If you are new to the game, whoever is better will win with either side. Usually one person has a very defensive personality, focusing more on not losing than pushing towards a goal. That will inevitably lead to defeat as the other person finds weaknesses and builds an income advantage. It takes a large number of matches to have the natural Axis advantage manifest itself in face-to-face games. Don’t worry about the imbalance until you are able to predict what happens during the first six rounds of gameplay based just on the first round of dice rolls and spending. Fun game for both beginners and masters.

@Playing-Kid Indeed that link points to an unrelated old document referring to the 1999 edition. When on the AH-site better visit this place for the latest rules and FAQ: https://avalonhill.wizards.com/rules You will find the correct link to the 1940 2nd ed. FAQ there: http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/ah/aaeurope1940_2ndedition_faq.pdf (Still not the latest version, that should be of November 2014, but you can go with it.)