Japan '45 - Tips

[Sgt_Rock]

For those of you that play the Japan '45 game here are some tips:

1. Beach landings are expensive. They reflect the Japanese using the various suicide craft such as Kamikazes and small water craft to inflict damage on the invaders. Check the Parameter Data for the Amphib landing penalties.

2. Beach hexes have a fire modifier of 200% thus any fire at a beach hex will result in a lot of losses. You want to get off of the beaches as quickly as you can even if it means leaving a beach defense hex to be taken later. "Side slipping" over to another beach hex to use a gap in the defensive lines was common in playtesting.

3. Some 2nd Line Japanese positions back of the beaches are very tough to take. I highly suggest you use a couple of units to DIG IN after you have moved adjacent to these hexes! Build it up to Trench level so that you are not take a lot of losses. It helped me a lot in playtesting.

4. You may have to deploy your artillery/regimental cannon company on the beach until you can get them off of the beaches. Another thought is to keep them off of the map until their landing hex is not adjacent to an enemy unit.

5. Most vehicle units cannot enter the FIELD (read: rice paddies) terrain. This will restrict their movement. You can deploy the Recon infantry units ON FOOT to allow them a greater choice of routes inland and then use their DIV HQ to allow them to mount up again. HQs (vehicle class) are also penalized and will not have too clear of a path off of the Eastern and Western beaches. Learn the terrain before you start moving your units.

6. There are a LOT of Embankment hexsides on the map. This is to restrict ALL vehicle units from moving to the higher elevations except by road. I HIGHLY suggest you play a house rule that says that no US vehicle, once up on the high elevations on a road, can leave the road hex. I debated how to restrict the vehicles to just the roads but in the end it would have meant changing the terrain drastically. I think if want a historical game we should try that out. It precludes the US player using the roads to gain the upper elevations and then move laterally along the contours.

7. Time, Terrain and The Enemy - the Three T's in this game ... are going to make it difficult to attain your objective. Think Sicily for terrain ... or Italy. There is only one C class Japanese division defending the main invasion sites and its facing the US Marine Divisions. The Marines will have an easier time of it than the US Army units who face A and B rated troops. The Japanese player gets troops along the west coast so they should be able to build up a line at Sendai and in the hills to the north. The Ariake Bay position will eventually fold and the 77th Div. and 98 Ind. Mixed Brig. will have to plug the gap. The Japanese player will have to decide how much to send to face the US I Corps at Miyazaki or detour it south to guard against a breakout at Ariake Bay.

8. The US player gets three reserve divisions in the default campaign game - the IX Corps. There are strategies that allow them to deploy them at different locations. I decided not to change the deployment of the US forces at the main beaches (i.e. Marines land at Ariake Bay with the XI Corps) because I felt that the Allied plan relied on dividing up the Japanese forces on a wider front. This is your "hole card" - use it wisely. You can dump two of the divisions at Ariake Bay but the Eastern Beaches will need one of the divisions to help take Tsuno and/or for the eventual drive on Mt. Kirishima.

9. REST YOUR TROOPS (both sides) in the longer scenarios. Even in the beach - 15 turns - scenarios you need to pull a unit out of the line if it gets over 200 fatigue points. Remember to combine companies when you can. The US engineer companies will last longer if merged together once the forces have gotten off of the beaches.

10. Do NOT fire with your troops on the turn that they land. If you want to fire on the next turns go ahead but the return fire can be quite devastating. Most of the time I just assault positions. Firing at them seemed to be a waste of time. Use the Air and Ship assets to soften up positions. Those NAPALM armed air units are very good against large infantry units in Travel mode.

Ok .. enough for now .. there are my more tips I could post but those pretty much were the ones I thought the most important. Try out the beach scenarios SOLO unit you feel that you are ready to take on a HTH game with an opponent. It will save you a lot of losses if you mess up against the AI and then apply the lessons to your challenge match.

[ComradeP]

I've been studying the map and initial options in the Historical Plan variant for a few hours, and the 43rd ID landing in particular can get really rough, really quickly. Their supply source is in a very awkward position and it's easy for the Japanese to reinforce the defenses overlooking the beach. It looks like they're landing on the Omaha Beach of Kyushu

The Marines should have an easy time getting off the beach but face about 3 or 4 Japanese divisions, depending on where the 77th goes. Not overextending and waiting on the reinforcing Marine Division to land might be prudent.

