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First tournament, and I am a needing some help!

I can run IJA or USMC. I have the following lists I am considering, but need advice and help. I can substitute nearly anything, as I have time to get and paint the models before the tourney.

USMC - all regular
2nd Lt with meat shield
10 marines - 3 smg, 3 bar, 3 shotguns, 3 pistols
10 marines - 3 smg, 3 bar, 3 shotguns, 3 pistols
7 marines - 3 bar
Medium mortar with spotter
Flamethrower team
Sniper team
M3a3 stuart - recce
Jeep

IJA - all regular
2nd lt with meat shield
11 infantry - lmg
15 infantry - lmg
6 grenadiers - 3 mortars
6 gremadiers - 3 mortars
flamethrower team
3 x suicide tank team
Captured Stuart - recce
Kurogane

Lots of germans!

I think your usmc list is better but if I was you I would drop the jeep and everything but the BARs on the squads and try to make that Stuart a veteran for the gyrostabilizer

USMC - all regular
2nd Lt with meat shield
10 marines - 3 smg, 3 bar, 3 shotguns, 3 pistols
9 marines - 2 smg, 3 bar, 3 shotguns, 3 pistols
7 marines - 3 bar
Medium mortar with spotter
Flamethrower team
Sniper team
M3a3 stuart - recce - Veteran

That there look better? How do I make the IJA list good?

Your list does look better for the USMC, another suggestion i would make is again strip everything out of those squads but the BARs make all 3 of those squads 7 men and then drop the flame thrower team and put in an engineer squad thats 8 men with a flamethrower and 2 BARs and buy them a 3/4 ton truck to ride in.

For the IJA i would split up your 2 big squads into 4 small ones, 2 6 man sections and 2 7 man sections if the book allows them to be that small. The stuart in this list is just bad, because if i'm not mistaken if you play with captured vehicles they have to be inexperienced and thats not really something you want.

You said lots of germans which will probably mean lots of LMGs so you want to saturate the board with more targets then they have LMGs which is why i made the suggestion of additional squads in both lists. The japs will probably handle it slightly better since they can auto pass order tests to run towards enemy units but america has the firepower. I assume right now You're basing your USMC list on the old metals so that your army is wysiwyg, if you have time as you say to get more stuff then i advise you to buy a box of the plastics and throw more riflemen together and maybe invest in a chaffee instead of the stuart

Japs vs germans - how would you do it without the stuart?

Depends on what the Stuart was for, if it was just for killing other light tanks than I would use the points from the Stuart to put AT grenades and maybe a few extra guys in each squad. If you wanted a tank to have a tank then something like the type 95 ought to work well.

I find the Japanese are better off going with infantry larger squads, say 10+. The Japanese special rules help them in close combat but they don't have access to many of the options that the other assault specialists have like tough fighter or lots of assault 2 weapons so they need numbers to get dice. You can drop the LMGs for additional men because they'll help increase those numbers and the NCO SMG is another good choice. If you don't want to that is fine, I always go LMG and no SMG because that was the standard Japanese squad.

I also don't think you need 2 grenadier squads. One is nice for smoke and a bit extra HE but the light mortars are expensive especially in such a small game size. Also the light mortars have limited range and small squads like that can be quite vulnerable. I'm a big fan of the humble medium mortar and a spotter for additional indirect, much better range for safely forcing the enemy to keep moving.

As for the tank I also like the Type 95.

The USMC platoon does not look bad but I would personally drop the 7 man section in favour of something else.

USMC - all regular
2nd Lt with meat shield
9 marines - 3 bar
9 marines - 3 bar
9 marines - 3 bar, 3 shotgun, 3 pistol
Medium mortar with spotter
Pack Howitzer
Flamethrower team
Sniper team
Jeep
Greyhound w/ hmg

Better?

Japanese:

2nd lt w/ meatshield
10 infantry, lmg
10 infantry, lmg
9 infantry, lmg
6 grenadiers, 3 mortars
medium mortar w/ spotter
flamethrower
suicide dude
suicide dude
suicide dude
medium howitzer w/ spotter

Both lists are looking pretty good

Not bad, but I always take tanks when I can. That said I prefer Heavy and Medium tanks so...

at this points level he's much better off with a light tank or an armored car

Does this look better for marines?

USMC - all regular
2nd Lt with meat shield
9 marines - 3 bar
9 marines - 3 bar
8 marines - 3 bar
Medium mortar with spotter
Sniper team
M3A1 Satan Stuart
Greyhound w/ hmg

I think the list just before this one was better. You should really look at the m24 Chaffee as a tank choice since it has a 75mm, unless you're trying to keep to absolute historical accuracy

I have one ordered, but it we be next week before I see it.

 General Ian wrote:
I think the list just before this one was better. You should really look at the m24 Chaffee as a tank choice since it has a 75mm, unless you're trying to keep to absolute historical accuracy

Is the M24 an option? Seems odd, given they weren't used by the USMC.

It wouldnt be if he used one of the Pacific theater selectors but if its just a generic platoon then he can legally bring one