Defending the Motherland in Totaler Krieg!

Many have found it all to easy to lose when playing the Soviet Union. If so, then here's some advice...

Lesson 1: General Thoughts and Observations
by Jeff Nyquist

Alan Emrich and I have sparred a few times over the Soviet Union, and he's asked me to write a few words in defense of that country. It can be very hard, particularly for inexperienced Totaler Krieg! players, to use the right mix of force, time, and space to keep the Soviet Union together long enough so that the Big Red War Machine can grow to a size adequate for ejecting the invaders.

How Big and Bad is the Big, Bad Adolph?

First, the Russian player must decide on the type of defense, depending on the strength of his opponent. Not every Barbarossa is a well planned, full strength attack. I've seen many "improvised" Axis invasions of the Soviet Union, so be sure you have the enemy's strength properly appraised. Ask yourself, can I significantly slow the German advance by fighting for Minsk, Kiev, and the swamp hexes, or are the Germans too strong? If the Axis are not fully prepared in their attack, it is only a matter of keeping an HQ unit alive to back up these Strategic Hexes. In that event, Minsk should prove a nice little tooth-breaker. The terrain is dreadful, and a little luck will see the German armor bleed losses they cannot afford so that even if they capture it, the Axis will have paid sufficiently.

One important general point: It helps to have your best troops and headquarters between the Axis armies and Moscow (and Leningrad). That should be priority #1 in the Russian's defensive strategy. (The tank steps that you might garner from border annexations should take second priority to the immediate defense of Moscow and Leningrad.) You've got to pray for good "race to fortify" die rolls for those cities' Fortress units, but you must also have the one-step corps units at the ready to build them the moment they arrive. Look sharp and be ready when you can fortify Moscow and Leningrad.

Which Way Did They Go, Joe?

If the Germans come on strong (as their historical attack into Russia was), hope that they make a concentrated drive into the South. That's because the south it isn't as severe a defensive problem as drives north of the great marsh. The south has more space and the attacker stands exposed on the open ground in the winter, ripe for your counteroffensive. Sevastopol, too, can be a tough nut. When facing a strong southern Barbarossa, your goals are to 1) make sure Moscow doesn't fall to a sudden northern thrust up from the Ukraine, and 2) to try to hold Rostov at all costs. Rostov is difference between fighting along a short line or a long line -- and early on in the war, a short line will be better for you.

If the Germans drive hard for Leningrad, the key is to keep it strong and back it up with a full-strength HQ unit across the lake (where the Axis can't reach it with ground units). Continuously feed reinforcements to both the city and the HQ unit. The only way the Germans can take a well defended Leningrad is by over-concentrating a lot of ground and Air Support units which will leave probably leave them vulnerable in either the south or center. If you find that Leningrad will eventually be worn down, and you don't have the strength for a direct defense, then punish the German player by mounting a counter-attack toward Minsk or Kiev. It doesn't matter what your losses are, or even if you can inflict an even loss ratio; just make sure the invading Axis forces bleed.

If the Germans concentrate their energy primarily on a direct drive for Moscow, keep a strong mobile force (cavalry and armor) on their northern flank (around Leningrad), and another on their southern flank (just northeast of Kiev). Because of the way supply works, with the road network so vulnerable to interdiction, any supply line cut that you can inflict on the German forces will paralyze further German advances toward Moscow. Do not use mobile forces for determined, direct defense. Husband them carefully and try to use them for mobile, flanking counterattacks. If you can take a critical road hex and hold it (sometimes just placing your ZOC over an empty road hex can do) so that large German armored stacks are out of supply in good weather, do not hesitate no matter what the cost to your precious mobile reserve. The demoralizing result will be fatal to the enemy's long term chances in Russia.

