Bid question

You have it right.

Player 1 bid for Allies X number of IPCs
Player 2 bid for Allies X + 1 number of IPCs
etc
etc

This continues until someone decides to let the other player play Allies, and get the bid.

@Toffels:

Dies bidding always start with a low number that the other team increases? Are any extra IPCs that aren’t spent lost, or can they be divided up between the Allies? I assume the Allied players have to assume how the IPCs are spent; if they cannot, does the Axis player decide?

No. You can have either increasing or decreasing bids. With a decreasing bid, you’d have:
Player 1: I bid 9 for Allies
Player 2: I bid 8
Player 1: I bid 7, etc., until someone passes

Increasing bids usually get larger bids, which may lead into problems. For instance, if you bid 10 for Allies and I think it is too much of an advantage for Allies, I’ll bid 11. But then you may think that you don’t want to play against someone with so many IPCs, so you’ll offer 12 instead and the bid just keeps escalating.

Decreasing bids do the opposite. If I offer 9 for Allies and you think that’s too much or you really want to take Allies, you’ll offer 8 instead. Now it’s up to me to decide if I really want to take Allies with only 7 or pass and let you have them. Bids here get more conservative and with less impact than with increasing bids.

With increasing bids it’s probably better to have a system where you offer bids for the opposite team:
Player 1: I’ll take Axis and give you 5 IPCs to take Allies
Player 2: I’ll take Axis and give you 6 IPCs, etc.

Here, the more you offer, the bigger the amount of IPCs that the other player will use against you, so there’s a counterbalance.

Regarding how the bid money is used it’s always better to have everything written down and presented before any bidding is done. Usually any leftovers are added to the starting money and can be used later to purchase units. It’s also a good idea to specify when the bid winner must purchase and place its units (usually before the game starts), if the bid can be split between different countries, how many units can be placed per territory (usually 1) and in what territories/SZs they may be placed (usually on territories that start under the control by the country of the bid units being placed or in SZs where there are already naval units of that country).

We write down bids on slips of paper, and the lowest bidder wins.

We also follow the rule that units can’t be added to a territory or sea zone where your country doesn’t already have units AND you may not add more units to that territory than are already there (by IPC value) So for instance you cant add a tank to a territory that only contains one of your own infantry, however you could add a tank in any territory that has two or more infantry. This prevents an allied bid of like 18, and dropping it all in Russia as 3 tanks on the front lines.

In addition to that rule, you must spend your bid evenly (number of units only) on each of your powers. For instance you cant give Russia 3 tanks. You would have to give the US and UK both an infantry at least, before Russia could be given a 2nd tank, and before they could be given a 3rd tank, you must give the UK and US at least another unit each.

These two rules usually inflate the allied bid to near 20, and you see something like the US getting a destroyer, UK getting an infantry or two, and the USSR getting an artillery or two.

What does the bid normally go for in spring 1942?

Spring 42 is pretty close to balanced.  0-3 to Allies would be the expected bid range.  Over at GTO, people play with preplaced Allied bids (from Russia 3 to UK6) but these extra units are not placed in critical locations, and are therefore less useful than a single infantry placed in Egypt or Karelia would be.