• How do the Axis players deal with the lack of men in continental Asia? Do you prefer on-spot unit production with ICs or you rather build a drop-off fleet? Or a mixture of both?
    For the IC-builders, do you prefer FIC or Manchuria?
    For the fleet-builders, how do you answer the threat of the US sub-ftr or the UK bomber?

  • '16 '15 '10

    Sometimes I will attack Bury if there’s only 6 there.  Alot depends on how R1 and G1 went and how strong Russia is overall.  Killing those 6 inf is a way to weaken Russia but it won’t weaken them very much if it isn’t part of a concentrated effort to cripple them.

    The only sure way to dissuade me is to land the Uk fig in Bry for extra defense.

    It’s complex.  Sometimes the 6 inf in Bry can help Allies if the Japs end up making TOO MANY attacks and spreading themselves thin.  Sometimes Japan needs to give up another major attack (like Pearl or sz 34) to make sure Bury will succeed.

    I like the efficiency and mobility of transports, but it’s clear that in Spring 42 there is alot of merit to the 2 factory (tank rush Russia) approach, particularly in games where Russia is weak early.


  • Do you prefer on-spot unit production with ICs or you rather build a drop-off fleet? Or a mixture of both?
    For the IC-builders, do you prefer FIC or Manchuria?
    For the fleet-builders, how do you answer the threat of the US sub-ftr or the UK bomber?

    If Russia suffered horrible dice and Germany had amazing dice, and/or Russia blundered, then you could be looking at a situation in which Axis can take Moscow with tanks before the Allies can get their transport fleet into play.  The Allies can prevent the loss of Moscow with desperation plays like building fighters and flying them in, but that doesn’t work so well for the Allies.  In any event, if Germany cracked Russia’s power and went with a 7-8 tank build, I’d do double industrial complexes with Japan, or at least one industrial complex and two transports.  The timing’s a bit off for a coordinated German/Japanese push, but it works out because of the pressure.

    What specifically to look for?  Say Russia tried a Russian triple attack and failed, and Germany successfully brutally countered, along with a 7-8 tank G1 build, or say Russia failed Ukraine in a Ukraine/West Russia attack, leaving high odds for losing Caucasus and a fortified West Russia on G1.  In any event, the idea is that the Russians suffer major casualties and the Germans few by the end of G1, with a German tank build ready to put nasty pressure on in a couple turns.

    Otherwise, I’d use transports.  Use of transports depends on the situation.  Probably  the Kwangtung transport is dead.  The Japanese transport may be used for French Indochina or Buryatia (or less commonly Borneo, or Kwangtung or Manchuria or Soviet Far East).

    You start with 1 infantry on Wake, 1 on Okinawa, 2 on Phillipines, and 6 assorted ground on Japan.  That’s 10 units.  If you drop to Buryatia, that leaves 8 ground units in the area.  Since you can’t use 5 transports particularly well in that situation, you could opt to build 3 transports to finish J1 (Japan’s first turn) with 4 transports.

    Alternatively, if you drop to French Indochina, that leaves 8 ground units in the area of Japan, but now the transport from French Indochina can grab 2 infantry from East Indies.  So in that situation you can use 5 transports; using 4 transports to offload units from the area of Japan, and the 5th transport at French Indochina to offload units from East Indies on J2.  You could also go 4 transport build even if dropping to Buryatia on J1, to get your infrastructure set to start picking up infantry from New Guinea (if it survived), Caroline Islands, and Solomon Islands preparatory to hitting Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and later Alaska, Hawaii, and so on.

    On the other hand, US and UK will likely have subs in the area.  A battleship can escort transports with almost no risk from sub attack in most situations (unless Allies go Pacific), but tying up a battleship means that those battleships can’t be used to potentially reinforce the German fleet in the Mediterranean.  On the other hand, if Japan diverts to Med a lot, US can build a few harassment units and mess with Japan a lot.  It’s all solved with a destroyer build that chases subs away from the Pacific.  But two is too much because building two slows Japanese progress in Asia.

    Industrial complexes are preferably at French Indochina, Kwangtung, and Manchuria, in that order, unless Allies go Pacific.  French Indochina lets you pressure India and China.  Kwangtung lets you pressure French Indochina and China (assuming the Allies made a play for French Indochina).  Manchuria just gets you China.  As far as pressuring Buryatia from Manchuria - Japan should have all the pressure it needs with Japanese transports.

    SOME players use an industrial complex on East Indies.  I’m really not sure why.  For a game like Anniversary Edition, in which the map’s changed, that move makes sense.  For Spring 1942, you need an industrial complex and two transports to fully utilize East Indies; with no Allied pressure, it ties up two transports for little gain.  With Allied pressure, it just gives the Allies another juicy target.

    If the Allies go Pacific and get early gains, and Japan finds an IC useful, Manchuria is probably the best bet.  It’s almost impossible for the Allies to really crack Manchuria in any sense.

    Re:  Allied threat to Japan shipping:

    I usually hit Pearl with sub/cruiser/fighter/bomber, and end with battleship, destroyer, carrier, and two fighters in sea zone east of Japan.  That’s enough to handle almost anything.  If there’s a UK carrier in the area, I usually hit it because you can be threatened on UK2 with sub/carrier/cruiser/2-3 fighters and bomber in some circumstances.  Wiping the carrier makes it sub/cruiser/fighter/bomber at worst.

    Controlling the sea zone east of Japan for the start of J2 is very important because of the flexibility Japan gains from being able to take infantry from Phillipines, Wake, and Okinawa.  I will leave it alone if I think it’s necessary, but it’s not something I let happen easily.

    Absolute worst case scenario, Japan places units in sea zone west of Japan, which is sufficient protection.


  • I’d say other things on your list should be:

    3 transports 1 destroyer
    4 transports
    2 transports 1 industrial complex
    2 industrial complexes

    (The thought behind 1 industrial complex or 2 is very different; 1 IC mixes early pressure with infantry backup; 2 ICs just goes “hell for leather” as you may say.)

    That pretty much covers it.

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