So I bought the Russian starter on impulse when I saw it at the LGS. Being thrust into command of a White Navy Battle Brigade, I want to go over my thoughts with y'all on good Russian tactics before my.first game.
First, Russian capabilities.
They have average dr/cr with ablative armor, which keeps.them from being damaged until the first crit, which is treated as 1 up loss(regardless of double or triple crit on that first hit) and then the mar goes away. This is available on almost every capital class vessel(the only exception offhand that I remember is their medium capital flyer, although their large has to pay twenty points to add it). They also have low low aa/cc which is mitigated by breaker/jammer generators on some vessels , which extend their protective envelope to any friendly fleet model within rb1 and allow you to redirect x amount of rockets or torps, depending on generator, onto another ship, friendly OR enemy, within rb1. They also have high ap (12 for the BB, 7 for the cruisers, 3 for frigates) mitigated by an almost nationwide -1 to hit on any boarding assault(a few models escape.this).
For.firepower, the Russians have massive primary firepower in rb1-2, with. The borodino links for 22ad in rb1 and 18ad in rb2(one 12/10 turret with 270 degrees, and two 10/8 turrets). The secondarily are great, with the borodino having 8/8/6. The cruisers have 10/8 turret and 6/6/4 secondaries. The frigates have a 6/4 primary turret and a 2/4 close mortar(secondary) with lob shot, which isn't indirect fire but ignores obstructing models when determining LOS, which is great since both weapon systems have a 360 fire arc.
In fact let's take a look at the frigates. Average dr/cr with a 9" movement, they have 360 movement. With the mar lob shot they can fire over screening capitals and at flankers. These are great frigates.
Now that we have the capabilities down, how do these mesh?
It seems the easiest way to fight with the Russian starter is to lump your cruisers and battleship close together with at least one squadron worth of frigates parked behind them. This mutually supportive block can smash most anything with its absurd closerange firepower while keeping the generators close to keep rockets and torpedoes from causing damage. Th bomber doesn't do much outside of bombs, so keepobscured and running for something big with its 8ad bombs. If you are in a pinch you can use hardshell to drop a non-linkable 12ad attack, but doing so loses you the bomber and its VPS. Then you can release the other frigates to hunt flankers or hug the main block .
That's pretty much it. There's a lot more there with the other units but a starter battle is often the first one. The only problem I see is making the enemy come to the Russians(which tend to the slow side with 7" cruisers and 9" frigates) instead of running away.
Thoughts, officers?
