Soviet troops in China

[simon33]

Played online yesterday and generally kept the Soviets out of China. No Japanese DOW. I didn’t like the strategy much because it meant I didn’t have enough troops to hold Yunnan or at least inflict huge losses on their air force against a J3 attack.

With a G2 DOW, whatever troops go into China aren’t coming out to defend Moscow against their initial spearhead attack. In theory, with a G3 DOW, planes can fly back to reach Moscow USSR5. But you have to assume that they aren’t.

Two soviet mechs/tanks provide an escort for the Chinese fighter to sit in Sikang and not need Chinese troops to be stuck on escort duty end of China1. Problem with that being that you can’t position to take Persia USSR2, assuming a G2 DOW. If the UK are taking Persia that isn’t such a problem though. You can also move the two inf in Suiyan down to Shensi and use them as escorts but I like to hold Suiyan (with soviet planes). Forces the Japanese down to Hopei, which they would have taken anyway.

In general, I find with a few soviet troops and a UK2 DOW, you have enough force to make it too costly for Japan to take Yunnan. Obviously, I am assuming no J1 DOW. That would make it a cinch to hold Yunnan for a few turns at least.

For the J4 attack, you can fly up to 7 more planes in (2NZ, 4UK, 1Chinese) so not likely to lose it, even if Soviet planes fly back to the USSR.

Without Soviet or bid help, the Japanese would only have lost 2 planes or so attacking Yunnan. They can accept that, even if they don’t take the territory.

So, I’ve discovered by experimentation why I’ve adopted Soviet help in China as a standard strategy.

[MeinHerr]

After J4, you can on US4, fly in the US FTR in PHP , if it’s still alive, to Sikiang

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

I definitely agree with Soviet help in China.  Otherwise the Chinese forces can be swept off the board on J2 with only moderate damage to the the Japanese air force.  Slowing down Japan allows the Allies to focus more, or sooner, in Europe.  That ends up helping Russia in the long run.

[Kamikaze_pilot]

So whats the best way for Japan to counter this? And how does this affect the game in the long run? Especially on the Pacific board?

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

Japan needs to consider a air force strong blitz of the Chinese + Russian troops on J2.  It will be costly but prevents the combined Allied forces from holding Yunnan.  If you do end up with a big Allied stack in Yunnan and no way to reclaim the territory, give up on holding China.  Slowly retreat, spend minimally on land units, and focus on controlling the Pacific.  The good news is China can never leave its borders.  They can have hundreds of land units but cannot threaten the rest of the board.

[Kamikaze_pilot]

Ok, got it. But if Japan abandons mainland China in the long run, it will probably never achieve victory in the pacific, right? Have you had succes with Japan this way?

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

Victory in the Pacific is essentially impossible if you lose China.  You need the cash from those territories to be able to to outspend India + ANZAC + US in the theater.  Still, I find if China is making 15 PUs, ANZAC is at 20, and India can get up to 10, it is difficult to make much progress anyway.  There will be more Allied ground units made each round in Asia than you can pump out from 2 factories.  It is possible to build a third Japanese factory on the mainland, but then you are spending almost your entire budget on ground units and can’t compete in the naval battles.

When Yunnan is held strongly, I transition to helping Germany out by forcing the US to keep spending in the Pacific.  It is a huge help if you can hold the Philippines, threaten Hawaii, sometimes take the Aleutians or an ANZAC territory, and prevent India from sending troops West. You can still make 40 PUs without much of China, convoy raid India to keep their economy slow, and force the US to spend 20 PUs a round in the Pacific to prevent things from getting too out of hand.