Posts made by dondoolee

I think the most important aspect of the type of “blitz” or “beeline” type move I illustrated, is to see how much you can get away with your T1 Axis purchases that would imply you could perform the strat and still not commit; particularly against an opponent who is used to seeing it.  This way your Allied opponent will be forced to do certain moves to anticipate it (he has to) on his Allied T1.

Ex:

In many cases I think it is safe for:

G1: All tank build
J1: Heavy India bid, forgo Phil J1.
I1: 2 Armour purchas, move existing armour towards russia.

I think you can still be flexible enough in most cases after those purchases, more flexible than your allied opponent anyway; who has to prepare for the blitz (for example, you should get very conservative russian play).  It may be a bonus if people are aware when you build for a blitz, you will build all bombers to finish off russia next turn if allowed.

from my experience it seems to work best if Japan forgoes the Phil and maybe even Yunnan, positions Everything (except BB) that can land on India T2 to do so.

Germany has to make some attack on EGY (I can’t say if it is better to do so with or without the bomber) and sink all but the Canadian DD. landing all surviving Air units on N Africa, France, and Sweden.  Depending on what survives between Air and Navy the UK can be in a bit of a UK1 bind.  After that it is critical to beeline and stack East Poland, everyother front being secondary.

Japan tries to beeline to India (prime objective), make a path through China (objective 2; it can leave a couple out of the way remote territories such as Yunnan and Hong Kong alone), filter a navy to the Med, tries to build an air pipeline to Europe/Persia, than whateves (most likely the Pacific or Africa).

Italy builds all ground tring to get a small tank stack to double hit russia concentrated in E. Poland as quick as possible or secure the Ukraine.  It only really worries about having Egy secured in Africa and opening up the suez canal for Japanese ships.  The main function though would be to protect France

A funny thing to watch out for is to see if a G2 or 3 all bomber build is tenable to kill russia the following turn.  It is something a blitzing player needs to keep in the back of his mind. And has to know when to position his air power to hit Moscow.

This is the best way I see an all tank German build working, overall a kind of “beeline strat”, I think it is HEAVILY dependant on your G1 breaks in EGY and Naval attacks and how much you lost while taking the Balkans.

I still have not yet abandond this concept entirley, at least G1-G3ish purchases.  It isn’t my “normal” strat, but I still see value in the concept.

it would possibly be better to do it US1 or US2 in the Atlantic and send them towards Italy if Italy decided to waste money on a navy, then march them to the Pacific/Indian Ocean to see if they could do anything.  Still in most cases, probably not a good idea.  The only way a mass sub build would wok against Japan is AMAZING luck, some very quick and temporary deterrent, or Japan simply let’s you get away with it

@!ACHTUNG!:

Does anyone have any proven unorthodox strategies they want to share?

As Ameica:
If you have some US fleet thing going on in the South Pacific and Japan has all of her navy focused there to counter it:  Start saving as many IPC’s a turn that you can for as long as you think you can, build 1 or 2 inf on WUSA a turn (hopefully you ae doing this anyway), field a new navy with transports on the WUSA and bring it to the N. Pacific.  This can screw Japan royally.  This can rarely be done, but it is something to be aware of.

@souL:

Well if they ignore Phi on J1 and you’ve built a Russian bmb on R1 then we know a few things:

1.  2 jpn trn are in sz 37.  The only units they can transport to Phi are either in Bur or in FIC for some reason.  Any unit coming from Bur didn’t go to Ind.

2.  Your Russian bmb took out a trn in sz 38.  Nothing is moving from Sum this turn.  That leaves only a brn trn heading for Ind.

The big question remains:  did the Axis player leave the trn starting in 62 vulnerable to the US bmb?  If he did, it’s likely that either Phi or Ind will fall, but not both.

