ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
The problem with running away isn't that it's ahistorical.
The problem is it's not the best way to defend. You can actually hurt and stop the Germans a lot more quickly if you start laying on the panzer spearheads in the right manner.
But thus far not a single Soviet player that I've seen thus far has figured out how to do this. (And when they do, I anticipate a lot of complaints about this from our German players, who will be even less happy about Soviets who fight back than Soviets who run away. So it goes.)
I think there was one where the Soviet defended forward early and got his butt kicked in the middle pretty good, but otherwise, the Soviet players have pretty much pulled back.
I think this game is like most games in that with players of equal experience, it is far easier to play defense. (Especially true with rookies). What is worse is I also agree that I think the Russians will have a faster learning curve as well. It appears that with the way things are now, the Axis player is going to have to be a real operator to have any success against a good Russian. I have heard bits and pieces that this is not the way it is among most of the testers in that the really good Germans can make some serious hay.
This is one of the things that makes games so tough to get a good feel and balance since it is not really a lot of fun to have one side that constantly wins all the time. Do you try to balance for the elite level of play or an average level of play because it could be very different.