US Strategy

Admiral, the problem with the US attack strategies on Japan is the Japanese player sees it developing several turns out. By the time you get a fleet together and into home waters India has already fallen and Japan is already moving toward or attacking Australia.

Panzer, you make several assumptions that may be true for Anniversary but aren’t for Pacific 40, namely IC building and strategic bombing. Strategies that worked in other versions simply don’t have the time to develop in Pacific 40 because of the different set of victory conditions for those games. The J1 attack is vicious and robs the allies of assets they need to slow Japan which puts Japan on the fast track to victory. By the time the US has enough forces in position to contest Japan it’s already over. You’ll see when you get your copy and get a dozen games or so under your belt.

What is making the J1 attack so good? Do they have a OP fleet? or do they have the invincible air fleet? I think that it is possible for the Us and the Allies to win the pacific if both players a new to the board and its layout. When I got the revised edition of AA, my brother would always win as the axis. We switched roles and he would still win. But when i got the anniversity edition, I was able to have the Soviet union hold the German lines while the UK and America bang up the Western German front.

the main advantage of the J1 attack is that you can destroy 3 allied transports at the start of the game freezing all allied attempts to capture east indies or reinforcing anywhere else.

Admiral, the problem with the US attack strategies on Japan is the Japanese player sees it developing several turns out. By the time you get a fleet together and into home waters India has already fallen and Japan is already moving toward or attacking Australia.

I think a good british player can hold India for at least turn 4 which is all the time US needs for a large scale invasion of Japan/korea.

@The:

Hey I’m new here to the forum. I just felt like sharing a US strategy that worked for me at my last game of Pac 40. Me and my group have been playing for a few years now but we have only played 2 games of pac 40. The game ended with a turn 4 capture of Japan by the US and this is what I did.

On the first turn buy one carrier and save a dollar, placing a fighter and tac bomber on it. Then move the whole fleet to Hawaii as well as the bomber from the Phillipines, if still alive. Also move one inf from Hawaii to WUS (may take 2 turns if trans sunk J1), the goal is to get 6 inf in WUS while spending as little money as possible. On the second turn buy 5 transports, 4 art, and 1-2 inf depending on if Japan took Phillipines J1, this should give you 6 trans total. Then on turn 3 buy 4 bombers. Move the fleet at Hawaii and the transports loaded with 6 inf 5art and 1 tank at WUS to sea zone 7 if possible assuming Japan doesn’t destroyer block. By turn 4 you can hit the sea of Japan with 2 CV, 1sub, 1des, 1CA, 3fig, 3tac, 1BB, 6-7 bombers. The aircraft on the carriers can land in Hawaii and the aircraft on Hawaii can land on the carriers. The bombers can land on Midway. You can hit the seazone 6 with nearly 60 attack points guaranteeing you 10 hits in 1st round of combat, assuming reasonable dice. Even if Japan scrambled fighters they’d need 15 to match the US. Japan would need its whole fleet and a little more air support to successfully defend the seazone. By turn 4 the US can have a sizable land force hit either Korea or Japan itself depending on what the Japanese defended. The only problems I see is India falling before that, or Jap destroyer blocking slowing the US down. I think this is a good way for the US to take the fight to Japan. Let me know what you guys think if you think this is a feasible strategy.

Can’t japan hit the fleet in hawaii with its navy?

@The:

Hey I’m new here to the forum. I just felt like sharing a US strategy that worked for me at my last game of Pac 40. Me and my group have been playing for a few years now but we have only played 2 games of pac 40. The game ended with a turn 4 capture of Japan by the US and this is what I did.

On the first turn buy one carrier and save a dollar, placing a fighter and tac bomber on it. Then move the whole fleet to Hawaii as well as the bomber from the Phillipines, if still alive. Also move one inf from Hawaii to WUS (may take 2 turns if trans sunk J1), the goal is to get 6 inf in WUS while spending as little money as possible. On the second turn buy 5 transports, 4 art, and 1-2 inf depending on if Japan took Phillipines J1, this should give you 6 trans total. Then on turn 3 buy 4 bombers. Move the fleet at Hawaii and the transports loaded with 6 inf 5art and 1 tank at WUS to sea zone 7 if possible assuming Japan doesn’t destroyer block. By turn 4 you can hit the sea of Japan with 2 CV, 1sub, 1des, 1CA, 3fig, 3tac, 1BB, 6-7 bombers. The aircraft on the carriers can land in Hawaii and the aircraft on Hawaii can land on the carriers. The bombers can land on Midway. You can hit the seazone 6 with nearly 60 attack points guaranteeing you 10 hits in 1st round of combat, assuming reasonable dice. Even if Japan scrambled fighters they’d need 15 to match the US. Japan would need its whole fleet and a little more air support to successfully defend the seazone. By turn 4 the US can have a sizable land force hit either Korea or Japan itself depending on what the Japanese defended. The only problems I see is India falling before that, or Jap destroyer blocking slowing the US down. I think this is a good way for the US to take the fight to Japan. Let me know what you guys think if you think this is a feasible strategy.