Of Cards and Keys

Play your cards wisely, especially during Limited War. Look to see if the Germans are tending toward an early or late Barbarossa. Get the Moscow and Leningrad Fortress units built up to their three-step sides at absolutely the first moment you can. Fortresses and multiple HQs within range of key hex are the only hard defenses you have that are able stop a determined German attempt on one of these cites. Moscow's loss, especially, could spell your doom, depending on what card the German plays in the Summer of 1941 (to be revealed in the Autumn). A skillful Barbarossa capped with the Axis' Soviet Ultimatum card and a couple of lucky die rolls... it could be grim. Fortunately, most Axis players will play it conservative and let things develop to ensure they have Moscow before playing their Soviet Ultimatum card. You need to take advantage of the time that conservatism affords you by either retaking Moscow or keeping a lid on any more Soviet Strategic Hexes falling.

A key thing to consider about the Russian front is its length. It is impossible to be solid all the way along the front, and any determined defense using headquarters can be costly. Often it is necessary to give ground, but you've been blessed with a goodly amount of that. Still, you have to tactically prepare your positions so that any German penetration is less costly than expending an HQ (or two, if the enemy has a Blitz Combat Phase) to hold that hex. On the one hand, you have to risk your forces in risky counterattacks early on to keep the Axis off balance; on the other, you must economize and preserve your forces so that you will grow the Red Army into The Big Red Machine as soon as possible. How you manage this delicate paradox is the true test of your Soviet mettle.

Don't Just Take it, Dish it Out, Too!

In truth, the counter-attack is potentially more destructive than the attack, but you must be carefully prepared in advance. Attacking forces have a tendency to find themselves in awkward positions after they advance and fight. Look for overextended advancing forces, panzers in particular, that are not under the guns of their HQs. You must learn and practice the art of counterattack and take advantage of this. Without this skill, Soviet chances of performing well are greatly diminished.

A smart attacker knows his forces may be exposed if he gets overly ambitious. It has been commented on, by some strategists, that a loose and flexible deployment, which does not reveal any specific concentration of force, is often best for counterattacking. One of the most important concepts is that of "communication" between units. Can the units reach and support each other rapidly? And this may mean more than merely marching to the other unit's position. By indirect pressure, the enemy can be placed in a position where he cannot exploit an advantage dearly bought in one section of front, because of a breach somewhere else.

A flexible deployment often features fast-moving units on the outer flanks, or in depth behind the center of the front. The enemy commander may puzzle over the deployment at first, shrug, then plunge in, not realizing the tremendous mass that can be concentrated in one move against his attacking units that have drifted out of position due to repulses and advances (should these occur with special inconvenience). While a defense in strength (i.e., stacking 'em tall on the front line) is preferable to a defense in depth (i.e., leaving weak lines of units, one directly behind the other) in Totaler Krieg!, maintaining some Soviet reserve forces behind the line that can threaten (and then perform) a needed counterattack is equally as important.

Remember, the Axis must be made to bleed Summer and Winter, since the Germans can never match your replacement rate. A war of attrition means certain Russian victory will come later in the game. The key concept for the battles you pick to fight against the Axis Colossus is "local superiority." Even a strong German army cannot be strong everywhere on a stage as big as Russia. Find the units not covered by the guns of their HQs. Seek out the Axis minors on the front line and smash them. Look for an HQ and try to hit two or three hexes that it is responsible for defending because it can only back one of them up, and you might score an important victory in the other battle(s) it couldn't support.

Don't Try to Win by 1942

No matter what, you're going to lose a lot of troops because the Axis can get pretty good odds against your forces until you've been at Total War for a while and worn the Axis down a bit. A strong German attack will always be hard to stop, so don't get discouraged. Remember, you only need to slow the Axis down until your hordes are in place. Do not try to defeat Germany in a test of strength in 1941, or even 1942. Why take chances like that when the enemy has so many advantages? Instead, pick away at him for the first couple of years, counterattacking any overexposed unit or force, and then clobber him en masse in 1943, '44 and '45.

