Russian Alpha 3 NO a Mistake?

@Navymule:

I stand corrected.  However, they (USSR) could declare war upon Japan and then attack a neutral such as Turkey, right?

No again, sorry:

@rulebook:

Due to its separate treaties with Germany and Japan, the Soviet Union is in a unique position in its relationship with the
Axis powers. As a result, if the Soviet Union is at war with Axis powers on only one map, it is still under the restrictions
of being a neutral power (see “Powers Not at War with One Another,” page 15) on the other map, and Axis powers on
the other map are also still under those restrictions regarding the Soviet Union on both maps. For example, a state of
war with only Japan lifts the neutrality restrictions from the Soviet Union on the Pacific map only, and allows Japanese
units to attack or fly over Soviet-controlled territories on either map. However, the Soviet Union is still restricted on
the Europe map, …

I take this idea further and use my bid to add 3 artilleries to the Russian stack.

It makes it a serious offensive force and a harder defensive force to deal with.

It allows US to project more power in the Atlantic because it shows Japan down.

Well, the UK will slow down Italy, but with no builds/reinforcements from elsewhere, Italy will overwhelm them eventually and without US intervention it’ll go quickly to a 40-50 IPC Italy.

@Cmdr:

Spend 6 IPC to take out the Russian NO, Wrath.  A submarine in SZ 125 takes away the objective as well as a destroyer does.  It also requires the allies to send a destroyer to go kill it, instead of using only planes.

A submarine isnt a war ship according to our definition of the rules but I wont argue about that. The price of 8 ipc is still worth it.

Russia was buffed in Alpha 2 because many Axis players blew their strength on England, dedicating all of their power to taking it out and thus, not having enough to hit Russia with.  Now that England is no longer a prized posession, but more of a “well, I need one more VC to win, and it is underdefended” move, Russia is getting really easy to take out.

Dont care if russia is buffed, Germany is so much more buffed with their extra planes and units, thats why I find that theather a bit balanced.

Looking ONLY at the game board for the first 3 rounds (bringing you to Germany Round 4, Purchase New Units) one can see that the Axis are more than double Russia’s strength with more than double their income.  That means England and India need to be focused on sending reinforcements to Russia to prevent them from falling (and thus, negating the need to block SZ 125).  With the NonAggression arrangement being virtually nullified, there is no reason not to invade early and heavy with Japan and more reason TOO do it, to remove even more IPC from the Russians. 
So yes, Wrath, I agree, Barbarossa is probably the better avenue and makes Victory more assured, not assured, but more than attempting Sea Lion.    I don’t see Russia ever getting their Objectives (any of them).

If you go after russia on round 4 as germany you are to late imho, you are better off attacking round 2 (with a fake attack on yugoslavia) or on r3.

With the relative ease of taking London and Calcutta (in opposition to Sydney and Muskva) it seems better to go after England

But beyond that, if you take London, you negate all of England’s income, even if you cannot take the territories!  Worse yet, Calcutta can take stuff and can liberate stuff on the Atlantic map, but can never collect for it, so you’ve effectively, permanently ended England.

Just my current thoughts, I reserve the right to change my mind with little to no notice and for whatever reason I so choose. (Woman’s perogative.)

No. They are not part of the “Allies” until they join the war, so their are no countries friendly to them until they do, anyway.

@kcdzim:

Tragically, there are not enough japanese roundels to do this (later in the game).

What’s even more tragic (or fortunate depending on how you look at it) is that I have 10 differe A&A’s so a lack of control markers for the big 5 is never an issue. A lack of ANZAC markers on the other hand…

In bold are the suggestions i made. The rest of the text is from LHarris