So, as Japan, what are your thoughts on producing all tanks with 3 mainland ICs (3 ICs built by the end of round 3–assuming they will be sufficiently protected) instead of producing transports?  The 3 locations for the ICs, of course, would be FIC, Manchuria, and India.  The tanks reach Moscow quicker and forces Russia to do something about Japan sooner.  Sure, the TUV trade-off isn’t optimal when trading territories with Russia in Asia, but who cares?  Russia has to sacrifice their precious units to fight off the tanks on a dwindling income while Japan’s income is always increasing and can much better afford the uneven swap.  It worked in a game I just played–this was in a full-on KGF game–that is, India, Indian Ocean, Sinkiang, Buryatia, Soviet Far East, and US battleship and transport off the western US coast were evacuated in round 1.  Japan was only using 1 transport in the Pacific the entire game.  Has anyone else had success with the 9 tanks per turn strategy instead of the traditional use of the 4 transports?

This also begs the question…what’s the best way to defend against it as Russia?  I suppose you’d have to pull back your attack on Germany sooner, which leaves it up to just the UK and US to handle Germany.  I haven’t been successful at taking down Germany with only 2 of the 3 allies committed though.  I find it difficult as Russia to find the balance of keeping sufficient pressure on Germany while at the same defending the sudden tank blitz from Japan.  The last couple of times I played as Russia against this Japan scenario, I waited until Japan had gotten a couple of units to Novo and Kazakh before taking them seriously.  By then though, I had a Russian stack of infantry in Belorussia and couldn’t bring them back to Moscow in time for an adequate defense.  The Jap tanks just showed up too fast.  I started contesting these territories with Japan, but there were always more tanks right behind the ones I killed, and Russia just couldn’t keep up.  I had no choice but to contest Novo and Kazakh because Japan was threatening Moscow/Caucasus not only from Novo and Kazakh, but also from the tanks in Persia, Sinkiang, and Yakut.

Thoughts??

Lots to think about here.  Thinking about the Polar Express and the entire game itself, the phrase, “For everything gained, there’s something lost” comes to mind.  If Japan is in W. Canada, it halts the US shuck, but if they’re in Asia, it forces Russia to spend more to defend against Japan.  Every game I play as Japan, the thought always crosses my mind to send my 4 transports to Alaska/W. Canada, but I can’t ever come to terms with it because of all those units you take away from Asia.  Even if the US was out of the picture in Europe because of having to deal with the polar express, I don’t see how Germany could overcome Russia and the UK by themselves anyway.

As far as simply bidding a Jap transport….that works well regardless of whether you go after the US or not.  It’s a win-win for Japan.  I just won an Axis game with that transport in SZ50 implementing a KRF.  It’s key to grabbing income very early on–income that you wouldn’t normally get a hold of that soon.  I was able to hold Africa for a while with Germany as well.  I admit, I was pretty fortunate to do that without the German bid.  Overall though, I definitely recommend bidding the Jap transport.

As for the transport bid, I’m not a big fan of sz 37. I don’t see why you would want to attack Aus on turn 1, against India it only deters a factory (something which, while being a viable strategy, Japan shouldn’t be terribly afraid of), and if you want to use it against Egypt you might as well have placed a German bid in Africa anyway. sz 50 is interesting though - it deters a Bury stack (which I’m quite fond of when playing the Allies, but others might not) and the Hawaiian mainland attack accomplishes three things: it bags the plane, puts you in the ideal position to rack up Haw/NZ/Aus ASAP (some players forego (some) of these IPCs, but that adds up substantially over the course of a game) and it forces the US to incur some delay defending the West Coast.

Yes, I agree, there’s too much else for Japan to do on turn 1 before an attack on Australia.  I like the opening invasion of Hawaii.  From there, conceivably by turn 5, it’s NZ/Aus/Madagascar/South Africa all using the bidded transport.

