What Turn to Attack with Japan?

@larrymarx: Thanks for the responses. The fleet move to take Persia and Iraq probably isn’t a good idea then. Now here’s another question: if Japan declares war on Britain while already at war with Russia, can the US player then land his aircraft in Russia? Russia is not yet at war with Germany or Italy. Only if the US is at war can it land aircraft in non-US territory

As for Russia, there’s not much you can do against a good player.  Don’t spread yourself thin and don’t let your forces get divided and conquered.  For the most part buy inf plus art as needed.  In order to maximize Russia’s income (and especially if your opponent declares on G2), think about trying to capture as many +3 NOs (Iraq, Libya, Ethiopia, and there’s 2 more in Africa) as possible.  To achieve this, it’s a good idea to buy some additional mech/tanks on Russia 1 and take NW Persia on R2, Iraq on R3, and so on.

@Aaron_the_Warmonger I don’t know exactly the long term goal in Italian hands. The only conclusion I can come up with is to give Italy more of a northern Can Opening attack as well as give Italy more money for longer term play. Again, I find this foolish since it serves great use for Germany anyways. It’s been talked about, as said before, I’ve never seen it done and I have no plans to do it if I am ever Axis. I can see Bulgaria going Italian but not Finland.

G1: 2 subs, 1 bomber G2: 8 tanks, 2 mech, bombers G3: 10 mech, bombers G4 onwards: some infantry, artillery and bombers (Western Front defence) Goal: Dark Skies, swarm the Med with Luftwaffe to help Italy, bring 20 fast movers to Russian front before G4 so they can be overpowered. Bomb Russian factories back to stone age. Most targeted unit: UK ships. J1: 2 transports, 1 mic in shantung J2: 3 mech, 1 mic in kiangsu (FIC could be take by UK), 1 carrier J3: 1 naval base FIC, 2 carriers, 4 fighters J4 onwards: tanks/mechs 2 chinese MIC + carriers and air Goal: Conquer China completely and keep it with 2 early factories and steady flow of reinforcements, then invade Russia to reinforce German push. Take the initiative by all out J1 incl. Pearl Harbour, splitting fleet in two groups, then go for either Sydney or India based on Allied play. Get money islands asap to get to same economic level as USA. Start pumping carriers from J2 onwards. Keep India and ANZAC as small as possible to isolate USA. Most targeted unit: Chinese Infantry. I1: tank and mech I2: tanks I3: transport, troops for Africa I4: mic in Egypt, troops for Africa Provide German with mechanized can opening army (first 2 buys), reinforcing the starting 2 mainland tanks. Survive in Africa while German airforce flies in to destroy the British, so they can start their offensive I2 or I3 when UK is weakened and can be defeated. After Germans gave them a kickstart in NO, focus on keeping Egypt and in best case scenario start pushing Middle East/Africa. Most targeted: weak spots in Russian defence. Overal Axis focus: Egypt and Yunnan, all other are less important.

