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.