Flames of War/Tactics/Japan

This is a small guide on playing japan in flames of war V4, it won't teach you how to win tournaments, rather it is made to people that are interested in building a Japanese army but want to have a general idea on how the army feels and which units would be the best fit for how they envision their army playing.

Why Play Japan

On the WW2 Japanese forces are characterized by it's fanatical soldiers and meme like tanks, this characterization has some truth to it as even the Japanese high command believed that it was the courage and elan of the soldier that won battles instead of firepower, something probably born out of Japan's samurai tradition and poor industrial base. During the war Japan enjoyed considerable success in the early and mid part of the war, if you ignore the defeat at Khalkhin Gol fighting against the soviets, but got stalled at Burma by the British and Indians, Papua New Guinea by the Australians and at Guadalcanal by the Americans and slowly got pushed back to their home islands by the American island hoping campaign before surrendering after being in the receiving end of two nuclear bombings.

Gameplay wise Japanese forces mirror how they would ideally fight, as such they are a fearless and very aggressive force that really wants to be in bayonet range with the enemy where they can not only negate the firepower of the enemy but also inflict the most damage, to this end their special rules gives you better morale, including the ability to not be automatically destroyed upon failing a last stand test, and allow you to close the gap with the enemy

Pros

• THE best morale in the game with units refusing to back down even when their unit or formation breaks
• Access to the regimental standard which while pricey makes the unit its attached to AUTOPASS morale checks
• Infantry comes with grenade launchers that can launch smoke helping in assaults
• infantry can buy banners that makes your platoon harder to pin down
• Your commanders brought swords to gunfights and have a 2+ assault to show for it
• Big platoons of fearless veteran infantry
• Excellent assault anti-tank in the form of Nikuhaku teams, which you will need since it is your only reliable way of taking anything heavier than a Stuart M3
• The ability to attack at night which helps you close the gap without (hopefully) getting torn to shreds by enemy machine guns (just hope you don't get a repeat of Henderson Field)
• Cheap cost effective artillery, while nothing special you can get smoke launching artillery for very cheap due to your batteries coming in units of 2 guns
• No penalty for only having two guns firing for most artillery
• If you get driven back in a assault you can (have to more precisely) test morale you you pass you get to try the assault again, just beware that can lead to you taking extra casualties if you charge a unpinned target with lots of firepower
• Your tanks remain in the fight firing their MGs and fighting in assaults while bailed out
• You can shout TENNO HEIKA BANZAI at every assault (trust me it won't get old at all)
• You can drag games out since your opponent will have to (most of the time) table you to win
• Your Nikuhaku teams can easily take out a Tiger if they get close (seriously it gives some Wehraboos an anger induced stroke when your molotov and AT mine on a stick infantry blow up their Wunderwaffes)
• Many people will underestimate you as a meme list giving you a small psychological advantage
• Your descendants will invent hentai.

Cons

• Very poor ranged anti-tank, the best you can get is your heavy AA gun that has the same AP and firepower as a Sherman 75mm while being immobile...
• Your infantry is mostly rifle teams and while you do get awesome light mortars they do not make up for the lack of firepower compared to other nations platoons
• No APCs, your infantry will be footslogging or riding in flimsy unarmored trucks
• By late war your are still mostly using early war equipment
• Your tanks have paper for armor
• Your tanks have tiny infantry support guns for main weapons
• Your tanks have meme status, specially in late war they are completely outclassed and will struggle to fight 1v1 some light tanks
• No armored cars although by late war your tanks are about as armored and armed as one
• Not many options for miniatures, not many people make 15mm Japanese units specially the rarer stuff like the type 4 Ho Ro
• You don't have many formation options due to only having 2 books covering the pacific theater
• Your commanders brought swords to a gunfight
• Bushido and swords are not acceptable substitutes for firepower and modern equipment
• Commandos are better than you in close combat
• The navy spent all the funding and good steel in ships
• You are probably going to starve or die of disease after the Americans beat the shit out of the navy (the same one that stole your funding) and cut off your resupply
• The pacific theater is the red head step-child of the theaters, expect being the last one to receive books if you do get one at all
• Your descendants will invent hentai

Books

Rising Sun

Details the battles at Khalkhin Gol against the red army and Mongolians, it features cavalry, tank and infantry early war formations that comes in fearless trained and fearless veteran varieties.

