Strategy for Japan and how long does it take to drive to moscow.

Let’s assume the normal moves made by J1

• UK destroyer was destroyed by Indies navy
• Pearl Harbor made heavy everything there.
• Purchase 3 transports and 2inf
• Place them to sz60 where there is only 4 transports

You missed another normal move: take Buryatia. I don’t know about you, but most of the Allied players I play against don’t try to hold Buryatia on turn 1. Sure you can if you want with 6 inf, but it’s a temporary stay in any case and it makes it harder to defend against the central push by the Japanese since your inf are way out east.

Very simple:

-Move bomber to sz60, move hawaii fighter to sz60
-4trans vs 1fig 1bomb…will end with nice transports sunk to the bottom.

You can only do this if Japan doesn’t control Buryatia, otherwise there is no place to land. Most games Russia abandons Buryatia completely! Also, I usually don’t send the battleship to Pearl Harbor! It’s sitting in SZ60 to defend the transports.

UK1
-Bomber moved to sinkiang

Fine by me too. This means you’re not counterattacking Egypt at all since you sent your fighter to Harbor and your bomber to Sinkiang, which means German for a change gets a free hand in Egypt for a while. Thanks! Plus your bomber won’t do any damage since my battleship is guarding the transports.

Bury still in Russian hands on US3?  AGAINST WHAT JAPAN PLAYER???  Bury is in Japan hands on J2, LATEST; and quite possibly on J1 (unless Russia staacked it instead of further inland).

A coastal stack by Russia is a poor choice (a choice I am going to be making Ezto pay for in my current game with him).  Coastal allied forces play to Japan’s strength… NAVY.  2 BB’s kill 2 of those INF (on average) before I even land my first INF, ART, ARM, or fly in my first AF.  2/3 of Russia’s defense gone immediately.  And once the other 4 are dead, that initial Japan tank can blitz SFE and Yakut on J2, Evenk and Novo on J3, unless Russia pulls off forces from the German front to block me… which is VERY good for Germany.

This also plays into the “ignore Pearl” J1 move, where Japan consolidates their fleets, hammers Bury, and dares the US to even TRY to attack my navy in a suicide run (they won;t have to worry about landing in Bury, they’ll be dead)

Also, Thamor, you are missing LZ’s for the UK bomber.  There are more options than Trans Jordan, ALL of them better…
FEA, Congo and IEA are ALL out of reach of Germany if UK retakes Egypt.  And an FEA landing even leaves it in a position to atack any “stray” German navy (or assist in a major assault on the German navy) in SZ’s 7, 8, 12, and 17 on the way back to Britain.

Russians stacking in Bury on R1 are dead Russians. Thats the perfect opportunity to walk all over north Russia uncomtested.

My play group used to stack everything in Bury until it consistantly got wasted on J1 - now its a general rule that we pull everything back.

J1 Bury Attacks:

Against 6 Russian INF…

Japan can bring:
2 Manchuria INF
1 INF from Japan
1 ART or 1 ARM from Japan
BB shot
3 FIGs
1 BOM

Of course, you don;t HAVE to hit Bury that hard.  All you need is 1 ARM surviving, and the allies cannot prevent you from taking another 2-3 IPC’s in J2, and 2-3 more in J3 (a total of 5).  Russia has to pull forces off their German offensive to stop Japan’s raids.

BTW, why would you use the bomber in attacking Egypt? It would be destroyed by axis on turn 2,

This depends on how many air forces you have in Libya. I usually attack Egypt with the fighter from India too, which is going to defend the bomber, and I usually land in whatever those spaces are called below Egypt, not in Trans-Jordan. If you have a force of like 2 fighters + 1 bomber, sure you could kill my fighter/bomber, but you risk losing 1-2 fighters in the process since you have no fodder for them which makes me happy.

Leaving the BB is good choice, but then you are commencing all Japan navy to death in Pearl Harbor for sure, USA counters with BB Trans 2figs 1 bomb. US planes land to bury still. Or you do that light attack for japan what you posted earlier 1dest 1sub 3figs 1bomb? And do you use the indies navy to destroy the british destroyer and carrier?

