@simon33:
Make sure you buy a third fighter for Calcutta UK1 and leave 3 fighters there, assuming two bombers are in position to hit it which they should be. I also recommend a tank.
I’ve just played a couple of games against Omega1759 who has a very aggressive assist China as Russia strategy - runs hard as into China for a few turns to slow Japan. Worked pretty well. I thought I had an assist China philosophy in Global 1940 until I played him!
Recently, I’ve been scrambling to SZ111 and SZ110 usually unless it is really unfavourable. Normally, scrambling results in a reduction in TUV loss and as others point out, TUV parity is generally a victory for Allies.
Low luck makes Taranto less of a gamble for the UK so it likely to be worth while even if all the London and Scottish fighters are dead after a scramble. Don’t forget to buy 6inf 1ftr if you do this or Sea Lion will be too easy.
J1 DOW allows freedom in the Atlantic so I’d be inclined to threaten Norway US3 via Iceland with the starting TT if possible, which it should be.
:-D
Don’t forget the UK1 DOW and aggressive offensive play with them (this gets the US out of the war for a while which is unfortunate but the killed Japanese units and the bonus UK Pacific/Anzac is worth it). Basically the goal is throw so many punches at Japan that their land forces collapse (meanwhile distracting them from taking the DEI). By the time they are ready to go after the DEI, Anzac will have many planes and the US will be into the war. At that point, the Japanese player has to choose between DEI and leaving sea zone 6 unprotected.
On land, China will be a viable force.
It’s a high risk / high reward strategy, it’s hard for Japan to deal with but Japan can be extremely resilient.
Once Japan is slowed down, UK Pacific can shift pretty promptly to reinforce the Middle East and Russia. Russia can fall back and survive but leaving Caucasus, Stalingrad uncontested is not an option.
Meanwhile, the US needs to force Japan to spend some on naval build (build subs that Japan needs to hunt down, be in a position to kill the destroyers), but should be able to form a pretty large Atlantic fleet to put pressure on Germany.
If Japan’s economy isn’t taking off, the US will need to spend a lot less in later rounds and Russia gets its dividend that way.