Tips for the Soviets, grand campaign.

[Topher]

I'm getting utterly destroyed by the AI. After the first few attempts, getting to grips with the system and losing, I tried to cut off the axis supply lines as early as possible, as I don't have enough units early on to put up any sort of offensive or establish any real defensive line, so I figured sweeping behind them in an attempt to cut off their supply made the most sense. Needless to say, it hasn't worked out. The blue tide is simply too overpowering and can easily reestablish supply or outright crush my merger flanking forces.

In my best game I managed to hold Moscow until the end and had a sizable force but couldn't come close to a draw as the Axis had 71 VP, even keeping the area surrounding Moscow mostly clear they accumulate a lot of VP's from the two central +1 per turn provinces and I'm at a loss as to how I'm supposed to defend either. I though I could eke out a draw by draining the Axis VP's through kills but even in my longest game I only managed to take out 3 Axis units.

I'm a long time PC strategy gamer so I'd like to think I know the basics, keeping my units in good terrain and whatnot, but the Axis just have so many tanks and I can't whittle them down, slow them down or push them back. Unfortunately there isn't much in-depth talk concerning strategy, or I've managed to miss it all. Any tips, detailed pointers, timing suggestions or unit preferences?

[s_nkarp]

Hi Topher,

Suggest playing on game center against good human opponents & watching what they do. A few tips though:

1) Extract some burly front line troops if at all possible. Though they can be rebuilt later, getting some 5 or 6 str units out really helps.

2) Don't defend forward one-time VP cities. They'll fall eventually - no point in taking disproportionate losses holding them until mid-game. The only VP worth defending are the +1 sites: defend those energetically, as once taken they are really hard to re-take until Snow.

3) Tempo and calendar matter a lot. Once mud sets in, the Soviet's sole goal is preparing for the Frost: stacks of 3, each with a tank, with a larger inf unit to take the 1st hit really helps. Only counterattack with really good reason.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Nick

[Lostmydice]

Playing against human players does not help to overcome AI dice...

The only way to beat "Halder" seems to be cutting off Axis units and avoid all combat situation.
Unfortunately this strategy only works against The Alies. I lost a bunch of matches until I discovered that I just have to cut them off, leave them and clean up the board at the very end of the game to avoid that they respawn.

My best result against the Axis was a hard fought draw, usually it is all about holding Moscow which I started to claim as a victory for myself no matter what the VPs are...

My impression is that the combat forcasts are completely nuts. I stopped watching them as it always looks like an easy victory and the outcome is the end of the match because my biggest unit is shuttered to patrol size after...
It is a bit weird that under version 2.0 the only way to win a battle is to avoid battle. Quite strange for a wargame...

Would be interesting how the Shenandoah Boys do against 'Halder'...

[daviddunham]

Would be interesting how the Shenandoah Boys do against 'Halder'...

In one of the last games played before we submitted 2.0, I won the Campaign with 19 VP. He gave a good showing for much of the game.

[Miguel_TSS]

In my last game against Halder I lost at the start of Frost. I had him at 32 points, and if I hadn't blundered out of Moscow I would have won that one. I was enjoying a tense match, but got a little cocky. I could feel his disappointment at my not reading the calendar and succumbing to his prepared offensives. Previous game was a draw, but he put some crazy pressure encircling Moscow, but I was able to steal back some points by clearing Kursk, taking back Orel, and pushing to Tula. Fun times.

The soviet game is tough because you really have to know the terrain and your mobility, but daily replacements and rebuilds can go a long way. Lastly, as a defender I try to avoid combat until it is truly advantageous and losses would not drop me below receiving the terrain bonus.

In Typhoon I think I've only lost to Halder once, most of the time I win or, at the worst, draw at 13 points. Usually I can make a kill or two to score some points or rock a clever/distracting air drop.

[Topher]

Hi Topher,

Suggest playing on game center against good human opponents & watching what they do. A few tips though:

1) Extract some burly front line troops if at all possible. Though they can be rebuilt later, getting some 5 or 6 str units out really helps.