That’s precisely the idea, I have no navy left to counterattack in Pearl Harbor. I’m not losing any naval units I can’t deal without anyways (destroyer, sub maybe in 1/3 case). I always use the Indies navy to strike the british destroyer/carrier because it’s a danger to transport buys especially with a bomber in sinkiang. 1 dest 1 sub 3 figs 1 bomb may be “light” but my simulator shows a 94% chance for that force to win. If I don’t have the sub then it’s an 80% chance to win, in which case I may be tempted to send my transport in as fodder, but still 80% is pretty decent odds over many games (and these numbers are with the UK fighter reinforcing Harbor)

Our gaming group plays with national advantages and sometimes the UK gets the free industrial Complex to India and KJF is started and Japan would get in serious trouble.

Hopefully you use the LHTR version of National Advantages. The box rules are immensely and ridiculously skewed in favor of the Allies (such as lend lease used to let you attack right away with all these units converted and you could convert any number of any type of troop, joint strike could be declared at beginning of UK turn but now you have to declare it at beginning of Russian turn, and there are really crappy Axis NAs in the box rules such as dive-bombers and lightning assaults which have been significantly improved in LHTR).

If the Allies start a KJF, it’s time to unleash Germany. Wreck Africa then Russia. If the Germans get u-boat interdiction then start pumping out subs after you grab Africa to probably end the game, as it takes too long for the Allies to switch back to Germany to knock out the subs before they wreck the UK/US economy.

As Japan try to take India as early as possible if it’s feasible, because it’s really the linchpin for a KJF maneuver; you should be able to take it if you start with a 3 tran build and rush all troops available to there by round 3 (build 2 bombers on round 2). You are indeed sacrificing any attack on China and you may lose kwangtung/manchuria temporarily, but it’s well worth the price once you rudely cut off the UK’s ability to produce in Asia. From there just defend against the US navy which should start to get reasonable threatening by now while defending India with some infantry buys and expanding slowly as you can. It becomes difficult for Japan if the US gets the China reserves NA and starts a complex in sinkiang to boost the land effort, but still Germany should be doing extremely well.

It’s even difficult for the US to capitalize once the Japanese navy is sunk, because there aren’t many good production centers on land to defend Russia and they’re all far away from the capital, and it’s just plain annoying to start a transport system from Western Canada to SVE. It’s also very difficult to invade the mainland if it’s been massing infantry for defense once the navy died. It’s hard for the US to be able to save Russia from so far even if you manage to get Japan down on its knees, which is already very difficult and requires NAs to do effectively.

@Thamor:

Hmm, but this leaves USA strong, by not taking china on turn 1.

THamor, you misunderstood me…  That is what it is POSSIBLE to send against a stacked Bury.

China goes FIRST, then Bury.

Also, a single bomber, when I habitually leave a BB in SZ60 with my trannies is no threat at all.  Even if the bomber hits, all he does is wound my BB, then the BB and the 4 trannies have an EXCEEDINGLY high probability of shooting down that bomber.

If you are attacking with 3figs you need two AC’s next to Pearl Harbor seazone…

Incorrect, you only need one carrier. The fighter that starts in Caroline Islands will land in Wake Island (2 moves to get to harbor, one to get out to wake island seazone, then 1 to land in wake island). The other 2 fighters must land on the carrier.

The 3 tranny buy helps keep the US a LITTLE bit honest, since it leaves Japan with the ability to land 4 INF and 4 ARM in Alaska and Hawaii.

And you are right Thamor, Japan CAN’T do it “all” on J1 if Russia stacked Bury.  But they can weaken Bury, take China, will take India also, unless UK is surrendering Africa, and can take out most of the UK fleet.

Check out the open Japan move I made in the game with Ezto in the Games forum.  I got dice screwed on the UK fleet attacks, and I should have killed 1 more INF in Bury, but shows what is possible on J1.

Why not J1 Industrial Complex? 1trans save 7?

That should work ok too. I’ve actually tried starting with 2 complexes and it’s not horrible either if the US doesn’t try to attack you. Massing tanks brings the Russians home in a jiffy. The thing with transports is that they’re extremely flexible. You can do a lot with them, like island hopping, taking Alaska if the US doesn’t have sufficient forces in West Canada to immediately take it back, defend against an American navy. Plus, you can move already existing troops from islands which in a way “saves” you money, whereas with complexes you have to build armies from scratch. This is especially apparent if the US decides to go after you, since with mass transport buy you can still shuffle troops off your island in safety while your complexes on land aren’t helping you defend against the American threat.

