INTRODUCTION
This post, loosely inspired by BlackElk’s posts on All the Russian Openings and All the German Openings, will take a look at Japanese opening strategy from a beginner-to-intermediate point of view. I’m going to assume you know the rules and basic tactical concepts like trading and deadzoning, but this post should still be fun to read even if you’re not an experienced player.
Because the Japanese go fourth in the turn order, and because the Allies often get a ‘bid’ of additional units to place on the board that can disrupt the starting position, there are so many possible board positions by the time Japan gets to take its first turn that I can’t possibly cover all the Japanese openings. So, here I’ll cover five of my favorites – some popular, and some less popular – and explain how they work, when to use them, and what kind of middlegames they can set you up for.
TANK DEATH MARCH TO MOSCOW (“TDMTM”)
What is it?
In TDMTM, Japan builds a constant river of tanks, usually from mainland Chinese factories, and sends them straight to Moscow, hoping to overwhelm the Russian defenses and sack the Russian capital.
What should you build?
You’ll probably want at least two Chinese factories – one in Manchuria and one in Kiangsu or Kwangtung, so that you can build five tanks a turn right into Asia. With the cash left over, I recommend building fighters, which can help you take territories while you’re left alone, and then quickly fly back to defend your factories if America comes to get you.
How should you attack?
You need to find the fastest path to Moscow, which usually runs through China (four spaces). Siberia, which has five spaces, can sometimes be a faster route if China is defended and Russia is foolish enough to stack their eastern infantry in Buryatia (or the Far East) so that you can wipe out the whole Russian stack on turn 1 or turn 2. If Siberia is totally undefended, you can blitz across it with tanks in only three turns. In general, be willing to lose tanks in order to get your tank forces one space closer to Moscow, as long as the Russians can’t push you back out without taking painful losses. Gather most of your infantry and separate it from your tanks, sending the infantry toward Burma to bottle up the British forces there, and then retreat your infantry to the east as needed to avoid losing a major battle. It’s OK to give up some territory in the south as long as you still hold your factories and the victory city in Shanghai.
Why does it work?
No matter what Russia builds, it can’t afford to build enough units to fend off a combined onslaught by both the Germans and the Japanese. Basically, it’s OK if the troops you lose cost you more than the troops Russia loses, because you can afford to replace all 5 tanks every turn, but at best, Russia can only afford to replace 3 infantry per turn in Asia. Meanwhile, if the Japanese use mostly tanks, then in order to arrive on time to save the Russians, the western Allies have to fly in planes, which cost more and are less efficient than the Japanese tanks.
When should you use this opening?
This opening works best when Russia doesn’t roll well on its first-turn attacks in eastern Europe, stacks its eastern infantry in Buryatia, or builds expensive units like a plane or two tanks on its first turn. It works well when Germany ferries units from Africa up to Europe (instead of vice versa), and when Germany builds all land units, especially tanks, and sends them directly against Russia. This opening works very nicely when Britain over-invests in India (e.g., 1 infantry and 2 fighters) instead of building an early fleet to crush Germany, because you don’t need to attack India at all to win with this opening. If there’s a bid, you want the bid to include Egyptian infantry and/or an Indian Ocean sub, and you want the bid to not include any Russian infantry.
What kind of middlegame can you expect?
If your opponents are competent, America and Britain will usually manage a successful landing in France or Italy before you can actually take the Russian capital. At some point, you will probably have to divert some German production to infantry and artillery to defend western Europe. You may wind up crippling Russia and knocking it down to 10 to 12 IPCs per turn a few turns before you can actually take the capital. Be prepared to fly a stack of Japanese fighters west to defend Berlin (or vice versa if the Allies are attacking Tokyo), and start to look for more moderate, slightly less aggressive trades. You have to be willing to go for the knockout blow if you really have an opportunity to take the Russian capital, and you also have to be willing to be patient if the best you can do is trade Kazakh and the Caucasus. If you throw away too many tanks for too many turns in a row, you can give Russia a chance to stabilize. You need to win by turn 8 or 9, but you don’t need to win on turn 6 or 7 – it will take several turns for Allied transports to make their second round-trip from Washington to Paris, and until they make that second round-trip, the added cost of the transports and their defensive escorts means that Germany can produce more land units than America and Britain put together.
LET’S ORDER INDIAN TAKEOUT
What is it?
In the Indian Takeout opening, you focus all of Japan’s energy on conquering and holding India at the earliest possible moment. This wipes out the only Allied factory that’s anywhere on the southern or eastern halves of the board, and it gives you a strong base of operations for attacking juicy targets like Egypt, Caucasus, and Kazakh.
What should you build?
