UK bomber bid to India

[MTB]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Was wondering if anyone else has had success with this, which I did in a recent game. Frustrated at the options for the UK navy, I thought I would fake a KJF opener. I used the carrier and cruiser to clear sz 61 and the loaded transport (with fighter & bomber) to take Kwangtung. I then used the Aussie fleet to take New Guinea. This presented Japan with enough of a headache to clear that the US was able to move its entire Pacific fleet (with loaded transport) to Solomons. On US 2 this fleet took Borneo knowing it would be destroyed (but once again occupy much of Japan’s resources to do so). I then went standard KGF for the rest of the game. Although Allies conceded in round 12 after their Atlantic fleet got a bit diced (11 fighters & 1 bomber against 3 loaded AC, cruiser, 3 destroyers), it was closely contested the whole way due to Japan being delayed so heavily at the outset by all pre-existing units.
If you were Japan, how would you counter this pesky move?

[DoManMacgee]

Is this for OOB or LHTR?

Speaking at a high level, I would just respond to this the way you typically play Japan when faced with a KJF-style strategy, unit as much of the surviving Japanese fleet as possible and focus on defending the money islands + lightly pushing on the mainland to pressure India + make gains where possible in China/Russia. Japan doesn’t have to win, they just have to hold the line until Germany beats USSR.

[MTB]

@DoManMacgee Hi DMM & thanks for the response… Really appreciate that these forums have experienced players who weigh in on things. It was OOB with a 12 bid.
That’s pretty much what Japan did - eliminate the threats and take back the 2 islands as advantageously as possible while still consolidating the fleet. I was just surprised how long it then took for Japan to have any pressure westward. India, in spite of losing 2 men on the initial Kwangtung foray, stayed around for quite a while (minimal investment for a KGF).
What helped, no doubt, was that Russia traded unfavourably in the initial Caucasus strafe (dice game, lost 3 inf to Germany’s 2, and took W Russia at odds) and the Germans (rather than push hard back immediately), decided to save the Med fleet with a carrier. This made the Egypt / Africa game interesting, but maybe a different buy on G1 and the Germans win sooner. Always tough to say.
But, as many have pointed out here, the Axis have such a strong start in this game it was nice to have a hotly contested battle!