Japan needs to do two things on their third turn if possible (assuming they didn’t fall into taking the bait), they need to take the Philippines and try and take Hawaii if possible. This will deny the US the most income
Unless the US player is asleep at the wheel I dont see taking Pearl as a viable T3 Japanese goal. I agree that PI must fall on J3, but all the rest of Japan’s power should be pasting the Brits and Chinese. There is little the US can do that early to make any impact on Japan or her econ without risking catastrophic US casualties. Given that, Japan should spend her time and force on overwhelming overkill on the Brits and Chinese. Once they are dead, the game is effectively over unless the US is in serious positions to overturn the Japanese econ (unlikely from what I can see).
I do agree that the Brits have to do everything they can to simply stay alive and force Japan to keep her airpower focused on land. I think that is going to mean investing a in a LOT of troops and maybe AA-guns. A few more of those floating around might give the Japanese pause about throwing 4 Bettys and 4 Zekes/Vals into the fray….
If possible, I think it would be understandable to bait Japan with a DD or an unprotected bomber or something. As long as the US loses less than 40IPCs in the bait, they are fine cause they will get a net +.
Yes and no. If you can get the Japanese to jump before they are ready then maybe, but once the Japanese kick off, the Brits are going to lose both of their bonuses (assuming they got the 4 island one) and probably half their base econ as well. That goes a long way towards eating into that +40 for the US and frankly, as Japan I’d rather the US had the money than the Brits at that point. My goal as Japan is to keep every Allied IPC OUT of Asia as I possibly can.
This will reduce the combined income of the Allies by 20 IPCs. Japan should be able to close the Burma road and take Hong Kong too. Now the Allies have lost 30 IPCs. Things look very balanced at this point.
Except that Japan still has considerably more disposable combat power on the board as well as FAR FAR FAR superior interior positions and coordination. To me, that is the real killer for the Allies at this point.
