The Workermonkey

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

'42 First Turn Japan 

# posted by NoBrainRequired @ 8/11/2009 06:45:00 AM

Matt and Jesse,

Lets discuss this, shall we. I think we can all agree Japan's opening move really determines the flow of the game. Do the they put pressure on Russia, England or the USA? Any successes they have ultimately help the Axis powers in the European theatre by forcing the Allies to expend resources in the Pacific.

Japans SE Pacific Setup.

*Not pictured: British 3 Inf + 1 Fighter on Australia. 1 Inf on New Zealand.

Japans Central Pacific Setup.

*Not Pictured: USA 1 Inf in Alaska.

Japan's North China Setup.

*Note, those are all 3 Inf setups for Russia and Japan on the grey discs

I can provide pictures of any other area if you need it for your decision. Once we have concensus, I will move the pieces, and we'll move onto Russia turn 1.

12 comments

The Japaneses transport and the Caroline Island fleet, moves to seazone 16. This allows an attack on India next turn and also protects against any American aggression.

All other fleets are move to the South Burma Sea, this facilitates an attack on the the Chinese province of Yunnan(for future reference, it would be helpful if you did not cover up the names of the provinces with the men... i think its Yunnan anyway), while allowing for the fighters in Thailand and Formosa to land on the Carrier.

Move all forces in Burma and Thailand into Yunnan, along with Bomber support from Japan. Destroying the Flying Tigers is critical and basically negates China from the game as their infantry even in mass only attack on a 1.

This move also leaves vulnerable Burma and the East Indies, daring the British player to spread his India defense forces thin, possibly facilitating a crushing Japanese takeover of South Asia.

In addition, the take over of Yunnan allows for the back dooring of Russia. And who doesn't like a little back door action with a Russian?

As for cash expenditures, one can argue for building a factory in Thailand, the two tanks being pumped out each round after the first will quickly overrun any opposition on the entire continent and will threaten the Middle East and Southern Russia in short order. Its also untakeable by the Allies player early on, due to the fleet movements to the South Burma Sea.

A minimum of one transport is to be built in Japan, along with a destroyer or some other sort of protection. A strong naval presence in Japan will keep the Americans at bay.

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:15:00 AM  

For my part, I have less to add from a specific set maneouvers.

Japan seems to need to deal with certain 'issues'.

1. Americans can strategically bomb Japan from Hawaii.
2. America's fleet is powerful, and three turns from the sea of Japan with Bomber support.
3. The Brits have a decent starting fleet in the Indian Ocean.
4. If the Brits place a Industry on the first turn on India, they can start place 3 units there on turn 2.
5. Russia has 7 infantry in Buryatia S.S.R. on turn 2.

Japan is not without its strengths. The most obvious of which is that they hold the initiative and go first. They can attack before the other players have been able to consolidate into better defensive positions. Here I am thinking about;

A. Buryatia SSR has only three defenders now, the elimation of with cuts Russias eastern defense force by 40%.
B. The American fleet is spread between Hawaii and West USA.
C. Your fleet in SE Asia is bigger than the British Fleet at India, and has more Air support.

Which really brings us to the core of Japans strength: Air power.
They can strike far and are powerful defenders that dont need transports.

I cannot, however, find a way to exploit A,B, and C all on the first turn.

Now I completely agree with Jesse's sort of 'fade' defence, where you pull your forces back from Burma, daring the British to spread thin.

By  NoBrainRequired, at Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:22:00 PM  

Is this what the blog has become?

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, August 11, 2009 10:38:00 PM  

Hey, if you got something better to talk about, for god's sake, post it. I'm bored out of my mind here. With the baby and all, I dont get out much and most of my social interaction is with the dog. All I got right now is a board game setup in my basement and no one to play it with.

By  NoBrainRequired, at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:38:00 AM  

On the Russian Front:
An all out blitz on the Russian far east is the only other logical first move in my mind. With a possible factory in Manchuria, one could quickly move on China and Russia simultaneously, in conjunction with a threat to Alaska.

But from my perspective, its all rather low value, 1 production until you reach Moscow, and with a well played Chinese/Russian player, it would take Japan a minimum of 5(via China)/6(via Russia) turns to reach Moscow.

This route also leaves the Japanese most highly valued Southeast Asian provinces vulnerable to a combined American/British takeover, which the lose of would be hard to come back from.

