True. I can see that as a very real possibility.
Provided Russia hasn’t lost Cauc yet and has some armor and air to attack, they still have the Supply Line adv and can attack from both Russia and Cauc and do serious strafing damage while retreating to the appropriate place.
Like in some of our games in Classic, the expansion of Japan isn’t that important, provided Russia hasn’t lost its Eastern Inf and can retreat and then punch back as Japan gets closer.
Now I’m guessing it is probably harder to do this in Revised then in Classic due to the strength of Germany but I think the tactical retreat in the East will still work for Russia and that you shouldn’t be afraid to punch Germany if they give you an early opportunity. The dynamic may not be cauc-mos-novo maybe it is cauc-mos-kaz or cauc-mos-per or some other 3 ter located basically in the middle of the board, but the dynamic is there. Just like for Ger with WE-Ger-EE/Balk.
Now in Classic I was very comfortable on my own as Russia for the first 4-5 turns giving up a bid of 22-23 IPCs, but I’m not sure Russia has that kind of time in revised. That is what I need to learn, how much time does Russia really have, and how much damage can they do alone before they absolutely need the UK and US.
I can appreciate the flexibily tcnance mentions with UK or that each nation may have more options with several viable strats that can lead to wins, but I just have a hunch if you give this game the time Classic had that it will infact boil down to a handful of strats “experts” use and that bids will increase accordingly similar to Classic but not at the high levels of Classic.