Lesson 2: Make Things as Frustrating for the Axis as Possible
by Steve "Kos" Kosakowski

Let me underline Jeff's point about Soviet counterattacks. It doesn't take many steps for the Germans to build up some big nasty panzer armies, but remember that the reverse is also true. I always look for an opportunity to put a hit on a Panzer Army, even if it means taking a bigger hit in return. Axis players look at you and lick their chops, but a hit here and a hit there can clog up the German wires with requests for replacements. Don't let normal attacker attrition do all your work for you -- help it along with a couple of those "Stalin Special" counterattacks.

Of course, a really smart German player will realize that it's foolish to try to take Russia on the cheap; he'll bring all the Wehrmacht he can if he wants to do the job right. And the deeper he gets, the more corps he'll need to string out to cover your conquered cities and his supply lines. Many German moves beyond the Leningrad-Rostov line are "A Bridge Too Far" campaigns, though that may not become obvious until they're at the gates of Baku.

When I play the Russians, as long as I have a lot of units, I like to hug the German line. Of course, this can be costly. However, it plays on the main Axis weakness (the need to risk his steps making lower odds attack to mop up pockets of your forces to maintain his advances), and if you time it right, you'll be setting up a new line at the next river while the Germans are running out of units to maintain their penetrations. He will break through somewhere. Your challenge is to make sure his breakthrough doesn't break you.

Lesson 3: A Non-Traditional Battleground:
The Axis Player's Head
by Alan Emrich

The fulcrum a game of Totaler Krieg! is Barbarossa and answering the question, "Could the Germans have taken Moscow, Leningrad, or Sevastopol?" I submit that, if the Axis front-load one particular spearhead of their drive into Russia and put, say, 3/4 of their initial punching power in either Army Group North, Center, or South, that the answer is usually going to be "yes" to any one of those (depending on player skill and "race to fortify" die rolls). I submit that the real test of Soviet defensive skill is not in halting a broad front advance like the historical one (although that is an interesting challenge in balancing Red Army resources across an ever-lengthening front). No, I believe that the real challenge is dealing with a 500 pound gorilla/Wehrmacht that stays concentrated and determined. When this happens (that is, the Axis stay focused on one objective -- usually Moscow -- and drive on it with extreme and concentrated hitting power), the Soviet player needs to make a Grand Strategy shift of the Highest Order.

Consider: The bulk of the German Army stays tightly packed and drives inexorably toward Moscow in '41. In my assessment, chances are, they're going to take it. What the Soviet player needs to do is consider accepting that, take a few deep breaths, squint at the situation developing on the map, and recalibrate his strategic thinking from "defend Moscow at all costs" to a more general plan of "hit 'em where they ain't." That is, the Soviets must look to concentrate enough forces on the flanks of that Moscow drive to at least threaten (if not execute) counterattacks wherever German units are not under their HQs' defensive guns (overextended German armor-type units are particularly good to try your luck against) or where you can snack on the occasional Axis Minor step.

The goal of this "bite back" defensive strategy is two-fold: 1) attrition of Axis forces -- "attacker attrition" on the Combat Results Table will not hinder the Axis sufficiently to put you on the strategic offensive; you must wear them down with counterattacks whenever the opportunity affords -- and 2) threaten Axis supply lines. This latter feat can be an especially ripe plum. Once an Axis player has seen a big chunk of his forces cut out of supply and felt its effects, he will always play his flanks more cautiously in Russia. (I've seen this happen many times.)

Like Everything in Life, it's Half What You've Got and Half what They Think You've Got

In short, you must make the Axis player paranoid. Once the Axis player can take it as read that your Red Army will be leaving quiet sectors of the front where he has left only garrison-strength forces, he's won.

Bite him! Make him constantly worry about where (and when, and how) you might bite him again!!