As all defenders in a hex need to be Disrupted before an assault is successful, and as A quality units will never Disrupt unless they drop below A quality, a Japanese player that quickly reinforces the beach defenses (possible on turn 1 and 2, as several units are released through being spotted) will make it very difficult for the 43rd to do much of anything aside from being murdered. It's certainly a challenge.

Assault/defense 18 A quality units are the best units I've seen in a PzC game thus far I think. A quality SS units tend to be rated 16/16 or so.

I'm not sure if Delayed Disruption Reporting should be on or off. If I select default, it's on, but it's off in the rules screen in the design notes and it was off when I first started it too.

[Sgt_Rock]

The Delayed Disruption Reporting rule is up to you. I find it more historical but its your call. I am not sure how either player in this series could know if a unit is Disrupted but so much rides on knowing that.

Yes, the 43rd has a tough go of it. I would use more of the heavy hitters on those defenders and less on those for the 1st Cav.

[Xaver]

Thanks for the tips, they are a great help, i admit Japan45 is not only a new title in PzC, it adds a totally new play style.

I find to very different the 2nd line japanese units with higher hard attack values compared with soft values... remember me a little the soviet AT rifle companeis but with better quality, very good assault values... and at battalion scale.

Japanese are vulnerable to the american firepower BUT they can deal a lot of damage even into entrenched enemies... in assault they scare a lot when you have a line front made of individual companies, i feel a little like as german but the "soviet" has bigger battalions, with better quality and more dangerous in attack.

[Landser34]

Hey Bill stop giving away those good tips how am I supposed to win a game  now.

[ComradeP]

I prefer to use Delayed Disruption Reporting in scenarios with a lot of poor quality units either on one side or on both sides, like the average scenario with Soviet units. Normally I don't use the rule in scenarios with average to good quality units.

In this case, not using the rule makes it harder to get off the beaches as you might miss an opportunity to assault defenders before they can be reinforced.

[Sgt_Rock]

Ha ha, Dennis, we you have a 7 mo. jump on everyone. (Dennis played more playtest games than anyone on the team ... a real big help too with comments)

[Sgt_Rock]

I prefer to use Delayed Disruption Reporting in scenarios with a lot of poor quality units either on one side or on both sides, like the average scenario with Soviet units. Normally I don't use the rule in scenarios with average to good quality units.

In this case, not using the rule makes it harder to get off the beaches as you might miss an opportunity to assault defenders before they can be reinforced.

I just assault as much as I can in order to eventually push them back. They dont have to disrupted when you attack. If the result disrupts them or you have overwhelming numbers you can still win.

[Sgt_Rock]

Thanks for the tips, they are a great help, i admit Japan45 is not only a new title in PzC, it adds a totally new play style.

I find to very different the 2nd line japanese units with higher hard attack values compared with soft values... remember me a little the soviet AT rifle companeis but with better quality, very good assault values... and at battalion scale.

Japanese are vulnerable to the american firepower BUT they can deal a lot of damage even into entrenched enemies... in assault they scare a lot when you have a line front made of individual companies, i feel a little like as german but the "soviet" has bigger battalions, with better quality and more dangerous in attack.

The Japanese destroyed a lot of tanks on Okinawa. Its partly why I left the Hard attack values as is from the OB I inherited. I did tone down the Japanese artillery Soft value to make them less than the US guns. They just have longer range and they are a point under the US gun values.

[Volcano Man]

Speaking of Delayed Disruption, I like to play with it on in PzC from now on, because I think it provides a good feel between WW1 (where it was pretty obvious when the enemy was disrupted due to tactics of the period, and unit sizes), as opposed to WW2 and modern warfare where smaller units are more concealed.

Also, the general opinion has always been that in PzC/MC the attacker has the advantage, able to find a spot to assault on their turn, at the right time, and then push through pretty quickly.

So yeah, I like it personally, kind of wish it was a Gold series default rule.