2) Don't defend forward one-time VP cities. They'll fall eventually - no point in taking disproportionate losses holding them until mid-game. The only VP worth defending are the +1 sites: defend those energetically, as once taken they are really hard to re-take until Snow.

3) Tempo and calendar matter a lot. Once mud sets in, the Soviet's sole goal is preparing for the Frost: stacks of 3, each with a tank, with a larger inf unit to take the 1st hit really helps. Only counterattack with really good reason.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Nick

Nick, I love you because that was fantastic advice. Thank you so much.

An early full retreat meant that I had an abundance of full strength units and allowed me to cut off the Axis supply to any of their forces nearing Moscow, make a dominating push back during the early frost and heavy snows and then end the game with a dominating victory. The Axis only managed 8 VPs and were being utterly defeated on all fronts. Just fantastic!

[s_Michael]

I find playing the Soviet player in the grand campaign much easier than playing the German player. I've played a lot of BOB and found the AI much better at defence than offence; which is what you would surely expect. I think that the programmers have done an excellent job of writing code for the Axis invasion of USSR but there are plenty of historians that will argue that even the German high command made critical errors in their strategy.

To beat the AI (Axis) in the Grand campaign try the following:

1. Anchor the two flanks for as long as possible.
2. Kursk is well placed (easily defended) with good channels for quick counter attacks. AI will often split Panzer armies after successful attacks. Keep the Guards tank army near Kursk then drop in a replaced or reinforced tank unit for an instant counter attack on any separated Panzer corp. If you get trapped (as you will if you counter before the mud) attack with your tank units until they are sacrificed (cheaply replaced right back into Kursk) or drive to provide brief resupply for Bryansk! AI will also sacrifice units to briefly resupply pockets (very clever but very frustrating for the Axis player).
3. Defend Rzhev! This will frustrate the AI player if you can salvage two soviet units for this city. He will often attack and lose. Also get an army into the bottom corner of the map. A surviving cavalry unit around this area is lethal towards the end of the game but can also strike across the board under the right conditions and provide brief supply to the pocketed armies near by. A cheeky dash to briefly resupply this pocket (usually 3 to 5 Soviet units) will end badly for the Soviet cavalry but it might cost the Axis AI two complete days to recover from - unaffordable.
4. Centre - in and around Kaluga. Best defence is balanced between concentrated strong points in good defensive territory and mobile cavalry and armour to frustrate encirclement of your infantry units. If you build a weak line away from the rivers then the Axis panzer armies will use your weaker infantry units to just leap frog your defensive line and encircle your complete position (defensive line). To best do this identify territories that frustrate rapid movement. There is a triangle at the edge of the forests before Moscow which if held disrupts the advance of the Panzers; force the tanks off the roads! If you cannot kill the Panzers then kill their mobility.

Disclaimer: if the Axis AI gets good prepared attack results and follows up with good moves then you will struggle because you will need all your spare units for a layered defence of Moscow. But using above I've wiped the board clear Axis units before the end of the game.

In summary great fun playing the Soviet Player but harder playing the Axis.

[Topher]

I find playing the Soviet player in the grand campaign much easier than playing the German player.

Having now played, and won, with the Axis, I'd agree. I thought it would be much easier than playing the Soviets but found it more difficult to hold VP locations during the winter counter attack than I expected; and I never managed to break through and capture Kursk which denied me that uppermost +1 VP.

It was a sloppy win and one that I'm not very pleased with and with it being my first Axis game I'm not sure how heavily my own inexperience weighed in on the challenge level for evaluating which side has the harder-fought road to victory but my gut say the Axis have the steeper uphill battle, at least if they want a clean victory.

[Lostmydice]

My experience with the full campaign is that in veteran mode Axis is quite easy to play as you can encircle and overrun Allied units and clean them up later. Don't kill them before the end to prevent respawning. I cleaned the board against 'Rokossovsky' several times with up to 95 VP while I find it extremely hard to beat 'Halder' where I always need to rescue some inf stacks from prepared offensives and command confusion into the woods otherwise it''s over early and ends up in a VP defeat. Holding Moscow should always be possible, a draw is hard to achieve and a victory is very rare and depends on the early stage of the campaign and how many units you can rescue.

