Well, stacking in Yunnan proved to be a bad plan. Japan hit it with everything and with a 55% win chance, took it with a tank and lost 5 Fighters. However, with India’s fighters gone now (died in Yunnan), and China’s stack gone- nothing will stop Japan from Calcutta and taking all of China. Combine this with the Luftwaffe crushing the combined British/American fleet off of Gibraltar (made possible by Italian landing in Gibraltar), this game is over. Russia was doing fairly well after taking Norway, Finland, and Iraq, but it was the only position that was doing ok. (This with the German stack in East Poland on Turn 2).
So, with the writing on the wall at the end of Turn 2 (!!) I conceded.
What to do better against the G1:J1 onslought?
#1 Be more conservative with India and China - stacking Yunnan Turn 1 proved to be fatal- in one fell swoop, Japan crushed the mainland asian allies’ main forces. Sacrificing all Indian ships to slow the Japanese was not effective. I just traded a DD and CA for a Transport and 2 DD. Didn’t phase Japan at all- and India has no ships. A “fleet-in-being” in the Indian ocean forces the Japanese to split up their fleet a little.
#2 Even with a G1, Russia has time- especially if it is taking Iraq and tactically retreating, avoiding the big stack battle. The bigger threat in the early rounds is Pacific victory, so the USA should spend 75-80% of its $$ in the Pacific.
#3 Don’t stack Gibraltar SZ until you can hold it and land troops in Gibraltar if Italy looks like it can take it. As the UK, concentrate on holding Africa after a sealion looks unlikely.
#4 As UK, slowly build up a fleet at Canada- Thos Gerrman Subs laround the UK are annoying, but its more annoying to lose your fleet piecemeal.
