Shaping up to be a very interesting Cold War scenerio

In games with big bids for the Allies (35+ PUs), it is possible to hold Yunnan by adding in an additional Chinese art plus flying in an additional two or three Russian planes that were bought before the game started.  If Japan pushes all of their units to Kwangsi on J1, the Allies will have to vacate Yunnan before J2 or face annihilation.  However the Chinese can counterattack or strafe Yunnan on Ch2 since the Japanese air force can’t land in that territory, seriously harming Japan’s ground strength in Mainland Asia.

Russia will have to methodically retreat back towards Moscow for the first three rounds with this plan.  The upside in Europe is that the US can execute a KGF plan since there is less urgency in the Pacific theater.

As Japan, I normally J2 DOW but take FIC J1. This generally is good enough to take down Calcutta and normally keep it down. I also mostly ignore China until I have India, except Anwhe, Kweichow, Hunan and Yunnan.

I totally agree about the mutual annihilation attack being bad for Japan. Then the ANZAC can keep a fleet alive.

I’ve noticed one response to a common variation of a J2. Situation:

SZ36/20 have 2-3 transports and/or marines on board BB/Cruiser (if you are playing Balanced Mod) There are no Japanese naval bases usable in those SZs.

Strategy:
USA DD to SZ43 (Off Borneo)
UK DD to SZ37
UK land on Sumatra
Anzac land on Java

Result:
Allies are secure on Sumatra and Java through turn 2. Some possibility of convoying off income but unlikely to get it all and some of the fleet might be exposed if they try to convoy both. Every bit as important: Japan doesn’t get the money on turn 2 which slows them down a fair bit.

Just tried this against one player and he avoided the DOW J2.

Downside: Losing two DDs. Doesn’t seem like a big problem. The UK one can be replaced turn 3 with the one starting off South Africa.

I can’t say the best plans as Axis as I am usually USSR when I play but when you use the term Asymmetric Warfare, you do know that means when two armies that are not equal fight each other like a professional army vs a militia would be an example for Asymmetric Warfare.

@ShadowHAwk:

@Charles:

Ok, so a while ago Italy became upsetting for me after Taranto…now Japan is upsetting me.  I tried this strategy as the US and succeeded. My opponents got wise. Now whenever I play as Japan I get mowed over by this strategy :cry:  now we need a “How to beat Plan Orange” guide.  Seriously.

P.S. The key to this strategy as the U.S. is to simply place a submarine or more in each Japanese convoy zone (in a standard game there will be 10); just work out the details of getting there and Japan is going to be losing ground in Asia very soon because they either have to build a ton of destroyers, or build a few destroyers(only taking out your subs in big zones like 6 and 19), or totally ignore which is admitting defeat. Good luck Japan.

Maby play the standard 2nd edition rules without a bid so the allies need to devide their attention a bit more.
Good to see that the allies are becomming better at dealing with the axis.

But I never use bids!
@simon33:

@Charles:

Ok, so a while ago Italy became upsetting for me after Taranto…now Japan is upsetting me.  I tried this strategy as the US and succeeded. My opponents got wise. Now whenever I play as Japan I get mowed over by this strategy :cry:  now we need a “How to beat Plan Orange” guide.  Seriously.

Here’s what I might try:

Take Guam.
Base one DD + scrambling fighters off Philippines, Guam and Japan. That only leaves two holes for the Asian coast, SZ18 + SZ36. The latter is a long way around for the US to go. Basing a fleet in SZ18 can plug the other hole. You need to pick off the UK and/or ANZACs if they come through the bottom though.

The above won’t work if Japan is already being pushed back significantly.

If I’m the U.S. and Japan does this, first thing I’m going to do is say “Yay! My subs forced 3 destroyers and 9 fighters to sit around and do nothing!” Now that’s before I even get a chance to counter it…

Welcome, legdog420!

Why would they wait, and miss out on all those juicy IPCs?  I can’t think of a reason.

At any rate, the US is eligible to declare war starting at the beginning of its third Collect Income phase.  If it fails to do so at that point, it may do so at the beginning of the Combat Move phase of any of its subsequent turns, just like everyone else.

Yeah the income is from National Objectives.  It is the same in Pacific, only there it is a flat rate increase, rather than being split into 5.

Thank you Calvin.