT lose a stack before moscow battle, if you retreat and build up a critical mass of infantry on moscow you force Germany and/or AH to commit ALOT of troops and you buy France and Italy ALOT of time, and if germany makes the mistake of not sending enough reinforcements, then you buy artillery and fighters and using your huge infantry stack you go win the game

@DarthShizNit:

Buy two fighters on R1, then artillery with the rest. Russia with Air Superiority is threat to be reckoned with. I would avoid massing in Poland, it’s just to risky. Attack Mesopotamia, just do it, and attack the cruisers as well, you have nothing else to lose. After than, just play a game of cat and mouse, But if the Centrals provide you with a chance to hit one of their stacks, take it. My first game about 57 Russia units went on a rampage R3, the Austrian player was grouped up in the south but had sent most reinforcments to Italy, so I took the chance. My two fighters killed his one, and then the entire Austrian army of 30 units was outright killed in one round while I only lost 12. The German counter attacked with 35 units but was likewise killed in one round of combat after his plane met a similar fate. Then I killed the Otto/Bulgarian force R4 and marched into Budapest for the lols.

Basically Turtle until the moment to bring overwhelming force to play presents itself.

Why didn’t Germany just head towards a virtually undefended Moscow at that point?

@Texas:

@DarthShizNit:

Buy two fighters on R1, then artillery with the rest. Russia with Air Superiority is threat to be reckoned with. I would avoid massing in Poland, it’s just to risky. Attack Mesopotamia, just do it, and attack the cruisers as well, you have nothing else to lose. After than, just play a game of cat and mouse, But if the Centrals provide you with a chance to hit one of their stacks, take it. My first game about 57 Russia units went on a rampage R3, the Austrian player was grouped up in the south but had sent most reinforcments to Italy, so I took the chance. My two fighters killed his one, and then the entire Austrian army of 30 units was outright killed in one round while I only lost 12. The German counter attacked with 35 units but was likewise killed in one round of combat after his plane met a similar fate. Then I killed the Otto/Bulgarian force R4 and marched into Budapest for the lols.

Basically Turtle until the moment to bring overwhelming force to play presents itself.

Why didn’t Germany just head towards a virtually undefended Moscow at that point?

They did lol, he had 30ish units spread around Moscow trying to set off the Revolution but the British saved the day with a last minute landing. Between that and the fact that AH got rofl stomped in Italy, they surrendered O4

Without knowing much of the details, I think some poor play by the CPs was involved.  That is is the first game I have seen end before the US can move.

He had to leave more than anything, German had 52 bucks to spend on G5, so it could have been dragged out, but dice rolls royally screwed the AH attack into Italy, leaving them with nothing within two spaces of Rome and a bunch of angry Italians. The Ottoman player was down to making 3 inf a turn with a large british stack with air power closing in, and Germany had failed to set off the Revolution with it’s all in on Russia and France was going to hit Munich next turn. So even if he could have fouhgt his way to freedom at a latter game, the situtaion was bad enough that he conceded.

That and seriously, the Russians just went all beast mode with the die roll.

In our latest game the Russians withdrew everything she could into the Ukraine. Bought fighters. The Germans advanced into Poland on their turn. On the next Russian turn, the entire German force in Poland was destroyed (and with less then stellar luck did minimal damage in return). The Austrians tried to side step this stack and got to Moscow first, but with not enough to knock it out in a single round.

The Russian monster stack arrived to lift the siege and destroyed the Austrian army there. While the CP did regroup to move troops back east, by then the Russians had built an impregnable position that could not be overcome, and with air superiority could crush any advancing force.

The CP never put the Russians in any danger despite AH getting to Moscow, even with sending large forces into the east.

Massing the Russians with air superiority is a clear winner, the CP cannot coordinate enough forces from a single power to defeat it unless they send massive numbers of units east, and doing so means failure in the west.

Kim

AH can stack south of Poland everything and still take Romania, If russia were to counter attack in Romania they would be severely out of position for the rest of the game in defending a German invasion. Its almost a ‘bait and hook’ move ;)

But a smart Russian player will do neither (stack in Poland or counter attack Romania) as either would play into the hands of the CP

If the Germans move into Poland in force on turn one, the Russian stack in the Ukraine can attack it and destroy it. If the Germans delay moving into Poland then the Russians can destroy the AH in Romania turn two, Germans move into Poland, Russians back to Ukraine on turn 3 and can reach Moscow before Germany.

Kim

Yes Russia can kill Germany’s Poland stack on R2, but it will not survive the double counter attack from Germany and AH.
From that point on Russia is toast

@Texas:

I believe the basic line of thought is, the sooner Russia loses units, the sooner they are eliminated from the game.  Making a stand in Poland causes Russia to begin losing units turn 1, not to mention Germany has a pretty short supply line there.  Russia will lose its units on the defensive anyway, but if you can delay it until turn 3, 4, 5… the longer they will be around.

Good post this is very true

AH stacks in Galatia AH1 and attacks Romania with whatever can get there but cannot get to Galatia. Also attack Serbia obviously and I think you have to hold off on Venice till AH2 or so
Russia is more important than Italy, especially early on