I have yet to do the Art-heavy purchase with Russia, because I like the movement of armour.
I am always surprised when people say “buy 8 inf with Russia”. It’s a losing strategy. Your offensive pieces will be gone two rounds into the game, and your stacks of Infantry will do a great job of slowing down Germany slightly.
8 Inf = Off. Punch 8, Def Punch 16.
5 Inf, 1 Rtl, 1 Arm = Off. Punch 11, Def Punch 15, plus you get the movement versatility of the armour.
Multiply those numbers over three rounds and you have put 33 points of offense on the board compared to “all-inf’s” 24, with 45 points of defense compared to “all-inf’s” 48. YES, you have put three fewer units on the board overall, but you have also been killing a lot more German units than you would be able to with Inf only.
I’ll take that trade-off.
~Josh