Bridger

This is incorrect. The Soviet Posture change does still require a successful effectiveness check if using a flag. Posture change is only automatic and free when the USSR home front comes up.

Was excited to see this game discussed here. Thought I'd throw in a bit of my perspective from the description of Bruce's game. He describes how the French lost all 4 of their cubes in Eastern Europe as a result of Crisis markers. I have seen this happen too, but it is not strictly a negative for the Democracies. It is true that the French cannot gain flags from provocation in Eastern Europe, but remember that Status Quo ends if the Ger+Ita VP is greater than UK+Fra VP. When France loses all their VP in the east, this should even out the total (2 starting UK VP, 2 starting Italian VP). This means if the Germans or Italians take a *single* area they end status quo. This *significantly* hamstrings the European Fascists peaceful expansion, because they don't want to break status quo. If they break status quo, the Americans start getting flags and the UK and British get free flags each turn. So losing those eastern europe flags can easily lead to status quo ending early or Germany being walled in to avoid status quo. It sounds like this rule was missed in your game. Also remember that the USSR can end status quo when they mobilize (not just the Germans). If the USSR thinks the Fascists are too strong, they can mobilize to break status quo and get the allies started sooner than the fascists may have preferred. Re: Japan focusing entirely on China - I found out the hard way that this can result in Japan surrendering *super-fast*. The US is only 2 actions away from taking the Japanese capital if the Japanese never take the Philippines. So if Japan ignores the US and only focuses on China, the US can simply deploy to Philippines, and then invade Japan and win the pacific war. The only way to prevent that 1-2 punch is for the Japanese to take the Philippines and then take as many allied bases as possible in the Pacific to slow the US from getting back into the Philippines. There are (unfortunately) a lot of subtle rules which, if mis-played, can break the game balance and ruin the experience. But when you get them right it feels very balanced and is very enjoyable. Took me about 3 full games to really "internalize" everything correctly.