If Russia is not at war with Germany, can they move into M.E.?

I play a more balanced game of 60/40 leaning to teh Atlantic early on and then switching to the Pacific at around turn 6-7.  U.S. bombers to the UK to help pound German factories and loaded transports, destroyers and cruisers to Gibraltor.  Your there in one move from the East Coast and from there can hit Norway, Normandy, Gibraltor, Morocco, or Italy.  If the Italy has taken Gibraltor…take it back and open up the Med.  If the UK is strugling in North Africa, Help them out.  How does this Contain Germany?  The opening of the Med means the usually less protected souther Europe or Balkens are easier to take and advance right at the heart of Germanyand can redirect their efforts to give the Soviets a chance to fight back. Once you get a series of convoys going back and forth between Gibraltor and the East Coast and the Med has been opened, you can hit the Germans in so many places that they will have to expend Soviet bound resources in Western Europe.  They can’t fight in every direction.  Fighters and bombers from Gibraltor (add an airbase) and London can help defend against dark skies and also activate green skies and we in the midwest know what green skies mean.

For global it depends on what round you are attacking. Like for Germany you pretty much go all mech and armor to attack on G6. Otherwise you do round 2 strait arty then you attack Russia on G7 (buying mech/armor for the other rounds).

That is pretty much it. Like other units simply do not make it in time. Like your entire german force collides on russia at a specific round. You only need to hold germany, everything else lost can be reclaimed after russia falls including france, I mean you should be using Italy to defend anyway, it has nothing better to do.

If you do a more economic style of play then you probably invested into the middle east and a more defensive style. So yes then you have a more mixed buy going on.

Global is a freaking long game to play income style with, just win, it is faster.

It may help with an all out KJF plan if Russia decides to ignore the German advance and become a thorn in Japan’s side.

It may allow for more US resources to be directed at Europe, but they may be too little too late if Moscow were to fall easily and/or earlier than it should to the Germans.

I’ve played it out a few times, with significant Russian intervention in China, but Russia gets zero economic benefit and places a lot of resources in China that have little impact mid-late game for a crippled or defeated Moscow.

As the highest quality play by Japan is minor IC on the mainland, Japan can send 3 Mech with aircraft flown over them to clear out small infringements of the Russians in China.

IF I were to create problems for Japan, on R1 I would:
Buy 1 Arm, 2 Mech, place them in Stalingrad.
Move 1 Arm, 1 Mech from Moscow to Stalingrad.
Keep the 1 Arm, 1 Mech that start in Stalingrad there.
Fly your 2 Ftr and 1 Tac to Stalingrad.
R2 move into China (Sikang)
UK2 DOW on Japan (if not already at war) move all ground units into Yunnan, which hopefully is a reinforcement, but it may be a liberation depending on how China does there.
R3, move those units from Sikang into Yunnan, reinforcing the Brits and probably halting a Japanese takeover of the Burma road there.

I’m not suggesting this strategy. But it WOULD create problems for a Japan player that does not build IC on the mainland.  Additionally, if UK has to DOW on Japan, this places the US out of the war for a while, which further hurts Moscow in the long run.

Of course, those fast moving units in Stalingrad can:
Be redirected to NW Persia on R2 if at war, and they are more than enough to claim Iraq and get some additional income for Moscow - so there IS flexibility.  
If Moscow is still waiting for war, those units can all move directly to Bryansk on R2 and be in position for a R3 Strafe anywhere in Russia that Germany ends up on G3.

Personally I’d suggest one of the two options directly above before intervening in China.  There is little economic benefit unless you are in a KJF Allied strategy where bogging the Japanese down in China creates immense economic problems.  In particular I wouldn’t want Russia playing a defensive strategy in China throwing its units to the wind.  I’d rather be able to blitz across Northern China, far away from any Japanese IC and/or reinforcements.

SZ 106 2SS
SZ 111 SS, 2 Bombers, BB, FTR, Tac (can divert 1 Bomber to 109 to help prevent scramble)
SZ 109 2SS, 2FTR, 2TAC
Normandy: Art/Inf/Tac
Yugo: S. Germany units and Romania FTR (so it can go to S. Italy)
NCM same
All available mechs/tanks, and remaining inf at France with Tac/FTR

Why risk S. France with 3 tanks? Save S. France for IT. 
Yugo is an overkill.  Why 9inf in needed for support (where are the other 3 coming from, and why isn’t 6 from S. Germany enough)?
I was taught that it’s better to eliminate the DDs to help choke off UK with your SS(hence why I left 110 open). Yes, I know the 110 ships run like hell…
70IPCs is plenty of cash for 10art,7mech.
While I know risking a plane to France’s AA is a risk, I like a quick battle so maybe I don’t have to dig into arts when I lose all my inf (trying to avoid a 2nd RD resistance)

I’m by no means an expert an global, it’s just something I used/learn.

no, russia,  is not at war in europe.  They can only attack if they are at war with germ or italy.

In the Pacific rulebook it states: “At the beginning of the game, Japan and China are at war. However, none of the other Allied powers…” thus implying that China is an Allied power, and Allied powers are unable to declare war on each other.

Thank you gentlemen… it is as I thought then.

They were not intentionally cheating, I am sure, however, they are still breaking the rules and will have to be penalized accordingly. Which probably means returning their ships to the proper sea zones, removing the infantry and surrendering whatever collected money they had to the bank.

Thanks again.

What stops US or UK placing 4-5 fighters in Gibraltar. Each would roll a 2 vs a 1 the escorting fighters if any(lack range i think) might get. Each Bombing raid would cost the attacker 1-2 bombers from defending fighters before you roll AA.