@Cornwallis Well for that scenario, I think a good response would be looking to try to distract Germany as much from Barbarossa as possible, perhaps by carrying out a Taranto Raid and putting pressure on Italy with UK, buying nothing but infantry and maybe 1 or 2 artillery for the Soviets, now that I know that is the best way to play the Russians thanks to AndrewAAGamer, and try to the the US involved as much as possible. You can position yourself in 91 and be ready with the US to hit the Italians, France, and Norway, forcing the Germans to have to be wary of all 3 areas. In the Pacific, responding to a J1 would be leaving the Soviets in the East as a cautionary force, Japan will be wanting to move fast and with as much troops as possible, so leaving them there would be a good idea to stop Japan from moving their huge armies in Manchuria and Korea south, also preventing them from being used with transports. What we have to understand is that all we need to do to prevent Japan from winning the game for the Axis is stop them from getting the 6 Victory Cities. What we need to do is just make sure that US is pumping defenses into Hawaii, they don’t have to be going out and assaulting anywhere in the Pacific, just sandbagging Hawaii as much as they can. Same for ANZAC, they need to sandbag Sydney as much as they can, and they can ask for help from USA in doing so. UK Pacific just needs to stack men and make life difficult for Japan, and make sure not to loose India, and if they do, they need to have made it stupid expensive for the Japanese and have some operations going in the Middle East so they don’t just sweep up the middle of the board. This way, even if India is taken, Japan will have an extremally hard time getting that 6th VC because for the whole game we have been stacking Hawaii and Sydney so much, it will be a very tall task to take down. So for spending with the US, I’d say 70/30 with the 70 going to Europe. Germany can wipe the floor with the Soviets unless the Allies in some way help by pressuring the European Axis somehow, even with the infantry buys for the USSR. But things may work out if the US and ANZAC challeneg the Pacific and can make their way to the Carolines and establish operations there. This could be game over for Japan because from the Carolines, you can reach the money islands, Phillhippines, China, and most importantly, Japan itself. This would be too much for Japan to handle, especially if they haven’t killed China and Calcutta yet. So a Pacific strategy can work, but when I have seen it, even when Japan was loosing very badly in China, lost Philippines and money islands, and their fleet, Germany was kicking butt without US investment. This has happened in a game I played before. My opponent went very heavy against Japan, I made some dumb moves at times, and I relegated Japan to the Home Islands, and a few holdouts in China, but the stacks of German Tanks and Mechs had just entered China at the right time after completely demolishing the Soviets and Italy was managing the Med, Middle East, and Africa. There was nothing for the European Axis to worry about so they came to Japan’s rescue, and the Allies threw in the towel because when you have 60 German fast movers, a massive air force, and the Italians eating production in the Middle East and Africa with no Allied effort in the Atlantic coming any time soon, the situation is hopeless. So I’d advocate for a more focused attempt to Europe in that situation, and that was my long and rambling reason why! I hope that helps a bit!
