Japan first turn

40 IPC’s. I do it every time I play Japan. I take the PI and all the DEI, Malaya, Borneo & Hong Kong. These = 21 IPC which puts Japan @ 40 IPC’s. If all goes well I do not lose too much units due to Japans 1st round attack advantage. (All Allied units, except the Chinese, defend at 1 on the dice) Tonight I won by VP’s, holding over 40 (I topped out @ 45) for 6 rounds. USA had sunk Japans navy on T5 after I slammed into AUS capital after building up INF & ART for a couple rounds and lost that battle. I pretty much had expanded all my forward units and had started reinforcing the India campaign. By the time the USA started to xport land units it was too late. It was great game w/ a few navel battles that cost both sides alot of hardware! Great fun! My boys are grumbling by being beat by the “ol Man” again.  :-D

Thank you

I still come around once in a while.  I claim some expertise for AAPacific but none at all for the other A&A games.  I have played most of them, but there are many players more able than me who you should look to for strategy tips on AAR, 2nd Edition or the other versions of the game.

SS

This is a very easy strategy for Japan

Every turn, buy Transports, infantry and subs.
Do not buy very many subs, and make sure you have enough men to fill most of your transports.

On your first turn, attack the Dutch East Indies and the philipines. Attack pearl harbour and the carrier @ Samoa. move your battleship from the caroline islands to protect your carriers. Use any unused transports to reinforce French Indo-China and Siam.

From then on reinforce Korea, Shangtung, Manchuria, the philipines, and Japan with the infantry that you are buying.

You will recieve several VP the first few turns but then you will end up at 1 per turn as the us gets more involved.

Wait out for the rest of the game until your @ 22VP

We had 4 guys here last night and we decided to try Pacific (we’ve played World and Europe before). With an extra person, me and my friend decided to team up and rule Japan.

Turns out that wasn’t the best thing to do, it came down to him doing mainland Asia and me managing the Pacific, and that probably tripped us up.

Anyway, heres how it went down.

The 6 planes attacked the Pearl Harbor fleet. Lost 1 fighter and destroyed the fleet. The Fighters came back to sea zone 17 (West of Hawaii) and landed on the carriers.

I decided to take out a lot of stupid islands, another flaw. Guam and Wake easily fell to combos of infantry / fighters / destroyer bombards. I used some destroyers as 1 inf transports.

Then i took the Philipines with every warship in range, and 2 transports (4 inf) and planes. Lost 1 inf in the invasion (this dude can roll 1’s like a mofo).

I took Hong Kong with 1 arty.

My friend did china, and we won with i think 1 inf lost (we beat the 2’s better than the 1’s, somehow). I don’t remember exactly what we took in China but whatever, it didnt matter.

I then moved the fleet @ caroline to the carrier fleet W of Hawaii.

The first turn was way too slow, looking back. Played far too conservatively.

The British player dropped 3 tanks for india and a fighter and something for the Aussies. They did some attack and failed.

America dropped 2 battleships and a destroyer (60 IPC) and saved the other 15. That’s f*cking insane if you ask me. America didn’t do any attacks, and consilidated their fleet @ Hawaii. The two big assed fleets were staring eachother in the face. Advantage America.

Rather than go on at length, I can summarize the rest of the game quickly.

Japan continued to grind through China. We lost NOTHING until we hit Szechwan, which for some reason wouldn’t die. After takign moderate losses we decided to bypass it and head for India. Japan now had 2 fleets, and one began to swing around to India. The one facing overwhelming odds near America retreated to Sea Zone 27 (New Britian / New Guinea), killing a smaller british fleet with no losses (tipped / untipped battleships). New Britian was Invaded.

I’ll just summarize “the end” of the game. The Japanese fleet heading to India, well, got raped. The British, in a move of desperation, engaged the larger japanese fleet. The laws of probability were proven wrong as the Brits destroyed a Battleship, carrier, 2 fighters, 2 destroyers, and 4 transports while only losing a transport and a sub. Insanity. The land assault on india failed (they had one fighter left! ACK!)

Basically, Japan was out of continential Asia. We had some defensive forces but most of it was thrown at India. The Japanese fleet consolidated in the Sea of Japan, the American Fleet moved to Sea Zone 22 (2 East of Mainland Japan, out of kamakazie range). The Brits nabbed most of continental asia and america took over some islands.

We declared the game over, because japan was dead in the water with 11 VPs, getting 1 a turn. It was a matter of time until America got a lot of land forces, but not 11 turns.

As a laugh, we rolled out the Sea of Japan battle. Here are the fleets:

Japan came out with 3 Battleships in tact.

Ha, as it is, I don’t own A&A: P either!

The US starts out with an IC there so yes, all original factories provide for unlimited production.

BB

I think that if your going to win with Japan, do it either by capturing India, or victory points. Both of which I’ve seen done. Here’s my views on the following ways of Japan achieving victory. If Japan focuses on….

Australia

Problems with Invading Australia

America can fly planes down for support by the time Japan has assaulted Northern Australia Australia is a richer nation then India, raking in 20 IPCS as opposed to India’s 15 If you focus on taking down Austrlian IPCS (eg: invading java, and sumatra) in the islands, that by the time you reach New south wales, they have to much defense. Harder to get air support for your attack on New South Wales

Good things about Invading Australia

Going for Australia might be a good idea, only if the British player is anticipating an Indo Swing, and gives all the convoy money to India. Forcing Australia to have less money. If the British player makes poor purchases for Australia (eg: subs, and not any land defense units)

India

Problems with Invading India

Hard to get air support for assault on India, unless you capture Shan State or Yunnan by J2 or J3. Chinese forces, seeing a possible Japanese invasion of India, may send infantry to help, or invade your Korean, and Manchurian forces. Not a significant problem, but one to consider.

Good things about Invading India

You can mass a HUGE fleet in Sumatra, by J2. Composed of many destroyes, battleships (which are good for shore amphibious assaults), and 10-12 transports full of infantry, artillery, tanks. If by J2 you can capture Shan State, J3 you can land your planes there, and the planes will be in range of attacking the Indian Capital on J4. Even if India moves his forces up to Burma and trys to attack Shan State’s Japanese men, which they wont because they wont have enough men to defend India capital, the Burma forces will treat back to the captial because if they dont the ships and transports sitting in Sumatra sea zone will take the unguarded captial on J3. Farthest Capital away from USA, hard for USA to send fighter support If you go after India, you might be able to take China as well, not neccessary, but fun taking 2 capitals.

Victory Points

Problems with winning by Victory Points

Can make the game alot longer If you don’t pressure India or Australia, they will attack your helpless stray ships America can moblize an attacking force to invade Japan Capital

Good things about winning by Victory Points

If you can foritfy Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Borneo, with infantry and fighters, it will be difficult to invade them (all these islands and coastline territory have a combines IPC net of 14 IPC If you can keep a good supply line of transports going from Japan to the mainland (French Indo China, Siam) you can delay any India mainland attacks If you rake in 40 IPC a turn, and are holding that amount for 5 turns, you are almost guarenteed a victory