If the U.K. declares war, can Japan enter the DEI - or is that a DOW on the USA

@jando

If Japan is declaring war on everyone like in real life, the Allies should just do what they did in history. Wait to build your forces and catch small isolated units of the Japanese fleet. Hold on to India and Australia. Germany first.

Yeah well a bunch of Italian ground troops on N Italy can retake S Italy right away. Of course losing Rome even if it’s retaken straight away is still a significant setback for the Axis.

It would be fun to import the Iron Blitz (PC version) Cold War scenario into the 1940 map: this time around instead of just having USSR-US-UK you could expand it to have France represent the rest of the NATO powers, Germany to represent the Warsaw Pact and China gets to be on its own (as PRC vs ROC, Taiwan can just be controlled by the US player along with Japan). Of course tech would be opened up.

3-5 bombers flying to london can be the difference between sea lion success and sea lion fail. It changes the odds drastically. Because Germany has to roll 3 more hits to win… which means more 2s to roll for the defender which means more 4s to roll as the battle drags on.

So yes sometimes Japan postpones war because of bomber purchases by USA.

Ok. Combat move.

Declare war round 3.  In the meantime you can pick on China.

If there is a Burmese stack, I almost ALWAYS attack on Round 2 with the intention of taking India round 3 - because I can park my fleet south of Burma (transports loaded to bear) and not have to deal with any blocking by the allies.  21 Fighters vs 10 Infantry, 2 AA Guns (give or take) may sound like a “WTF” moment, but if it means India’s a cake walk, it’s worth losing the 4 or 5 aircraft to clear it.

If there is no Burmese stack, it really depends on what Russia and Australia are doing.  If I can clear out all the potential blockers, then I’ll probably try for India, if I cannot, then I’ll set up my attack on the DEI and Philippines instead.

The only problem here is that the USA-player will never stay passive when Japan invades DEI. There hardly ever is an imminent threat to him and by entering the war he can take up a more active role in the game. In real life the American Public Opinion was more isolastionistic and therefore the politicians weren’t eager to go to war (unless the nation itself was attacked as happened at Pearl Harbor). So maybe here is a nice optional rule: When Japan attacks the ANZAC/UK at J1, the Americans role a single die and when it hits 2 or less they enter the war. When Japan declares war on J2, the Americans again role a die and when it hits 4 or less the Americans go to war. After J3 America automatically opens the Pacific theatre. Maybe, or maybe not.