Japan Faction Review for Bolt Action

[@treborschafer3945]

The main part I find unrealistic and disappointing is the lack of giant mecha.

[@richmcgee434]

The lack of armed schoolgirl units is also something of a missed opportunity.

[@mathewkelly9968]

They get mecha in konflikt 47 , and power armour samurai and ninjas , no anime girls though

[@superplushtiman7ti075]

​@@mathewkelly9968 power armour samurai I mean we could have Anime Girls 'piloting' it

[@stephenwood6663]

@@mathewkelly9968 Japan enlisted schoolgirls as part of the Volunteer Fighting Corps militia for the defence of the Home Islands, and 200 girls of the Himeyuri Student Corps on Okinawa even saw combat as medical personnel. Armed schoolgirls was a thing that very *nearly* happened.

[@floppyori3262]

Yea where tf is my 10 story tall zaku gundam

[@everydaycarrymonkey2691]

Very comprehensive review, but I think points should be given to the Japanese for having the flexibility to be played in all 3 timeframes of the war (Early, Mid, & Late). The heart of this force is the Infantryman and his two critical National rules, and was virtually unchanged from 1937-45...

[@trueseeing]

Playing inexperienced horde is one way to do it, but I think all vet japanese is even better. Hard nut to crack with cheap supporting assets, just play them how you would a normal army and outshoot the enemy, with the option to murder in melee as well. One key thing for their infantry that only the french get as well is those knee mortars, the ability to split fire with them in your squads means you can really start to out-pin people, and the way they move and shoot and always hit at worst on 6's and then begin to range in, means those typically hard to kill enemy 2 man squads in cover start to get killed really fast.

[@kevinoconnor4582]

The Ambush tactic can be somewhat useful if you have a sniper. Put them in ambush at the beginning of the game. If say a forward observer or sniper activates then you can fire before them thus possibly saving a unit.

[@enrique882]

You can only activate ambush when enemy unit moves, not when fires r observes for a barrage

[@Immortal-ironic-fist]

It's so tempting to try this with the Lone Sniper LMG as a powerful trap that, but it's so expensive!

[@nibbles9357]

Very nice video, I wish warlord would do more on Japanese Guerrilla tactics, although they aren’t know for them, I think it would enhance gameplay a lot.

[@hellcat64]

i find the Japanese are like the dark eldar of bolt action. they are a army which takes some time to find the right way for you to play them. and people who are really competitive can find easy ways to counter you. the only other "major" faction i can think of like this is Italians or french. being like the regular eldar.

[@regnoditalia7711]

your correct, japan was the 3rd largest navy in the world, while not the best ships... they still had a good number of them, and they had a strong air force, which made the fact that their tanks were of bad quality more understandable. great vid! cant wait for italy!!

[@iannordin5250]

I'd actually argue that in terms of effectiveness and capability, the IJN at its peak was perhaps the best in the world.

[@iannordin5250]

Japan being considered one of the "weaker" nations always irked me. They were arguably one of the strongest powers by 1941 in the world, and had already humiliated the British Empire. They also arguably had the best navy at the time and certainly the best airforce/airwing. Their level of industrialization already eclipsed that of many other European states including Italy, and their development was only hampered by their lack of resources. Like, you can't argue that Japan wasn't up there with the UK and Germany. Their army was something of a mixed bag, but their training was second to none at the start of the war. The only thing I would consider lacking with the IJM was their army's weapons and mechanization which - again - were greatly constrained by the material disadvantages, and they knew it. Unfortunately for them they decided to pick a fight with the world's 2 preeminent industrial naval powers while getting themselves into a tarpit in China, and they still managed to give the allies some grief.

[@HollywoodWargaming]

I mean that in terms of Bolt Action’s rules

[@tdnavy1066]

Great video love the thematics of the Japan's faction. I think you covered them in the US faction review but I would love to see a review on the US Marines and mabye some reviews of the marine and Japan starter sets.

[@15mmGustavus]

The Chi Ha kit is probably my favorite tank kit

[@CS-zn6pp]

It's s nice model when built but it's a nightmare to put together.

[@tabletopgeneralsde310]

Hi, I think the grenadiers with their knee mortars could be some kind of national trait and they are very powerfull. On the points they should be the lowest major faction, but only the nation put lesser stuff into their army and they have to fight with navy and airforce for every man and ton of material. As allways a good rewiev and keep them coming.

[@wj6490]

I definitely agree with a lot of your summaries of the Japanese I think that the Japanese medium tank with an AT +5 and 10 machine gun shots is one of the best tanks that you can take comparing it with the panzer three or the US Chafee for the price along with an armored car I always take these two when I play the Japanese for Infantry support

[@julianhughes4395]

I played 1500 points tank war tournament using 11 dice for my Americans. I played a Japanese player with 22 order dice. So many cheap dice. Their tanks while not awesome just had the numbers to stop me winning. I managed a draw at the end but they were brutal.

