AA42 axis "Strategy" video

I have been glancing through the boards looking for a good article on KJF (Kill Japan First) in 42, without finding that golden recipe.

As I see it it is possible to perform an opening something like this:

R1
Buy 3 inf 3 arm
hit WR maybe Ukraine
2 inf to sinkiang
Stack Bury with 6 inf
Place 3 armor in Cauc

UK1
IC in India
Kill Jap Transp with carrier
Consider hitting FIC instead of Egypt (If FIC attack fails badly IC could be placed in SA)
Get some air to cauc to clear the med and help in asia

US1
Well depends on results - Pacific navy builds
Sinkiang IC

The goal is to push Japan of the mainland and for US navy to land in east indies+Borneo and setup ICs and pin the Japan navy.
Doing this, while the russian front holds against Germany, means that the Allies will be cruising towards IPC dominance and an easy win.

I realize that this is not an optimal strategy - the counter is simply for Germany to push hard towards Moscow and quickly USSR will be in big trouble. But sometimes it is just fun to try some other variations to a standard KGF stalemate.

Does any of the more experienced players have better tactics for implementing a KJF strategy?

I would be surprised if Germany had Africa and then wasted those IPC’s on subs. Seems counterproductive.

Thx alot m8 ;)

@DougR:

Another difference: the lower cost of bombers combined with the defenseless transports. If Allies go KFG then Japan should buy 1 bomber each turn and send it to Europe in two turns (using conquered Egypt or Trans-Jordan). A large japanese airforce in Europe can make it really hard for the Allies, because Japan plays between UK and US and can take advantage of any openings left after the UK fleet has moved.

You know, I had to laugh at this.  I had posted the subject of limits on cooperation b/w the Western Allies and Russia.  Being the history nerd that I am, it never would have occurred to me to send Japanese bombers to Germany (and now that I know, I still couldn’t get myself to do it)!

Historically it might make no sense for this to happen (although there were examples of German/Italian subs/surface raiders operating on the Pacific and Indian oceans) but the game isn’t meant to be a faithful representation of WW2 (if so the starting production levels would be grossly unbalanced towards the Alllies).

You may choose to play it so and create your own house rules to approximate it as close to reality as possible but with out of the box rules there’s nothing to stop you or your opponents to do so.

I haven’t played it before.

@Zhukov44, you could be correct, although I still think an allied pac-strat is an ineffective strat. I’ve only faced this once though, and my Germany grew too strong so the opponent lost.

But I’m not yet as theoretically knowledgeable in AA42 as in Revised and AA50.

I take back what I said about forgetting Africa.  With the new transport rules, it is much easier to fend off Allied convoy’s, especially for the first few turns.  I did some testing (having the new TripleA now) and this is what seemed to work best:

-Take out see zone 2 with sub and whatever air needed.  Leave Canada transport for Baltic fleet as it won’t have much of an escort with sea zone 2 dead
-take out battleship in sea zone 13 with remainder of air that can reach.
-grab 1 inf and 1 tank from Southern Europe, land in Egypt with all land forces that can reach and fighter that can reach from eastern front.
-take Karelia with Norway troops and reserves.
-consolidate on Karelia, Belorussia and Ukraine

Hold Eastern line (trading if need be) until Japs storm in back side.
trade Baltic fleet for any UK1 fleet build
Keep majority of air in Western Europe and buy a bomber a turn (for 3 turns).  Sink everything

Eventually Japan storms in as usual, and it takes 3+ turns for a large enough fleet to hold off Germany’s air.

Another thing I tried was taking the Japan fleet in the East Indies and spare fighters and take out India fleet, then move through Mediterranian see to hold Gibralter with the German Battleship.  This bought an extra turn or two of holding off allied fleet.  You don’t need it in the Pacific anyway assuming you destroy the Pearl Harbor fleet.

It caused me to lose all but Kwangtung on Asia initially, but I ferried so many troops in after the first turn it didn’t matter.  The allies have no supply line in eastern Asia to stop you, and with half the Japan fleet in the Atlantic with the German boats left, it made African and Western Europe landings impossible.  They only thing the Allies can do is Norway landings, which take twice as long from the US.

I’m not sure of a good Allied counter to this.  I did have the PC move the Russian sub to sea zone 2, which helped take out more units in that battle (still only lost a fighter and sub).

and if aa42 were aa50-where japan does often get pretty large, then that might not be such a big issue…but '42 is supposedly to be more like AAR, where japan wasn’t exactly godzilla running amuck…