Allied game plan VS J1 all out attack

Hello, I play pacific 1940 a lot.  I have also played global a few times.  Pacific 1940 second edition is a great game but I can almost easily win every time if I’m Japan and I attack on the third turn.  A new rule was passed around late 2014 to allow the USA to receive a 30 IPC bonus if Japan attacks or declares war on them before turn 4.  This seems to balance the game a little but I can still always win with Japan.  The strategy for Japan is pretty much the same.  Take the money islands, build a minor in French Indo China and Kwangtung and knock out China and India.  Post in the Philippines with your huge navy and three fighters that can scramble and those six deadly kamikizes.  Let Anzac and USA come to you so you can use the fighters to defend at 4 when the big navy battle happens.  Eventually you will be making more than the allies with the money islands NO and the India NO.  You should be around the 70-75 mark.  Then when the time is right strike at Sydney or Hawaii and hold it and you should win as it will be six victory cities.  For the allies, man this can be tuff lol.  You better hope Japan attacks you on turn 1 or turn 4 because turn 2 and especially 3 it’s going to be difficult. 
1:  China:  buy men and hit and run and fall back to the north west of China. You will be lucky if the Burma road is open more than two turns.  Pull back and make Japan come to you.
2:  UK:  pull everyone back to India and just buy men!!! Try to bring your navy down to Australia and unite them with Anzac and hopefully later USA. If it looks like India is going to fall then pull your airforce out and send them to Australia to hopefully land on a Anzac or American carrier.  If Japan hasn’t declared war early then take as many islands in the south as possible .
3:  Anzac:  small ships and transports are good.  if it looks like Japan is going to invade then pull your forces to south Australia because from there you can hit any territory.  Use your small ships to convoy raid or unite with the main USA fleet.  Queensland is a great staging area for the allied navy early in the game.  Also since there’s a airbase there fighters don’t hurt also since they can scramble.
4:USA: the big boy lol.  The problem is when USA is neutral she only makes a freaking 17 ipcs a turn.  While Japan is around the 40 mark and Japan has soooooooo many aircraft at its disposal.  USA I say aircraft carrier early then mainly subs, destroyers, and a transport every turn with land units.  A few rounds into the game get a navy base on the Johnson islands and start combining your fleet with the Anzac fleet and hopefully a small UK fleet. try to take the money islands by sacrificing transports because Japan will have a bigger navy early in the game.  When the time is right move to Dutch New Guinea with your fleet and prepare for the big battle.  Sometimes it’s better if Japan attacks you and sometimes it’s better if you attsck them.  Hopefully you will have a lot of subs at your disposal. If you win the navy battle then Japan is pretty much toast even if they have India and China.  Good luck and let me know how the war goes lol. I am playing anniversary edition on Saturday 😜

@GrizzlyMan:

As Japan, that American 30 IPC bonus is a pretty big deterrant, especially considering that their income is already in the 50’s before it’s added. I think that the German and Japanese players are going to have to have a discussion before the start of the game as to when to awaken the sleeping giant. From what it seems to me, Germany will benefit hugely from keeping US and USSR out, while Japan wants them in as soon as possible.

The US bonus is 40 IPC.

So my group has completed a game where Japan went for America.  We figure that whether or not Japan wins is dependent on a few things.

I don’t remember whether the final assualt on WUS happened on J3 or J4.  I think it was J4, and they waited until J3 to attack Alaska?  Either way, the statistics were about a 45% chance for Japan to take WUS.  They needed some AA misses to throw it in their favor.

There really is little that the UK and ANZAC player can contribute to the defense of WUS.  The best thing for them to do is go crazy in the absence of the Japanese forces.  By the time America fell, the UK had liberated most of China, and had several rounds to build up a navy with the help of the DEI income.  Australia also had a bonus going on, adding 2 loaded carriers to supplement defense of the UK fleet.

Japan thought about going straight for Australia, but the UK fleet with transports(deploying from  Kwangtung and Kiangsu factories) was already threatening Japan.

While America had fallen, they only gained +10 income from America, +Mexico +Alaska, while giving up on their territories in the Chinese mainland.  They were being out produced by the Allies, and out of position to restablish a hold on the mainland.

@Hobbes:

The counter there by the Allies would be to move the US/UK/ANZAC DDs and CA to SZs 37/43/35/45. It limits J transports in SZ36 (South China Sea) or SZ33 (Carolines) to attacking Malaya, Borneo and Phillipines on J3. You can take the remaining DEI on J4 but the transports will require protection because the US can fly the 3 bombers to Australia on US3 and the UK planes can also attack.

Simpliest solution to that is to park your fleet in SZ 42 on J2.  Just make sure the UK/ANZAC cannot sink it, US isn’t allowed to attack until turn 4 and cannot land planes on Australia until they are at war so they do not matter in this case.

Japan can pass through those sea zones during the non-combat phase while not at war with the ally powers.  So really, is it that big of an issue?

If the Japanese do not take NSW in turn 1, the ANZAC folks can put their destroyer off New Guinea.  With a destroyer there, the Japanese can not reach NSW from the Carolines in a single turn.  The Japanese would have to attack the destroyer in turn 1 or do some other move to open up the sea lanes to NSW.  For these reasons, an early attack on NSW does not look very good.

When Japan attacks on the first turn, who cares about the UK?  they are going to be earning nothing a turn, you can put a Major Factory down in Hong Kong if you were so inclined, dump loads of infantry down for use as soakers along with the insane airforce you have at your disposal and still have enough cash to start buying DDs to soak against America.

To help people out, I decided to create this post. Please post your games of AAP40 here, with a brief summary of your campaign, which side won, how many hours it took, basic strategies employed, and your feedback on the quality of the game.