Editing Flames of War/Tactics/Japan (section)

====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.

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Flames Of War]]