Russia is a huge country with many borders to control. Each border gives you an expansion option but each border can be quickly cut off by another nation. Russia may be a big country but its oddly short on people. I found whilst playing Russia that Gold and People where the things holding me back. Gold was easy to get, simply build up the trade side of the game. People on the other hand are needed for Trade too and I was always short on them. This fact alone will limit how big your army gets early on.

At the start of the game you will need a pretty big army to keep the other nations from attacking you. So that must be your priority. Yet armies need gold and gold is another thing you do not have a lot of at the start of the game. So a balance must be struck. Forget about expanding for a while whilst you maximize your own countries resources. Despite these short comings you must go for a Barracks and a Stables early on and build up a first class army that can take on anything the other nations throw at you. After you have done this you can be fairly confident that any attack against will be futile.

The AI nations will be looking for the weakest opponent, so should you decide to attack, the state of your armies before, during and after the war, will determine whether the other nations gang up on you or not. So its wise to keep a few armies back for defense in case things go badly.

As Russia you have to take Sweden and the Ottoman Empire on. I had a chat with Klaz in fhe forum who loves playing Russia and on that last point we both agree. Securing these two countries early gives you a big advantage. Sweden often falls to Great Britain and you do not want that to happen. With Sweden being on your border you should expect them to attack you if you look weak. Sweden can usually build up a pretty big army in no time, so they will be a threat to you. The Ottoman Empire can also build up a pretty big army but usually has its sights set on Austria. Though it will attack you if you look weak.

Austria will attack anybody that looks weak, they are surrounded on all sides by enemies and will take advantage of any opportunity. They are known to make coalition with other nations against any weak country. If they do attack, you can usually be sure at least 2 other nations will follow them and declare war on you. If that happens try and make peace with few of the Nations your at war with. If your sympathy rating is low or your armies are too weak, then you will be at war again within a few turns. At least in the mean time you can focus on build up an army.

So your first move should be to secure an alliance with Austria whilst looking at Sweden and the Ottoman Empire as your next conquests. Beware of Prussia during this time. They can become a threat if Poland falls. Moldavia is another region that will cast its greedy eyes your way but if you look strong and the Ottoman Empire looks weak, they will simply take over Greece whilst your trying to take over the Ottoman Empires Capital. Rather sneaky of them really considering your doing all the work.

Your mid term goals need to be to take over Poland and Moldavia eventually. These give you regions for building troops and making improvements that you badly need. Once these are taken things slowly start to improve. I also recommend you annex Galicia (just above Moldavia because that region gives you a lot of resources. It belongs to Austria at the start of the game, so if Austria ever declares war on you, make sure you have troops in that region when you make peace. That is all you need to do to annex the region.

After you have done this your going to have to maintain a pretty large army around Austria and Prussian's Borders. They will occasionally declare war on you if your not careful. I recommend stationing 3 Armies in Poland and 3 Armies in Moldavia for defence. If you can spare 3 armies whilst protecting your self from the Austrians and Prussians then head for Egypt and take over the whole of Africa. This will not easy but once done your ability to defend your self and take on any other nation will improve a lot.

At this point your left with a decision, start taking out Prussia and Austria or go for Denmark in order to get a port in the North sea (Norway) from which to launch an attack against Great Britain it self. Great Britain usually wants Demark and Sweden so you may already be at war with Great Britain. If you take Great Britain then Spain, Portugal and even France suddenly becomes valid targets. If you go for Austria and Prussia then you know France will be your next problem and France will be your strongest opponent so far. So taking the Austrian route to power means your heading for a super power face off, You and France head to head.

If you go for Great Britain then France still has to worry about Austria and Prussia and if it moves its forces away from their borders it may lose some of the countries it has captured. I found Spain was easy to take from the French in my game after taking over Great Britain first. Portugal was just as easy too. In fact I peacefully annexed them both after saying no to the "Do you want to occupy this region" question, which added nearly 40 points to my sympathy rating amongst all the other nations.

When I decided to go for the French capital I freed Bavaria, Hanover and several small countries from French control first. By the time France fell, those small nations loved me so much they could be Annex building Consulate on its own. All the little nations in the center of Europe peacefully switched sides within a few turns because I chose not to occupy them when I freed them. I was god to most of Europe for not conquering them and they converted over to me anyway. If I had done that by force then all the remaining nations would have attacked me at that point in the game.

This is a good tip for taking on France, the short term gains you get from occupying a country can be off set by the long term goal of having almost all the smaller nations begging to be part of your Empire.

If you take over France then the rest should be easy, but to take over France first your going to need more armies than you would have needed to take over Austria and Prussia first. Trouble is, if you take over Austria and Prussia first with less armies, what state are you going to be in when your bordering the French Empire?

The French are going to look at you and say, easy pickings and you could loose all you've gained. So if you do go for Austria and Prussia first, do it slowly and build up more and more Armies as you go, become the mightly Russia Steam Rolling people talked about after World War 2. Upgrade each region your capture, especially Poland, Sweden and Moldavia.

Remember, if you conquer a region by force then that regions barracks and other military upgrades will be destroyed. If another nation conquers one of your countries then the same is true. So it might be best not to spend too much money in nations other empires can take over easily. If you took over Africa then Africa will be a good recruiting ground for you during the game and safe place to spend money on upgrades.

Written by giskard