Best posts made by Cow

Standard G1 dow

Take Russia round 5. That is it. Easy peezy.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=30167.0  Check out my Germany playbook as well!

This is a three part series. The first part is for the Japan 1 DOW on western allies.  The second part to the series is for Japan players who like to setup and start war round 2. The third part of the series is for when russians are gutsy and have stacked up amur round 1 in hopes of delaying you from your quest for glory. Feel free to comment with your suggestions below.

Do keep in mind this is a J1 DOW opener.

Also you can just look at the screenshot at the end to figure out what I did instead of reading each movement. You will notice the major pitfall to kicking off war round 1 right away, a possible Yunnan stack of british and chinese round 1, but on Japan 2 you get have plenty of guys on kwangsi so he holds it for one round only.

Most games won before round 10; are won in the pacific by Japan. You want to progress quickly as each round goes by, but you also need to be smart about things. Surprisingly some of the more conservative players do DOW with Japan as Japan can quickly make 60-70 ipc a turn.

purchase: 3 transports, 1 infantry.

COMBAT MOVES

1. 2 inf siam-> french indo china
2. 1 fighter 1 tactical sz 33->philippines
3. 1 inf 1 tank japan->transport -> philippines
4. 1 inf okinawa + 1 art manchuria -> transport -> philippines
5. formosa fighter -> 37
6. 2 bombers -> 37
7. sz20 cruiser-> 37
   8 ) 3 inf 1 art -> yunnan
8. 1 fighter 1 tactical kiangsu -> yunnan
9. kiangsi -> sz 20 transport -> borneo
10. kiangsi 1 inf 1 art -> kwangtung
11. 1 inf kiangsi -> hunnan
12. 2 fighter 2 tactical manchuria -> hunnan
13. 1 okinawa fighter -> kwangtung
14. 1 korea fighter -> sz 35
15. 1 tactical fighter sz 6 -> 35
16. 1 tactical fighter 2 fighters sz 6-> kwangtung
17. 1 carrier 1 sub 1 cruiser 1 bship 1 destroyer sz 6-> 35
18. 2 inf 1 art jehol-> chahar
19. 3 inf 1 art shangtung -> anhwe
20. 1 mech inf manchuria -> chahar
21. japan 1 tactical fighters-> kwangtung
22. bship cruiser sub sz 6 -> sz 35
23. dd sz 19 -> sz 35
    ~NONCOMBAT
    6 Inf 1 aa gun manchuria -> jehol
    4 inf korea-> manchuria
    1 carrier 1 destroyer sz 33-> 43
    1 fighter sz 37-> 43
    2 bombers sz 37-> kwangsi (all china air land there)
    1 carrier sz 6-> 36
    sz 19 bship -> sz 36
    sz 19 sub -> sz 35 (or sz 36 if you didn’t kill the battleship for some reason)
    3 inf 1 art kiangsu -> kiangsi

at this point you are just landing your air units on carriers. keep 2 destroyer in sz 6 to guard your transports, along with 3 fighters in japan to scramble against an attack from the americans, use kamikaze rolls if he sends dd and cruiser in (don’t screw around, roll 2 for dd and 3 for cruiser save 1 kamikaze to prevent bombardments later on)

1 fighter 1 tactical philippines-> 35
1 fighter 35-> 43
1 tactical fighter 35-> 36
~~

hunnan kwangtung and yunnin air units land kwangsi.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A CONSERVATIVE BASELINE.
~
PROS:
1)+10 IPC, which is what you make for not being at war so you are neutral on Japan income.
2) you started taking islands and british territories -7 for UK pacific
3) you picked up some nice kills no counter attacks except from  china on yunnan.
4) all naval is safe. the allies can only block you from taking sumatra in which case you would take malaya.
5) Good kills. bship (cost you only a cruiser), sub dd (tilts bship repairs J2), the rest can be dicey.

Cons:
USA at war and will collect NOs (but he is -2 from philippines and will not collect that NO
anzac +5 because malaya
yunnan is sometimes stacked up and uk pacific attacked your 2 infantry on FIC. this is okay, I prefer not to throw all my air at these guys, simple because I want them for calcutta, but delaying calcutta so you don’t have to deal with those units is not too bad either.

~
If you are playing low luck games, I highly recommend doing J1 war, because all the risk is gone.