The thing with buying 3 transports + 2 inf is that you can really make the most of your time. None of your money is saved so you’re getting gear out as fast as possible. You can bring 7 inf 1 art to Buryatia just from the transports, whereas with the complex you’re doing 3 tanks in what, Manchuria? And like 3 inf 1 art from transports into Buryatia?

Eventually though of course Japan will need to buy a complex (possibly 2-3) because of mobilization limits. After I have complexes down then I send those extra transports to go mess around island hopping and such, which you can’t do that quickly or threatingly with 2 total transports.

Without a USA KJF strat in place, the 3 tranny build in J1 (allowing Japan to build to their limit in Japan and offload direct to Bury startign in J2) is the way to go.  Then I build IC#2 in FIC in J2.

By the time I upgrade my Japan build to 7 ARM and 4 INF (47 IPC’s), I have already floated an “extra” tranny that is tasked to just grab island INF to move to Asia, or to grab UK IPC’s in the South Pacific (supported by BB and/or AC with FIG(s)).  When my IPC count goes above 42, I’ll save the excess to build the next IC…

The 3 tranny buy helps keep the US a LITTLE bit honest, since it leaves Japan with the ability to land 4 INF and 4 ARM in Alaska and Hawaii.

You’re missing another important possible landing zone: Western Canada.

Ah, TY, looked at it a hundred times and never noticed…

Still have that darn Classic map in my head where it has been for almost 20 years…

Im still kinda new to A&A but I have some kind of idea on how to win as Japan.  As the person that made this thread asked on how to approach Moscow as Japan, the answer is, you really cant.  The Allies have too many units in the asian area to allow a successful breakthrough.  So what you do is play a defensive roll in Asia……becuase if you try to attempt an offensive roll in Asia it would be a massive waste of units for nothing and also taking away important idustrial certificates to the pacific naval war.  What you have to do as Japan is to maintain naval superiority in the Pacific and simply capture all the islands that are scattered (Australia should be one of the first).  Also, Germany should absolutely keep up the pressure on the UK in the middle east, since most UK players usually place an IC at India, and a massive military build up there wouldnt be good for Japan.  I know how much you guys talk about tactics here, and I do too.  I love discussing tactics, but I also think that simple logistics are important too.  Well thats my idea on how to win as Japan.  Its not as detailed as how you guys like to make em, but its a general strategy.  How you perform it is up to you!  :lol:

Mech…

I would not advise trying that against me.

Japan IS a powerhouse in Asia, they just need trannies in J1 to make it happen.

since most UK players usually place an IC at India

As far as I’m concerned, an IC in India is a losing strategy unless you reinforce it with a lot of Russian infantry and fighters, as well as US support in the form of a navy. Japan can bring a ton of forces to bear on it in round 3. Start with a buy of 3 transports and attack China with all land forces. Round 2, move all Chinese infantry into French Indochina and bring 3 transports of gear into French Indochina and get all your fighters/bomber into position (purchase 2 bombers in round 2 if you’re really paranoid). Round 3, attack India full force, remembering to grab additional troops from East Indies/Philippines as needed. That’s something ridiculous on the order of 11 + infantry, 1 tank, 1 artillery, 6 fighters, 3 bombers, 2 battleship bomardments against 5 infantry, 6 tanks, and 1 fighter and 1 AA gun (all the UK stuff that moved there and was built by round 3). I can’t remember exactly the numbers but I think Russia would have to send about 9 infantry and 2 fighters to make the fight less than favorable; I do not think Russia can spare that many men against the German menace by turn 3.

It is true that most UK players do start with an IC in India; I have been talking with a guy who went to the tournaments and saw this in every single game played. It does work well against low to mid level players, but against advanced players who really know what their forces can do and exploit weaknesses, it isn’t a good idea unless you do a number of other moves to reinforce it, which is suboptimal as it lets the pressure off of the Germans.