The Japan Playbook

@Cow:

I am not a big fan of the sink hawaii fleet. I know people who like to do it. It does work and it is viable.

The j1 dow is modified to do it. The reason I dislike it so much is because I like to attack any burma stack that the allies may attempt with all my air. Makes for an easy J3 India without the need to purchase an airbase (just naval). Saves Japan 15 ipc to make up for any tuv disadvantage it may cause.

But If I were planning for a more conservative approach. I like it. If USA responds with some sort of full pacific go after Japan strategy you can spam carriers and effectively turtle for such a long time that Germany will take Russia.

It doesn’t work so well in the 1942 version either.  We got paired with a random player at GENCON who played Japan and attacked USA round 1. Needless to say on Turn 7 I took Russia but Japan lost their capital as well.  Taking Hawaii is always and endgame move not a starting move IMO.

@JDOW said in Introduce or Re-Introduce Yourself (Nov. 2018):

Well, I personally think a KJF works worst against a J1 DOW.
But as a risk-averse player, I do not like J1 DOW that much, same as G1 DOW, although I played them both successfully so far. I do not like the shaky Yunnan attack in a J1 and the attack against the battleship in 37.

Some players attack at sz62, too. This is too much power in MARTI’s hands to me so early in the game :-)

Been thinking about JDOW’s comments a lot here. I think he might have something. The attack on the UK BB in SZ37 sacrifices the Cruiser at least. Sometimes as Japan you lose the fighter and let UK attack the Cruiser, which means more losses than the 20IPC for the UK BB although perhaps you shouldn’t. Japan cannot afford to lose fleet early on and I don’t think the UK BB is that valuable really: probably ends up just on escort duty.

What if the 2 bombers attack Yunnan instead of the BB? Then one inf from Kwangsi can attack Hunan, which will most likely mean no planes lost J1 while the Yunnan attack is still an 80% chance of taking the territory without any plane losses. If you are prepared to lose one plane, the odds rise to about 95%.

The SZ20 Cruiser would be needed in SZ43 in this scenario or the UK might attack the CV there.

I’m going a bit off topic for that thread so posted here.

Every time i play with axis… i realize i am too slow … even if i won the last game after the 15 round and against a very good player … but i realize i am too slow reading this discussion … I will try this strategy combined with an attack on the second round of the Germans …

I am way new to this; so beware my naive observations and feel free to school me.

It seems with Japan, that the Allies losing India is fairly inevitable. The questions seem to be 1) Can one hold ANZAC and Hawaii? 2) Will the loss of India be catastrophic? On question #1, holding ANZAC and Hawaii seems relatively simple if one buys planes and shuttles them from US-Hawaii-Queensland and just enough infantry to hold Hawaii/ANZAC. A fg every turn and transport with 2 inf; doubling up on turn 4. This allows the US to put 50+ towards Germany every turn. Is that enough to stop Germany?. If an emergency arises; buy 7 fgs. For #2, the answer seems to to delay as long as possible. Those 16 Russians can be put to good use, plus Russia’s mobile units in mainland China. That would seem to slow Japan down. China’s main role is getting as many troops as possible on Burma and dyeing in place. Role number two is blocking/slowing Japan to Russia’s back door and role number 3 is harassing Japan. Flying the fgs from ANZAC would be nice help, but the main block will come from UK’s ability to win North Africa/Italy quickly enough to back stop any advance from India.

@Stough, Id say the main counter to japan is a large navy. In my opinion 1:1:1:2 (carrier: sub: destroyer: plane) works well to keep the Japanese off of your victory cities, and also to threaten the money islands and Korea and whatnot.

I personally think the best counter to japan is figuring out how to kill/counter Germany as economically as possible allowing you to spend as much as possible in the pacific. The US’s advantage is money, and it’s much more effectively spent in the pacific, instead of in the Atlantic in my opinion.

For example, instead of buying an american navy in the Atlantic (carriers, subs), purchase only transports, maybe a destroyer and some fighters. Use the British to buy some (1-3) carriers to compliment the navy they have already, this allows the US to get a landing without spending a full turn of money on navy to protect their transports.

Also, India doesn’t have to fall if you just buy men for the first few rounds, put pressure with the US and ANZAC right off the bat, and japan will not be able to move their navy and air force off of the Philippines or java. They will get India later on though if they are allowed to build up complexes and infantry.

For china, ive got no clue how to play it in OOB, but i dont think it is stacking burma.

J1 DOW and J3 DOW are very different beasts. In the latter, India can live on until round 8 or so. In the former, it should fall round 3-5 barring a mishap for Japan.

@WindowWasher Again, I am very new and uninformed. How does one use China to delay India falling? Or are they just there to harass and delay the backdoor to Russia?? Does anyone use those 16 Russians to mess with Japan?

I personally use china to stall japan taking yunnan as long as possible, then i retreat west to be as far away as possible from japanese factories/troops/airforce so im as annoying as possible to take out. For the russian men… It is up to you how to play them, they can make holding moscow 10x easier, or they can safeguard your siberian money, or you can grab korea and be annoying.

From your games/strategies you described in previous posts, it seems as if you arent focusing on Japan with the US, which will cause china and india to fall quickly and cheaply. Try building an american navy to force the japanese to spend money on theirs, which will allow china, India, and those north Russian men more flexibility and longevity

@WindowWasher Great advice.

