Pitman
Forum Guru
Once you've deployed those half-squads, what do you do with them? You don't want them manning crucial weapons, like knee mortars, because they can easily be taken out of the action. And if they break, they are not holding your defensive line anymore--as opposed to a squad, which is guaranteed to stick around for a while (unless, like me, you roll 12s a lot) and maintain your line.
There are reasons to deploy Japanese squads, just like there are reasons to deploy other nationalities' squads, but the Japanese player gives up a lot by deploying, so there shouldn't be a rush to deploy as much as possible.
I don't think people should try to transform their Japanese forces into something that they can play the way they can play other nationalities. I think they need to understand how Japanese can be played as they are. The key to Japanese defensive tactics is managing attrition. Attrition will occur. That shouldn't bother anybody. It doesn't matter if you win the game with only a half-squad left, as long as you win the game. The key is that attrition occurs at a rate you are happy with, and that it occurs in service of your objectives. Sometimes there are reasons for Japanese to stand and fight until they disintegrate. Sometimes there are reasons to constantly withdraw and minimize attrition as much as possible. Sometimes there are reasons to sacrifice a lone unit. It all depends on the situation. Typically you are either in a situation where you want to delay or a situation where you need to protect something at all costs. In the latter, you just have to manage your disintegration such that it is slow enough that you will win out the scenario. In the former, you have to trade space AND bodies for time, which is what you really need.
On the defense, the depletion of firepower by striping is often not much of an issue, because the shots you'll be taking will tend to be short range shots with no or negative modifiers, often at pointblank range. That's if you're firing at all, and not trying to keep your concealment, etc. Even a 2(-1) shot isn't bad and will make your opponent think. The depletion of firepower is only a major problem, really, in two situations: 1 ) those relatively rare scenarios where there are a lot of stone buildings (such that the enemy can get adjacent to you in one), or 2) in close combat. And as for the latter, you will have to hope that the Japanese's other advantages will pull their asses out of the fire.
In fact, in line with that last point, striping rarely at all concerns me as the Japanese defender. What really scares me is ELRing. When you ELR as the Japanese, you REALLY degrade, especially from 1st line to 2nd line and from 2nd line to conscript. Since, obviously, ELRing occurs at the same time as striping, the consequences are doubly nasty. So I don't mind failing a morale check, I just don't want to fail it too bad.
There are reasons to deploy Japanese squads, just like there are reasons to deploy other nationalities' squads, but the Japanese player gives up a lot by deploying, so there shouldn't be a rush to deploy as much as possible.
I don't think people should try to transform their Japanese forces into something that they can play the way they can play other nationalities. I think they need to understand how Japanese can be played as they are. The key to Japanese defensive tactics is managing attrition. Attrition will occur. That shouldn't bother anybody. It doesn't matter if you win the game with only a half-squad left, as long as you win the game. The key is that attrition occurs at a rate you are happy with, and that it occurs in service of your objectives. Sometimes there are reasons for Japanese to stand and fight until they disintegrate. Sometimes there are reasons to constantly withdraw and minimize attrition as much as possible. Sometimes there are reasons to sacrifice a lone unit. It all depends on the situation. Typically you are either in a situation where you want to delay or a situation where you need to protect something at all costs. In the latter, you just have to manage your disintegration such that it is slow enough that you will win out the scenario. In the former, you have to trade space AND bodies for time, which is what you really need.
On the defense, the depletion of firepower by striping is often not much of an issue, because the shots you'll be taking will tend to be short range shots with no or negative modifiers, often at pointblank range. That's if you're firing at all, and not trying to keep your concealment, etc. Even a 2(-1) shot isn't bad and will make your opponent think. The depletion of firepower is only a major problem, really, in two situations: 1 ) those relatively rare scenarios where there are a lot of stone buildings (such that the enemy can get adjacent to you in one), or 2) in close combat. And as for the latter, you will have to hope that the Japanese's other advantages will pull their asses out of the fire.
In fact, in line with that last point, striping rarely at all concerns me as the Japanese defender. What really scares me is ELRing. When you ELR as the Japanese, you REALLY degrade, especially from 1st line to 2nd line and from 2nd line to conscript. Since, obviously, ELRing occurs at the same time as striping, the consequences are doubly nasty. So I don't mind failing a morale check, I just don't want to fail it too bad.
