Hello, I play pacific 1940 a lot. I have also played global a few times. Pacific 1940 second edition is a great game but I can almost easily win every time if I’m Japan and I attack on the third turn. A new rule was passed around late 2014 to allow the USA to receive a 30 IPC bonus if Japan attacks or declares war on them before turn 4. This seems to balance the game a little but I can still always win with Japan. The strategy for Japan is pretty much the same. Take the money islands, build a minor in French Indo China and Kwangtung and knock out China and India. Post in the Philippines with your huge navy and three fighters that can scramble and those six deadly kamikizes. Let Anzac and USA come to you so you can use the fighters to defend at 4 when the big navy battle happens. Eventually you will be making more than the allies with the money islands NO and the India NO. You should be around the 70-75 mark. Then when the time is right strike at Sydney or Hawaii and hold it and you should win as it will be six victory cities. For the allies, man this can be tuff lol. You better hope Japan attacks you on turn 1 or turn 4 because turn 2 and especially 3 it’s going to be difficult.
1: China: buy men and hit and run and fall back to the north west of China. You will be lucky if the Burma road is open more than two turns. Pull back and make Japan come to you.
2: UK: pull everyone back to India and just buy men!!! Try to bring your navy down to Australia and unite them with Anzac and hopefully later USA. If it looks like India is going to fall then pull your airforce out and send them to Australia to hopefully land on a Anzac or American carrier. If Japan hasn’t declared war early then take as many islands in the south as possible .
3: Anzac: small ships and transports are good. if it looks like Japan is going to invade then pull your forces to south Australia because from there you can hit any territory. Use your small ships to convoy raid or unite with the main USA fleet. Queensland is a great staging area for the allied navy early in the game. Also since there’s a airbase there fighters don’t hurt also since they can scramble.
4:USA: the big boy lol. The problem is when USA is neutral she only makes a freaking 17 ipcs a turn. While Japan is around the 40 mark and Japan has soooooooo many aircraft at its disposal. USA I say aircraft carrier early then mainly subs, destroyers, and a transport every turn with land units. A few rounds into the game get a navy base on the Johnson islands and start combining your fleet with the Anzac fleet and hopefully a small UK fleet. try to take the money islands by sacrificing transports because Japan will have a bigger navy early in the game. When the time is right move to Dutch New Guinea with your fleet and prepare for the big battle. Sometimes it’s better if Japan attacks you and sometimes it’s better if you attsck them. Hopefully you will have a lot of subs at your disposal. If you win the navy battle then Japan is pretty much toast even if they have India and China. Good luck and let me know how the war goes lol. I am playing anniversary edition on Saturday 😜
Naval Base in Alaska wins the game
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Well, it was a good plan before the huge earthquake that realigned the map! lol
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NEWS FLASH!
Sea zone 5 is not supposed to connect to Korea. This is an error in the map, and will be added to the errata soon! Sorry I couldn’t tell you this earlier, but an official decision had to be made first.
and something else…
is it normal there’s no convoy sign at iwo jima? -
NEWS FLASH!
Sea zone 5 is not supposed to connect to Korea. This is an error in the map, and will be added to the errata soon! Sorry I couldn’t tell you this earlier, but an official decision had to be made first.
Why am I not surprised ?
Made by chimps, playtestet by chimps.
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As I mentioned at the beginning, I suspected Sea Zone 5 was not intended to connect to Korea. I believe if the designers wanted it the other way, they would have made it more pronounced. I also note that in most conditions, the sea zones meet at the border of the land zones.
This could still be an interesting ploy in the global game landing in Russia first, unless Japan is inclined to make a serious base in Manchuria. This may be common when the Russian IPCs are there begging.
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It’s a shame that SZ 5 touch about a full half inch of Korea… a pretty big oversite I think.
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Well I guess this discussion is over, for now. Doesn’t surprise me with all the errors/changes that have been made. In the Global game you’ll be able to use Russian tt, and work your way into China easier w/Soviet cover. A base of operation at Alaska could prove to be a use full tool, as a secondary force. I still think as the US you need to have a strong showing at Hawaii.
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makes me wonder how much the game was actually “playtested” honestly. The errata is going to be bigger than the rulebook.
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:-D
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@WILD:
Well I guess this discussion is over, for now. Doesn’t surprise me with all the errors/changes that have been made. In the Global game you’ll be able to use Russian tt, and work your way into China easier w/Soviet cover. A base of operation at Alaska could prove to be a use full tool, as a secondary force. I still think as the US you need to have a strong showing at Hawaii.
I think on the Global game Russia will be forbidden to attack Japanese territories or move into China until either Japan attacks first or Germany has fallen to the Allies.
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makes me wonder how much the game was actually “playtested” honestly. The errata is going to be bigger than the rulebook.
Maher C.
I think that they should re-issue a second edition and provide it to those who bought this shabbily tested game (don’t get me wrong, I like it and it has potential). The should as least give those that purchased the disaster version with some sort of coupon or rebate. Yeah right, like that’s ever gonna happen.