I have a problem :D

When is Japan attacking the Allies?

Have you tried attacking later? Just because Japan loses with a first round attack doesn’t mean they can’t win at all.

Do you pretty much try the same strategy each time hoping for favorable dice or have you tried different maneuvers? Try different approaches to your objectives. Throw away the next game just to try to see how to exploit the weaknesses of the US positions. Sometimes letting a BB get away can still put you in a better tactical position.

but then UK gets + 8 (east indies) and bonus, battleship gets away, so does phillipine Bomber and fighter and US get bonus from it

In my experience, so what? Britain earns 37 IPCs for max’ing out and it still has yet to matter. Once Japan DOES declare war, that tends to drop to single-digits and from there it’s just a matter of time for the Brits. The Brit BB is meaningless. It can’t get anywhere that makes a difference from what I can see. And the US making 22 instead of 17 is hardly a matter of concern either.

Personally I think Japan’s best move it to wait until J3 for the ‘big attack’ and spend the first 2 turns killing the Chinese with minimal losses (ie, commit obscene amounts of airpower) as well as getting all the pieces in place for a devastating first assault on the Allies. That means you need a few more TRs and probably some additional ground forces as well. Get the TRs in position to take at least 3 of the DEI islands and PI on J3. Everything else you have set up will depend on the Allied response and build but my experience has been that Aussies wont be a threat even with 15/turn and if the Brits build anything but ground forces they will lose it all to little gain in the face of overwhelming Japanese firepower.

@Frontovik:

but then UK gets + 8 (east indies) and bonus, battleship gets away, so does phillipine Bomber and fighter and US get bonus from it

and if you play your cards right, you can place huge and small IC round 2
(kwantung and FIC)

I keep seeing folks mention the UK and ANZAC bonus earlier than I would expect.  The UK has to occupy four islands (Sumatra, Celebes, Borneo and Java) before getting this bonus, right?  They can’t do that with 4 infantry and two Trn in a single turn can they?  Or am I mistakenly applying rules from earlier editions of A&A that say Trns have to end their movement in a SZ when they unload?  This same thing goes for ANZAC.  They just don’t have enough stuff to earn their bonus in the first turn, right?

Regarding the US planes getting away …  Where are they going to go?  Guam?  They can only land in US controlled areas.  I was trying to solve the problem the other way.  Is there any way I can reinforce the PI before Japan jumps me?  I can’t find a way.

Let me know what I am missing.

I keep seeing folks mention the UK and ANZAC bonus earlier than I would expect.  The UK has to occupy four islands (Sumatra, Celebes, Borneo and Java) before getting this bonus, right?  They can’t do that with 4 infantry and two Trn in a single turn can they?  Or am I mistakenly applying rules from earlier editions of A&A that say Trns have to end their movement in a SZ when they unload?  This same thing goes for ANZAC.  They just don’t have enough stuff to earn their bonus in the first turn, right?

No, the Brits will only collect one bonus on UK1 (assuming no J1 attack). On UK2, they can have all the islands and get their 2nd bonus as well for a total of 37 I believe. Anzac will get their bonus on turn 2 assuming they arent attacked as well.

When first playing the Japanese I did not want either of those two to happen so I attacked on J2 to prevent it. In later games, we havent worried about the Allies collectiing those bonuses if it meant that Japan was in position to land a heavier blow and J3 and that the Chinese were all but extinct.

Regarding the US planes getting away …  Where are they going to go?  Guam?  They can only land in US controlled areas.  I was trying to solve the problem the other way.  Is there any way I can reinforce the PI before Japan jumps me?  I can’t find a way.

You can reinforce PI if you have the 2 turns of peace with Japan. I’m not sold on it being viable though. I am torn between an early Allied strat of making ‘toothbreakers’ in various places (say PI and maybe on of the DEI with Brit troops and planes) and simply massing up for a counter-attack instead.

In any case, you can’t reinforce PI if Japan jumps on J1, but my experience so far has been that a J1 attack is a much less lethal attack and Japan will be pretty spread out for some time trying to secure the proper territories. As Japan I’ll shoot for J3 unless I see too many opportunities on the board to be able to resist a J2 attack. As the US, I’m leaning towards having a fleet pre-positions of the Solomons or New Guinea, preferably with a Kiwi Naval Base present (unlikely, but possible).

The political rules have convinced me of two things.  First, there is nothing for Japan to lose if they attack on J3 because the US collects the bonus income on their third turn anyway.  It looks to me like Japan will either go all out on J3 or under some circumstances on J2, but I don’t expect to see this J1 once everything settles down.  An attack on J1 is not the crazy gamble I originally thought though.  Curently, as you said, I think Japan does well to do a little positioning before they make the hammer blow.

The second thing I figured into the political rules is if Japan is going to attack on J3 anyway, there is no reason for the UK forces to wait past UK2 for their attack.  Just as Japan has nothing to lose attacking on J3, the UK forces have nothing to lose attacking on UK2.  The US will be “in the war” on the same timeline anyway, with or without a UK2 attack, so go ahead and take the initiative.  For this reason, some positions the UK take in UK1 may inspire the Japanese to move on J2 instead of J3.  This sort of turns history on its ear, but a game like this can’t force history to repeat or it wouldn’t be a game.

The second thing I figured into the political rules is if Japan is going to attack on J3 anyway, there is no reason for the UK forces to wait past UK2 for their attack.  Just as Japan has nothing to lose attacking on J3, the UK forces have nothing to lose attacking on UK2.  The US will be “in the war” on the same timeline anyway, with or without a UK2 attack, so go ahead and take the initiative.  For this reason, some positions the UK take in UK1 may inspire the Japanese to move on J2 instead of J3.  This sort of turns history on its ear, but a game like this can’t force history to repeat or it wouldn’t be a game.

Not quite. I thought the same thing but there is one important difference. Japan can retaliate against the UK on J3 and the US still cannot do anything to Japan on US3. It’s an important distinction. It basically gives Japan one ‘free’ turn to pound the Brits without having to worry about the US attacking them anywhere.

That’s true. I was playing Japan and UK attacked me UK2. I could send almost all aircrafts to kill off Brits without having to worry about US fighting me in US3.