This is my G1 in LL, no tech.

Buy
9inf 1art

CM
ukr <- bul: 3inf, pol: 1fig
epl <- pol: 2inf, bul: 1art 2arm
bst <- pol: 2inf 1art 2arm, chk: 2arm, ger: 1inf 1art
egy <- lib: 1inf 1art 1arm, mor: 1inf, fra: 1arm
sz2 <- sz7: 1ss, nwy: 1fig, ger: 1bmb
sz6 <- sz5: 1ca 1ss
sz12 <- sz7: 1ss, nwe: 1fig, ger: 1fig

Retreat egy if down to 1arm against more than 1fig.

NCM
fra <- sz12: 1fig, nwe: 1inf, ger: 2inf
mor <- sz12: 1fig
nwy <- sz2: 1fig 1bmb
blk <- ukr: 1fig

The idea is to make epl and bst unable to be countered, and to force a trade of Karelia with Russia for twoish turns.  This seems to buy Europe enough time to make it to turn 6 or 7 before Europe is really in crunch time.  Japan typically starts an Arctic Express around turn 3 against your usual KGF.  Any other recommendations, and why?

EDIT: Grammar mistake.

Looks like nobody is really interested in this.  Maybe I’ll state my goals with this setup, which might give people a reason to try it out:

1. Make Japan go a little bit slower in Asia, even in KGF.  This is done by making China a bit more resilient (and this also makes China a little bit more fun to play as).
2. Make Italy a bit more powerful, to be a more viable independent country (though 5 more IPC/turn is still not going to turn them into a major power or anything).
3. Balance Italy’s increased income with a bit more income for Russia early in the game.  This makes them closer to an equivalent to Germany in power, so Italy will have to cooperate with Germany closely to beat back Russia.
4. Give the UK a chance at keeping one of their NOs for a few turns, at least.  This gives the Allies a few more turns of vital UK IPCs in a KGF game, which I believe the Allies need.
5. Give UK a more viable option of going partly or fully Pacific, and in doing so, try to make KJF and global strategies nearly or just as viable as KGF.
6. Make India and Australia more defensible to an early Japan blitz, if the Allies wish to hold on to them.

Note that these measures will slow Japan down, but the Allies will also be slowed if they go KGF since Italy’s fleet is a touch stronger.  It ends up that the game is about 2 turns or so longer in my experience.

So, I think the changes do help the balance and playability of the game substantially while not changing the game -so- much as to be unrecognizable.  I know people are going to say, “Bids fix the balance, you don’t need all this.”  But bids don’t do everything that I tried to do above, either.

If you playtest it, let me know what your results were and I’ll use that information to tweak it, if necessary.

I disagree.  After much analysis, I would argue that Japan can, and should, be left unchallenged in the Pacific in AA50 '41.  Just like most previous versions of the game, and much to my chagrin, AA50 '41 is a race to Berlin and Moscow, when played optimally.

Thanks.   Yep, true, it would chase them away if they didn’t have a DD in range.  I think that in some situations they can be usable tactically, I just don’t think they’re a valid en-masse type of unit in Anniversary.  But that’s an opinion that has been voiced by many other people in many other threads on this forum, so I’ll digress.

I’ll be interested to see if AA40 has a rule for sub sabotage with convoy squares, that would bring back more relevance to the sub.

If Germany goes all armor, the Allies should be going for a very aggressive navy build in the Atlantic.  An Allies player that really pushes the pace can be making substantial threats on France and Germany by turn 3.  Even if Germany turtles on G3 and builds all defense, they will likely still lose France at the very least with such an aggressive build.  With Russia, you just need to play a little cautious.  I would recommend going defensive with your builds, and abandoning Karelia, pulling those units back to Archangel.  Even if you have to stack Moscow on R2 and leave Caucasus open, there’s no way that Germany can take Moscow on G3.  Once Germany starts having to play defense in France and Germany, Russia can start building tanks to push the unreinforced German line west.  It’s the beginning of the end for the Axis in Europe.

My advice is this: make careful use of deadzoning tactics to slow down the Allied advance as long as possible.  Until their combined navy’s defensive strength surpasses your offensive strength, they dare not move within range.  And this definitely takes a while to accomplish, as long as your maintaining the arms race while maintaining a minimum shuck of 4 land units/turn to keep Asia in check.  One example is splitting your fleet between SZ62 and SZ36 once the Allies start to press in.  From there, you protect your FIC shuck, which allows you to keep India restrained, and you also will deadzone most of the seazones close to Japan.  There are many methods of slowing down the Allies, like DD blocking, that was just one example.  With any luck, you’ll hold out long enough for G&I to take Moscow.

Well, right, but Japan goes first, and takes Phillippines on J1, which is a fairly standard opening move.  With my J1, I end the turn with 1 CV in SZ37, 1 CV in the Okinawa SZ, and 1 CV in the Japan SZ.  UK and US have 2 DD, 1 CV, 2 FIG, and 1 TRN left between them after the J1 massacre to bring to Solomon, and I have as many as 8 FIG (with the J1 I use, there are 2 sitting on FIC that can make it also, because I can dictate that the Okinawa CV will catch them in the Solomon Islands SZ, and the FIGs on the Okinawa CV can land in Caroline).

Just don’t forget that any surface ships 3 spaces away from CVs can be hit.  Those 8 fighters in range make the Solomon Islands deadzone for the Allies on turn 1, which is part of the reasoning behind that careful J1 Carrier positioning.  It takes a good while before the Allies can make substantial progress in the Pacific, which is why KJF doesn’t really work in '41 - it’s a bit too slow.

Nah, if you have 2 CVs and 4 FIG in the Hawaiian SZ on A1, I’m attacking them.  4 FIGs, 2 BMB, a CV and a DD can make it.  A crushing loss for the IJN to take so early in the game, regardless of losses taken by the US, which can be easily rebuilt.

Nah, Japan is just too unstoppable in '41.  Even if you pull all the possible resources you can summon, like India & Australia ICs, pulling the US fighters, Russian INF and ARM from Caucasus, all you can do is slow Japan down… by the time you can make any headway against a good opponent, Moscow is about to fall.  It just can’t realistically be done without huge help from the dice.

As for the OP, I’m not sure what a Brazil IC would accomplish that a SA IC wouldn’t… if I was going to make a stand in Africa I would either do it that way, or more likely building Atlantic fleets.  I don’t find AA to be a slow enough game (turns-wise :P) for something like a Brazil IC to exist.