The Japan Playbook

[Alsch91]

Russia does not have to be at war with Germany/Italy to move into UK territories.
If it is only at war with Japan, it can move into any Pacific-map UK territories, including West India and discluding British Columbia/Yukon.

The situation is the same as China’s-
China is at war with Japan, and may move any units into Kwantung/Burma even if UK is not at war with Japan.
UK is already at war, so it’s not under neutrality restrictions.

[Cow]

ah so ruskies can land fighters on india.

interesting. yeah if russia is on turn 1 putting a mech and a tank in sikang. Don’t do japan 1 DOW. Because he’ll get that to yunnan then get that to india + park 3 fighters. Then when the time comes to do calcutta you’ll only have 70%

I am not so sure how USA is affecting the europe situation for you guys. It is just +23 1 round sooner, does not change the game for me.

It does screw the sea lion bluff up a little. Since USA could fly bombers into UK and the 1 starting fighter… In other words, UK round 1 can send out all his air if he knew usa compensation was coming.

USA 1 bomber buy is what would bother me the most (goes to UK round 2 then round 3 can hit your baltic fleet).

If you prefer to keep consistent with your sea lion bluff, buy this: carrier destroyer on round 1 or just save your income entirely.

~

If I were usa and at war, I’d just bombers on round 1. Germany will have no hope at a baltic fleet.  After that depends on how the board develops.

Anyway it does require you to modify a few things in europe. Germany should take yugoslavia on g1 as well as romania. Get a good push going. Germany may have to take greece with the 5 inf and some air (germany greece land italy or wherever).

USA at war only screws the possibility of a baltic fleet up and 5 fodder for sea lion means, sea lion is not happening anyway.

So I suggest G1 you buy your infantry stack push for russia.

[Spendo02]

The Russians employed a successful counter attack strategy that stymied Germany in E.Poland, Baltics, Bessarabia and W.Ukraine.  Germany just couldn’t punch through and had to be mindful of Allied aggression into Normandy and Holland.

I utilized an AB in Norway and staged aircraft there that kept the Allies at bay in SZ91 until they could defend themselves against the full German Air Force (Bought myself maybe 2 rounds).

I took Yugo, which was bad.  I wanted to strafe Yugo and retreat to Romania to stage for a G2 attack on Russia.  I got stuck taking Yugo and it set my German advance back a full two turns by the time I got them into position it was too late to advance - which played right into the Russian Counter Attack Strategy as Italy was not present to can-open.

Italy was screwed from the get-go as UK flew its aircraft to Jordan and I used the Italian tanks via TT to kill them off and close the Suez all at the same time.  Italy actually took Egypt with ease, but it couldn’t hold it and the Allies were staged off Gib to make Italy go into a Defend Rome Strategy.  Italy had one strong move to clear out an entire Allied Flotilla in SZ91 that was lightly protected by using its Bomber.  That bought Germany some time.

Overall the counter to your J1 attack is the US to go strait after N.Africa to turn Italy from an aggressive posture.  After that, Germany runs out of time with Allied landings getting bigger and bigger on Normandy and then being reinforced by the UK.  Was the first game I played where the Allies liberated France and Germany made VERY little progress without can-opening from Italy in Russia.

Japan dominated the Pacific Map, it just took too long to get Calcutta because I forgot to nab FIC to give a J3 landing on Calcutta an opportunity to materialize.  I ended up sacking Calcutta on J4 or J5, but it was too late to get Hawaii before J7 with France Liberated and a full US purchase materializing off of SF to block a suicide run after Hawaii for the VC win.

[Cow]

The Russians employed a successful counter attack strategy that stymied Germany in E.Poland, Baltics, Bessarabia and W.Ukraine.  Germany just couldn’t punch through and had to be mindful of Allied aggression into Normandy and Holland.

did you do sea lion and take UK or something? If you did, russia pushes germany as per usual. Does usa liberate it sooner with +23 bucks, maybe.

