How has the Allied player managed to lose most of China and essentially all of India? I know he stated he's not very good at ground combat but, that's amazing.
China is actually very easy to conquer in the stock game for a skill land combat player like Tom. The railroad system in China allows Japan to concentrate massive amounts of troops at the front before Chinese troops have a chance to react. Also we agreed that Tom was allowed to bomb resources in China. With that he basically starved out my troops and within 3 months and the front crumbled.
India on the other hand, was lost due the swiftness Tom moved throught the SRA. Tom managed to take out the Philipinnes in less than 30 days will skilled landings, that cut off the majority of my troops before they could make it back to Manila to dig in. Then...in Mayala...due to the screwed up retreat paths mechanism in this game...12,000 of my troops retreated into Georgetown, where they were trapped, instead of retreating down to Signapore. Basically this sped up the fall of Signapore....which fell in late January. With Manila and Signapore in Japanese hands i knew i had to slow down the offensive in the SRA, or India and Oz would probably both be invaded. Therefore i sent down the British 18th Div to Java to help in the defense of Soerabaja. This manaveur did worked as it slowed down Toms time table for about a month. However, what i needed was 1 month and a 1/2......
at this point it was late Feb.....while the British 18th Div was at Java, i was working on a plan for the defense of India. I was desperatly short on forces. With the 18th at Java, and the 2nd British Div not due to arrive in about 50 days...I basically had to defend the entire Sub-continent wtih 5 understrength Indian Divs, 3 Armor Brigades, and 5 Indian Brigades, hardly enough to defend the entire continent to some 10-12 Japanese Div's that were soon to land next month. Therefore my whole defense relied on airpower and sea power. I scrapped together every ship i can find and sailed them across the pacific and around Australia. My plan was to engage the japanese landing force on the beach, as i knew once they were in the interior on that high speed rail system i was screwed. With only 3 CV's at the time, my whole plan hinged on forcing a naval engagement. Which means i would need the KB to be fixated on the landing beaches, which would be accomplished by the threat of my B17s. With my massive armada about to arrive on station in India in 2 weeks, the japanese struck India at Yanam. All i could do is watch as my 100,000+ troops stormed ashore and the KB remaind stationed in the hex to defend against B17 raids. Had my naval forces been in position, i would've forced a massive surface engagement..hopefully wiping out the landing force, before it arrived. A las it was not to be, and i had to retreat my naval forces, since by the time it arrived on station, the KB moved off the landing beaches and land-based Zeros were now defending the base.
