Slitherine

I am a bit confused about the particulars of the Russian DoW in 1942. Perhaps, some more experienced players can help out.

The Key Events Calendar in the manual says "Turn 50, May 8, 1942 - Russia DoWs if Axis has not".
My opponent told me that Russian DoW 1942 is a random event which might also occur earlier than May 8.
So, is the date of the Russian DoW fixed (this is what the Key Events Calendar implies, to me anyway),
or is it random?

In our game I had assumed that Russian DoW will occur on May 8. Of course, I wanted to invade Russia
before they declare war, so that I could benefit from the morale drop. I had also (erroneously as it turns out)
assumed that the Russian DoW would occur in the Allied half of the May 8 turn. I had spent months to meticulously
move my invasion force into position, upgraded my units to the latest relevant tech, distributed leaders etc.
All was set for a May 8 start of a mighty invasion. The world would hold its breath!

Imagine my surprise when May 8 rolled around and I was greeted with the Russian DoW message.
My personal morale rating dropped by approximately 90%.

Blunder wrote:I am a bit confused about the particulars of the Russian DoW in 1942. Perhaps, some more experienced players can help out.

The Key Events Calendar in the manual says "Turn 50, May 8, 1942 - Russia DoWs if Axis has not".
My opponent told me that Russian DoW 1942 is a random event which might also occur earlier than May 8.
So, is the date of the Russian DoW fixed (this is what the Key Events Calendar implies, to me anyway),
or is it random?

In our game I had assumed that Russian DoW will occur on May 8. Of course, I wanted to invade Russia
before they declare war, so that I could benefit from the morale drop. I had also (erroneously as it turns out)
assumed that the Russian DoW would occur in the Allied half of the May 8 turn. I had spent months to meticulously
move my invasion force into position, upgraded my units to the latest relevant tech, distributed leaders etc.
All was set for a May 8 start of a mighty invasion. The world would hold its breath!

Imagine my surprise when May 8 rolled around and I was greeted with the Russian DoW message.
My personal morale rating dropped by approximately 90%.

Activation (or automatic DOW) can happen +/- 1 turn with respect to the expected date. This means in your example that a neutral Russia could activate as early as April 18, 1942 (turn 49) or as late as May 28, 1942 (turn 51). And activation such as this will occur at the end of your opponent's turn.

Ah, that clears it up - thank you very much. So, what happened is that Russia DoW'ed one turn before schedule (at the end of my opponents turn), so that they were already at war when my May 8 turn started.