Great thread! I got on to search for Axis strategies because all my games (15+) of Alpha 2 Global essentially followed the KJF strategy so I was looking for high level strats to counter. I had only come up with one successful Axis strat which I summarize below, but it would be nice to be able to use a variety of strats that can be successful with an earlier DOW by the Axis.
After reading the thread I really like the idea of putting US NO’s in Europe, in particular the N. Afr/Gib NO for 5 instead of Mexico. Replacing another 5 for the Continental US with something in Europe would help as well. Adding transport capacity to Japan would also help so they can grab the DEI quickly and have enough IPCs to go toe to toe with the US, but if I had to vote for only one it would be for putting US NO’s in Europe.
The only successful Axis strat I’ve developed so far is to delay US entry for as long as possible (i.e. let them declare war and end of turn 3), and to use that time to:
a) wipe out China
b) set up convoys of all the UK (pac and europe/africa - don’t bother with Canada since US can wipe them out to easily) and Anzac
c) grab and secure Gibraltar
d) set up Italy as the can opener on the Russian front for Germany and
e) have a huge Japanese transport fleet (8-9) loaded for a star burst attack across the pacific on turn 4.
This strat worked the last couple games for Axis victories. One time UK/Anzac attacked Japan turn 2, the second game they waited until Japan declared war, but both time it worked for the Axis. It has downsides (UK-Pac and Anzac get pretty big while you wait, and I did have some very good rolling in battles where I only had a minor numerical advantage in the pacific), but by the time the US got in on turn 4 they basically had to put some resources into Europe because the situation was desperate for the UK.