Japan can take India with a good plan well executed, but that requires they practically empty out Manchuria and Korea of troops to have enough - and even then it’s probably 50/50 against an equally skilled opponent. India first seems like the most solid gambit. India can be weakened with SBR and by taking Malaya, Hong Kong, and Borneo right away, leaving them with only 7 IPCs. Point - India isn’t too bad as is.
Russia on the other hand, needs tweaking. First, my gripe about the Soviet Far East. The 18 Infantry that are inexplicably stationed in SFE are a nightmare to handle. They are supposed to be pulled out and sent back to Moscow, but my opponent likes to have them sit there and menace me. The last game we played, he invaded Korea and set up a minor IC - then proceeded to build a submarine each round into the Sea of Japan. By the rules, you cannot load transports from a zone in combat, so until Japan liberates Korea, each and every round Japan was unable to load transports from Japan during the Combat Phase, due to the one submarine each round - it ruined my ability to invade Honolulu which was essentially undefended. I think the power that declares war should provide the other with much more than 12 IPCs - perhaps 30? The current SFE setup ONLY favors Russia - that’s lame.
Also, Russia has a few too many Infantry to work with. In G3 or G4 when Germany is most likely to want to invade, Germany is always already outnumbered by Russian troops. As long as the Russian player isn’t dumb and places them in the correct zones, it’s extremely difficult for Germany to make a 50/50 shot at Moscow. That’s all I want - a 50/50 shot assuming average die rolls.
