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When i first started not toooo long ago I struggled to find much info on the army, units and tactics. Thankfully I Caught on quick and made some good purchases blindly. I do very well with them and well I just want to help out people who where in my position and know little about the game, let alone the armies and how they work.

The japanese are a very unique force that works very differently to any other, so I hope this helps anybody looking to start a force.

http://theimperialpatrol.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/flames-of-war-tactics-of-japan.html

Feel free to correct me because as I say im still learning myself. Also if anyone has any tips I havent covered let me know, because my enemies are learning and its getting harder to win each time. Haha

Cheers

You say the Ha Go aren't very killy, but drive them at infantry and they'll grind their bones into dust. The plethora of Japanese special rules allows them to attack at night, close quickly, focus on a single point in the enemy defensive line whilst being relatively safe from enemy fire thanks to night fighting, and get stuck in.

Japanese tanks can still fight in assaults if bogged or bailed, and still count for tank terror in those states, too. They also don't make bogging checks to counterattack in rough terrain. With Top Armour 1, most infantry who hope to bail tanks to remove them from the fight will find themselves facing platoons that couldn't give less of a gak if they were bailed or not, and hiding in forests or other rough terrain gives just as little defence. Being Fearless, you can rely on your tanks to continue fighting - especially if accompanied by the 1iC - well into any assault.

They might not be the best tanks against enemy armour, but you can't expect them to be good at everything. They squish infantry like bugs, and can push right through to an objective in a single assault. Unless your opponent can get a contesting force there in their next turn, or wipe out every tank you have, you can make a single combined push and steal victory without ever seeing half of the enemy army.

I find that the tanks always end up the target of enemy tanks (opponent based I guess) and to have those tanks take on my infantry would spell defeat for my army. So I have to use my tanks as a destraction to keep their tanks at bay as long as possible. It keeps my infantry alive which in turn has more bodies to win the game by assaulting the enemy from objectives.

I dont know how you have used your tanks but mine are crucial at keeping their heavy stuff at bay. And taking out enemy arty or pack guns.

Yes my tanks have the abilities above but unfortunately due to their task they rarely get to use it.

It really depends on how you use your list but my set up explained in the post is all about getting the infantry inot assault and the tanks do their part almost as much as the the arty and HMGs do.

Cool thread man, I've been looking at early war myself and definitely considered the Japanese because of how different they are to the other teams

Any information to help players get the best from the Japanese army is great stuff

Cheers dude.

Glad it helped someone. Truly a unique and different army. Personally im moving on to cav as soon as possible as im a cavlover but the iinfantry platoon is the way to go I think. Especially as a starting force

 Swastakowey wrote:
I find that the tanks always end up the target of enemy tanks (opponent based I guess) and to have those tanks take on my infantry would spell defeat for my army. So I have to use my tanks as a destraction to keep their tanks at bay as long as possible. It keeps my infantry alive which in turn has more bodies to win the game by assaulting the enemy from objectives.

I dont know how you have used your tanks but mine are crucial at keeping their heavy stuff at bay. And taking out enemy arty or pack guns.

Yes my tanks have the abilities above but unfortunately due to their task they rarely get to use it.

It really depends on how you use your list but my set up explained in the post is all about getting the infantry inot assault and the tanks do their part almost as much as the the arty and HMGs do.

In an infantry list, yeah, your single platoon of tanks isn't going to be doing much; my post was mainly addressing Ha Go as part of tank companies.

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
I find that the tanks always end up the target of enemy tanks (opponent based I guess) and to have those tanks take on my infantry would spell defeat for my army. So I have to use my tanks as a destraction to keep their tanks at bay as long as possible. It keeps my infantry alive which in turn has more bodies to win the game by assaulting the enemy from objectives.

I dont know how you have used your tanks but mine are crucial at keeping their heavy stuff at bay. And taking out enemy arty or pack guns.

Yes my tanks have the abilities above but unfortunately due to their task they rarely get to use it.

It really depends on how you use your list but my set up explained in the post is all about getting the infantry inot assault and the tanks do their part almost as much as the the arty and HMGs do.

In an infantry list, yeah, your single platoon of tanks isn't going to be doing much; my post was mainly addressing Ha Go as part of tank companies.

I see yea. In a tank list (really hard to do in my opinion) the little tanks probably serve more of a killy unit than a tool. But I havent really tried that as im not a fan of tanks lists.