calvin just conceded a game where he tried this out. I believe he executed it correctly, but I don’t really see any way it could work. Even if the Russian player doesn’t see it coming, he’s got 2 full rounds to react and that’s plenty of time to consolidate and buy more cheap units. Three when you see the air base being built and see where it can reach. The German tank purchase also made me wary. As usual though, I huddled when I saw the naval buy, expecting at least an attack at Novgorod.
The tanks would have been an irritant blitzing around, but my next purchase would be 4 tanks and 4 mechs to chase them down. At this point with my Russian hordes vastly outpipping both the Germans and Japanese, I can easily afford to go with the pricier and more mobile units and begin pushing out in all directions. This also gave the UK a chance to start buying ships again, along with units in Africa. Japan is in no position to hurt India or ANZAC, and the US is coming to Europe shortly.
I’ve attached a map so you can see what the Axis are up against. This is the end of Russia in round 3. Japan should be landing planes, then Germany has to advance. If they come closer to those stacks, they are going to get creamed. They could survive a round by going to Archangel or the Urals, but then that’s missing the point of reaching Moscow. Russia even has enough troops to deal with the southern forces at the same time. Japan could put a decent dent in the Russian stack, but it’s not going to be nearly enough and they’ll lose everything doing it.
Japan planes clearing a path or as part of a final push for Moscow has always been a sound strategy, but this is quite different. It’s less than dicey because you’ll never get close to landing enough Germans to push all the way to Moscow, and your normal front will be very soft.
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