You’ll need either three transports and a factory in French Indochina Vietnam, or five transports. Your transports will be loaded with a balanced mix of infantry, artillery, and tanks – you can adjust the exact mix to make good use of all of your income each turn. It’s OK to have 1 more transport than you can afford to fill, because you can usefully load one transport with Manchurian troops and bring them down to Indochina to help with the Indian battle.
How should you attack?
Your biggest bottleneck in this opening is transport capacity, because you need transports to unload troops onto the Asian mainland for attacks, and you also need transports to get your troops – including troops from Manchuria – closer to India. Try to solve this bottleneck by making each transport move do double duty. For example, on round 1, if you move troops from Tokyo to Yunnan, they’re now only two moves from India, and they can also kill some American infantry as they’re landing. Also, killing any British boats left in the Indian Ocean is a top priority – you need to be able to send your transports exactly where they want to go without having to worry about escorting them against British sub attacks.
Why does it work?
India only has 3 build slots, and the Allies don’t have any other factories anywhere nearby to help reinforce it, nor are there any good candidate territories for the Allies to use to build a second colonial factory. The Allies can fly fighters to India, but it’s slow, expensive, and challenging to do that. Even if the Allies manage to get planes to India in time, it will set them back on other fronts. Also, you can set up a ‘dual threat’ on India – one threat via land, with tanks in Indochina blitzing through Burma to reach India, and one threat via sea, with transports off the coast of Kiangsu, the Philippines, or the East Indies ready to deliver troops to India by sea. The idea is that if India attacks Burma to stop the blitz, they could use up enough troops that India would be vulnerable by sea, but if India doesn’t attack Burma, then they get blitzed and they still get hammered by your transports.
When should you use it?
If the Germans take Egypt or even Trans-Jordan on turn 1, or if the British divert units away from India toward Egypt, then this opening has an excellent chance of succeeding. This opening can also be useful if the Russians do above-average in eastern Europe on turn 1, since the opening works fine even when Russia is strong. If Britain doesn’t place a full 3 units in India on turn 1, this opening should be near the top of your list. This opening is not recommended during a strong American attack on Japan, since India is too far away from Japan for your fleet to operate effectively in both theaters, and you won’t have any spare cash available to build defensive warships. If there’s a bid, this opening works well when the bid goes to Russia or to the American Atlantic fleet.
What kind of middlegame can you expect?
If you successfully take India, it sets you up for Japan to have both an enormous economy and a convenient factory site with which to exploit it. Without Allied reinforcements from India, China and Siberia will typically fall pretty quickly, and you can at least trade Egypt, Kazakh, and usually the Caucasus, for an income of at least $50/turn. With that kind of money, you can build, e.g., 3 infantry in India, 3 tanks in Manchuria, and 2 bombers in Tokyo every turn. If you were able to kill big stacks of British units while they futilely tried to defend India, then the game is yours. If Britain gave up on India early and built a fleet to invade France/Italy, Germany is probably in trouble, and Moscow is probably still safe for a few turns, so get ready to relieve Germany as soon as you can – if the Allies are in the Mediterranean, then you can ‘liberate’ the Suez and send your fleet to help Italy, and if the Allies are in the Baltic, then you can try to meet up with German forces for a one-two punch by the Germans and then the Japanese in the Caucasus, allowing you to hold the Stalingrad factory and crank out 4 tanks / turn to relieve the German position.
POLAR EXPRESS
What is it?
In the Polar Express, you set up to quickly ferry troops into Alaska, building a factory there and penetrating as far into the American interior as circumstances allow. This opening won’t let you actually conquer the United States unless your opponents royally screw up, but it can distract the heck out of the USA during crucial turns when they really need to be ferrying troops to Paris.
What should you build?
As many transports that are fully loaded with pairs of infantry as you can afford, plus a couple of destroyers for blocking the US Pacific fleet (if any). Also, one factory in Alaska. If the USA builds warships in the Pacific, you may need to at least partially match their build, or build fighters to sink their ships and then land the fighters in Alaska. Otherwise, go easy on the planes.
How should you attack?
The best time to move troops ot Alaska is usually turn 3 – you need to wait the Allies are far enough out of position that they won’t be able to launch an immediate counter-attack. With perfect execution, you can invade Alaska on turn 3 while bringing your fighters back to Tokyo, follow up on turn 4 by building an Alaskan factory, sending a second load of transports to Alaska, and flying your fighters over to Alaska, and then deliver a third load of transports to Alaska on turn 5 while building tanks at your new Alaskan factory. You’re going to lose some transports this way, but every turn you pose a serious threat in Alaska is another turn that the US can’t focus on Europe. Be aware of who can blitz into which territories – if the US has tanks in San Francisco, you may need to put a token force into Western Canada so the tanks can’t reach Alaska, and if you have tanks in Alaska, you may want to put a token force into Western Canada to threaten to invade San Francisco. Meanwhile, you can slowly expand into central Asia, especially China, making smart, opportunistic attacks that cost the enemy more troops than they cost you. You’re not in a hurry; you’re just there to get extra income and reduce US income. If you have more loaded transports than you need to hold Alaska, send them to Hawaii, Panama, and Brazil to further reduce US income.
