Attacking vs. Stacking

Attacking vs. Stacking

At some point in most games a player is faced with the difficult choice of when to attack and when to build stacks for defense.

USSR is faced with a tough choice -- to attack or not?

What things might look like if USSR stacks for defense.

Attacking and Retreating is a great way to thin out your opponents forces. But you have to win the battle while not actually taking the territory. The point of retreating in this situation is to preserve the majority of forces for later use while destroying enough of your opponent’s forces that they can’t counter attack on the next turn. Retreating is also a great way to unify forces from two spaces into one stronger army.

Stacking Forces for a stronger defense doesn’t always mean a player is giving up on the idea that they will eventually attack again. Sometimes it’s the best tactical move to build one strong force so that their opponent can’t break through a wall of units. Sometimes though, it’s a signal that a player has no other option but to defend, or that they don’t know what their best move really is. This is usually a bad sign. Indecision ends up destroying armies and ruining strategies in this game.

So what is the best option?

There’s no single rule and every game situation is different. I usually prefer one powerful army to three divided armies. I prefer attacking and retreating as a way to slow an opponent. Tall stacks of infantry can be great to protect your capital and they might seem intimidating and delay an opponent's attack, but a defense where you roll only 2’s won’t last long if your opponent has tanks and fighters rolling 3’s.

Real Game Example

Below is a situation from actual game play where USSR had to decide if it was better to attack Germany or to simply build defenses. USSR was faced with a tough choice: 1. Defend three spaces and trying to spread their armies evenly, or 2. Attack and potentially destroy one of two strong German armies and take away Germany’s ability to counterattack.

Attack and Retreat Scenario

 USSR attacks the Baltic States...

Germany	Units	Defense Value	Totals
Baltic States Army	5 Infantry	2 per unit	10
	5 Artillery	2 per unit	10
	3 Armor	2 per unit	6
		Total Def. Value	26
USSR	Units	Attack Value	Totals
From Leningrad:	3 Infantry	1 per unit	3
	1 Artillery	2 per unit	2	+1 to matching Infantry
	1 Fighter	3 per unit	3
		Total Attack Value	9
	Units	Attack Value	Totals
From BeloRussia:	5 Infantry	1 per unit	5
	2 Artillery	2 per unit	4	+2 to matching Infantry
	3 Armor	3 per unit	9
	3 Fighters	3 per unit	9
	1 Bomber	4 per unit	4
		Total Attack Value	33

USSR vs. Germany

42 Attack Value vs. 26 Defense Value

The First Round of Combat

	Hits
USSR's Attack	10		USSR Units Lost	5 Infantry
Germany's Defense	5		German Units Lost	5 Infantry	5 Artillery
			Total Units Lost
			USSR	5
			Germany	10
			Total IPCs Lost
			USSR	15 IPCs
			Germany	35 IPCs

This is about the best outcome USSR could hope for. They do maximum damage in one round of battle and take relatively few hits. Germany lost more units than USSR and a greater IPC value as well.

USSR was able to retreat and solidify one large army, while Germany is now weakened and unable to attack Leningrad and possibly unable to counterattack in Belorussia this round. 

If nothing else, USSR has bought themselves one more round to build a better defense in Leningrad and Moscow, and one more round for the other Allies to additional attacks against Germany.

Stack and Defend Scenario

What if USSR decided not to attack Germany at all? Instead they spread their forces out as evenly as possible between their three border territories and try to hold off the German invasion everywhere.

 It is now Germany that has to decide where to attack and how.

USSR	Units	Defense Value	Totals
Ukraine	6 Infantry	2 per unit	12
	2 Artillery	2 per unit	4
	1 Armor	2 per unit	2
	2 Fighters	4 per unit	8
		Total Defense Value	26
	Units	Defense Value	Totals
Belorussia	7 Infantry	2 per unit	14
	1 Artillery	2 per unit	2
	1 Armor	2 per unit	2
	2 Fighters	4 per unit	8
		Total Defense Value	26
	Units	Defense Value	Totals
Leningrad	7 Infantry	2 per unit	14
	1 Artillery	2 per unit	2
	1 Armor	2 per unit	2
	2 Fighters	4 per unit	8
		Total Defense Value	26

Germany	Units	Attack Value	Totals
	8 Infantry	1 per unit	8
	5 Artillery	2 per unit	10	+5 to matching Infantry
	3 Armor	3 per unit	9
	2 Fighters	3 per unit	6
		Total Attack Value	38
	Units	Defense Value	Totals
	6 Infantry	1 per unit	6
	4 Artillery	2 per unit	8	+4 to matching Infantry
	3 Armor	3 per unit	9
	2 Fighters	3 per unit	6
	1 Bomber	4 per unit	4
		Total Attack Value	37

	Total Defense Value	Total Attack Value
USSR	78
Germany		75

Germany is still at a disadvantage here. They do not have the forces for a clear victory in all three USSR territories.

Rather than attack all three USSR spaces and risk three losses, they concentrate their forces and only attack two.

	Total Defense Value	Total Attack Value
	USSR	Germany
Belorussia	26	38
Ukraine	26	37

By concentrating forces, Germany has two battles they are more likely to win as opposed to three battles where the numbers are basically even and the outcome would be unclear.

By winning these two battles, Germany has a clear path to either Moscow or Stalingrad. Also, they have separated their armies so that half of their units are out of range from USSR’s concentration in Leningrad.

Final Thoughts

Attacking and Retreating isn’t always the right thing to do, but in this scenario it was the best option for USSR. This would have allowed the USSR player to weaken Germany’s ability to attack and given USSR the chance to combine their forces into one single army greater than any of the German forces. This unified force then could be used to attack or defend in the following rounds.

Once reason the Stack and Defend technique didn’t work here was that USSR didn’t have enough forces to properly defend three spaces. They left each space just weak enough that Germany could attack and win.

A better defensive plan might have been to try to only hold on to two spaces instead of three. That way Germany would have faced equal armies and could have lost both battles or might have been afraid to attack at all.