Yes, but no one ever liked my idea for Russian Partisans:
Cost: 2 IPC
Attack: 1
Defend: 1
Move: 1
(Think Snipers, Farmers with hunting rifles, etcetera.)
That would certainly slow the Germans down and bring some equality to the western half of the board.
But that doesn’t negate that one rarely sees a Japanese VC win despite their overpowering planes. I think this issue is more due to the fact it’s just impossible to ever take that 30 IPC NO from the United States. Another thing I tried and lobbied to have altered (move the NO out and spread it out so it was easier for Japan to capture some of those territories that create the income and stop the US from getting it.)
A balance for that might even be Japan gets a 10 IPC for every round that Tokyo isn’t captured (it’s hardly as ridiculous as the US one!) Would also give Japan some flexibility and with that change, and the extra couple of rounds in the beginning before the US just gets insane incomes, I could go along with removing a few Japanese fighters and bombers from the initial startup.