Blizz,
Yeah, I’d suggest Axis & Allies 1942 as a refresher as well. As to the other points…
1. The Out Of Box maps are sufficient and I think look pretty good. Guess you won’t have to worry about warping if you’re making a perm. table setup. But if you plan on customizing, historical boardgame’s maps are large enough to fit more pieces - everywhere. And they’re wonderful pieces of cartography.
2. The final global rules will be available in the (near?) future, compiled and edited by the folks themselves (quoting Wardog on BGG). I’m not sure if this includes the Europe and Pacific rules separately…
3. Yep - but Field Marshal Games are making some excellent alternatives for each nation’s selection, and HistoricalBoardgaming are making special units as well (custom rules mainly, but also neutral units and perhaps tech…?). Both of the above look awesome/great detail and are historically accurate. FMG have cool dice and chips as well… and HBG have other misc. supplies ($$, pieces from other editions, etc.).
Here’s the thread with all the tables:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=20658.0