Has anyone tried a J1 invasion of Alaska?

Axis & Allies
Pacific 1940
First Edition

Anyone here annoyed with the typos and other errors found in A&A Pacific 1940 1st Edition on the setup boxes and in the manual? I have a version from 2009 that is one of the first copies that has these errors, warts and all, that I bought from Gateway Games in Erie, PA for Christmas in 2009, exactly 10 years ago. I dislike this version and I would like to please get an updated version of 1st Ed. with all the corrections. Thank you. Where do I find the corrected edition of A&A Pacific 1940? I heard about it 9 years ago, but can’t find it. Anyone know of any copies?

I wouldn’t imagine building an mIC there ever worth it, but that’s just me.

Crockett36, just an FYI this is a Pacific 1940 thread, NOT a Global 1940 thread. So keep in mind your parts about defeating Germany are invalid in this particular situation  :-)

To sort of piggy back off of crockett36’s post though, for those that apply to a Pacific 1940 game, you’ll definitely need to look at how the whole game plays out. By that I mean, you’ll probably need to be prepared to be semi-aggressive with ANZAC and UK both with an Alaska strategy. As Crockett36 points out, you’ll be throwing most of your force that way presumably, so that leaves Japan to (also presumably) focus efforts north as well. If that happens, you’d want to be ready to pounce as ANZAC and UK, wouldn’t you? Attack the Caroline Islands, fortify the Philippines and DEI, etc.?

That all said, the other tricky thing about this strategy is knowing you start out on the second foot to Japan. they get to go first, so will dictate play a lot. Also depends on when Japan attacks. They start out with an obviously significantly larger naval force than the US, and could potentially leave enough force to deal with Alaska, and also continue to strike south. If a J1 happens, I think an Alaska build up is rather difficult.

But, if it’s delayed to J3, with a US entrance to war on US4, then you may reasonably be able to have built up a decent size force to do this. Again, assuming you coordinated with ANZAC and UK as well. This might all be pointless to do if ANZAC has only built defensive ground forces, or UK gone all ground force to help China, etc. You’d essentially have an empty theater in the south where Japan isn’t getting hit in that case. Or, by staying defensive, might allow Japan to still do what needs to be done in the south pacific without jeopardizing it’s Alaska force much.

@Fatespinner:

I find it quite difficult to keep China from being killed. How would you suggest doing it?

It’s pretty much impossible to keep China alive if Japan focuses on them.  It’s more about prolonging death and being annoying than not dying.

no.

it seems like no one is answering the threads question.

japan initial purchases are transports, then subs and destroyers to keep usa back. they have enough tacs already
china they can not purchase tacs
uk needs to buy ground units
anzac needs to buy cheap naval units
usa is the only country that i would even consider a tac purchase. then give my head a shake and realize that i need more important units.

@UN:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@UN:

Did you also put in the 10 Chinese infantry?  :?

yeah. Keep in mind that japan had 8 more planes than the allies.

I still call it luck. Grumble

I have a question. I think, since Japan has no navy at ALL in the Dutch East Indies I can have ANZAC send its submarine fleets to disrupt convoys there. But I’m not sure exactly how convoy disruptions work. It said it can’t exceed the combined IPC value of all adjacent territories or islands in the disrupted sea zone.

So if I had 4 submarines in SZ42, the most amount of IPC I can destroy is 19 IPCs (3 from Malaya, 4 from Sumatra, 4 from Java, 4 from Boreno, 3 from Celebes)?

Z42 only borders Java, so you can only disrupt Java for 4 ipcs

So my group has completed a game where Japan went for America.  We figure that whether or not Japan wins is dependent on a few things.

I don’t remember whether the final assualt on WUS happened on J3 or J4.  I think it was J4, and they waited until J3 to attack Alaska?  Either way, the statistics were about a 45% chance for Japan to take WUS.  They needed some AA misses to throw it in their favor.

There really is little that the UK and ANZAC player can contribute to the defense of WUS.  The best thing for them to do is go crazy in the absence of the Japanese forces.  By the time America fell, the UK had liberated most of China, and had several rounds to build up a navy with the help of the DEI income.  Australia also had a bonus going on, adding 2 loaded carriers to supplement defense of the UK fleet.

Japan thought about going straight for Australia, but the UK fleet with transports(deploying from  Kwangtung and Kiangsu factories) was already threatening Japan.

While America had fallen, they only gained +10 income from America, +Mexico +Alaska, while giving up on their territories in the Chinese mainland.  They were being out produced by the Allies, and out of position to restablish a hold on the mainland.

@Vareel:

Oh i’m not saying you have to attack hawawi, nor that you should try to take it.  But it is a good idea I feel to send the US fleet at pearl to the bottom of the ocean.  The way I do that is with 2 carriers parked in SZ 31 with some extra boats to add to the attack, like a BB, pair of DDs, pair of subs, and keep a bomber or two in range, along with a purchased sub or 2.  Just 2 carriers alone in SZ 31 bring 8 planes into the fight allowing for 24 punch and 8 or 12 hits if you bring the carriers.  Add to that a pair of bombers, 2 DDs and a BB and you got 40 punch with 6 more hits.  And thats not counting the purchased units or the pair of subs you can position there if you want.  That still leaves you with a carrier, a battleship, 2 DDs, 2 Cru, and 15 planes for the DEI area.  Now I do sacrifice my transports to take DEI islands in the end, but I feel it is worth it.  If the US cannot be at Pearl on US2, or is sunk there, the earliest turn they can get to the DEI area with a significant force would be on US 5.

I understood that the propose is to prevent the US from moving the fleet to Pearl, not taking Hawaii itself and I agree that it is a good move. Most likely I’d move the US fleet to Line Islands and buy a naval base, allowing them to reach Australia on the next turn by leaving a DD on Johnson to block any J attacks.

The worse though will be if the US moves its airforce to Australia after J has attacked. Any Jap fleet on the East Indies will be threatened.

I agree with a J3 attack at this point. And yes, I also believe that there will likely be no ‘Pearl Harbor’ attack on the US.

The Carolines are an ideal spot to stage the IJN. I like to have the bulk of the fleet there and another group off the coast of China to support that efforts against the Brit holdings in the DEI and Kwangtung. Also, staging at Truk pretty much cuts the US off from doing anything useful to help the Brits for the first few turns as well as threatens the Aussies enough to force them to build ground troops for defense.

Given that the US will have spent only 39 or so IPCs by the time of the Japanese DoW it’s impossible for them to have anything to withstand the full weight of the IJN at Truk. That means that if they want to survive the will likely have to be back at the West Coast or someplace else out of the way. That adds another turn or so to the timeline before the US can intervene effectively to help relieve pressure in China/India.