V3 Russian declaration of war.

It would be a bad idea in my mind to declare war on the allies in July 1939 but you also have the ability to declare war on anyone at any turn as the Germans, Japanese and Italians. If you were to declare war in 1936 that would be a horrible idea but you have that flexibility.

To be honest I like the flexibility as long as it doesn’t break the balance of the game. So far in the 3 games that I’ve play tested with my group (very new to the rules and game) it hasn’t been an issue and the threat of war has changed the dynamic of the game and significantly enhanced the political situation between the powers.

I’ll have a video of Russia uploaded in an hour but it needs to be checked so you won’t see it until at least tomorrow. I talk about that a bit in the video so be sure and check that out. One thing to consider though is that it is more difficult for the Allies to declare on you. If you don’t do the things that will allow them to declare war then you will retain that advantage over them until you’re ready (if ever) to change your war status with them. Germany would have to completely ignore you for you to be safe enough to spend your resources on attacking the Allies in 1939. Remember that it wouldn’t take much for them to reposition themselves to jump all over Russia. If I were them I’d play “kitty by the door” and let you damage them for a bit then I would slaughter you so that you’re both damaged and the Axis win easily. I’m not saying don’t declare war on the Allies, I’m saying wait until the game develops more and the Allies have become a threat to the Axis so the Axis don’t have time to tee off on you after you kneecap the Allies.

@Broken-Mortar There are no income increases involving the Russians for the US. They wouldn’t be in it any sooner.

@Broken-Mortar They could do that but given the income disparity between the comintern and the allies I don’t think that is the right play. They will roll over the axis and then come for you. I think strategically you also want the allies at a low income while keeping them enough of a threat that the axis have to focus resources on them and keep off your back.

Though if the Russians can’t trigger income increases that’s also interesting and I don’t think unfair on a balance basis.

@Broken-Mortar Not anymore. We changed the rules so you couldn’t game the Americans. What hammertimepower said is correct though. You will pretty much guarantee a Russian loss if you hand the Allies the game like that. Global War is a 3-way game and an Allied victory is a Russian loss. If you’re only playing with 2 players and combining the 2 powers then you would already be at an advantage even without making gamey moves like that. I’ve played with only 2 players and it isn’t the same game at all. To get the full effect you absolutely need at least 3 players to have the rules work properly for you. The video will be out in a few hours and you can see the change.

@Broken-Mortar I think it was a valid question and at some point I think someone will find something broken. There are so many rules and only so much time to play test and analyze. I’m amazed they have the game as fine tuned as they do.

No worries I agree with you that it’s better to know now than 6 months from now when everything is printed and distributed to the whole community. It’s a stressful time for the rules people trying to put the finishing touches on the game, especially with all that’s going on in the world around us. We all have lives outside of the game that have been disrupted and most of us have been quarantined in our homes but we are all doing our best. Thanks for helping us out not only with that but with all of the other helpful suggestions. I take everything I read from these forums plus comments on my channel and pass them along to help make it a better game. In the end it will be a game that was created with the help of the whole community. We can all take a bit of the credit for the end product.