This is a battle fought as much in the mind of your Axis opponent as it is on the map. Shifting from the strategic offensive to the strategic defensive can be vexing for an Axis player. Make sure it is! The Axis player needs to see every Soviet Option card as another sudden mass of troops rising right where he least wants to see them. They must try to leave their teeth marks in places where he hopes he won't have to shift more boys to defend.

I realize that this is not the greatest advice you can give a bean-counting type of wargamer. Nonetheless, sometimes you must play the ball and sometimes you must plan the man. To wear down the German drives into in Russia, you must play both.

The West Must be Lead by "Winnie," not "Whiney"

Make sure the West is helping you, too, by siphoning off as much Axis focus (both troop and mind share) as he can. Again, this is all about teeth marks (real or imagined in the Axis player's mind) that can be chewed in the Axis player's butt. Complain to the Western Allied player loud and long that the Axis player spends too much time looking at Russia because he's not distracting him enough elsewhere! Tell him to do something!

Both Allied factions must shatter the Axis player's illusions of Wehrmacht invincibility at every opportunity. Get the Axis player ready to reach for that Fortress Europa card by checking his forces on the map with your skill there and doing your utmost to put his head into a "siege mentality." This is why the best Russian players I've seen include Jeff Nyquist, Jim Winsor, and "Uncle Joe" Miranda. They're always on the attack somewhere (somehow). They never let an opportunity go by where they could needle an Axis invader. These offensive-minded guys make great Soviet players, in my humble opinion, because they never examine the start of their Player Turns thinking they will play it defensive. No, they always begin by thinking of their own attacks they can make (the strategic flanks, the weak sector of the Axis line, etc.), God love 'em, and then they simply defend elsewhere. It's a beautiful thing.

Lesson 4: Specific Examples of Counterattack Possibilities
by Alan Emrich

Soviet HQs: "He Who Quits and Runs Away Lives to Fight Another Day"

You need these HQs to stiffen your tall stacks defending key points, and in particular to protect Moscow and Leningrad from the initial onslaught. Do not use them to support a defensive battle that they risk being eliminated in (i.e., like backing up a one-step unit that is being slaughtered at high odds). Do not deploy them so they're in position to meet the initial Axis Blitz Combat Segment, but rather the Axis Regular Combat Segment. That will help assure their survivability.

These three pictures illustrate what we can call "The Emrich Defense" of the Soviet frontiers before Barbarossa. (It's one of a few that I use; this one is based on the 1941 scenario setup which is pretty brutal on the Soviets.) Notice in the two pictures above the positioning of the Soviet HQs. They are not positioned to hold the front line in the north and center against the initial Blitz attacks (hey, I've already written those guys off). Instead, they are positioned to limit what the Axis can do in their Regular Combat Segment. My goal here is to try to keep hold of Riga and Minsk during the first Axis turn of Barbarossa. During my Soviet turn, I'll decide how much commitment I'll make to defending that ground and how much I'll bug out of the area. Notice that my HQs are ready, if need be, to scoot back to Leningrad and Moscow at the drop of an 88 round.

In the South, my HQ is currently positioned to support Lvov if I don't perceive the Axis making a major effort there (as was the historical case). I always plant it along one of two lines. Either I'll start it as shown then move it behind Kiev (unless I perceive a big Axis push in the south, in that case I just set it up in Kiev out of harm's way) and wait until that shoe drops, after which I'll back it up to Moscow (this is very handy if the Soviet's center HQ gets popped, by the way) or Kharkov. The other line I might cover begins behind Odessa supporting my units in Bessarabia, then falls back to cover Dnepropetrovsk, and from there Rostov. This can be very aggravating for the Axis player as he'll have to make a pretty big effort to catch this fleeing Soviet HQ, but this line of retreat also takes it way out of Moscow's neighborhood if you need extra help there.

