A key to China?

[Courtenay]

I have been looking at various Chinese setups, and how the Japanese can counter them, and I have discovered one critical hex: [75, 138], NW of Tungkwan. It is a clear hex, and the Chinese are likely to leave it unoccupied. If they do, the Japanese can march into it on the first impulse, which threatens two hexes adjacent to Sian. The Communists don't have enough troops to cover everyplace, and grabbing that hex might force a frantic backpedal. If the Japanese manage to actually flip some the Communist units (Yes, I know, this is the Japanese we are talking about, whose planes never hit anything, but the Japanese can hope), things are even worse for the Communists. If the Communists try and hold that hex, well, it is a clear hex, and holding it weakens other spots.

How do others deal with this vulnerability? I have not yet come up with a good setup yet. (Yes, two Nationalists are in Chengchow; that is a given.)

[gw15]

Yes, playing the Allies in China is a big challenge, well, at least for me. If the Japs make a determined attempt by putting all ground troops and air into China there is not much the Allies can do. The Japs will strategic bomb and try to kill more units that can be built and eventually the Chinese are in trouble.
After being crushed with the Chinese in my two netplay games I have concluded several things:
1.) setup so the Japs have a hard time getting +10 attacks and yes that may mean giving up a lot of the front line cities.
2.) Make sure Kunming never, ever gets cut off from Burma road.
3.) Put the Chinese oil as far away as you can. Maybe Kashgar. The Japs will try and flip 2 HQ in one turn to force the Chinese to use the oil. Once the Chinese have no oil then they are in trouble
4.) Hope the US comes in as early as possible so as to stop the Japs from doing land moves over and over. Giving up cities helps if the Japs roll low on US entry.
5.) Hope the Japs roll low on their attacks and the weather stays bad.
Playing the Chinese is really hard in the early game.
I didn't answer your question directly but I guess you need to defend back not forward so hex 75,138 is not as important to block.

[brian brian]

Haven’t looked at the map specifically, but will. The Japanese are only guaranteed one Fine impulse in S/O 39. They will likely enjoy more of course, but not always. I defend the Chengchow area with more than 2 Nationalist units. If the Japanese don’t go for Sian or the weather frowns on Nippon, those units can slowly release to elsewhere.

To successfully defend China you have to absorb some Confucian wisdom. You don’t want the Japanese to take Changsha, but that doesn’t mean you have to just leave 2 units there until the Japanese build up for a 4-1 Assault on it. You can simply retreat out to the excellent defensive terrain just west of it just before they are ready, or use the Blitz table quite often. Game for the ‘magic 14’ on their Assaults every time and the Chinese army will disappear.

The more deadly Japanese strategy is to use Yamamoto, some LND/NAV2 builds and some air impulses to generate flipped units and Strategic Bomb hits, and to send a ZoC generating unit (their CAV) to the LanChow area.

[Courtenay]

My problem is not defending Changsha. My problem is holding with the Communists if the Japanese go all out against them, even with the Nationalists defending Chengchow. The Japanese can ignore Chengchow for a while, using the Taiyuan-Tungkwan railroad to supply an immediate attack on the communists. Of course, the Russians can always come in, but I am trying to avoid that.

[brian brian]

The best Chinese reserve is the 2 CAV. If the Japanese ignore Chengchow and attack from the north, they may be less able to contain those 2 CAV as their southern flank will be getting really long. But the ChiComms and Sian are definitely vulnerable on a long clear first turn.

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

The best Chinese reserve is the 2 CAV. If the Japanese ignore Chengchow and attack from the north, they may be less able to contain those 2 CAV as their southern flank will be getting really long. But the ChiComms and Sian are definitely vulnerable on a long clear first turn.

The first turn is very important. If the weather stays clear, the Chinese are usually in big trouble. If the weather turns bad, the Chinese get the opportunity to start building up their army, since bad weather often means that it will take until M/A 1940 before another good attack can be done in the temperate zone.