Alright, I read your original post carefully, and I believe there were a few more differences. The Japanese player moved his entire navy east except for a few ships to cover the home island and reinforce the mainland. He did not declare war until J3, so the closest her could get according to our understanding of the second edition rules was SZs 4 and 14. Once the UK/ANZAC player saw what he was doing they declared war on UK 1 and gobbled up the southern islands with the ANZAC. I purchased two subs and and infantry, saving 2, and used a transport to to reinforce Alaska (his transports were in the SZ4 fleet) and abandoned Hawaii, bringing those infantry and ships to the western US.
J2, he built mostly transports and I think artillery, and he consolidated his position. I was surprised that he did not hit Kwangtung, but the fighters he left in China were slightly out of position for that. I am a bit fuzzy remembering. He was worried about the other end of the board, but he really wanted to get me (I had cut him off in Catan our last game night, and such things are unforgivable). He was not doing too hot in China, since the Brits kept the Burma Road open and the Chinese were still holding on. The rolls were absolutely vanilla, with no surprises, so he couldn’t blame that. UK2 saw Sumatra and Java taken, as well as Siam conquered, and the British fleet tried to gather most of its strength in SZ20. ANZAC2 took Celebes. My moves were a destroyer and submarine to SZ9. I purchased a fighter, and three infantry.
J3 saw the DOW. He invaded Alaska and the Aleutians and cleared SZ9 taking only one hit to a Battleship. An attack on the Philippines with only one transport was unsuccessful; though he crushed the US destroyer and submarine with no losses, both sides lost all ground units, and the fighter remained. That was a piece of bad luck to him. UK3 liberated Hunan and Kwangsi with light losses, ANZAC reinforced the Philippines after defeating the UK destroyed the Japanese fleet there. China, well, existed and lost an attack on Kweichow. On US3 I moved a destroyer to SZ1 and built 4 infantry and an artillery. Since most of his transports were in SZ2, he would not able to kite past my surface ship in SZ1, which is what I meant by blocking. I left my ships cowering off the coast of Western US. I then gathered my 50 IPCs for holding the US and the Philippines.
J4 saw him leave a small force in Alaska, and he built more surface warships to fight the growing UK/ANZAC threat. He gathered his “escort” fleet and transports to SZ9 and did not waste time killing the destroyer in SZ1. Instead, he killed my fleet off the Western US, and at least we traded roughly even. Both of us were rolling 5s and 6s like they were goin out of style. It took almost 12 rounds of miraculously indecisive combat before he took out my entire fleet. He retook some land in China, but the damage was done. UK4 and ANZAC4 saw a stalemate in China and the ANZAC took the Caroline islands, but only just barely. China finally had a successful attack on Shensi. US4, I bought 2 fighters, 3 Armor, and 4 infantry.
J5, he saw I could stop a bombardment with a quick scramble of a single fighter, so he retired. We then talked about how it might have worked with a few tweaks, and then I saw your thread.
If he had brought more and completely neglected the other fronts, and if he had anticipated the block to SZ1, then it may have been a different story. Our aggressive UK/ANZAC player tipped the scales, though, and may have made even more progress if the Japanese player had gone all in.
I agree that it would be over for everyone if the US falls with full income. I think it more tenable if the Japanese player attacks directly on J3 from SZ13 or 14, bypassing Alaska and Hawaii, but J3 conquering the US only nets them 17 IPCs, and the Western US is only worth 10, since the extra 30 are only from national objectives and are only collected at the end of US3 after a DOW.
A valid tactic, I think, but I still don’t say it is broken. A tip of the hat, though, at it being incredibly ambitious.
