Deck F first look favourite

Favoring originals and additions that I think realistically help the type of class become more useful;

   On the Allied side the USN has two  SS-44 and Buchanan

A 9pt sub with no negative SA and a 7pt good Close Escort ; I believe its neg SA will have little impact in its thinking of use.

    For the Axis;;  Germany's ZH-1 and the IJN's  Jill,  both cost addition savers, a little later in the war, but when they needed it, they will help with builds.

For me the  JILL  wins it all;;  it plays in the IJN's strength the Air Torpedo game;; Banzai Kido Butai 

The Kii looks to add some punch to late-war Japan, and with decent AA. Plus, it'll let me get a Yamato repainted into a fictional camouflage to reflect it well enough.

For a favorite though I'm going to have to go with HMS Norfolk. I'm a simple man, I see a County class, I like. A pretty standout member of said class as well, good to see it in-game.

Norfolk, Kii, Ar 196, Walrus, P-38, USS Card, U 99, Atlantic Wall, Jill, E13A Jake, Kaiho

The Seaplane Base is my favorite. I love seaplanes and they are a significant part of the game for me. I especially like the ability to give one seaplane a 3 ASW attack. It clearly benefits the Axis a little more than the Allies and I think that is good. We discussed just giving a plus 1 die to an existing seaplane ASW attack. But that would have given an even greater boost to the Allies. Plus this allows any seaplane to have an ASW attack even if it doesn't have one natively. I think that is important because almost any seaplane could attack a surfaced sub.

The roster of ASW 3 Axis aircraft is a very short list.

I'd have to agree with you. Given how over-gunned some of their cruisers are it's surprising that the battleships have a perceived lack of firepower compared to their counterparts in other nationalities.

This fixes a noted deficiency in Friedrich Der Grosse so probably more playable.

Looking for a few potential favourites as I haven’t played theses yet I would go with
1. My National bias says PBY-5A Canso for Canada
2. HMS Indomitable with fighter cover 6 gives the UK a 2.5 capacity carrier and should play well.
3. Germany having Submarine escort on the ZH1 is intriguing for diversity in placement.
4. Sea Plane base

Japan is tough as several I like including the new Jill but I can see the P1Y Frances @11 points with excellent endurance, fitting in builds with the original Jill and the range 1 torpedo. The E13A Jake with combo of ASW or Bombs and Spotter @8 points looks interesting