@knp7765:
As for a Japanese Heavy Tank piece, I think you guys are kind of missing the point. Yes, Japanese tanks (and Italian Tanks for that matter) were a cut below similarly classed tanks in Germany, Russia and America. The Type 97 Chi-Ha, Japan’s medium tank, was totally outclassed by the M-4 Sherman and was just barely comparable to the M-5 Stuart (America’s Light tank). Heck, the Type 95 Ha-Go, Japan’s light tank, had armor so thin it could be penetrated by .50 caliber bullets and even .30 caliber AP ammo. Pretty pathetic for an “armored” vehicle.
The point I’m trying to make is this isn’t necessarily “Real World” land where we have to stick to the actual statistics and capabilities of the pieces represented. This is “Axis & Allies Game” land where we can fudge a little on actual stats yet have the pieces be representative of the country that made them. For example, in our current OOB pieces, USA has the M-4 Sherman while Germany has the Pzkpw V Panther. In actual battle conditions, Shermans really couldn’t stand up to Panthers. In fact, neither could Matildas. Also, the Type 95 was NO match for a Sherman, T-34 or Matilda. However, for game purposes, ALL tanks attack and defend at 3. So in our games, a British Matilda could end up blasting a German Panther right off the map. A Type 95 could reduce a T-34 to scrap.
So, if we get a Japanese (or Italian) tank piece that was considered “heavy” by them, even though it barely compared to “mediums” for other countries in the real world, for the game we could decide that this tank had thicker armor and a bigger gun. The main reason that I would like to see a Japanese Heavy Tank piece is because I don’t want to use a Tiger in Japanese color. I want something that LOOKS like it is Japanese made. Just like we use Carro Armatos for Italian tanks. In real life they were outclassed by most Allied tanks but at least they LOOK Italian. I can always pretend they were a little tougher than they actually were for game purposes.
That being said, I also understand that it would take a lot of time trying to research a sculpt for a Japanese Heavy tank and that time could be better spent filling that slot with something else that might be more useful as far as Japan is concerned and more accessible to research. So, if space in the set is limited and a Japanese Heavy Tank needs to be sacrificed for another piece that might work better, then I would be cool with that. I would like to see all nations get heavy, medium and light tanks, but I think most people are right that Japan probably wouldn’t use heavy tanks like other countries.
I think K’s making a fairly reasonable point, here. Â What’s more, it neither takes that much research to find a Japanese heavy tank protoype that truly “looks” Japanese, nor is the pool limited to ridiculous multi-turreted steampunk monstrosities. Â Options include the Chi-Nu (rather light, but heavy by Japanese standards, and built in modest #s to defend vs. invasion) and the Chi-To and Chi-Ri prototypes. Â All three of these would have been well within Japanese production capabilities earlier in the war if they’d been priorities, and though all three are really more “mediums” by German/ Russian/ American standards, each would be a solid step up from the Chi-Ha Shinhoto and 2 steps up from the oob type 95.
All this is not to say that I’m fully convinced that this should be a priority. Â I’m just saying that it’s a reasonable approach to take, depending on where the priorities end up. Â For instance, I’d still rather have 3 BB options than 3 tank options for Japan. Â But if both are possibilities, I think I’d sacrifice a 3rd fighter for a 3rd tank…
Oh, and when HBG gets around to doing Italian stuff (which is admittedly a lower priority), I sure hope he does the P40, which fills the same slot for Italy that one of the 3 above-mentioned tanks would for Japan.
