The Japan Playbook

Hey guys, I tried out a J1 attack this weekend. I must say there were surprising results. The US wasn’t really in a position to attack me for a couple of rounds but they did build up a massive fleet around Hawaii. I dusted off the UK and ANZAC navies pretty quickly and did fairly well in China for the first 2 or 3 rounds.
One thing I did which I realize now was a mistake was trying to go after Australia rather early. After I killed the Aussie and British ships, I thought I saw a chance to sneak up and take out ANZAC quickly. When I moved 3 transports to the Carolines, ANZAC simply turtled up on NSW and I realized I didn’t have enough to win that fight. Plus, I also knew the US fleet would pounce on my fleet and I would be stuck with almost no ships left in the water.
This made me late in getting the DEI. I got them all on Round 4, but it would have been sooner if I hadn’t went after Sydney.
China started to get kind of big with a little British help and I started to run into trouble on the mainland. At one point, the Chinese managed to push me back to where I just had Manchuria, Kiangsu and Kwangtung. However, their lines were thin, I still had most of my planes and minor ICs on Kwangtung and Kiangsu started churning out tanks and mechs. So I’m beating them back now.
I managed to take India, which ended British presence in the area, so now I’m beating back China and have all SE Asia.
The Russians left 9 men on Amur and headed everything else towards Moscow. I waited 4 rounds, enough time for the others to be far away, and attacked Amur. Of course, this gave Russia 6 extra men in Mongolia, but I have managed to eliminate them all now.
The US and Japanese have had 3 big naval battles and now both of us are short of warships in the Pacific. We both have to sit back, lick our wounds and build up.
Meanwhile, Germany captured London and has a fair sized navy, enough to give the US headaches in the Atlantic. The US has a large land force in N Africa but all their ships were sunk by German and Italian ships. Operation Barbarossa started out well, but when Germany turned it’s attention to England and the Atlantic, the Russian front stalled and Russia started taking back territory. They actually retook Leningrad and the Ukraine and are close to German territory. Germany has to start all over again building up a new attack force to go back into Russia. Japan has several Far Eastern Soviet territories but very little troops up there. Luckily, Russia doesn’t have much up there either.
I think with England out of the game now, we will see an Axis victory, although the US is still rich and strong and Russia is doing pretty well too.

By the way, I have a quick question about convoy raiding in regards to NOs. Convoy raiding only affects the IPC worth of the territory itself, not an NO that is attached to that territory, right?
To be specific, I was wondering about the Philippines. The Philippines themself is worth 2 IPCs. The US control of the Philippines is worth an additional 5 IPCs NO. So, overall the Philippines is worth 7 IPCs to the US.
The US recently retook the Philippines but the Japanese sank their navy there and currently has 2 cruisers and a carrier with a fighter and a tac on it. Now even though the Japanese fleet has the potential of convoy raiding 6 IPCs, since the Philippines territory is only 2 IPCs, that is all they can convoy raid, correct? The 5 IPC NO that the US gets for controlling the Philippines is not affected by convoy raiding, correct?
I am pretty sure an NO is not affected by convoy raiding so that’s how we played it. I just thought I would ask to make sure.

Hi Knp.  You are right in that you can only tske 2 IPCs from the US for the Philippines.
Game  sounds fun.

Sounds like a great game with a lot of navy battles on both sides of the globe. Will be tuned in to see how it ends up.

@Knp: what did you do with your 2 SZ6 Carriers on J1?

I wonder how much like suicide, attacking Pearl with 4 Air and a Sub and DD, really is?
Wake looks a safe place to park them. But I think it would then be necessary to send an AP to safeguard the Island too. (Seems a waste.)  That would mean only one AP attacking the Philippines with2 Air. Risky!  I was planning to send the third AP to Hong Kong.
My first reaction is always to avoid openly moving towards my greatest threat: the US.
I suppose it would place me far away from the money Islands too.
Isn’t planning war a headache!

