• Since Russia one is the only (semi) unchangeable move, we can talk about this without too many variables involved.  The only variable is the bid.  What are your thoughts on Russia 1 buy/combats?


  • I’m pretty much settled into a rut in this. I have tried just about everything, even not attacking on R1. But I like the 1 tank, 1 Artillery and 5 Infantry buy. Then attacking the Ukraine with everything that can reach, and attacking West Russia with everything else. If I can, I will leave the German fighter in the Ukraine, and retreat my tanks to the Caucuses for later attacks.
    IMO, this is the best use of R1 resources.
      C.I. ;)

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    My NCM moves for Russia almost never change.  However, I’ve often gone higher risk openings against opponents I felt were lesser skilled because it offers me the ability to try things out.  Likewise, against people like DM, Switch and Gamer (not an exhaustive list) I generally go more secure maybe hitting W. Russia only, or W. Russia and Ukraine OR Belorussia.


  • I am not used to using bids since that was eliminated in the out of the box rules so Russia has become rather rote for me. 2 tanks 1 fighter and an artillery and attack Bello and West Russia. I doubt my attacks would really change due to a bid in Ukraine and I am almost certain my purchases would not as I feel Russia needs the additional hardware while it is easy to aquire and the existing infantry can be used.


  • Hello I’m new (to game and forum). What about using the two russian fighters to destroy the 2 german subs and destroyer off of russia’s west coast. accelerating possible norway/western europe landing or if the german’s decide to rebuild, take some pressure off of the front. Or would this leave u too weak to be sure of capturing W.Rus etc?


  • I’m a big Ukraine/W. Russia fan. Takes out a lot of offensive German gear, and downing that fig early seems to me to help out the other Allies land safer. I don’t mind very much losing the Russian arm that early; I just rebuild it. Germany can’t afford to trade 1 on 1 with the Allies, and that is exactly what you’re doing with that move before they disappear into a huge mound in E. Europe.

    Doing W. Russia solely has some merit, but IMO you should be trying to trade out a little bit more than that; at least go W. Russia/Belorussia if you don’t like to risk big Russian units. Remember trading one on one with Germany is a good thing generally speaking, because how long can they keep that up against all 3 Allies?


  • I’ve been all over the place with R1 builds. I used to swear by (inf/art/arm) 3/1/2, but I’ve also done 2/2/2, 5/1/1, and even something involving an R1 ftr. Now I almost always go with 3/0/3. Having a large tank force is generally the best stack to be running around with, and really the best R can hope for in round 1 is to make Germany think twice about going into Kar. 3/0/3 gets some more infantry into the field, but can potentially deadzone Kar–and easily deadzone Belo and Ukr.

    With combats, nothing beats Ukr+WRus. I play LL, so I like to go with all available into Ukr (minus one arm) and then all available into WRus (perhaps leaving an inf in Kar). This way, in Ukr, I have a good chance of burning off 5 units and then pulling my tanks back to Cau. If there was a G0 bid in Ukr, then I bring in that extra arm.

    I guess I’ve never tried any of the snazzier openings that bring in Nor and/or Belo attacks, but that’s because I don’t think they’re very appealing. I can’t think of any situation besides just plain messing around where the WRus or Ukr attacks could be ignored, and since Kar is pretty much all that can be used against Nor or Belo, you’ve gotta pick one. But what’s the benefit of one of those attacks? WRus will have say 2-4 fewer inf on it by G1, and that’s really where you want to be strongest. I haven’t done any major number-crunching, but it seems like adding a Nor or Belo attack will just make you lose about 4-6 inf more (from both the extra attack and increased WRus casualties) while only costing Germany slightly more inf and maybe that Nor ftr.

    Who cares if Germany is down one less ftr? It’s not that big a deal. And it could put Germany in a position to temporarily lurch east (or set up a faster permanent eastward march). Just one 3-ipc territory is one more inf for Germany, one less for Russia. Who cares about one ftr.

    I think I read in a different thread about how a riskier R1 opening is fine because in the face of uncooperative dice, Russia can simply retreat, but I can’t think of an R1 retreat (aside from a good strafe of Ukr) that isn’t a huge blow to Russia–though I can think of bad ones.

    1. Norway or Belo retreats back to Kar: Germany strafes Kar–or smashes it b/c Russia had too many R1 casualties and just can’t deadzone Kar at this point.

    2. WRus retreats to Russia: Russia will take longer to start trading Kar/Belo/Ukr (if it ever does) and will have a smaller income while Germany has a larger one.

    3. Ukr retreats to Cau: If Belo and Ukr have enough units, WRus could be in serious trouble. This could in turn lead to the result from 2–Russia swapping Arc/WRus/Ukr when it should be further west–or even more catastrophic things such as Russia being really short on units or losing Cau early.

    So because retreats aren’t looking too good it’s pretty much all or nothing with the extra attack. And even if Russia successfully takes Nor or Belo, Germany could strafe away those Russian units. That’s even more lost units who would otherwise be safe and sound in Cau. If Germany never retakes Nor, UK would be down that income, but it probably doesn’t hurt for Russia to be up 3 at the expense of the UK.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    The two russian fighters attacking SZ 5 do not have the best of odds.  Better to use the 2 British Fighters and Bomber and save the Russian fighters for land battles.  Best to ignore the SZ 5 Fleet if they stay put in SZ 5.

  • Moderator

    I voted for the 2nd option.  I vary mine to anyone of the following:

    1 - Wrus only
    2 - Wrus + Belo
    3 - Wrus + Ukr

    If anything is bid to Afr or Belo I’ll use 1 or 3.
    If anything is bid to Ukr I’ll use 1 or 2.

    Any my purchases will depend on my combat choices, but I’ll usually go with one of these:  2/2/2, 5/1/1, or 3/0/3.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    You know, I have yet to win a game where I put bid units in Ukraine.

    I guess if someone lets me bid 2 infantry, artillery to Ukraine I might survive, but I rarely win a 10 IPC+ bid in this game.

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