Slitherine

Recently embarked units are extremely vulnerable to naval attacks only. See here:
viewtopic.php?f=264&t=88164

Horst wrote: ↑Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:09 pm It seems that they tried to avoid any representation known persons in the original game with rather anonymous commander pictures (except Admiral Karel Doorman) until this was changed with following DLCs. We should also know by now that too many commanders easily ruin the balance.

Kondi, if you recognize any of the US and JP commanders with stats then I’m definitely interested. I’ve already modified the known guys as close as possible to their rank and accomplishments, while the anonymous resemble the deed of their secondary objective. The commanders without stats are rather uninteresting as no vanilla scenario designer would ever use them.
Karel Doorman

I think I'm able to recognized most of the Japanese air and naval commanders.
Take a look below, there are three of them but I've found much more

1. viceadmiral Raizo Tanaka, hero from Salomon Islands (he wreaked havoc on the American fleet in the waters around Guadalcanal, he commanded the famous "Tokyo Express")
2. sub-leutnant Saburo Sakai, one of the best Japanes fighter's aces (64 enemy's aircraft shoot down) - reportedly he fought with 15 Wildcats and didn't allow them to shoot him down !!!
3. leutnant junior Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, leading Japanese fighter's ace, called "the devil from Rabaul" (36 destroyed aircraft)

In addition, I found Major John L. Smith, F4F Wildcat's pilot, he received the Medal of Honor for Guadalcanal

Most excellent, Kondi!
I'm going to rename these guys, but better repost this in the main forum for everyone to see.

Horst wrote: ↑Wed Oct 17, 2018 9:43 pm Most excellent, Kondi!
I'm going to rename these guys, but better repost this in the main forum for everyone to see.

ok, I will successively report next commanders from both sides
I wonder why devs hid the real identity of these characters
They chose great commanders and then made them anonymous characters

So Saburo Matsuki's real name was Hiroyoshi Nishizama.

And about the missing statistics for Commanders ?

terminator wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:51 am So Saburo Matsuki's real name was Hiroyoshi Nishizama.

And about the missing statistics for Commanders ?

Tanaka - should increase the speed/range of ships and their torpedoe's attack rate, so I propose: (+1) movement points, (-1) turns to reload the torpedo would be excellent for him (+2 or 3 hexes) range of influence on statistics of subordinate units
He was an outstanding commander of light cruisers and destroyers, which main weapon was "long lances" nad night attacks

Sakai - (+1) air attack against small targets (+1) air attack on large targets (+3) air defence (+1) spotting and (+2) movement points
Nishizawa - (+1) air attack on small targets (+1) air defence (+1) spotting and (+2) movement points
Sakai and Nishizawa both stationed in Rabaul 1942-43 and they achieved greatest succes there, so it's the point why their spotting and movement should be increased (huge spaces in this theater of warfare, in addition they both flew on the A6M Zero, which was famous for its huge range compared to the Allied fighters, and what is not shown at all in the statistics of this aircraft in OoB)

1. cpt Mochitsura Hashimoto - submarine commander, it was his submarine sank USS "Indianapolis" in 1945, his ship carried miniature submarines used for diversion in Pearl Harbor in 1941
2. lt Iwai Tsutomu - fighter's ace, 11 aircraft shoot down ( including 3 over China 1937-40)
3. cmdr Mitsuo Fuchida - air commander, boss of the Akagi carrier air group, commanded the first wave of attack on Pearl Harbor (he released the famous "Tora! Tora! Tora!" command over radio), an outstanding commander of dive bombers and torpedo planes, participant of the most important events in the Pacific in 1942 (bomb attack on the city Darwin in Australia, Japanese carriers raid in the Indian Ocean, battle of Midway)

Cpt Shinji Uchino - submarine commander, his I-8 submarine participated in the Yanagi mission 1943-44 (he had a chance to transport this Tiger tank to Japan , but finally it didnt happen)

I also found this land commander's photo but it looks he is anonymous one. The description below this picture was: "japanese army veteran in the hills of lake khasan (1938)"

Too bad there is no name of the JP land commander, as he is one of the three commanders (Nishizawa & Iwai) used in the original campaigns so far.
It looks like he is a Major.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_of_ ... anese_Army

Horst wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:52 pm Too bad there is no name of the JP land commander, as he is one of the three commanders (Nishizawa & Iwai) used in the original campaigns so far.
It looks like he is a Major.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_of_ ... anese_Army

Yes, he is a Major
I'll try to search more precisely, but the chances are rather poor

cmdr Fuchida statistics: (+1) naval attack against large targets, (+1) defence against naval targets, (+2) defence against air targets, (+1 hex) range of influence on statistics of subordinate units

kondi754 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 4:08 pm 3. cmdr Mitsuo Fuchida - air commander, boss of the Akagi carrier air group, commanded the first wave of attack on Pearl Harbor (he released the famous "Tora! Tora! Tora!" command over radio), an outstanding commander of dive bombers and torpedo planes, participant of the most important events in the Pacific in 1942 (bomb attack on the city Darwin in Australia, Japanese carriers raid in the Indian Ocean, battle of Midway)

Are you sure with this one? The other pictures match perfectly, but I'm not so sure about Fuchida-san. They have a similar pose, but different facial build. Either this one picture was adapted a bit sloppy, or it's not him.

