The Japanese Piracy Strategy: An insane plan that somehow worked

@Krameleon

Welcome!

One thing to keep in mind is that the Axis only need to win on one side of the board.

This means, that if a Japanese strategy is good enough, even if Germany gets their butt kicked the Axis might still be able to win if Germany buys enough time for Japan to win.

It’s still risky, of course, as an increase in IPCs on the Europe board can translate to an increase in units in the Pacific, but it’s an option and a far more viable one than the equal version for the Allies.

Personally I’m not a fan of J1 or G1, but that is more out of principle than practicality.

I found this cool J1 video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRi3aIsj8P8

Important note about this video:

There are some astericks in the video, and it is not explained what they mean. I have gotten information from the maker of the video what they are, however.

The only thing that can/will stop this J1 attack is if the Soviets stacked all 18 infantry in Amur.

In that case, both I and the maker of the video strongly advise not to do this strategy (I learned this the hard way, trust me, it’s painful to watch). I recommend, if the Soviets declared war, to attack that stack. Air units, landing back, can defend Jehol and Manchuria from the Mongolians.

@scotth409

I also play this with my gaming group. I agree with squire - Allies have the advantage.

Japan can grab Indian rnd 3 (naval base in French Indo rnd 2) and if you’re playing to win, that’s the way I would go.

If you want to create more play in Africa/Med you can try a German airbase in Greece rnd 1. Britain can attack with fig, tac, bmr, cruiser for an even fight with the destroyer and 3 figs.

If you want to try something a little crazy with Japan, have a look at the following;

1 bomber, 1 fighter and 1 tactical_bomber moved from Japan to 26 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 tactical_bomber moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 battleship moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 destroyer moved from 6 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
1 submarine moved from 49 Sea Zone to 62 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 42 Sea Zone to 62 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 42 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 cruiser, 1 destroyer and 1 submarine moved from 47 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 fighter moved from 33 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone
1 cruiser moved from 33 Sea Zone to 49 Sea Zone

If all goes right you won’t be in bad shape. However, there is a massive whole in this opening that can be exploited by US/Anzac. If they choose not to scramble in Pearl Harbor they can attack the BB and loaded Carrier in sz 54 with 3 fig, tac and bmr then have Anzac clean up, if anything is left. You can prevent this by bringing in an extra carrier and landing the 2nd fig from the attack on sz 49. BUT, you can only do this if you’re not forced to provide landing for the surviving fighters in Pearl. All in all pretty messy and not a very good opening. Let me know if you take the plunge and how it works out.

Best move for Britain IMHO is an airbase in Gibraltar. I don’t use the US fig to attack the 2 German des, just 2bmr and a des, this gives you an extra fig in Gibraltar. The idea is to park your cruiser in sz 92 to prevent Italy from getting thier NO. They can attack, but have to cover the scramble and will have their fleet wide open for a counter attack.

Going back to Italian can opening, I like to buy a mech or two It1 and send a tank with them w/bmr to open up some doors for the Germans. The Italians can take territories and have the Germans move in with land and air to stand next to the Russian stack (no Russian hit and run). Having the Italians take out Russian pickets can possibly let German units get to the Ukraine IC or oil territories quicker. Another form of Italian can opening I do is taking out the Russian cruiser blocker in the Baltic w/It air so the Germans can include an amp on Leningrad the turn they attack Russia. Having a small Italian force at the front lines can also head off a splintered UK force trying to come up from the south. If the Japanese are at Russia’s back door, or have managed to push the UK from the Middle East (USA going heavy Europe), then the Italians may be able to break into the Oil territories for income, leaving the Germans intact to push into Moscow. It seems like a waste for the Japanese to get all the oil territories when the Ger/Ital get a bonus, but having the Japanese get Caucasus works for the Euro axis. Also having the Japanese invading the Far East Pac territories to drain Russian income is a must IMO. Invade no later the J2, and don’t fear the Mongolians just have some ground units in place to to chase most of them down w/air power.

On a side note I generally build some combo of ships/tpt/bmrs G1/G2, or save most income G1 to keep the UK honest. By the end of G2 I’ll have at least 3 tpts, 4 bmrs along with some support ships to again make the UK pay attention (even when my intention is to use navy to drop units in Russia). I just don’t like to give the UK the freedom to do what she wants. I have been using SBR more on London/Moscow to force the allies to pay extra for their units. In some games you can force the Russians to build every other turn, but the RAF can make that difficult in both capitals though. I also like to add art to the early German buys to give the front lines a little more bite. Most allied opponents will get some air to Moscow, so the German stack will most likely get stalled allowing art built G2 to catch up as you use the Russian ICs to add more units.

@oysteilo:

if anyone is interested in taking on a league or non leage game for 0 bid to show I am wrong I am up for it. I am not a very good axis player but feel confident at this one. text me

I’ll do a zero bid G40 game with you.

PM me and we can set it up.

Gotcha.  I think we’re talking about two different things though.

My understanding was the other poster was saying “Placing fighters in CUS is no different than placing them in EUS” which of course wouldn’t be the case.  I see your point though and I agree  8-)

@CWO:

@Whitshadw:

Again I love the idea but the way they set it up looks like a 8 year old picked the colors and the map needs a incredible update.

I have a copy of Superpowers, and frankly the only thing about it that I really like are the little white missile sculpts, which I use as A&A atomic bombs.  (I put them horizontally in small plastic stands that I pulled from a different game.)  There are just eight of them, and considering that they came as part of a whole game with lots of other sculpts (none of which I use), this reflects nicely the rarity and high cost of WWII atomic weapons.

Back around the 1980s or so, there was a WWIII-themed global game called Supremacy.  It had some cool features, but it eventually faded from the scene, apparently because of two flaws: a simplistic economic model that could easily be manipulated, and a tendency to “go nuclear” that would end the game (the same kind of problem mentioned by rjpeters).

Funny. I too pretty much bought the game for parts originally and I thought of using the map for my own game idea.

What Chocolate and ghr2 said.

I could elaborate on this but let’s just give the example of one of the games I played:
UK marched towards India with around 60 units@120 combat factors. Not 100% sure about the number of units but the combat factors I remember… The UK pulled out before Japan could attack India (round 6) and merged that army with the incoming troops from the Middle East. Then liberated Calcutta round 9.

Chasing the retreating troops can be difficult if the RAF is in Range of west-India…

Of course there are exceptions to these rules, (Like if Japan is TERRIBLE at the game)  but in general as the U.S. if you have what they have, you are better off, and have got somewhere to start from.