So, build your factory in relative peace.  If youv’e committed 3 inf and 1 arm from Russia, that allows for 8 ground forces, an AA gun, and what amounts to essentially an extra bullet shield in the bmb.  If the Egy ftr survived G1, and you know if it did before you do anything at all, you’re in even better shape.  J2’s essentially the only turn that concerns an Indian IC at all.  Find a way to get clear of it, and I promise you that 95/100 times, played right, that factory’s got game balance in its hands.

If he’s chosen to leave the US with 55+ for two turns in a row, they BETTER be doing something to work against the Japanese.   It’s still salvageable in the Pacific becuase, well, 110 IPCs into the ocean in 2 turns is tough to deal with for any faction, but you better be able to do meaningful damage immediately, because you gave a free factory up in India.

Only build a factory in India on UK1 if you’re SURE it will hold to UK2.  If you’re not, there’s nothing wrong with putting up a good fight for a territory worth 8 IPCs to the Japanese.  Keep everything on it, pile the Russians into it, and prepare to reinforce it with US planes and Russian inf next turn if it’s there.  The longer it takes Japan to settle into there, the better Russia is for it.

1. that is simply countered by putting 1 jap car in Jap territory.
2. If I thought the Indian IC was remotly viable it may be a habit to even skip yunnan T1 leaving the very plausible fact that India can be hit with 8 inf, 1 art, 4 Fig, and up to two bombads by Japan by J2.  It is impossible to underestimate how much Japan does not want a viable UK Indian IC, how much Japan wants to obliterate the UK Asian/Pacific troops, and how valuable South Asia is to Japan.  If you wish to have to commit THAT many russians, I would welcome that, and expect Gemany to be in moscow faily quickly

You can build up a navy in the US, but it won’t be effective to relieve what UK foces remain in India.  It can keep Austalia, NZ, and Hawaii alive a few extra turns but, that is a sacrifice I would make any day of the week .Any trannies that can be built or put in play by Japan can all be protected without much consequence on J1; meaning that you can fool Japan once or twice when employing an unfamiliar bomber strat, but that is it.

If you wish to have a Japanese heavy strat, I think it is much easier, safer, flexible, cost effective, and stronger to withdraw to Persia  (Where Japan has to worry about russia without russia even having to commit units)and take UK built troops and pump them though N. Africa with a united Allied fleet as their protection; a move that strongly effects Germany, Italy, and Japan all at the same time.  Besides that, you would have 6-8 (half of which is probably armor) units heading to Asia instead of 3 with the Indian IC.

@Zhukov44:

I don’t understand the rush to capture India (ie landing en masse in Burma J1).  Why is that worth skipping the Philippines and granting the USA an NO?

That a Russian bomber can hit the East Indies tranny is pretty cool…still as Japan I might go ahead and sacrifice the transport to take it J1 anyway because I want to get that factory up immediately (though perhaps not in a full scale KJF).

The logic for aiming for a J3 attack on India is that holding down India will cost the United Kingdom and Russia on other fronts…it seems like Japan can afford to build up in that region until the potential exchange is entirely in Japan’s favor…and then eventually claim the free factory.  Meanwhile, Japan can expand at will, securing China and denying the Allies Pacific NOs.  If the Allies put up determined resistance at India, why not wall them off at Burma and wait until the Jap advantage is overwhelming?

The NO is not worth the positioning nor the immediate effects in most cases.  Establishing as stong of backbone as possible on the mainland for Japan ought to be objective #1, paticularly in the early phases.

Plus, if you can guarantee the UK wasting it’s t1 puchas on an IC by making it uselss fo awhile, why not?

Add that along to everything axis_roll said

@souL:

Sorry, thought you were someone else for a second there… disregard me being angry, sir!  I understand.

Anyhow, it does not take a ton of Rus resources to bolster ind, and hopefully GB can reciprocate once they’ve stabilized India.  Also, India is only 2 spaces away from China.  It might be turn 3 or 4 before you’ve realistically got a shot to get to China, but you’d be surprised how little something like Burma means to the Japanese if they need to deal with 7 inf in man on J2, a large American navy build from US1 moving into sz 51/car on J3, and so on.  Also, armor can cut across from per through kaz and into chi without affecting the Soviet bonus.  Remember that if your tank survived from egy :).

