@UpstateNate
Oh Sure. But with a proper G3 DOW, Leningrad is unholdable going into G4 regardless of amphib or not. Unless that’s where all the PU’s went for Russia R1-3, in which case all the better for the germans, the south is wide open.
So I like to not have much, if anything, actually in Novgorod by end of R3.
Quite often, you may put a lot of Russians north of pripet marshes Turns 1 and 2 just to draw more Germans up there, making their goal of a large singular stack facing of at Bryansk and a sweep south into the caucuses a bit more difficult. Once the Germans start moving to Leningrad, the stack moves southeast, slowly, zig zagging as the situation permits, to keep the southern and northern German stacks from joining as long as possible. Even a 1 turn delay is helpful.