Also, how can 4 bmrs go from WUS to SZ6 in 1 turn?

Also, how can 4 bmrs go from WUS to SZ6 in 1 turn?

W/ airbase bombers take 4 moves to seazone 6 from America then two moves back to wake for a total of 6 moves.

And yes the Japanese fleet can hit hawaii but that’s assuming they kept the fleet at Japan, which is unlikely and if they did since fighters can scramble from hawaii they would take huge losses and they could be counterattacked from bombers on the mainland.

@The:

Also, how can 4 bmrs go from WUS to SZ6 in 1 turn?

W/ airbase bombers take 4 moves to seazone 6 from America then two moves back to wake for a total of 6 moves.

And yes the Japanese fleet can hit hawaii but that’s assuming they kept the fleet at Japan, which is unlikely and if they did since fighters can scramble from hawaii they would take huge losses and they could be counterattacked from bombers on the mainland.

How is it only 4 moves from WUS to SZ6? Which territories/sea zones do you pass through?

@The:

W/ airbase bombers take 4 moves to seazone 6 from America then two moves back to wake for a total of 6 moves.

Well, he means it’s 5 moves.  Airbase = 1 move, then 4 bomber moves, with 2 remaining, is the way he’s looking at it.  (I look at it as 7 moves)

But Wake is 4 moves from Z6 (not 2), unless he means Iwo, which is 2.

You can get a strat bomber from WUS to Z6 to Iwo.

Oh yeah I meant Midway not wake, since Midway is two spaces away from seazone six and has an airbase it can land just fine.

You can’t get from WUS to Z6 to Midway, can you?  I count 8 spaces.

You can’t get from WUS to Z6 to Midway, can you?  I count 8 spaces.

8 spaces using 2 airbases allows the bombers to take of and land for free so they can do it in one turn.

@The:

You can’t get from WUS to Z6 to Midway, can you?  I count 8 spaces.

8 spaces using 2 airbases allows the bombers to take of and land for free so they can do it in one turn.

You don’t get an extra movement if you land on an airbase

You don’t get an extra movement if you land on an airbase

O really :|
I didn’t know that. I was under the impression that you treated any island with an airbase as if it were a carrier so that as long as you made it to the seazone you could land.

Yeah, it was like that in the original A&A Pacific.

Ok, so i just played my first game of the AAP40, and i lost as japan. What the Us could do it while Japan is trying to wreck havoc on the Chinese ground forces and the British army, move your entire fleet and air force to midway instead of Hawaii. It puts you closer to Japan, and Japan has to cease its ground campaign to win in the naval fight. sure it has more planes, but if the Us is smart, they can take Iwo Jima on their first or second turn.

Our little gaming group has played P40 about 30 times or so. In the beginning, especially after we saw how effective the J1 attack was, Japan always won. Lately that has changed.

The Chinese, Brits, ANZAC do what they can to delay the Japanese from overwhelming them. Like always. The U.S. buys 2 AC’s and 2 Transports to add to the 1 of each they start with on the west coast, and from then on buys submarines and bombers to attack the Sea of Japan. This continues for a long time until the Americans have naval parity and eventually naval supremacy.

A note on attacking. Only attack with submarines and airplanes. Never commit your Battleship, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers or Destroyers. If there are few air units in Japan, attack with the carrier planes leaving the carries in an adjacent sea zone out of range from this airplanes in the Caroline Islands or China. The point of the attacks to exchange submarines for his surface ships or his airplanes. If the subs are lost they should have killed more expensive units. If there are no naval units in the Sea of Japan, send in a few subs (2 or 3)  on convoy attack duty in the Sea of Japan and around the Dutch East Indies. When he counter attacks with destroyer or two, hit him again. Remember your air can get hits on his air units. And unless the Japanese rolled very well, the Americans only took hit on their submarines. If you lost the first round retreat with the planes. If you kill all his navy, so it is only planes on planes, unless you outnumber the Japanese by a lot, submerge the subs and retreat the planes.

