@Gargantua:
So I have another alternate proposal.
-Give Russia + 1 minor IC in Stalingrad
-Lose the Russian Berlin NA (As it’s never used).
-New NA - “For the Motherland!” Russia gets +1 infantry during the place units phase each turn at any industrial complex it holds in the following territories (Moscow, Novisibirks, Karelia, Stalingrad), so long as it has held the territory from the beginning of it’s turn. This advantage does not count against maximum production.
This inspires the Axis to go hard and fast for the industrial complex’s, or face that many more infantry a turn. It’s an incentive for the axis to start early, without breaking the game.
If that’s not enough, the NO can be reworded so that Russia gets +1 inf per complex it holds. They may gamble and place extra factories early, as an investment, but may have to pay the price for it down the road.
I’m going to weigh in on this with a personal “unofficial” response. I agree there could be some improvements made to the Eastern Front. Whether it’s setup changes, rules changes, or strategy changes (or a combo) I do not know yet.
First, I agree with Garg that 2 IPC infantry will break the game too far in Russia’s favor. We can’t go there. But, I’m not willing to throw out Germany’s 5 IPC tanks yet.
I see the above solution as the most sensible to try out. Thanks go out to those guys already trying it. Please let us know what happens!
I don’t like rules that limit production of common units like tanks, so I’m against that. Special units is one thing, but limiting tank buys beyond income and factory limits goes against the feel of the game IMO.
Any “official answer” on a game changer like this will have to be tested and discussed by all 4 game designers before anything is written in stone. But I encourage trying the above as Garg suggested, then telling everyone what happened. Let’s start there.