When Hitler declared war on the US after Pearl Harbor (in my view his biggest blunder during the war), Roosevelt declared that the US would first eliminate Germany, and after that Japan. In practice he was hampered by the unwillingness of Churchill to land in Europa in 1942 and 1943 (“I have the medals of Dunkrik, Gallipoli, …, still on my chest”, said the English prime-minister naming failed landing in English history to persuade the Americans to postpone…). So actually the US diverted a lot of attention from Europa to the Pacific during those years.
In A&A 1940 the US also has to make this choice: Germany or Japan first. What is your approach? When you react to this thread, please put it in numbers if you will, such as 70/30 Germany first or 40/60 Japan first.
Thanks!
In WWII, the US and the UK were actually in agreement about a “Hitler first” strategy – and with good reason, because militarily Germany was a far more dangerous enemy than Japan, with far more divisions and a much more mechanized army. Additionally, and less charitably, the Anglo-Americans may have seen Germany’s conquest of Europe (the continent which in the 19th century had regarded itself as the heart of modern civilization and the homeland of the great imperial powers) as being more objectionable than Japan’s conquest of the Asia-Pacific region (which consisted largely of “colonial” territories owned by the above-mentioned imperial powers). The fact that the British Isles themselves were under direct aerial and indirect submarine attack from Germany, but not from Japan, likewise supported a “Hitler first” strategy. The problem for the US, however, was that it was going to need time (one to two years) to build up an army and an air force capable of fighting toe-to-toe with Germany. The US did, however, already have on hand in late 1941 a sizable fleet (minus the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor, which Nimitz himself admitted were old and slow and reflective of a pre-aviation era, and hence whose loss was less critical than the loss of his carriers would have been). That fleet was obviously of little use in fighting a land war against a land power like Germany, so the US could make profitable use of its naval forces against Japan in the Pacific in 1942 without having to fundamentally alter the overall “Hitler first” Anglo-American strategy.
If your going by the game years then your 50/50 or one way or other will change every turn.
1st turn 0/100 Japan
2nd turn 0/100 Japan
3rd turn 10/90 Japan
4th turn 20/80 Japan
Something like that.
Our group universally focuses on the European Axis first. While this likely falls into the Germany first camp, Italy usually gets wiped out first and then Germany. More often than not there will be holes in the German lines which reinvigorate Russia as long as Moscow doesn’t fall. Again, this is only my group’s experience but we’ve played for years.
Japan gets too crazy if you don’t dedicate at least the first round to keeping them contained and diverting part of their airpower to fleet defense. In the early game there are no more valuable units than the Japanese land forces in Asia. They need to be used against China, UKPac, Russia, and also in the Pacific. Every one of these units that dies has a significant positive impact on the Allies’ overall chances. If a lot of air is diverted to fleet protection, you’ll get more chances to cause hits on defense and maneuver land stacks. An early Allied stack combine in Yunnan is a game-changing event, if you can achieve it.
In our group, for some reason they always let me be ANZAC and the USA. I focus on Japan and usually eliminate them in 5-6 rounds with superior sea power, and a lot of lucky dice rolls. I have changed my buy strategy as well. Only needed ships, bombers, transports, and tanks. I don’t use a lot of infantry, but like to put them on conquered enemy territory. After Japan falls they war focuses on my forces in North Africa. There I build a huge army of tanks and bombers. Flying any bombers from the Pacific to the European theatre. I also send ANZAC to the Middle East and then Egypt. Takes a lot of rounds, but helps the war against Italy and Germany. For whatever reason my group cannot stop me
Where do you station these bombers, and what do you do with them (only bombardments?)?
