I was going to answer in this thread, but you may still be my opponent in the final match of the tournament and it would be foolish of me to give such information away  :-)

Well, for our current game Jen Japan’s success J1 (no losses in China, which is American ineptness not Russian) made the Armor unnecessary, so my Complex did nothing for me. Using transports and adding the complex later would have no difference in result. As I recall J2 Russians shot average in Sink, and wiped me in Yakut: The success had nothing to do with poor shooting by Russians, and everything to do with so few Russians being there; The rest ran away to the Germans. Even when I moved past where the trenches should have been drawn, the Russians still refused to turn around and fight. An extra 2 Inf in China is all the +luck I’ve had for Japan, Russia needs to defend her own borders!

I used to shun the J1 Complex, but I’ve since changed my outlook. I still prefer a 4 tran buy (2 IPC from bid of course), but the complex offers it’s own charm.

The allies generally stall the Japanese with the starting units in Asia, or even pull some back to go after the Germans. My mission with the Japanese is to break the allied lines as fast as possible, earning maximum cash from the Russians. Japan has an entire airforce to do this with, and can generally use the two battleships for the purchase as well.

Of the three routes across Asia the North is the quickest, and takes Russian income. It requires defense of Novo by the Russians.

The Chinese route is more difficult (an extra territory to Novo), setting you back minimum one round. Defence for Russians is again Novo, but you may get the chance to trade Kaz as a bonus.

Indian route is the longest, and offers no assault on Russian income. It is the easiest to protect with minimal force (Bombards) provided you keep fleet in the area. Russian defence is from Cauc, where they’ll likely be anyway (German threat). It is also the easiest for the allies to provide support against.

You’re going to build a complex regardless by J3, and by placing on J1 you are locking in part of your strategy quite early. Indian route gains more long game reward (near shuttle to Africa) that will aid a match you are trying to win by outproducing the opponent (pulling in more IPC). It puts the least pressure on the allies in early game.

I’ll finally get to the point. Placing the IC J1 with a 2 Tra build allows you to place 2 or 3 extra arm on the mainland J2, meaning they can reach Sink J3 from any starting territory, and Yakut if you place in Manchuria. This gives you maximum power for your J3 assault to break whichever stack you wish, not just the attack power of the tank, but the necessary fodder to allow you to bring your air support for the kills you seek. 3 or 4 Armor is significant. The best you can do with a 3 Tra 1 Arm build is 2 Arm, and the 4 Tra build offers only your starting unit.

Is committing to a complex placement J1 worth it for the one-time bonus deadzoning/attack/suicide J3? I believe it is if you plan to push 11 units across either Yakut or China to Russia as fast as you can. If you plan to take the Indian route, I’d say probably not.

Having played two games now as Allies vs your Axis, I would offer this advice:

The British and Americans have a generally fixed income they can come at you with. Every dollar they spend in Africa is a dollar they did not spend in Europe. You do not need to take over all of Africa to do well, but you should try your best to force the allies to spend money there. Germany can counterattack Libya and Egypt quite well so long as the Med fleet is alive, with a Bombard and air support. This means you can defend said territories with the mere threat of retaliation. At the very least you can pick up 3 dollars a turn there while spending 6, yet forcing the allies to spend more and using their transports when they don’t yet have enough.

Next, Norway. If you aren’t going to go heavy with Africa, you might as well try to keep Norway. The +3 to Germans and -3 to whoever gets Norway (typically the British) will mostly offset the money you couldn’t get from Africa. The Germans do not need to twiddle their thumbs next to Russia yet, as the Japanese won’t even be in range of Moscow for a few turns.

Finally, Russians. If you are only playing light in Africa, you will only need a plane or two every once in a while to make an opportunistic attack. If you’ve dealt with Norway by making your counterattack so strong Britian is only trading with you and too weak to land a full load, then you have a lot of planes that need work. Unless you are dead serious about using your planes to attack allied ships, then don’t leave them posturing near the shores: Put them to work killing Russians! Every spare man that isn’t needed to hold the fort is a man that should be used to bleed the Russian stacks trading territory. The Germans pulling Norway and a couple bucks from Africa can pull a solid 40IPC+ income, and can afford to trade 4-5 Inf for 5 Russians. This leaves far fewer men in the way of the Japanese.

Last, Japan. There are 3 routes to Russia, and while you want to control them all, you must not try to use all 3 as transport routes! If you do, all 3 are vulnerable to being stalled in a Russian armor stack that can go in any direction. Use enough men along two routes to be sure you are getting their income, but choose one route to go heavy so that you are strong enough to stave off a Russian counter. Again, you have air support, trade your men for Russians at every opportunity. 1 Inf 1 Fig vs 1 Inf or 2 Inf 1 Fig vs 2 Inf should be done every time. You aren’t always caring about taking the territory, a 1 IPC land isn’t worth losing 2 Inf for. Trading Inf equal with Russians however is to your advantage, you plan to be attacking with Inf at 1, and they want to Defend with them at 2. The more you trade, the easier your job will get. Even if the Inf isn’t a Russian, so long as a Russian will be needed to take that territory back, then it’s still good.

Gaining a larger income is a more difficult way to win for the Axis: The easier way is to kill Russians!

@newpaintbrush:

@Bean:

Sounds like you’re fighting…

teh Jenf0rces!

lolz.

Gotta admit, I got a good chuckle out of that one  :wink:

Scare off opponents with a test roll like that  :-o

My turn for a test

Rolls: 2@1 4@3; Total Hits: 62@1: (1, 1)4@3: (1, 3, 3, 2)