Japan

One thing that plays to your advantage is that you start out with a ton of planes. USA will have to start buying planes to go with its carriers once they get above 3, you just need to buy  the carrier itself and fill it out with your planes.

You also have the ability to scramble in SZ 6, as well as using Kamikazes. The possibility that the USA player can be forced to take hits on his carriers, meaning planes will crash if there is not enough space freed up, can mean that you have more defending Japan than it actually looks.

Don’t forget to block with a Destroyer in SZ 25. That way the USA player can’t get to Japan from Hawaii unless he kills it.

These are all really basic of course, but they are important to keep in mind.

The main piece of advice I would give  is to keep a carrier, a few transports, dd’s and subs in the South if USA is at hawaii, and try to keep the rest up by SZ 6. You need a little bit of a navy there to keep ANZAC off the DEI.

put a dd in 16

if that doesn’t work, surrender.

ugh just keep all your naval south, make sure you have enough air in range to sink america if he tries to convoy you in japan seazone (and you can keep ships in range as well from kwangtung or somethin). You will probably get convoyed after you have taken india out of the game, which is fine, you need calcutta out of the game, so that nothing blocks germany from taking egypt after russia falls.

Keep with the southern expansion.  A US convoy in SZ6 is roughly the equivalent of you taking Flip and two DEI in the economic battle.  Just make sure you have a minor somewhere to place ships for when you turn your attention back towards Hawaii or Sydney.

French Indo China can be the guard dog with a naval base, airbase, minor IC, carriers, battleship, fighters, subs.  Dig in your heels and threaten a vicious counterstrike if they come anywhere near the DEI.  Get a German bomber over there to can open any destroyers and you’re set.  Infantry in Japan.

@vonLettowVorbeck1914:

(…) as well as using Kamikazes. The possibility that the USA player can be forced to take hits on his carriers, meaning planes will crash if there is not enough space freed up, can mean that you have more defending Japan than it actually looks.

About kamikazes, if i understand the latest rules correctly, USA can avoid kami’s on their AC’s by sending their planes and other ships into the SZ in the combat move (taking kamikazes and scramblers on those), then moving their aircraft carriers into the SZ in the non-combat move (and landing the planes on them).

@special:

@vonLettowVorbeck1914:

(…) as well as using Kamikazes. The possibility that the USA player can be forced to take hits on his carriers, meaning planes will crash if there is not enough space freed up, can mean that you have more defending Japan than it actually looks.

About kamikazes, if i understand the latest rules correctly, USA can avoid kami’s on their AC’s by sending their planes and other ships into the SZ in the combat move (taking kamikazes and scramblers on those), then moving their aircraft carriers into the SZ in the non-combat move (and landing the planes on them).

That’s right, plus subs and planes can’t be hit by kamikazes