First of all, it seems like Alpha+3 is changing as much as Alpha+2 did. I just printed this up last week and I already see enough changes that I had to print it up again. I wish they would settle on something and quit all the changes!
That being said, something does need to happen with this new Russian NO. 3 IPCs for each Axis and neutral territory in Europe (including Turkey)? That is just way too much power for Russia. Plus, it’s not very realistic. I could see them getting points for Finland and Bulgaria, perhaps even Greece and Yugoslavia. But TURKEY?!? I imagine this also includes countries like Sweeden, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. Russia shouldn’t get NOs for any of those territories.
There’s another problem with this rule: we are going on the assumption that Russia is taking these neutral territories from Axis powers. However, the rule simply says “under Soviet control”. So, theoretically, once the USSR is at war, it could attack neutral Turkey, which would turn all other strict neutrals Pro-Axis, and get a reward of 3 IPCs per turn for doing so. Frankly, I think it is wrong to reward Russia for such an aggressive act which also makes it much harder for all the Allies (Axis getting Spain, Sweeden, Portugal, etc. basically for free).
After that, they could simply march into Greece, get 4 extra infantry plus another 3 IPC bonus. Granted, this does follow the Pro-Allied Neutral rule and Russia is technically an Ally, but Greece was more pro-Britain, not pro-USSR. It just seems wrong to me for Russia to accquire Greece like this.
If Larry Harris intends to keep this Russian NO in it’s current form, perhaps it will simply be to all of us to “house rule” this NO for our own games. I’m certainly not going to give Russia 3 IPCs each round for occupying Turkey or Sweeden.