Long time lurker here - but am compelled to respond to this line:
Man, playing Japan is hard. Perhaps it's doable if you're willing to try less conventional means, but once the enemy tanks start rolling in you're in a world of pain.
No. Way. Man.
Japan is easily the most powerful faction in Men of War and Men of War Assault Squad at the competitive level, and pretty much dominates every phase of the game. Why? Because the Japanese have the most cost-effective units in every single category. Every. Single. Category.
Early game, you have an extremely effective (and cheap) light field gun that can out-shoot the next best light field gun (the 2 pdr) with ease, since you can "bounce" your shells off the ground and hit things beyond the effective range of your gun. This means that by the time the central point is captured, you're always going to have a field gun pointed at the enemy. This effectively shuts down early armored car play and forces your opponent to either invest heavily in a rifle line or a mortar.
And that's when you bring out that goddamn mortar on a truck. Seriously. Mortar. On a truck. Fire, step on the gas. Fire, step on the gas. You'll win every mortar duel with it, and there's effectively no way for the enemy to counter-battery you; not even with heavy artillery, since you can just drive away behind a building or a hill. Enemy mortar? What mortar? Enemy rifle line? What rifle line?
So while they're losing the entire map to your mobile infantry backed up with field artillery and a goddamn mortar truck, they bring out the armor, figuring they'll win that way. That's when you bring out the Chi-Nu. It's cheap, fast, and can out-shoot the Sherman in a duel. It can even take out the KV-85 at <70 in-game-meters, from the front, assuming you can nail the shot-trap. Sure, it's pretty shitty for a medium tank, but it's cheap and gets the job done. As Japan, you're almost guaranteed field more tanks than your opponent. A popular tactic mid-game is to pin the enemy down with your Chi-To while you flank with your Chi-Nu.
Japan also has the best artillery in the game, bar none. Japan's got the widest selection of heavy artillery out of any faction, so the later your opponent drags out the game, the more heavy artillery pieces you're able to deploy. And if it gets to super-late game, you can always break out the Ho-Ri, which will MURDER anything late game short of a Jagdtiger.
In Assault Zones, if you're playing as Japan, if you manage to ever hold the mid point at any point in the game, you can throw enough munitions and cheap units at it that it's extremely unlikely the enemy will ever be able to take it back.
