J1 DOW enables you to gobble up much of the DEI on J2. One DEI is typically worth 3 or 4 territories in China or Russia. The income adds up very quickly although you turn on the US war economy by doing so. You also have a national objective for controlling all the DEI, making the control of all of them plus the NO worth something like 20+ IPC per turn?
My J1 typically includes taking the Philippines followed by J2 to take Borneo and two of the DEI (Celebes and maybe Java?). Taking up to those 4 islands turns the Japanese economy on rather quickly, but you have to figure out a plan to control China on the mainland as well. Typically this includes the purchase of a minor industrial complex (or three!) in the first few turns and dedicating income to them producing units until China becomes overwhelmed.
The advantage of never DOW with Japan is that you can force China to submit and march across Russia without US interference early in the game. In effect you transfer much of the Japanese starting warpower (in form of planes mostly) from the Pacific Theater to the European Theater. These can be used to strategic bomb moscow earlier than anticipated, turning off (or down) the production of units Moscow counted on producing to defend with. When the UK player realizes this, they may begin production to get units into Moscow through the Middle East, so be prepared to see China re-opened by the UK in the mid to late game.
Russia has a hard enough time dealing with Germany and Italy, that if Japan is chipping away at income from the Pacific side and eventually gets involved in the siege of Moscow, the Russians are generally going to fall. It also enables the Italians to consider making a play to take Egypt before the Allies can reclaim it to secure an Axis win in Europe. Later on, the abundance of aircraft from Japan can swing through in a 1-2 punch with the Germans to sink any fleets the Allies wanted to use to land in Europe.
All Japan has to do is defend Tokyo in this type of strategy. To me, it is a bit "gamey;’ But I’ve employed it before and won convincingly.
For the Germans, there are a few options out there - but the principal strategy is to sink the UK fleet on G1 and take Paris, followed by massive production of units in subsequent turns to march to Moscow. A solid G1 purchase can sometimes be some navy to keep the UK honest on its purchase (you can theoretically take London early in the game, but its expensive and there are Russians not far from Berlin if you do!). This naval purchase at least feigns that threat and in the long run can delay allied landings on Europe because they cannot simply put up a token defense for all the TT they’ve purchased.
A good rule of thumb as the Germans is to not get “greedy” and split up its units but instead make a massive stack the Russians have to respect and withdraw from strategically. The Russians can launch counter attacks on smaller German stacks which cost the Germans time to wait for reinforcement units if they get too thin. It’s better to risk little of your starting units unless it creates such a gap in the Russian lines that it is worth the losses. As an example, is it really worth that 1 IPC territory to send half your stack there so you can lose 6-8 units defending it so far away from your major production locations? Typically that answer is no, even if you lost 6 INF, you’d need to hold the territory for 18 turns just to recoup the investment.
There are some pretty simple strategies for the German production - all revolve around mass production of a single type of unit. Mech and Bombers are two that are used now - and you can never really go wrong with ARM either. My G2 Purchase is almost always as many ARM as I can get on the board. All subsequent purchases are MEC to catch up and reinforce my stack as it marches towards Moscow and then finally as I stage to sack Moscow, bomber purchases out of Ukraine and the northern Russian IC for effect and final punching power. I want to say my odds (without allied planes there is generally in the (85-90% chance to win the attack on Moscow around G6/G7).
The Italians can get involved (due to timing in the turn) to open up a gap for the Germans to blitz through. We call this a can-opener. In short the Italians send ARM (and/or MEC) towards Russia and attack a territory the Russians are trying to block with only a few units (Italians send their bomber(s) for punching power). This enables the Germans to not only step forward and now land their planes on their big stack, but in some cases, the Germans can blitz ARM through or move MEC in a large stack two spaces into a place the Russians cannot attack and expect to do well in. This turns the Russian strategy to full retreat to Moscow or face losing the capitol earlier than anticipated and with much less losses for the Axis if they do not retreat.
As two of the three Axis players go in the first three turns of the round - the Axis are the ones who dictate the tempo of war; not the Allies. Its difficult to feign war if you have the option and timing to do it and choose not to. Bluffing a DOW is hard to believe when your opponent has the lead and chose to play passive. Your best option for a feigned DOW as Japan is to stage your fleet off of Tokyo or in the Caroline Islands. Both give you options and threat to multiple strategic locations (Philippines, Hawaii, ANZAC in general). I don’t think it can be reiterated enough, as the Axis your job in 95% of games is to go on the offensive as soon as absolutely possible. You have the military advantage, so you should press that advantage and continue to do so until you win or no longer have it (this can happen for the Germans where waiting outside Moscow for a few turns can change the odds dramatically in their favor).
To fix Japan’s income in a delay, your only real option is to go after Russia and the gains there are small. You’re already at war with China and play a back and forth for the Burma road in the early game. Japan’s not focused on Income as much when its marching towards Moscow anyways. It’s defending Tokyo and turning the Russians off.
Mistakes not to make in China are the following:
1. Ensure the Chinese do not get access to ART by denying the Burma road. The rest falls into place if they cannot go on the offensive except in trying to reclaim the Burma road.
2. Abuse the power of your size-able starting air force. Sending 2 bombers on top of 2 INF could secure your flank and corner the Chinese. You may not need those bombers when you’re sending 5 FTR and 5 TAC to deny Burma anyways.
3. Establish a supply line for reinforcements into China. I’ve found minor complexes to be more cost efficient than additional TT that need to be escorted and defended from Allied planes or ships. As these locations are in coastal China, they can later produce 1 INF, 1 ART and 1 TT to start shuttling units across the Pacific in the future once China has bowed down.
4. Be prepared to exchange Japanese Aircraft to achieve your goals. Taking territory could be more valuable (in time) than trying to replace those 2 INF three turns from a complex.
5. Abuse the speed of MEC. Their two space movement gets them into lots of fights very fast and makes them effective fodder for overpowering aircraft attacking with them.
In order for Japan, you want to:
1. Deny the Burma Road
2. Secure DEI for Income (And deny it to the Allies).
3. Siege / turn off Calcutta’s production for UK India.
4. Take Sydney or Hawaii afterwards.
Number 4 is the hardest to project because of all of the variables at play, but the first 3 are fairly straight forward from a scripted / strategic planning perspective.
In order for Germany, you want to:
1. Sink the UK fleets with minimal losses
2a. Ensure you take Paris
2b. Help Italy expand economically if you can (FTR in Rome to Scramble for example).
3. Drive towards Moscow without being greedy
4. Threaten early Allied landings by projecting power via either bombers or a G1 Naval purchase.
