Alright Jeff,
Since you don’t have a preference, I’ll play Axis. A few days ago, Kreighund on the Larry Harris forums (the main playtester guy) suggested a few minor setup changes to lessen the inevitability of the G3 Sealion. Here they are:
Move the French cruiser in 112 to 110.
Move the UK cruiser in 112 to 111.
Change the UK destroyer in 106 to a cruiser.
Move the German transport in 113 to 114.
He also suggested a rewording of the Russian NO so that it covers only original German, Italian, and pro-Axis neutral territories. It would apply to those territories regardless of the continent they happen to be on.
Since both of those changes seem to benefit the Allies, and he has asked for playtests with them, I thought we’d give this a whirl. I’m not allowed to post links, apparently, so you can find these changes in the thread titled Sea Lion in Alpha 3 on the Harris Game Design forums.