Playing Russia in Soldier Kings
By Doug McNair
January 2006

Having dealt with perhaps the most formidable global power in my recent article on France, I take a trip back east to discuss the largest land based power in Soldier Kings, Russia.

Elizabeth, Warrior Empress.

Russia: Tovarish, Can You Spare Some Resources?

One should never analyze real-life historical outcomes using only games for reference. However, Russia’s situation in Soldier Kings can’t help but illustrate why Communism took hold there first. Russia has gigantic potential, with a huge Manpower base and 12 Armies plus 3 Fleets available for construction. And unlike Turkey (the only country with more armies), most of Russia’s armies have a strength of at least 2, and have proficient Leaders as well. But Russia starts the game with only 4 armies and 1 fleet, and her prospects for victory are slim unless she gets some serious outside assistance.

This is because Russia is dirt-poor. She starts the game with only 13 Resources (hardly enough to launch a couple of Invasions and then pay to repair and maintain her forces), and her frontiers border on territories even poorer than her own. So, Russia needs a patron who can feed her troops and give her the Resources to build new armies and take territory. Luckily, Russia’s huge untapped army reserve gives her strong bargaining power with rich foreign powers that do not have the armies to protect themselves. This, plus the fact that her Automatic Victory threshold is only 10 VP, gives her a good shot at victory if she can make the right alliances.

Major Power Alliances

On the very first turn, Russia needs to make it known that her armies are available to the highest bidder for use as Auxiliaries (see rule 19.5). This is a perfect situation for Russia and whoever bids highest for the privilege. Auxiliary units act as units of the power they’re loaned to, and all costs associated with those units (for repair, maintenance and attacks) are paid by that power. Not only that, but the Auxiliary units can attack any other Power without engaging Russia in hostilities with that power, so lending units as Auxiliaries leaves Russia’s long term alliance prospects open. Russia can therefore afford to be selective about who she allies with at start, and can switch alliances later if her original ally’s generosity proves less than promised. Finally, Russia is not in much danger of being invaded by anyone except possibly Turkey. The poverty of her territories and her huge potential to defend them makes her an unattractive target. So she can take the time to let her patrons ferry her armies where they choose, and then wait for rich targets to present themselves.

Several rich powers can benefit greatly from Russia’s auxiliaries:

• Holland: This is the obvious choice. Holland is like one of a later Russian Tsar’s Faberge Eggs: valuable, small, fragile, and coveted by the rich and powerful. She desperately needs extra armies to avoid being squashed and plundered by the first Major Power who can get to her. Russia is in a perfect position to help. She can position her most powerful army in St. Petersburg and offer to have her fleet shipped immediately to Holland. This plus another Dutch army and Holland’s high fortification value should keep Holland alive, and leaves the other Dutch army free for overseas duty.

Russia should negotiate for as many Resources as possible in exchange for her Auxiliary, and should promise much more where that came from. The value to Holland here is obvious — not only would multiple Russian Auxiliaries secure her homeland, but they are easily shipped on Holland’s fleets to rich, undefended overseas colonies. Like Russia, Holland only needs 10 VP to win, so a Russo-Dutch alliance with Russian Auxiliaries on fleets can put Holland in position for a quick win. At the same time, a base in Holland gives Russia immediate access to rich and lightly-defended foreign territory. British Hanover and the Austrian Netherlands are right on Holland’s borders, so Russia can use her position in Holland to threaten both Britain and Austria and get concessions from them in exchange for marching the other way.

• Britain: This is another obvious choice, simply because Britain is immensely wealthy but weak in armies to defend her overseas possessions. Russian Auxiliaries can therefore be of great use to her, but Britain’s initial position of power and worldwide dominance puts her in a strong negotiating position. So, if Russia allies with Britain right from the start, she will be less likely to get as many Resources from Britain as from Holland. Russia may therefore want to wait until Britain starts to lose territory to France and Spain, and then step in with a generous offer of Russian Auxiliaries for overseas duty.

Establishing a base in Holland (thereby threatening British Hanover) will give Russia the extra negotiating leverage necessary to wring maximum Resources from Britain. Russia should then use those Resources to build more armies for British Auxiliary duty, with offers of more to come. This will help develop a good, long-term relationship with Britain, and will give Russia options if it turns out that Holland is more valuable to her as a possession rather than just a base. . . .

• Austria: The Empress Maria Theresa holds the richest territory on the Continent, but she’s quite vulnerable to the combined threats of Prussia in the north and Turkey in the south. An alliance with Russia is the obvious choice for her, since Russia can create a second front for either of those hostile powers and can easily move to stack her armies with Austria’s.

This is fine for Russia on paper, but Russia may want to offer her forces to Austria as auxiliaries rather than paying her own way. This is because fighting Prussia is a hugely expensive prospect — Prussia’s armies are the toughest on the Continent, and any victory over Frederick will be long and hard-fought. Russia just doesn’t have the money to finance such a long campaign, and while Austria is relatively well-off compared to Russia, she’ll have to devote so much of her own money to the fight that she probably won’t have much left over to give to Russia.

Also, Prussia will almost certainly ally with Britain, and if Russia attacks Prussia she won’t be able to make or maintain a British alliance. So, lending Russian Auxiliaries to Austria gets Russia out of having to pay for a Prussian campaign, leaves her alliance options open, and frees up her own Resources for attacking Turkey (whose forces are much weaker and therefore less expensive to tackle).

