victory city strategy

[Akiba]

I sometimes run into players who use this strategy…
as axis, they try to save up infantry for a few turns and keep it close to France and Karelia. Then when they have enough infantry to hold France, They stack as many units on Karelia and France as possible and try to score a VC victory by picking up Hawaii and finishing India around the same time. Their position at this point is a pure mess if they were forced to continue playing but they try to make it just hard enough to stop them from getting their one turn hold.
I wanted to know if anybody with more experience has a decent recipe for playing well against it. Is there any way to do it other than buying naval units for Hawaii? How do you play in Europe vs. this strategy?
Sorry if my question is too broad.
Thanks in advance.

[RogerCooper]

@Akiba Are you playing with the Larry Harris setup. It strengthens India substantially, making it hard for the Axis to get India quickly.

[Akiba]

@RogerCooper
Yeah. I’m playing rated games.

I’m going to try to narrow down and clarify my question a bit. I’m having problems figuring out how to deal with an opponent who, as Germany, is only concerned with establishing unassailable strongpoints in France and Karelia. Without concerning himself with putting much pressure on Russia or getting at Caucasus for the first 5-10 rounds.
Their MO is to use their planes in France and W.E. to disrupt my Atlantic Fleet logistics, stockpile ground units in France, Germ, and Karelia. To avoid land battles altogether with Germany, and wait for Japan to expand, however long it takes. With a 9 city technical victory being one goal. Although the better players can ignore India and win by getting Kazakh/Caucasus etc.
I don’t lose every single game like this, but whenever I hit the Gold Tier, it seems that I run into this strat a lot and I can’t figure out the best way to proceed.
I’m leary of strategies that require me to focus on attacking enemy strongpoints in any strategy game. But I can’t figure out if there is a better way to break this without just piling on Finland. And the clock is always ticking for the VC decision.
Is stacking Finland a necessity? Or do I just need to get better at everything else, and learn to incorporate a Med shuck and/or a blend of other strategies?