Counterattack possibilities are fairly uncommon on the first turn of Barbarossa against this type of Soviet defense. That's because the Axis forces will be concentrated on a still (relatively) narrow  front and invariably under the wings of the Luftwaffe and guns of their HQs. Subsequent turns offer better counterattack possibilities as the front expands and the Axis forces disperse to cover its entire length and leave garrisons behind in captured Soviet cities. When the Axis start to thus diffuse their energy, you can look for opportunities to concentrate yours.

The Basic Rules of Early Soviet Counterattacking

First, never counterattack against German units that are sitting under the protection of German Air Support units. You won't have the juice to compensate against those free shifts they'll get in defense. Fortunately, the Luftwaffe can't be everywhere every turn, so look elsewhere for your counterattack opportunities when you see those bombs falling from the skies.

Second, avoid hitting guys who will get a rough terrain or river shift. The latter is for the same reason you don't mess with guys under the Luftwaffe's wings; why make things harder on yourself by giving the Axis player free shifts against your counterattack? The only exception to this rule would be when you're looking at a key piece of terrain that you actually want to capture such as Rzhev, Bryansk, or Kursk.

Third, it's okay to hit guys in cities, or under the defensive guns of their HQs, but not both. In fact, these two cases constitute some of your prime targets. You actually want the Axis player to defend under these circumstances, even though they receive a combat shift and, in the case of a defending HQ, some extra strength on defense. That's because you're trying to either draw them into a battle where their retreats will be converted into step losses or, if they retreat, you'll be able to advance in a force into that city and noticeably slow the Axis down next turn. (The force you advance should be either a "speed bump" of a single corps or a massive "tooth breaker" of four or five steps backed up by a Soviet HQ; don't do anything in-between. Half-measures like that make it easier for the Axis to kill more of your steps faster, and they don't need any gifts due to sloppy play on your part.)

Fourth, your attacks are going to have crappy odds. Live with it. Counting "exchange" results as successes, you've got a 1/6 chance to win at 1:3, a 1/3 chance at 1:2, a 50/50 at 1:1, a 2/3 chance at 3:2, a 4/5 chance at 2:1, and you win every time at 3:1. In my opinion, the Soviets live and die at 3:2 odds. If you can put together a counterattack at those odds, more often than not, you'll be getting the job done. But sometimes even a cheesy 1:2 attack against an Axis monster force can hit a '1' or '2' and pay off handsomely. Ironic as it sounds, rolling your low-odds attacks on the CRT is the same as a communist appeal to the gods. Sometimes they're with you, and sometimes they're not, but you've got make those appeals. You can't just sit back and take it, letting the Axis control the tempo of events. Set up your crappy-odds counterattack(s) each turn that you can find one and pray. That's how it's done. There's nothing scientific about it.

Fifth, always predict what your position will probably look like after your Reserve Movement and Conditional Events have occurred later that turn (envision it in your mind), both if you win and lose in your counterattack. How many of your units will be pinned? Will they be doomed if they're stuck there? Can your HQ run back fast enough to get somewhere remotely safe? If you retake a city, maybe you don't want to advance in, but instead plan to pop in a single-step Conditional Reinforcement there as a speed bump. Have these things in mind while you're mentally setting up a counterattack. This look into the future will probably tell you if your counterattack is a "go" or "no go" before you ever launch it. Call upon all of your player experience and gaming instincts and use them, damn it, to try to peer into the future so that you make the right decisions during your Operational Movement Phase setting up your Combat Phase.

Finally, don't get overly concerned about Soviet losses. Yes, they're bad, but Red Army corps are like Doritos -- you'll make more. Things will not always click. The die is fickle. You might be marching off eighteen attack strength points to their doom because you rolled a '6.' Suck it up, comrade. '6' happens. If the Law of Averages is against you, you're going to lose just as badly as if you sat on your haunches and just let the Axis kick your sorry butt without ever lifting the die to slap them back. You need faith. You must be a True Believer in these Red Army tactics I'm teaching you. I'm going to tell you the greatest thing I ever learned holding a die at the gaming table: "It's not enough to believe in miracles; you've got to learn to rely on them." That's what defines a True Believer in my book. Besides, it's only a game, folks. It's okay to take a few chances, roll the die a few times, and find out if the gods are with you or not. (And if they're not, what can you do?)