No strategy is perfect and there are ways to protect Cau, but I can’t answer them all for you.  Often you have to wait to see how a game is playing out before you make up your mind on how to answer a strat one way or the other.

No problem, completley disregarded.

What I wonder is, if Japan ignores the Phil J1 (A move which I consider a usually better move) is an Indian IC viable?

@souL:

@dondoolee:

Some other things to also note:

-You may not want to attack the German Fleet on UK1.  You can set up a R2 sub and Fig/Bomb attack in many cases

-It is entirley possible and reasonable to take Fin on UK2 if you wish UK to have it.  It will not neccasarily hurt you if you plan on sending a pipeline towards Asia through Africa.  It could also have the benefit of keeping Germany/ the Axis in the dark to your plans.

What does sinking boats in the Atlantic have to do with KJF.  If you’re not going to post about KJF, why are you posting here?

Your request:  denied.  Hit and run PMing is juvenile.

Sinking boats in the Atlantic has to do with the allocation of resources availabale fo the UK, and the turn at to wich the UK can start pumping troops into Africa.  It also shows that the option is flexible.  I also stated in the pevious post that it is a bit decieving; as in it does not show the allies with a joint navy in Noth Africa.

I was posting the most rational ways that I know of to deal with Japan.  The options listed can lead to a KJF if things go well.  I also stated twice that I do not believe there is a consistant way to apply a KJF strat (or a stall Japan strat fo that matter), which is a key to undestanding the post.  What I offered were things that I felt could lead to a KJF.

To sum up: even if every option I stated is 100 percent wong, and it is more than OK to citique whatever strat I listed, it is still relevant to the topic, as I stated:

1. The ways I feel it is most appropriate to deal with Japan.  Even if it is not a direct step by step how to KJF
2. I believe they can lead to a KJF if things break the Allies way, particularly if the Allied players wish to activley look for/wish to experiment with a KJF
3. I also believe that what happens in Europe, particulary in regards to how russia is handled is vital to dealing with Japan.  In regards to why I mentioned Finland, evey major option I listed would lead the UK to the middle of the board/ Persia I felt it may cause someone concern about what goes on up in N. Europe (which, I think, is admittadly the weakest aspect of everything I listed).  The natue of the post was also more of a PS, appendix, or after thought post in that I felt it was secondary but relevant.

Also I do not undestand:  what request by PM did I make?  I just posted this on a public forum.

Some other things to also note:

-You may not want to attack the German Fleet on UK1.  You can set up a R2 sub and Fig/Bomb attack in many cases

-It is entirley possible and reasonable to take Fin on UK2 if you wish UK to have it.  It will not neccasarily hurt you if you plan on sending a pipeline towards Asia through Africa.  It could also have the benefit of keeping Germany/ the Axis in the dark to your plans.

I just copied and pasted this from a previous post:

Some things I do to deal with Japan (note: some options may be contradictory, as I am just listing various options that are on the table  when thinking about my Asian/ Pacific affairs)

RUSSIAN OPTIONS

1. Stack Bury: Perhaps you do this only for R1 and then move them out R2, but you will notice it does constrict Japan and limits Japanese options, it also sets up a significant Russian presence quickly. This option can be helped more with other allied strats going on to limit Japanese options.  Also notice, this costs Russia no IPC’s (though it can cost a turn in positioning units)

2. China pump:  Try pumping in 1-2 inf per turn into China.  Will only be useful in conjunction with other strats.  If you are doing NOTHING else to stop Japan, you may be wasting units.

3. Airforce:  Buy 1 or 2 fig, make sure they are on either Mos or the Cau.  This can open up a lot of options (I usually insist on having 1 fig on the Cau) at very little (if any cost) to your German campaign.