Another reason Russia may want to avoid spending Resources on collaborating with Austria is that Russia may well want to backstab Austria before long. A quick victory over Austria is Prussia’s #1 goal, and Russia wants to be in a position to gobble up some of eastern Austria if Prussia is successful. Plus, a Russian base in Holland fronts directly on the Austrian Netherlands, which are worth 4 VP. A tripartite Russo-Dutch-British alliance puts Russia in a position to demand the Austrian Netherlands as fair compensation for supplying the bulk of Britain and Holland’s armies. Holland won’t be able to object (what with Cossacks dancing the Kazatski in Amsterdam), and Britain should be quite happy to see Russian Armies moving away from Hanover and bearing down on Ile de France.

Minor Country Alliances

Being the poor cousin, Russia doesn’t have a lot of friends, but Poland can be a useful buffer-state to discourage Prussian aggression. Also, fighting Poland would net only Russia 3 VP, and would probably cost her more Resources than she’d get for her efforts. So, Russia should devote her first Minor Country Alliance card to snagging Poland as an ally. She gets a +1 bonus on her alliance roll with Poland, and it’s doubtful that other countries will bribe Poland to decline the offer (Prussia and Turkey don’t have the cash to make bribes, and everybody else is too far away to care).

After Poland, Russia should look at Denmark as a good alliance prospect. Denmark has fleets, which are far too expensive for Russia to build herself. Access to Danish fleets gives Russian armies the ability to sit in St. Petersburg and watch until a rich, coastal European territory anywhere between East Prussia and Portugal becomes devoid of armies. They can then zip out and invade, grabbing a few quick VPs during a Fall turn and hopefully putting Russia over the top of her 10 VP victory threshold.

Fritz has good reason to fear your Cossacks.

Continental Strategy

Since Russia needs to use her allies to put her armies in a position to make quick, rich gains, a base in Holland should be her #1 priority. This gets her a solid ally with much cash to give, and puts her right next to 7 VP worth of territory. It also puts her next to British Hanover and therefore increases her bargaining power with Britain. Cementing a Russo-Dutch-British alliance gets Russia potential access to unlimited Resources, and puts her in a position where she can start playing her British and Dutch allies off each other.

Neither Holland nor Britain is in a position to invade Russia directly, and it’s simple for Russia to shift her west-coast base from Holland to Hanover and back again. So, Russia can withdraw her favors from Holland or Britain whenever the mood strikes her, and Russia should make this subtly apparent. This gives both Britain and Holland incentive to keep Russia as happy as possible, and puts Russia in a position to demand as much as possible from both of them. Russia should then use the Resources she’ll gain from this polygamous relationship to build the grandest Russian army she can plus a fine war chest. Then, when the time is right, she should quick-march from Russia and Holland and make a swift amphibious invasion from St. Petersburg to anywhere, to smash all opponents and net 10 VP and the game.

Overseas Strategy

Russia’s overseas strategy should be purely opportunistic. Britain and Holland may well take Russian Auxiliaries overseas to guard their possessions, and that’s fine because it puts Russia’s armies in places where they can dash out to nab neighboring territory. To do this, Russia would either have to terminate the Auxiliary agreement, or make a deal her Auxiliary will go overseas only if the transporting power will share her overseas conquests with Russia. The latter is obviously more desirable (Russia does not want to have to pay the costs of overseas armies, to say nothing of sailing fleets over there to get them back), and gives Russia VPs for free.

Of course, there’s nothing to stop a spurned Britain or Holland from marooning Russian armies on desolate islands, so Russia should not make overseas gains a central part of her strategy for victory.

Event Card Strategy

Russia can’t pay anyone else for event cards, but she can trade. She needs whatever cards will get her Resources, or which will give her extra bargaining leverage with Britain and Holland. An excellent card for Russia to acquire and play is “Debase Currency.” Russia’s own Resource base is tiny to begin with. So, she gains desperately-needed Resources immediately from this card, and loses little thereafter because most of her Resources will come from her allies Britain and Holland.

Good bargaining chips for use with Britain are “Descents,” “Pitt Takes Power,” “Sepoys,” “La Grande Societe,” and “East India Company Troops.” A good bargaining chip with Holland is “South Pacific Revolt.” Finally, good cards for bargaining with both allies are “Jesuit Plot” (which can hurt both of those countries’ overseas rivals) and “Caught at Anchor” (a near-guarantee of naval victory).

“The Romanov Dynasty ended with my husband.” Catherine II’s palace coup, 28 June 1762.

Conclusion

Russia needs to do all she can to get others to pay for what she does. She can pull this off by becoming manpower broker to the world, offering Auxiliaries to Holland and Britain. She should use the Resources she gets in return to build as many armies as possible and stock her war chest. She should keep her allies happy and friendly with each other, but make it clear that while a ménage-a-trois is fun it can’t last forever. She should use her wiles to keep her allies guessing which of them she truly loves, and should take all she can get from both of them until the time is right. Then, when rich, vulnerable territory within striking distance presents itself, she should take advantage of her 10 VP victory point threshold and make a quick march to victory.