KJF is intriguing. The Allies can actually create incredible pressure early on, which I don’t think Japan can handle efficiently. It comes down to Germany being clever and ramping up surprise transports to threaten the US and UK. I wouldn’t say to rely on KJF, but it is an interesting excursion.
Specifically, the way to create pressure is this:
Russia: your only attack will be West Russia. You will attack with 1 fighter, and all inf/art available, but all tanks will not participate nor will the other fighter. The other fighter flies to Buryatia, 2 tanks from Moscow go to Yakut, tank from Caucasus to Sinkiang, tank from Archangel to Novosibirsk, the fighter from W Russia goes to Yakut as well. Your builds will be mass infantry as you prepare for the German onslaught.
Note: at this point the Germans could say oh boy a KJF, I better make some transports and force a KGF. If the Germans prepare a perfect advance counter of a KJF, then go ahead and reverse directions with the Russians. You haven’t really lost any positioning, just move all your tanks/fighters back.
But if the Germans play more conservatively with a mass inf build, go buy 2 complexes with the UK. 1 goes down to S Africa tip, and the other goes to India. You will need the S Africa complex to easily contest Africa, which can quickly become a sore problem if you don’t do this. Fly your fighters from the UK to Moscow, and bomber to Sinkiang. Attack the Kwang transport with your Indian navy, but send the fighter to attack the Solomons sub along with the Aus sub, with the intent to land the fighter on Pearl Harbor’s carrier. Move infantry towards India.
When Japan’s turn comes along, they are under massive strain from all sides. They cannot possible address all avenues of attack. Attacking Pearl Harbor is probably unwise, especially if the Solomons sub is lost (happens 2/3 of the time). They would have to attack China or risk that becoming another super-hardpoint from all the reinforcements arriving there. And it would be also wise to get rid of the Kwangtung UK navy before it met up with the US. But that is all Japan can do safely, and it still presents some issues.
On US 1, they will immediately invade Solomon Islands. The Japanese will not be able to break off the spearhead here because many of their fighters are on land and also half of their fleet is off of Kwangtung. The US starts with a build of 1 car + 1 bb.
The Russians follow by mass invading Manchuria with 6 inf + 2 tanks, and counter attacking China with 2 tanks + 2 fighters if there’s ~3 inf or so, or at least beefing up sinkiang with 2 tanks.
The UK follows with a build of 3 tanks in India, and attacks New Guinea with the Australian transport + 2 inf + their fighter from the US carrier off of Solomons, then flies their 2 fighters from Moscow into Sinkiang.
When it comes back to Japan, they are in massive trouble again on all fronts. Where will they attack? Personally I’d say they’d be forced to deal with the 8 units parked in Manchuria. They can’t really attack anywhere else, actually. India is too strong as you haven’t positioned any units to help attack it, China is also too strong, and invading Buryatia is a fairly bad move since you only get that 1 IPC and are way out of position to defend your mainland territories. Merely reinforcing Kwang/F Indo will provoke a massive Russian/UK counterattack which you can’t handle. So you wipe out Manchuria with 4 tran of equips + mass fighters + 2 bb shots + bomber, great.
But now, again the Japanese navy is way out of position, they are in the inner seazone of Japan.
The US assaults East Indies with 2 inf + 1 fighter + 1 bb, and sends their turn 1 build along with the panama destroyer to the Solomons seazone. (build another bb)
The Russians at this point are probably spent. They can use their remaining 2 tanks to blitz a lightly defended area or just hold Sinkiang, and retreat the fighters.
The UK can now strongly assault F Indo, which hasn’t received any reinforcements in the first 2 turns. 5 inf + 3 tanks + 2 fighters + 1 bomber will take out anything sitting there. At the same time, they take out Borneo with 2 inf + 1 fighter.
The Japanese should be absolutely flustered at this point. They’re missing Borneo, East Indies, New Guinea, F Indo, and all they have to show for it is possible China. The Americans now have a solid naval force jaunting about (2 car, 2 bb, 1 dest, 1 tran, 1 sub, with 4 fighters), which means the imminent loss of the 3 IPC island. The Japanese can take F Indo back, but do you see how they’re being absolutely contained? Their first 3 turns they can’t even hold their starting territories, and now they’re losing islands as well. They might be able to scrounge up the money for another carrier, but the US navy is now unbeatable defensively and the slow addition of BB’s means they will soon strafe the Japanese fleet to death and then BB shot the infantry out (after making sure the Japanese income is as low as possible).
Of course, this isn’t to say that the Axis will lose. After all, Germany is off the hook nearly completely. A smart German player will quickly threaten a Sea Lion to negate the UK’s ability to use their 2 IC’s. Actually, the Germans can completely undo a KJF. But this is a fun theory that shows the Japanese are very very containable; they are not omnipotent in spite of their large starting navy + fighters, and in spite of there being no Allied factories within the proximity of Japan’s holdings.