4. Persia/Cauc forces:  Do your best to make sure you have at least 2 Russian inf on Persia.  Also, try your hardest to make sure you have at least 1 Russian tank, and hopefully 1 Russian Fig on the Cau.  This not only can set up a 1-2 punch on India, but it also can Relieve the Brits from worrying about Italy holding Jordan.  Notice outside of the 2 inf, Russia is guarantying, no major unit commitment in Asia and Russia still has major units geared up against Germany.

5. Move Russian Far Eastern Forces to China:  This will put stacks of Russians in Asia at no expense to Russia.  It will take a couple turns to have a significant presence, and you will be giving up (very cheap) ground in Russia, but it is good for a cheap long term strategy.  Bonus: if necessity demands, due to the forces already being moved in that direction, the troops can be used to ward off Germany.  Also, if you have air in Moscow (or Cau) they can be used for counter attacks or maybe even defense.

UK/US OPTIONS

1. T1 United Fleet in NZ:  Perhaps land 1-2 US fig in Aus instead of on the Carrier.  If you wish landing 1 bomber in Aus/Hawaii would be useful as well.  If you care nothing for bombers in Europe, bring the second bomber to Hawaii.  The united fleet, while useful in its own right, works much better in conjunction with other  Asian/Pacific theatre tactics (such as the Bury stack).  The fleet can also be completely withdrawn after T1 or the (depending on the scenario) the centre piece for an allied pacific strategy (such as an Australian IC).

NOTE:  If you choose to withdraw your UK transport towards America, I would suggest in most cases, to leave all UK forces in  Australia and use the Canadians for transport cargo.  Make the Japanese pay as much as possible for taking Australia.

2. Western United States: Build 1 US transport in Western United States.  This is probably fairly obvious, but it should always be done if given the opportunity, it’s a cheap build anyway and the opportunities it can provide the allies with are great.  Also obvious: build  naval/ air units when you can spare them (this will vary wildly depending on your strategy, main objectives, and the way the Pacific develops; I can see no way of saying how  to develop a consistent US naval building strategy).  Make sure to try to build 1-2 inf per turn.  This is a must if any Japanese ships are within 2 turns from your cost, but you should always try and have something there just in case, and it may also lead to new opportunities in the Pacific.

3)  Persia:  This is usually my “center piece” for my Allied Asian strategy.  Move all UK units that can reach  into Persia.  This assumes there is no unusual golden opportunities in Africa or building an IC that will last in India.  Japan will have a supply line problem  on the mainland, this will compound itself further if it chooses to build an IC or attack the Philippines J1 (I usually think attacking Phil J1 is non optimal anyway).  Stacking in Persia can put Japan in a decent bind in southern Asia.  If this is working in conjunction with Russian Fig and Arm in Cauc as well as Russian inf in Persia the headache for Japan grows.  Add to that, other areas where the allies may be stacking on T1; Japan all of the sudden  may have some hard decisions to make J2 and may find some of her theatres very hard to re-enforce.  Stacking in Persia does on occasion create an opportunity for a UK3 IC in India.  Also note, the Persian stack can retreat to Russia, if Russia (or the Persian stack) is in dire straits.

4. United Allied Fleet in SZ 12:  This too can be a centre piece when dealing with Japan.  An unsinkable fleet in SZ 12 puts a threat on France, Italy, and secures Africa.  Italy will most likley no longer be able to move her fleet (in fear of invasion) Germany will have to devote resources to protect France.  It saves the allies money by uniting two fleets (that can be easily and safely re enforced in needed) to work on more important things.  Don’t kill the Italian navy unless it is for some type of game winning deathblow (your positioning on your navy is too important) or if it is with air units that can be sacrificed.

Keep stacking N. Africa with US troops (unless going in for the kill) and every turn get 3-4 transports worth of gear for the UK and start sending them through N. Africa and March them towards India/Persia/Cauc (Armour builds for the Brits is probably a must, in order for this to be effective).  Also note: Russia can join in the fun in Africa to if it has inf preventing Italy from taking Jordan.  This keeps the UK’s income high, and allows it to bail out Russia if needed all the while threatening Europe with significant pressure.

