Matrix Games

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ORIGINAL: cavalry

JAPS PBEM SCN 2

Its now Feb 42 , what should I have captured and what should I soon capture to ensure keeping the allies on the back foot.

I have Manilla and thats it but Singapore is besieged. Lat bit of moping up going on in Malaya and Phillapines.

What next??

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ORIGINAL: cavalry

OK , it seems like I am already a good two weeks behind over the whole map - boy they must have moved fast

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ORIGINAL: jolly_pillager

Your bottom line strategic priority is to secure the resources required to run your economy.

To do this you first need to seize the resources.

Then you need to keep the SLOC's between the resources and Japan open for as long as absolutely possible.

Anything you do that does not assist one of those two goals is wasted effort.

Any loss you take that does not impact one of those two goals is irrelevant.

Every military loss you take directly affects your ability to defend further, and therefore all military losses need to be weighed against the gain derived from their expenditure.

So there really is no such thing as "how far should I be by x date". What you need to ask is "Has my force expenditure to date been worth the gains made?" and "How long will it take the Allies to cut my SLOC's from the current game position?". Try to keep the answer to #1 as "worth it" and the answer to #2 as "as long as I can possibly make it".

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In Scenario Two, an experienced IJ player can essentially ignore Luzon while focusing on Singapore and the DEI. By February 1942, he'll be ready to launch a big invasion of India or Australia (or possibly Hawaii, though I'm not certain that would be worth it). Japan can use surplus forces to wear down the Allied army on Luzon, finally wiping it out in April or May or June, when it's out of supply and worthless.

I think that's what you'll see in Scenario Two in the future, and it will lead to a tense and interesting game through 1942.

Of course, newer players don't have the experience to draw on to pull off such an aggressive and ambitious plan, so you wouldn't expect them to be aware that such a plan is possible or to be able to keep to it even if they were.

In my game with Q-Ball, he followed this plan and has done very well, though ultimately he fell a little bit short of conquering India in 1942. He was serving as the ice breaker, so he didn't have the benefit of watching other players pursue such a strategy. Other players will have the benefit of what he demonstrated and learned - including Bullwinkle's very helpful analysis of the "reinforcement triggering threshholds.

I can't wait to follow the next Scenario Two games in which an experienced and reasonably aggressive Japanese player takes the helm. Of course, a resonably experienced and aggressive Allied player may put up a more effective defense than I did, but it will be fun viewing the show.

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ORIGINAL: LoBaron
...would you agree that the your understanding of how to best play the Allies and the Japanese (your tendency to fall back and play very patient, to some degree relying on a japanese overextension, and Q-Ball who is for sure one of the very aggressive Japanese players) lead to the massive Japanese territory gain in your PBEM?

Just interested if you see it the same way because thats the conlusion I came to from watching your war.

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ORIGINAL: findmeifyoucan

It is all very nice to say sink some American Carriers early but what if he decides to leave is Carriers on the West Coast USA for the first year or two of the war?

Sinking those American Carriers early are not the be all end all strategy available. If the Americans just sit back and watch then they might find the only land they still own is America come 1943. Even with all their Carriers they would be hard pressed to even get to Japan as they would first have to take back Australia or India or both. lol

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The Allies can just hope for a decent match anytime after July 1942 but never before. (for a period, the Allies have 9 fleet carriers)