What Units do you Consider Essential for USSR?

I stay away from command dependant stuff unless year restriction forces me to build the early war stuff. Vet NCO's, Shock troops, Guards Infantry, SU-76m's almost always find their way into my builds. PS - Soviet Polish infantry make better fodder the the Mosin's because they aren't command dependant and cheap at 3 points.

Definitely like a mix of Shock Troops, Guards and PPsh SMG for infantry, Veteran NCO for officer, a mortar and some heavily armored tanks (gotta bring a T-34/76). The 76.2 is a really good cannon as well. And the Hero is one tough guy to kill.

Russians generally have poor anti-air and air options, so you want your guys to be able to absorb some aerial assaults. That means that unless it's a really big army, the armored cars are a waste and don't spend much on artillery. Also they have no bazooka style weapons or engineers and trouble landing the close assaults with command dependent infantry, so better to load up on durable tanks since you will need heavy anti-tank weapons.

T-28 is good on a small board but it is slow and vulnerable to the big Stukas.