Hello, I play pacific 1940 a lot. I have also played global a few times. Pacific 1940 second edition is a great game but I can almost easily win every time if I’m Japan and I attack on the third turn. A new rule was passed around late 2014 to allow the USA to receive a 30 IPC bonus if Japan attacks or declares war on them before turn 4. This seems to balance the game a little but I can still always win with Japan. The strategy for Japan is pretty much the same. Take the money islands, build a minor in French Indo China and Kwangtung and knock out China and India. Post in the Philippines with your huge navy and three fighters that can scramble and those six deadly kamikizes. Let Anzac and USA come to you so you can use the fighters to defend at 4 when the big navy battle happens. Eventually you will be making more than the allies with the money islands NO and the India NO. You should be around the 70-75 mark. Then when the time is right strike at Sydney or Hawaii and hold it and you should win as it will be six victory cities. For the allies, man this can be tuff lol. You better hope Japan attacks you on turn 1 or turn 4 because turn 2 and especially 3 it’s going to be difficult.
1: China: buy men and hit and run and fall back to the north west of China. You will be lucky if the Burma road is open more than two turns. Pull back and make Japan come to you.
2: UK: pull everyone back to India and just buy men!!! Try to bring your navy down to Australia and unite them with Anzac and hopefully later USA. If it looks like India is going to fall then pull your airforce out and send them to Australia to hopefully land on a Anzac or American carrier. If Japan hasn’t declared war early then take as many islands in the south as possible .
3: Anzac: small ships and transports are good. if it looks like Japan is going to invade then pull your forces to south Australia because from there you can hit any territory. Use your small ships to convoy raid or unite with the main USA fleet. Queensland is a great staging area for the allied navy early in the game. Also since there’s a airbase there fighters don’t hurt also since they can scramble.
4:USA: the big boy lol. The problem is when USA is neutral she only makes a freaking 17 ipcs a turn. While Japan is around the 40 mark and Japan has soooooooo many aircraft at its disposal. USA I say aircraft carrier early then mainly subs, destroyers, and a transport every turn with land units. A few rounds into the game get a navy base on the Johnson islands and start combining your fleet with the Anzac fleet and hopefully a small UK fleet. try to take the money islands by sacrificing transports because Japan will have a bigger navy early in the game. When the time is right move to Dutch New Guinea with your fleet and prepare for the big battle. Sometimes it’s better if Japan attacks you and sometimes it’s better if you attsck them. Hopefully you will have a lot of subs at your disposal. If you win the navy battle then Japan is pretty much toast even if they have India and China. Good luck and let me know how the war goes lol. I am playing anniversary edition on Saturday 😜
Alternate game balance suggestion
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I sadly have only gotten a few games of AAP40 in. I would love to test my mettle repeatedly against the Japanese and see if I can solve the puzzle of the J1 attack, but I am lacking in both willing and skilled opponents and time (I have a 2 year old and a 2 week old). So these days my AA experience is limited to surfing these boards. :-(
My concern with the US immediate 40 balance option is that while it seems to balance a J1 attack well (according to others here) I expect that it will imbalance the J2 and J3 attack options in favor of the allies, so there is still no reason for the Japanese to choose other than J1 attack.
I would like to find another organic balance option (I appreciate the necessity of bid-type balancing, but dislike the feel of it). Here’s my suggestion for an alternate balance option. I have no reason to believe that it will work other than a gut feeling and a bit of logic. I offer it in the hope that some of you lucky souls with the opportunity to play regularly will give it a shot and let everyone know if it works. Here it is:
Add USSR to the game, moving after ANZAC. Populate USSR with its expected global forces, 2 infantry per territory. Additionally, give USSR a fighter and a Major IC in Evenkiyskiy. USSR starts with no money. USSR cannot move or collect income until Japan declares war (effectively, USSR joins the war when the US does), at which point USSR begins collecting income (the assumption being that before DOW, all income goes to Europe). Japan can choose to attack the USSR at any point by declaring war in the same way that it can attack US, UK, or ANZAC.
Here’s my thinking on this.
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The J1 attack is very much a blitzkreig. It is a race to grab a quick objective (India, and to a lesser extent, the bulk of China) almost entirely conducted with units already on the board. J2 and J3 attacks are more about establishing and solidifying a strong position and then striking out from there. New production and units in reserve are much more relevant to future attacks. The Russian units will force Japan to defend Manchuria and Korea once a general declaration of war has been issued. In a J1 attack, this forces Japan to hold back front line units in Asia (or divert transport power from taking DEI and PI. In a J2 or J3 attack, Manchurian and Korean units can be used to attack China and defensive troops can be brought over from Japan or from a new IC on board. The result of this is that Russia can pin a significant portion of Japan’s mainland troop strength (or punish them for moving them), causing Japan to either: a) deemphasize China to continue the India Crush, b) engage in a more balanced attack against India and China, c) abandon northeast Asia, or d) abandon DEI. a) means that China will be a significant power for longer into the game, b) strikes me as the best option, and gives India time to muster a defense and other countries time to come to their rescue, c) and d) result in several turns of reduced income for Japan.
