Let me first say this idea is really for bragging rights…my partner in crime (German player) joked that he’d never been in a game where it was conceivable to have Japanese fighters scramble from a German airbase in central USA, to defend Italian subs being attacked by the British in the gulf of Mexico. We took central and western, smart gameplay by the USA player saved his capital and probably the game.
Here are the broad strokes…remember, I know it’s an uphill fight and tons of things that could negatively affect the axis–so no need for criticism. it’s a fun concept that will work to take out USA, just not sure about winning the game.
Tournament rules…I’d recommend longer than 8 turns (maybe 10)
Premise is G2 take Iceland…while building up for SeaLion.
G3 move Sealion fleet to Iceland for a G4 landing in Alberta. It’s possible you will need a naval base on Iceland in case they see it coming and want to use a blocker. Unless they’ve read this, they won’t see Germany and Japan working together in Alberta (map layout helps also)
J 1/2 Japan pushes into china just to delay the inevitable (concedes both Asia victory points–remember bragging rights and a fun game). Also moves fleet to Hawaii eventually past Hawaii so no blockers in panama. I moved a lead transport to Caroline islands and then slightly east of Hawaii (with escorts). Ultimately Japan fully sells out on the Asian mainland
J2 take Soviet far east…
J3 airbase in soviet far east
J4 entire Japanese airforce (minus the stuff on the carriers) joins 20 German ground troops in Alberta. plus you’ll have at least 5 fully loaded transports around Hawaii area. remember when not at war with USA, they can’t “block” your passage.
USA has had minor factories to this point and probably bought navy/airforce…now they have a beachhead of 20 German land troops, 10 japanese land troops lurking in the water along with 20+ Japanese air units. Barring horrible play and blitzing to the coasts, the most likely situation is that G5 takes central USA with japan reinforcing with it’s air J5 after taking Western (if they give up panama j4 you could have a play on Eastern J5) German bombers in Iceland to can opener if west indies has a blocker.
What’s happening in Russia? G3-6 it’s max defense to turtle. Getting mid to high 50’s for income…let’s say 17 infantry(ish) per turn. Plus the Italian could have a knot of 20+ infantry. Russia minor factories can’t keep up enough production so later game, after the onslaught is stopped, Germany can resume the attack. The trick is not to get too aggressive too quickly.
western and central USA along with part of Canada and Mexico help keep income levels manageable for both Germany and Japan.
In my game we made choice of not pursuing Eastern as we had the VP for western USA. Japan had the fleet and troops to take out Sydney and the islands in a 10 turn game. We also evacuated German troops onto Japanese transports in Western USA and they were able to take Queensland to provide a landing spot when japan attacked Sydney.
If they leave the Atlantic German fleet alive (which is plausible in panic mode as they already served their primary purpose and why waste airforce when max defense is needed) they can be repurposed into a late game sea lion (remember you have a ton of ground troops in europe late game)…if Eastern falls, Sealion or Africa is viable (10 transports off of Gibraltar can sweep northern Africa in a turn)
So Japan wins their side 3-2…the game hinges on Africa and blunting the Russian assault.
