In multiple recent threads I have argued early Axis moves of an extremely aggressive nature as a potential response to a KGF strategy.
After some play-testing on my own of various moves and counter-moves that have been proposed, here are my results:
For the RR game with Germany ignoring UK navy (except for use of subs) and blasting EVERYTHING on Karelia and an amphib on Caucuses: Those who said Germany would be spent were correct.
I can consistently take Karelia with everything Russia can move to defend it. Germany can simultaneously take Caucuses. I have done so with as much as 2 INF in Caucuses, an armor in Karelia, and 2 fighters and a bomber surviving; and as little as NO AF, 1 INF in Caucuses (Russia held 1 INF there instead of going to Karelia), and 1 tank in Karelia.
UK did of course take Karelia (and Finland when both transports survived the U boats) and flew their air-power to Russia. US usually takes Western using 2 INF and a bomber against 2 INF.
And the folks who said Japan can;t crack Yakut if stacked on J1 are correct. In several tries I NEVER succeeded in taking Yakut against all-available R forces.
Finally, on G2, the best I could muster was Russia empty, but still held by Russia. To achieve that, Russia built exclusively in Karelia on R2 (no reason to with the weak German force in Eastern, but I played it that way to test it) and only the RAF in Russia (ALL of it, including bomber and India fighter). This was also the couple of tries where Germany still had 2 figs and the bomber and 2 INF coming from Caucuses. Anything less and UK usually only lost 1 fighter.
Permutations are not worth testing: Russia putting just 2 INF in Russia on R2 elliminates any thought of the Caucuses force + AF from taking Russia. Using remaining AF plus all available units (incl Caucus INF) would still leave Karelia too weak to be held against a 2nd UK amphib (now with more transports than before). And even using the Japan AF to pre-strike and weaken Russia (2 figs and a bomber against the RAF), would be of no real use: Russia simply builds in Russia instead of Karelia leaving Britain to re-take Karelia in UK2 from a very weak German force of at most 4 INF and 2 tanks; meanwhile Germany is down 8 or more IPC’s in Europe with no navy, no AF, and less than 20 total pieces on the board, mostly INF. Japan can;t get there fast enough to save them, especially with 50% of their AF gone.
I honestly thought an all-out blood-bath against Russia would be enough to counter a “KGF” strategy. Obviously, I was wrong.
Thank you to those who pointed out some new wrinkles I had not considered.
Give me a chance to test a few thoughts, and I’ll get back to you with “modifications” :-)