As far as the polar express goes, I may take Alaska at some point if I don’t see any tanks in W. U.S. or E. Canada.  That way, I should at least hold Alaska for 2 turns.  Even so, I haven’t yet decided if it’s really worth sending units there instead of Russia……even if it’s just 1 or 2 infantry.  They’ll easily be countered, and would likely have more utility as part of an infantry stack moving toward Russia.  The 2 IPCs gained in Alaska will probably be short-lived.  Although, I once won a game as the allies where I ignored Japan’s capture of Alaska and kept shucking to Europe.  U.S. was deprived those 2 IPCs, but it wasn’t a game-breaker.  I don’t think either Japan or U.S. can afford to send much there in a KRF/KGF game.

I didn’t think about invading Hawaii.  I have it at an 85% chance of success with an inf and art from Japan and 2 inf from the Caroline transport with the 1 fighter for support.  That’s good enough in my book……and the Allies are down 1 extra fighter.  With the lost American fighter and the transports for fodder, your Jap navy should be safe from a US1 counter after the pearl harbor attack.  Afterwards, you have several good options on J2 with the transports.

I don’t know if I could stomach not attacking Egypt on G1.  The British Indian Ocean fleet would then move right through the Suez canal and be a real pain.  Perhaps you’ve found a good way to combat this in your games.

I was thinking of placement at sz37 or 50.  I like 37 for the J1 attack on Australia, India, or Egypt, but sz50 would be great for picking up all of those stranded island infantry.  The inf. from Solomon, Caroline, and New Guinea tend to get left there otherwise.  So, really, it’s like getting an extra transport AND 2-3 infantry since you’ll have an easy way to put the islanders to good use at the beginning of the game.  Those infantry will then invade New Zealand (J1), Australia (J2), Madagascar (J3), and then, of course, Africa.  I’d say that transport is well worth it if it’s used to pick up those territories.  The Allies have little chance of liberating those once Japan gets control of them.  So, that’s an extra 4IPCs per turn from J3 until endgame because of the extra transport.  Of course, the transport could also be used for fodder against the American or British navy on Round 1 if need be.  I can barely stand the thought of not using the bid for Germany, but a Jap transport in the right place on J1 would really give you a head start.

So, the question is, does this pay off?  You would almost certainly forfeit the German tank blitz through Africa without a bid there.  Britain would surely counter Egypt on B1….though it should keep them from considering an attack on Borneo…which would be another plus to Japan.  Compared to the German African bid, do you think the Jap transport is just as good of an option?

Well, I failed.  I had a decent chance of taking Germany using all Allies at the start of the UK turn, but the dice went sour.  I might could’ve waited a turn or two, but he had roughly 25 tanks and 10-15 infantry ready to attack Moscow as the Japs.  I’ll be trying Low Luck next time.  If it’s not Low Luck and I find myself in that situation again, I will wait until I’m CERTAIN I can take Germany.  With that many units going into a battle like that, the standard deviation from a reasonable dice outcome can be quite large.  He should’ve had about 10 tanks left in Germany when it was time for my Russians to go in for the kill.  Instead, he had 23 tanks left in Germany….which made it an impossibility for my Russian stack to take Germany.  Game over.

Yeah, the only problem is I won’t have any more Russian units to send in if I fail with my Russian stack on the first try.  All their resources are tied up trying to defend against Japan at this point.  It’ll be up to Britain and America to send in subsequent attack waves.  The past couple of turns, I have been bleeding off a few Russian infantry in order to take and retake the Balkans.  Russia needs the 3 IPCs more than Britain and America at this point while they’re defending against Japan, but I’m not sure if it’s wise to slowly deplete my Russian stack by doing this.  Otherwise, Britain and America are in good shape.  5 transports for Britain,  American IC in Norway as well as 3x3x3 transport chain via E. U.S.–Algeria–Norway.  Russia won’t hold forever though.  I’ve got to do something soon.

Situation:

Germany:
35-40 infantry
20 tanks
4 fighters
2 Jap fighters in SE
(all units are divided between Germany and SE at the moment)

It’s Round 6; I have a combined Russian/British/American stack in EE and am contesting WE and the Balkans.  Running an odds calculator for an attack on Germany is misleading since you can’t send all the units in together.  Any general rule of thumb to consider before sending in everything??