KJF - Now what do I do???

Yea, KAF is the sole reason people started building infantry in W. USA and walking to E. Canada.  Slower assault into Europe, but Japan has no real ability to do anything to N. America.

@Fabius:

Hello everybody this is my first message, I’m an Italian player of A&A and I would like to know your impressions on this KJF strategy.

First Round:
UK: purchase 2 transport 1 Inf 1 Arm and attacks Norway with 2 Inf 1 Arm 1 Artillery (assuming Germany uses his Atlantic Submarine with the fighters to destroy the Brits Battelship in Med). Uk destroyer goes from India to S59 and destroy the Jap transport. Uk moves his South African Inf to Kenya (assuming Germany destroyed Brits in Angloegypt) and Persian Inf to India.
Uk also moves the Indian Fleet in S30 and also the Australian Fleet.
Uk also moves one armor from East Canada to Alaska, and one Inf from West Canada to Alaska.

What do you think?

I think I’m either going to take London or destroy your North Sea fleet on G2.

Also, an IC in Alaska doesn’t seem a good use of ipcs–-why not buy an extra AC with that cash or consider a Sink IC?  In the strat you describe Japan is going to get rich on mainland ICs which will allow them to buy air to resist the dual fleet threat.

@ncscswitch:

To get THAT much Japan hardware in range of the US for J2 would mandate that Japan was effectively going KUSA, with commensurate loss of income in Asia.

Not really.

7 Infantry, 2 Fighters attack China with the two fighters coming from Manchuria and FIC.  These fighters can land in Japan.
3 Fighters, Battleship, Carrier, Destroyer, Submarine, Bomber attack SZ 52
Fighter, Infantry, Armor attack Hawaii

2 Fighters from the SZ 52 battle can land in SZ 45 on the carrier and battleship from SZ 37

now, without building a darn thing you already have:

2 Battleships
2 Carriers
6 Fighters
1 Transport
1 Destroyer
1 Submarine* (If it was not lost)

vs

1 Battleship
1 Transport
1 Destroyer
3 Fighters (Assumes the fighter was lost in Hawaii)
2 Aircraft Carriers

I did not give up anything in Asia, but I did station everything in range of America.  The transport in SZ 52 can easily pick up units in Solomons to attack Australia with two bombardments if I don’t need them.

Or, don’t attack Hawaii and add 1 fighter to the defensive forces, but don’t risk losing your infantry and armor in the process.

Odds:

Attacker: 2 Battleships, 2 Carriers, Transport, Submarine, Destroyer, 6 Fighters (2 Fighters in SZ 52 can attack and land back on Wake), Bomber (assumed stationed at Wake where it can again land)

Defender: Battleship, 2 Carriers, Transport, Destroyer, 4 Fighters

(note, this does not take into account any builds for Japan that may or may not be in range of SZ 55.)

I have the Japanese winning over 99% of the time with losses of transport, submarine, 2 fighters.  I believe that is a rather good trading position for Japan.

@Ranor:

From the avalon hill FAQ for revised edition:

Map

Does sea zone 14 connect to the Balkans? Does sea zone 35 connect to French Indochina?
No in both cases.

Alright… I concede - I can’t argue with Avalon Hill.  (But for the record, I think AH did a poor job of drawing that sea zone line!) 
Thanks guys - Sorry for the trouble!

I like Hawaii/Australia on Round 2
New Zealand/Madagascar on Round 3

I can go back to Hawaii if America’s a nuisance or I can pick up islanders on the way to Buryatia.

Hello there

New member on the forum, however I’ve been surfing around here for a few weeks and I’m gonna throw myself into the fray :)
I’m not saying “I know the perfect way” but would like to give you a few advices how to play a defensive Jap and what to think of when on a KJF hunt is coming.