GabeKnight wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:18 am

kondi754 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 4:08 pm 3. cmdr Mitsuo Fuchida - air commander, boss of the Akagi carrier air group, commanded the first wave of attack on Pearl Harbor (he released the famous "Tora! Tora! Tora!" command over radio), an outstanding commander of dive bombers and torpedo planes, participant of the most important events in the Pacific in 1942 (bomb attack on the city Darwin in Australia, Japanese carriers raid in the Indian Ocean, battle of Midway)

Are you sure with this one? The other pictures match perfectly, but I'm not so sure about Fuchida-san. They have a similar pose, but different facial build. Either this one picture was adapted a bit sloppy, or it's not him.

This picture may be sloppy adapted... We should ask Adherbal about it
Admit that I'm sure at 80 percent. Look at the other pictures of him
If this man isn't him, he's so similar that we can name him "Fuchida" (besides a Japanese commander of tactical bombers would be useful)

@Gabe
You have an eagle eye you're right, he's not Fuchida but...

1) rearadm Chiaki Matsuda, naval commander, commanded "Hyuga" and then "Yamato" battleships (1942-43) and 4th Carrier Division ("Hyuga" and "Ise" battleships + support ships) at the end of war

I also found two next Japanese naval commanders, funny thing but they all were linked with "Yamato" battleship

2) viceadm Seiichi Ito - Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and 2nd Fleet commander, he leads "Yamato" and 9 destroyers to their last battle near Okinawa, he sank together with his flagship 7th April 1945
3) cpt Aruga Kosaku - "Yamato" battleship commander during last mission, he commanded "Chokai" heavy cruiser earlier, sank with his ship 7th April 1945, posthumously promoted to Vice-Admiral rank

You're doing a hell of a great job finding those matching photos, Kondi.
Thanks.

GabeKnight wrote: ↑Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:32 am You're doing a hell of a great job finding those matching photos, Kondi.
Thanks.

Thanks for the support, Gabe.
This is a very tedious task but I like it. It is helpful that the history of the Second World War is my hobby and I have a lot of books about this.

Below the last two Japanese naval commanders who are used in the game ...
You don't have to thank me

vcadm Hiroaki Abe - commander (among others) of the groups of heavy cruisers and battleships during the campaign on the Solomon Islands 1942-43
vcadm Sedamichi Kajioka - commander of escort and landing groups during the attack on Wake Island in 1941 and Lae, New Guinea in 1942
he was the commander of the landing group assigned to capture of Port Moresby during the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 1942), but this landing was finally canceled due to the threat posed by US Navy's aircraft carriers

Found next land commander but he's anonymous, too.
Besides he is Chinese, an officer of units collaborating with Japan
Check the insignia in the picture ( description below the picture: "collaborationist Chinese army, japan-china war 1931-45")

The second one is lt Masao Sato - fighter pilot, participant of Sino-Japanese war, Pearl Harbour, KIA on the Solomon Islands in 1943 (flew on A5M and later on A6M Zero in fighter's squadron of the Akagi aircraft carrier)

To end the weekend pleasantly, below are 3 air commanders who are in the game

1. ensign Ryoji Ohara, A6M Zero (navy) pilot, veteran of Salomon campaign 1942-43, "Killer from Rabaul" , claimed 48 kills (mainly Wildcats and Corsairs)
2. sgt major Satoru Anabuki, Ki-43 and Ki-84 (army) pilot, fought over Philippines, Burma and Taiwan, confirmed 39 shoot downs; he's a tactical bomber's commander in the game
3. corporal Yukio Araki, Ki-51 pilot, known from the fact that he was the youngest kamikaze (17 years old ), poor material for the commander in ooB in my opinion , he was killed during attack of the USS Braine (DD-630) near Okinawa, May 27, 1945

One more thing - let no one be surprised that there were such low ranks among Japanese pilots
the Japanese (both army and navy) were known for being careful with promotions in air forces, so the best pilots reached the rank of lieutenant at most, most often they were non-commissioned officers

Kondi, you clearly prove that almost no anonymity exists anymore thanks to internet and facial recognition. Do you have contacts in intelligence services?
Terrific work!