House rule with russia,soviet winter/newincome/needadvice

In all actuality it was almost pure luck that Russia did survive the war. If Hitler had not split his massive Barbarossa force to attack South, Moscow would have surely fallen. I think the best way to make the game a little more fair is have it start in 1940 or 39 like the new AAE40 will do. Starting at the beginning of 41 like AAE does highlights the ineptitude that Stalin had by not strengthening his front lines and purging his army in the 30’s by killing I believe 70% of his officers. If we are given control in 1939 the German force would be smaller than the Soviets (had the largest army in the world: equaled all other armies tanks put together and had more planes than all others combined), but the Germans have a stronger economy. So the Russian player is given time to move his forces (albeit outclassed forces) into position for a massive offensive by Germany. We could right Stalin’s mistakes and Hitler’s as well (he attacked Yugoslavia right before Barbarossa, killing 6 precious weeks of good weather that would be needed for the Russian offensive). But at the current state the game is pretty accurate, if there is a determined German player and a non-cohesive allied force then Germany will win 90% of the time. But if the allies work together (UK helping out Russia while the US does its thing to invade Europe) then the game swings to a very balanced game where dice rolls and a little luck is what usually wins the day, or a little mistake by either side, which is how the game should be IMO.

@Aretaku:

I’m also thinking that an easy way to leave the British Bonus Infantry rule alone while keeping the game balanced would be to connect Iran to India, and allow for amphib assaults of Egypt via the Red Sea. That way Japan actually has the option of entering the theatre without having to go all the way around the freaking world.  :-P

Yes, connecting the Red Sea interboard space to Egypt and India to Iran makes sense.

You can prevent the Allies from strongly reinforcing Russia with fighters by threatening Vyborg and Leningrad early.  The only efficient way for the Allies to get fighters to Russia is through Leningrad, a distance of 4 from UK.  Fighters built in the US on turn 1 land in UK on turn 2 and Leningrad in turn 3.  They then join the Russian stack in Belorussia on turn 4.  You have until then to make sure you have enough forces forward to ensure that the Russians can’t stand in Belorussia even with all the extra fighters.  Further, funnelling fighters through Leningrad means the Allies have to divert ground units from Belorussia to prevent everything from being lost.  If so, the German player gets to choose which battle to fight, Leningrad or Belorussia.

The other thing you can do is try to get the Allied player to divert fighters to the Battle of the Atlantic by using you subs in sea zones where it disrupts the flow of fighters to Leningrad.

If the Allied player has been able to get 7 or 8 extra fighters to Russia by turn 3 or 4, Germany is probably doomed, so a combination of pressure and diversion usually prevents the fighter build up.

SS

i’m pretty sure the money russia get’s in the convoy is supposed to be from the usa, The far east money isn’t represented too well. They don’t get it when archangel falls because this is where the allies landed their supplies.
if the game were 98% realistic, it would have to start earlier. If it were 98% realistic, and it started in 1941 germany would win since they wouldn’t make the same mistakes they did in the real war. I could argue that the allies made most of their terrible mistakes before the war started. Germany made a few key mistakes once the war was underway that cost them the war.
regardless, it’s a fun game

I’d like to try the free for all rules. It sounds very cool :P

plith7, the rules for naval placement have changed in AAE, if the us places naval units they can now fight instead of simply being destroyed, make a german blockade a very expensive venture.

Thank you for the clarification!