Best way to divide a three player game.

Glad you can play with your boys. Lucky man!
Merry Christmas , Worsham.

Hello, I play pacific 1940 a lot.  I have also played global a few times.  Pacific 1940 second edition is a great game but I can almost easily win every time if I’m Japan and I attack on the third turn.  A new rule was passed around late 2014 to allow the USA to receive a 30 IPC bonus if Japan attacks or declares war on them before turn 4.  This seems to balance the game a little but I can still always win with Japan.  The strategy for Japan is pretty much the same.  Take the money islands, build a minor in French Indo China and Kwangtung and knock out China and India.  Post in the Philippines with your huge navy and three fighters that can scramble and those six deadly kamikizes.  Let Anzac and USA come to you so you can use the fighters to defend at 4 when the big navy battle happens.  Eventually you will be making more than the allies with the money islands NO and the India NO.  You should be around the 70-75 mark.  Then when the time is right strike at Sydney or Hawaii and hold it and you should win as it will be six victory cities.  For the allies, man this can be tuff lol.  You better hope Japan attacks you on turn 1 or turn 4 because turn 2 and especially 3 it’s going to be difficult. 
1:  China:  buy men and hit and run and fall back to the north west of China. You will be lucky if the Burma road is open more than two turns.  Pull back and make Japan come to you.
2:  UK:  pull everyone back to India and just buy men!!! Try to bring your navy down to Australia and unite them with Anzac and hopefully later USA. If it looks like India is going to fall then pull your airforce out and send them to Australia to hopefully land on a Anzac or American carrier.  If Japan hasn’t declared war early then take as many islands in the south as possible .
3:  Anzac:  small ships and transports are good.  if it looks like Japan is going to invade then pull your forces to south Australia because from there you can hit any territory.  Use your small ships to convoy raid or unite with the main USA fleet.  Queensland is a great staging area for the allied navy early in the game.  Also since there’s a airbase there fighters don’t hurt also since they can scramble.
4:USA: the big boy lol.  The problem is when USA is neutral she only makes a freaking 17 ipcs a turn.  While Japan is around the 40 mark and Japan has soooooooo many aircraft at its disposal.  USA I say aircraft carrier early then mainly subs, destroyers, and a transport every turn with land units.  A few rounds into the game get a navy base on the Johnson islands and start combining your fleet with the Anzac fleet and hopefully a small UK fleet. try to take the money islands by sacrificing transports because Japan will have a bigger navy early in the game.  When the time is right move to Dutch New Guinea with your fleet and prepare for the big battle.  Sometimes it’s better if Japan attacks you and sometimes it’s better if you attsck them.  Hopefully you will have a lot of subs at your disposal. If you win the navy battle then Japan is pretty much toast even if they have India and China.  Good luck and let me know how the war goes lol. I am playing anniversary edition on Saturday 😜

My thinking is as a separate game this setup is flawed, but I’m betting anything that the Global game (the one we are all going to play from here on out for the most part) is pretty balanced with the addition of all those Russian infantry to the North of Manchuria. Something tells me that India crush strategy will take a beating.

@SSPanzer:

Yes well forgoing a J1 attack is out of the question, and giving the US 40 IPCs up front is a bid, which is not optional on this forum. The question posed is objectives, our group prefers to give a few bonus objectives here and there, so if you would like to contribute please address the topic at hand.

Well, the option I mentioned simply allows the US to use their wartime NO right away in the case of a J1 DoW, which is not technically a bid since there would be no placement of units beforehand, it just gives the US 57 IPCs to spend on their first turn instead of the OOB 17; leaving the rest of the game untouched.

I mentioned it since your second US NO gives the US extra IPCs but basically increases the OOB US NO from 40 to 45; which, as Tralis stated, doesn’t do much for the US as they can’t really build much more with 5 extra IPCs per turn besides accumulating it for later use anyway as the US needs boats and planes to contest Japan on the water and actually get their land units in range of anything.

The Chinese NO is significant for China, but I don’t think that’s necessarily bad as China still does relatively poorly against Japan.  The UK NO would allow for 1 extra infantry per turn for UK, which will also be further annoying to Japan.  However, I voted that it will help the Allies, but not much because with the J3 India Crush method, 2 extra infantry to India will not make that much of a difference, and the couple extra infantry that China can accumulate will still only delay the Japanese a little.

I too am new to the site, but have been playing this game for nearly 15 years. welcome to the family.

In regards to a pacific strategy I believe that China is a place for mis-placed agression. I dont think you need to advance more then 4 provinces in to China, taking Yunan, Hunan, Anhui, and Charhar. This reduces China economy by 1/3 and denies them their NO, it also keeps your units close enough to the coast to pull them back if they become needed else where.
The key to winning comes from taking and holding the southern resource area which include Maylay, Kwangtung, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, French Indo-China, and the Philipines. By taking this area you will double Japans economy and reach a parity with the US. Also, this area will put 2 more VC under your control, which are the objectives you need to win, and gain you some of your NOs.
From here its key to make swift work of India, throwing everything you can aginst them. The quicker this is done the beter (turn 4 or 5 ideally). Then you will be free to finnish of China at your leisure.

After that its really up to you. I like to go after the Anzac’s as taking their VC is harder for the US to take back. Best of luck, hope this helps

@allboxcars:

@Autarch:

Though I do question starting Siam under Japanese control….

I imagine this will change with the Global game as it depends on what happens to France.

#501

I’m not talking about FIC. Siam had a favorable view of Japan’s opposition to Western Imperialism and their diplomatic assistance in settling border disputes with France, but was not interested in becoming part of the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan landed troops there during the opening days of the war to secure passage into Malaya. Realizing there would be no help from the west, Siam negotiated a truce and allowed Japanese access to railroads, harbors and airfields.

Kiangsi and Kwangsi were invaded by Japan in 1938 but only in several small coastal pockets at that and were non contiguous. None of these territories should start under complete Japanese control in 1940.

WOW…now that is an interesting turn of events for the global game…should be VERY fascinating

@Craig:

My towers speak for themselves.

Definitely Craig’s towers are beautiful!  Take a look at them for sure!

These towers that I created are only version 1.0 and I would like to try to sell version 2.0 of my towers but I still need to work some things out.