From my games, I’ll offer my thoughts (can’t say wisdom) on what the Allies should do, mostly by doing the opposite of the below:
USSR1 (assuming peace with Germany):
- Buy Artillery for Leningrad and mix of Artillery and inf for the rest.
- Move to Karelia with everything that can reach to force back Norway/Finland troops to the former.
- Move most of the Soviet Eastern troops to Sakha
- Evacuate the border with Germany
- Position to strongly defend the southern route to Moscow. Make sure you hold Leningrad G2 though. My usual opponent builds an IC on Western Ukraine and takes Ukraine and this is pretty hard to stop once it gets entrenched. So stop it from becoming dangerous. Ukraine is only two spaces from Moscow, as is Western Ukraine but Leningrad is three. Leningrad is less valuable in spite of the NO for Germany, harbour and airbase. Even the lend lease NO for USSR doesn’t swing it IMO.
- Send 4 mobile units to China: 2 from Stalingrad to Sinkiang and 2 from Moscow towards Suiyan and perhaps include planes to Suiyan, AAA from Russia and men from Caucusus.
US1:
If J1 DOW: Buy 3 TT, DD, troops (for the transports) and a few ftr and SB all for the Atlantic side. Rest is obvious. Add more warships if not enough to defend against Germany in Iceland G3. Claim Brazil if possible to still have 3 loaded transports ready to go. Otherwise go into Gibraltar/Morocco unless it is unobtainable.
If not at war: Buy 2 TT, DD, inf and art plus * for the Atlantic. Fly western US fighter to Eastern US. Probably 2 subs for Pacific. Whether to defend Pearl Harbour depends on Japanese positioning.
- = DD or FTR. If DD, then the ftr needs to be replaced either with one from the Carrier in the pacific or a UK/French one.
Note: Carrier in the Atlantic is strong in theory but not practice. Carriers exist only to defend sea zones. There is no need for this early on the Atlantic. Works out only if peace exists until US2, where planes can stage off a carrier in SZ102 to London US3 or US4. That is only of a certain amount of usefulness.
China1: Attack Yunnan. Attack Chahar if less then 3 units moved there, depending on how many troops in Yunnan you need to take down - that can swing the need to apply the Chinese fighter. You want Yunnan a lot for the National Objective of 6 IPC. Only with the strongest force ready to attack Suiyan J2 should you back off from this square. Generally work out what is necessary to hold it (including USSR help) and do that.
UK1:
- Buy to prevent sea lion
- Buy ftr and land units in Pac (Calcutta). Leave 3 UK fighters in India to prevent Strat bombing or at least endanger the bombers doing it significantly. Intercept the two bombers if they still try to bomb Calcutta.
- Taranto.
- Take Persia using the TT from the Med.
- Move Pac troops East.
- If J1 DOW: consider bulking up Malaya with a troop and AAA via transport + landing the Tac Bomber there.
- If no J1 DOW: Take a money island, either Java or Sumatra. Use two inf to make it harder to take back. ANZAC can fly fighters there from Qld but they might just be lost.
- Leave one DD in SZ109 if it can survive an attack G2 otherwise leave it SZ106.
ANZAC1: usually need to buy second transport. You’ll need it. Fly Qld ftr to Malaya generally. Fly NZ fighters somewhere useful, usually Queensland. My next game I’m trying the Brazillian if not at war - landing troops on Brazil can’t be done by the US unless at war and UK can’t reach turn one anyway. ANZAC can reach turn two. That allows a minor IC to be built turn three.
Note about G2: if Germany attacks SZ123 off Iceland, then they are not in a position to cause convoy disruption on the UK unless they’ve divided their forces. That helps to make the UK stronger.
USSR2: Take Finland with your whole force if the US has a fighter on Iceland, otherwise consider a 1inf attack if Germany has retreated to Norway. Generally move Eastern troops to Amur. Move at least two mobile units to Suiyan, most likely keeping the planes there. If not at war with Japan probably can’t attack Manchuria quite yet as the US can’t reinforce if DOW is not done on J2. If Japan still holds Chahar this can be a necessity to attack depending on how many planes can be applied to Suiyan with/without the Chahar landing field. The rest you can work out.
US2:
If at war, take your 3 loaded transports to Iceland and land the 3 fighters there. Fly the Strat Bomber to London; if it is already there you can likely strat bomb West Germany or Germany (landing in Finland where it can also be defended by the US fighter flown to Iceland turn 1 and Soviet fighter(s) and troops. DD and Cruiser to defend the TTs (plus 3 plane scramble).
Strongest Naval buy G1 was 1 DD, 1 CV, 1 Sub. Assuming the German BB survived (and perhaps a sub), Iceland’s waters (SZ123) are only defensible with UK help, even with the airbase. If this is not possible, might have to consider holding off at Nova Scotia or London. The former possibility needs to be avoided quite strongly.
China2: Reclaim Yunnan if lost.
UK2:
May need to start buying navy in Quebec, troops in South Africa. Not likely to be useful to buy in London any more due to Strat Bombing, although can be considered.
Presume at war with Japan now. Hold Malaya as long as possible but Yunnan is more important. Stops the Japanese land route. Also threatens IC in FIC. Shan State is nice to have troops in to reinforce Malaya or retake it but these can’t be protected by Chinese troops so it’s a risky move.
ANZAC2:
Work to ensure NOs are collected.
No doubt many posters will disagree strongly with some of the above.