I was Japan - went in with a plan and then almost immediately shelved it.
Aimed to set up a shuck to FIC and enter the war as late as possible to do maximum Russia and China damage and keep USA income down - not sure it would have worked as a strategy tbh - but then oddly aggressive USA leaving Philippines and Hawaii LITERALLY open led me to going J2.
Played cat and mouse in the Pacific, always looking to be under the cover of fighters on airbases if in range of US fleet, or sacrificing smaller units to keep ANZAC down or take/retake the Carolines.
My usual plan is to get an IC down J1 and flood China, decided this time for tanks from FIC, next time not sure - for me I spent the game bullying ANZAC, bottling up India, stood off Russia until they attacked then walked across Siberia. My plan was to keep the USA distracted in the Pacific and try to keep parity with their fleet while flooding troops into Yunnan - took the last of the DEI late as a result, but kept suicide transports to a minimum.
The ANZAC landing on the Philippines was a mistake by me - I had blocked the routes to my new Malaya Major IC with the cruisers Japan starts with between New Guinea and Oz, and had meant to land my fighters on Japan on the Philippines. I wanted to keep the ANZAC TPs and the US killer fleet off the Oz naval base occupied. In the end it was fine - by building 3 CVs off FIC was able to pour so much air power into the US fleet that everything died leaving the ANZAC Expeditionary Force trapped on the Philippines.
Great game, mistakes all round, can’t wait for my next game and really can’t wait for next time I play as Japan.