The order of battle.

US 1 - buy 1 AC or 2 TR depending on whether or not the Japanese plan to menace Australia or Hawaii. If they do not, skip the TR buy for now.

US 2 - buy 1 or 2 AC’s and a Naval Base for Midway. Move the American force to Midway. Unless the entire Japanese Navy is nearby, these Japanese should leave you alone and guard the Sea of Japan and the Caroline Islands. The submarines and bombers do not defend well at all. An all submarine and bomber force is easily attacked by a destroyer and a few fighters. So the Carrier Task Force around Midway only real purpose is to protect the west coast and the submarines.

US 3 - buy 5 submarines and 2 bombers. Look to see if you have enough to attack the Sea of Japan or the Caroline Islands with submarines and bombers only. This may or may not be combined with naval air from the carriers.

US 4 - buy 4 submarines , 2 bombers and 1 destroyer. The occasional destroyer is necessary to screen with. By now the US player should have enough to attack with. If he does not, continue to build up and realize that you are drawing air planes and money from the attack on the Asian mainland.

US 5 and later, continue to buy submarines and bombers until you feel strong enough to invade an island or two, and stay. Build sufficient forces to defend surrounding navy w/air base and planes and attack his naval forces further in.

Weaknesses of the above strategy. This is a war of attrition to wear down the Japanese and gain naval supremacy. It does take a while. If the Japaneses offensive on the Asian Mainland goes very well, it may take too long.

In addition, the Japanese may not base any destroyers or navy in the Sea of Japan. He will hold a few destroyers in reserve near the Chinese Coast to counter attack with.  Just leave a few submarines in the Sea of Japan, no more than submarines than he has destroyers. The turn after he counter attacks, attack his destroyers with submarines and air planes. This will wear him down.  But like above, it is slow going.

We have found with good play from the U.K. and Chinese, that the Allies can survive long enough to put pressure on the Japanese with this strategy and sometimes even win. We have found no quick way to put pressure on the Japanese as their air force is just too strong.

Test it out, it has worked for me a few times against good players. It may even work for you.

@Redjac:

Our little gaming group has played P40 about 30 times or so. In the beginning, especially after we saw how effective the J1 attack was, Japan always won. Lately that has changed.

The Chinese, Brits, ANZAC do what they can to delay the Japanese from overwhelming them. Like always. The U.S. buys 2 AC’s and 2 Transports to add to the 1 of each they start with on the west coast, and from then on buys submarines and bombers to attack the Sea of Japan. This continues for a long time until the Americans have naval parity and eventually naval supremacy.

A note on attacking. Only attack with submarines and airplanes. Never commit your Battleship, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers or Destroyers. If there are few air units in Japan, attack with the carrier planes leaving the carries in an adjacent sea zone out of range from this airplanes in the Caroline Islands or China. The point of the attacks to exchange submarines for his surface ships or his airplanes. If the subs are lost they should have killed more expensive units. If there are no naval units in the Sea of Japan, send in a few subs (2 or 3)  on convoy attack duty in the Sea of Japan and around the Dutch East Indies. When he counter attacks with destroyer or two, hit him again. Remember your air can get hits on his air units. And unless the Japanese rolled very well, the Americans only took hit on their submarines. If you lost the first round retreat with the planes. If you kill all his navy, so it is only planes on planes, unless you outnumber the Japanese by a lot, submerge the subs and retreat the planes.

The order of battle.

US 1 - buy 1 AC or 2 TR depending on whether or not the Japanese plan to menace Australia or Hawaii. If they do not, skip the TR buy for now.

US 2 - buy 1 or 2 AC’s and a Naval Base for Midway. Move the American force to Midway. Unless the entire Japanese Navy is nearby, these Japanese should leave you alone and guard the Sea of Japan and the Caroline Islands. The submarines and bombers do not defend well at all. An all submarine and bomber force is easily attacked by a destroyer and a few fighters. So the Carrier Task Force around Midway only real purpose is to protect the west coast and the submarines.