Your first priority targets are German armies that can be made to retreat back on top of German stacks so that, even if you don't inflict a single step loss, a mere retreat will cause an Axis overstacking situation that eliminates a few German steps. Here you're looking for an army that is not under the guns of an HQ and, preferably, one that is not in a city (i.e., is unable to convert a 'Dr' result into step losses). If all of the enemy units involved (both the army you'll pop and the ones it will have to fall back on) are all full-strength, so much the better. [Insert maniacal laugh here.]

If the target of your attack is in a city, that's okay too. The dilemma of retreating back into an overstacking situation will force him to stand his ground and take step losses instead, and that's perfectly acceptable (not preferable, but acceptable). You'll find opportunities like this when your opponent is either sloppy or cocky (or both). Take advantages of these weaknesses when the opportunity presents itself.

Bashing Back at Backed Up Boys in a Bloodbath

When the gods are smiling, they will present you with a reduced-strength German army leading the advance somewhere; one that is covered by a German HQ unit. What you should be seeing here is Red Meat for the Red Army. This is your chance to fling a counterattack at the enemy with the goal of costing the Axis defender a step loss so that he must either break down that army (and send it to the Delay Box) or reduce the HQ (where he probably doesn't have a spare corps to build it back up right away). This is the chess equivalent of sticking your knight where it can safely pop the other guy's bishop or rook next turn. Something will give if you pull this off. The secret ingredient that I try to add when I see this situation is a tank step. You want the Axis player to commit his HQ to this battle, and if you will be able to exploit a couple of hexes if he doesn't, he almost invariably will. (If he hesitates to commit that HQ unit, be sure to mention all the possibilities you have to screw him if you roll a 'Dr2,' for instance, and can exploit where you want. If it takes psychological warfare to draw your opponent in to doing what you want because he'll think it's in his best interest, use it.)

This same methodology works when attacking a full-strength Germany army advancing under it's HQ's guns, but the threat isn't nearly so great to the Axis player. But if you're only decent counterattack is against a full-strength German army, well... you've got to play the hand you're dealt. Some attrition on the Germans inflicted by your actions is better than none. If nothing else, you'll show that you're not just going to take it and that he'll have to add a dash of caution to all this future moves or you will pounce -- and that's the mindset you want him to have.

Axis Minors: Ripe for the Picking

Who says there is no free lunch? If you've got a chance to slap a few Rumanians or other Axis minor steps around, try to take it! The key here is that they should be in a hex without any German units. That means that they have no hope of receiving an HQ shift, and against their measly defense strengths your Red Army looks pretty good (for a change). Remember, indirectly, you're taking out German steps when you pop an Axis minor step or two. That's because the Axis player will have less minor ally fodder to sit back on garrison duty and will have to pull valuable German corps back to sit on his conquered Soviet cities. Sure, eventually he'll be able to get those German steps back to the front line, but in the meantime that's pressure off of you and more possibilities to counterattack against a reduced-strength German army or (praise Stalin) a lone German corps that you might find at the front.

Remember, killing all Axis steps is good. If the Axis player is going to give you easy ones that you can kill more quickly and cheaply, just shut up and kill them. Preferably, all of them.

Swamp Enemy HQs

During your Winter counteroffensive, you can probably make three or four concurrent attacks each Combat Segment. If you can, keep them concentrated in such a way that they're all taking place under the guns of a single German HQ unit. That's because that HQ can only support one defense per Combat Segment, so put the Axis player on the horns of a dilemma and let him squirm trying to figure out whom to help. With more pressure on it than an HQ can take, something's got give (if your luck holds up) and you should be able to mess up the Axis lines quite effectively in this manner.

