@Private:
Wolf has it right tsaa.
Logic - have you played as Axis yet?
Yes, I have now played Axis and I won :)
@Private:
Bit of second guessing here, Logic, but the following comments might help:
@Logic:
Germany presses Russia and wins a little forward, but runs into a wall in Moscow and loses over time its strengths.
Germany starts the game with far more firepower than Russia. The trick is to consolidate that overwhelming force on the eastern front, rather than dissipate it trying to defend multiple territories. Then move that overwhelming force against Moscow without being distracted. For example, sometimes Russia’s dispositions at the end of its first move allow Germany to occupy Leningrad in force in turn 1.
However, Germany can clear the UK navy out of the western hemisphere in its first turn, which I would always do, so as to give myself time before an allied fleet is off the coast. So in G1 air goes west while land goes east.
@Logic:
Japan wins naval battle after naval battle over USA, but the US can rebuild its fleet faster and eventually wins.
The axis will not win the war by Japan focusing to the east. They can win it by Japan going west against India and Russia. Japan has a valuable role to play against Russia. It can get infantry from Tokyo to Caucasus in 3 moves (from memory - not looking at the map). Tanks in 2 moves. Some naval builds to keep the US at bay and allow capture of the money islands, but take Russia before major investments in Pacific naval.
But even then Japan is less likely to get to Washington than Germany to London for the second allied capital. So minimal naval builds to hold the US off may continue to be the strategy, allowing investment in Japanese bombers against London, say.
@Logic:
In the meantime, UK gets big and starts pushing Japan back by deploying troops in India.
The UK can only build one unit per turn in India. If Japan focuses west it can often get an early opportunity on India. That factory then contributes to capturing the Caucasus.
@Logic:
The Axis eventually gives up because they lag behind in the economic game.
The allied strategy is to survive long enough for their economic advantage to allow them to build the firepower they lack at the start of the game. So the axis strategy is the opposite - to use their additional firepower at the start to rob the allies of their economic advantage asap. Taking out Russia bridges the economic gap. The money islands, China and the Philippines are easily taken in the first couple of rounds meaning that if Russia falls the axis are probably ahead economically.
I did this and it worked great. Both Germany and Japan went west and it worked. I thought Germany shoud have a land war and Japan a naval warfare. Turned out it was a little vice versa. Thanks for the help.