KJF (Kill Japan First) cont.
“The key points in order are to stop Germany in Africa, to chase the Japanese navy out of the Pacific (almost certainly the Japanese navy should not be able to be straightforwardly destroyed), to keep Japan out of Asia, and finally to take Japan’s income from its islands and contain most of Japan’s forces to Tokyo. These should be done roughly in order.”
The Russian air/navy buy potentially slows Germany in Africa by discouraging them from landing on Anglo-Egypt on G1; depending on Germany’s move, UK may or may not be freed up to move against Japan on UK1.
The Buryatia stack is a major threat to Japan because it is an Allied landing zone for air, which contributes to chasing around the Jap navy. If the UK carrier in the Indian Ocean survives until UK2, UK can potentially hit the Japanese navy with carrier/cruiser/3 fighter/bomber. US can soften up the Jap navy with Hawaiian islands sub and Hawaiian islands fighter. If the Japanese hit the Hawaiian Islands fleet and did not destroy the US fighter, that’s up to two US fighters and a US sub that can hit the sea zone east of Japan.
The rest of the moves I detailed go to the point of pushing Japan out of Asia, but the Allies CANNOT do much until they lock out the Japanese fleet. Until then, Japan will likely have transports that it will be able to use to hit any number of targets at will; the Allies cannot send enough units to fortify every territory against Japanese amphibious attack.
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Germany responds however it responds; the things to watch for are 1) a German tank in Anglo-Egypt allowing a G2 blitz that cuts UK income and boosts German income quickly, 2) a possible German attempt to hold Ukraine, or attack Caucasus or West Russia; any of those can really slash Russia’s income and boost Germany’s income early.
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UK responds in turn however it responds. The things to watch for are UK fighter to Buryatia (making attacking that a very expensive proposition for Japan), potential UK assault on Borneo (too high value for Japan to let go easily), UK India carrier movement (if UK moves its London fighters and bombers east, along with the UK sub at Australia, it can be a huge threat), and the UK Australia transport (usually doesn’t do much, but with a stack of air and navy in the area, it can use Australia and New Zealand infantry that don’t normally get used. Also, potential attack against French Indochina if the Allies really want to try KJF, although French Indochina is quite risky.
At this point, the Allies want to stop the Japs from building transports in the sea zone east of Japan, and they also want to stop the Japs from landing units at French Indochina. The first is helped by a stack of Russian infantry on Buryatia combined with UK and US air/naval threats as previously described, but is really conditional on Japan’s moves - if Japan destroys the UK carrier, the major UK threat is removed. The second can be accomplished by Russian fighters on India, or UK air / UK sub. The UK sub cannot threaten both the sea zone east of Japan and the sea zone at French Indochina, so the Allies will have to decide.
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Japan responds however it responds.
Typically I build 3 transports 1 destroyer. I take it for granted that the Kwangtung transport is destroyed.
I usually hit the US Hawaiian islands fleet with sub/cruiser/fighter/bomber. The fighter can land on Wake, so no navy has to be committed. I use the southwestern battleship and carrier to hunt UK naval targets, and typically keep the northeastern battleship and carrier east of Japan. This leaves five fighters free; four if French Indochina was taken. Of those, the two fighters from the southwest fleet can’t hit Buryatia, they can only hit China and other targets in the southwest. (This is why I recommended against leaving a UK fighter on China; Japan can ALWAYS take China at little cost.
The priorities are China, Buryatia, and French Indochina in that order. The US fighter can be very nasty early on if Japan lets it live. Buryatia is nice to hit, as is French Indochina, but Allied units in those territories really only threaten Japan’s coastal territories, and Japan can afford to lose its entire coast so long as it didn’t purchase an industrial complex on J1. After all, Japan can take everything back on its next turn, and having killed most of the opposition in the area, Japan’s future progress will be unchecked unless the Allies are sending a steady stream of reinforcements - which has its own problems as it means Germany has less opposition.
Of course, Japan shouldn’t just let the Allies walk all over its Asian territories on the coast, but even the “worst case” scenario usually isn’t too bad for Japan. Japan can easily get six ground to French Indochina on J2 (three transport loads), followed by eight ground plus air to India on J3 (one of the transports can pick up from East Indies), which can typically kill any defending forces even if UK built an IC there early. Only if Russia is draining power to India in a major way is it possible for the Allies to really do anything at all useful in the India region.
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All strategies that I’ve ever developed for KJF involve the eventual loss of Moscow. I think it’s almost inevitable.