something that just bugged me

in the picture of the game in progress at the beginning of the rulebook, there is a grand total of 0 dive bombers and fighters on the board

got 2 copies from coolstuff today…

i thinks its from aa naval minis

insn’t the picture of the entire board new?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/618315?size=large

I agree with all that has been said about how the russian aircraft are too valuable, and, looking ahead, taking out the German navy just encourages the German player to not buy a navy. Every IPC put toward a navy, at least in my opinion, is one not put towards the eastern front.
Plus, I cannot see another really good place to attack with the British aircraft R1 anyway, so why not use them to kill the fleet?

there are watermarked squares on the board the size of the kamikaze markers…
My guess that the Japanese player places them at the beginning of the game. You can make kamikaze attacks in these sea zones.

full Japan setup as best as I can tell
Japan: 8 infantry, 2 artillery, 1 tank, 1 aa gun, 2 bombers, 3 fighters, 4 Tac Bombers, 1 airbase, 1 naval base, 1 major ic
Caroline Islands: 1 infantry, 1 aa gun, 1 airbase, 1 naval base
Formosa: 1 fighter
Iwo Jima: 1 infantry
Jehol: 2 inf, 1 art
Kiangsi: 5 inf, 1 art
Korea: 1 inf
Kwangsi: 3 inf, 1 art
Manchuria: 4 inf, 1 mech inf, 1 art, 1 aa gun, 1 bomber, 3 fighters, 2 tac bombers
Okinawa: 1 inf, 1 fight
Palau: 1 inf
Kiangsa: 1 inf, 1 fighter, 1 tac bomber, 1 bomber
Shantung: 1 inf
Siam: 2 inf
Zone 6: 1 sub, 2 destroyers, 2 AC with a fighter and tac bomber each, 1 cruiser, 1 battleship, 2 transports
Zone 19: 1 sub, 1 destroyer, 1 cruiser
Zone 33: 1 destroyer, 1 AC with a fighter and tac bomber, 1 battleship, 1 transport

Assuming 11 ipc tac bomber, 4 ipc mech inf, 18 ipc AC
Best guess for total unit cost: 397! IPCs of units

last time i checked, tac bombers can land on carriers

are there no specific chinese artillery?

i normally give them italy
it’s the smallest country, sure, but they get to fool around with a navy (until someone decides to destroy it), all the naval combat and such, amphibious assults if there is no egy G1
They can expand into Africa, and provide can opener for Germany, or defend France

A couple of things for them to do, not too complex, and this way, their wasting only 10-20 of the Axis IPC’s, whereas with another country they could be wasting a lot more