Japan's response to KJF

Its really critical, if you’re going to try to pursue a KJF strategy, to contain and then destroy the IJN. Total naval superiority is necessary to defeat the Germans out of Eurasia in the 4 man endgame. Basically the goal in that sort of endgame is to take over Japan’s “shucking into Asia” role, but just doing it with USA instead!
:-D

I think your best repeating purchase with UK is likely 1 fighter 1 bomber 3 infantry.

The 3 infantry fulfills your requirement to max place ground in Calcutta each round, but the bomber (as opposed to 2 fighters and artillery standard) will give you a more potent threat versus the Japanese fleet.

UK is in a position where they are usually collecting the same 31 ipcs for a while. If you make that Bomber+Fighter build 3 times in a row, (provided you don’t lose a bunch of aircraft initially) that gives you a really strong royal air force to keep the Japanese away from Suez by the 4th round. You’ll still have some fighter cover for the Russian capital, but the bombers can also move deeper out of UK, and cover a broader range from their positions behind the Russian lines.

A fun play is to keep that Australian sub active vs Japan on UK1, floating it around somewhere in the Indian ocean, to eventually join with this British air armada that you’ll be buying in subsequent rounds. Basically  you use this sub and your bombers to keep Japan fearful of British airstrike capabilities out of South Asia. During the endgamge these strategic bombers will help bomb Tokyo in the critical rounds when USA is really stepping up, but in the meantime, the British bomber presence can also make it much harder for Japan to profitably engage the USN. They’ll be fearful of what UK might do in the aftermath of any naval battle, like say one that occurs near the money islands, and may chose to avoid sailing out beyond their comfort zones.

I suggested earlier today in another thread, the “sz37 Dive to Survive” move with your Aussie sub, which can work well with this type of build strategy. A single sub (sneak striking or absorbing a hit in place of a fighter or bomber) can make the threat of an airstrike too scary, and Japan might just decide to stay home instead of bringing their fleet too far from Tokyo.

There usually is a fairly safe spot to land the bomber.

Assuming the US gets one hit and you lose your 4 move ftr you can end up with a sub/cru left there, and the cru blocks some moves, but even if US wants to go after your bomber that exposes their battleship.  It’s not usually a trade they’ll want to make that early, especially if they were planning on bringing the BB to the Atlantic to help with a KGF.  The surviving cru also becomes the “easier” 12 ipc target to hit with potentially less risk of a counter depending on where the J ACs are.

I’ll typically plan on landing my surviving J ftr with the bom so I have the freedom to move my two carriers where ever I want, then I gauge the results of Pearl and figure out if I really need the ftr with the bomber or do I need it elsewhere.

The board is not setup to do KJF well and to make matters worse USA and Japan income are relatively similar so unless you get some lucky dice early, it is pretty sad.

I find the concentrated bomber strategy very interesting as an approach for the US, for the reasons outlined here - the cost of getting US infantry into the action is incredibly high, so much so that Air power compares much better vs. land forces  for the US than for other nations.

How many bombers is too many? I was picturing maybe 2 US bombers on US1, but for the purposes of strategic bombing, the early IPCs denied will be magnified throughout the game, so perhaps a US1 buy of 3 bombers makes sense?

Unless Japan was posturing in range of a US attack, I imagine I would build the bombers in western US and then send them directly to the UK for use in SBRs vs. Germany (or sinking/deterring a German fleet). Would you agree?

One thing I don’t see being said is that the allies get a bid. Where did their bid go? Also don’t go all out against Japan with allies if Japan builds all fleet first turn. If Japan builds an industry and transports, then I’d say KJF is very viable. Russia can’t stand alone against Germany, so what you need to do is build 3 infantry and 2 fighters a turn with UK. On UK’s turn when you see that Moscow will fall in 3 turns pull out of India. You will reach Moscow before Germany attacks, and with your 15+ infantry added to Moscow for defense means Germany can’t hope to take it. The key is going to be having US take out Japans fleet, or take and hold one of the main islands by turn 4. Germany is going to be a bloody monster, and so you shouldn’t build any fleet with UK. Just build fighters for UK and units in India. There is no way India can fall to Japan unless Japan compromises his fleets power by building transports and ground troops, which means that the islands will be easy takes.

This can depend on how the R1/UK1 went (and how much your “valued” axis ally screwed you)
Assumptions: EI Fleet wiped out, UK CA survived, UK FTR in India, 2UK FTRs in WRus, Buryatia or Yakut is stacked, 1 Russian inf added to Schezwan. Aus Transport w/2inf in SZ30 (to reinforce India UK2). Burma inf retreats to India
You assume that the Allies are focused on knocking out Japan first.  Buy 2 Trans/CV (I do also like 3Trans/3inf) for this situation.
Combat:
If Yakut stacked, send 1inf into Buryatia. If Buryatia stacked, 3inf/FTR from Manchuria, Bomber/FTR from Japan.
Send Shanghai’s 4inf into Anwhei, use Manchuria FTR (use FIC FTR if hitting Buryatia).
Send inf/art from Hong Kong, inf/art from Phillipines, inf/tank from Japan, 2inf/art/FTR from FIC and BB to Yunan.
NCM/Placing buys:
You need to consider having both CVs in position to have FTRS and protecting your transports. Your Caroline fleet/SS need to pull back.  Place the SS at Borneo.  Caroline Fleet can go to FIC and/or Japan.  This is just one of several routes to go, but if India/EI fleet is not the focus of the allies, then you just need to use your two transports and FIC to land in Burma (buy 2trans/IC for EI).  Leave the Russians completely alone and hit China where you can for IPCs.  You shouldn’t be able to hit India J2, but you can make them regret they didn’t think more about India when they had an opportunity.
The great thing about Japan is you have options.  Just beware of a US buildup in the Solomons…they want to take Borneo or the Phillipines from you.  Don’t chase, just have a counter that won’t frak you.

Don’t attack PH. This is even more important to not do if you lost your EI fleet.  Attacking PH will knock Japan out of the game instantaneously because you will lose that fleet as well.

@UrJohn:

I think to make a WWII game that is realistic, balanced, and fun to play and has a historical starting point you need to give it an earlier start and more vibrant political rules and victory conditions. You could start the game something like 1938 and have a buildup & influence period of a couple of rounds. Each major power should have its own victory conditions. For example, if USSR wound up conquering all of mainland Europe, that would be a total victory for the Soviet player, a total defeat for Germany and France, and a defeat for UK and USA.

Wouldn’t you then end up with the USSR attacking Western Allied troops? Otherwise i like the idea, although I guess a 1 September 1939 start date would do fine.

Reason TO sack the transports (I’m not in full support, but if I was feeling froggy, Borneo would be at least one target and here’s why it works, espceially now):
With the Indies fleet gone, it forces the sub to take out one, and a FTR to take out one transport.  If the UK has any ship left, plus if you move the US Pac fleet to Solomons (and take it) turn 1, you are now in position to PROTECT Borneo w/both fleets (include a US/UK buy for Pac fleet).  Now Japan can try to retake Borneo, but at what cost? They’re down a BB/CV/2FTR at this point, and if UK/US buy Pac fleet, you are now talking about having to take Borneo with remaining Indies UK ships and India buy, which would force you to move almost everything, but then the US could also just move to Iwo, and be in position to off balance Japan.  Or Japan is just going to have to live with being at -4.  You can do this on UK2 if you want, but I would only cough up one CA and have the US in the Solomons protecting a counter.