~

Overall analysis. USA at war, picks up his NOs for +20. Down sub and dd and philippines for -16, the fighter we’ll put at -3 assuming he gets two hits with it, for -19 usa.

You tend to break even compared to doing nothing. except UK is -7 and you are already taking islands.

~
Sometimes if the Allies are silly. On J2 you can setup to take India J3.

airbase 2x minor factory 1 infantry or 1 airbase, 1 naval base, 1 minor factory (this means you are doing J3 calcutta. SHAN STATE or Yunnan hold is a must (this is where your air lands so you would have to kill everything around it). If USA is at Midway -1 MINOR FACTORY + 4 inf.  Kamikaze to prevent bombardments. Also you need all naval units cleared that could block your attack (position a fleet at Java or malaya and/or burma to prevent blockers if necessary). Put all available units in range of India in range. placement. airbase needs to go to french indo china or kwangsi.
~

Your ultimate objective is for the capital of India, usually J4-7 you get it. Avoid losing transports whenever possible. On round 2 you should grab 3 of any combination of malaya, sumatra, java, celebes.
_Also remember that J1 war only works if amur is empty or has under 5 inf. Also if Russia is sending his mech at you and buying lots of mech… it is not a great idea to J1 dow.

How to deal with the Russians. deal with it either after calcutta (as per FIC minor FIC facto), or when it gets to manchuria, or hold manchuria and drop a minor on it to wall it off (you can invade siberia later if you need to.

The J3 buy is the hardest._
~
Last suggestion. You don’t have to rush calcutta at all, you can do it j4-6 anytime you feel like depending on what the allies throw at you. Sometimes I go back to Japan and reload all my transports if the allies are being really stubborn about it.

Some people try to convoy japan, but from sz 36, with a naval base, you can hit him hard.

Also it is hard to say what you should buy / do J2 and onward, because it depends on what the allies are doing. Sometimes you get to choose between many attacks, none as the allies are full retreat, or one or two attacks, so it all depends.

**Also some anzac players like to put 3 fighters and 2 inf on java, go kill that, naval base FIC. with 6 inf 1 armor you can usually hold western australia and then blam fly your air on it the round after and move the naval up so you can take new south wales without being blocked from attack it. If you get an easy opportunity, just take it. when you have australia, usa has to really go out of his way to liberate it.

Otherwise just ignore it for the first round, you have other battles to do.**
Edits done 2013, 2014, and 2016
Last edit I will ever do 7/21/2017 for below

Okay, years have passed and I have only been doing J1 (because every time i think about doing a J2 I say F it and J1 dow and no one ever has a stack in amur for me to attack to give me a reason to j3 DOW). I have made some adjustments over this time. J1 is my preference and I do the same thing every game. Best counter I seen to the Sino Russia thing is USA with the bomber spam during usa 1 and 2 then flys 9 bombers to scotland and then into Russia (the 7 movement is real), super effective counter and 9 bombers on Russia is actually really solid cannon fodder, can really shut down a G5-G7 takedown of Moscow. This is what I do against Japan ignoring the pacific and going after Russia, it is the only way USA can get units into Russia in time to defend it and have a meaningful impact quickly.

You can defend Japan with 1 sub (can be another dd instead) 1 dd 1 cruiser 2 fighters. Use all 3 kamis on dd and 3 kamis on cruiser (usa has 2% to win if you hit both, 9-10% with 1 hit and 36% all miss). I prefer to defend with 3 fighters except when I lost a cruiser and fighter in sz 37 (so i fly the 3rd fighter down to defend my carrier).

I usually attack sz 62 with 1 destroyer (chance to hit the lotto and sink the transport and dd, sometimes you just end up tossing a destroyer away or trading destroyers).

So what changed? I move only 1 inf to kiangsi (sometimes 1 inf 1 arty if phil lost 3 units, usually lose 2 guys so you need the extra inf to pick up for malaya or whatever). No fleet in 36 (it all goes sz 35). Picture in next post.

J1DOW.tsvg

This is outdated. Needs to be updated.

Here is the general framework for how to setup for J2 DOW, this is a picture of the end of J1. There is a bit of controvesy over transport placement/moves. Generally speaking I like to setup so that I can grab malaya, borneo, phil, and java… if they want to block me, that is just a series of freebie kill. You can put the japan transport on caroline or off of kwangsi, it is really up to you.