[@jpmangen]

In reality the Japanese never consolidated a lot of tanks in one spit after 1941 when they used them in China

[@Newenglander1000]

Try the Type 88 75mm dual purpose AA gun...akin to the German 88 without the gun shield, with a PEN of 6/fixed/flak/versatile/4 crew and a range of 72 inches....not bad for 120 pts./Regular

[@jpmangen]

Russia was allowed to enter Berlin by agreement not because they would have gotten there on their merits. Our leaders decided it was better for Russia to spend their blood instead of the Allie’s.

[@Zsomb29]

Would you consider covering the Hungarians? They have some pretty unique vechicles.

[@Raptorsified]

Don't knock the Japanese cavalry. Like many other cavalry units they get to select tough fighters for +1. This leaves you with 10 man rifle squad with a 24" run that still can hit you twice even when dismounted. Though I have to admit I do use this selection to justify putting swords on all my cavalry models.

[@theendofmyropemydude]

The US marines definitely didn't think the IJA/IJN were an inferior fighting force, that's for sure.

[@emilianomorado407]

I love this.great work

[@Phenixtri]

Any chances for a review of the polish faction?

[@HollywoodWargaming]

I will be looking into it once I’m settled into my new studio

[@czebri9108]

To be fair, for almost the whole war, japanese deplayed most of their army in china and thats why they are viewed as weaker by americans

[@HollywoodWargaming]

Stanisław Czebreszuk Well, even the Russians pre-Barbarossa seemed to deal with Japan rather well. But I don’t think I intended to slight the Japanese military here, as they were right to focus more on Navy and Air power in their global influence

[@czebri9108]

Kings and generals channel made a good video about that battle, and it shows the disadvantages of the japanese during that conflict. They were in the middle of the war with china and simpli couldn't match soviet tank power even at that point. But it is true that soviets pushed them back showing the weakness of their (japans)army who were ill prepared to fight a "modern" army. Luckly for them on the beginning stages of their war with the allies they were opposed by mostly inexpirieced soldiers led by generals with "outdated" thinking. That, combined with a lot of luck, and really agressive tactics, allowed them to make great gains with the limited forces they had avaluable.

[@czebri9108]

I wonder if in the future, when bolt action will maybe explore chinese front more, japan might get some new units like "special" mortars with gas attack. That would be intresting to see on the battlefield. And it would help them to smash my chinese army even more 😅

[@tazzioboca]

I feel like the Pacific theater isn't mentioned as much in our Western interpretation of history because it simply wasn't as impacting to us as the war with Germany. I know it can be annoying to play the ethnicity card but there's some truth to the matter that, in general, we find that atrocities committed against non-European peoples are somehow 'less important'. That and also the fact that, leading into the cold war, there was a tremendous effort on the part of the US to make Japan a close ally against the socialist bloc, overlooking a lot of the crimes and destruction it caused in the previous conflict.

[@Newenglander1000]

You should try to field a more historical force, even if the tanks are not up to snuff with other countries during that period. I'm not a fan of Bolt Action allowing you to take tanks or other vehicles that saw little if no action. Any better tanks the Japanese had were made in very small numbers and were held back for defense of the home island, that thankfully never happened.

[@15mmGustavus]

I hope you do a review on the new 2 player starter review

[@HollywoodWargaming]

I will. It’s super nice. Hopefully warlord will send me one :)

[@15mmGustavus]

@@HollywoodWargaming I think it's a better starter then band of brothers. What do you think?

[@HollywoodWargaming]

@@15mmGustavus I kind of hate the BoB box set so I agree 100%. Honestly it’s one of the best box sets we’ve seen. The inclusion of a US Halftrack in the pacific theater is the only thing that irks me, though it’s pretty good for the sake of balance out of the box.

[@15mmGustavus]

@@HollywoodWargaming I reckon a Stuart would have been interesting

[@3tacoman]

Do more sniper reviews

[@craiglawrence5978]

The Earth is a sphere? *flat earth intensifies*

[@shieldcaptaintiddles2516]

My friends let me Run a chi nu as chi nu 2 medium tank with heavy gun

[@rogerr.8507]

You dont even know the HALF of american aggression in the pacific and asia before pearl harbour. look it up its very interesting.

[@melonboi927]

American aggression? Looks like you don't really know what you're talking about. The Japanese were 100% the aggressors just ask all of their Asian/ Colonial Neighbors

[@theenclave6254]

Whatever ‘aggression’ we did before is microscopic in comparison to what Japan was doing. Biggest thing we did was the embargo which they did deserve it.

[@LongWarEnjoyer]

Did you just....quote billy maze????

[@floppyori3262]

I hate melee in bolt action

[@oldmanwithers4565]

I think the lack of sexy tanks and big decisive land battles don't help them in bolt action. In general In the western historiography most of their land victories are out down to striking weak or incompetent garrisons that had largely been forgotten by nations struggling in Europe. Change the game to a navel one or sir the Japanese get a lot more respect especially early war.

[@andraslibal]

Your summary of Japanese history and the historical causes of the Japanese-American conflict, I am sorry to say, is just appalling.