Need help defending as UK until USSR joins

@louprouge:

if i play whit canadian why uk pacific got 15 icp thank sorry for my englich

The UK Europe starting income is 28 IPCs, the UK Pacific starting income is 17 IPCs… all Canadian territories including BC are absorbed into the UK Europe economy, and West India is part of the UK Pacific economy.

@WILD:

IDK, I kinda like to preserve the few ships the UK has in the Pac (if still afloat after J1) instead of making them easy targets for Japan to hit (unless I can somehow counter attack and bring some pain which is kinda unlikely in the early going). Many games see the UK Med/Italian fleets go bottoms-up. That Brit BB comes in handy in later rounds back boning the allies fleet in the Med (or Pac). A carrier built off S Africa merged w/India fleet and presto Euro axis have something to worry about, and it takes some pressure of the USA.

I have heard of some wild allied strats to make the DEI (Java) a fortress early though, using all available units, building AB etc. Anyone have success with that? Might depend on when Japan attacks, or if they are slow-boating it giving the UK/Anz the time to set it up?

This is what I like about this game, I have never considered building a carrier off south africa after the med brit/italien clash. paired with the pacific boats and a transport or two,might be interesting

If we’re talking about just one ship in a sea zone carrying just one or two units, there’s not much potential for confusion.  If we’re dealing with a situation in which a large number of transports in a single sea zone are carrying a large number of units, the simplest solution would be to keep all the transported units physically off the board and to represent their presence on the board via one or more markers.  This is basically the principle of the task force markers that were used in the original A&A Pacific game.

There would be two basic approaches.  If you consider the transported units to be a single group, all you need to do is plunk the sculpts into a pile off the board and to put a small marker – anything would do – next to the group of ships transporting them.  If, on the other hand, you want to track in detail which-unit-is-aboard-what-ship (so you can figure out what troops and equipment get lost when ship X gets topedoed, for instance), then you’d need to put a little numbered (or lettered) marker next to (or under) each ship, and a corresponding marker off the board next to each unit or pair of units being transported.  Scrabble tiles could be pressed into service in that role, as one possible quick-and-dirty solution.  For a more elegant, you could use HBG’s cardboard naval task force markers, of which it has a wide selection.

In any case, this would fix the transportation problem without having to replace the ships themselves (or until replacement ships become available, if you want to look at it that way).

When I play Japan I like to play with the long-term in mind.  That is, I don’t really go for early do-or-die strategies like an India crush.  If I’m given the opportunity, I’ll go for it, but normally I’ll just try to improve Japan’s economy and keep it that way.

On the turn I attack, I grab the Phillipines and as many of the DEI as possible.  The rest will be gotten on the next turn.  Hong Kong and Malaya are also high-priority objectives.  Unless something has gone wrong, getting these will make Japan’s income in around the low-mid 60s, which is perfect.

Then I’ll put 1-2 factories in South East Asia, and just trade Burma with India.  With convoying, India can only produce around 1 Infantry a turn, so time is in my favor in that region.  I’ll strat bomb the India IC if I ever get the chance.

What determines my success at this point is how much US invested and is continuing to invest in the Pacific.  If it’s a majority or all of its resources, I know Japan’s not going to win.  I might attack Russia if I see a KJF strat, in order to help Germany win.  My fleet builds will primarily be defensive - carriers and destroyers - in order to make my fleet survive as long as possible against the growing US fleet.

If US is only spending some of its income in the Pacific, I’ll be trying to win in the Pacific if possible.  After I’ve got my income, I’ll try to place the majority of my fleet in the Carolines.  There I can threaten Hawaii and Australia.  With luck I’ll try to convoy Australia.  I’ll have taken 1 of those four Australian NO islands, so hopefully Anzac’s making less than 10 a turn.  With a good Carolines-based threat, Anzac will be building defensively - infantry - for the forseeable future.  Thus the majority of my income can go into my trade war against India and for fleet builds to compete with the US fleet.  Until India falls, I’ll go mostly for targets of opportunity at this point.  Hawaii if possible, but that’s tough.  The Pacific Island NO in A3 is impossible, don’t even bother looking at it.  The 5/7 NO in A2 was a lot better frankly.  :-P

With a long-term strategy like this, Japan’s overall victory threat is maximized.

That’s what I figured but wanted to make sure.

Glad I could be of service Bishop =)

@Col.:

I’m looking to do the same thing as Bishop. I already got the boards, boxes, bases, etc, now I’m just looking to fill out the pieces. I have two sets of Spring 42 pieces and a set of Italian pieces, and an old set to use for China, so I need french and anzac pieces, and tac. bombers and mech. inf.

Nobody really answered the part in Bishop’s question about how many mech. inf. and tac. bombers each country needs. I was sort of wondering the same thing. Does the US and UK need 12 of each? Could they get by with using like 9 each, maybe even less? I’m not opposed to using chips so that’s not an issue.

Maybe the better question is are they really needed? I can see where mechs would help getting to the front line quicker with the added territories, but am I killing the game by not having tacs?

You need tacs for each country, and in my opinion more units is better than not enough. I’m not at home so I can’t count the pieces but I believe from counting before that there’s between 6-10 each of mech and tacs. It really sucks running out so buy on the higher side to be safe.

You’re now in turn 3?

I’d say wait with ships and build some defence if needed (or some air units) and some troops for South Africa. Meanwhile wait for USA to come and help out (with a sufficient warfleet en enough subs)

You can also opt to build up UK fleet in Canada, but don’t send them to their death

Thanks Spartan!  Found it. Very helpful.