May I, as a KJF Veteran of many games, make a humble suggestion that your Round 1 moves for both England and Russia not deviate in the slightest from how you would normally play the game if you were planning to kill Germany first? This would require that you do not purchase the Industrial Complex for India (unless this is a habitual purchase for you in all your other games.)
There are many reasons I make this, humble, suggestion but let me just illiterate on a few of them.
1) The axis will play normal games for round 1 if they do not suggest you are going to attempt to eliminate Japan as a threat before taking down Germany. This alone will negate the vast majority of events that Germany and Japan can do on round 1 to foul up a kill Japan first strategy.
2) Since kill Germany first is generally more forgiving of bad dice (nothing is TRULY forgiving of bad dice, but this is more so than kill Japan first is) the first round will give you a much better understanding of which power is the weaker. I tend to feel this is a good idea for the allies in either scenario because it allows you a turn to build up your forces and a turn to see if any of Germany’s attacks or Japan’s attacks on the first round fail to succeed with splendid colors. After all, if you defended SZ 52 (Hawaii) with a British fighter, an American fighter, an American submarine and an America carrier getting 4 hits on round 1 then allowing you to swiftly move in and wipe up the last battleship, carrier and fighter in the sea zone with minimal risk to your own American navy, perhaps you should focus on Japan. However, if Japan came through the battle all but unscathed and Germany got pounded on their counter attacks and attacks (perhaps only gaining Egypt with one tank and/or losing a lot of infantry liberating the Ukraine and taking Karelia) then a shift to killing Germany first may be more productive.
In any event, I believe, most humbly, that the allies should never commit themselves to any one course of action before the start of Round 2 (which I say includes America 1 and Russia 2 as opposed to the strict interpretation of the rules which clearly define a round starting with Russia.)
3) There are a few different methods of kill Japan first. The best method probably won’t be discovered until after Japan 1 when you see the layout of the Axis (and hence their plan).
A) You could go to the battleship dominance strategy building an Industrial Complex, Aircraft Carrier, 2 infantry and an armor on Round 1 (the complex to go to Alaska) and then 1 or 2 battleships a round thereafter until such time you can overwhelm and destroy the Japanese fleet. (Note: America begins with 3 transports, you only need two transports to hit Japan every round with offshore bombardments.)
B) You could go the island hopping route which generally begins with two aircraft carriers and a fighter on round 1 followed by submarines, destroyers and a second battleship sometime there after. (Again, you have 3 transports, you should only need 1 or 2 for your hopping.) Hooking up with the British fleet which is unified in SZ 30 as soon as possible.
C) You could go the Asian invasion course which requires an American complex in China, a British complex in India and the unification of the fleets. (This one is nice because you can switch gears and send units to aid Russia if need be.)
4) A complex in India on round 1 results in a massive invasion of India on Japan 2. It is almost impossible to block (relying heavily on favorable dice) and almost impossible to liberate (without sacrificing the entire Russian armor corps.)
However, a complex in India on round 2 is much harder for Japan to take. For one, they are not expecting a complex to go up at this time, in my humble opinion. For another, their forces are scattered further north with less ability to move them down to invade. (By less ability, I mean it should be two rounds just to get them stationed in Fr. Indo China to invade and this entire time they are not attacking China nor invading Russia.) And lastly, it is easier for England to defend (since they now have the round they build, +1 round to build units there, maybe even 2 rounds to build before Japan’s in position to attack heavily.) Also, at this time, you may be in a position to take out the E. Indies and/or move the British off Australia into India for added defense. (Remember, Japan normally has no ships close by on Japan 2 to invade through SZ 35 since most of their fleet is up near Hawaii to take out the Americans there with as great of firepower as possible.)
Those are just a few of my, humble, opinions as a Kill Japan First Veteran in Axis and Allies Revised.
I would like to expound on the idea that Kill Japan First, to me, means that you have neutralized Japan. Once you get Japan’s income down under 12 IPC a round and have sunk their fleet, they have been neutralized. (Mainly because if they are that weak, they can neither move units from their homeland to attack nor should they have any industrial complexes on the mainland. Also, at 12 IPC a round, they will never have the firepower needed to sink your navy nor defend themselves from your navy.) At this point, they can be ignored while you focus on Germany.
But again, those are just my most humble opinions. I would never tell a player how they should play their game, especially when I cannot see the development of the board from round to round.