Suggestion for U.S. strategy

@SuperbattleshipYamato

Right, so I found the thread discussing this variant, but I didn’t notice until after I created this thread, but in case you are still confused what I’m talking about:

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/23900/global-1942-scenario-by-larry-harris/25

@IKE:

@farmboy:

I didn’t think the of the fighters coming from UK (in my limited experience so far, they get used for scramble, defense of UK, and supporting the destroyer in taking out subs or the German battleship. So I’ve only simulated the combat with the UK bomber, the Egypt fleet and the Malta fighter. That obviously makes a difference and makes it much safer. I’d guess with 80% (1 UK fighter) to 95% 2 (UK fighter) odds, most Italy players aren’t going to try to scramble either. The British will lose the carrier and the two fighters after from a German counter but that will take some of the German air out of the game too.

thanks all for taking the time to walk me through this.

If the Germans make smart attacks turn 1 on the RN it doesn’t make sense to scramble.  Now if they get cute and try to do too much then a scramble may be worth it.

Yeah. I wouldn’t use them for a scramble in turn 1 (depending as you say, on the German attacks) but in turn 2.

I have only had a chance to play this a couple of times (and a couple of more times playing around in triplea), but so far I’ve used the fighters to hit surviving subs and/or the battleship near UK in turn 1 and (assuming no sea lion) I have tried to put 3 allied fighters in UK and 3 in Scotland (this means building 1 and moving the Gibraltar fighter up) so that I can rebuild a UK fleet in 109. I figured the German air force could still probably take it out but if they are going barbarossa it was worth it to pull the German airforce West and to take out half of it on turn 2.

In my play group there’s a guy who takes S. Euro with Germany and starts to build a small navy there. With the Italians, that combined fleet is enough to bottle the allies at Gib for a long time. I’ve seen it come out of the med from time to time depending on the situation, but usually he just drops enough men to hold Gib for a very long time. Without an allied presence in the med, Italy can typically make a lot of $$$ and either build a defensive force for Germany while they press towards USSR, move into the middle east and threaten USSR’s underbelly/India, take out UK’s SAF IC, or some combo of the above. It seems very hard to stop if done right, but I’ve yet to play with or against him when he’s the European axis and does this, so I don’t know the details of what happens in between my tours of the others’ boards when I’m waiting for my opponent to take his turn.

The are two plans at work here.

The strict neutral strategy should not work against a good player because of all the extra infantry (18+) that the Allies get. But those infantry take a while to get into battle. The troops is South America take at least a few turns to get into the fight if there are no transports handy in the Atlantic. It may even be a turn or two before all the extra income comes on line for the Allies as well. And the Axis get to decide when to attack the neutrals, so they have initiative. I have never seen the Allies attack strict neutrals.

As far a turn 1 attack by Japan on the U.S. - Japan can defend Hawaii and the DEI for a least a few turns from the Western Allies and the Americans. Japan can build a Aircraft Carrier turn 1 with a Transport. Attack Midway turn 1 with Infantry and Artillery. Attack American Fleet around Hawaii with 3 Fighters, 3 Tactical Bombers, 2 Bombers, and 1 Destroyer and 1 Submarine on J1. Turn 2 attack Hawaii with 2 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 3 Fighters and 3 Tactical Bombers. If any Destroyer or Submarine survived the turn 1 Assault on the sea zone around Hawaii they can help defend the fleet from the scrambling aircraft at Hawaii, or defend any American Assault on U.S. 2. There should be 4 Aircraft Carriers with planes and 0-3 support craft (Destroyers and Submarines). This should be more than enough to hold off American attack for a few turns. If there are any losses on the aircraft on any of the battles fly new planes to land on the Aircraft Carriers in the non-combat movement phase. The rest of the Japanese fleet, 2 transports, 2 Battleships, 2 Cruisers, 1 Destroyer and 1 Submarine can take Philippines turn 1 and can take Malaya turn 2. It can move on to capture the islands on turn 3 and later. Once the Philippines are taken, planes can be flown from China to cover the fleet at an airbase. The Japanese have enough fleet to match the British, Anzac and the Americans for at least a few turns. Japan does not have enough resources to fight China too while this is happening. So the Chinese will start producing 18 + income a turn and dominate the mainland. But this is the strategic problem Japan has always had. It has the initiative and not enough resources. IF you have to choose which Ally gets more money, choose the Chinese, as they cant leave China (except for Hong Kong and Burma).

All I ever see the Japanese do is build for a few turn or two, attack China turn 1 and 2, and then fight a traditional war against the DEI and try to hold on…

Doh, thats right.  I misspoke, you save one if concerned Japan might be invaded by US.  It can stop bombards and is cheaper than throwing a ftr away doing it.

So only save a kami if you think Japan is about to be invaded.

In my opinion, it’s important to try and take out both UK DD’s, one SZ w/a BB in it, usually SZ111 and SZ112. And also take out the Transports, which means SZ109 has to go. I know that’s a lot to ask of the Germans, especially SZ109, since the UK can scramble 4 FTR’s. The only other strategy I believe is to take 2 Subs and attack the CC in SZ91, instead of attacking SZ109 and then use the 3rd German sub to attack SZ111. Or, you could take the 3rd German sub against SZ106 to ensure the DD’s & Trans death. That way, the UK only has 1 DD that can counter attack the 2 or 3 subs(depending on how many survive) in SZ106. You can use the German subs to take away some IPC’s in the convoy zones. The BB & DD in SZ111 is easily taken out w/the 3 FTR’s & 3 Tacs you can get on it. Yes, you may lose 1 FTR most likely but it’s well worth it to kill a UK BB.

@Frank:

You can go that route if you want but don’t be surprised if it just helps you smash the axis even more.  Russia is already hard enough to crack if a smart allied player is in control of it.  If you give it five more points a turn for just declaring war on Japan it just stacks the odds more in favor of the allies.

Or, you could look at it as the Japanese player has to take at least 5 far eastern tt from the soviets to balance things out, because the Soviets may be a tough nut to crack with a smart player, but a smart Axis player should be able to find way around it  :-)

Its not a matter of quickly taking over america.  If the US is 100% devoted to building units to defend against Japan, the Germans should finish off Russia.

And really, if japan can just place 1 more unit in alaska than the US can build, eventually…