@Gamerman01:
The impact of bids (between 6-12 IPCs) are over-rated. It’s a big game and there are a lot of dice thrown.
I heard the magic word: dice!
Agree with Gamerman. If you can win the game as the allies with a bid of 6-12 you can also win it without that bid. Bad dicing is going to screw you anyway ;-).
I still find that if playing with LL and the correct allied play, the axis cannot win anyway. The dice however can save the day for the Axis.
And I think there are two other things: coordination between the Axis and fake maneuvers can push the allies into making a mistake.
Coop example: If Germany and Japan both attack Russia, reducing it to just 3-4 russian controlled areas J6/J7, an allied mistake is easily made. Maybe only India can save Russia (producing extra RAF-units for airpower in Moscow) but not all allies know this.
Maneuver example: if the USA positioned ALL its ships at Panama with a Naval Base, faking an India-crush with Japan can win the Axis the game because the USA can easily be triggered to go all in in Europe (a big mistake if Japan can still reach Australia J3). Likewise, this Panama-position from the USA can be a trap as well, tho most USA players who position themselves at Panama are very eager to go all in against Germany…
While I am at it, another coop-example is Sea Lion. Possibly always a bad idea, unless the UK makes a big mistake and Russia doesnt look prepared either.
Virtually any J2 DOW is a bad idea if Germany is trying to do a Sea Lion, but it is especially painful when the USA already has a big investment ready for war at the east coast.