5. Alternative use of bombers:  If the situation allows (you have the money/ are not dependant upon a European SBR campaign/ you have a Persian stack) Fly any built US bombers to Persia.  From here they can: a) Threaten the Japanese southern navy/ keep the navy “tight” b) mess with loose Japanes Trannies c) SBR Japanese IC’s in the area d) Threaten the Italian fleet. e) clear out any weak German stacks f) provide very expensive fodder for Russia if Russia is going to be attacked next turn. g) clear weak territories in China if needed e) provide a little defense for Persia (If you have 5 bombers sitting in Persia, that has to be taken into consideration by Japan)

6. Go North:  If for whatever reason the US can field and send a Pacific fleet up north, do it.  Perhaps Japan has moved her fleet far out of position not expecting it.  Perhaps you somehow are diverting Japans resources to other areas, whatever the reason, if you can start a successful campaign up north, do it.  It will pressure Japan herself, and relieve Russia/China while threatening major Japanese territory (most likely some with IC’s on them).  While there can be no “real true way” to use this strategy consistently, be aware of it.  Also be aware it is very difficult to pull off successfully.  Of course the minute you do this it is time to consider a KJF strat.

The best way you are going to pull it off is by an overconfident/ lazy Japanese player OR by putting decent pressure on Japan at multiple fronts distracting Japan from more basic goals it should be focused on.

CONCLUSION

Note all of these strategy’s are either fairly cheap (as in terms of actually investing IPC’s to the board) and/or flexible (ex: many of them can be aborted fairly quickly or diverted towards Germany.)  They also work on the philosophy of Japan’s early supply problem while focusing on bailing out Russia. and stacking units in multiple theatres in as efficient of a way as possible to make Japan have to go “soft” in various theatres, hopefully providing you with better openings in Europe and Asia.

Also notice, in a way many of these strats will make the Axis respond to you.  As many of these strategies are gearing the war to the centre of the board through Allied decision making.  Example: if the UK is sending 4 armor per turn from N. Africa towards Persia, both Germany and Japan have to adjust to that.

I do not think you can ever count on beating Japan, or apply a consistent “one true strategy” to do so,  only Japan can beat Japan.  Hopefully you can limit her options, force some moves, increase the chances for her to make mistakes, employ flexible strats that can create opportuninities and openings, and slow her down enough in order to take care of Germany. If not, than the best way of dealing with Japan would be to go 100% Europe (so much as Japan isn’t threatening America anyway) and hopefully you can take down Germany before Japan swells to an unconquerable monster.

These strategies also assume NO’s and no tech.  A game with tech would probably require a bit of a different approach

Take a look at my post on the last page of “preferd option to stall Japan” post.  While it isn’t KJF, it does present some ideas as to how one could keep the option on the table.  In any event, I don’t see how there could be a consistent winning strat for a KJF.

I think that statement is a bit of an oxymoron.  Unorthodox strats for the most part usually come into play for various situations, or else they would not be calle “unorthodox”.

We have a mix of Red, White, and Black dice from previous AA games.  There are very useful reasons to use a mix of dice in a game like this.  I think there is some potential to streamline and speads up the game when you have mixed colours.  Also a useful thing that I am sure most people do; we use blue and yellow chips from an old Tripoli game to have chips worth 10 and 20 respectivly.

Just wondering how many of you still have certain things from Classic that you are unable to completly expel from your system.

For example after playing A LOT of revised and a decent amount of Anniversary I still:

-Think I am getting off easy because you “only” role 2 dice for heavy bombers

-Think Infantry is going to solve all my problems

-Still have it in my gut instinct to build an IC in India T1 (this took me forever to accept in revised)

-Find artillary, 2 hit BB’s, and destroyers “totally sweet”

-Am still filled with wonder by transporting an infantry unit AND ANYTHING ELSE I WANT!

