GW36 Japanese Strategy, Refusing the Dragon.

So I tried to address a similar problem with the Monroe Doctrine. My group and I still have not gotten Monroe reaction by US down to 100% because the rule designer clearly didn’t think or test this shit out enough. (not shocked based on responses).

Non allies attack Americas: I’ve been told that the US doesn’t actually DoW by definitions of the words but take military action while at peace, think of it as a proxy war but both sides are directly involve like the Suez Crisis in real life. US may go down and engage and remove any hostile nations in the Americas and then they end up annexing the territories they took since they are active by rules and thus US was able to gain income while still being at peace.

France or Commonwealth (or any other official Allies): I put in the house rule that they cannot attack the Americas because the game doesn’t allow nations inside Alliances to fight each other so unless Monroe is the only situation where US will fight French and Commonwealth troops, I tell my group they simply do not wish to piss off the US and thus cannot attack the Americas.

@Andy6049:

billinjackson

What free tech roll does Germany have?  I do not remember this one, did I miss something?

No free Tech roll. Consult the Tech Chart die rolls.
Unless you mean for the 35,000 page rules for the 36,39 game.

@cb4:

Thoughts?

Really ? Why 39 now when u wanted 36.

Take out London navy. You should have 5 subs (7or8) if you attack Canada navy 1st impulse and 3 surface ships if u don’t get diced. Or take Canada navy out 2nd impulse so they can’t build navy there UK T1.
Impulse 1 take UK navy, Reims, Warsaw, activate Hungry, Romania and Finland.
Impulse 2 take UK navy, Paris (no planes), Yugo, Narvik, German Cruiser take out UK tranny in SA, Vichy rolls, activate Bulgeria and land some figs in Romania so you can land them in Italy T2 in Torbuk.
T2 take Holland (collect 18 icp), Denmark and Norway.
This is the kinda normal moves in our games.

This is for the 39 1st Edition map.

[Much of this was posted as a reply in the Refusing the Dragon thread. I thought it appropriate to post separately for any follow-up.]

In my first game as Japan, I decided to go ‘all out’ against China and was quite successful. In a nod to Jinx1527, I call this the “Swallowing the Dragon” strategy.

It starts before Japan’s first move by getting the USSR to agree to the Japanese-Soviet Non-aggression Pact. That kills any possible USSR lend-lease to the KMT. It also eliminates the worry over border clashes and building up of troops in the north. Thus, the units in Manchuria are freed up to go south.

The CCP is hurting for money, so it seemed logical to go after the KMT first, especially the Burma Road to make sure they couldn’t buy artillery. I mobilized every available land unit and the entire Japanese air force against the KMT. I was able to take the remaining three ‘bonus’ territories (Peking, Zhejiang, Guangxi) and also Yunan by T2. That effectively ended any immediate KMT threat.

Although they are hurting for money, the CCP starts with 11 units plus they get a recruitment roll. After fighting the KMT, I still needed to reinforce my position against them. Initially, aircraft were used. In following turns, armor would be forthcoming from the two minor ICs, one in Henan and one in Zhejiang, placed at the end of T2. (These ICs will also be used to prepare for an overland invasion of the FEC.) With four additional infantry to be transported from Tokyo, there was really nothing the CCP could do so they stayed huddled in their two territories. Attack Communist China on T3. Note that we were also using the Fighting Railways expansion which gives Japan an armored railcar (8 movement) for transporting one unit into battle. Getting that extra unit around was very helpful…

From an IPC standpoint, Japan gets an additional 11 IPCs per turn by the end of T2 – that’s the same amount as all of the DEI without the hassles of being at war with the BC and France. Japan will get 2 more per turn for Communist China by the end of turn 3. This income will provide Japan a big boost in setting up for its next step, be it the DEI, FEC, Anzac, or Russia.

From a political standpoint, starting with this strategy has no significant consequences. Neither the British Commonwealth (BC) nor the US can declare war on Japan until Japan declares war “on another nation during the game”. So Japan can beat up on China all day with no worries. France is the only exception. While it can declare against Japan, it’s not realistic because France would have to pay 10 IPCs to do so. That’s half of its per turn income. It wouldn’t matter anyway because France cannot threaten Japan. It only has 2 land units and its navy is certainly no match for Japan’s. Other strategies, like Refusing the Dragon (see that thread for more), do have significant consequences.

Overall, Swallowing the Dragon gives Japan a good, solid, conservative start and it is very easy to implement.

Page 5 & 6 of Great Britain Reference Sheet. Army, Air and Navy.

I’m not sure if anyone is interested in this reference sheet. I suppose it will be these two pages that will stand out in peoples minds if anything.

These pages will probably be the most viewed in reference by me and my group, and even though the new units may leave one overwhelmed initially, I attest that players will become completely accustomed to them after a time. My earlier draft of my tweaks is not very fancy or full of artwork, and just a simple table with a few pencil notes added later, but we have played enough to enjoy the ins and outs of this version, and actually the Air War concept has been adopted by another small group of local G40 players (those that I couldn’t convert to GW36). I believe at least the Air War portion improves the game significantly, and I believe its natural concept will be eventually adopted by HBG. (Apologies if that seems arrogant, but the natural concept is not my original thought and often is found in many other ww2 boardgames)

These pages leap right into the tables.
I will not go into the specifics of every unit, but will again only passingly mention my mentality for the units still in development or unique.