I seldom do sea lion honestly. I just push russia. I don’t do anything fancy. round 1 france and yugo that’s it. finns and that other spot for extra infs.  g2 push everything up to russia. take normandy 2 guys and air. the rest push. then you push russia g3.

I don’t know why usa landings are scaring you from pushing into russia.

Only do sea lion if you KNOW you will take UK on G3. G4 sea lion= germany lose. g3 sea lion = germany ok.  You should still expect the russians to get a foothold in europe especially if they are buying mech.

USA does not stop you from pushing russia. Units you produce are placed in germany/west germany.
~

As far as italy goes. You have to rush it. take alexandria. use germany air to defend it from egypt. ethiopia under it (unless he kill that already). Then your last transport drops on egypt with bomber and whatever you bought (fighter).

should have enough to take it. But that’s it. that round you buyin ground forces in italy.

Do not hold normandy southern france or holland. you counter attack from france/west germany using italy.

G3 buy infantry/art mix if USA is beginning to be a threat. you can push germany east and west germany can stay.

All you need is enough to defend germany from UK. you don’t need to defend northern italy, just defend Rome, guys placed in northern italy move into france/west germany.

you should be fine.

[Cow]

you could just give up on italy and buy ground forces for it…. you still have to clear out the navy down there.

avoid taking the french spots in N africa.  move libya east to tobruk.

[Spendo02]

Here was the G1/I1 Plan:

G1:  1 CV, 2 TT
Take Paris, Normandy, Strafe Yugo - Retreat to Romania.  
Hit SZ111 and SZ110 with Aircraft and SS (BB hits SZ111).  Hit SZ106 with 1 SS.  
Fly 1 Ftr from Eastern Europe to S.Italy to scramble against UK hitting Italian ships in SZ97.  
Take Finland via TT from Poland

I1: Buy Nothing
Finish off and take Yugo with Arm from Albania and N.Italy, plus TT across 4 Inf from Rome.  
Take S.France, Tunisia, Sudan, Kenya.
Hit UK ships in the Med, else clear French ships if they retreated.

Here’s what happened:  (Realize US1 was able to DOW due to the J1 attack)
G1/I1 Purchases were the same.
G1 got lucky rolls from Inf and ended up having to take Yugo - 3 Arm, lots of German Inf stuck in Yugo.
G1 cleared the North Atlantic of ships, losing 2 Ftr and 1 Tac.
Paris fell, Arm and Art survived.
Normandy fell, no losses.

US1 was a full atlantic purchase that was primarily TT with units to fill them as able.  Flew its Bomber to London, Ftr to Iceland.  Used its starting TT to open up Brazil.

UK1 moved a Ftr/Tac from Calcutta to Jordan
UK staged its Med fleet in SZ96 taking out the Italian DD and TT there.
UK took Greece with 1 Inf, 1 Arm from Alexandria, left its TT exposed.
With US in the war, UK bought Ftr for London - probably should have Sea Lioned.

I1 took everything it planned to, sunk the UK fleet with tough losses.  Except instead of TTing 4 Inf across to Yugo, it sent 2 Arm/Inf down to Jordan to remove the UK aircraft and shut off the Suez (which ended up saving the TT).  Egypt fell on I3, but was lost to the Allies on I4.

G2 included 10 Inf purchase, 1 AB (Norway - because I wanted to test its effectiveness and UK went aggressive), and the rest went to two Tac (to support Arm moving to strike Russia on G3).  Staged units in Romania from Yugo, but left behind 2 Inf, 1 Art to assist Italy in removing the 6 Inf, 1 Arm that was likely going to take Albania on UK2.  Moved 2 Inf, 2 Art from Poland to Finland to bring Finland up to 10 Inf, 3 Art and 3 Tac staged on an AB in Norway.

