Suggestion for Pacific Campaign: Philippines campaign 1944

[LordBeaverbroke]

I’m more in favor of getting a British colony like Hong Kong and Burma, mostly due to the fact that the Japanese equipment is actually fairly matched with a lot of the British stuff. Still, the Philippians would be cool, and I would definitely prefer it to something late war.

[aizenns]

@109563145

The prevalence of M1903s, P1914s and M1917s of the early American war effort is a plus for me, especially when combined with the Early American Pacific War uniforms, allowing for a display of often eschewed equipment from that era: it could allow for the representation of Filipino army units during the fight for the islands too, in a more broad and uniform way than the 1944 combat would likely allow.

I think such early-war campaigns are good idea. Such battles are unique, and it is easy to make balance.
Previously I also suggested Shanghai 1937. Perhaps you will be interest it.

@44854715

Need to add Australians. Plenty of new weapons there and they were a big part of the Pacific theater

Unfortunately, in that time Australian ground forces were landed to Borneo, not Philippines islands.

@olek_z17

I love the idea since the lack of AT rocket launchers for the Japanese would be a big problem otherwise. But I have one thing I’d change (and not only in this proposal, but in every campaign with Americans as a fighting side, both current and future) - the two inch mortar should be replaced by the M2 60 mm Mortar, since the two inch mortar is a British weapon.

Also, do you have any realistic (without some “battle pass worthy” weapons like the Japanese Pedersen or the Type 4 rifle) ideas for implementation of semi-auto rifles for Japan?

Thank you, I will fix it. I’m not familiar well about American weapons.

All semi-auto rifles have never seen service, but at least they were existed.
In that time, Japanese Army had three experimental prototypes. Those projects were canceled in 1938.

• Experimental Automatic Rifle Ko (試製自動小銃甲)
  • Based upon Pedersen rifle. Manufactured by Kokura arsenal.
• Experimental Automatic Rifle Otsu (試製自動小銃乙)
  • Copy of ZH-29 rifle captured from Chinese army. Caliber changed to 6.5 mm. Manufactured by Tokyo Gas Electric Engineering.
• Experimental Automatic Rifle Hei (試製自動小銃丙)
  • Manufactured by Japan Special Steels.

Also, Japanese Navy (not army) had Type 4 semi-auto rifle. It was copy of M1 Garland, but chamber was changed for Type 99 cartridge (English name: 7.7x58mm Arisaka)
Adopted year is 1944, but mass production began around 1945. When the battle of Philippines started, there were only several prototypes.

@8383908

inb4 Japan getting German weapons

Unfortunately, most of available SMG were came from German. Japanese navy landing forces used lots of imported German SMGs.

• MP18
• MP28
• MP34(o) [Austrian S1-100]
• Type 100 SMG

However, different to German service, Japanese MP18/28/34o had bayonet, large magazine (MP18/28 had 50 round magazine) and chamber for 7.65x21 Parabellum. (In German service they had 9x19mm)

@108173187

im sorry, but i feel a very strong need to say that the P-51 either was not used or was hardly used in the pacific theater. the corsairs were far more common. any aircraft in this campaign other than the p-38 would hafta be navy to make sense

Lots of P-51 sent to Burma and Pacific front since 1943. Also, it is a very famous fighter in Japan because it frequently made ground attacks (strafing) on the mainland of Japan.

[aizenns]

As a test, I made sheet for them. Generally design is based upon Moscow campaign.

(note: naval weapons labeled [N] / marine weapons labeled [M]. )

Level & Squadron	Japan	United States
Lv01 Infantry1 Sniper1 Tanker1	Type 38 Infantry Rifle Type 38 Carbine Type 97 Sniper Rifle Army-Type Pistol [N] (tanker equipment) Special Type 2 Motorboat “Ka-Mi” [N]	M1903 Springfield M1917 Enfield M1903A1 Springfield M1917 Revolver (tanker equipment) LVT(A)-1 [M]
Lv02 Assaulter 1	Bergman MP18 [N]	M3 SMG
Lv03 Gunner	11th Year Type LMG Army-Type Pistol [N]	Browning M1918A1 M1917 Revolver
Lv04 Engineer 1	Type 44 Carbine	M1 Carbine
Lv05 Fighter Pilot 1	Type 94 Pistol (pilot equipment) Type 0 Fighter Mod.52 [N]	M1903 Colt (pilot equipment) F6F-5 Hellcat [N/M]
Lv06	Browning Auto-5 [N]	Winchester M1912
Lv07 Radio operator	Pre-war Type 38 Infantry Rifle Type 94 Pistol	M1 Garand M1903 Colt
Lv08 Attacker pilot 1	Suisei Model 12 [N]	SB2C-1
Lv09	Type 97 Medium Tank “Chi-Ha”	M5A1 Stuart
Lv10 Bomber	8cm Rocket Launcher [N]	M1 Bazooka
Lv11	Type 96 LMG 14th Year Type Pistol	Browning M1918A2 M1911A1 Colt
Lv12	Bergman MP28 [N]	M3A1 SMG
Lv13	Type 97 Medium Tank Kai “Chi-Ha”	LVT(A)-4 [M]
Lv14	Type 99 Short Rifle	M1941 Johnson Rifle [M]
Lv15 Mortarman	Type 89 Heavy Grenade Thrower	M2 60 mm Mortar
Lv16 Fighter Pilot 2	Type 3 Fighter Mod.1 Tei “Hien”	P-38J Lightning
Lv17 Sniper 2	Type 99 Short Sniper Rifle	M1903A3 Springfield
Lv18 Infantry 2	Type 38 Infantry Rifle with Type 100 Grenade Thrower	M1 Carbine with Grenade thrower
Lv19 Flametooper	Type 100 Flamethrower	M1 Flamethrower
Lv20	Ginga mod.11	F4U-1D [M]
Lv21	Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 [N]	M1A1 Thompson
Lv22 Gunner 2	Type 99 LMG	M1941 Johnson machine gun [M]
Lv23 Engineer 2	Pre-war Type 99 Short Rifle	M2 Carbine
Lv24 Tanker 2	Type 1 Gun Tank “Ho-Ni I”	M4A2 Sherman
Lv25 Attacker 2	Type 4 Heavy Bomber “Hiryu”	PBJ-1H [M]
Lv26 Assaulter 2	Type 100 SMG late model	M1 Thompson
Lv27	Type 4 Fighter Ko “Hayate”	P-51D Mustang
Lv28	Experimental Model 2 SMG Improved	M50 Reising
Lv29	Type 4 15cm SPG “Ho-Ro”	M4(105) Assault Gun

