US Naval pound strategy – Please comment

America is a bit slow but is the force of the Allies.  I usually abandon Asia and just move the fighter and infantry to India if Japan does not kill them.  Then i buy 1 bomber per turn move to UK and industrial bomb Germany every turn while building up my navy at USA.  Once my navy is large enough to withstand German aircraft i move to UK and have a fleet of transports at UK and USA and rotate every turn to attack western Europe every turn.  If Japan does not Pearl Harbor i normally move the Navy to UK to get Germany on a 2 front war ASAP.

If Japan does not “Pearl Harbor” Sometimes i buy subs first turn consolidate my USA navy then attack Japans waters and force them to buy industrial complexes and buying time to buildup India with UK and possibly place US industrial complexes in Asia.  This can really put japan back a turn or two. it really hurts Japan if they are buying transports if they see it coming they are force to defend by buying navy or buy industrial complexes which takes pressure off of Russia and India.

Good to know, thanks.

Luftwaffe, games are played on this site.  There is a facility here to use a forum posting to roll dice.  There is a map utility called Battlemap that allows you to post maps to show your builds and the results of moves and combat.  This map file is then uploaded for your opponent to download and do their move.  It’s a great way to see how others play the game.  You find games here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?board=40.0

I have been glancing through the boards looking for a good article on KJF (Kill Japan First) in 42, without finding that golden recipe.

As I see it it is possible to perform an opening something like this:

R1
Buy 3 inf 3 arm
hit WR maybe Ukraine
2 inf to sinkiang
Stack Bury with 6 inf
Place 3 armor in Cauc

UK1
IC in India
Kill Jap Transp with carrier
Consider hitting FIC instead of Egypt (If FIC attack fails badly IC could be placed in SA)
Get some air to cauc to clear the med and help in asia

US1
Well depends on results - Pacific navy builds
Sinkiang IC

The goal is to push Japan of the mainland and for US navy to land in east indies+Borneo and setup ICs and pin the Japan navy.
Doing this, while the russian front holds against Germany, means that the Allies will be cruising towards IPC dominance and an easy win.

I realize that this is not an optimal strategy - the counter is simply for Germany to push hard towards Moscow and quickly USSR will be in big trouble. But sometimes it is just fun to try some other variations to a standard KGF stalemate.

Does any of the more experienced players have better tactics for implementing a KJF strategy?

@Hobbes:

A trick I’m willing to share that I think is a game changer that I don’t see discussed on here is to take your Australian trans with sub, bring an Aussie and the INF in NZ and head to africa the long way. You’ll get there in 3 rounds/ Japan may come after you but it will be at the expense of doing other, more important things.

To me that move is risky. The Japanese can attack it with their sub with better odds. And you’re leaving Australia/NZ easier to be conquered by Japan, which means less 3 IPCs per round for the UK permanently. The 2 Inf can help on Africa but if Japan goes for it then you will need more units (usually the Americans to deal with the situation).

It is risky but for some reason when me and my friends have gone after it, we either got sunk, or it was mutual and the trans lived. It must be a cursed square on our board. They don’t do much staying in Australia. If Japan really wants it they can send whatever they need. They’ll still be in range of India so it’s not that far out of their way.

Also, it’s not a bad a idea to leave Norway for Russia. Those plane purchases can pot shot the germans in Karelia and Russia can blitz a tank round 2, assuming there’s only one or two germans in Karelia.

@Herr:

@jiman79:

Well basically a UK bomber can hit its target in 1 round a US bomber is active one round later. Whereas US navy at least can do something usefull on their first round (unload in Africa). So I am not sure I follow your long range vs short range perspective for the air units.

You’re right about that, but I don’t think that buying bombers for the explicit purpose of doing strategic bombing raids is a good plan at all. It’s just that if I would do that, I’d do it with the US rather than with the UK. And I’d do the sneaky thing by building them in the Western US (from where they can still land in Britain) to make Japan feel uneasy - at the very least they need to be careful if they plan to unload troops in Buryatia.

As for the UK naval strategy, I generally agree that it’s a better choice than bombers, but I don’t see a specific reason to wait for the US navy to arrive first. The UK can afford to build, say, an aircraft carrier and a destroyer, and put a few planes on the carrier - or land US planes on it. Put it all in SZ2 and it’s basically out of reach for Germany. Or put it in SZ8 and add the US cruiser to it.

I totally agree in all you said.
The standard opening for UK is to buy AC+2dstr and place them in a safe position according to the G air and navy positioning. Retake Egypt and kill the baltic dstr+trnsp.
Besides fom this I think the best location for an allied bomber (UK or US) is in caucasus.

@nutbar:

Don’t focus on the US at all.

But what if the US focuses on you?  yeah there not a threat till a bit later but when they come you can’t ignore them

Sorry friend, I am here only occationally (vacations etc) and I am really not a frequent player. I do not have time to play-test in any other way then in TripleA. You can find me there from time to time as Granada but I cannot host now.

Regarding the Russian sub, you are correct. I have not inculded it because it survives only if you decide to submerge it during the R1 attack of German sub, fig and bomb on SZ2 before the fight. But it further diminishes the likelihood of the success in this particular battle. You cannot take the potential hit by the sub on it, which is good because it gives your battleship good chance to get at least one plane. If you keep the Russian sub in the fight the likelihood it would survive is about 60 %.

If you include the sub to the R2 battle calculations in the SZ8, you are correct that it changes the odds for the defender in case of 2subs plus four planes on the German side. In case attacker has built a bomber R1 and still has three figs to hit you, the odds for him to win remain 66% with 1,7 units left.

The fact is that the Germans must build a bomber R1 if they want keep the likelihood of Allies merging in SZ 8 with stronger fleet under 50%. R2 you really can prevent them to merge there and R3 you cannot perhaps prevent them to land some troops somewhere. You are perhaps right in that respect.

Still the question whether the Germans will not get their planes to the point when they will sink some of your fleets especially if you decide to split it will be omnipresent and the dynamics of the sea battles in the Atlantic have definitely changed in their favour.