Japanese first turn

your doing in my eyes the correct Buy, 2 inf, 3 trns.

Hit pearl with SZ50 ac+fig+dest, SZ60 BB, japan fig+bmb, + sub if it doesn´t die. (if he takes the ships as casualties withdraw to (wake SZ), sparing your ships and making it harder to hit you.

Kill Buryatia, otherwise they can do a dolitle raid on your new shiny transports.

Transport 2 units either to fic with SZ60 trn or to Buryatia if it´s lots of infs there.

If you send transport to fic you have a shot at hitting Australia by J2 (or egypt).

Send SZ37 fleet+figfs after fleeing UK ships, your figs are more expendable kill Uk´s ships even at loss of the figs.

Hit China with more or less everything else, if India is weak hit it to…  (1 inf might be spared from manchuria t go into Buryatia)

Make sure you do a quick expansion by japan, if able hit Australia by J2, madagascar J3,  etc ect…  Africa is yours for the taking soner or later.  Making Japan hit 60 ipc´s by turn 6 or 7…

First, your purchase is flawed. There are 10 ground units within range of a TP in sz60 that are available to be landed. With 2 units being landed on the first turn, you are left with 8 and that is enough to completely fill the 4 TP’s you have on J2 so there is no need to build the infantry unless you have to place your newly built TP’s in sz61. If you can build the 3 TP’s in sz60, then save the $6 to give you more purchasing flexibility next turn. There is no point in buying units that you won’t be moving next turn and there are very few times when it’s a good idea to save so much money for the next turn but this is definitely one of them. The Allies can go in many different directions in the first turn, so having the extra cash to help Japan react more appropriately is the best way to play it.

Second, on J2 build at least one more TP because you want to be able to clean off the isolated island infantry. Spending 8 or 16 IPC’s on one or two extra TP’s is well worth the investment when you can use those infantry to take the Allies’ Pacific IPC’s or even to just be able to add them to your forces in Asia. You’ll also need the extra TP’s to help you start landing in Africa later on so having about 6 TP’s total for Japan is usually standard.

Third, if you are going to hit sz52, then you should bring enough units to give you a good chance for a first round kill. This is only my opinion and some people advocate bringing less than maximum force to give them the opportunity to attack more territory in Asia or help kill the remaining UK fleet on J1, but I hate sacrificing Japanese ships early in the game, for any reason, so I would advise against it. The only exceptions are that you must not weaken the China attack to make sz52 easier and must always protect your transports. You can build them in sz61 if you can’t spare a naval unit to protect them.

Lastly, build an IC on J2. And a second one on J3 or J4. Don’t worry if all you are building is infantry and artillery for a while. You’ll need them. And armor built later can catch up to your advanced inf/art. In the early part of the game, Japan has more than enough aircraft support to make it a better idea to have gobs of infantry rather than a lot less infantry and a few extra armor. If you find it hard to keep the IC’s/TP’s fully loaded then you can always send one of the empty TP’s to clean off the islands a little faster until you are collecting enough income to max out your production capacity.

Is it really worth it to attack Australia and New Zealand if there is no more UK Navy in the Pacific?  I would think you would need to use the transports and battleships and fighters, etc. for Africa or taking over India and the rest of the territories that border a seazone.

@OneShot187:

Is it really worth it to attack Australia and New Zealand if there is no more UK Navy in the Pacific?  I would think you would need to use the transports and battleships and fighters, etc. for Africa or taking over India and the rest of the territories that border a seazone.

Australia, Hawaii, and New Zealand are worth 4 IPC’s total which is a significant swing of income considering that the Allies hold a 15+ IPC advantage for most of the early game.

Those IPC’s are so individually small and remote that the US won’t bother wasting part of their income to retake them so you don’t have to leave forces behind for defense.

You will need to build the extra TP’s for Africa later.

It only takes a small portion of your navy and maybe one fighter for the effort.

