In the game China is very weak and does not reflect the difficulty that Japan had on that front in the war on land that had since 1937.
With the economic embargo on Japan he had to choose the Pacific and stop the attack in China that could not have a war on two fronts. In the game, he can do it very easily and still attack India! Unbelievable !
Change of rules:
China with more infantry at the beginning.
Japan with fewer planes in China.
Chinese troops can advance in Southeast Asia and Burma.
United States should be able to add planes in the Chinese territory.
If you are playing with the alpha set ups then China is not so weak as out of the box set up. So to answer your questions:
1. China with more infantry at the beginning. Done. China had four infantry units added.
2. Japan with fewer planes in China. Done. Japan had its airfleet reduced in the alpha. Japan lost a fighter in Manchuria, a strategic bomber in Kiangsu, a strategic bomber in Japan (that could easily hit China on the 1st turn.) Plus it lost 3 fighters, and 2 tactical bombers in Japan that could deploy to attack China on the subsequent turn.
3. Chinese troops can advance in Southeast Asia and Burma. They can already advance into Burma, they just don’t get ownership of the territory in doing so. Wouldn’t make sense for them to be allowed to take Southeast Asia–China was not organized for offensive warfare into other regions until after WWII.
4. United States should be able to add planes in the Chinese territory. That wouldn’t reflect historical reality. The only way the U.S. can do this is if is already at war. The U.S. did covertly provide the Flying Tigers which are already well represented by a special air unit for China.
Are you playing global or Pacific 1940? There’s a huge difference as the Russians can come and help China. Also China really isn’t that weak as they can put their units anywhere. Just place them really strategically and try to pick off as many ground units from Japan as possible. These are really valuable and really hard to reinforce. Don’t wait with the UK to put troops in Yunnan and keep the burma road open. You can really drain Japan. Try to make as many gaps as possible in their frontline so they have a hard time to attack in force.
To answer the original question bluntly, making China much stronger than Alpha+3 is saying “F*** Japan.”
If China forces Japan out, India is much safer and Japan is much poorer.
If China is a real threat, Japan is fighting on 4 fronts: West (China), Southwest, (India), South (ANZAC) and East (USA).
I brought A&A 1940 with me on my last trip to China and played with my friends over there. It put the game in an interesting perspective for me hearing things from the Chinese point of view. In their opinion China is too weak but also to strong. While this may sound contradictory it makes sense.
Too weak; from a sheer military standpoint China was too weak to them. Infantry are really a defensive unit and are rarely brought into battle by themselves unless they come in huge numbers. China dose not have enough to mount a truly successful defense and is often overrun by Japan in short order (yes even with the latest set-up changes). Anywhere Japan chooses to concentrate you can rest assured (unless you have angered the dice gods) that the Japanese will go through the Chinese like a hot knife through butter. The trick is to give China enough infantry so that any further attacks on China by Japan will result in heavy casualties for Japan. Now the problem with this is obvious, with it’s economy and objective IPCs China, with more infantry, will quickly overrun the Japanese and push them off the Asian mainland. This is where the too strong part come in
Too strong; The Chinese economy is way to strong (so they told me). With its territories and objective IPCs China can bring in 18IPCs a turn to Japans 26. As was pointed out Japan has numerous fronts which it needs to send re-inforcments to meaning that its 26IPCs will be spread out while China can concentrate its economy against Japan. So, to balance this, and to balance giving China more infantry, reduce the Chinese economy to about 6IPCs a turn with a further 6IPCs from the Burma road.
This creates a situation where China will have massive infantry armies but will not be able to replace any major loss of these forces. Knowing that its primary role is to holdout against Japan, a good Chinese player would be hesitant to throw his mass infantry into battle, while Japan would be hesitant to strike against China knowing the casualties such fighting would incur. If anything it would focus both players on the south-west section of China, around the Burma road(as was the case historically).
Thank you Clyde85, thank you Rhey.
I agree with everything you said. Additionally, the prospect of the Chinese was very interesting. But even so, I would like to see the Chinese army more numerous, leading Japan to put more tanks, more planes and more artillery on Chinese soil IF wanted to continue with the war in Asia.
Japan has many NOs outside China and receive many IPCs and could maintain a war of attrition on Chinese soil as it gets the Co-Prosperity Sphere had in mind (as it was historically) and after that, return to finish the 'China incident ".
I have my own house rules for this situation. They are great!