US2 sent its first TT landing to Morocco, with only 1 CR for defense.  It was able to also bring units in from Brazil that it opened on US1.  The US Ftr landed in London.

UK2 took out the Italian Arm from Egypt and left only the Anzac Inf there.  It had the Canadian units on Morocco from UK1 move to support Algeria and the Italian advance was stopped dead in its tracks.  UK2 included a CV amongst other things, and the UK has the beginnings of TT units staged in SZ91 supporting a threat against N.Italy if N.Italy didn’t buy Inf on I2. UK also moved its units from Greece to Albania.  UK2 also took an empty Holland with a TT supported by a CV plus 5 total possible scrambling Ftr (1 US).

I2 had something along the lines of 24 IPC to spend, so it bought a CV and DD.  Italy was going to have a hard time stopping the Allies from advancing on Rome by I4 (US1 purchase was full Atlantic TT + units to fill them).  Italy moved to Greece and took Egypt from Alexandria and Egypt.  This activated a NO for Italy.  With Algeria blocked from any Italian advance, it sat tight there.  The 2 TT off Egypt had no units to move, so it went back to Rome.  S.France had 2 Art, so they went to N.Italy.  Italy was able to send its Bomber to SZ91 and take out the DD and CR that defended the UK/US TT’s.  This bought the Axis at least another 1-2 rounds.  Not much else Italy could do, so it placed its units and collected IPC.

G3 was now in position to advance on Russia.  G3 was 10 more Inf, plus the remaining IPC spent on Art in W.Germany.  With Bessarabia sitting with a strong 50-50 split of Inf and Art (something like 5 of each), the German units in Romania struck there and took tough losses, although the Arm survived with 4 or so Inf.  E.Poland was hit with tanks from Berlin and the 11 Inf from Poland.  Russia had 4-5 Inf there and Germany took as many losses as it inflicted.  Aircraft was split between the two battles, with Tac aircraft landing on Romania and Bombers landing in Poland.  The 10 Inf from G2 moved into Poland on NCM to deter Russia from advancing there.  Finland units took Kariela, and a token small contingent of 2-3 Inf supported with aircraft took Vyborg’s 2 Inf.  The Tac from that battle landed back on Norway to provide scrambles.  G3 also removed the UK presence in Holland with the remaining units that had staged in France as well as the units in W.Germany.  Lastly, G3 hit the UK units in Albania with 2 Inf, 1 Art, taking out 3 Inf.  This made it manageable for Italy to remove the UK threat on I3.

R3, now at war, counter attacked all German advances.  The Southern front was cleared out and Bessarabia was reclaimed.  E.Poland Armor from German survived, but not before Russia had removed all the Inf there before withdrawing.

US3 included 9 more TT purchased, UK3 included a second CV and now there were 4 Ftr on CV, 3 to scramble.  US3 removed the Italian bomber that landed in S.France and there was no more threat to TT in SZ91 unless Germany flew its bombers to Paris, so the US reinforced its ground units in Morocco and landed a larger contingent than the first wave.

UkK3 - With a second CV and aircraft to support it, UK added TT and Arm to begin landing every turn on Normandy, Holland, or Norway.  It also took back Egypt.

I3 was in a tough spot.  There were plenty of TT that could shoot straight into S.France or N.Italy.  Italy did have a DD and TT, so it took Gib (to replace Egypt for the NO) to block some movement into the Med.  It staged its CV in SZ95 and bought full Inf so it could get units into Rome to defend it.  The remaining Inf from taking out the UK units in Albania were NCM across to Rome as reinforcements (All 2 of them).

As you can see, by turn 4 the Allies were going to be landing in full force on Normandy.  With the US landing first, the British could land to reinforce it with multiple Ftr and ground units of their own.  There was no kicking the Allies out of Europe at this point.

