• @urmomsmom7:

    Well I like to make up for not fighting China with an invasion of the Soviet Union. This makes up for the IPCS I lost in China and then some. The 18 infantry fall rather easy (I still play alpha 2) where as in China I always have trouble. Perhaps I’m not good at taking over China but I always waste resources going in to China. I can never take over them. They are always to strong and divert to much attention away from America, who in all games in which I’ve decided to fight China in, have crushed my navy with their navy and air force that has received no attention because I’ve been feeding minor IC’s in China. India coming in to fight alongside China make things hard. Closing the Burma takes forever and almost never works. I take the Soviet Union that gives me more IPCS and strategic value to Germany who now fights a split Soviet Union. While feeding my navy and air force, it makes me very strong when fighting the Americans. Taking the DEI is easier because of the increase boat power. I usually make a minor IC in the Phillipines in which I build subs to keep India in check just in case they begin to build boats. I can make a hit on Australia if their is an absence of major build ups by America. Giving me bonuses for Sydney and the rest of the IPCS for the home island and NZ. I let China build all it wants. It can’t touch any of my plans. India is VERY easily kept out and by later times in the game I have Italy creeping up the back door of India and is giving India a land fight. (Please note that Italy is earning 60 to 70 IPCS as they own all of Africa because the British factory was shut down to the German invasion of UK.) One time as Japan I took over Honolulu San Francisco and Sydney and Italy held Calcutta letting me win via the Pacific side. I didn’t need the invasion of China.  :-D

    You can’t build an IC in the Phillipines, in alpha rules you can’t build IC’s on islands.


  • Alpha 2 or Alpha 3? Or both?


  • Maybe I’m just not so good at it but I always trouble with them. My opponent likes to do the fall back and build style while India keeps the Burma Road open. Perhaps I’m not seeing something but I find it quite difficult. Especially with India in the mix.


  • this is what i tried my last game playing as japan ( this works very well if you know it the US player builds up his fleet around Hawaii) otherwise its at your risk (this was done on Alpha 3)

    J1: i buy a transport and a carrier, then load up 2 planes, attack china at yunaan and some of the northern territories. non combat load up the transport in sea zone 19 and 20(with troops from china) and move to seazone 36

    the fleets in sea zone 6 and 33 stay in position.

    J2: i would buy 3 transports and whatever’s left in infantry.

    i declare war on all the powers including usa… if the usa moved its starting fleet to hawwai you can hit him with you fleet consisting of 4 carriers 8 planes a battleship and a few small ships…  vs… 1 carrier 1 battleship and maybe 2 - 3 scramblers at most… you can take out the whole us fleet with very little losses on a average roll…( i lost 1 carrier the small ships and 1 tac bomber)

    if the fleet is not there ill hit them anyways and take hawwaii  sometimes the us player might even think in counteratacking right away and it ends up pretty bad for them anyways.
    the point is if you wipe them from hawwaii the us player will need to rethink his strategy since he has to buy on 2 fronts. The anzac player didint think on moving beyond 1 turn from australia fearing i would go down there and invade from hawwaii (it takes 2 turns to get there but they just stayed in the spot fearing they would get wiped out since no US help was coming anytime soon)

    while i do this the rest of my fleet takes phillipines, borneo, i also move in into french indo china - invade kwangtung- and made some small attacks on china.

    the thing is if you can get the US fleet before it becomes too big you can actually dominate the pacific the transports you buy on j2 can catch up to your returning fleet and head either to sydney or india…


  • Your Japanese Fleet, consisting of 4 Carrier, 1 Battleship, 8 Fighter will have to fight most likely:
    1 Bomber, 1 Tac, 5 Fighter, 2 Battleships, 2 Carrier, 2 Destroyer, 2 Crusier, 1 Sub (another figther, Destroyer and sub is likely and at least one mor ship).
    You need to bring another 4 ships (2 crusier, 2 destroyer) or it will be close.

    first combat round:
    Japan scores 9@4 ~ 6, 4@2 ~ 1  (7 hits)
    US scores: 3@4 ~ 2, 7@3 ~ 3, 3@2 ~ 1 (6 hits)

    second round: (all capital ships hit once and one carrier sunk):
    JAPAN: 9@4 ~ 6, 3@2 ~ 1 (7 hits)
    USA (2 Carrier Sunk, 1 battleship hit, 2 destroyer sunk):
    US: 3@4 ~ 2, 7@3 ~ 4, 1@2 ~0 (6 hits) (7@3 ~3,5 hits, in two turns of combat 7 hits, oce 3 once 4)

    Leaves: Japan looses: 3 Carrier and 3 Fighter, US looses: 2 Crusier, 1 Sub and 4 fighter
    Japan: 6@4 ~ 4 hits
    US: 3@4 ~ 2hits, 1@3 ~0.5
    Leaves the Japanese navy with 1 damaged battleship, and 2 Fighter.

