Russia, with love

[diraska]

So I am playing as the Allies, and things are going ok on most fronts. Except Russia. In Russia, I am ALWAYS overwhelmed by German forces. Germans have roughly 49 ground units, while Russia has 18. I have tried to not spend a lot on Research, but I do not want to completely ignore it. I have wasted very little money, but still I cannot create a large enough army to compete with the sheer mass of the Germans. What the heck? How is Russia supposed to hold on when the Germans break through my lines in two turns, and then speed on through to everything else?

I get that this is historically accurate, but then again, the Russians had rough numeric parity with the Germans at the start, and it took them months to get even close to Moscow, yet in the game it is only taking them three turns. So it is not like time is on my side, here. I even moved all my forces near Manchuria back home. ugh.

[xwormwood]

It is not that hard, seems like you should practise a bit.

General hint: don't fight at the russian border, try to stall the advancing germans until you got enough power to fight back for real.

It is no shame to fall back to Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev.

Hold till you get your siberians, than think about fighting back.

On the other hand try to hit the Axis everywhere else with your allied forces, so that the axis needs to rebuild losses or shift some forces from the east to other war theaters (Africa, France, Norway etc.).

You can't stop the Axis at the Russian border or at Minsk, and if you try, you will bleed dry unter the massed axis might (HQs, AirFleets, Panzers).

[diraska]

Yeah, it turned out to be not as bad as I had feared, mainly due to Russia joining the Allies before Germany declares war. This allowed Russia to start gearing up quicker, and it caught Germany with its forces spread out.

So, I was not hit with all of Germany's forces at once, but in dribs and drabs (silly AI).

One Important thing learned: Operational movements are fantastic! My first line of resistance was near the mine and Sevastapol. Within 2 turns, it was clear that the line was about to be destroyed, so I used "operate" to get my troops the heck out of there.

The main force I sent to defend Stalingrad. A secondary forces (1 army, and 3 corps) I sent to safe guard my oil refineries. Since I moved them so far away from the main battle line, I had a turn to rearm them, and to get them dug in. Never underestimate the utility of the "operate" command. A normal fighting withdrawal would not have worked as each turn my forces would be in combat and suffering losses.

So all in all, my turn as the allies is doing pretty well.... well, except for China. In China, Japan deployed roughly 11 armies, 2 tank groups, and 2 Air Fleets. Mao is dead, Chiang is close behind. Oh well, war is heck.