• So Japan starts with alot of inf, but alot of them are stranded in the Pacfic Islands.  What do you do with them?  If you leave them where they are they get picked off.  If you arent careful about picking them up on trannies they end up in davy jones locker.  So, what is the most effective way to get them into the action?


  • I just forget about them. If you do Pearl Harbor then U.S.A. can’t do much against them. Plus, unless your Allied player is nuts, he’s not going to waste his transports or land units when they could be used against Germany.


  • Its all very different what to with your island troops, depending on where your fronts are and so forth, these lone soldiers also make difficult for the Japanese player to maximize his efficiency.

    Okinawa and wake islands (1 inf each) are very easy to pick up, while your massing land troops to Asia from the East Japanese seazone you can just make a move back and forth and have them on the mainland in a single move.

    Philippines (2 inf) are usually a first turn pick up for me, this move makes all your trannies go from japan in you next move which makes for more options on where to land japan based troops.

    East Indies (2 inf) While heading south for that nice 3 IPCs in India my troops pick up these buddies

    Borneo, New Guinea, Caroline & Solomon Islands (1 inf each) these all come a little later in the game, sometimes they just stay, Borneo goes to Asia around 50% of the time, while the others and maybe the Borneo inf, depending on circumstances go to Australia and new zealand. If i head for Australia I usually make few more pick ups while the trannies are heading back to the real fight.
    If the US go Island hoping I like to have some defending infantry on my islands, not because its worth it (its not), more because if the US goes for Japan first I’ll have a lot of other things on mind than using these spare troops and they shall not have ANY of my islands for free

    Regards,
    Daniel


  • I usually shuffle them into indochina.  Some of the men that are further away I leave on the islands but the 4ipc islands I generally use them as well as the ones closest to japans mainland.  If I find usa is taking my islands I will harass him with my pacific fleet and retake them back with an amphibious assault.  Lately though my opponents keep trying to maintain and IC on india so I would prefer to have more forces there.


  • I try to pick up some of them, but certainly not all…

    especially the islands that have an IPC value: I leave my infantry guard those…


  • If Japan goes TRN’s heavy in J1 (pretty common), then those INF can be worked into an Asian campaign within a couple of rounds.

    The “easy” grabs like Wake and Oki happen right away.
    Then a quick shuttle from FIC to East Indies to grab those.
    A “loop” run from SZ60 via Phillipines get those units to FIC in 1 move.
    Another out and back for Borneo

    That leaves only 3 divisons on Islands after 1-2 rounds of shuttling.

    And those 3 can be handy for a mid-game/late game strike on New Zealand, Australia, or the slow boat to Brazil…


  • In all the time I have been playing A&A I usually place myself in the mindset as though Ive already lost all the islands.  As far as I’m concerned, all those little inf (on most of the islands) are on their own.

    Whats more important is whats going on Asia proper~  you have to make advances west towards Russia to take the pressure off of Germany~  Of course what you do really depends on what you think the US is doing.  Whether or not the US is concerning itself with Japan or Germany first.

    Also, if u play with NA’s…The banzai attacks are great with all inf~  Plus, if Moscow is on the verge of falling at anytime during any of your games, try to make it so that Germany takes it instead of Japan.  I’m in a game now where Japan has taken Russia but Germany is under siege and holed up with 24 inf.  Its much harder to reinforce Europe if Japan takes Russia.  Also, if the allies are smart they will  put pressure on Germany most of the time to knock them out early.


  • Why?  Once Japan takes Russia, you can send 8 units a round into Europe…  Plus everythign still in the pipeline from the march on Moscow that just keeps marching…


  • I think that trying to decide who gets moscow is really really hard, when the opportunity comes grab it! I doesn’t matter much if its japan or germany that claims, either way the axis will be much stronger with Sov out of the game.

    -Daniel Malus


  • No Joke.  When USSR falls one of the Axis powers have so much extra money, it doesn’t realy matter anymore. The one that takes moscow helps reinforce the other.


  • You may forget about them at first, especially if you’re employing a trannie strat instead of building an IC on the mainland, but eventually, I’d make it a point to sweep 'em all up and at least take them to your economically/strategically valuable spots (i.e.  Japan, East Indies, Phillipines, and the mainland definitely)  I don’t have the game right in front of me, but I’m guessing that’s about 6-8 infantry that would otherwise be sitting there to rot.  I think the islanders should be moving toward the mainland by J3 at the latest.

    If Japan has the Tokyo Express NA, then there should be no question - start loading up the trannies on J1!


  • And thats why Im asking.  If you just let them sit they are a waste of Resouces.  But picking them up could be tricky.  Just wanted to see if anyone had a special use for them.


  • In my last game I pulled out the infantery of Borneo to India in J3…

    I had to ship them back to Borneo in J5 because I forgot the starting UK fleet could attempt an amphibious assault by then with some inf they could pick up from Australia…
    (I did a Pearl attack on J1 while UK1 had withdrawn his fleet to Africa)


  • that should have been the end of the uk fleet axel.  i use the east indies pair on j3 to take india and usuall have a trannie and a bb and cv w/ 2 figs pick up the rest at their leisure, taking australia and new zealand before heading back to the mainland.  trannies in sz 60 can cherry pick a couple and add one from japan for bury (is it wake and okinawa?) the trannie that hit india can get the others.  really by j5 the islands are pretty much empty and you have half-doven or so grunts in asia you didn’t have to buy.  if usa or uk really are able to island hop (this means something is going wrond), the off-shore usually doens’t give your guys a chance to fire anyway so they aren’t really a defense anyway.


  • Just remember, against MOST experienced players, Japan will NOT have the Kwang tranny on J1.


  • I think those infantry on the islands are useful, but then again, I also use every part of a whale.


  • The mark of a good Japan player is one who not only uses, but knows HOW to use the island INF.  So far, I have gained 6 divisions for use against Asia in my current game, and I have 2 more about to board a tranny… destination unkwown…
    (Bonus points if you know the musical group from the 80’s that sang a song by that title… FYI… I have their greatest hits on CD :-P)


  • 2 bands did a song of that name in the 80’s.

    The one you are looking for is Expose (with an accent on the e).

    The other group is the Electric Light Orchestra written in 1983.  It was a B-side that was intended but not released on the album Secret Messages.  It ended up on 3-disc boxed set released in 1991 that had a short print run.  The new box set included only 2 discs and the song sunk back into the oblivion.

    Fortunately, I have both songs by both bands.  Each song is totally different.  I don’t think people did remakes back then.  :wink:


  • his UK fleet was sailing the most southern route possible, so, I couldn’t reach them straight ahead…
    He couldn’t attack Borneo, while my superior J fleet was blocking his amphibious assault…
    and if he hadn’t resigned in turn 4, the men of the UK fleet would have been shark meat…


  • @ncscswitch:

    Just remember, against MOST experienced players, Japan will NOT have the Kwang tranny on J1.

    Unless your UK attacker (either Fighter or DD) misses and the trannie hits on round one… like happened to me in my most recent game.   :-(

    destination unkwown…
    (Bonus points if you know the musical group from the 80’s that sang a song by that title…

    Missing Persons ?

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