The Axis isn’t too strong. Why not? No matter how much IPCs they make, they can only place a limited number of units. Wahat e.g. Germany may need at a certain time to strike the fatal blow to Russia is a lot of infantry and tanks. However, should they build 2 inf in Karelia, 4 in Caucasus, 5 in Germany, some of which will reinforce the coastal areas and some of which will be sent to the East, then they typically still have 20-30 IPCs left. That could be spent on naval buys e.g. but those are not usually truly worthwile as they will lose on the end to the combined fleets of US and UK. I do like this though, as e.g in Europe 40 it’s possible to buy only inf one turn and the next only tanks, the next only a fleet etc. That’s not really historical. This seems to work much better in AA50.
Russia can be relieved by UK attacks on Norway and/or Karelia. However, we use a houserule that Allied units may only enter Russia on non-combat phases and that in the place new units phase of the Soviets they must be converted into Russian units. They do keep their 5 IPC for their NO as long as they hold Archangel. The Allied units are considered lend-lease equipment. I believe this rule is quite similar to the one in the original A&A Europe.