What I’m trying to illustrate, is that with a J1 attack (and no lucky Italian Bomber run in SZ91 that I had) gets the Allies landing on Normandy by round 3, and even if kicked out, will land a bigger force there on round 4.  There is no way Germany can take Russia in that timeframe, meaning a J1 attack on the Allies creates a situation where even Germany gains minimal advancement in Russia before Paris is setup to fall.  More importantly, Italy is setup to fail.  The only legitimate situation I can think of is for the Axis to play full defensive in Europe while you hope the Japanese player rocks the Pacific hard and goes for a VC victory there.  Of course, you negate two of the three axis powers by doing so.  Of course if Germany Sea Lions, its possible to take the UK out of Europe.

I am supposing the pairing of J1 attack plus G3 Sea Lion is a legitimate option, but I don’t know how effective Germany can be at fighting Russia in the East, pushing it back while fending off US liberation attempts in Paris or shutting down Rome.

[Cow]

I still don’t see why russia is a problem and why you can’t advance there.

[Cow]

I have come around to japan 1 declaration of war.

The games themselves seem to progress a bit more quickly. It is much more fun of an experience, I can’t say that it is better than Japan DOW round 2, but it has merits and a few distinct advantages and flaws. Where as Japan 2 declaration of war is much more conservative. Japan 3 dow is just horrible.

The one distinct flaw of Japan 1 DOW. Is axis as a whole has to be aggressive and has to fully commit to a strategy early on.

You either do sea lion and take UK or you go for russia. there is no sea lion bluff. you either buy 10 infantry r1 and follow up round 2 with lots of mech/armor and push (or if UK buys naval and no men then buy full naval and take uk, but that never happens).

I actually like the japan 1 DOW more and more. I had to modify a few things. sequential rounds I had to modify a few things there as well.

Overall I like it, for when I want a clear cut game, clear victor and clear winner, games tend to be quicker as well.

[Cow]

so my last game I got super screwed in pacific around round 7, I had 50/50 for hawaii and no chance of him reclaiming it… but I lost. then i lost a big naval battle i was supposed to win… so I was blown out the water and dutch islands all gone, I was sad, very very sad.

but on the bright side germany had 94% on moscow in a few turns. japan had 12 guys between persia to calcutta and 10 air units so, I could push for the europe win no problem. we had to call the game cos he had to go, but I don’t really see anyone getting to egypt in time after russia falls.

That’s the power of taking calcutta, makes egypt after russia a cakewalk.

I find that axis tend to win on one side of the board more often than not. Especially if both sides of the board is playing aggressive.

[seth4god]

I just started a game where I DOW against all allies on G1 and J1. Germany hit USSR on round one and I’m going to keep that pressure up as long as possible. Japan is somewhat spread out to make all the attacks I wanted on J1 and those battles are awaiting scramble orders.

The theory is US is like the fire station and all of a sudden two huge fires just flared up in opposite directions. If they go all out against one fire, they should be able to put it out. The trick that US will have to manage is putting enough help on BOTH fires before one fire or another becomes an unstoppable raging inferno. I don’t know how this will turn out, but at the very least it should be a fun/interesting game.

[techroll42]

Cow, a J1 DOW is INSANE. Sure, you’re hurting the Brits, but you haven’t made any progress vs. Russia/China, you’re horribly out of position, and you can’t hit the main US Pac Fleet. Overall, the Allies can keep enough to make it hell for Japan with little investment.

[Cow]

I been doing j1 DOW alot lately. it is pretty good. don’t knock it till you try it.

your germany should probably buy 10 inf round 1. and lots of mech/tank round 2. push russia hard.

it is not insane. usa is just out of position anyway. and +23 a round sooner (you DOW japan 2 anyway unless germany is doing sea lion and usa bought 5 bombers).
~

the downside to japan 1 dow is it makes sea lion impossible and buyin naval for germany a bad idea. USA buys 4 bombers round 1. sends 5 bomber to uk round 2 so you probably lose a sea lion attempt at uk. then more bombers come in and you lose your naval while he lands in archangel or something.

so as long as you know you are doing russia with germany and no naval bs. italy does his best for africa (calling in airstrikes from germany when he needs em). japan does his thing, hopefully you don’t get diced in calcutta like send 2x his stuff and walk out 1 for 1 in casualties… :\  you be fine.

