Tackling the Bear

[Ron]

Russian that is. In a current pbem game my opponent, playing W.Allies, China and Russia, has 20 Russian Tanks by the Spr/Sum 41 turn, some of them forward near the border. They were 'teched' up also on top of the vast quantity. His tanks have higher Evasion, mine higher Attack, so from my limited experience he has the edge here also. I had planned on invading in early 41 but this development has got me stumped.

Any ideas on what would be a good strategy to deal with this? I have proceeded to build more Tanks myself and delay Barbarossa until 42 now, but the problem is he will be getting stronger in the meantime as well obviously. [&:]




Ron

[CharonJr]

Basically from what I have seen the Axis can not afford to delay the attack since soon the US will enter the war and then it gets really ugly for the Axis. So the sooner you attack the better.

How is your war in the Middle-East progressing ? Some pressure on the Caucasus should help with forcing him to put more troops there.

I currently can not look up the factory capacity of the USSR, but with 20 tanks and some research into them I doubt that Russia has the capacity for anything else due to it low production modifier prior to any attack.

IMO you should try to launch a coordinated attack by Japan and Germany as soon as possible.

Your first attack should be on his main tank force in order to utilise your "surprise bonus" in the best way. Since this might be the only time when you have an edge in your tank battles I would try to destroy as many Russian tanks as possible in this first assault. Soften them up as good as you can by a massive bomber strike which should lower their evasion since some of the tanks will already have been attacked.

And unless you are close to an important tech-up for a land-unit/bomber or are about to complete a significant number of units anytime soon I would try to attack ASAP.

CharonJr

[hakon]

20 is much, it means he has done little but build tanks and tech them up.

I think taking them out in 41 would be best, attacking from both east and west.

As germany you need to have about 10-12 tanks in 41 if you want a successfull barbarossa, and they should be teched up to 9/8.
If he has built along the border, he will have built tanks as follows:

2 in kiev, belorussia, khakov, leningrad, rostov, stalingrad, vladivostok ( 12)
4 moscow
3 from start (east poland, vladivostok, kiev)

On top of this, he may have built militia one turn.

This is a very vulnerable build for Russia. To take them out, do as follows:

Kill East Poland with inf/art/air
Kill bessarabia in the same way.

Take out Kharkov and and Belorussia with about 5-6 tanks each. It may be neccessary to soften them up with air. You should at least damage, and probably kill the tanks built there. (You will have 2:1 in numbers).

Take out kiev with inf/art/air. This procedure should kill about 6 tanks and damage about 2.

On the vladivostok side, make sure to attack with japan on the same turn germany attacks. Kill eastern siberia first, then take out vladivostok. (You may want to use the suprise attack to airstrike vladivostok before attacking eastern siberia).

This will kill up to 3 tanks (assuming russia has built tanks here too), or 1 if she has not. With 7-10 of the initial 20 tanks out of the game, and otherwise weak russian land units (no extra art/inf), you will have gained a big advantage, and should go for a 70-point victory.

Germany should now reinforce belorussia and kharkov to a level that russia cannot counterattack, so you will need to have enough supply to rebuild the rail in the area. Having built nothing but armor, russia will be very vulnerable at this point, and you can form a big stack and push for moscow. Try to grab kursk asap, and put all your forces there. This will force him to retreat from moscow. After that you may want to spread out, and grap caucasus and stalingrad.

Japan really wants to hold on to central siberia, with its 2 resources. If the russians dont put anything agains japan, she will even be able to take more (perhaps even the urals).

Russia will usually crumble in 42 or 43 in this scenario, and as soon as the x4 production kicks in in 44, you will make 70 per turn.



Now, if you screw up, you may not have enough armor in summer 41 to do the above (or you may be stuck in africa, etc). An early russian armor build can still be countered, though. You will need more armor (about 15-20) to counter the 30 russian armor you will be facing at this time. In any case, if he builds in kiev, kiev should be surrounded. A 42 barbarossa gives you too little time before the US enters the war, though, so you will probably not reach the magic 70. In this case, try to get super-tech for your armor, rather than the huge number of them (teching becomes too expensive, if you build too many), and try to take as few losses as possible. Russia with her early build will lag behind in armor tech, especially if she builds more than the initial 20. Your armor will more or less become invulnerable to allied airpower, and once you have 11-11 tanks, you may want to start mass-producing them. At the end of the war, you should be able to have 40-something tanks in western germany, with techs so high that you will be really hard to take out.

In this scenario, Japan should never attack russia, but focus on the pacific. Try got grab as many resources as possible in spring 42 (or when germany attacks russia), and start a defensive war against the US, to try to hold on to the islands. Take out some key harbors (on the same turn that you attack), like rabaul, fortify them, and use them as sub or bomber bases, to keep the US from taking back the islands too quickly. If the allies go for a germany first, you may be able to keep the south pacific for a couple of years. If the allies start teching their subs, make sure to get asw on your light fleets.

If japan has already researched land techs, it may be better to just take out china, and secure those resources, and keep the US out of the war until the end of 42.


Edit:
CharonJr posted while i was typing, and it appears that we mostly agree.

[Ron]

Thanks for the quick responses and tips. I had planned on attacking Sum 41 but fear I screwed up and didn't build enough Tanks and Tech for them for that. Germany controls the Med and Middle East and has a slight tech advantage in Subs, though the WAllied is countering with ASW in his CAG and Light Fleet. After seeing the huge Russian Tank force I am thinking of creating a second front from the south of Russia and/or threatening India in turn. I don't want to reveal too much as my opponent probably reads this forum. Japan is having a hard time with China, getting a lot of Damaged Air/Infantry, though now China looks pretty thinned out and shouldn't be a threat for awhile allowing Japan to build up again. Japan's tech has been pretty light due to losses versus China. I second having Japan attack Russia at this point would be disasterous. It looks like 42 will be the big year and hopefully Germany can thin the Russian Armour enough in the first blows. Thanks again.



Ron

[CharonJr]

I can't help to notice that Hakon's advice does sound better to me, too

Japan attacked inland China or are there simply to many Chinese units left that they are able to attack the costal provinces ?

I agree that Japan should try to avoid a 2 front war which means that Japan has to concentrate on eliminating China as a threat first.

But always keep the ticking clock in mind, when the US joins you should better be already pretty close to 70 production

Once the Fins join the war taking out Sweden for its 3 ressources might be an option in order to get the last needed ressources, too.

CharonJr

[Ron]

Hi Charon,

Re Japan, yes the airforce suffered greatly trying to reduce the Chinese forces and then my opponent massed and retook a coastal province. Japan reclaimed it and repaired the resource, leaving the Chinese with only 2 Militia currently, so shouldn't be a threat for awhile. I didn't attack inland, but the year's battles has set Japan back a fair bit. Lots of possibilities to consider, we will see how it all pans out. Thanks.



Ron