What I first want to say is that our current group plays with no bids, no tech, no NA. Still have a few new players so bids are not needed (yet?).
I have a lot of games behind me, both old and revised.
A lot of this will contain “this gives this and that, all of it ofc changes depending on what the enemy buys/does” and I can’t write all things that can happend and I won’t, this will be a long post anyway :D

What I do as Japan is first of all, avoid pearl if england flies it’s fighter there and you’ve lost the sub (I prefer pearl light), the 2 BB’s are really needed when defending.
The key in my Japanese defensive is to build transports (3 first turn with a followup of INF+ART + ftr if I can afford since you only need to fill 3 Trn, the last one is down in the south taking inf from the southern islands).
Ofc you have to kill China…if you don’t you ARE doomed, seen to many games with US pumping fighters/tanks in sinkiang.

So I prefer killing off the Brittish fleet and China, reinforce FIC from Jap and wait with Buy 1 turn (you get 3 TRN next turn that can massacre Buy)
Japan need to get going, but with a “slow-starter” you will get more troops (IC on mainland is a “fast starter”) and you have time to react if they go all out KJF and adjust for defence instead of offense.

Now when US comes over the pacific there are a few very important things to remember.
1. If he goes for extra bomber+ftr he will be a monster in offense, however his defence is weaker.
2. If he goes for AC you must be prepared for a very strong US fleet and you must equid your carriers with ftr’s.

Now the pacific is big, utilize SZ60 for naval defence if he goes wake island (to be able to use extra fighters) he won’t go for east indies.
Use the fact ftr have 4 in movement (ftr on AC SZ60 has a range 3 inland, and therefore you can move that one in ashore while a fighter ashore also attacks and flies out to the AC. You still reach Yakut and China from Sz60 and ofc FIC, therefore 6 fighters can act both defence for SZ60 and land and still be attacking every round).
The bomber should be in Kwantung as much as possible, same here, it will be able to strike the importand islands and wake island seazone.
(remember this is a defending japan, and that is what you are doing on a KJF, because if japan grows outside Novo/China/india well…then you’re not having a KJF).

What I want is the US fleet trading island in the southern pacific…why? because if the US moves his whole fleet to southern pacific he will be too far away to reinforce it from US and with 3 transports, 2 BB and 2 AC you can take 7 hits before even loosing attackpower (yes I mean you should sacrifice AC’s when it comes to a naval clash everything is about sinking US BB’s while keeping yours).
If he only uses TRN for taking you island, use ftr to sink the trn, 1TRN to retake the island with the help of a bomber from mainland.
A lot of people are obsessed with “taking IPC’s” but trading a 3 IPC island 3 moves away from your factory while the enemy has 1 move…that is not a good thing to do, because japan can easily get more land troops. US cannot.
Japan only needs 1 transport to retake islands, US need loads of transports to threaten japan.
And after 1 switch you have 1 INF (hopefully 2) on the island and suddenly US must dedicate more than “just 1 TRN” to take the island.

The biggest problem comes to…when should you attack the US fleet?
that depends way to much on how the US fleet looks like, I prefer boxing Japan and if I feel too threatened I go 1 round of only making 1DD + 2 Sub

So to sum up:
Kill off the brits so you only have to worry about 1 fleet.
Gather up you BB’s with extra TRN for superb defence.
Reinforce fleet with 1 ship / round if they are going KJF. (you can still afford 3-4 INF and 1-2 ART units to ship ashore)
If you are being reduced to 1 TRN, make that ship a TRN, if not build a sub, US really hates when he only has his trn+BB to choose what will die. If you feel rich make a DD

Japan will probably not grow, but that means that Germany can take Africa and more important put pressure on Rus. Important here is that I usually make a TRN buy for Baltic and then a DD on G2 to secure Baltic and simply hammer any brittish fleet trying to take Norway/WE, utilize your luftwaffe and you are secure.
(with 2 TRN in Baltic and 1 in Meditteranian sea you can send 6 INF/ART to the front each turn making a 4 INF 2 ART 4 ARM i very solid build for smashing Russia fast).
(When US goes pacific you simply sacrifice 1-2 planes to take out the american fleet if he tries going for africa).