[Derek]

@Cow:

I been doing j1 DOW alot lately. it is pretty good. don’t knock it till you try it.

your germany should probably buy 10 inf round 1. and lots of mech/tank round 2. push russia hard.

it is not insane. usa is just out of position anyway. and +23 a round sooner (you DOW japan 2 anyway unless germany is doing sea lion and usa bought 5 bombers).
~

the downside to japan 1 dow is it makes sea lion impossible and buyin naval for germany a bad idea. USA buys 4 bombers round 1. sends 5 bomber to uk round 2 so you probably lose a sea lion attempt at uk. then more bombers come in and you lose your naval while he lands in archangel or something.

so as long as you know you are doing russia with germany and no naval bs. italy does his best for africa (calling in airstrikes from germany when he needs em). japan does his thing, hopefully you don’t get diced in calcutta like send 2x his stuff and walk out 1 for 1 in casualties… :\  you be fine.

USA will not collect the NOs untill round 3 and cant move till round 4.

DOW on UK does not pull in USA lol
why does Japan DOW USA round 2 anyway? There is no logic there

There is no reason to do anything against USA til round 3 or 4.

DOW UK/ANZAC/USSR round 1 or 2 or 3 it really doesnt matter but i dont even see the benefit of DOW USA untill last possible moment.
Philippines is def not worth it lol what 2 IPCs ? and you kill 2 ships…lmao

So you essentially give the USA ~50 IPCs and you get… FOUR, yeah that makes sense (not to mention the 10 IPCs japan bonus that you wont get)
And USA will be MORE in position to fight you not less lol, by not DOW USA they have to stay away from you and in the Atlantic they cant even leave USA Shoreline save one seazone in the middle of the atlantic :P Now USA will go get brazil (6 extra IPCs…for the 2 extra turns theyl have it and 4 INF 2 rounds earlier)

seriously do you see the lack of sense in your argument ?

and the ‘dont knock it til you try it’ is a cop-out, its not an argument, its what gay men say to straight men for cryin out loud

[techroll42]

@Uncrustable:

@Cow:

I been doing j1 DOW alot lately. it is pretty good. don’t knock it till you try it.

your germany should probably buy 10 inf round 1. and lots of mech/tank round 2. push russia hard.

it is not insane. usa is just out of position anyway. and +23 a round sooner (you DOW japan 2 anyway unless germany is doing sea lion and usa bought 5 bombers).
~

the downside to japan 1 dow is it makes sea lion impossible and buyin naval for germany a bad idea. USA buys 4 bombers round 1. sends 5 bomber to uk round 2 so you probably lose a sea lion attempt at uk. then more bombers come in and you lose your naval while he lands in archangel or something.

so as long as you know you are doing russia with germany and no naval bs. italy does his best for africa (calling in airstrikes from germany when he needs em). japan does his thing, hopefully you don’t get diced in calcutta like send 2x his stuff and walk out 1 for 1 in casualties… :\  you be fine.

USA will not collect the NOs untill round 3 and cant move till round 4.

DOW on UK does not pull in USA lol
why does Japan DOW USA round 2 anyway? There is no logic there

There is no reason to do anything against USA til round 3 or 4.