Hey Wittmann,
Let’s see, at first my 2 SZ 6 carriers went with the bulk of the fleet to the Carolines in that aborted attempt to take out ANZAC. Then one went back to stay in SZ 6 for most of this game while the other went south to help in taking the DEI, Malaya and Philippines. I actually lost the SZ 6 carrier in one of the big US naval attacks. One carrier helped to take India.
I have actually been very successful in using my other two carriers in foiling Allied plans – either in tempting Allied ships into a trap where I ended up smashing them OR in presenting a somewhat obvious looking trap so the Allies end up staying away and thus out of my business allowing me to carry out other plans.
So far, Japan and USA have rebuilt substantial fleets, although now Japan is actually making more than the US so they are in the lead for a change. The Axis is very much in the lead and I think the game will be over soon, although they have not gained the Victory Cities on either map yet – 7 in Europe and 5 in Pacific.  Allies are being stubborn.
While German navy is actually weaker than US navy, US is having trouble gaining any traction in Atlantic trying to match Japanese builds. Japan is threatening ANZAC again and in much better position this time. Germany is building up strong against Russia and the Soviets are losing ground, their counter-offensive having run out of steam. Italy is doing very well. They have all Africa and Middle East and are threatening Russia from the south. They finally erased all US presence in the Med and Africa and are even building warships to try and aid the German navy in the Atlantic.
Allies are playing like they are Axis – fighting to the bitter end. Stalin is in underground bunker “believing” that war is going good for Russia. He is close to giving his girlfriend a cyanide pill.

Allies are playing like they are Axis – fighting to the bitter end. Stalin is in underground bunker “believing” that war is going good for Russia. He is close to giving his girlfriend a cyanide pill.    I love history’s what ifs!

Thanks for the breakdown. I have practiced my anticipated moves on my wife(and no she wasn’t tied up, this time) and like how end of G1 looks.
Have devised a J1 too, but need to see how it would look a turn or two later.
I know victory is only necessary on one map and doing a J1 would bring the US crashing in on the Europe map earlier than usual for me, but I feel angered and am decided on that course.
Will make it a different game from the others we have played too.

Well, the final result was indeed an Axis victory. It took 12 rounds, although the US conceded defeat at the beginning of their turn on round 12. They were the only Ally left except for 1 British Inf & artillery in Quebec, 1 Soviet sub in SZ 114 and 1 ANZAC Inf on New Zealand. China and France were both extinct.
The US had a powerful navy in SZ 101 and a smallish force in SZ 10 – 1 fully loaded carrier + 5 DD. They had 5 transports worth of men, art and tanks in E US, but could never outstretch the German navy to liberate London. Every time the US made a warship purchase, the Germans matched it so a stalemate developed.
Italy captured Stalingrad on round 11, which was the 8th VC on the Europe board.
Germany captured Moscow on round 12, which made 9 VCs on the Europe board.
Japan captured Sydney on round 12, which was VC #6 on the Pacific board.
By this time, Germany was at 102 IPCs, Japan roughly 112 IPCs and Italy had 67 IPCs. These are territory plus NO incomes. Just territories would be Germany = 69, Japan = 90 and Italy = 46. The US had 72 IPCs, but I’m sure that would be cut down quite a bit in another round or two since all Axis had nothing to do but go after the US. While the naval battles in SZ 101 and SZ 10 would have been huge, by this time the end result would have been the ultimate falling of the US. It might have taken a further 5-6 rounds, but the result would be doom for all freedom loving peoples. So I think our US player was right to concede.
I think my J1 attack made a lot of difference here, plus the G1 Barbarossa. I think it threw our Allied players off balance since Japan usually waits until J3 or J4. Also, our US player kind of fell into the mistake of trying to support action on both theaters. While she was able to set some Axis plans back here and there, it wasn’t enough to make really decisive blows on either side and in both cases, Japan and Germany were able to recover from the setbacks, whereas the Allies weren’t really able to recover from setbacks they experienced. The most dangerous one was Russia’s counter-attack of Barbarossa. They really built up a lot of steam but just didn’t quite get far enough before the Germans rebounded after taking London.
I have always thought the best Allied plans involve USA committing mostly to one side or the other, with just enough to keep the other side in check. Usually, a large US involvement in Europe can really put the hurt on Germany and Italy if they can keep just enough navy to harass Japan in the Pacific so they don’t grow too big. A large US involvement against Japan will usually, if done right, end up shrinking Japan to almost nothing, cornering them on Japan, then they can go over to invade Europe and stop Germany hopefully before Moscow falls.

I’ve played the J1 strategy twice now with good results in the pacific, but still looking for the right compliment in Europe… playing axis again tomorrow, and all I need to know is, what’s the best direction for Germany… Sealion or Barbarossa?

