I think a large naval build on J1 isn’t the best move. I wouldn’t build a bunch of “naval only” (SS, DD) shipping that I may never use if the US abandons the Pacific. I would rather wait until after the US makes the decision to go after Japan or not. Even after the sz53 and sz35 attacks the Japanese have 2 BB, 2 CV, 1 CA and probably more aircraft to USA’s 1 BB, 1 CV, 1 SS (and maybe sz20 DD). And personally, I think it is in the Axis’ best interest if the US decided to go full bore at Japan anyway so why try to discourage them from doing it?
And I’m not as worried about the Chinese fighter as most everybody else are, apparently. The Japanese have it vastly outnumbered and using it to attack will expose and deplete the Chinese infantry that much quicker. The J1 primary objectives are sz35 and sz53.
My J1 would be more like:
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1 DD
1 TP
1 IC (for manchuria. If the US goes KJF then this allows you to build units without having to worry about defending it like the TP’s, if the TP’s get sunk you can still build ground units, and it allows you to move the TP’s away from the home island, if need be, and still produce ground units in Asia. And again, if the US goes KJF you’ll have your hands full keeping any more than the IC and the 2 TP filled because most of your future builds will be naval or aircraft and this would be your last infrastructure build for probably the rest of the game so get it out of the way before it hurts to do it.)
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sz53 (1 fig, 1 CV, 1 DD)
1 bmb Japan
1 fig, 1 DD sz51
1 SS sz46
1 fig sz48
The sz48 fig is ALWAYS your second casualty because it allows you to move the sz51 CV away in case the battle goes worse than average. I’d rather sacrifice it instead of sending the CA into this battle for obvious reasons. In the event that you take zero casualties or 1 casualty and decide to lose the SS instead of the sz48 fig (optimal) and the CV is forced to stay in sz51, it will be safe from the US navy because of the blocking DD and it would be suicidal to attack a fully loaded CV with just the Haw fig and W US bmb. Plus the loaded CV in sz51 threatens a 1 bmb, 2 fig attack on sz53 in case the US foolishly decides to move the sz56 BB, CA there.
sz35 (1 fig, 1 CV, 1 DD, 1 TP)
1 BB, 1 CV, 1 fig sz48
1 fig FIC
1 fig For
Sending only 2 fig here is asking for trouble. There’s nothing worse that watching the defender yahtzee and staring at having to retreat a CV/wounded BB against a fig/TP which would give the UK way too many options to hurt you or, more probably, the Italians. Make sure this one goes right for you. Any remaining figs except the Formosa one(first casualty) will land in Burma unless you like to do the “Japanese fighters to help Germany” thing which I personally think is wasteful, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Fukien (1 inf)
1 inf Kwang
1 BB, 1 TP sz62 load 1 art Japan to sz60 load 1 inf Oki to sz61 unload Fuk
I only say to use the art instead of the arm in case the BB misses and you end up losing an inf. The Chinese player may decide to attack your 1 inf, 1 arm with 3 inf, 1 fig. Your mileage may vary and I wouldn’t hold it against you if you sent the arm and gambled that both inf and the arm remain after your attack.
Suiyuan (2 inf)
2 inf, 1 fig Man
1 inf Kia
1 fig Japan
Notice I sent the 2 inf from Man and only 1 from Kia instead of all 3 from Kia. This is just in case the battle goes badly you can retreat the remaining units back to Man. If they all came from Kia you would have to retreat them back to Kia where they would do no good helping defend the newly built Man IC. The 2 unused inf from Kia will reinforce Man in non-combat along with both fighters (2 inf, 2 fig should be enough to discourage the Russians from attacking with 3 inf, 1 bmb).
Non-combat moves that I haven’t already detailed are few and easy.
2 inf FIC to Burma doesn’t matter if you leave FIC empty because the Chinese can’t collect on it and you’ll retake it before the UK gets the NO money for it.
1 CA sz50 to sz62 to help the DD protect the newly built TP in case you are unable or unwilling to move the sz51 CV to sz62. I left it out of combat for this reason. If you move the CV to sz62 then leave the CA where it is to threaten sz53 as well as a bombardment threat anywhere along the coast.
There are also slight modifications to this strategy depending on your taste.
- You could use the CA in the sz53 attack instead of bringing the sz48 fig. This would free up an extra fighter to help with the China attacks and defense. In this case it means you must move the sz51 CV to defend sz62. It also allows you to build 2 TP’s,1 IC instead of 1 TP,1 DD,1 IC because the CV with 1 fig wouldn’t need the DD to help scare off the W US bomber.
Another option is that you could send an extra inf from Kiangsu to Fukien to make an attack with the armor a safer bet. This would leave you with only 1 inf to defend the Man IC with the 2 fighters. This works better when packaged with option 1 as you would have the third Asian fighter to defend the Man IC with 1 inf, 3 fig.
I think I got everything. I probably didn’t, but it seems solid enough for a first draft.