@Jeff28: How is your IPC income during this strategy Spendo? Do you have another partial fleet running round the money islands? Are you building factories on the mainland? Note this is NOT a J1 attack, but a J4 attack J1 (26 IPC starting) Buy Naval Base (15) - Placed on Hainan and not Formosa (like I think I said earlier) Buy 1 Artillery (4) Buy 1 Trn (7) IPC Remaining (0) Load Trn in SZ19 with 1 Inf, 1 Art from Manchuria. Drop off at Kwangsi Load Trn in SZ6 with 1 Inf, 1 Art from Japan.  Drop off at Kwangsi Move Trn in SZ20 to SZ6 Move entire fleet into SZ36 Move Manchuria Units into Jehol (5 Inf, 1 Mech) Move 4 Inf from Korea into Manchuria Leave Caroline Islands Fleet alone Take Chahar (1) Anhwe (1) Hunan (1) Yunnan (1) = +4 IPC Stay Neutral = +10 IPC J1 Collect (26 + 10 + 4) + IPC Remaining (0) = 40 IPC J2 (40 IPC to Spend) Buy 3 Inf (9) Buy 2 Art (8) Buy 2 Trn (14) IPC Remaining (9) Load 1 Trn in SZ6 with 1 Inf, 1 Tank from Japan.  Drop off at Kwangsi Load 1 Trn in SZ6 with 1 Inf, 1 Art from Japan.  Drop off at Kwangsi Move 1 Trn from SZ36 to SZ6.  Pick up the Inf in Okinawa Move 1 Trn from SZ36 to SZ19.  Pick up 2 Inf from Manchuria Move 5 Inf from Jehol to Anhwe Move 2 Inf from Manchuria into Jehol (Moved the Mech Inf from Jehol to Suiyuyan’s attack) Keep both fleets in position If I did my math right, after unit placement Japan is holding 3 purchased Inf, 3 purchased Art.  Its +1 from the pickup at Okinawa and has moved 3 of its original Inf to have 3 of its original remaining.  Thats a total of 4 Inf + 3 Purchased + 3 Art.  It has 2 Trn just purchased and placed, plus 1 that moved in from SZ36 for a total of 3 Trn in SZ6 ending J2. Take Suiyuyan (1) Hopei (1) Kweichow (1) = +3 IPC Retake Yunnan (0) Because already counted from J1 Neutral NO = +10 IPC IPC not lost from J1 = +4 IPC J2 Collect (26 + 10 + 4 + 3) IPC + Remaining IPC (9) = 52 IPC J3 (52 IPC to Spend) Buy 1 AC (16) Buy 1 TacB (11) Buy 1 Ftr (10) Buy 2 Subs (12) Buy 1 Inf Remaining IPC (0) Move 1 Trn from SZ19 to SZ20.  Drop off 2 Inf at Kiangsi Move 1 Trn from SZ36 to SZ6 Move 1 Trn from SZ6 to SZ19, pick up 2 Inf.  Drop off at Kiangsi Move 5 Inf from Anhwe to Kweichow Move 1 Inf from Shensi to Tsinghai Move entire Fleet in SZ36 to SZ33 Fly 2 StratB from Mainland to Caroline Islands Take Kansu (1) Shensi (1) = +2 IPC (need one more turn for units to get down from Manchuria/Korea into Kweichow to take Szechwan and China’s Fighter. Retake Yunnan (0) But may not have to depending on how China fares on its J2 attack Neutral NO = +10 PIC IPC not lost from J1 = +4 IPC IPC not lost from J2 = +3 IPC J3 Collect (26 + 10 + 4 + 3 + 2) + Remaining IPC (1) = 46 IPC J4 (46 IPC to spend) Buy 4 Destroyers (32) Buy 2 Inf (6) Buy 2 Art (8) Remaining IPC (0) Take FIC (2) Kwangtung (3) Sikang (1) Szechwan (1) = +7 IPC IPC not lost from J1-J3 = +9 IPC NO: Hold Honolulu = +5 IPC J4 Collect (26 + 9 + 7 + 5) + Remaining IPC (0) = 47 IPC Move 2 Trn from SZ20 to SZ6 Move all remaining units towards Yuunan.  The English are coming! Send the entire kitchen sink from Caroline / Japan against Hawaii. Just for clarity, Japan brings against Hawaii: 4 Subs 4 Destroyers 2 Cruisers 2 Battleships 4 Fighters 4 TacB’s 2 StratB’s USA fields: 1 Sub 2 Destroyers 2 Cruisers 1(3) Battleship 1(3) AC 1(2) Fighter (AC) 1 TacB (AC) 2(3) Fighters (Scramble from Hawaii) Add in 2 Battleships (U1/U2), 2 AC(U1/U2), 1 Fighter from W.USA, 1 Fighter flown in from the Philippines.  USA2 could also opt to purchase a fighter instead of a second AC (likely) with their remaining 16 IPC.  Placement of that Fighter is essential as is the decision where that fighter in Eastern US ends up.  Both those fighters show up in Hawaii, you’re in for a fight to the death in Hawaii. USA3 Purchases will never make it to Hawaii in time, but can counter so take note of that.  If USA has more than 6 fighters on/around Hawaii, this attack is a 50-50 shot.  With 6 or less, your looking at 85% odds of winning.  USA starts with 3 fighters already there.  Western US is the 4th, the Philippines is the 5th, USA2 Purchase is the 6th.  However, if Italy/Germany stage at SZ91 and put the threat on Eastern US at the end of G3 - USA cannot ignore it and you’ll ensure fighters/ships are finding their way headed to Eastern USA and not the Pacific on a USA3 purchase / non-combat moves. Amphibious Assault constitutes 4 Trn loaded with 5 Inf and 3 Art from SZ6.  Unless the US is buying transports and/or moving units from Eastern US into Western to ferry across the most ground units on Hawaii are 4 Inf, 1 Mech, 1 Art.  You have a 83% chance of winning this battle, losing probably 4 Inf. Drawbacks: You leave yourself bare in the pacific for Anzac to have fun with your islands.   You never touched India-UK’s fleet. You WILL lose ships in the Hawaii attack.  Chances are you walk away with 2 damaged Battleships, maybe 2 fighters and you moved in 4 AC.  I had one very good roll where I survived with 3 fighters and 1 TacB plus the aforementioned ships but I absolutely killed USA on the second round of rolls. You have 4 Destroyers, 2 Trn in SZ6 off Japan ending J4.  Just enough to go straight after the Philippines if you so choose.  Those 4 Destroyers can also move their way straight to Hawaii to protect against a US sub purchase after J4 to protect whatever ships survived the Hawaii assault.  They also bring with them 2 Inf, 2 Art on Transports to reinforce Hawaii (or stage for a move into Western US on J6). All the money islands are free for the Allies to take. You’re going to lose a TON of IPC value off the board by trying to take Burma with a limited ground force and no reinforcements in sight. The British ARE coming. Projecting beyond this point is hazardous for my health, so I will just leave suggestions: I think the best strategy at this point is retreating to Caroline.  Leave any surviving fighters/infantry you have there to force the US to fully commit to taking Hawaii back.  Move all Trn to Japan.  It gives you the ability to project against Anzac, or to take out whatever India-UK tries to move up the coast.  You’ll be in range of purchased fighters from Japan this way as well so you can quickly land 2 fighters, 2 TacB on your AC in any zone that the Allies go after (SZ36, SZ33, or back into Hawaii at SZ26).  With 4 Destroyers, 2 TP loaded with 2 Inf, 2 Art, and 2 repaired Battleships you’ll be able to roll 6 die for 4’s against any of the tiny fleets that are kicking up dirt in the Pacific as well as to start taking the IPC islands.  Just realize that China is a lost cause and you are just playing turtle between Burma and Yunnan.  I’d probably project myself against the Philippines as soon as possible to deny the US another 5 IPC and then start ferrying more units down into south east Asia from Japan.  Something along the lines of 2 inf, 2 Art (14), 1 Fighter/1 TacB (21) for the next few turns.