Partisans.
Partisans will play an interesting aspect in the diplomatic prewar game. The concept is that a faction could potentially start a civil war in neutral nations using partisans.
Doing so would of push the nation away from the faction, but if the uprising would be successful and civil war would be won. The reformed nation would support the faction in return. Why would this matter? Well, because each nation will theoretically have a few war bonuses that could make it worth more to a faction then if they had annexed it.
Partisans would also be used to disrupt an occupied nation, and be a constant nuisance to the occupying force.

Commanders
Commanders (includes Admirals) are only found in the Infantry Class section, which may pose a problem, but because they cannot be purchased anyway, perhaps it may yet work out to have them placed there. Their description will be a bit vague for now. I’m considering SS’s version of having 1, 2, and 3 star generals who will allow 1, 2, and 3 rerolls respectively.
For those that want the combat round limits, commanders could help improve the situation, or negate the opposing commander. Or shut down a front entirely in the bad weather/winter + mountain/jungle/city + no opposing commander.

Poison Gas
This is quite a bit different in this game from HBG’s expansion and more attuned with an TripleA version.
Poison Gas is a suicide/ammo unit that bypasses enemy defenses and attacks in the pre-combat phase. Its cost is high enough that it is not always beneficial to use them unless the enemy is wedged in somewhere or is a high value target.
I found HBG’s version either boring, or a little too extreme (if I remember correctly; one doubled all casualties given that round).

Anti-Tank Gun
I have given anti-tank guns and tank destroyers an ability to first strike vs armor and mech and target select. Which makes Tank enthusiasts pause a little in their headlong rush.
I see I may need to change the wording on their first strike to “First Strike vs Armor and Vehicle”. As it currently is; perhaps a tank force would actually wish to keep a few light armor around to absorb those anti-tank hits if no Mech is present.

Mobile Infantry
I changed the name of Cavalry to Mobile Infantry.
It irritated me to no end to hear players comment on horses charging into battle and that the use of cavalry to this degree was ahistorical (someone will think of Poland), and pre-assume that therefore they shouldn’t be purchased.

The fact is that “Mobile Infantry” unit can actually be extremely useful if employed aggressively and I believed the name change would be more in line with the intent of the design and promote a psychological reciprocation into their being purchased.

Armored Cars
Armored Cars have received a few odd looks, but the fact they can blitz 3 territories may actually make them quite decent to have a few handy in the Russian Steppes or Africa. I may drop the price down to 3 though. Or even A1 D1 M3, C3.

I see the PDF version messed up the flag a bit in the first page.

Airforce

Yeah! So these units are going to be interesting. I don’t think I will explain them as I havn’t tweaked them in forever. (I did bump fighters and jets down by 1IPP, not sure if I should).
They’ve got a bit of stuff going. That’s for sure. This is where A&A players just about have a heart attack  :-P.

The Atomic Bomb is a bit crowded with info. But all the info is there somewhere.

We’ve changed Scramble and added Night Strategic Bombing (NSB may need to be tweaked, hasn’t been tested yet. Could be to much of a loophole or too strong or too weak)

Navy
Pretty easy stuff navy, nothing too strange except Raider/Sub Tenders, increased capacity for Carriers (due to the dynamic air war), and a good anti-air unit in Light Cruisers.

There are also good bombarding platforms in Pocket Battleships (I may tweak down their vs. Ship stat to 4. But mostly vestiges of WW1 and probably wont be purchased.

Super Battleships…may need to be tweaked. Due to their cost, not many players have tested them out. But from what I have seen, many players have countered a Super Battleship with a couple planes and done just as much damage or better. So I think its at a good value right now.

The most significant thing about the Navy is the Ship Operation Range. Which I have attempted to explain sufficiently.

Detaching Squadrons prevents blocking ships, (G40: no more will the mighty American/Japanese fleet see victory slip away at the sacrifice of only a destroyer.)
Man, that used to frustrate me. Why would a squadron of destroyers hold up a carrier and battleship fleet with hundreds of escorting ships? The admiral could just move past. Its a toss up between using Detach or Naval Blitz, which would work quite well too. But the reason I’m currently leaning towards Detach is because ships would have to be left behind to deal with the threat, reducing the strength of the attacking fleet anyway.

Well, and that concludes these pages.
Last pages are Technology, where I have it neatly laid out and simple.
Following that is only setup and a possible government cabinet expansion.

Cheers!

GW1936 Great Britian 2.3.2 - Page 5 & 6.pdf

OK. Thanks

The US may lose that, but getting 100 IPC starting turn 4 quickly puts things in their favor IMO. I feel like Japan has to take care of China/UKP first before it can get involved in the USA.

NICE TRY GREG, GFY!

Lend lease what else.