Can ANZAC Move to SZ 34 when Not at War w/Japan

@Cornwallis

I agree with the main points you made in the Pacific.

@Charles:

4.  If your planes have any movement points left, they must try to land elsewhere.  If the planes have used their full movements and their carriers have been damaged, the planes are destroyed.  Ouch!

That’s in the case USA attacks.

If USA was on the defensive side (Japan attacks USA fleet in sz6) the planes are allowed 1 step to find a safe landing space, not 4. That can be an Allied-controlled territory 1 step away or an undamaged carrier with room to spare 1 step away. In this particular case : Korea or Japan (if Allies control it) or a carrier in sz5/7/16/17/18/19.

@WILD:

@weddingsinger:

I usually play as Axis, but in the past the worst problem for me is if the U.S. can gather its starting assets together, maybe a US1 buy, too, all of Japan’s starting isn’t enough to fend it off, so you either have to abandon SZ6, or overspend to keep up, which leaves the money islands vulnerable.

Its why, as Japan, I now prefer J1 and taking out Hawaii and Philippines.  At most you lose a sub, putting the U.S. behind for a change while your other assets shield your transports from the weak Anzac fleet.

I agree, but as discussed I generally do a hit and run on the Hawaiian fleet, and end up at Wake with about 1/2 the IJN. I typically lose a sub and dd in the sz26 battle, and also my dd blocker left in sz26 in the US counter attack for a total of 3 ships (1ss, and 2 dds). I still think it is well worth doing though. Hitting both sz26, and sz35 will kill off 47 IPCs worth of US navy, plus the Phil ftr making it 57 IPCs in navy/air. That is more then the spending allowance of the US in the first turn (52 IPCs). These are units that would get away in a J2 or later attack in most cases. Then add the Brit BB and territorial gains and yea it is a pretty damn strong opening move.

Sucker punching the US in the face causes some issues for them, and they will be torn on what side to build on. If they go Pac they are way behind so can’t challenge the Japanese for several turns. They would need to spend most of their income in the Pac for 2-3 turns just to get to even par w/Japan (and the Germans will love it). Yea they can probably send the home fleet up to Hawaii on the first turn as long as the Anz backs them up, but they really can’t do anything once they get there. Maybe move to the safety of Queensland and wait for their supply chain to catch up. The Japanese can just hop scotch to Caroline’s then probably to Philippines where they set up a defensive posture (maybe merging some more of the Imperial navy/air force).

I don’t see the US sending the home fleet over to Europe (something they do on occasion), because then there is no chance in the Pac. So if they want to go Europe they pretty much have to start from scratch because they only have a cruiser and transport. So going Europe means the Japanese don’t have to worry for a long time.

Oh BTW if you really want to F with the US have the Germans hit the US 101 mini fleet G1 with a sub (when you know there will be a J1 attack). If you get lucky the cruiser may not even get to fire, and the transport sinks too.

Very nice idea, will try it out as Axis this year

Thanks.

@shadowguidex:

To clarify - if France DW Japan, can Japan take Indochina and NOT lose the NO?

No.  If Japan attacks FIC, they lose the NO.

A state of war between Japan and France does not affect the NO.  Only an attack on FIC cancels it (outside of the other limiters - war with US, unprovoked war with UK/ANZAC)

Japan/Russia has no effect on UK/Anzac relations to Japan.
UK/Anzac can declare war on Japan “when they want” (so to speak)

Yes that is my bad, i forgot we were play testing a house rule at the time.

@Gargantua:

you seemed to have forgotten that his subs could pass through the strait of Gibraltar without owning Gibraltar

I didn’t forget the rule, I was wholly unaware of it’s exsistence.  I believe it was an Alpha addition.  Yes a mistake.   And no you didn’t wipe the fleet, you wholly damaged it,  And you still failed to control gibraltar, or keep a significant amount of subs in the med.

And it certainly didn’t stop the Axis from winning that game either, so yea, the strategy is BAD.

You should have been building men and transports instead of Subs.

The straits rule is clearly stated in the manual, there is even an example that mentions Gibraltar.

For the record; that was the F2F game in Aldergrove just prior to Xmas not the game in this post. I (Idi Amin) was playing the UK not the USA. You (Gargantua) played Germany and Italy. It was the USA player (the host and a rookie) who completely decimated your spiffy Italian fleet East of Gibraltar. Control of Gibraltar is a moot point when attacking with sub fleets into the Med.

Axis victory you say?? Wow what game were you playing in?!? And as far as an Axis victory goes….I recall NO Sealion, Japan having NO navy AND air force, China HUGE, ANZAC/India controlling ALL the money islands, Britain building tanks in South Africa, Russia holding Norway and Finland and Italy with NO FLEET. If you call that was an Axis victory will you please give me a ride in your invisible helicopter sometime?