Hello All
So carrying on from last weeks post on LW Japanese, this week I will be chatting about Pacific Theater Japanese. Now I need to start by saying I have not played a single game of the Pacific yet, but as the posts are the same as Early War (and I have more experience with Japanese in Early War than any other army) and I have played against and which T-34’s and Kv-1’s in Early War I think I have a good idea for a starting point for the Japanese. The same basic tactics and ideology’s work for them. Again all the lists will be designed with the idea of meeting your opponents and saying “Hi my name is Ben. I’m playing Japanese, I will auto attack at night. What’s your name and what mission are we playing?” Like list time I will only focus on the Infantry and Tank lists, I still have no idea how to make a good fortified list or why you’d want to with Japanese (and before you say “but all Japanese lists should be fortified in the Pacific”, I’d like to point out thats a myth). Also for this I’m playing with 1500pts as that seems to be the total people are going towards. So lets get started with the Infantry.
Infantry List (Confident/Trained)
So the first thing you will notice is that his list is Confident Trained. I tried and tried to make a Fearless Veteran list I liked but I could not make it work (I’m sure someone will show me how it’s done once the book is out). The core of the army is still there, two maxed out infantry platoons with a HQ and Regimental Banner. But you now need to be careful with them on the assault.
Next up we have the 2 Type 1 47mm AT guns. I envision these moving up behind the infantry to provide support fire
should any tanks come to close. As a Sherman is 500pts basic, I don’t think we won’t see many, so these are more for anti stuarts work. Once thats been dealt with the focus turns to gun teams to aid the infantry. The Chi-Ha’s and the Ho-Ro’s prefer a similar roll as in Late War. The Ho-Ro’s do double up for some Sherman dealing power so it’s not just the infantry who have to deal with them. And incase you are woundering, there are no KS Chi-Ha’s as I thought the 75 points upgrade, per tank, was a little too much to fit in.
The recce is there to be recce, they can shoot if needed with their 37mm guns, but it’s not their job. Finally we have two platoon for templates and smoke as we will need it for the Trained infantry. Also don’t forget the tactic of smoking the unit you are going to charge and then hiding in your own smoke once you have won the assault.
| HQ | HQ + Regimental Banner | 105 |
| Platoon 1 | Full infantry + Banners | 240 |
| Platoon 2 | Full infantry + Banners | 240 |
| Platoon 3 | 2x Type 1 47mm AT Guns | 105 |
| Platoon 4 | 4x Chi-Has –Fearless/Trained | 260 |
| Platoon 5 | 2x Type 92 70mm + Observer | 65 |
| Platoon 6 | 4x Type 97 Mortars + Observer | 95 |
| Platoon 7 | 3x Type 4 Ho-Ro | 300 |
| Platoon 8 | 2x Type 97 Te-Ke (37mm) | 90 |
| 1500 |
I do fell this list would be different once it has hit the table and played a few games, but I’m not sure it would be that different. Maybe drop to 6 platoons, get some better artillery and drop the AT guns? Who knows, but I want to find out. 
Tank List (Fearless/Trained)
So the tank list. Much list the infantry list I started off with Veteran and had to drop it to Trained. I’m not sure there is much to say about this list we haven’t covered for the infantry. 10 Chi-Ha’s make the core, this could be 14 if you drop a platoon of infantry. The recce again has bigger guns as I had points left over. I have two platoons of infantry as they are the heart and soul of the army, but one could be dropped to get more tanks if needed. The Ho-Ro’s are the big AT threat and can double up as an artillery template if needed.
| HQ | 2x Chi-Ha | 120 |
| platoon 1 | 4x Chi-Ha | 260 |
| platoon 2 | 4x Chi-Ha | 260 |
| platoon 3 | 2x Type 97 Te-Ke (37mm) – C/T | 80 |
| platoon 4 | 3x Ho-Ro – C/T | 300 |
| platoon 5 | Full infantry + Banners- C/T | 240 |
| platoon 6 | Full infantry + Banners – C/T | 240 |
| 1500 |
This is the closes to the list I use in Early War, bar a platoon of recce and no artillery, well the Ho-Ro’s are sort of artillery. I do worry about it being trained, but until we can play some Pacific Era games, I’m not sure there is much I can change. Also I desperately need to get the Ho-Ro’s, Te-Ke’s and a few other bits before I can try the lists out.
What does excite me is this is a new era, almost no one knows what’s going to be good, what isn’t. And once the digital lists Wayne talked about in episode 51 of the podcast hit, I think we will have a very different and fun game.
Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading and until next time
Ben