[Rackedout]

Very awesome! I see that the semi autos will be a challenge. Perhaps a new mechanic to balance it all out such as the Japanese get a bayonet charge ability?

[Rickyd123]

@aizenns

|Engineer 2|Pre-war Type 99 Short Rifle|M2 Carbine

i’m not too sure how i feel about this since the type 99 short rifle might be a bolt action which the m2 carbine is a select fire weapon but the rest i do like

[aizenns]

@44854715

Very awesome! I see that the semi autos will be a challenge. Perhaps a new mechanic to balance it all out such as the Japanese get a bayonet charge ability?

Perhaps bayonet will be good advantage for Japanese. Not only rifles but also submachine gun and light machine gun can use bayonet.

If infantry can use shotgun for substitute of rifle, it will be a help for Japanese. Japanese navy requisitioned lots of shotgun from civilians. One-third of them were semi-automatic shotguns like Browning Auto-5.

@Rickyd123

i’m not too sure how i feel about this since the type 99 short rifle might be a bolt action which the m2 carbine is a select fire weapon but the rest i do like

Well, honestly this part sounds pretty ridiculous.
Even if it is a prototype that have never sent to battlefield, it may be better to add an semi-auto rifle.

[Rickyd123]

we could maybe make the m2 carbine restricted to 1 class for this campaign instead?

[CN_RamboSnoop]

Sick post I’d be down

[aizenns]

If restrict selective-fire carbine for 1 class, T3 carbine will be suitable. It had night vision scopes and it will be good for sniper’s weapon. There is no corresponding gun on the Japanese side, but we can add a Type 99 “long” sniper rifle as well.
Another option is to simply remove the M2 carbine. Instead of it, it will be good to insert M1A1 carbine. (M1 carbine for paratroopers) Also, this may make powerful semi-automatic rifles like the Garland more scarce, making it easier to balance the fight against the Japanese, who only have bolt-action rifles.

Example

	Japan	United States
0	Type 38 Infantry Rifle	M1903 Springfield
1	Type 38 Carbine	M1917 Enfield
2	Type 44 Carbine	M1 Carbine
3	Pre-war Type 38 Infantry Rifle	M1A1 Carbine
4	Type 99 Short Rifle	M1 Garand
5	Pre-War Type 99 Short Rifle	M1941 Johnson Rifle

[Serpiko82]

I think that almost everybody could find it reasonable to have Japanese side compensating less advanced guns with melee/short range advantages.

Also, this is possibly a wild idea, but what if Japanese were given a numerical advantage?

I mean, if Japanese end up being noticeably outgunned, how about compensating by letting them have more soldiers per squad?

Say, theoretically, that US assaulter II unlocks drum fed Thompson. On the opposite side, Japanese assaulter II squad can’t deploy an equivalent SMG, BUT it can be upgraded to have up to 9 soldiers instead of the usual 7 (with the same limit to specialists). So, in an engagement, Japanese assaulters would compensate worse weapons with higher numbers.

[Archangel21395]

nice idea, love it !!!

[olek_z17]

I mean, Darkflow could add one of their three experimental rifle patterns or the Type 4 rifle (“Japanese Garand”) just like they added the Armaguerra Mod. 39 for Italians in Tunisia. It would break immersion a bit, but would certainly help with balance.

[olek_z17]

As I’ve said in a comment above, they’ll probably add one of those four rifles you mentioned, most likely either the Type 4 rifle or the Experimental Automatic Rifle Ko, since there’s relatively a lot of photos of those rifles as opposed to the Otsu and the Hei rifles, of which I’ve found one colored photo and a video by The Gun Jesus of each.

[aizenns]

Or implement captured rifles?
Japanese captured several M1 Carbines and Garlands at Philippines campaign in 1941-42.