Well I wasn’t claiming that an impassable neutral tile on the map would fix overall game balance. Only that it would have accomplished the aim of restricting how starting units in China can be used without requiring separate nation/region specific rules.
For example, in such a situation (with no movement across the Chinese western border with the USSR) you could have then added additional “American” ground units in China, and these would not simply double back out of China on US1. Similarly you could have added a starting IC in China and Japan could not have used such an IC to immediately start pushing ground units across the central route towards Moscow once captured.
It just strikes me as a more straightforward way that could have been used to handle the situation here, with basic map design, rather than extra rules or a complex multi nation reinforcement along the central route. If the Allies wanted to reinforce the Chinese they’d likely have to do so through Burma, which would be more historical. If you wanted to give Mao a nod, this could have been done with a starting Soviet tile or starting units in China, instead of the Russians sending large armies into Western China.
Would it be less interesting for Japan? Probably sure. But the movement of large armies across this region never happened, for either side, and it’s completely unrealistic historically. As unrealistic as moving large armies across the Gobi or the Himalayas (or the Sahara for that matter). Its at least as easy to imagine active armies rolling over Spain or Turkey or Mongolia, and all those tiles are impassable in 1942.2. I just don’t see the need to give the Japanese such an obvious choice. At least the choice between the North and South would be consequential (you can’t do both at the same time.) With the central route open you can do all 3 at the same time!
The northern and southern route are both 5 turn routes…
Sz 62 into Buryatia, Yakut, Evenki, Novos/Vologda/Arch, Moscow: 5 turns from Japan
Sz 36 into Burma, India, Persia, Caucasus, Moscow: 5 turns from Japan
But Sz 61 into Yunnan, Szech, Kazakh, Moscow: 4 turns from Japan!
There is isn’t an interesting choice, the decision is obvious. Japan should use sz61 into Yunnan. Not only because it’s the fastest route to Moscow and an ideal shuck, but because it also covers India and the Southern route at the same time. Yunnan is adjacent to Burma, and sz 61 is one move from India, so this move only puts you one turn off the Southern Route, you lose practically no time at all on the redirect. But more importantly, if Japan sends 20+ units into Szech or Sinkiang (to crush China), they can just keep marching forwards towards Moscow without skipping a beat. If an impassable tile blocked this route, then such a move would be putting Japan 2 turns out of position on the either the Northern or Southern route should they decide to handle China.
That is an actual choice, because there would be a cost (in time) for executing the center crush, if Japan moves in from the coast to conquer the Chinese interior.
In other words an impassable tile would force a decision, where one doesnt currently exist. A decision that looks a bit more like the decision Japan faced in the actual war. Do they attack the Russians in the North? The British in the South? Or do they commit to the conflict in China? Historically they chose option 3 (with like their entire army) and ended up losing the wider War. The game doesn’t model this very well, because China here is a cakewalk conquest. It’s not a “speed bump,” but a smoothly paved super highway, running along the most direct route to Moscow. All I’m saying.
:-D