Yes, it is fair, since you are given the tools for it.
How is this any different from lets say, early game USF vs OST infantry play? Why does USF have to flank OST HMGs and use smoke or light vehicles to counter them? Why can't they just win in a straight up fight?
Why should OST be able to make a heavy tank and just be able to A move and win, when the faction has Panzerschreks, high DPS AT guns, cheap Stugs, and P4s and Panthers with blitz?
Still if you can't be bothered to use these tools, you can always sit back with your own 70 range heavy tank destroyer and let the Allied player do all the hard flanking stuff.
“How is this any different from lets say, early game USF vs OST infantry play? Why does USF have to flank OST HMGs and use smoke or light vehicles to counter them? Why can't they just win in a straight up fight?”
The reason is that 5 minutes later Ost is now trying to get a snare or a paK in ambush position to kill the USF light vehicle. It goes back and forth. But for some reason, at the 30 minute mark, Axis gets stuck in the “combined arms required” phase and is stuck there for the rest of the game.