@knp7765:

I was wondering if anyone out there playing as Japan has gotten that five island NO for Japan – Midway, Wake, Guam, Gilberts and Solomons? And by getting that NO, I mean when it might actually make a difference to Japan’s income.
I have gotten it a few times, but that is usually not until Japan has all but won on the Pacific side. They will have taken Calcutta, China will be about wiped out, the Russians pushed back, Australia is being threatened and the US Navy hard pressed to stop more Japanese advances. Or if the US decided to go more for Europe, the Pacific fleet may be sunk by this time. So with Japan on top of the world in the Pacific and making 65-75 IPCs per round roughly at this time, what’s another $5 NO really mean to them? I don’t think I have ever accomplished that NO when Japan was still down around 35-45 IPCs per round.
If this is pretty much the experience of other Japan players, I have to ask this question:
What the heck is the meaning of this NO anyway?
It’s nearly impossible to get when Japan could really use an extra $5 per turn and equally as hard to keep for more than a round or two, unless the US and ANZAC are both just playing stupid. Getting it after Japan has crushed everything is meaningless. It’s like “Oh, another $5. Well, just throw it in the pile with the rest.”

I think those NOs are there for playing global domination. I got them in a global domination game where US ignored pacific, so japan took hawaii, and these islands the turn after, making japan go up an additional 11, and US down 6. it is a nice 17 IPC swing punishment for a US that is hoping to kill germany, then deal with japan, it gives japan some ability to be strong enough to fight the allies on after germany falls in a world domination game.

@Young:

I’ve played the J1 strategy twice now with good results in the pacific, but still looking for the right compliment in Europe… playing axis again tomorrow, and all I need to know is, what’s the best direction for Germany… Sealion or Barbarossa?

If Japan declares war J1, then USA could build 4 bombers in Eastern USA with their new MAJOR IC, then send them to reinforce London USA2.  I’m not saying that’s what they will do or should do every game, but that’s one thing they could do.  If they do that, sealion is out for sure and if Germany does not build transports then the bombers are still very useful.  So if you DOW J1 you will want to count on Barbarossa so Germany might build either 10 infantry for a slow march, or 6 mech/1 armor for a fast run to Novgorod.  If you put everything available in Poland and build the tank/mechs, Russia can’t defend Novgorod from you G3, unless maybe the allies put 5 fighters (1 french) in Scotland then send them to Novgorod round 2.  But doing that means no Taranto raid.  You could build tanks/mechs on G2 too.

I just used the J1 attack for the first time and it turned out pretty good.  Japan was going to take India and then Germany had Russia at the start of the next round (played by someone else).  It was a nice effort on both our parts to keep our eyes on the prize and not be deterred by the Allies threats.

Russia was forced to try alternate strats and purchases some sea units incl. transports to drop some units into Germany.  Obviously a mistake as that money could have went to defend Russia.  However, it would have only been a matter of time before Russia fell anyway.  A major IC build by Germany (on G2) really helps with a quick push.  Does anyone else do that with Germany?

Also, the Americans made a big mistake by leaving sea units (incl. three loaded transports) two spaces off the coast of France.  He thought he would be able to reinforce with UK units which he did.  But instead of bringing ALL his UK units he used two Cruisers to do an amphibious on Norway.  He missed on his pot shots and the Norway attack was a big failure.  I don’t think he expected the Germans to come after the US stuff either now that it was reinforced with UK as Germany would have had to sac their planes by taking two hits on the carrier.  That battle went all Germany’s way with the carrier and both planes surviving.  If the UK had of reinforced the entire fleet with both Cruisers as well it may have been a different outcome.  Anyway, because of that mistake Germany had no immediate threat of a US landing in Normandy and was able to take an extra couple rounds for the Russia push.

On the Pacific side it played out very well for the Japanese.  With the mistake of overlooking an Anzac Cruiser that took out a Japanese destroyer blocker so the US could destroy three transports being the only real mistake by the Japanese the push into India was quite easy if only delayed by a couple rounds.

Allies condeded!

I think I like the J1 attack and will try it again in my next game.

Hey Cow,

Could you update your original post and remove the “/artillery” from the j1 dow j1 purchase. If you don’t capture Hunnan, you only collect 41, and you need 42 for the J2 buys you suggest.

Cheers,
Bung

@Cow:

airbase 2x minor factory 1 infantry or 1 airbase, 1 naval base, 1 minor factory (this means you are doing J3 calcutta. SHAN STATE or Yunnan hold is a must (this is where your air lands so you would have to kill everything around it). If USA is at Midway -1 MINOR FACTORY + 4 inf.  Kamikaze to prevent bombardments. Also you need all naval units cleared that could block your attack (position a fleet at Java or malaya and/or burma to prevent blockers if necessary). Put all available units in range of India in range. placement. airbase needs to go to french indo china or kwangsi.

Where would you suggest the airbase/ minor IC’s/Naval base go? I was thinking of trying to take Malaya J1 and putting a Minor IC there. Close to India and Chinese can’t get there. Already has a naval base as well.