The Russian Gunboat Solo Win Plan
Russia’s path to victory is completely different from any other power. Russia needs to advance far into both the North and South to win. Typically, Russia wins by controlling all the Russian home centers and by taking over all of Austria, some of the Balkans neutrals, and Scandinavia. That isn’t even close to 18 centers though. The remaining centers could come from either side of the map (typically Germany, Turkey and England).
This plan is crazy compared to the other six powers’ plans
- Russia’s solo-win plan is completely different from any of the other powers. Just look at it.
Russia functions like 2 countries taped together
- Russia can expand into one of the two sides of the map quite a bit while stalling out on the other side.
- When Russia performs well, usually this is because Russia uses builds gained from one side of the map to create units for use on the other side of the map (e.g., expanding into Austria and using the builds to make fleets in St. Petersburg, which go on to conquer centers in the North, which are used to get more army builds in the South to fight Turkey).
Armies in the South
- To win, Russia needs to be a powerful force in the South, and needs entirely armies to do this. Although it is possible for Russia to build additional fleets in Sevastopol, that is almost always foolish. Almost all the centers Russia needs in the South are much more easily invaded by armies (and that statement includes all the Turkish home centers, which aren’t necessarily even needed for a solo win).
- To invade Turkey, the best plan for Russia is to get into Black Sea with a good guess and then use that position to support invading armies.
Fleets in the North
- To win, Russia needs some kind of naval presence in the North – the bigger the better. Although armies are better than nothing, fleets are necessary to expand past just Scandinavia. Not only are fleets necessary for taking North Sea and the centers bordering it, fleets are also necessary for holding all the gains Russia makes in the North. If Russia expands in the North with too high a balance of armies, France will likely use fleets to roll back the gains Russia made in the North, which aren’t defensible in the long run without being able to control and hold important sea zones.
- It is possible for Russia to reach a critical mass of fleets in the North (say, 4 or 5), enough to overpower the other Northern powers and roll them backwards. This is usually what happens when Russia wins by conquering English home centers and Holland.
This guide is intended for beginners and is very basic. For some advanced discussion of Russian strategy, try reading some of my other articles:
- Russian Gunboat Theory: Two Countries Taped Together
- A Winning Strategy for Russia in Gunboat Diplomacy