How you do J2 really depends on your playstyle, but this opener allows you to go in many directions for J2. This is more of a crush calcutta setup with options to do other stuff.

some people don’t put anything in carolines on J1. generally speaking I don’t like air units on caroline, but I like the xport there so I put a bare minimum naval… the problem with max naval to carolines is A) you get blocked, but still have to move west to guard xports so you probably won’t exchange with usa and keep carriers in carolines to land or B) anything you attack, can get counter attacked.  Still it is a viable option. It does make attacking burma risky business because some air units are away, so it does telegraph that you probably won’t rush calcutta.

you can always try a surprise anzac. If you take western austrialia and there is no counter attack, next turn all of japan’s air goes there and wam bam you in business to take new south wales over… this is the nice thing about caroline transport. Keeps your opponent guessing.

I don’t usually J3 india, but if I am in the mood for it, I’ll do it. Takes a bit of luck and a naval base (air base as well if it allows all your fighters to make it or additional planes).
~
air units on the carrier off kwangsi is not so bad if you know your opponent is going to put 2 infantry and 3 fighters on java (and he doesn’t block you from attacking it).

To be honest they usually block it with uk and/or USA.

Sino Russian opener. This is for players that like waiting till japan 3 to DOW on western allies, because if you are going to wait to dow on western allies until j3, you may as well clear out china and russia while you wait.

In order for this to work the way you expect it to work russia must leave 4 or more infantry on amur.

if you are dead set on doing sino russian strategy with an empty amur, I suggest all boats drop on amur to defend against 20 inf attacking.

purchase 2 transport 3 mechanized infantry

Combat moves

load 1 inf off okinawa, grab a tank off japan-> soviet far east
load 1 inf off iwo jima, take an artillery off japan -> unload on amur
all manchuria and korea ground forces -> amur
The amount of air you send at amur varies depending on how many ruskies are there. 3 fighter 3 tactical is fine for under 6 infantry stacks, for bigger stacks add more air as you feel necessary.

3 inf 1 art 2 bomber, 1 fighter 1 tactical -> yunnan (usual attack)
2 or 3 inf 1 art, 2 fighter 2 tactical -> hunan (usual attack, some like to hold back an infantry just in case so they know they can take back yunnan and keep china from making artillery).
~
non combat

1 transport 1 dd 1 sub 1 carrier 1 tactical 1 fighter-> paulau island (this may seem like a shock, but it is your insurance that uk pac and anzac don’t declare war on you, since this enables you to take islands as all your ground forces are being used at the moment).

keep 1 bship 1 cruiser at japan all other naval goes down to kwangsi (this prevents uk pac from trying to bombard your air untis and attacking with 2 fighter 1 bomber… which is funny as hell).

surviving air units can land in jehol and be in range of hitting chinese forces as well as forcing ruskies to move back.

J2 if for some miracle you lost amur to a strait infantry attack from russia… then you can counter attack it and setup to declare war on j3.

~
How you setup on j2 (or sometimes you may wish to go to war with the western allies on j2, that is why the transport is at paulau so you can nab borneo or something), really depends on what the allies do from there.

typically you paulau transport to carolines. sz 5 goes to sz 19 and picks up 4 men from japan and drops it into manchuria or something. the japan transports move to kwangsi and drop 4 guys. you buy more transports and men to fill the boats or throw down minor complexes. I like having 2 transport purchase at least (get men to kwangtung or philippines). typically sz 19 is safe for awhile so you can buy 4 infantry and expect to be able to pick up 4 guys from japan during japan 3 and drop them into jehol or something.

disclaimer: On J1 the exact amount of air you keep in range of the russian stack in jehol and the amount of air units you keep at kwangsi in range of southern china… really depends on your preference. The picture shows what it looks like when russia leaves a small 4 inf stack on amur, his odds of killing amur with 17 inf is 33%~ I typically only do the sino russian strategy when russia leaves 4 infantry because then I get to take soviet far east then blitz left no problem so it is pretty sweet to start workin the income up

Oh yeah you don’t need to bring the xports up top if russia stacked 10+ units on amur, you just kill it and do the usual J2 DOW

Your G2 buy should go through with sea lion (attack on UK):
~
If your G1 buy was 2 transport 1 AC

Your G2 buy will be 1 dd rest transports

If your G1 buy was 1 sub 1 dd 1 carrier

Your G2 buy will be all transports.
~
You need 1 destroyer, very important against potential sub buys.