One reason to use them on land would be to take FRA, WFR, and SFR all at once … but it probably doesn’t outweigh the strategic advantage of sinking an extra SZ of Allied ships. Though you have me thinking now about how many land units you can safely free up (i.e. start moving toward Russia early) by using significant air over Paris and how much difference that would make against the USSR.  This would only make sense if you only do Sea Lion opportunistically and you plan an early Barbarossa.

@variance: @WILD: When doing a J1 attack I also sink the Hawaiian fleet. I hit the fleet with a couple dd, sub and 4 planes (2 ftrs/2tacs). I then NCM 2 carriers, cruiser and bb to Wake to pick up my surviving air units. Make sure a dd survives the Haw battle to block out the US ships from hitting your fleet at Wake (leave a few ftrs on Japan in case you need to NCM some air in to replace losses). US can try an ill advised air sweep on your Wake fleet, but if you want to play it safe take Wake Isl too. This will give your air units a place to land so your carriers and BB can soak up the first three hits. I really like this (especially with balance mode because Wake denies USA an NO), and I would also add a bomber that lands on Marshall Islands.  The problem is all those planes are not in Kwangsi so you lose the threat of pounding an airstrike on Szechwan or Burma, and you might even have a hard time at Yunnan.  You do set the USA way back but you lose initiative on the mainland. You really need 1 of those bombers against china and the other 1 against the UK BB that you can basicaly kill for free. I just hate leaving a good old BB alive when i can kill it easy it will only help against italy and the more freedom the germans get the more US resources have to go that way. Another nice way if you J1 is to attack the destroyer + transport of australia with your own destroyer from the carolines, its a crapshoot but a decent chance you win and that will set australia back a lot, and if you dont win well 2 bad that destroyer is nice but it wont make a huge difference for you.

@wittmann: I do not think it matters. Just because you DOW, doesn’t mean you have to invade. Many Russians will DOW first, as they can then move into Western China with Mech units to help out. If the Russian players moves all 18 INf into Amur and has not DOW you first, I think you have to do so and ATTACK! The bigger reason for Russia to DOW Japan on Turn 1 is so if Japan DOW’s the Allies, Allied units can move into Russia in the East.