If the axis can't beat the Russkies or at least push them back decisively, the Axis will inevitably lose. No point wasting everybodys time. The Allies can just spam units and throw them in without thinking, they do not need any skill at all from that point on.
I don't agree with you there. It aint over till it's over - this is a wargame, not an "Axis wins by steamrolling Russia or game over automation".
Gracefull strategic and tactical decisions can still be made once the Axis is on the downward spiral.
-> Actually this is where Axis players can truly proove their quality by making SOV and Allies pay hard for finall victory!
(The only important thing would be to give defeated Axis players ITA for example the chance to coop GER - helping against the massive overload of a multifront world war endgame.)
And SOV and ENG player get shoved around all day long in the first years of the war - they should get the chance of finallly striking back if they held out this long.
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To me much of the morbid fascination of WWII comes from the brilliant and heroic fighting of GER troops - often still pulling of operations against overwhelming odds - in the last two years of the war.
The bitter irony and sad background of course beeing, that they were fighting for the truly "dark side" and all their sacrifices were inevitably for the wrong cause and all the heroic deeds and sacrifices would in the end go unremembered/ not honoured by anyone, beeing spoiled by the taint ov evil that came with Nazi policy.
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Hence I can only applaud the new Carnage houserules (starting with the "al Dente" round) that require the Allies to take far more VP in order to win the game than in previous installations, like this one.