Also it is important that Italy keeps his bomber. Should UK repair his airbase, Italy bombs it. Also position Italy fighters on france if possible (1 or both) for escorting. You really want to make sure the airbase is disabled (which is at 3 damage). So that way you can get all your units on london.

Guess someone did not like my playbook :(

Just to clarify. ANZAC can take Java round 1 then land 3 fighters on it. This is a pretty standard move from anzac.

you know I never thought about a transport shuck… could get 4 artillery from south africa.

naval off uk is vulnerable as well… you got to build a fleet or get one from usa, germany starts with like 100 ipc worth of air… 2 minors is only 24 bucks.

also if you want usa to threaten italy or the underbelly as I like to call it, you need another fleet for that…

so I thought f it, just minor it up, because italy didn’t buy naval. So I wasn’t too worried about egypt.

so if I get 1 inf 1 art to shuck persia with the two starting transports I get down there. i buy 1 mech 1 inf 1 art for union. 11, persia 3 inf 9, and 2 tank 1 mech for the 36 I make assuming libya is taken by usa units which shore up on that side first.

THAT IS PERFECT. :D

except i don’t have anything to defend the thransports down there except for that starting destroyer in union the cruiser from india and bship sometimes… but I guess it is enough considering only bombers can hit it.

mmm

I still prefer to just get mech down in union for 12.  3 mech egypt 12. 3 art for 12 in persia like I was doing.

your way packs more much… MM. I had 37 so I got 2 mech 1 tank egypt and 2 inf 1 art persia.

I think your way is better in the long run though.

I still don’t see why russia is a problem and why you can’t advance there.

Okay, right off the bat I give you Germany guys a big hint, mechanized infantry, instead of focusing on taking Russia go for the money, Caucasus etc. The minors you take along the way make artillery, you get a very cost effective army that can move around and not get trapped. Also you have superior air so many small battles will statistically yield better results for germany and if you do invest in more air, bombers are great, you can always bomb the Russians if there aren’t many skirmishes.

How is russia putting units on calcutta when russia is not at war? Being at war with japan only allows him to put stuff on china and jap territories. No +5 bonus for warring japan. No landing on UK territories.

For UK to be your ally, germany or italy has to war you, unless I am crazy.
~

Ruskies in sikang poised to take burma road, aa guns in amur +3 inf as bait. I see what you are doing, but I am a little confused.

Ok normally russia keeps maybe 1 inf in amur, putting 3 inf and 2 aa guns means you are baiting japan to do some early russia play, to give you mongolian states.

Normally when russia does the sikang with his air there, he’s trying to assist china while germany gets his stuff together.

So you are pretty much just asking japan to do the heavy russia/china thing. OK, I’d do it instead of J1 DOW. You got me, axis double team russia! J3 DOW to take islands (because on J2 I won’t have boats ready from dealing with russia lol).

but like the sikang thing is fine,  You can have the burma road, I am still cutting UK off from income. J2 the ground forces come into kwangsi.

transports should threaten india so he has to keep something back for india.the starting shangtung and kiangsu pieces will move into position as well.

But yes you can get a big stack going on. all I can have is at most 14-16 guys with all my air vs 17 chinese 1  fig 3 ruskie air 1 mech 1 tank plus whatever uk pac can give up. that’s still a landslide lose for china.

you are right I wouldn’t throw my air at a yunnan stack on round 2, I’d drop my boats off stack up with my air. unless UK pac can send a bunch of stuff in yunnan while holding  india from. round 3 hold is not going to work out.

~
I would have to buy a naval base and airbase on J2, because the 5 extra russians  means with ukpacs starting pieces + china stack + 5 ruskies = yunnan could be a close battle…. but since ukpac only makes 10 and then 7… he can barely hold calcutta as it is.

If your objective is to save calcutta by adding 5 russians, it’d be enough to deter me,  because there would be like 30 guys there and not 25 or whatever (air inf aa mix) vs 20 air and 3 full boat 3 maybe full boat.  yeah you would deter me.’
~

funny thing is, j2 i am taking malaya and 2 more islands  so j3 I take the last island and try to set up for calcutta by holding shan state for a landing from the airbase so j4 comes… battle is still favorable but i would be so screwed after that.