When should you use this opening?
This opening only makes sense if (a) the US starts to send its Pacific fleet through the Panama Canal into the Atlantic, and (b) Britain spends most of its turn 1 income on planes or India. If America builds ships in the Pacific, or if Britain plops down a carrier in the Atlantic on turn 1, then don’t use this opening – you won’t get anywhere useful by distracting the US if Britain is in position to take Paris on its own or if the US is planning on attacking you anyway.
Why does it work?
Japan can make some reasonable progress in mainland Asia even with virtually no spending there, freeing up basically the entire Japanese economy to go harass the United States. Meanwhile, the United States’ first few turns of building usually go to transports and defensive warships, which don’t have any effect on Germany until after they unload in Europe. If you can distract the US intensely enough at the right time, then you can give Germany the time it needs to crush Russia without sacrificing much position in Asia. By building mostly infantry and fighters, you can force the US to attack you, which usually requires a higher income – but after Japan conquers China and Alaska, they’re earning at least as much cash as the US (36 IPCs / turn).
What kind of middlegame can you expect?
Japan will have a somewhat smaller economy than most games – even as late as turn 6, Japan might only be collecting 40 ipcs, and you won’t have much in the way of stored-up armies, either. However, Germany should be huge – either about to capture Moscow, or marching tanks all over the map from Archangel to the Congo, or both. You’ll need to find the right moment to abandon your Alaskan adventure and go beat up on India or help finish off Moscow.
SKIPPERS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC
What is it?
If you get bogged down on land but your navy is in solid control of the South Pacific, you can take advantage of the extra mobility of your marines to vacuum up territories across a wide area, making the Allies’ land-based garrisons irrelevant.
What should you build?
Transports. At least 6 transports, together with a couple of bombers, several infantry, and a few artillery. You won’t need more than your one starting tank (for South Africa). If you can afford it, a factory in the East Indies can be useful for this opening – because it’s 3 spaces away from Japan, and more or less in the direction of your targets, an East Indies factory can resupply your transports a full turn earlier than normal.
How should you attack?
Priority one is to clear the South Pacific of Allied boats. No destroyers, no subs, definitely no carriers – send out your planes, send out your subs, and kill them all. Priority two is to drop enough infantry into mainland east Asia to hold the line and create at least a little bit of presure on India – if Britain feels totally safe in India, they’ll start building subs or bombers there, which can wreck your plans. Basically, you want Britain to feel that they can hold India if they build 3 infantry there, but that they’ll lose India if they build 3 subs. Think of suppressive fire – you’re not trying to kill India; you just want to make sure India stays down, under cover, where they can’t shoot at you. Priority three is to launch your transports and start hoovering up Allied cash – take Australia, Madagascar, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Hawaii, British West Africa, and anything else you can get away with, roughly in that order. If your landing site is undefended, you can spread out for a turn or two to adjacent territories (e.g., Rhodesia, or the Congo). If the Allies somehow manage to ship in reinforcements, don’t bother to stay and fight – just pick up your dudes and move on to the next undefended target. Note that the priorities are listed in order of importance, not in order of time – you’ll need to start moving transports out on turn 1, but if you don’t have enough cash to accomplish all three priorities, then transport-construction is the place to skimp.
When should you use this opening?
This opening works well when the Allies over-commit to defending Siberia, China, and/or India. If you see Russia move two infantry and two tanks to the east, or if you see Britain build tanks in India and fly planes to Gibraltar, it’s time to think about letting the Allies keep central Asia and eating up the Allied economy on other parts of the map.
Why does it work?
The southern hemisphere is just woefully undefended on the starting map setup – you’ve got one British infantry in South Africa trying to defend 6 different territories with no navy and no air support, Brazil is literally empty, and the only Allied factory that can resupply any of those places is in India. Keep India busy, and the rest of the southern hemisphere falls. Granted, the southern territories aren’t super-valuable – you’ll be picking off a lot of $1 and $2 provinces. Together, though, they add up, and Germany is likely to get off to an excellent start while the Allied garrison is wasting its time in Central Asia defending against a Japanese attack that you don’t need to launch and won’t ever have to launch.
What kind of middlegame can you expect?
A long one. This opening will create an economic advantage for both Germany and Japan – you could be collecting 95+ IPCs per turn by turn 6 – but none of the Allied capitals will be in any special danger, and this opening doesn’t create any real opportunities to crush large Allied armies. The Allied forces in central Asia will be out of position in the opening, but they won’t be killed or stranded, so they can fall back to Moscow and render excellent service later in the game.
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