LoneRunner
Posts: 202
Joined: 8/16/2020
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January 1941 UK and it’s colonies declared war on Japan and invaded every Pacific island scheduled to receive Japanese reinforcements. Yes, every island, plus several others containing NM objectives. A brilliant move. I commend my opponent and friend for devising such an ingenious plan. Dang, I’m struggling to survive another ELO game, haha.
Most Japanese forces were heavily involved in China. Small garrisons held Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul. The rest of Japan’s island empire lay unprotected at this point in the war, so the UK invasions went unopposed. As a result of the losses of NM locations, Japanese morale immediately fell below 70%.
In addition UK moved almost their entire fleet into the Pacific. The Japanese have better carriers and battleships but they were outnumbered 2 to 1. When the fleets met, it was quality against quantity. And we know how that worked for the Germans on the Russian front. UK incurred heavier losses, three carriers and a lot of ships. However Japan lost two carriers and most of her precious battleships. With the USA looming over the horizon and limited production, Japan can’t sustain such losses.
Is this a gamebreaker? Yes, possibly. I don’t see how Japan can defend against such an attack. They certainly don’t have the troops to garrison every island. UK can time their declaration of war on Japan such that UK long-range landing craft can sail past defending Japanese ships with impunity, so stationing the Japanese fleet throughout the Pacific is pointless.
The game assigns minimal penalties on the Allies for attacking Japan early. USA mobilization shifted only 9% due to UK’s DoW on Japan. And USA registered no change in mobilization in response to subsequent DoWs by India, Malaya, and Australia. Also, USA ignored the UK DoW on Indochina. And Japanese home guard didn’t even trigger when UK invaded Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and Formosa.
Despite Japan's struggles I continued the ELO game. Never give up, right? Haha.
Anyway, its December 41 and a crippled Japan continues the war. UK packed Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Formosa with fighters and maritime bombers so any Axis ship entering southern Japan gets bombed. Open ports on the Chinese and Korean coastline are invaded. As a result precious Japanese units garrison the entire coast.
Although Japan is not at war with USSR, UK units have landed at Vladivostok and invaded Korea, and landed at Aleksandrovsk and captured Shikuka. Allied units have also captured Hanoi and are attacking Nanning.
Japanese morale is currently at 48% due to the losses of islands and Chinese/Korean ports. The war in China progresses, but a lot slower than normal.
What should be done? Well, I don’t blame my opponent. He’s just playing the game by the rules provided. If WaW allows UK to attack Japan without any real penalties, then that’s how the designers expect the game to be played. And I guess we players have to adjust accordingly.
I think a lot harsher penalties should be assessed on Allied declarations of war. Also Allied ship and unit movement should be restricted in neutral areas. Japan is restricted from entering the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic but Allied ships can sail just about anywhere in the Pacific without penalty. In my current game, USA ships are sailing near Singapore, despite the USA being neutral.
< Message edited by LoneRunner -- 2/21/2022 6:49:47 PM >
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End of the Japanese Empire? - 
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