You won’t have to build any ground forces to attack them because the infantry you will use are already sitting around those territories doing nothing. You have to go get your infantry off your islands anyway and since you’re there……

If you rush over to Africa you won’t be gaining any income because Germany usually holds those territories in the first 4 rounds. By the time my Pacific cleanup fleet is returning, they will be just in time to start claiming African territories the Allies have retaken from Germany.

Those are my reasons. You don’t have to go after them but I consider spending the small amount of resources to do it worth the gain.

And Romulus, grab Remus and ABattlemap and join in the fun here. There are a lot of good players to get ideas from and we always welcome new people.

@Romulus:

I like the plan of becoming involved in Africa after about 4 turns, that are about the turn in wich Allied had completed freed it!

I like the idea even more with a free S. Afrikan IC.

Buying a UOSA IC is a waste

With a UK IC in South Africa, Germany should concentrate entirely on Russia except maybe taking Egypt or T-J for the income or to kill exposed UK armor. If Germany builds a CV in sz5, you shouldn’t be seeing any serious UK landings in Europe for quite a few turns.

Building a UK IC anywhere except Norway splits their forces and allow Germany to hold them off more easily.  And I wouldn’t even build the Norway IC unless UK was making more than 32 IPC’s, which is rare.

In my games usually it turns out that Japan is small potatoes compared to Germany. Germany wins the war, Japan just makes things difficult for the Allies. This has been proven by our play when Japan has been totally abandoned  by the Allies and all efforts have focused on Germany.

That said, in my experience there are some things Japan can do to make a late game Axis victory (even if Germany is KO’ed!) a possibility. The first Japanese turn, I believe they should buy one IC and a bomber. The American fleet at Pearl harbor should be crushed. If the British fleet in India is still around, it should be crushed, and if nothing has happened to reinforce India, it should be taken as soon as possible. The Russian space above Manchuria should be annihilated, as should China. All of this should happen as soon as possible. The IC should go in French Indochina and begin one of two strategies immediately - Either shoring up against an unconquered India or, if India is conquered, begin producing tanks to push into the Caucasus, Africa, and Siberia. While this is happening, the Japanese fleets (what’s left of it) should regroup off French Indochina or Japan and begin preparing for an American presence in the Pacific. The two bombers you’ll have can switch off between supporting your ground assaults and providing an extra bit of offensive power to your navy (thank god for 6 moves, they can be everywhere!). Try to maneuver the Allied navy into an attack on your navy, where your defensive fighers and carriers will pack much more firepower than their attacking equivalents. At all times, seek to deny them of the opportunity to destroy your navy completely. Harry them further by periodically invading Alaska or Canada. All the while, keep the pressure on Russia, denying them their rear area IPCs and even strategically bombing them in order to make Germany’s job easier.

In this fashion, I have played games where, when Germany fell, all of the Allies were still alive, and yet Japan came out of nowhere and conquered Russia, then crushed an Allied tank force in Eastern Europe. It was a monster, with over 70 IPCs and two monstrous navies. Granted, it still seemed like the Allies would eventually win, but it was truly an epic Japanese game all the same.

An IC in S. Africa does not make much sense to me.  I prefer to unload 8 units and a fighter into Algeria on round 1.

2 Infantry, Artillery, Armor from England
2 Infantry, Artillery, Armor, Fighter from E. USA

Couple this with an Infantry from T-J; 2 Infantry from India ; 1 Fighter from SZ 35 and 1 Bomber from England to Egypt (Fighter and bomber to land in Fr. Equitorial Africa or Italian Africa) and Germany is effectively out of Africa.

What is Japan going to do with an IC in South Africa???

If UK builds an IC in UOSA and I’m Japan I would be pretty happy … :mrgreen:

The nice thing about the Algerian landing is you combine the US/UK and USSR fleets.  Then you can move your fleets from SZ 12 to SZ 6 to land in Norway on Round 2, again with your fleets merged.

Also, if you land those units in Algeria you can always take them up to Norway if you want, or you can keep Germany from getting +9 more IPC a round.