[Spoon259]

Hi.

I'm not a very experienced WinSPWW2 player. I've had a few periods where I've been playing fairly much. Every time I also went with US Army and wound up in the Aleutians. I never got past them either, because the IJA is such a pain in the rear hull. So I stopped playing for a while until i felt like giving it another go. Not wanting to admit defeat i pick US Army again, and lately I've been winning meeting engagements (before it was only defence I could manage if anything) with or without armor.

The Aleutians are not good for vehicles as we all now. But on almost every map (bar the ones crossed by a stream) you are able to find small paths of 'clear' ground that goes through all those -1 swamp abysses of tank death. So, finding these and planning your approach well can get your armor where you want it in time. Also the US armor is vastly superior to the Japanese in the beginning of the campaign (and probably for the rest I guess), so it can really make a difference. The ATG's is another option, but moving them into position is tedious work even with trucks. And their vulnerability to air attacks doesn't tip the scale in their favour.

Whenever I see Jap tanks I think "Oh thank god they bought some tanks instead of more infantry". Because the Japs always seem to bring so much infantry. So many of these insanely battle-hardened madmen that my own infantry do little else then spot and soak up op-fire. When first playing the Japs I quickly realized that I could not win if I relied on my grunts to do the main work. So I bought machineguns. Alot of them. And I'd like to argue that machinegun teams are one of the best weapons you can employ in the Aelutians. With good visibility, a platoon of HMG's can pin down a couple of companies worth of Japanese (since they always blob up and try to mass their way through my lines) and allow my armor or even infantry to advance and keep pushing them back.

Secondly, I buy alot of 81 mm mortars, locate the main body or bodies of the enemy and keep pouring on them until I'm out of tubes. Hopefully by then, they are depleted enough so that they cannot sucesfully advance anymore (but don't think for a second that they won't try).

So to summarize: Move quickly to favourable terrain and outgun the Japanese army, wich is not so difficult since they love putting their faith in riflemen and tin cans.

I am very much a novice at this game but I hope my post gave someone some inspiration for fighting in the Aleutians.

Spoon