Soviet early card play? And other PBEM questions (strategy, what if etc)

[jjdenver]

In pbem as soviets, does anyone have Card play recommendations? Save up for the 30 point card? Or do something else?

[Flaviusx]

I don't think going the first 3 turns without spending PP in PBEM is a good idea, myself. I want to get that focus card out ASAP, that's 10 PPs. And I want to replace 1-2 marshalls, that's another 5-10 PPs. That helps get some of those Soviet zombie armies activating. Otherwise they are just chewy toys for the German.

These expenditures I regards as mandatory.

Optionally, I'd consider spending 5 PPs to drop a major garrison in either Riga or Odessa. Also optionally, spending 5 PPs to divert one army to either the south or north depending on circumstances. (The first such diversion is free.) Those early Soviet armies are regulars and set to neutral. Dropping 2 of those immediately up north, for example, could go a long ways towards securing Leningrad or at least forcing the German to divert a PG north. Alternately, the south is starved for reinforcements and it may be a good idea to help it out.

After that, I would work on reducing defensive posture costs and improving Soviet command abilities.

Paranoia strikes often enough that it's rather dangerous to expect you can build up 30 points in the kitty early on, too.

[jjdenver]

Thx for the response. A few followup questions.

Which of the 3 objections (Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov) would be the easiest to hang onto in PBEM?

For focus - do you normally play it on the Center? North? South?

For marshals - are you talking about letting Tsarist marshals out of prison to command the north, center, or south?

I've only played a couple of Soviet turns and I don't really have a good handle on what's going on yet. Thx.

[Flaviusx]

Bear in mind I haven't done PBEM yet (soon.)

But Moscow seems to me the easiest objective to hold. I put my Focus on the center, then fire one or two marshals north or south depending on their stats. A near zero initiative marshal with high negative threat might be worth keeping.

Then send Zhukov to a theater not getting focus. Usually the south, but this could vary. The upshot of this is every theater is getting some kind of bonus, either from focus, an improved Marshal, or Zhukov himself.

This should result in at least some activations everywhere.

The new marshals could be either from Stalin releasing them from prison, or Khruschev doing it with his personal touch. Stalin is more immediate. Khruschev can lower paranoia by shooting a Marshal. This keeps PP costs down to a minimum, as repeated similar actions go up in cost.

Enjoy the game, it's a ton of fun on either side. When you get tired of the Sovs, try the Germans.

[jjdenver]

Is it considered unsporting for the Soviet player to use any "what if?" options in PBEM? They seem fairly powerful. Should this be arranged before a game?

Anyone else have an opinion on which of the 3 Soviet objectives is easiest to hold? In AAR's that I've seen Moscow seems to fall but maybe this is just Soviet AI problems?

[Flaviusx]

Heh. I can't even get those Soviet helpers to show on my game for some reason.

The use of helpers needs to be agreed upon by both sides as with all other major gaming conditions. My own view is to skip them altogether for both sides and play as pure a game as possible without a deus ex machina, but mileage varies.

[jjdenver]

Yes this makes sense (don't use them in pbem). That's what I'll do. One has Siberians arrive 20 turns early, another has Army commanders +15 initiative. Seems too powerful. But I guess the German should also skip those then because I think the Germans get similar decisions?

Or maybe these aren't helpers since they remove VP's and also make the game more unpredictable? For example Germany might activate Finland and allow them to cross the border, or slow down or speed up Romanian entry. These things might make PBEM games more interesting since there is a trade-off (VP's) for choosing these? I'm not sure. It'd be interesting for the design team to pipe in with what the intent of these is? Helpers for new players or PBEM spice tools?

[Flaviusx]

Germans get things like 40 PPs, magic oil drops, pretty powerful stuff. Better than the Soviet stuff imo, although the +15 initiative to armies is pretty sweet.

It's all fine if everybody is on board, but not my cup of tea.

[jjdenver]

I think we are talking about something different. I'm talking about the first pre-turn decisions that say "what if?" There are about 4 for the Soviets, and I think a random number for the Germans? You are talking about the buttons the Germans get during later turns to get more pp etc.

[Flaviusx]

Oh, ok.

Well. No what ifs for me. Again, mileage varies. And in the future I might change my mind on the what ifs. But for now as vanilla as possible.

[ChuckBerger]

First thing I would do as Soviets is to shift to neutral posture for some of your reserve fronts. Westerns and Southwestern, maybe Baltic etc. In offensive posture, they're just useless - but in neutral they can make a credible attempt at holding a river line and inflicting some losses on the Germans. Better speed bumps.

Then, yes fire/execute a marshal or two.

I think it's worth considering saving PPs on turns 2-4 for the big 30PP expenditure. It's a gamble, and your early game will suffer for it. But the payoff is huge - 15PP per turn means you can really crank through the other improvements really quickly. By end of September most of your armies will be fully activating most of the time and you'll be shifting things to defensive posture and have PPs to spare!

But it is a gamble, a big one.
C

[Flaviusx]

I'm down with setting aside 4 PPs for Western and SW fronts on turn 1. The 30 PP moonshot is in my estimation...reckless.