On the Americans:
While tactical bombardment is an important strategy, especially in the 41 mission, once the Axis powers have cash flow its easy to repair factories. And if you look at the numbers, its only a good strategy when you have a clear cash advantage. (Cost 12 bomber shot down 1 out of 6, bombs 5 times for average of 17 = +5 damage)

You also give far to much credit to the American fleet, which can't attack mainland Japan from the Hawaiian Islands, it must move to Wake or Iwo Jima. At which point a clear thinking Japanese player would build 6 submarines and fly every fighter back home. And without bombardment from a number of ships, think about how many transports full of troops would be required to take on even a feeble Japanese defense force?

By  wyldshaman, at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:52:00 AM  

There are two first moves for Japan that make the most sense in my mind.

1. Move the fleet at Indonesia to India, support the attack with the fighter at Indochina. Thats 3 fighters, a Battleship and a carrier on a destroyer, carrier and fighter. Good Odds. Take the casualties in this order Battleship (1 hit), carrier, then fighters. If you lose the carrier, land the planes in Burma. Move the infantry in Indochina to Burma.

2. Amphipious assault on Buryatia with all the forces in Manchu, plus the tank and inf + battleship from Japan. Good odds. Move the infantry from Kiangsu to Manchu.

There is a third possible attack, but I can't say its the best move.

Take your fleets at Caroline Islands, the submarine, the cruiser in the Philipines, the fighter at Formosa, and the fighter and bomber from japan and Pearl Harbor the USA at Hawaii. The major consequence here is the fleet at West USA will counterattack and win. For this to be successful, you need to take minimal casualties in the attack so that your cruiser, carrier, 2 planes all survive. The US will counter attack with 2 planes, a bomber, a destroyer, a sub and a Battleship. They will still win, but you should be able to a dent in them. Its debateable whether this is prudent or not.

By  NoBrainRequired, at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2:13:00 PM  

Just what do you expect to do with your plan #1? Stare at India intently with the eyes of your three infantry and Battleship?

There is a British fighter in Australia and a fighter in Egypt, and an infantry in Persia.(And possibly a tank in Trans-Jordon) All will move to India.

British: 4 Infantry and 2 Fighters
Japan: 3 Infantry and 3 Fighters

Without more support, the Japanese losses would be rather heavy.

And even if you take India, China will be out of hand, 6 new infantry and still able to bring their fighter to attack Hong Kong, Kiangsu or Manchuria, whatever is least defended.

Under my plan the British may not expect an early attack on India, but all will know your plans.

I find your option #3 to be totally ridiculous, as stated, but intriguing. I would like to see how either of these options turn out.

By  wyldshaman, at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:09:00 PM  

i think initial needs should come into factor what decisions are made.
japan needs either a transport or a factory first turn. there must be an eye on not letting china get out of hand by knocking them back fast and then get to the american fleet to crush them before they can grow. force america into a land/air battle and crush their fleet. let Germany and Italy worry about the UK, japan has enough on its plate.

ideally a transport with protection can be dropped first turn. the infantry and tanks can wait as the mainland japan has enough troops to hold off for a turn and still fill up the moving transports.

Russia needs to be dealt with but if you're not dropping a factory on the mainland then you may never get to the point of having enough troops to take the load Russia can build up on the border. Russia is either an all or nothing deal for the japanese.

one thing i've never done well is protect burma and india. its not wise to split the japanese fleet because of the impending american attack and you can't drop enough boats to build another fleet. it helps if italy can take care of those two boats the UK starts with in the area of india.

another option is to ignor the island of japan. let america bomb the fuck out of it and drop a factory near china first turn. your AA will help with attacks and you're going to take all the troops off the island to pick up other islands.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:54:00 PM  

we shall see sunday....

By  wyldshaman, at Friday, August 14, 2009 6:39:00 PM  

I appreciate you letting me win for my birthday....

By  NoBrainRequired, at Sunday, August 16, 2009 8:08:00 PM  

I was your birthday gift and I didn't want to see you cry.

By  wyldshaman, at Monday, August 17, 2009 10:28:00 AM  

Then I'm disappointed we didn't wear our birthday suits. Stupid public decency laws...

Anyways, looking forward to our rematch!

By  NoBrainRequired, at Monday, August 17, 2009 4:10:00 PM  

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