-Find Japan moving third the equivlant of being in a Twilight Zone episode (you know that one episode where that one guy is the same but everyone else is different)

-Still think it is a bit rude and unsportsmanlike to attack Germany with Russia on R1.

@gamerman01:

@dondoolee:

Japan would be my least favorite power to play (not including China) as it is sort of a “gimme power”, in that there just is no major threat or opponent in most cases; yes it can be delayed and harrased semi-effectivly, but not at the peril of putting signifiant game breaking damage to the Japanase empire. Essentially the worst that can happen to her is preventing a super power from become a super duper power.

Thanks for your post.  I agree with your Japan assessment especially for 1941, but in a current game I’m playing by forum (against Omega and friends) Japan got completely dismantled in the first 3 turns, mostly by dice, but also from the full attention of US bombers and fleet.  I often give close to full attention to Japan with the US in the first few turns, and it causes major problems.  (Talking about 1942 start)
Like you said, (especially for 1941) it’s a question of whether Japan is a super power or super duper power.  I won a game (by forum) recently where it was Japan vs. the world, and the world lost (1941 start).

Haha, I have lost as World to Japan Vs World a few times.  I have also seen a few games where you would think Japan has been crippled to the point where it should be irrelevant, only to be Godzilla in a couple of turns.  And it is semi common for me to seemingly bring the game to an apparent dead even halt/ seemingly endless grind of a game as the allies; everytime this happens though, guess which power ends up breaking it and the Allies chances of winning with it?  Though I have also seen Japan make stupid mistakes or get AWFUL dice which effectivly takes it out of the game.  The best was when the US Battleship, Phil Des/Tranny survived at the cost of 1 loaded jap tranny, BB, 5 Fig as well as a couple Japanese failed mainland attacks.

There is a pretty interesting thread going on now about stalling Japan in which I threw some of my methods and philosophy in dealing with her. The thread as a whole is a good read for anyone interested in picking up a few ideas about Japan.

If there is a CONSISTENT way of appling a KJF strat I am completley unaware of it, I would be interested in any links to games or threads where such a strat is employed.

But for me, I think it is much more fun being a power to deal with Japan than Japan itself.  Japan is just too big and powerful  (once the game basics are learned anyway)to be fun.  Also, I am not much of a '42 player to make that informed a decision on anything.

Some things I do to deal with Japan (note: some options may be contradictory, as I am just listing various options that are on the table  when thinking about my Asian/ Pacific affairs)

RUSSIAN OPTIONS

1. Stack Bury: Perhaps you do this only for R1 and then move them out R2, but you will notice it does constrict Japan and limits Japanese options, it also sets up a significant Russian presence quickly. This option can be helped more with other allied strats going on to limit Japanese options.  Also notice, this costs Russia no IPC’s (though it can cost a turn in positioning units)

2. China pump:  Try pumping in 1-2 inf per turn into China.  Will only be useful in conjunction with other strats.  If you are doing NOTHING else to stop Japan, you may be wasting units.

3. Airforce:  Buy 1 or 2 fig, make sure they are on either Mos or the Cau.  This can open up a lot of options (I usually insist on having 1 fig on the Cau) at very little (if any cost) to your German campaign.

4. Persia/Cauc forces:  Do your best to make sure you have at least 2 Russian inf on Persia.  Also, try your hardest to make sure you have at least 1 Russian tank, and hopefully 1 Russian Fig on the Cau.  This not only can set up a 1-2 punch on India, but it also can Relieve the Brits from worrying about Italy holding Jordan.  Notice outside of the 2 inf, Russia is guarantying, no major unit commitment in Asia and Russia still has major units geared up against Germany.

5. Move Russian Far Eastern Forces to China:  This will put stacks of Russians in Asia at no expense to Russia.  It will take a couple turns to have a significant presence, and you will be giving up (very cheap) ground in Russia, but it is good for a cheap long term strategy.  Bonus: if necessity demands, due to the forces already being moved in that direction, the troops can be used to ward off Germany.  Also, if you have air in Moscow (or Cau) they can be used for counter attacks or maybe even defense.