    This navy cant threaten an attack on Australia and will give the UK Player the oportunity to start an large scale attack on Japan and its remaining small fleet, while the US can and will build up another large Navy relatively fast (much more income than Japan).

    I thikn, this is the way to loose the pacific fast to the allies, and therefore to loose the game, because the US only needs to invet 2 more turns to secure the pacific and then can focus on Europe.

    my 2 cents


  • you shouldnt need another carrier as Japan you are already by far the largest navy and airforce,

    you need transports to get your troops around or Minor ICs in asia

    J1 you can build 2 TTs and a minor IC

    J2 or 3 (depending) i like to build a second minor IC in FIC


  • I find playing as Japan harder in Global then in Pacific alone. In Pacific alone, you do nothing but attack, attack, attack and draw the US into the war at round 1. You take india by J3 or J4 and you outproduce the USA by J4. Then it’s an easy win towards Australia.

    In Global however it all depends how you want to play with germany. If you’re going for sealion it’s best not to get the USA involved because they will reinforce London too quickly. Try to lure the UK and Anzac into provoking you. However this means that they will “surprise attack” you somewhere or reinforce Yunnan to secure the Burma road. This can easily be dealt with and you can go ahead in the pacific without having to worry about the US.

    With Japan it all depends what Germany and what the US does. In global the USA gets 52 IPC’s to spend and if they spend it all on the pacific in the beginning, u’ll have a rough time with Japan to keep up with the US fleet (as in pacific alone, they only get 17) so then it’s probably better to concentrate on defending ur original territorries and investing in ground units to try and take india, China and marching on to the Soviet Union as you will probably not win the naval battles in the Pacific.

    I admit that I find Japan the most fun to play with. Especially when you have lots of transports. This means you will have a great flexibility and you can strike many places unnoticed or in surprise.

    Either way, there’s no fixed strategy with Japan as there is with italy and Germany. Japan simply depends on what the USA and Germany does. You can’t decide in the beginning weather you go for a pacific victory or wether you go for the european VC’s.


  • @GuywhothinksChinaisstrongerthanJapan  :roll: :roll: :roll:

    How does India keep the Burma Road open? If they make an early DOW against Japan, US is out of it and the Japanese will take DEI and wreck their economy. In addition, the IJAF with land support (or not if it’s a small UK force) will devastate the army and cut the road at Yunnan. If China is retreating, Japan can ignore the stack and take all other territories, including the unreinforceable Szechwan, breaking the road anyways.


  • @cenator01:

    Your Japanese Fleet, consisting of 4 Carrier, 1 Battleship, 8 Fighter will have to fight most likely:
    1 Bomber, 1 Tac, 5 Fighter, 2 Battleships, 2 Carrier, 2 Destroyer, 2 Crusier, 1 Sub (another figther, Destroyer and sub is likely and at least one mor ship).
    You need to bring another 4 ships (2 crusier, 2 destroyer) or it will be close.

    first combat round:
    Japan scores 9@4 ~ 6, 4@2 ~ 1  (7 hits)
    US scores: 3@4 ~ 2, 7@3 ~ 3, 3@2 ~ 1 (6 hits)

    second round: (all capital ships hit once and one carrier sunk):
    JAPAN: 9@4 ~ 6, 3@2 ~ 1 (7 hits)
    USA (2 Carrier Sunk, 1 battleship hit, 2 destroyer sunk):
    US: 3@4 ~ 2, 7@3 ~ 4, 1@2 ~0 (6 hits) (7@3 ~3,5 hits, in two turns of combat 7 hits, oce 3 once 4)

    Leaves: Japan looses: 3 Carrier and 3 Fighter, US looses: 2 Crusier, 1 Sub and 4 fighter
    Japan: 6@4 ~ 4 hits
    US: 3@4 ~ 2hits, 1@3 ~0.5
    Leaves the Japanese navy with 1 damaged battleship, and 2 Fighter.

    This navy cant threaten an attack on Australia and will give the UK Player the oportunity to start an large scale attack on Japan and its remaining small fleet, while the US can and will build up another large Navy relatively fast (much more income than Japan).