Banzai

A general book for the pacific theater, very generic so no specific units and it features no heroes. It has tank, infantry and fortified formations in the fearless veteran, fearless trained and confident trained varieties.

National Rules

Japanese special rules are mostly geared towards making your forces stay in the fight long due to ignoring many morale rules, getting to assault easier and be more mobile.

General rules

Banzai charge: If you get driven back in a assault by defensive fire you HAVE to test morale, if you pass you have to assault again. This is a double edged sword in one hand it makes assaulting easier, specially if you combine this with banners, as one round of lucky defensive fire probably won't prevent you from getting to combat but if you are not careful it might lead to your platoon taking two very painful defensive fire rounds without much to show for it, this rule doesn't affect tank teams.

Kendo: Officers and platoon leaders are sword teams which hit in a 2+ in assault unless fighting tank teams, very nifty rule that gives you some extra help in combat but just beware that a sword team is pretty much useless outside of assault as has a shooting ability of Rof 1 with pathetic range.

Seishin: Ah now this is where things get interesting, when your non tank units fails their last stand test they aren't removed from the table, instead they just banzai charge, in game terms this means that any gun teams become rifle teams and any surviving team has to move their full tactical movement towards the nearest objective that you either have to hold or defend, they do this again in the shooting phase instead of shooting, in addition any unit in this state automatically pass morale and must assault anyone close enough. Needlessly to say this can save your ass in some games clutching a victory or tie, although most times all it will do is delay your opponent as they have to finish that unit to get to your objective.

No surrender: Basically this is Seishin for your entire formation, no really if your formation isn't in good spirits, all of the remaining elements immediately draw on their Seishin, so your infantry and guns will remain in the fight and rush the nearest objective, this can potentially win you some games by allowing you to capture a objective or remain in the game until the turn limit is reached, although by the time your formation is broken there isn't much of it left and you probably already lost. Human Bullet: This explains the rules for the Nikuhaku teams, basically they are your best form of AT, get them close to any tank platoon and they will do a number on it although getting close might be the hard part.

Banners: A great upgrade for any unit that wants to be in assault, the extra protection against being pinned down or driven back in a assault is worth it.

Regimental Standard: Feel like a Warhammer army taking a giant flag to battle, this makes the platoon its attached to pretty much immune to morale and the banner can really only be killed when there is no one around it to pick it up, a very pricy upgrade to your 2iC but from experience most of the time it is worth it.

Tactics

Hell by day paradise by night: You can attack at night, always use it when on the offensive against any force that has any real amount of infantry killing firepower as it will allow your infantry to get close without taking as many casualties Envelopment: Your infantry and light gun teams are better at moving at night, another reason to attack at night when you can

Tanks

Duty to the end: Your tanks remain in the fight even when bailed out, This is more important when they are assaulting infantry as most infantry carried AT weapons have a firepower of 5+ meaning they will bail out more frequently than outright destroy a tank. Hip Shot:You get to reroll hits if firing at close targets with your main gun, this makes moving and firing easier for Japanese tanks but just remember that staying still and having 2 shots is better than having only 1 rerollable one Japanese turret MG:Tanks can't fire their MGs at the same time as their main gun in V4 anyway so this rule does nothing probably leftover from a earlier beta test of the rules

Artillery

Fire Bursts: Realistically this rule shouldn't be a thing since having only two guns in a battery should have a effect on effectiveness no matter if you fire in short fast bursts or not, rules-wise this allows artillery batteries to ignore the penalty of having only 2 guns firing, having only 1 gun firing still makes you reroll hits so keep your guns protected.

Yosai Hohei Chutai

Tank pits: Your tanks can chose to either start in tank pits or in reserves when you are playing a fortified formation, in general this is a bad idea as you are sacrificing the mobility of your tanks and making them easy targets for close to no benefit as you lack the armor to really stop your enemy from just pilling up a lot of hits that you can't save and just blowing them up anyway even if they are forced to reroll their firepower check.

Early/Late/Pacific war

Looking at the early and late Japanese equipment you would notice that the only real differences are that by late war japan has a few new options in the form of 2 self propelled guns, a upgraded chi ha with a better gun and some better AT-guns in exchange for losing the option for cavalry formations, the rest is mostly the same.

