Favorite country to use.

Could be simplified even further by a build up for six transports hitting SFE about the time that IJN rounds the Malacca strait. And every turn after, six tanks. Of course, it looks like a KJF, but you would be committing 100 to Pac but send them or some of them through Siberia to Moscow.

The combined arms rule (actually called “Commander In Chief”) was in the first edition of Classic but was removed from the second edition of Classic.  Apparently they thought back then that this rule was to easily taken advantage of by Allied players.

The way it worked was:
The US moves “X” units to United Kingdom.  The UK already has a number of units already there.  The US moves a number of transports that can carry all the current US and UK units on United Kingdom to the sea zone adjacent to the territory.
During the Collect Income phase of the US turn, the US and UK players agree to make the US Commander In Chief.  The US player takes a stack of 3 US control markers and places them in United Kingdom.
Then on the UK player’s turn, the UK player does not move any of the units intended for the combined force.  If the UK moves any of it’s units stationed on United Kingdom, they CAN NOT be included in the combined force.
Then on the US player’s next turn, the US player is now free to move any or all units stationed on United Kingdom as long as they DID NOT move during the UK player’s turn.
By the way, this includes UK aircraft if they didn’t move on the UK’s turn.

So, basically, any country’s units that are going to be included in the combined force but are not from the country of the Commander In Chief have to be in the launching territory before the Commanding player is chosen.  It might be a little more complex, but I think this rule could be applied to Global 1940.
For example:  Say England wants to attack a Japanese force in Burma from India.  They want to use a combined force of UK, US, Soviet and ANZAC units.  So on UK Pacific’s turn, UK can move units into India.  On the UK’s Collect Income phase, they get chosen as Commander In Chief.  The Soviet, US and ANZAC forces have to be already in India at this time and those are the ONLY non UK forces that the UK can move next turn.  Even if one of the other countries move more units into India, those new units could NOT be used in the UK’s next turn.
Assuming the UK attacks Burma with the combined force and defeats the Japanese, UK India will get possession of that territory.  Also, I believe the last casualty HAS to belong to the Commander In Chief’s country (in this case, UK).

The Aussies have lots of IPCs and even an operational aircraft carrier.

Thanks for the feedback guys!  Very thought out reply TheMethuselah, that helps, thanks.  I was thinking that 8 Mechanized Infantry might be enough and that some might only use two, so I was surprised to see that 12 can be used by many of the major powers.  Are you sure that there could be 12 different Mechanized Infantry on 12 different territories?  I could see that if Russia was attacking Japanese forces in Asia by land or vice versa.  I was also surprised to see 6 additional fighters for Italy, which would make 8 total.  I had thought that 4 might do it, so I really appreciate your input.  If anyone has a different experience, I’d love to hear from a variety of people, since I never know who I might be playing with and what units might be realistically used with the various strategies out there.

I imagine my mental estimate for fighters and bombers of other countries is off as well.  Do you have an aircraft estimate for some (or all) of the other countries?

Right now I just have some sub par quality photos of the Europe pieces, but maybe I can post those some time; the IJN probably is my best work, but I don’t have any good photos right now.  If I have free time I should be painting rather than setting up a photo shoot.  I’ll plan to post a link here if I end up posting them.  Thanks for the interest.

What Japan does in the north really depends on what Russia does.
If they pile up all 18 infantry on Amur, then do like Wittmann said, pound them good and quick. Except for the 6 guys in Mongolia, that basically opens up all the Russian far east territories for Japan to walk into over the next few rounds. Almost like free IPCs for Japan.
If Russia withdraws all troops to head for Moscow, which I have seen happen, that leaves you free to use most of those troops in Manchuria and Korea in China or other places you might need extra troops. Just leave a few there on the border. Then after 3 rounds or so, when the Russians are too far west to hinder you, walk some troops up and start taking Soviet territories. Of course, you will have to deal with the 6 Mongolian/Russian troops but that shouldn’t be too difficult.
If Russia only withdraws some of the far eastern troops, like say he leaves 6-9 infantry in Amur and heads the rest toward Moscow, that usually means he wants to guard his eastern territories but isn’t looking to be aggressive toward Japan unless a blatant opportunity comes up (like Japan withdrawing all troops from Korea or Manchuria and leaving them totally open). In that case, as Japan, I would simply leave the troops there on Manchuria and Korea and consider that area a “non-combat zone”, meaning there is simply no fighting going on there. You could possibly take a couple of the troops to use elsewhere, but you don’t want to weaken youself too much or Russia might take advantage. Yeah, it sucks leaving so many guys just sitting there, but you have to keep Russia honest. Plus, at least you start with those guys and any new stuff can go to your campaigns elsewhere.

You can pretty much tell how the game is going to go after G3 when they should have attacked Russia by then.  If they won those fights easy then Moscow is likely to fall in a couple of turns. The USA can’t get there fast enough to stop it.

Eire is a wasted smudge on the map, like greenland, and all of South America.

It’s better just to forget about it.

Russia, man.  Since I started playing Classic, Russia goes to the newb.  Center of the action, forgiving because it’s huge, easy purchases, don’t have to learn naval units yet, straightforward strategy, roll fistfuls of dice.

“Look, here, buy as many infantry as you can afford.  Hold off the Germans.  Keep your planes alive.  Stall the japs in Siberia.”

Axis?  No way.