Hi Curly,
Germany:
-I usually don’t take Southern France with Germany, but let Italy have it instead. Italy has not many other options for expansion but Germany has.
-Never both Sea Lion & Moscow at the same time. What I consider the best German chance to win, is going for Moscow to the fullest extend but keeping an eye out for London. Does the UK over-extend, surprise attack it instead. As long as you are still learning the game however, I would recommend going full into Moscow. After you’ve done that a couple of games, try a few Sea Lions just to get an idea of what is needed and what the effects are.
Attacking Russia can best be done round2 or round3. Round3 is the more natural way of things IMHO, as you have a lot more land units to attack with (both returned from the attack on Paris and produced) while Russia basically deals with the same amount (their reinforcements mostly have to come from Moscow which is further away from the front).
-I’d race towards Moscow. This should get you the 2NO’s anyway because if Russia tries to defend either one of those, Moscow itself is left with too few defenders and will fall. Attack Leningrad and Ukraine if you can with your aircraft, fast units and/or the Finns but do it the turn when your slow INF and ART could have done it instead. However, the INF and ART should be marched 1 step closer to Moscow each and every turn so using them to attack either IC is a delay that the Axis usually cannot afford.
-My rule of thumb: more German ships means less teeth against Russia. In my experience, Germany needs ALL their IPCs to buy land units first 3 rounds to have a chance to take Moscow. Buying ships will not make Germany powerless against Russia, but taking Moscow will get further away with each and every ship bought. If Germany removes 165IPCs worth of units from European territories (by buying ships and/or transporting land units elsewhere), Russia will be able to start contesting Eastern Europe with Germany so I consider that a breakpoint.
Italy:
-I usually take SF and Greece with Italy, as her chances are most likely doomed in Africa/ME anyway. As soon as the USA arrives in Gibraltar (depends on when Japan attacks), all that is left for Italy is turtle in its boot. Against decent UK play, Italy cannot win. With German help it is possible but this severely hurts the German chance to win in Russia, so this is a major strategic decision to make for the Axis: (try to) take Africa OR Moscow.
Japan:
-Japan can do both. First priority is to assemble a force that takes all of the DEI and Philippines, etc. without loosing your ships in the process. This should leave you with enough forces to attack China&India second priority. Only if Germany goes full-bore into Russia: if Russia wants to hold Moscow, its siberian hunters should be retreated into Europe and Japan can nibble away Russian territories. In any other case (i.e. the Siberians stay): just destroy them when they over-extend by moving into Manchuria or Korea.
-Japan can attack when it wants. I consider J1 too soon, too risky (positioning is not good enough PLUS the US enters the European war too soon). J2 is the optimum for Japanese purposes, but still severely hampers Germany and Italy (early US entry). This is often overlooked by Japan. J4 is best for the European axis but I only recommend this if you have lots of experience playing Japan as this makes it very hard (but not impossible) for Japan to develop a superior position. This leaves J3. I consider this turn as the optimum balance between what is best for Japan itself and what is best for the European Axis. As J3 is not optimal for Japan, it is by no means too late for it to create a superior position in the Pacific and it helps the Euro-axis tremendously. Just remember you can still attack Russia and China without any penalty!
-Build no more IC’s than can be supported by your income. For example, if you build 5 IC’s, you can place 15 MECH per turn (INF/ART are too slow) in Asia. This will cost you 60IPC’s per turn. If you also need to buy enough ships to defend against the USA this can easily be too much but if the USA is nowhere to be seen… Go ahead, you might even be able to support 6 IC’s ;-). Don’t forget though, you will conquer Calcutta and should also place IC’s in the middle east for forward production if you get this far. I think building 4IC’s a good start and evaluate the need for more from that point on. Alternatively, you can build none and rely solely on TRS to ferry troops around.
The USA can do what YG suggested but if Japan is threatening to take its 6th VC in the pacific this may be a bridge too far for the allies. Too often I’ve see Japan forcing the USA to spend 100% of its income in the pacific from turn 7 because otherwise Japan will just take Hawai or Sydney and win the game for the Axis. A lot of people hate this (how can the axis win by taking Hawai, of all places), but I consider it necessary in this game otherwise the USA will just always overrun Europe and the Axis can never win.
Therefore, if your Japanese player can seriuously threaten to win the game in the Pacific,
the USA might expect to get into Europe (roughly, but not much more):
-A decent fleet protection (mainly carriers + aircraft on it + the odd destroyers);
-10 TRS [10INF+4MECH+1ARM+5ART];
-6 STRategic bombers;
-4 more other aircraft;
If this is the case, you better base your forces at Gibraltar or London and with it, threaten to invade as much areas as possible.
First and foremost priority for the USA is to prevent Japan permanently taking its 6th VC in the Pacific (usually Hawai and/or Sydney). This may require forging some plans, thinking and rethinking of strategies (over the course of several ‘learning games’) and most importantly: timing!
This is an absolute must and still I see a number of USA players pay Japan too little attention untill it is too late. For a lot of players (that I know of), balancing the spending of the USA between Europe and the Pacific is hard in one way or the other…
Good luck and have fun!