Thoughts on a Japanese strategy?

ANZAC is a good choice for your first VC (not counting HK and Philippines).  You can use Western Australia as a place to fly your planes out of, and by doing so you largely avoid having to commit large amount of navy to the cause.  I see this as the steps:

Turn 1: Move fleet south, build 3 transports
Turn 2: Move fleet south
Turn 3: Capture Western Australia
Turn 4: NCM air force to Western Australia
Turn 5: Take Sydney

Eliminating ANZAC forces USA to deal with a large boost in income, and it’s difficult to liberate without a strong investment in Transports.

In Global, a HARD press by the Japanese against the Russians is also Required… if you want to help your allies win.

Try something like this:

Set up Kill America First as described.  It can be thwarted but that’s not the point.  Attack and take Hawaii.  From there, you can hit New Zealand and Queensland and from there, you can take New South Wales for your next NO.

After that, all you need are some destroyers to block the Americans with and the DEI.

Surprises are pretty much the only thing I see as a relaible way to win.  Unfortunately, they only work once.

@Cmdr:

Surprises are pretty much the only thing I see as a relaible way to win.  Unfortunately, they only work once.

The trick is to have the same standard buys, and mask your operations.  If you play against the same opponent, attack a different target first each game, go for Hawaii one time, Sydney another, and Calcutta the third.  Sometimes yuo can just use Japan to assist Germany, by taking Africa and the Middle East and helping defeat Russia.  There is a wide variety of gambits you can utilize.

I think that Sydney followed by Calcutta is a great tactic against an unknown opponent (be sure you take Hong Kong, Malaya, and Borneo, and strategic bomb Calcutta to limit their infantry stacks).

@Cmdr:

Try something like this:

Set up Kill America First as described.  It can be thwarted but that’s not the point.  Attack and take Hawaii.  From there, you can hit New Zealand and Queensland and from there, you can take New South Wales for your next NO.

After that, all you need are some destroyers to block the Americans with and the DEI.

I had an opponent move everything to the Caroline Islands. Ya I saw the whole Hawaii thing, but I moved the American fleet into a strong position, which is what they can do when not attacked J1 (in fact, I welcomed the inevitable Pacific attrition battle between our two navies). The only thing that worried me was a move on Sydney, because the Caroline islands is such a short and obvious route to a vital capital city like that. So I used my cruiser and destroyer to block both sea routes and bought 3 infantry A1. Because I built up the defense immediately, he chickened out and didn’t go for it, but I didn’t like what ANZAC was forced to buy the first 2 turns. Personally, I prefer to take all of China, push back the Russian infantry stacks away from Korea, and try to grab Calcutta before the American hammer falls. I feel that if Japan can get all of Australia, they certainly can’t hold it, and by that time, the window on Calcutta has closed.

What is the strong position you mention for the US fleet if the Japs gather their fleet at the Carolines? Hawaii with blockers in SZ30 and 31?

I wouldn’t call it chickening out.  Your opponent succeeded in getting Australia to purchase a bunch of ground units instead of naval units.  Since Australia has very limited means for using these units offensively, he effectively SBRed you without any risk to himself. (defined as costing you IPC.)

I am not a HUGE fan of SZ 33, I prefer a naval base on Formosa and the fleet off the coast of Kwangtung (Hong Kong) so I can snipe Philippines, Celebes, Borneo, Java and Sumatra on my attack, or SZ 9 and 11 so I can encourage America to put ground units down.

@Piet:

What is the strong position you mention for the US fleet if the Japs gather their fleet at the Carolines? Hawaii with blockers in SZ30 and 31?

The US can send the San Fransisco fleet to join the fleet in Hawaii, and hope the Japanese hit it. It will bring them into the war early and the Japs will lose half their fleet.

Dunno…you would then have only 52IPC to spend on a new fleet, which the Japs could destroy again in the next round. Sure this works?

@Piet:

Dunno…you would then have only 52IPC to spend on a new fleet, which the Japs could destroy again in the next round. Sure this works?

Each attack the Japanese fleet makes on the US fleet early in the game is always a good thing. Right away, the japs lose their $10 NO and the US gains at least $15 ($20 if they still have Philippines). Japans fleet will dwindle and there is no chance of landing and taking San Francisco. If the US can’t replace their lost boats because the remaining Japanese fleet is too close, they can drop a ton of bombers and deal with them that way. My point is, that its better for the US to have the Japs come toward them rather than the US taking half the game chasing the japs fleet all over the Pacific. Besides, if the Japanese fleet is off the shores of California, they can’t use their Kamikaze, and the UK, ANZAC, China and Russia, all have a ton of pressure off them. The US will eventually out purchase the Japanese and they will be dropping units right into the fray while the Japs have to sail their reinforcements from 2 turns away.

@Cmdr:

I wouldn’t call it chickening out.  Your opponent succeeded in getting Australia to purchase a bunch of ground units instead of naval units.  Since Australia has very limited means for using these units offensively, he effectively SBRed you without any risk to himself. (defined as costing you IPC.)

I am not a HUGE fan of SZ 33, I prefer a naval base on Formosa and the fleet off the coast of Kwangtung (Hong Kong) so I can snipe Philippines, Celebes, Borneo, Java and Sumatra on my attack, or SZ 9 and 11 so I can encourage America to put ground units down.

Thats what I would do too.

have a naval base in sumatra
it’s weird little idea i really like
there, you can easily hit either middle-east or africa
(if uk is conquered it’s even possible to take south africa)
else you can still reach a lot of convoys with your subs
but of course, this is if US aims at germany (likely after sealion)

Yes, Sumatra does allow you to land in Kenya, Tangyanika or Madagascar, but you have to declare war on England, Australia and America before you can take Sumatra whereas you start with Formosa.

@Cmdr:

Yes, Sumatra does allow you to land in Kenya, Tangyanika or Madagascar, but you have to declare war on England, Australia and America before you can take Sumatra whereas you start with Formosa.

Have you ever landed Japanese troops in Africa?

Not yet, no.

@Cmdr:

Not yet, no.

I remember in Anniversary and Classic, I landed the Japanese in Africa quite a bit. Now with Global, even when I take Calcutta, I find myself scrambling to get back in the Pacific. It’s all because of more enemies, more battle fronts and more sea zones, but if Italy can’t take care of Africa, than who can?.

So…… When you play Japan, do you take out Calcutta, and if so, how confident in your strategy are you, that you’re sure you can take it. I mean there is so much talk on this forum analyzing Sealion, that I think the Capturing of Calcutta should get just as much attention. I attempted this operation twice and have succeeded once.

Two best games i had with Japan:

Control of Moscow and San Francisco (all surprise!  America didn’t expect a landing!)
Control of Hawaii and New South Wales with no British fleet left.

In both games, it was because America built something in the Atlantic before containing Japan