UK/US OPTIONS

1. T1 United Fleet in NZ:  Perhaps land 1-2 US fig in Aus instead of on the Carrier.  If you wish landing 1 bomber in Aus/Hawaii would be useful as well.  If you care nothing for bombers in Europe, bring the second bomber to Hawaii.  The united fleet, while useful in its own right, works much better in conjunction with other  Asian/Pacific theatre tactics (such as the Bury stack).  The fleet can also be completely withdrawn after T1 or the (depending on the scenario) the centre piece for an allied pacific strategy (such as an Australian IC).

NOTE:  If you choose to withdraw your UK transport towards America, I would suggest in most cases, to leave all UK forces in  Australia and use the Canadians for transport cargo.  Make the Japanese pay as much as possible for taking Australia.

2. Western United States: Build 1 US transport in Western United States.  This is probably fairly obvious, but it should always be done if given the opportunity, it’s a cheap build anyway and the opportunities it can provide the allies with are great.  Also obvious: build  naval/ air units when you can spare them (this will vary wildly depending on your strategy, main objectives, and the way the Pacific develops; I can see no way of saying how  to develop a consistent US naval building strategy).   Make sure to try to build 1-2 inf per turn.  This is a must if any Japanese ships are within 2 turns from your cost, but you should always try and have something there just in case, and it may also lead to new opportunities in the Pacific.

3. Persia:  This is usually my “center piece” for my Allied Asian strategy.  Move all UK units that can reach  into Persia.  This assumes there is no unusual golden opportunities in Africa or building an IC that will last in India.   Japan will have a supply line problem  on the mainland, this will compound itself further if it chooses to build an IC or attack the Philippines J1 (I usually think attacking Phil J1 is non optimal anyway).  Stacking in Persia can put Japan in a decent bind in southern Asia.  If this is working in conjunction with Russian Fig and Arm in Cauc as well as Russian inf in Persia the headache for Japan grows.   Add to that, other areas where the allies may be stacking on T1; Japan all of the sudden  may have some hard decisions to make J2 and may find some of her theatres very hard to re-enforce.  Stacking in Persia does on occasion create an opportunity for a UK3 IC in India.  Also note, the Persian stack can retreat to Russia, if Russia (or the Persian stack) is in dire straits.

4. United Allied Fleet in SZ 12:  This too can be a centre piece when dealing with Japan.  An unsinkable fleet in SZ 12 puts a threat on France, Italy, and secures Africa.  Italy will most likley no longer be able to move her fleet (in fear of invasion) Germany will have to devote resources to protect France.  It saves the allies money by uniting two fleets (that can be easily and safely re enforced in needed) to work on more important things.  Don’t kill the Italian navy unless it is for some type of game winning deathblow (your positioning on your navy is too important) or if it is with air units that can be sacrificed.

Keep stacking N. Africa with US troops (unless going in for the kill) and every turn get 3-4 transports worth of gear for the UK and start sending them through N. Africa and March them towards India/Persia/Cauc (Armour builds for the Brits is probably a must, in order for this to be effective).  Also note: Russia can join in the fun in Africa to if it has inf preventing Italy from taking Jordan.   This keeps the UK’s income high, and allows it to bail out Russia if needed all the while threatening Europe with significant pressure.