Holding the flanks playing Soviets is crucial to lock some enemy power and make them not feel too comfortable but not at all cost. You'll note when it's time to retreat.
Cavalry and Airborne are essential for ambushs behind enemy lines as they cannot be cut off. Place them well and sacrifice them often to confuse and split the Axis units but don' waste the sole air drop until really necessary.
At the beginning I always made the mistake trying to defend early but the plan is - run, run, run and avoid contact. Bryansk is in my eyes not to hold even if it counts VP every turn. I always dump it to preserve my units to set up a working defense line. Also give the Axis some prey on the bottom of the map and cavalry. I was shocked to realize that 'Halder' is going to clean up cut off units during frost period moving back instead of advancing. Thanks anyway.
The biggest problem in my opinion is the dice. Playing both sides I have to avaiod combat where possible. I get attacked by a few pips which do not take any hits and they pin my main force until doomsday. I can barely overcome 2 pips with 3 full stacks in easy terrain but on return AI is wiping me out like nothing. Often enough I have to take a complete broadside when getting attacked from a small unit and get forced to retreat even being sheltered and way more powerfull. Even cut off and defenseless units are a mayhem. Sometimes it takes me 3 turns to get rid of them as I have to sit with them until they auto- disappear. If I do not have to I do not attack under at least 5:1 otherwise It is likely that I get maximum hits. This is extremly frustrating and funny enough not related to one specific side - the luck always seems to stick with AI no matter which side I play... Whenever I am getting too frustrated I play a match against standard generals with better dice or face to face.
Great game anyway. And thanks to the Shenandoah boys for their outstanding support.
Looking forward for El Alamein - any news here?

[Pincer]

First off, Drive on Moscow is an absolutely amazing game that somehow improves on Battle of the Bulge and hats off to Shenandoah Studios. I look forward to all of your future releases. Having just finished the grand campaign on the Soviet side against Guderian with 11 VP, I thought I could share a few of the strategies that helped me pull off the win against a very challenging AI opponent. The game is essentially split into two phases:

Turns 1-13: Your main goals here are to delay and then survive the German assault and maintain your defensive lives. Do not attack until the mud begins and make sure any assaults are strategically justified. During first three turns, you want to pull back as many of your forces as possible in the two rows of spaces since they will not do you any good once they become quickly isolated. Also move any forces in Moscow to the defensive lines described below. Try to get three units in Bryansk to hold off the Germans from picking up those victory points as possible, but that is also a battle you will lose. Your goal by turn 5 is to concentrate all your forces into three defensive lives, stacking units as much as possible, avoiding armor breakthroughs and taking advantage of defensive terrain features. Do not try to defend spaces which do not give a bonus to defenders. The first line on your left flank will be in Rzhev and Kalinin. You will eventually lose Rzhev, but it will help you hold onto Kalinin, which can't be lost at any cost. The second, and most important line will be in Ruza, Mozhaysk, Kaluga, and Kanino or Tula. Do not try to cover every space. The third line is your right flank Kursk and Orel. You can briefly lose one, but if you lose both the Germans will surround Moscow from the south and east

Holding three lines will keep the German forces spread out on the map and delay their advance on Moscow. Tempt the Germans into funneling through undefended spaces, especially in the center of the map and then use your stacked defenders to attack behind their lines and isolate them. Do everything you cab to create straggler units which will knock out four armor units, further delaying the assault. During the mud turns you should be able to strengthen your defensive lines with replacements and reinforcements. You will need to prepare for the frost when your river defenses are eliminated and your forest defenses are reduced. If you survive past the final prepared offensive in turn 12 and regroup in turn 13, the tide will begin to turn in your favor.

Turns 14-22: You can be begin with selective assaults moving to an all out counteroffensive in turns 19-22 with the goal winning the reducing german victory points and surround and cutting off supply lines before assaulting german units. Take advantage of the airborne drop and calvary. Again, don't be afraid to create narrow lanes of open spaces for the germans to funnel through before cutting them off.

Having played both the German and Soviet sides, I think the Soviet side is much more challenging and more fun since playing through turn 22. I'm down to play any side in any scenario against a human opponent. My Game Center ID is egolyns1.