Post info on your game of AAP40 here

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 😜

@mastermind93:

If I remember correctly, you can’t build a Major IC in a foreign territory. I do agree, though, on the importance of the Caroline Islands.

I think originally it was allowed. If not, i’ve been had ;)

Ok, so you have 6 ground units plus planes going up against atleast 10, more like closer to 15, plus an aa gun, and maybe some of UKs planes.  Rock on, that is a good trade for the allies to make.

Let me put a little disclaimer on my ‘advice’:

If, at any time, your UK planes can die by landing in a territory and not take down atleast 2 japan planes for each one you loose, or a japan transport, DO NOT LAND THEM there.  Also, if you can hold India with the planes, but not without the planes, LAND THEM IN INDIA.  I assume a certain level of common sense to be applied.

Its worth getting cause when AAE40 comes out you will want both to play the combined game.  Also the introduction of new rules and units (convoys, declaration of war, air base, naval base, tactical bomber, mechanized infantry) make the game far more enjoyable and adds more depth and breadth to the series, further setting it apart from other board games.

I would like to thank you guys for the advice, because I won my game against my best buddy.

I immediately pushed my Navy South and took NSW from the Austrailians (he had alot of troops in Queensland).  I also built a factory in Kwangtung which the next turn I made 9 men there (and a transport) followed by 10 tanks the next turn.  I traded NSW for a few turns back and forth eventually killing off all the Australian troops two turns before America could send their then massive navy to Austrailia.

I used two transports and took Sumatra and Malaya with Battleship and Destroyer support, and smashed the remaining Brits and 3 Chinese in Yunnan at the cost of about 8 planes to the 4 British planes and several infantry.

With Australia clear of troops I moved transports and bombers into a poor India and took it over and blocked the United States from reaching Austrailia, Japan, or the Phillipenes.

Thank you all for the advice, but next time Ill attack sooner with Japan, the Brits got rich fast which caused me a big headache.

What about using DDs in conjunctiion with SSs?  The subs can soak hits in the early rounds right, for only 6 IPCs instead of 8 IPCs.  I understand the extra #3 attack over a #2 gives the DDs a slight plus for the IPC cost, but i think adding a couple subs could give a small bonus to the final numbers.