The Japan Playbook

[Cow]

G2 depends for me… if I attack yugoslavia and get 4 hits… I’ll retreat and plan for a G2. Most of the time I roll too many hits and take the spot.

I am surprsied how many times this topic has been read.

[seth4god]

The Germans & Italians did about the same, the difference was due to playstyle. Dave dropped in on our game after his was over and helped Andrew turtle Moscow effectively. I judged that I’d take too many losses and held off a turn for more reinforcements, a luxury I didn’t have the game prior. I had a chance to take Moscow Rd6, same as I pulled off in our first game, I just had no reason to risk it.  :-D

[Cow]

RD6 russia… damn lots of mech/armor you got there buddy.

[prolietor]

Hey Cow,

I am really excited reading about this J1 DOW. However, I’ve seen several posts in other topics where you recommend a J2 DOW. Is there any chance you might be putting the outline for that in this playbook anytime soon? I am really interested in trying it out.

Thanks

[Cow]

After next week before next month. I will have it up. Along with the anti russian opener (it is only a good opener when there is at least 6 infantry in amur for you to kill on J1, ie he forgot to move it situations, IMHO).

[Cow]

Anyway for those of you that have taken interest and have not tried it out… I got a game going against questioneer where I opened up with japan 1 declaration of war.

[questioneer]

I am also doing a game with Cow’s J1 combined with a G1.

My first thoughts, I don’t think this will lead to a win, but he is right about one thing, it is much more fun to play.

I think in another game I’m doing a G2/J2 which I think is the best choice for Axis out of these gambits.

Playing 8 games right now, testing a lot of different looks and such.

[builder_chris2]

yea…i still have mixed thoughts about it, but it is WAY fun…and WAY WAY freaking hard to counter as the Allies.  i am in one game right now against Seth (a very pro G1 J1 DOW player) and and its a stronger stratagy than i would have guessed from the last face to face game it was tried; that game was a total flop…because his jap partner shot him self in the foot on round one and cut his own throught every round after that…his germans and italians were winning the day in europe but than with japn so weak the US made up the differnace in europe.

with out a doubt though…its way fun getting right into the mess round 1!

[soulfein]

j1 dow is really fun and more optimal than a j2 dow regarding india. only downside on pac is a strong china which can lead to a usa fac in korea backd up by mass ussr n china infs.

but the reason I wont ever do it in a competitive game is cause it messes up with africa n med.

[questioneer]

Yeah, trying the J1 in one of my games- its fun til round 4-5…weee I’m powerful…uh, wait a second…I’m not anymore.

[Cow]

Seth is a cool player. I admire the full on balls to the wall rush.

[builder_chris2]

@Cow:

Seth is a cool player. I admire the full on balls to the wall rush.

yea, he is a very challanging fun player…even better in face to face games!

[Cow]

Have had lots of success doing j1 DOW.

In fact doing J1 will make you a better japan player, over time you will have Japan down to a science. Start winning games in the pacific against full pacific USA, makes you feel like a champ. I find the pacific victory to be the most enjoyable. Which is sort of what J1 is all about.

[Spendo02]

As a note, I thoroughly enjoyed my sole game of J1 DOW.  Almost won the pacific and I do agree it makes you a better Japan player in general. I learned a ton about Japan with the J1 DOW.

[Cow]

You will get that pacific win in time spendo02, the europe one is too easy, GO FOR GLORY!

It is okay if you have to pull italy into the pacific to mess with anzac. It is only 4 turns from 97 to south wales, 3 turns with bombers. You can be sneaky sneaky with italy.

Also subs can convoy america in sz 89 (you don’t need to control gibraltar to move subs past it). so you just sneaky sneaky here is a small 3ipc convoy, two turn movement for italy. For the rare games, if you can swipe west indies. do it.

[Cow]

I want to announce that I will have the sino russian japan strategy up by the end of the month hopefully. (which I believe only works if russia has a certian amount of inf on amur, which reduces the total amount of men you need to commit up top), the DOW on allies comes at round 3 usually, which some of you prefer in your europe strategies.

I seldom see russians leaving anything if at all on amur so I haven’t had much opportunity for testing and I apologize for not doing many sino russian japan games.

Also want to announce that I will analyze different japan 1 setups and j2 declarations. so far it seems that everyone loves to setup on kiangsu and go from there.
~

[questioneer]

Analyze this…

18inf, 2AA–>Bury (R1)- Russia has the option to go east or west, waits for Japan- delay move.
                -->Amur (R2)- If Japan goes south, Russia now steps up.
                -->Korea (R3)- Gains 3IPCs and remains as a landing base for US fighters

then US ftr shuck, 18 planes to Moscow by round 7.

If Japan kills the stack at ANY time, they are grossly out of position, lose a handful of units, and India will stay alive- period.

This works for anything J1, J2, J3, J4- doesn’t matter what kind of crappy gambit they throw. � Don’t fall back, pimp slap Japan back to Tokyo!!!

If 6inf are left in Amur and Japan attacks round 1- that is also silly. � Why is it silly??? � No one should leave anything on Amur round 1 to begin with as Russia.

I’m interested in your so-called Russian playbook. � Russia can last at least til round 8 in any Euro attack I’ve seen. � I counterattack with Russia building tanks right from the get go to delay the “svinehund” a round or 2 til I get serious Allied ground and aircraft help.