5. Alternative use of bombers:  If the situation allows (you have the money/ are not dependant upon a European SBR campaign/ you have a Persian stack) Fly any built US bombers to Persia.  From here they can: a) Threaten the Japanese southern navy/ keep the navy “tight” b) mess with loose Japanes Trannies c) SBR Japanese IC’s in the area d) Threaten the Italian fleet. e) clear out any weak German stacks f) provide very expensive fodder for Russia if Russia is going to be attacked next turn. g) clear weak territories in China if needed e) provide a little defense for Persia (If you have 5 bombers sitting in Persia, that has to be taken into consideration by Japan)

6. Go North:  If for whatever reason the US can field and send a Pacific fleet up north, do it.  Perhaps Japan has moved her fleet far out of position not expecting it.  Perhaps you somehow are diverting Japans resources to other areas, whatever the reason, if you can start a successful campaign up north, do it.  It will pressure Japan herself, and relieve Russia/China while threatening major Japanese territory (most likely some with IC’s on them).  While there can be no “real true way” to use this strategy consistently, be aware of it.  Also be aware it is very difficult to pull off successfully.  Of course the minute you do this it is time to consider a KJF strat.

The best way you are going to pull it off is by an overconfident/ lazy Japanese player OR by putting decent pressure on Japan at multiple fronts distracting Japan from more basic goals it should be focused on.

CONCLUSION

Note all of these strategy’s are either fairly cheap (as in terms of actually investing IPC’s to the board) and/or flexible (ex: many of them can be aborted fairly quickly or diverted towards Germany.)  They also work on the philosophy of Japan’s early supply problem while focusing on bailing out Russia. and stacking units in multiple theatres in as efficient of a way as possible to make Japan have to go “soft” in various theatres, hopefully providing you with better openings in Europe and Asia.

Also notice, in a way many of these strats will make the Axis respond to you.  As many of these strategies are gearing the war to the centre of the board through Allied decision making.  Example: if the UK is sending 4 armor per turn from N. Africa towards Persia, both Germany and Japan have to adjust to that.

I do not think you can ever count on beating Japan, or apply a consistent “one true strategy” to do so,  only Japan can beat Japan.  Hopefully you can limit her options, force some moves, increase the chances for her to make mistakes, employ flexible strats that can create opportuninities and openings, and slow her down enough in order to take care of Germany. If not, than the best way of dealing with Japan would be to go 100% Europe (so much as Japan isn’t threatening America anyway) and hopefully you can take down Germany before Japan swells to an unconquerable monster.

These strategies also assume NO’s and no tech.  A game with tech would probably require a bit of a different approach.

This may be the 1st AA game where each power is very interesting to play in it’s own right.  Classic and revised both America and Russia were kind of boring.

That being said in all the games so far including this one, The UK is my favorite to play.  It seems to be one of the more diverse powers, though in some games if things go bad she can be irrelevant by T2.

After that it is fun to play Italy, I like the dynamic and concept of being a “minor” power that has significant consequenses to the game as well as being a naval power.  It would be nice if China could have been implemented to the game as well as Italy.

Japan would be my least favorite power to play (not including China) as it is sort of a “gimme power”, in that there just is no major threat or opponent in most cases; yes it can be delayed and harrased semi-effectivly, but not at the peril of putting signifiant game breaking damage to the Japanase empire. Essentially the worst that can happen to her is preventing a super power from become a super duper power.

@a44bigdog:

I have seen one other use not mentioned here. Pick up the AA in Australia and sail west where Japan will sink the fleet and remove the AA gun from the board. It is rarely much use for the English anyway and it stops Japan from using it. Not much of a use to me, but I figured I would throw it out there anyway.

Interesting thought.  I imagine that move would have the potential to be of some use in some cases, probably a more US Pacific focused strat.
There may be some other reasons to pick up the AA and ship it somewhere else too.  In all honesty though I can not think of a “typical” example where England’s Aussie AA gun will be of much use (particularly if the AA gun from India is still in the UK’s hands).  Still though, I am used to seeing at least 3 fig attack Australia I figure I may as well try to take one of them out with AA.

A couple other notes on the Aussie fleet:

If you are sending them towards the USA. you can use the fleet to pick up any forces in Canada, rather than pciking up the Aussies; one reason to do this would be if you saw an advatage of leaving Australia more well defended.

You could also send the fleet to the Atlantic Theater. (loadaed with either Aussies, Canadians, or nothing).