Juzek
Steve Kyle
Played this as the Japanese recently and it did not go well. The other guy is a good player and made a good attack, plus it seemed like the dice were just falling in his favor most of the early turns. My luck did get better later but I was down quite a few CVP by then. When it got to the point that the Chinese side could just hunker down and make me try to re-take some buildings or even up the CVP tally I conceded.
I set up with the idea of slowing his turn 1 forces, ideally get some CVP, then prepare to meet the weaker units entering later, in this case turn 3. I did manage to slow his attack but my infantry got beat up and I scored only a few CVP in return. The two Italian tankettes tied up and eventually eliminated a couple of squads. Did I mention my dice really sucked at the start?
The Japanese air support arrived on turn 3 but was only on board for one game turn. The first bomber failed its Sighting TC but the second one managed to take out one of the Russian T-26U's, so that was a good thing. Meanwhile his guns and MGs made fairly quick work of my tanks, leaving two of them alone and forced to take the non-platoon TC to move, which they failed. Eventually they were eliminated as well.
I had pretty good luck dealing with the turn 3 Chinese reinforcements, but by then the VP balance was so bad it didn't really matter. I still held more building VC than the other guy but the CVPs were very uneven.
The ROAR report on this one is 60 -57 for the Japanese so I'm wondering how others have played it on defense. The big gully that divides the map makes a pretty good obstacle, and maybe I should have set up a few more units in crest. Its not easy to move through the gully but it does provide some good cover and lines of fire. I had the tanks in two 2-unit platoons that proved to be vulnerable so maybe they needed to stay together, and out of sight until later in the game. The 20L ATR is a very nice weapon against the weak armor they face but its difficult to move without a leader's help. With only 2 Japanese leaders its hard to commit one to helping move that weapon but it could be worth it since the Japanese don't depend on rallies as much. The two 70mm INF guns are nice weapons and had a pretty good effect, although one was captured late in the game.
So I'm curious how others have played the Japanese side.
I set up with the idea of slowing his turn 1 forces, ideally get some CVP, then prepare to meet the weaker units entering later, in this case turn 3. I did manage to slow his attack but my infantry got beat up and I scored only a few CVP in return. The two Italian tankettes tied up and eventually eliminated a couple of squads. Did I mention my dice really sucked at the start?
The Japanese air support arrived on turn 3 but was only on board for one game turn. The first bomber failed its Sighting TC but the second one managed to take out one of the Russian T-26U's, so that was a good thing. Meanwhile his guns and MGs made fairly quick work of my tanks, leaving two of them alone and forced to take the non-platoon TC to move, which they failed. Eventually they were eliminated as well.
I had pretty good luck dealing with the turn 3 Chinese reinforcements, but by then the VP balance was so bad it didn't really matter. I still held more building VC than the other guy but the CVPs were very uneven.
The ROAR report on this one is 60 -57 for the Japanese so I'm wondering how others have played it on defense. The big gully that divides the map makes a pretty good obstacle, and maybe I should have set up a few more units in crest. Its not easy to move through the gully but it does provide some good cover and lines of fire. I had the tanks in two 2-unit platoons that proved to be vulnerable so maybe they needed to stay together, and out of sight until later in the game. The 20L ATR is a very nice weapon against the weak armor they face but its difficult to move without a leader's help. With only 2 Japanese leaders its hard to commit one to helping move that weapon but it could be worth it since the Japanese don't depend on rallies as much. The two 70mm INF guns are nice weapons and had a pretty good effect, although one was captured late in the game.
So I'm curious how others have played the Japanese side.
