I think the map design of China in 1942.2 encourages Japan to take it rapidly, even at the expense of other objectives they might pursue.
sz 61 shuck into Yunnan, is only 3 moves to Moscow!
Like Frederick suggested, Kwangtung can support a new Japanese factory for sz 61 defense or the ground push. I think its a better location than Munchuria. It allows you to build 2 transports for a stronger shuck out of Tokyo, and gives you a coastal IC at an ideal convergence point for the IJN. If the Allies start creeping, you can build subs or capital ships here if need be, to maintain the steady shuck, instead of returning your fleet all the way to the home island. Once you have 4 transports in sz61/8 ground shucking out of Tokyo (into Yunnan) every round, you can then build artillery or tanks out of Kwangtung to enhance your drive against the Russian capital along the middle route.
I find that the Kwangtung factory encourages the max placement discipline, moreso than say Manchuria, East Indies, or Borneo, since it is much much easier to max-place at total 10 production slots, than 11, or 12. Basically 8 inf/art from Tokyo each round, and the remainder spent at this factory in Kwangtung or in sz 61 for new ships. 10 production is usually more than enough for Japan to set up the Moscow push.
Szech is the fastest route for a Japanese tank drive to Moscow of any board at this scale. Classic and Revised were both 4 moves to Moscow. AA50 was 5 moves. But here in 1942.2 it’s only 3!
Japan usually smokes China as priority number one, since its so hard for Allies to do much to stall them. At best Russia can afford to stall Japan along the middle route for 1 round, maybe 2 (if they want to throw everything east and stack Kazakh/Szech with tanks, and then redirect for German defense at the last second), but this almost certainly allows Germany to stack Karelia in the opening round.
One option I toyed around with was the idea to give the USA a starting factory in Szechwan, to represent the Wartime capital of Chongqing (Chungking). This would seem to fit the game’s timeline/start date…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_invasion
Allies would then have at least some reason to hang around in the region and try to block Japan along the middle route.
Under the current design, there is little incentive for Russia or UK to trade the territory of Szechwan, since USA never receives the income before Japan takes it back. But if there was a factory here, that might change the calculus for Allies. They might start to look at it more like India… A territory that must be stacked immediately and defended for as long as possible.
Of course right now, Russia doesn’t have nearly enough starting units or income to make this plan viable, Japan can put way more units into a Szech attack than the Allies can put into a Szech defense. But perhaps with a few other unit tweaks to help support it, the starting Chinese IC could be fun.
The 1941 game established the precedent of factory worth 1 ipc, so maybe it could work in China? A couple tanks or fighters built out of this location might be a real boost to the Allies in the region, if they can just keep it going. Perhaps enough of a boost to prevent Moscow from getting steam rolled.
I wonder what China would need to hold Szech past J2? In all my games, the Allies will defend it on J1 to save the Flying Tiger, but then bounce to establish a new line at Kazakh. A starting IC in Szech would might make them stick around for longer, but you’d have to give Allies something more to work with or they’d never hold it against the Japanese.
Perhaps if USA had 2 addition starting infantry in Sinkiang (a territory which is currently empty at the start.) This would look fairly clean, as the Chinese starting territory would all have 2 inf each.
This still might not be enough though. As it stands Japan can bring a truly huge force against Szech on J2, like 10 ground and the whole air force if they wanted to.
I’d take the point that if you change China too much, it will alter the rest of the game, but in general (for 1942.2, just like G40 AA50) I prefer to balance the game in China over other theaters. It seems less distorting overall to focus the bid here. For example, the game supports a much higher Allied bid when used by USA in China, than it could when used by UK in the med, so I think you could get away with adding an IC and additional ground forces if you want.
Extra USA infantry in China, would be almost as good as extra Russian infantry, since they could still pull out of China to help stack the Soviet capital or Caucasus vs G. That’s why I think the Factory might be a cool way to anchor them in the region, otherwise players will just take the extra US units in China and use them vs Germany on the Eastern front.