[soulfein]

@questioneer:

Analyze this…

18inf, 2AA–>Bury (R1)- Russia has the option to go east or west, waits for Japan- delay move.
               -->Amur (R2)- If Japan goes south, Russia now steps up.
               -->Korea (R3)- Gains 3IPCs and remains as a landing base for US fighters

then US ftr shuck, 18 planes to Moscow by round 7.

If Japan kills the stack at ANY time, they are grossly out of position, lose a handful of units, and India will stay alive- period.

This works for anything J1, J2, J3, J4- doesn’t matter what kind of crappy gambit they throw. � Don’t fall back, pimp slap Japan back to Tokyo!!!

If 6inf are left in Amur and Japan attacks round 1- that is also silly. � Why is it silly??? � No one should leave anything on Amur round 1 to begin with as Russia.

I’m interested in your so-called Russian playbook. � Russia can last at least til round 8 in any Euro attack I’ve seen. � I counterattack with Russia building tanks right from the get go to delay the “svinehund” a round or 2 til I get serious Allied ground and aircraft help.

99% the games I played I was happy to see a russian korea instead of an american one.

if usa grabs korea and ussr can back it up with inf stack (combined with the option of china backing it up via infs from manch), a fac in korea might be troublesome for japs.
but if it s russia who gets korea, it only means a landing spot for usa. so I let them have it, not even bothering to retake it and conti with whatev I m doing with japs. I can always go back and deal with them later, since that stack is not presenting an immediate threath.

u mentioned 18 planes to moscow by round 7. I never did that, but saw being done against me a couple of times.  was really disasterous for allies. since usa spent that much effort for sending ftrs to save moscow, japs had almost no resistance down in dei and after getting india, was able to both provide air supprt to europe n threaten pac win.
not to mention once bryansk stack was secured, ger was able to outmaneuver allies and help ita get med/africa.

so based on my xp I really think 20 russians in korea in r3 is not the best option for ussr, and usa ftrs to moscow via korea might be one of the worst strategies for usa.

slightly off the topic: u mention here building tanks with ussr right from the start, if I remember correctly u also mentioned before, that u buy 3 tanks per round with ussr. just wanted to warn, ger can have a decent shot at moscow g6, and probably can take it in g7 if russia overcommits to tanks.

[Zhukov44]

u mentioned 18 planes to moscow by round 7. I never did that, but saw being done against me a couple of times.  was really disasterous for allies. since usa spent that much effort for sending ftrs to save moscow, japs had almost no resistance down in dei and after getting india, was able to both provide air supprt to europe n threaten pac win.
not to mention once bryansk stack was secured, ger was able to outmaneuver allies and help ita get med/africa.

Agreed.  It seems to me that flying figs to Moscow intentionally for defense is a weak strategy in a game where Axis is typically close to economic parity after 2 rounds.  The only time I’d consider it is if Germany is timing a Moscow attack and Allies time the air relief to come on exactly the turn before the optimal time for Germany to attack.  In that case, the fighters are typically arriving from nw persia or from the china stack.  Actually, on that note, Iraq would be a decent spot for an air base with that contingency in mind.

A much better strategy for stopping Germany is open up a new front in France that makes it impossible for Germany to reinforce the Eastern front, and allows Russia to eventually regain territory.

[questioneer]

tanks gives you the ability to counterattack…there a big difference between rolling a 3 (tank) vs. a 2 (artillery).

As far as US taking Korea- yes you’re right if Japan is going to attack on J3 and J4- J2 also maybe.  On a J1 attack, you have to get something to Moscow fast- planes and bombers are the only logical choice especially if combined with a hard Barbarossa.  In that case you need the landing spot fast to get there.

I’m also toying with the Gibaltar air shuck in combo with this.

Don’t forget- taking Korea can be costly- 6 kamikazee, but yeah, once you get it and hold it for Russia to slip in and protect it with 18inf, 2AA then yeah build a major and rest is history.  Still gotta make sure the Europe side doesn’t get sacked though so SOMETHING has gotta go there.

This is my main issue with Cow and others- that the Allies NEED a bid b/c Axis has the advantage.  I don’t buy it.  Through all the games I’m playing right now, I’m trying and honing different counters.  I see a couple of good Allied strategies coming together but it may take some more time.  Allies are harder to play so I think the learning curve is going to take longer.  This is similar to what happened to Revised and AA50 execept that it was with Axis.

I think this time next year we will with all honesty say who has the advantage in this game and what side needs a bid if any.  Final Alpha has only been out 3-4 months, players on both sides are making a lot of mistakes and learning.  I’m sure Cow’s “playbooks” will be revised a few times by next year because of this.  When you open up your playbook to the community along with some play online or PBF you open yourself up to scutiny.  People will test your claims and a lot of times find good counters to them.  That’s just the evolution of gameplay.

Most noobs here won’t challenge the claim that Axis have the advantage. Instead they just take the easy route and take a bid.  Honestly we should all be working on how to counter Axis strategies since most have trouble with it.  Bids shouldn’t even be talked about for a few months yet.  Especially since this version has only been out a short time.  I think we may find out that Allies have the advantage or the game is actually even.

The overall strategy is simple- kill Russia fast and Axis wins.  So the Allied strategy is simply to delay or even stop that take over b/c they naturally become stronger over time- especially after round 10.  Sealion is a playable strategy, but that has been proven to more or less lead to an Allied win over time.