The picture to the right shows a later-war version of this tactic. Army Group South HQ has a lot of targets to cover. If the Soviets don't concentrate too much on the 8-6-4 1st Panzer Army (say, just 10 attack strength point) and leave the rest to hit the adjacent 4-4-3 17th Army (8 attack strength points), they may be able to crack the Donets River line. Who knows? If Army Group South commits to one of those two defenses, the German 4-4-3 6th Army just south of Kharkov can also be pushed back with 6 attack strength points. These are the kinds of odds you'll see a lot of as the Soviets. Don't despair. That German HQ will mess up one of your low-odds attacks, but it can't be everywhere!

Jim Moir offers this additional advice: "The fun part here is to use tanks in every Blitz battle so that the winning units are able to exploit, setting up additional attacks in the Regular Combat Segment. It doesn't take huge odds to pull this trick off, either. It's better to make three attacks at 2-1 than one 6-1 as you'll discover using this technique. As the Soviets, I'm not hugely concerned about tank losses, anyway (the Reserves Formed cards allow you to build more steps pretty much as needed)."

Can You Threaten the Axis Supply Lines?

This last great counterattack opportunity is the hardest to find but it is potentially the most rewarding. One sign to look for is overextended German armies that you can maneuver around an cut off. Unless the invaders break down into corps to cover every hex of the front line, you're bound to find an opportunity for this type of attack. In addition to cutting off its supply, you'll also take away that army's tactical retreat option and force it to take losses from 'Ex' and 'Dr' results (always a good thing). With luck, it will remain out of supply during the Axis Operation Movement Phase and one or both of the Combat Segments, and that can really slow down the enemy drive along that particular axis of advance. This kind of attack is another of those that will teach the Axis player a little respect and caution, so watch for it.

The other supply line gambit is "the big one." If the Axis are advancing in two or three concentrated "clumps" in paranoid defensive positions under their planes and guns (to rob you of any hope of counterattacking), look for the gap between those clumps. If you can shove a tank step and some cavalry on either side of them, then pop the weak link unit that might be connecting them, chances are you can get a unit or two off to some place behind the Axis lines where an entire German Army Group can be put out of supply. The secret to this maneuver is that your corps units get the road movement rate (even behind Axis lines) in the Soviet Union. So, grab all of Stalin's horses and all of his tanks and fling them in this Operation Uranus-type encircling maneuver. Yeah, those tanks and horses are as good as dead (it's 1941, remember; you won't be able to keep that ring closed against the Axis for long), but to freeze Army Group Center for one turn -- man, that's worth it. And the Axis player will be forever worried about what you might do to his strategic flanks from then on (and that's even more "worth it").

A Jim Moir-ian variation on this is the "low odds weasel attack." This is where you run a couple of fast Soviet units through the gaps in the enemy lines, make a low odds attack to disengage them (retreating them westward), then run around the enemy rear with those units during Reserve Movement. It can be devastating.

This illustration shows just such a Soviet maneuver around Moscow in the Autumn of 1941. To the north, Leningrad is still holding out (note the placement of the HQ behind Lake Ladoga). The Soviet 3-3-2 that started in Rshev moved southwest while the gaggle of corps that began in Orel and points south rushed northward to close the door. The Soviet player could just let this situation rest or really try to stick it to the Axis player by making two 2:1 (down one column each to 3:2) attacks on the German infantry corps in Smolensk and Hungarian army Bryansk. If he can make both of those rolls without tossing a '5' or '6,' the Axis are going to have some serious eggs to unscramble before their advance on Moscow can resume.

So, there you have it. Philosophy and practical advice, allusions and illustrations, all brought together to give your Soviets the best fighting chance when their hours are darkest. So the next time you bungle the defense of The Motherland, don't come crying to us. Check here and see if there's something you haven't tried yet that just might work for you.