DOW UK/ANZAC/USSR round 1 or 2 or 3 it really doesnt matter but i dont even see the benefit of DOW USA untill last possible moment.
Philippines is def not worth it lol what 2 IPCs ? and you kill 2 ships…lmao

So you essentially give the USA ~50 IPCs and you get… FOUR, yeah that makes sense (not to mention the 10 IPCs japan bonus that you wont get)
And USA will be MORE in position to fight you not less lol, by not DOW USA they have to stay away from you and in the Atlantic they cant even leave USA Shoreline save one seazone in the middle of the atlantic :P Now USA will go get brazil (6 extra IPCs…for the 2 extra turns theyl have it and 4 INF 2 rounds earlier)

seriously do you see the lack of sense in your argument ?

and the ‘dont knock it til you try it’ is a cop-out, its not an argument, its what gay men say to straight men for cryin out loud

But if you DOW UK/ANZAC US can DW.

[Cow]

I am still fascinated that people much such a big deal of bringing USA into war. The biggest drawback for me has to do with China and not the USA.

The people who have tried this opener so far see the merits to it. Some consider it a gambit, some find the game a bit more enjoyable, some hate it, and for others it is just not their style (they prefer to react a little to what the allies are doing instead of charging into things).

It is not insane, it is just hyper aggressive.

Some people won’t play allies against me unless I DOW japan 1. Just being at war makes people excited as opposed to waiting. Otherwise they would rather play AA50 or be the Axis.

The more casual crowd that plays allies generally finds global to be boring, because not being at war in and of itself is kind of a downer.

I developed this strategy for more casual players to have fun and also for the core A&A players to mix things up a bit.

I also hate waiting as well. Also the games get crazier.
~
Plus it is good to declare war on Japan 1 if you are playing with friends who aren’t as hardcore. It is also good to go for a win and fight for a capital, because that is a bit more exciting than you trying to get an income advantage and trying to hold it till you win.

It is also not a bad strategy according to the people before who tried it. They may have lost their game, but it seems they enjoyed the experience and that there are things we can improve upon in the later rounds to make it work.

I mean I had to get a europe win, because on round 8 I tried to take hawaii and I got rolled. I then fought a naval battle and I got rolled. So pacific was game over for me lol. I still won in europe which is nice, but it is hard fightin ANZAC and USA (+china every now n then) making 60-71 income only as japan… but on the bright side USA had to dedicate himself to me. Not to mention if you take more losses than you expect in calcutta… things can get pretty hard pretty fast.

[Cow]

I thank everyone who gave this a shot. Thanks for the feedback as well. I am hoping for a bit more feedback from experience then outright saying what a bad idea it is without actual game experience.

[Cow]

damn I may as well post J2 and ruskie first openers about now… I might wait till summer to finish testing those.

J1 results in faster games so it is much faster to test for results and it is obvious that it is a viable strategy from the games people have played including myself so far.

Also my games have been so crazy and fun since I started doing J1 declaration of war, that I just prefer it overall.

[Spendo02]

@Cow:

damn I may as well post J2 and ruskie first openers about now… I might wait till summer to finish testing those.

J1 results in faster games so it is much faster to test for results and it is obvious that it is a viable strategy from the games people have played including myself so far.

Also my games have been so crazy and fun since I started doing J1 declaration of war, that I just prefer it overall.

I agree, the sole J1 attack I conducted was fast and furious.  VERY exciting game compared to slogging through 2-3 rounds before anything exciting happens.

[Cow]

I am glad to see you had good times. :D

[builder_chris2]

@Spendo02:

@Cow:

damn I may as well post J2 and ruskie first openers about now… I might wait till summer to finish testing those.

J1 results in faster games so it is much faster to test for results and it is obvious that it is a viable strategy from the games people have played including myself so far.

Also my games have been so crazy and fun since I started doing J1 declaration of war, that I just prefer it overall.

I agree, the sole J1 attack I conducted was fast and furious.  VERY exciting game compared to slogging through 2-3 rounds before anything exciting happens.

there are two players in our ftf game group that love a J1 DOW; and no doubt its very fun and exciting…but they have gotten their **s beat everytime by doing this. granted, i’ve only seen a J1 DOW about 6 times now, but…its a poor strat (imo); no REAL chance of winning with it from what i’ve seen.