Those US pacific builds- really a NO thing?

Japan, of all the countries, has the most opportunities, units to take advantage of these opportunities, and time to attempt them.  These moves might cost them some of their planes, but those are expendable(start with NINE!) to further expansion as well as most easily replaced due to their range and relative low cost.

By mentioning time, Japan is isolated enough to be able to recover if their opening round attacks go poorly.

J1 Buy = 2 tpt, inf = 17/17

Combat:
2 inf (sz61) via sz61 tpt > brn *MT

CA,BB (sz61) > sz50 (dd, tpt)

inf (car) inf(oki) via sz51 tpt
2 inf (jap) via sz 62 tpt

3 inf, art (sz61) via sz61 tpts > bur (inf)

2 ftr (sz61) > sz35 (dd,tpt)
2 ftr (sz57) > sz56 (dd,tpt)
2 ftr (sz57), dd (sz51) > sz53 (BB)

However you want to attack China on the ground.  This is not the strongest push, but also not the weakest.
3 inf (man), inf (kia) > Sui (inf)
2 inf (kia), ftr (jap) > fuk (inf)
3 inf (fic),  ftr (for), ftr (man) > yun (inf,ftr)

@dondoolee:

-Think I am getting off easy because you “only” role 2 dice for heavy bombers

-Am still filled with wonder by transporting an infantry unit AND ANYTHING ELSE I WANT!

-Still think it is a bit rude and unsportsmanlike to attack Germany with Russia on R1.

Hehe - what a great post.  Yes, I’ve played enough Revised (about 70 games on GTO) and Anniversary that I think all of the Classic stuff is actually expelled from my system.  However, the ones I quoted still resonate with me.  Although with Germany right on the doorstep, it doesn’t seem rude or unsportsmanlike to attack Germany on R1 (which was crippling in Classic, as you imply)  In Classic you had the Caucasus buffer zone.
I’ve got some new ones to add.
-  I still have urges to attack subs with planes for the free shots.

-  Still cringe at attacking transports with planes because I might lose my planes and still not hit the transports (actually, I got used to the Anny rule very quickly)

-  Still have the urge to attack Russia with Germany with all available personnel every turn, especially turn 1, to get that all important Karelia factory!

I find the US/UK vs Japan option (1941) is very viable.  Maybe I am misreading what was said before, but it actually seems more viable to me than a traditional kill Germany first. (I think this is because Italy can liberate/take land and Germany can reinforce it with fighters to defend now, a very significant and major defensive capability!)

America may be limited to 52 IPC or less a round if they go Kill Japan first.  However, England should be making significantly more than the 20-30 IPC they get in a kill Germany/ignore Japan campaign because of the NO in the Pacific, the non-loss of the NO in the Indian Ocean/Africa/Australia/etc, the increased land ownership in the Asian SE and SE Pacific Islands, etc.  Meanwhile, Japan shouldn’t be earning too much either, America could, realistically, be earning near to more than double what Japan is if played right.

The German fleet is so useless that I don’t even bother blowing it apart on England 1.  Maybe England 3, if I have the fighters to spare and Italy’s already owned. :)

What the designers did was break up the big Japanese sea zones into a lot of little ones but they left the sea zones close to the US wide open which encourages a policy of harrassment by a smaller US navy. But, the US is unlikely to make it very deep into Japanese controlled sea zones without spending every dime on the Pacific.

However, with a small naval investment the US can usually claim the Midway, Wake, Hawaii, Solomans National Objective and keep a decent portion of the Japanese navy tied up.

I think the new turn (with J going before UK in both scenarios) order really works against a British Factory purchase.

An Aussie IC seems doable, but I don’t know, its still feels pretty shabby as an island at only 2 ipc. I mean if you have to buy a transport, that’s only one other ground unit in the first turn. Unlike India or S. Africa where you can eventually get those tanks to Russia, Australia requires you to transport everything. It seems safer in 42 than 41 probably (41 feels risky to me, unless your transporting units from India to Australia in the first round), but in 1942 you have the issue of no starting fleet in sea zone 42, which make the whole investment seem a lot less worthwhile.

If the UK was meant to have a second Factory they should have built the Colonial Garrison into the game. With all the other rules floating around, it would have been relatively simple by comparison. Its really the hefty price tag at 15 ipcs that kills it for me. If it was one extra factory for free, or all factories were only 12 ipcs, things would probably work out better.

@Krieghund:

@timerover51:

2.  Same situation as above, except the UK player also sends a fighter/bomber along in the attack.  The cruiser is sunk by the first strike of the UK sub.  Does the U-boat protect the transport, even though it cannot engage the aircraft, and the aircraft cannot engage it?

No.  Since the sub and planes can’t engage each other, the transport is defenseless.

True enough but i don’t see why the german would choose the cruiser to take the first strike instead of it’s sub.