For early war Japanese equipment is mediocre but serviceable, your tanks are lightly armored and armed with infantry support guns so while they can go toe to toe with some of the lightly armored tanks like the BT-5/7 or the Panzer II they will struggle to kill anything heavier, AT guns have enough AP to kill most light and medium tanks from the front but same as the tanks will struggle against the heavier ones, your artillery is cheap but lack the smoke bombardment of late war and the saving grace is that your infantry is really good being fearless and veteran or trained with all the Japanese special rules that make them a threat, really the biggest issue in early war is the lack of smoke that is crucial to a army that does most of their damage in the assault. TL;DR: In this period japan plays as a nation with mediocre firepower and lightly armored tanks but with top of the line infantry and cavalry that have excellent morale as expected and are very dangerous in the assault.

In late war you are absolutely screwed on the technological side, by this time your hardware is hopelessly outdated so you must leverage the superior morale of your soldiers and be ready to spend a lot of lives fighting against a enemy that has better and more guns and tanks than you, it didn't work in the actual war but you might have better luck with it. So in late war japan plays as a infantry-centric force supported by outdated tanks and guns with mediocre artillery or you can embrace the meme and bring a tank formation full of pre-war tanks and hope for the best.

Pacific war only really comes into play in Japan vs USMC games, although non-officially it can be a excellent way to do the Burma theater fighting against some early war British lists, as it's a alternative point system that was made to reflect the realities of the pacific theater where outdated equipment remained in use and top of the line gear was rarer, they achieved this by making everything cost in points the rough equivalent it would cost in the early war so expect a price hike on everything that isn't infantry.

Formations

Hohei Chutai

HQ

• Hohei Chutai HQ: Your standard infantry HQ, they are sword teams so they are better in assault and the 2iC can buy a regimental banner, a expensive upgrade that is mostly worth it as it allows any platoon he is close to automatically pass any morale check in addition to always surviving becoming a casualty without needing to pass a check as long as there is another Hohei team nearby.

Combat platoons

• Hohei Platoon: Your rice and fish, these guys should be in every list you make as they are easily your best unit and all formations have access to them. They are a big platoon, having 9 rifle teams, 3 or 4 light mortars/grenade launcher teams, and 1 platoon HQ sword team with the option of switching 3 rifle teams for Nikuhakus teams, something that should always be done unless your opponent has zero armored units, as such they are rarely pinned down and are hard to kill, combined with the Japanese special rules and upgrades they can buy these guys will more often than not accomplish their objective be it taking ground, destroying a tank platoon, or holding their ground until the last man.

• Nikuhaku Team: Not a unit per se but it deserves its own spotlight, these guys are the bomb throwers that can put the Taliban and even the SS suicide Panzerfaust teams to shame, rolling 4 dice against tank teams in assault these guys can kill any tank and often themselves with it since they are improvised tank assault. They are often your only means to kill some of the heavier tanks that exist in the late war period that are immune to most other Japanese anti tank.

Weapon Platoons/Regimental Support Platoons

• Hohei Machine Gun platoon: Your bog standard machine gun weapon platoon, can be a good way to add the extra firepower your regular Hohei platoons lack, which is good as you can more reliably pin down platoons you are assaulting or drive back infantry platoons that are assaulting you. A reliable option that will always find some use but they aren't a must-have either as you can spend the points on other means of supporting your Hohei platoons, or even just buy more Hohei platoons to tarpit the enemy with.

• Hohei Weapon Platoon: Only available at late and pacific war. Similar to the machine gun platoon but it can have a AT rifle section instead of another MG section, the AT rifle is more similar to the M2 .50cal than other AT rifles as it has a higher ROF, so it can be used to complement a platoon's firepower and allowing it to tackle soft targets like armored cars and APCs without forcing the Nikuhakus to get involved. Combined with the fact that the AT rifle section is much cheaper than the MG one and it is another good option, even thought it is still isn't a auto take for similar reasons.

• Hohei Battalion Gun Platoon: Very similar in early, late and pacific war, this unit is a auto take as it is incredibly cheap for artillery even with the veteran quality that can be used to pin down infantry platoons with bombardments. Can fire smoke if isn't early war and due to the V4 update upgrading its firepower to a 4+ it can even sometimes kill unlucky dug in infantry teams.