    I thikn, this is the way to loose the pacific fast to the allies, and therefore to loose the game, because the US only needs to invet 2 more turns to secure the pacific and then can focus on Europe.

    my 2 cents

    the US should onlye have 1 carrier and 1 battleship standing at hawwaii i will recheck the charts anyway, either way assuming my fleet gets beaten down very bad the Us can get back in the water in 2 turns… but that’s 2 turns with little or no purchases in the Atlantic. i will reassess this stategy and see how it goes next time.


  • I don’t know. I’ve won every game since I started ignoring China so I don’t know. How do you guys take over China?


  • Unless you ALSO take out India - China becomes a resource drain and is better off ignored entirely.


  • @urmomsmom7:

    I don’t know. I’ve won every game since I started ignoring China so I don’t know. How do you guys take over China?

    What setup have you been using and where is the Axis gaining victory, Europe or Pacific?


  • china usually falls very easy with little resistance

    dont attack the burma road til J2 (and hold it) and from there head to india

    use 2 INF to take the remaining empty china territories

    if china doesnt do the predictable thing and put everything to save the burma road then dont worry about those units, just take the burma road J2 (no trading) then off to india

    it wont take very much at all to keep whatever INF china has in the northern part at bay

    you cannot let china keep the burma road and send waves of INF into those Asian coastal teritorys that are worth 2-3 apiece, and cutting off the burma road makes it easier to take calcutta anyhow


  • But if you don’t take Burma Road then China builds arty…


  • If you don’t attack Yunnan J1, then China can counter-attack Yunnan on C2 with
    12 Inf, 3 Art, 1 Fig.
    Even if you stack Yunnan with literally everything possible on J2, China has good odds to simply destroy everything you put there.  That’s pretty devastating in the balance of the mainland war.


  • @urmomsmom7:

    I don’t know. I’ve won every game since I started ignoring China so I don’t know. How do you guys take over China?

    i use the planes that i do not have on carriers and the few infantry i have at first to wipe out as many chinese as possible, especially around the burma road, i do not put any extra resources into a chinese campaing once i loose momentum y pull back to the high paying territories and defend them i might reinforce japanese troops in china on J 4 - 6 depending on how i am doing in the other areas…


  • NEVER ALLOW CHINA TO BUILD ARTILLERY.  Always attack Yunnan and Hunan round 1.  3 infantry doesn’t sound like much but when attacking along with the fighter and 15 or 20 infantry to soak up hits, they can sustain several rounds of dice rolls.

    The best way for them to really clobber you is to simply pull back 1 territory away from your main force (e.g. to Szechwan).  As soon as you take the territory adjacent to them (e.g. Yunnan), you wont be able to land planes on that newly captured territory.  Without protection from air units they will attack and clobber you.  Then if you get angry and try to attack with loads of air units but not enough ground units to soak up hits, they get to clobber you a second time.


  • so china pulling back to szechwan counters my strat pretty well :P


  • Maybe.  If they attack you in Yunnan and actually take the territory on turn 2, you probably have another bunch of ground troops that just moved into Hunan from Anhwe.  Now you can smash them with those ground units supported by all your air power.  At that point you grab as many chinese territories as fast as possible so they don’t rebuild their army.  All of China is your cash cow.

    BUT, what if they strafe you instead?  Suppose they attack Yunnan on turn 2 with 3 artillery, 1 fighter and just a handful of infantry.  A few infantry are lost on both sides and then they pull back to Scechwan.  Next turn you land air units and move ground units into Yunnan and you are excited thinking you can go in for the kill.  BUT, they move back to Sikang or Shensi and when you walk into Sechwan we repeat the process again.  Do that routine a couple times and you will find yourself out of position and short on ground units.  You might be a smart guy and walk in with just 1 infantry but then they are completely off the hook and they march around China 2 territories away from you regaining lost territory and growing bigger and bigger until they get brave and retake Peking.  That will be one VC you dont get because by that time they will have >30 infantry on it!

    A lot of people would not think to just strafe you though.  Most would go all in and then you would prevail.  So your strategy would probably work most of the time but its up to the other side.

  • '18

    Seems like there are various opinions on how best to play Japan.  I have only played AAG40 with the OOB rules but will be playing with the newest Alpha 3 rules soon.  Can anyone help me by explaining the impact the new alpha rules have on Japan?

    Also, I have traditionally liked to use a kill Russia first with the Axis and apply pressure to Russia with Japan?  Is this less effective with alpha 3 - specifically with the new Mongolian rules?

    Thanks

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