Will Japanese soldiers fight to the end?

[sigeena]

I'm actually a big fan of the Japanese LC. It's probably the earliest you can start, at around '31. But if you do so, you'll find the first 6 years fighting nothing but Nat Chinese and Comm Chinese. It gets boring very fast.

Instead, start at Jan '38. You'll still start the first few battles against Nat Chinese and Comm Chinese, but by July-August, you'll be up against the Russians in Lake Khasan. The dynamic changes alot. I think the code deliberately chooses more armor for Russia, so you'll see lots of tankettes and small tanks. From then on, you can always choose to fight in Mongolia against Russia till Nomonhan around Sept '39. This is just the curtain raiser.

From Sept '39 till Nov '41, you'll be back to fighting Nat Chinese and Comm Chinese. Take this time to train up your units to Elite.

Dec' 41 is the one where it all erupts. It allows you to fight against UK, ANZAC, British India, US, USMC, Dutch??, depending on where you choose the campaign map. There's so much variety to entertain till '45.

[sigeena]

The typical Japanese section was 12 men strong, so it accounts for alot of staying power. After taking 3 casualties, they are still 9 men strong.

The main issue is their lack of Armour units which are able to go toe-to-toe against the big Russian, UK, USA tanks. But this is only largely a issue if you're fighting in say Mongolia, where the terrain is steppe and favours armour maneuvring. In most of South Asia, Southwest Pacific, it's all going to be thick jungle, punctuated by occasional dirt tracks and streams. So not much opportunity for armour to go fast and exploit flank and rear.

[jivemi]

Originally Posted by DRG

The battle for Iwo Jima lasted 5 weeks and featured a massive aerial and naval pre-bombardment to the extent that Chester Nimitz is quoted saying "Well, this will be easy. The Japanese will surrender Iwo Jima without a fight."

N O T H I N G was easy about fighting the troops of Imperial Japan for anyone who fought them....including now you

Harumph. Well if mostly elite British troops and tanks can't hold 'em off better call in the US Marines. Still don't get how experience and morale ratings between mostly 70 and 80 (as per the battle results screen) give them such phenomenal powers, especially the ability to recover so quickly from retreat or rout. Anyway it was a learning experience .

Here's a save (Turn 31) in case anybody's interested. Shows a lone Valentine holding off the center horde, like Horatius at the bridge, while up north the position crumbles and helpless tanks run for cover: