Depends on what we judge as important. Marshal Zhukov was pretty over-rated in my opinion; he wasn’t a particularly capable commander. Of course, he was a Hero of the Soviet Union, but he achieved that through ruthlessness, not strategy. Most under-rated: the Shovel, the true Hero of the Soviet Union!

I was going to say Japan, but I said Germany. Japan has an awesome start… but there’s something rewarding about launching an airbourne assault on London or the look on the Russian players face when those tanks in East Poland can reach Moscow because his attack in Belorussia failed.

I like all of your comments, though I must say, was Sea Lion a guaranteed? Key word is Air war, though I think it may have been a battle he could have won, casualities would have been incredible IMO.
Japan attacking Russia was just put in because if they had and were succesful, that would have been bad for the Russians, but that was probably the most unlikely one.
Midway could have been more crippling than that, IMO, because there could have been an invasion of Hawaii(let’s just say it was a successful though costly atack), after Midway falls, Hawaii is gone, and presumably little succes at all in the Pacific, how much faith would the Americans have in there leaders? I think it might have lead to peace, but I am not a genius or anything.

Legion3, thanks for the 6th question. I think the US would not have gone to war; we would have been at breaking point, but not war.

You shouldn’t lose ALL of your air, and even if you don’t hold it, which you shouldn’t, You get one awesome build next turn :-), and if you read(not saying you didn’t, but your post sounds like you didn’t), it says to move almost all your units to EE, so that you can counter Russia G2 in addition to the surprise Sea Lion. And it’s not like I haven’t  tested it yet. I have had only about 2-3 failures, and one was because of crazy luck and the other two were just foolish mistakes (I shouldn’t have attacked, he had too much).

This is assuming we are playing regular rules, not a variant.

German Build: 1 Destroyer, 1-2 fighter, anything left on ground units
Move: As many units as possible, particularly Air, move to EE leave Norway (and/or France too?) with a light garrison, Algeria with none.

Hope UK takes Norway, France/Algeria and does not make a big build
Hope USA doesn’t move more than a fighter to Britain

G2:  If Britain did not build too much and/or USA didn’t reinforce with more than a fighter, research Long-Range Aircraft(pray you get it), and attack! Now you should be able to attack with 5-7 fighters+1 bomber, and a inf.+art./arm, which should be more than necessary for Sea Lion.
I find this works extremely well if UK is not reinforced with a ton. Another thing: say UK is reinforced a lot, the plan is relatively versatile; you’re still in (a slightly weaker) position for attacks vs. Russia.

I’ve just been wondering what people think about this. I’m thinking 3 would have been brutal for the allies.

Well, the Axis player almost exclusively plays Allies, which he is good with, and Japan was doing great…but yeah, BAD German game.

Well, germany had a naval build 1st turn, that might have something to do with it. He also focused more on Ukraine and East Poland; he had minimal force in Baltic States, so I took Finland 1st turn and Norway and Baltic States 2nd. So, by the 3rd turn, he was down 5, only up 3, + having to counter UK in Northwest Europe almost every turn. I’m still not sure how I did that awesome though.

Actually, it is quite possible to win as allies, the only Axis victory I got was with NOs and a new strategy that I hadn’t used before.
I have had one game without NOs where Russia was capable of taking France, but UK was doing bad so I let UK take it :-D.
So in my opinion, the game is very balanced with NOs and favoring Allies without. Or maybe I’m just godlike with Russia :wink:

Build: 5 inf. 5 art. tank/research
Combat Move: Subs in the Bay of Biscay+Air support from Germany take out British Battleship and transport. Ignore Baltic States and instead focus on Ukraine and East Poland, with all 6 tanks in East Poland. In Africa, if you are playing NOs, Attack Egypt, if not, just strengthen your position in Africa.
Non-Combat: Reinforce Norway or Finland, move some troops from Germany to France/Poland/Northwest Europe.
Deploy
Collect IPC’s
Sorry, the build is wrong, Germany doesn’t have enough money 1st turn…