I don’t know how your US are doing the KJF, I’m really interested in the US1-2 Buy.
A smart american buys a strike force US1-2 and skip transports to simply eliminate the Jap fleet and THEN start invading with TRN.
However most players buy Transports + INF to have with them in the 1st attack…which means the US fleet ain’t as strong as it could be. How does it look for you?

@Dragoon_Blade:

I’m just how to get a KJF first strategy to work, especially since my teammate here at college wants to try a successful one.  But the two big problems that I see are actually cracking Japan, since it is harder to stop it capital, and how Russia can deal with the massive behemoth Germany baring down on it.

Here’s hoping for some critique of ideas and some suggestions (also note, no bid to the axis)  (my teammate and I will be both playing Russia, I’ll have Britain, and he’ll have the US)  I’m also assuming Germany r1, specifically since that is what the Germany player usually does.

Russia building 4 inf/3 art, I like having a little offensive punch  thinking just attacking West Russia, using 2 inf, 1ftr Karelia, 3 inf, 1arm Archangel, 3 inf, 1 art, 2 arm moscow, and 1 at least 1 art caucasus.  Moving 6 inf into Buryatia, 2 yakut, 2 sinkang, 2 persia.  Germany will probably take Anglo, Karelia, and send 3-4 fighters and sub against the UK battleship.

The UK will be placing a IC in India, trying to hit japanese sub, and probably hitting the sz 59 transport with the fighter.  British bomber will be going to Siankang.  The US will be building an IC in Sinkang however, we not sure on how much should the US put in Navy against Japan.  I’m hoping to convince my teammate to go after the islands with his fleet when it is built up enough.

My questions I have are
1)  Do I write off Africa to Germans, and with that much more IPC to Germany, can Russia with less than half of Britain IPCs helping, hold off Germany until Japan is cracked?
2) What should I do with my indian fleet, try to help the americans?
3) Does America send anything against Germany?

Thanks for the help.
[/quote

If you want KJF done right, you had better remember the secret herbs and spices.

I’m gonna ask you a coupla dumbass questions.  Then I’m gonna give a lot of smart-ass answers.  Tee heez.  No, srsly, these comments should help.  Maybe.  If you dare to think about what I’m writing.

Let us SAY that you are playing rock paper scissors.

Now let us say that you have DECIDED for some wacky reason that players will NOT SHOW THEIR HANDS SIMULTANEOUSLY.  One player shows, then the other.

To make things REALLY wacky, the second player doesn’t even have to decide what he has to choose until AFTER he sees what the first player chose.

Wow, this sounds like a hell of an easy game, doesn’t it?

Now, HERES THE TRICKY PART.

Your opponent wants YOU to decide WHO GOES FIRST.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

THINK HARD.

I have just answered all your questions.  Mostly kind of sort of.

–

–1)  Do I write off Africa to Germans, and with that much more IPC to Germany, can Russia with less than half of Britain IPCs helping, hold off Germany until Japan is cracked?

Answer:  If the Germans really want Africa, let 'em have it.  If you eat up Europe while the Germans eat up Africa - you win!

What should I do with my indian fleet, try to help the americans?

Answer:  As opposed to, say, helping the mighty Russian fleet?  No, just kidding.  Seriously, you should base your moves with the Indian fleet on the German move.  If it looks like you’ll want to KJF, you might want to unify the UK fleets.  If you want to KGF, you might want to suicide the UK fleet.

Does America send anything against Germany?

Answer:  Really depends on what Germany bought.  If Germany looks ripe for a KGF, go for it.
[/quote]

if you can engage the japanese capital ships in battles that force japan to lose some, even if the usa loses more then you can push japan out of the water, they simply cannot replace the BB’s they start with and still push into asia as fast as they need to for the axis to have a chance.  then the usa player continues mounting pressure in the pacific or ferries over to sfe from alaska.  i think if you can clear the japanese navy then they will lose their asian push because usa can then funnel troops over to east asia and disrupt their supply lines, even possibly grabbing some tasty coastal territories.  it is just SO difficult against a savy japanese player.