ALLIES HELP!!

The question still remains (I forgot UK went after China).

Would reinforcing Yunnan with 2 Inf, 2 Ftr, 1 TacB be worth the possibility of China obtaining Artillery and Japan having to lose multiple aircraft to retake a Yunnan with potentially 5-6 Infantry covered by 3 aircraft?

Can a C2 purchase of Artillery sway the balance in the Chinese/Japanese conflict?

How devastating is it for Japan to lose possibly 4-5 aircraft trying to take Yunnan on J2?

Is Calcutta entirely exposed at this point?  People seem to say Calcutta is dead in the water to a well played and determined Japanese player.  Why not give Japan fits if you think your gonna lose the capital anyways?

@Uncrustable:

If UK DOW on japan round 1 then japan is free to ravage the entire pacific/asian theater with zero threat of an early USA entry

UK and ANZAC would stand no chance and both capitals are likely to fall before USA will be in any position to help,
With Calcutta and Sydney down Japan would then be able to focus 100% on USA and USA would have no choice but to counter leaving Germany free to take Moscow and probably London also

As Japan i dont think anything would be better for them than an early UK\ANZAC DOW

Show me how Japan gets both Sydney and Calcutta before the US capable of wartime moves and moving after the J4 turn.

I do agree its not particularly the best move.  But I’d rather create fits for Japan early than sit and play Sealion v2.0 in the Pacific with India.

@Spendo02:

How devastating is it for Japan to lose possibly 4-5 aircraft trying to take Yunnan on J2?

Not quite as devastating as it would be for UK Pacific to lose its air force.

As promised, my Russian strategy:

There are 2 routes, and which one you use is dependent on Germany’s plan.

Assuming Barbarossa, as that is the easiest:

All inf. Perhaps 1 art or 1 arm, but inf is your purchase. You can either fall back all the way to Moscow or defend all your IC’s, but you don’t want to be fighting  major battles with Germany in any other territories unless you get him exposed.

If there is Sealion, you still want 6 inf. per turn in Ukr/Leningrad (sometimes I’ll put an art or 2 in there as well), but the rest should be on mech/tanks in Moscow. Put all your forces up front (save some in Leningrad in case of amphibious assault) and be ready to defend/attack Germany along Rom/Hun/Pol.

@KillOFzee:

Well to start off, as USA

1: Focus on one theater at time, but still make sure to spend in both. For the first couple of turns, create a sizable navy in the pacific. Try to attack in tandem with the smaller factions, like ANZAC, to cause maximum damage to Japanese Aircraft carriers and transports.
2: After you think your navy has grown strong enough, begin building transports and ground units in the European theater. Do not wait until Japan’s navy is completely wiped out, otherwise Germany will have pushed too far in Russia. You need to open up an allied European front before Germany can get too close to Moscow. It is usually best to land in Normandy/Bordeaux, and reinforce with the British. But if you can sack Rome, do it. 
3: As a china, if you can buy artillery, buy it. The Burma road is never open long enough to have access to heavy equipment again. In general, avoid piling your units together in one territory. Fall back, force the Japanese to send their ground forces deeper into China. If they don’t attack, reverse the pressure and hit their valuable ground units.
4: In general, if you need to lose units, it best to lose them in China. China has no victory cities, so if you have to lose 3 infantry to kill 1 Japanese infantry, it is worth it. China is a bullet shield. Play them like it.

Good luck, and good hunting, General…

Better check your board again, unless they moved Shanghai, it is in China.

@Larrie:

@KillOFzee:

Well to start off, as USA

1: Focus on one theater at time, but still make sure to spend in both. For the first couple of turns, create a sizable navy in the pacific. Try to attack in tandem with the smaller factions, like ANZAC, to cause maximum damage to Japanese Aircraft carriers and transports.
2: After you think your navy has grown strong enough, begin building transports and ground units in the European theater. Do not wait until Japan’s navy is completely wiped out, otherwise Germany will have pushed too far in Russia. You need to open up an allied European front before Germany can get too close to Moscow. It is usually best to land in Normandy/Bordeaux, and reinforce with the British. But if you can sack Rome, do it.� 
3: As a china, if you can buy artillery, buy it. The Burma road is never open long enough to have access to heavy equipment again. In general, avoid piling your units together in one territory. Fall back, force the Japanese to send their ground forces deeper into China. If they don’t attack, reverse the pressure and hit their valuable ground units.
4: In general, if you need to lose units, it best to lose them in China. China has no victory cities, so if you have to lose 3 infantry to kill 1 Japanese infantry, it is worth it. China is a bullet shield. Play them like it.

Good luck, and good hunting, General…

Better check your board again, unless they moved Shanghai, it is in China.

But Shanghai starts in Japanese control, and the Chinese lack the strength to push through Japanese lines to get to Shanghai. What I mean is that it doesn’t matter if China is wiped out, as they have no VCs that aren’t already locked down by the Japs.

Really, Axis won? Maybe by IPC count, but that doesn’t include NOs. The game appears to be far from over, IMO. It may actually prove to be a very interesting game the way you’ve described it.

looks like a truce

hostilities will break out again:)

I was playing that game with him and I was Russia and France and I was getting beat up on the soviet far east and I think it is a good idea for the US to march up through alaska and come over with few transports and help the russians defend that part from japan because russia only has a small amount of men there.

That is a good weak spot of Japan to exploit as a fleet off Alaska (Japan thinks) is headed for Japan.

I 100% agree w/munchie19. I can’t believe you guys called a game in the 5th round (it just started). The axis would typically have a slight lead in production as they head in to Russia, and get most of the DEI etc… (that’s what is supposed to happen).  I know time was the problem, you should try to set-up 2 day sessions to continue in future games. The US just got going, and there is no way at that point to declare a winner IMO. The allies have to weather the early storm, and its between the 5th-7th round when the allies start to rebound. This is when you see what the axis are made of, and if they can repel the allies. You got to go 10 rounds standing toe to toe IMO unless there’s a KO punch.

If you’re an amazingly keen observer, tactician and strategist, in a normal game you can PREDICT with 80% accuracy the winner by about Round 7 if Barbarossa, Round 9 if Sealion. Of course, it depends on dice/the situation, but I think that’s the middle ground. For normal people, it’s probably Round 10/11.

To add to Wild Bill’s/techroll’s posts - not only does it often take until the turns get into the double digits (10 +) to predict the game, but sometimes an apparent victory for one side can turn… shockingly… through either great play or dice.

I recently lost a game in which I had a 190 - 130 IPC edge over the Axis, but my opponent very shrewdly snuck away with a VC win on the Europe map. I was squeezing him slowly into submission, and the game was 17 + turns old. A sure win, right? Wrong. I learned my lesson, and it won’t happen again, but it made me aware of the late game possibilities.

Write your games down, set them up and play them again!

Or just leave them set up.

And THAT, my friends, is why I don’t play with the VC rules. A sure loss can easily turn to a sure win.

Yeah, it’s too bad you had to end the game so early. It’s amazing how reslilient Germ and JPN can be if their Air Forces stay pretty much intact. I was in a game once playing the Allies and took a lightly defended Berlin fairly early in the game and the Axis player was so frustrated that he just conceded. He could have easlily retaken it the next round. 95% of his pieces were still in play so the game was far from being over.