• Hohei Rapid-fire Gun Platoon: Comes in 37mm light gun and 47mm medium gun both with a good ROF as their name implies. This unit's performance and role change according to the period they are used, in the early and Pacific war it can serve the purpose of actually being a AT gun platoon as it can penetrate and destroy early war tanks and M3 Stuarts reliably, so you can use it in the standard manner with standard prices. In late war it's too weak to penetrate most tanks from the front so its use depends on the opponent's list. If he has a lot of medium tanks and you are attacking it can be used as a suicide unit that ambushes a armored convoy up close and hopes to kill a few medium tanks before getting overrun and killed. Alternatively, if he has lighter vehicles like armored cars, light tanks, and APCs, you can use it to hunt those freeing up your Hohei platoons to deal with heavier threats. Choosing between the 37mm and 47mm variants mostly depends on how much mobility you want, the 37mm can come in type 94 and type 1 configurations with the type 1 being generally a little more expensive but having a better AT value and it is generally a worthy upgrade, as both are light guns allowing them to benefit from the envelopment special rule and being able to cross terrain with more ease. So if you want the gun to perform hunting duties the 37mm is the version you want. The 47mm on the other hand is both more expensive and a medium gun so it should never try to cross terrain, but since it has a better AT value compared to the 37mm it should be your suicide ambush gun of choice.

• Hohei Regimental Gun Platoon: Similar to its battalion counterpart, albeit more expensive with the only real difference being that it trades the man packed mobility and the smoke bombardment for better range and a better AT value firing directly and indirectly, allowing you to maybe actually do something against a Top armor 1 tank when firing a bombardment. Overall this unit should only be included if you need a second light artillery unit after the battalion gun as the battalion version is cheaper, can fire smoke, and moves as a man packed gun allowing you to "tactically advance" away from danger faster.

Divisional support platoons

• Engineer Platoon: Think of a Hohei platoon with the option to take a extra squad that trades the light mortar teams for your average pioneer equipment and upgrades like the supply trucks and the better tank assault rating. What really makes them special is the option of switching 2 rifle teams per squad for a Nikuhaku team, so bringing a full platoon with all the possible rifle teams switched for Nikuhakus will make this the scariest AT assault platoon in the game capable of wiping out any tank unit short of a full 10 tank T34 platoon, just be sure to support them with smoke.

• Scout Platoon: Very expensive recon platoon that only features rifle teams with the option for a single light mortar, overall they aren't going to accomplish much alone as they are just rifle teams and are too few in number to do much damage in assault, they can get banners but the upgrade is very overcosted here so it is better to skip it. If you want to use this unit maybe because you have a few spare rifle bases from switching them out for Nikuhakus I would recommend keeping them cheap and using them mainly to protect your units from ambushes and deploy closer to the enemy using the spearhead rule.

• Recon Tankette Platoon: Much more useful than their infantry counterpart as they can perform similar duties while offering more support in the form of vehicle MGs that can help pin down units. Due to being armored they can safely charge units that would generally be too dangerous in defensive fire to charge with Hohei platoons like unpinned MG platoons and SMG platoons as they still have the Japanese tank special rules, just be aware that they have the survivability of a recce armored car.

• Transport Platoon: Cheap transport unit, this platoon isn't very useful in V4 as they are only significantly faster than footslogging infantry on roads and transporting your expensive infantry in open roads in an unarmored truck is just inviting disaster, so unless you are doing a custom game in a extra big table with lots of roads you should skip this unit and just keep your infantry footslogging.

• Air Support (Early war): The Nakajima type 97 was a fighter aircraft not equipped for close air support, on the tabletop this means that it allows you to roll for fighter interception but not do airstrikes, generally all it can do is sometimes protect your units from getting bombed or strafed by enemy aircraft, so maybe consider if you have some spare points.

• Air Support (Late and Pacific war): The famous Mitsubishi Zero makes it appearance in the Flames of War tabletop as cost effective air support that survived the transition to V4 rules quite well, being limited air support with the option to buy close air support. You get two planes armed with MGs that can deal some damage to light armored and soft-skinned vehicles like self-propelled artillery alongside bombs that can kill infantry and with some luck bail out or kill tanks that aren't top armor 2. Overall the Zero is cost effective and should be considered for any list.