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In addition to threatening Manchuria and Korea, after declaration of war, USSR can send troops to directly bolster China’s defence, again giving Japan incentive to deal with China more completely before taking on other powers (pushing towards a J2, J3 DOW).
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Since USSR doesn’t collect income until DOW, this is another 9IPC per turn incentive towards waiting.
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Given the USSR’s force composition (almost entirely infantry), low income (reducing the number of attack specialized units it can produce) and distance of the factory from the front, it will be a long time before USSR can begin significant offensive operations. Thus, USSR’s primary functions will be defense (both of USSR territories and bolstering Chinese troops) and “keeping the Japanese honest” by forcing them to actually defend their northern border.
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Overall, the additional forces would seem to be a disadvantage to Japan, and it is in the short term. But, in the long term, the addition of USSR as an opponent is also an opportunity for Japan, as it represents 9IPCs per turn of additional income once conquered. If Japan does decide to actively engage the Russians, they have a thick crust, but little to follow up, so this should be a viable option.
Overall, I believe that this change would result in a significant bonus to the Allies against a J1 attack, and a much smaller advantage against later attacks, pushing the Japanese into less of a race and more of an empire building situation. I expect that a J2 or J3 attack would become the ideal then, and this would also result in a better balance of allied power (USA weaker, UK and ANZAC stronger) later in the game, making a more enjoyable experience for all.
Thoughts?
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This idea sounds good to me. It is what I will certainly try a couple of times. It does make sense because many have said that really the balance if the game is lost because of the lack of Russian units
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I think the immediate 40 rule applies only to J1 attacks. So if you attack J2, they don’t get an immediate 40
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What about the USSR restricted rule? Will other allied units be allowed to enter USSR territory without penalty? The US player can take huge advantage of this change by shuttling troops into the far east or launching bombers directly from western US to sea zone 6 and landing in USSR.
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What about the USSR restricted rule? Will other allied units be allowed to enter USSR territory without penalty? The US player can take huge advantage of this change by shuttling troops into the far east or launching bombers directly from western US to sea zone 6 and landing in USSR.
That’s an excellent point. First guess is that USSR would have to be completely off limits to allied troops (except maybe to liberate, but then it gets messy.
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Maybe the global rule book will help clarify, but my guess is USSR will not be restricted territory in Europe or Global 1940. I believe that there will be severe punishment such as USSR will not collect any national objectives or even a negative IPC punishment for having other allies on original Soviet territory (reflecting a drop in national pride for requiring outside aid). So this deterrent could be used in the Pacific game as well if you want to house rule USSR in.
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well you could do it like this i suppose, If ANY alllied units are in soviet territory (except to liberate) the soviets collect no income, but even then that doesn’t work out really that well because i’m sure that it would be more worthwhile to the allies, to have the US maintain that border. I don’t know it certainly is messy once you really start to think about it. I need to think of something that will keep the allies out while the soviets are around.
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25 planes that can hit the transports? In the time it would take to start up the shuck, find a way to protect the shuck, etc, India and Australia would be toast.
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Another idea to add to this tread is to play Pacific1940 with every nation having the “Improved Shipyards” technology. This technology will be included in the global game anyways, but by giving it to every nation in the Pacific only game it turns out to really help the allies. If you havn’t heard, this technology makes all subs, transports and destroyers -1 IPC, and all crusiers, Aircraft carriers and Battelships -2 IPCs. Since the allies generally will be building more ships to counter the Japs, it allows America to build up faster but at the same time also gives the same advantage to Japan if they choose to go for heavy naval builds.
I played a game testing this change and I as Japan still performed a massive Jap1 attack. America built destroyers and crusiers like they were going out of style and while Japan was mopping up the DEI and India America was threating the rest of the Pacific and Japan herself with massive fleets. ANZAC was also able to build 2 subs from turn 1 and they can become a real thorn in the DEI. -
in aap40, just let UK go before Japan…then anzac, then US. This allows UK to save its navy and gives them an extra build on Japan.
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Why place 2 infantry in each territory rather than just using the setups from the Global game (6 infantry in Buryatia, 6 in Sakha, and 6 in Amur)? The fighter could start in Buryatia or Sakha.
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Another idea to add to this tread is to play Pacific1940 with every nation having the “Improved Shipyards” technology. This technology will be included in the global game anyways, but by giving it to every nation in the Pacific only game it turns out to really help the allies. If you havn’t heard, this technology makes all subs, transports and destroyers -1 IPC, and all crusiers, Aircraft carriers and Battelships -2 IPCs. Since the allies generally will be building more ships to counter the Japs, it allows America to build up faster but at the same time also gives the same advantage to Japan if they choose to go for heavy naval builds.
I played a game testing this change and I as Japan still performed a massive Jap1 attack. America built destroyers and crusiers like they were going out of style and while Japan was mopping up the DEI and India America was threating the rest of the Pacific and Japan herself with massive fleets. ANZAC was also able to build 2 subs from turn 1 and they can become a real thorn in the DEI.I really like this idea Cressman. While the OP’s idea could work if Allies weren’t allowed into the USSR, it’s simply too complicated for me, as I already fail to follow a rule or two. :roll:
However, Cressman’s idea could work, as the Allies have strength in what they BUILD, and Japan has strength in what it already HAS. A bid could work too, though.
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