@froodster:
I thought the established wisdom was that KJF is doubtful at best in AAR… at any rate, building an IC in India is just doing Japan a favour - they can focus their energy there and capture it easily.
For myself, with UK early on I think it’s best to just build TRNs and ground units, and land in Karelia or Norway from the North. Just avoid that Baltic fleet (assuming it is not a threat to London) and get units on the mainland to join with Russian forces ASAP. On the rest of the map, just do the best with what you’ve got, and have the US take care of other business.
For tournament games, KJF is pretty good. Because they play with victory territories and a shorter clock. KGF takes a while to get off the ground, so if the game’s called early, the Axis can win.
Building an IC in India is doing Japan a favor, but not if it’s a Colonial Garrison IC and a KJF. If it’s KJF, the US should have a fleet that’s messing with Japan, leaving India more breathing room. Colonial Garrison lets UK put 3 more units there at the end of UK1, before Japan has a chance to go. That means a whole slew of additional counterthreat options are available to India - as well as the added option of just sitting tight and building up each turn.