I’m on my 3rd play test; each one using a Sea Lion feint and a J-1.

Ignoring the litany of tactical errors I am making… in my second game I did indeed force Japan to build a Navy, but it didn’t matter. It was a great game though- lasted forever. It ended up with Armageddon in the Oil States- the 3rd battle of Megido with Liepzig thrown in to boot. ( The Axis could have won it earlier but wanted to see what would happen f I retreated with Russia all the way to the ME).

For game three, I tried an iterating Tactic in the Pac. I bought 2 planes a round for the US and flew them down to Queensland. ANZAC played possum bough a few men and a fighter and saved some money. Meanwhile hovering with the 16 Russians in Amur. After Japan took the Money islands in J2, I attacked Korea/Manchuria in R3. Japan devastated those Russians in J3, but it pulled enough of their resources to allow ANZAC to build an airbase in Western Australia and have enough stuff their to hold it AND Queensland. Next turn, there will be 5 more fighters in India.
So those Russians delayed India for a turn and in so doing may have secured it for a long while.

The bad news is that Alexandira has been a disaster for the Allies, so it looks like they will lose anyhow. (the Germans are just rolling like gods in the Sea every game- they are 3 for 3 in taking out SZ 101 and 96; Taranto was a disaster for the UK and the Italians took Alex on I3; I’m waiting for R4 for Germany-Russia to start scrapping.- it’s an interesting game)

Anyhow, my point is, it seems if one can get Jpan to ping pong a bit, you can secure Australia and get a strong force in India to boot, just buying fighters and 2 inf (for Hawaii), and timing the R attack with the Air base in W. Australia.

In other words, I’m starting to learn how important the mobility of an Air Force is. I’m still so used to just buying a crap ton of infantry.

In my next game I want to do an India push as effective as possible with JDOW1, with winning city Sydney. How would you do it?

J1 : 3 transports, 1 inf

Philipinnes
• 1 fighter, 1 tactical (33) land in 35 carrier
• 1 inf 1 tank japan + transport
• 1 inf Okinawa, 1 art Manchuria, transport

S35
• 1 fighter (korea) land on 35 carier
• 1 tactical fighter (6) land on 35 carier
• 2 carrier, 2 bship (6)
• Destroyer, bship, sub (19)

S37
• Formasa fighter (land 43)
• 2 bombers (land kwangsi)
• Cruiser (s20)

Borneo
• 1 inf, 1 art (kiangsi)
• Transport (20)

S62
• 1 destroyer (33)

French Indo China
• 2 inf siam

Yunnan
• 3 inf 1 art
• 1 fighter 1 tactical kiangsu (land on kwangsi)

Kwangtung
• 1 inf – kiangsu
• 1 okinawa fighter (land on kwangsi)
• 1 tactical 2 fighter (6) (land on kwangsi)

Hunnan
• 1 inf kiangsi
• 2 fighter 2 tactical manchuria (land on kwangsi)

Chahar
• 2 inf 1 art jehol
• 1 mech inf manchuria

Anhwe
• 3 inf, 1 art shangtung

Non-combat

SZ43
• 1 tactical (japan) (2 if Formosa fighter died)
• 1 carrier (33)

Manchuria
• 4 inf korea

Jehol
• 6 inf, 1 aa gun Manchuria

Kiangsi
• 3 inf 1 art kiangsu

SZ 6
• Keep 1 sub, 2 dd, 1 cruiser, 2 fighters, 6 kamizake (defence of Japan)

I prefer to leave CVs in 36, 35 and 43. Protect all your transports.

Although given you don’t have any transports in 36 I guess you are protecting that, but you still need your Cruiser to survive in 37 to block the amphib on FIC.

Don’t love the 37 attack - it is basically guaranteed to cost at least the cruiser and probably the fighter too and the UK BB doesn’t achieve much. Worse is thinning the Yunnan attack.

It is basically copy of Cow updated J1 from 2018, but nicer visual overview.

I like taking the battleship, I see it as one of strongest elements of J1. I am OK with UK fighting back there, this helps Italy in Africa where I aim to take Egypt I3 (even after Taranto) with help of Luftwaffe.

It worked, Axis victory in Pacific.
Calcutta fell J3 in J7 Hawaii was taken.

@cow how would you react to a J1 as an Allied player?

@cornwallis @cow

Take tokyo

@cornwallis said in The Japan Playbook:

@cow how would you react to a J1 as an Allied player?

I would say be sure to hold Hawaii and Sydney while using the options opened up to weaken Germany and Italy.

So don’t build too many ships as ANZAC and keep the ANZAC planes alive and in reach of it. I am a fan of attacking the infantry in FIC with air UK1 (survivors land in Szechwan) but this is only worthwhile if there is no other Japanese land units within reach of Yunnan. 1 free round of holding Yunnan and building artillery is worth a fair bit to my way of thinking. Try not to lose a bunch of British land units in Burma also.

All of this can be changed if you have good odds to do something else.

Hey so my friend I play with loves to do the middle-earth strategy so I have been looking for a way to counter it so I came up with a Japan strategy to counter it and I need some opinions