Slitherine

The Russian airforce on Barbarossa seems massively overpowered. They appear to get 6-7 fighters plus 1-2 fighter bombers. Germany really needs some non-core air power to counteract.

You might counter that historically the Russians did have a large air force at the start of the Eastern Conflict. And they did. But most of their airplanes were vastly inferior to German planes. In the game, the Russian fighters have very similar Air Attack stats to the German 109s.

You need to use the AA in the game and buy some AA and fighters.

@magogian, are you playing the campaign or the individual scenario? If the campaign, then I usually have 6 fighters, 2 fighter-bombers, and 3 AA's by Barbarossa. They would also have good experience by then which should be plenty of firepower to counteract the Russian air. If you're playing the individual scenario, then do as Razz suggested and use your core purchases for more fighters and AA (I like the 88's since they can switch between AA and ground attack mode).

Yup, as said, your fighter experience will tip the scales to your side without much difficulty. 88's are also great as flak and you can always switch them to ground attack mode for some nifty AT attacks.