Do you take Astralia/NZ/Hawaii as Japan?

Depends.

If Africa is going to be a fight, I’ll flee with my BB/TRN and take it with Germany.

If Africa isn’t that much of a fight, and I have nothing better to do with Japan, I’ll take it with Japan

For me they have become a mid-game aquisition instead of early on like I used to.

Allows me to be more solid in Asia, get my full compliment of TRNs and IC’s built, clear the Indian and Pacific Oceans of enemies… THEN take Australia, NZ.  Hawaii is always in teh “maybe” category.  It is only 1 IPC, and that from the US, which already has so much income that 1 IPC won’t matter much to them.  And it takes a LOT of effort to get Hawaii… multiple TRNs, BB’s and/or loaded AC (which are better used at Africa), so I only rarely take Hawaii, and that usually in end-game, once I already have more than enough forces to kill Moscow.  Otherwise the loss of 4 INF to Asia (what it usually takes to insure killing Hawaii) simply is NOT worth the risk.  Those 4 INF as fodder for Russia are about 50 times more valuable than that 1 IPC

Thow in an annoyance grab of Alaska with 1-2 INF if it is free and the US has no navy/AF to kill your TRN.

But then it is back on bridge duty for my fleet…
And of course you can ONLY go after those targets if you have NO enemies in either the Pacific or Indian Ocean, AND if you ahve “extra” TRNs.  Otherwise the cost-benefit analysis is VERY negative for taking any one of them, let alone all 4 (Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the annoyance grab of Alaska)

I used to be a BIG fan of NZ in J3, Australia in J4, then on to Africa or reinforce/take India J5.  But I got burned too many time by it.

hawj1(with toyko express) nz j2, aus j3 mad j4 uosa j5 brazil j6

It really depends on the game.

If the game starts out strong for the Allies in the center of the board you will need economy to compete. I go Hawaii, NZ, Aus, Mad/ India if that’s the case.

If the Allies have any problems out of the gate the islands become an afterthought- something for a pleasant stroll later in the game. The focus should of course be on battering down the gates of Moscow.

Pearl AND take Hawii?  Fight through 1 AC, 1 FIG, 1 SUB, THEN land in Hawaii and beat 2 INF, 1 FIG?

That is VERY risky, even with the TE NA.  You won;t have any support shots.  The only FIG that can reach is the one from Carolines AC.
That means 3 INF, 1 ARM, 1 FIG against 2 INF, 1 FIG, which is an 85% win.
The problem is, you have no fodder for the preceeding Naval battle, except the SUB, IF it was not killed by the UK in UK1.
That means you are losing high-end units (quite likely a BB) at Pearl in order to take Hawaii.

And you reduce yourself to China being your ONLY gain in Asia, unless UK abandoned India.

May be viable.  Have never tried it.  But on first review, it looks to be damn risky, especially with the US counter attack on the Japan Fleet thrown in on uS1.

@ncscswitch:

And you reduce yourself to China being your ONLY gain in Asia, unless UK abandoned India.

What else do you take as Japan on J1 in Asia … I usually only take China on J1 and then on J2 I move into Russia and Sinkiang

I usually get either India or Bury in addition to China.  On rare occasions, I get both.

i´ll sometimes get Australia.

Unless you’re trying to divert US forces from the European theater, Hawaii is too big a gamble.  AUS and NZ are later round acquisitions, since your trns are better utilized getting troops into Asia early on. :-D

I usually take China and Bury in round 1. I like to take Aus in round 3, then on to Madagascar in round 4, UOSA in round 5 and brazil in Round 6.

If I get $2 from the bid and buy 4 transports I will head for Australia as soon as possible.  Taking Aus/NZ early is a good move because it deprives the UK of 3IPC for the rest of the game.  Hawaii I will take later after I have an IC in Asia and have my transport bridge set up.

Actually, unless I missed a bid, Switch, you can’t hit Hawaii with 3 Inf, 1 Arm because only 1 transport can reach.  That’s at most 1 inf, 1 arm, 1 fig vs 2 inf, 1 fig on defense.

Correct.  I made an error.

So it is FAR worse than I thought, which means from bad, to abysmal.

I tend to do the IC in Asia on J1 (the first of 2 IC’s for me).

And on average it is abotu 3 turns before my Navy is completely out of a job except ferry duty and dleet protection, so that is about the time I start to send troops to eitehr Africa, or start the Pacific raiding.  That is also about the same time that Japan stops gaining easy income in Asia, so popping the $3 for Australia and NZ is a nice boost.

Hawaii though is always a deabte… back to Africa to go after those $9?  Or sneak around Cape Horn and take Brazil 2 turns after NZ falls…

(Above is for a KGF of course)

I will take these if/when it becomes convienent for Japan.  I will not go out of my way or disrupt my first 2-3 turns, especially if the UK dumps the 4th inf onto Aus from NZ.

In games where the UK takes two Inf off Aus, then I’ll pick up Aus, Nz, Hi (in that order) with inf and BB-shot probably starting in J3.

If possible, I’m more likely looking for a way to take Aus and Nz with Germany.
I’ve done this in a few games and it is extremely helpful.

You’ve got to get out of the Med by G3 to have a shot and sometimes you don’t even have that long.

With Afr bid and all goes well, you can hit:
G3 - Ind
G4 - Mad
G5 - Aus
G6 - NZ
G7 - HI

Or

G3 - Mad
G4 - Aus
G5 - NZ
G6 - HI

All should be untradeable at that point without serious Allied investment and Japan protecting India for the Germans which means their core income is increased by 5-8  a turn with no additional units needed to hold.

You also don’t have to go to HI, you can head back and threaten another late landing in Afr by the Germans, followed up by a Japan landing for added defense since you should have the Japan-Asia situation all sorted out by J4-5.
Or A Ger landing in Ala, with Japan hitting WCan.

Although, I’ve never made it to Ala.  :-)
I’ve gotten to HI twice, once I was then diverted by US ships and had to head back to Asia and the second time my inf and rt were killed clearing HI.

As America, unless I’m in a KJF strat, I’ll let Japan take Hawaii.  It’s not worth diverting 14 IPC minimum to reclaim it. (Transport, 2 Infantry.  Wiser would be to divert more since odds are Japan landed with 2 infantry.)