On the topic of going Paris first:
We took this route a couple of times OOB, only change was reducing French sz15 fleet to just a cruiser, by swapping out BB, and removing the transport (we were doing this even before the tourney rules). The eastern crush Russia first strat gets boring (and also seems to fail), so we wanted to look at the west. It didn’t go well, but to be honest we only did it a couple times, and I think it could be improved.
We basically had Germany go full tilt West, and A/H go East (with some assistance to both). As stated one very strong axis army tends to work better then two weaker multinational armies side by side when on the attack. All available German units went west except Prussia and part of Silesia (needed to help def against Russia). You also need to have a small 9-12 unit A/H contingent with you in the west to watch your flank (probably hit the Italians in Venice to weaken/threaten them, then move into Switzerland etc…).
The Germans can gain temporary control of the North Sea OOB w/o a major navy build up (reduction of French sz15 fleet helps), but I have to say we didn’t buy BB’s for Germany to prolong it, interesting idea though (could this be a key to success?). Yeah buying a couple BB’s would weaken your reinforcements coming in from Berlin, but if you had long term control of the sea, besides keeping the Brits out of France you could transport German units to Picardy from Kiel faster then if they had to make the long walk. The problem here of course is that the English mines from sz9 could cost you the game when your transports move back-n-forth to Picardy, even if you have full control of sz9 w/escorts. This happened in one of our games, the Germans kept loosing transports to mines (not saying this is a flaw, but if you have establish complete control of an enemy mined sz and are simply moving transports back-n-forth the next turn should they be subject to mines? or should the sz be considered cleared of mines).
Anyway, the French can put up a monster defense by themselves by pulling back/turtling, buying mostly inf, and pulling in reinforcements from Portugal etc… It is also next to impossible to put a dent in the French income because of untouchable territories in Africa/Portugal etc…, plus the French territories along the border are only worth 2 IPCs (unlike their counterpart German border territories worth much more).
Once the Italians figure out you aren’t gunning for them, they can also reinforce thorough the Med (could send inf/planes by transport?). The Brits may not be able to put many boots in France, but if they manage to get a couple ground units over, they might be able to send a couple planes to Brest via Whales to help gain air superiority (might need to sacrifice A/H air to tip the scales for the main German assault for Art boost). Just a thought, but a bold French player might even take out Spain turn2 (from Portugal/Bordeaux) to collect 4 more IPCs (risky, maybe wait and have an ally weaken it first?).
A/H will have their hands full w/Russia, but if they are patient and get a little help I have seen them rival what the Russians can bring (and even turn the tables). Italy does become a problem though, and they will start to invade the Balkans, and can also help out the French by Sea. This is why I think an early German navy build could work. It could draw much of the allied Med ships to the Atlantic, then would the A/H navy have a chance? (probably not, but would make for an interesting game none the less).
BTW, I also think that USW is a joke in this game (non existent). They should look at couple things. Add sz’s that can be attacked by USW, and have a threshold of USW that needs to be crossed to bring in the Americans, and/or make it harder to kill subs. The allies didn’t have an answer to sub warfare especially in the early days (couldn’t spot them). The allies main defense against subs were threats that the US would join the war (the Germans would back off, then reengage to test the US resolve). Even destroyers weren’t effective at this time, but they used air to spot subs though.
Maybe expanding the the roll of a fighter should be looked at. Fighters are already used to spot for art (boost attack/def), so maybe you should also be able to use fighters to spot subs in adjacent sz’s. This would cause a bit of a problem with the one movement phase, and would create an exception (might be worth it). You would have to allow fighters a NCM, but they can only use it if they use just one move in the normal move phase. This would allow a fighter to fly out 1 space to an adjacent sz, spot subs for their warships to attack (at full values), and move 1 more space afterwards to land (plane still only moves a total of 2 spaces max). It would also allow a fighter to move 1 space in a ground battle, then retreat if it chooses to (could retreat or stay depending on situation). If the fighter moves 2 spaces to get to a ground battle it must stay in that territory (used all its movement).
IDK, maybe you have a rule that says if an enemy sub submerges, you can’t hit it, unless you have a fighter spotting for you (maybe a submerging sub can only be hit with a roll of 1 if not using a plane to spot, still defenders choice?). If you have a fighter spotting for you, then all your warships fire at their normal values. That way if the enemy sub stays on the surface to fight (maybe fodder for other ships), then it can be taken out at normal attack values. This would have no effect on subs used in an attack, because all defending ships would defend at normal values because the sub attacked, didn’t submerge (gave up its position).