My Allied Strategy for UK & US

@Clyde85:

Grasshopper, I was wondering if you’ve ever heard of/tried the “fortress DIE” strat? In short it has the ANZAC grabbing one of the DEI islands, usually Java (I think), on their first turn and then building an airbase on it on their second turn. The idea, as near as I can tell, is to then have the UK Indian forces land more troops and the US fly airforces there to try and keep the Japanese tied up in the DEI longer and keep them from geting the NO associated with it. Do you think an idea like this would work well with your over all blue print put forward here?

We actually tried this in one game.  I don’t remember all the details but we had mixture of ANZAC and UK airforce on Java with inf and the Air base.The navy was a mix of UK and ANZAC in the seazone with the US in striking distance.  I remember it being taken out fairly easy by the Japanese but what it did accomplish was a heavy distraction for Japan.  They were constantly out of position and were soon taken out.  Could of been the skill of the player and never seeing that before that led to the demise but it was an interesting way to go.

Grasshopper, I totally agree with your American Navy strategy I love to use it as a hunter/killer force seems to work great.  My question for you is how does this strategy pan out for you if Germany has a successful sealion?  My problem with the Pacific navy build is every time i do it sealion is always successful and i have to run and save the UK.  I guess i just have bad luck.

Let me give you my numbers for japan in my current game. UK attacked japan so I was able to keep america out of the war until turn 5. I just purchased for japan round 5. Here is my fleet numbers. I have 20 aircraft so I will keep these out. This is only a tally of my fleet I also have 6 transports. 15 subs, 6 destroyers, 2 cruisers, 2 battleships, and 4 carriers. With your American buys I don’t see you taking and hold the phillipines for a long time.

By turn 5 you will have 40 units comprised of air and see. Japan will have 49. The units you buy in western can’t do much of anything so if we subtract that it is even less units. Still don’t see you taking and holding phillipines for a long time. since if I see a possible take and hold of phillipines coming my 10 subs I buy in sea zone 6 and possibly 2 more in sea zone 19 if I can afford it would mean that I could counter with far more than you can bring because you would have had 2 less buys than me since it is 3 turns from western US to phillipines. While as only 1 from sea zone 6.

I mean by this I didn’t even attack america on turn 4. So they couldn’t actually attack any territory until their turn 5. They did collect 77 at end of turn 4, but since they aren’t able to declare war till after their combat phase 5 turns…

sorry you are correct T4 america attacks.

LOL i’ll shut up now :)

I’m just good at strategy. All the new rules of this game are still a little fuzzy lol.

See, I knew something had to be off. Fair enough of a mistake though, happens to the best of us. I also think that you are under-estimating the power of a defensive India, I dont think 3 ground units a turn for 3 turns will be enough on their own, as I dont know where you’ll be concentrating them before hand to attack India in time.

I really like this Java idea. If the US has a fleet off the coast of Queensland, then as the ANZAC, I really dont see any need to keep my navy there, and I could keep them all off the coast of Java. I think I could get around 6 UK and ANZAC infantry there before turn 3 with 3 ANZAC fighters and an air base there by then as well. if the US could move their destroyer from the Philippines there, and possible land their air force there as well, then so much the better. Japan could probably still take it, but it would take a greater concentration of their fleet and naval air power (as I dont think their land based stuff could reach) and they would suffer heavier losses as well. Then, the US forces off of Queensland could counter attack this weakened fleet and finish it off. I think this could work well with your blueprint Grasshopper

I can see what you’re saying about the focus on the Phillippines, going for the jugular and all, im just doubtful that you could attack and hold it early on. I could see the Japanese improvising a counter-attack, as aircraft based in Japan can reach the seazone around the Phillippines, as well as any aircraft based around the south of China, the latter without the need for an airbase. Java is further away and harder for Japan to reinforce. If you could force the Japanese to commit a large amount of its resources here, you can destroy them with out having to worry about an immediate counter-attack and force Japan into a reactionary defensive game, throwing any offensive operations against India off the balance and out the window. I know I shouldnt worry about the loss of the ships off the phillippines, the whole point is to force Japan to attack and lose pieces to maxamize the US’s economic edge. This might just be me being over-cautious and thinking of this from the commonwealth point of view as thats what I usually play (Britian, ANZAC, France, and China the “hold the line” group as I call them).  However, I think a more methodic approach could work just as well with your blueprint. Imagine how much more potent your plan would be if you didnt lose the first wave of American naval power, and all your subsequent naval unit built upon this.

Clyde, Grasshopper has it right. Every expert would agree you want to maximize IPC lost vs gained. SO if you are going to hold a southern island put an airbase there and planes you are going to loose A LOT more IPC’s than Japan is going to in taking it out. Granted japan won’t be able to get their NO bonus or attack other Islands, but taking out that many IP’Cs is way more worth it. Killing UK India men and planes will make it even easier to take out india later on because what can india counter attack with when all her fighters are dead? The allies have the economic edge if anything were to be said about playing methodically it would 100% be with the allies. Play methodically NEVER get in a big battle unless youare favored to win. In poker you don’t call an all in with 27 just because you have 10 times as many chips as the player going all in. If you kept doing this you would eventually be knocked out. Wait around for the right oppertunity and when that comes capitalize on it. If US is putting as much money in the pacific as grasshopper is saying, then Japan will eventually get beat. There is no way around it. No need to sacrafice units in an attempt to make it easier for the US when in reality is makes it harder for UK and anzac since you are loosing units with both.

but wouldn’t the losses of the initial battle be pretty slight? by turn 4-5 I would have built another carrier. This would give me 6 free hits I can absorb when this battle comes to fruition. Along with my subs I can take as fodder it would be very hard for me to loose enough to where you would be able to counter attack it. I’d love to play a game sometime where we can see how this plays out. I am just waiting on Gazza so we can finish up our game Thats been sitting of over a month now. Still haven’t figured out how in the hell to use battlemap.