Given 1 player vs 1 player there is a pretty good method to remove England from the game, entirely and by that, I mean to capture both London and Calcutta.
There are ways that make the Calcutta operation risky for Japan, and if your opponent KNOWS you are going to try for Calcutta early, then you should definitely avoid doing the operation AT…ALL…COSTS!!! I cannot stress that enough! You must play agianst your opponent’s strategy, it is the major downfall of any strategy test - that your opponent knows what you are going to do and what your plan is and can thus move accordingly (even if it totally screws his position elsewhere) to stop you.
Here is the basic, very basic, outline:
Round 1: Germany takes Yugoslavia, W. France, France, SZ 106, SZ 109 and SZ 111. Shouldnt be too hard. 70 IPC for round 2. (AC, 2 Trn build or AC, DD and SS - more trans easier Sea Lion, but your choice if you want to tip your hand or not!)
Round 1: Japan takes Chahar, Anhwe, Hunan and Yunan, builds 3 transports and has 45 for round 2.
Round 2: Germany takes S. France (important, you want to be able to get that infantry to Egypt! This makes it a helluva lot easier!) and drops transports in SZ 112/113 your choice. 112 is better, but if there is a british contingent in SZ 92 you might be unable to defend this.
Round 2: Japan drops an AB/NB in Yunnan, pummels the British stack if there is one in range, retakes Yunnan, and clears any potential blockers for the fleet (fleet should be south of Burma at this point.)
Round 3: Take England
Round 3: Take India
What can screw this up?
A) IF your opponent know what you are doing he won’t attack SZ 97 or SZ 95, since he needs every last possible unit he can get to England ASAP. This is not NECESSARY for Sea Lion to work, but it certainly helps!
B) IF America abandons the Pacific they can get in range to sink the German fleet after Sea Lion. This is very irritating and it can strand a lot of good units. Since America would never do this in a normal game, then this is purely designed to screw up the test (it works pretty well too, but is not foolproof and I can show you a game where it worked perfectly, but still the axis won.)
C) IF America moves up to SZ 16 or SZ 17 this can really screw with you. The idea is to have a destroyer left behind to block the more normal position of the American Fleet, which is in SZ 26. To be honst, the only possible reason for America to move the fleet past SZ 26 is if they KNOW you are trying for India. I have never seen it moved to SZ 16 or SZ 17 if they thought there was a chance that the Japanese fleet would be back in SZ 6 because they have no way to stop the Japanese from sinking them then.
D. DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN YOU NEED! Now is NOT the time to be greedy! Take Egypt (IC for Italy) and the Middle East, take England and Scotland sure. You dont need Gibraltar -fun, and be nice to get the Italian fleet out, but it also gives America a Naval Base later. Remember, the allies can take any British territory for themselves, so don’t take it unless you can defend it! Same for France!
E) Build at least 3 infantry a round in England until you have 9-12 there. It’s an expense, and it slows you down in kicking out Russia, but you’ll thank me for it if the Americans come a knocking. Drop a few fighters and you have a really nice defense against America’s 3-7 transports.
What can the allies do that they think will help them but really help you?
A) If they stack Burma you’re as happy as you can possibly be! It’s never fun to send 21 aircraft after 7 or 8 infantry and 2 AA Guns but do the math and you’ll see the wisdom of this attack! 1 Aircraft lost to AA Guns, 3 or 4 lost in the attack but you remove 9 or 10 defenders. Cost benefit to India for the attack, but net benefit to Japan after they get India, the NO for India and the Indian treasury (at least 17 IPC, probably 21 since most people take Sumatra or Java.) In one case I bagged the 3 Australian Fighters he moved to India as well - an unrealistic scenario of course, no one moves the Australian fighters to India in a normal game, the are better served out by the American fleet if at all possible!
B) Attacking SZ 97. You lose a Battleship and a Cruiser and that sucks, but it keeps the enemy carrier from getting close to England and that rocks!
C) Using the Indian Transport to take C. Persia. (Thank you! Now you did not get an extra 4 IPC!)
D. Trying to slip the Australians in through Java. For one, you could kill them and still have the units left over ready for India the next round. For another, it’s a long time before Australia can afford to replace 3 fighters = even in a Kill Japan first game!
E) Moving the American fleet to the Atlantic. (This is a good reason to start bragging your butt off on how you are going to take England. Just make sure you don’t really try to take it unless you know you can hold it and not lose your fleet in the process!)
Remember the idea of Kill England First (Europe and Pacific) is to allow Japan to win the game. All else is unnecessary. Take what you can hold, don’t take what you don’t absolutely need (I am talking about Morocco, Tunis, anything south of Sudan, etc.)