US 3 - buy 5 submarines and 2 bombers. Look to see if you have enough to attack the Sea of Japan or the Caroline Islands with submarines and bombers only. This may or may not be combined with naval air from the carriers.

US 4 - buy 4 submarines , 2 bombers and 1 destroyer. The occasional destroyer is necessary to screen with. By now the US player should have enough to attack with. If he does not, continue to build up and realize that you are drawing air planes and money from the attack on the Asian mainland.

US 5 and later, continue to buy submarines and bombers until you feel strong enough to invade an island or two, and stay. Build sufficient forces to defend surrounding navy w/air base and planes and attack his naval forces further in.

Weaknesses of the above strategy. This is a war of attrition to wear down the Japanese and gain naval supremacy. It does take a while. If the Japaneses offensive on the Asian Mainland goes very well, it may take too long.

In addition, the Japanese may not base any destroyers or navy in the Sea of Japan. He will hold a few destroyers in reserve near the Chinese Coast to counter attack with.  Just leave a few submarines in the Sea of Japan, no more than submarines than he has destroyers. The turn after he counter attacks, attack his destroyers with submarines and air planes. This will wear him down.   But like above, it is slow going.

We have found with good play from the U.K. and Chinese, that the Allies can survive long enough to put pressure on the Japanese with this strategy and sometimes even win. We have found no quick way to put pressure on the Japanese as their air force is just too strong.

Test it out, it has worked for me a few times against good players. It may even work for you.

So with this strategy, the US is fully committed to a naval war with Japan, which means it provides little or no support to ANZAC not does it try to take the DEIor the philippines early on. Am I correct?

Correct in part.

I have found no way to attack the Dutch East Indies or the Philippines early. I can move to New Zealand and attack Java, or move to New Queensland and attack other parts of the DEI or the Philippines. But I have never been able to stay there. The Japanese Naval power is so strong that I just get brushed aside and lose my navy in the process. So this strategy does not attempt it.

As far as Australia goes, the submarines/bombers can be moved to attack the Japanese Navy if they move close to Australia.

The point of the U.S. strategy is to build a force to attack and wear down their navy. If they move away from the mainland of Asia or Japan, and can be attacked so much the better. It is hard to move near them when they are near the coastline, as they have all the naval bases and they have so many planes that moving your surface navy inside the “Caroline - Japan” line is almost suicide. So I concentrate on the Sea of Japan where if they do not defend, we can least attack their convoys.

At some point you have to play the board. If Japan has built little or no navy, then after turn 5 or so, you can attack and hold one of the Dutch East Indies, while still attacking the Sea of Japan. You have broken his big money now, and stand a good chance to win the game even after he has crushed China and taken Calcutta.

Your point is taken though. This is not a complete strategy, rather an opening set of moves like in chess.

While i do agree with the concept of building up american offensive power, it seems to me there is a small flaw in your strategy since you cant use submarines as cassualties against aircraft (or am i mistaken?). If the japanese player defends with only aircraft your subs are practically useless, and if you use them for convoy disruption he should be able to wipe them out without much effort.

That said, i do agree that subs and aircraft are the best way to build up offensive power. Switching to fighters instead of bombers might offer more flexibility though - and make it easyer for you to push forward later in the game.

One can use submarines as casualties if the opponents has navy in the water. If there is no navy, only enemy air units, then the submarines cannot be taken as casualties. This is separate apart from the rule allowing the submarines to sneak attack or submerge if the enemy has no destroyers.  If alive at the end of the japanese turn, they attack the convoys. The Japanese player will usually attack submarines in the Sea of Japan combined with his air planes and destroyers to rid himself of the subs. This starts the cycle of the American player hitting his destroyers/navy with additional submarines and planes.

I prefer bombers to fighters for two reasons. First, the bombers can attack the Sea of Japan from Midway (or even Hawaii) and return to land on Midaway. Fighters have to return to carriers or land on Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima is hard to take and hold in the beginning of the game. Second, bombers hit on a 4 on the attack, versus 3 for fighters, and only cost 2 points more to buy.

The whole point of the strategy is to give the Japanese something to worry about from the beginning of the game. Something to wear down his navy and/or hurt his economy. I have tried attacking the Carolines early and moving to Australia to attack the DEI early. All of those plans failed. This is the only strategy that has given me a chance to win the game for the allies when the Japanese declare war on turn 1 vs. the U.S., Britain and ANZAC. And of course, it goes not guarantee victory.