Newbie Here, with a few newbie Questions.

[kongxinga]

Greetings.
I have messed around with wargames before trying out spww2, and I have fooled around a bit with Sp WAW, and read the manual, so I hpe I am not totally clueless.

I am really excited with the prospect of being able to play NatChi on a long Campaign (SP WAW does not have that, not to mention a very weird OOB for China. Personally I feel Overlord Squads sounds much better than Dare Death Squads, although Daredeath is a more literal Translation)

How ever I am running into a few snags as I start my first mission of several aborted campaigns.

1. Back in Sp WAW, my usual opponent was ChiCom, which only had 1 tank type that comes late in the War. Thus I usually took along quite a tank heavy force to blow up the armoured cars then run amok with impunity. In the long campaign of Spww2, I invariably have to fight against Japan. Knowing that they have tough infantry, I took a long some Mg tanks along with armoured cars with good armour peircing values (Shanghai m .31). However, my tanks die to Japanese infantry at 6 hexes range or more (my infantry does do a good job in suppressing the Japanese squads). Checking the logs, I see a hit from a grenade launcher that has no AP properties KOing my tanks. How is this possible?

2. Another annoying thing is that Japan always brings along lots of planes. My weak tanks have no top armour, so any spotted tanks usually go down from bombs, causing my other tanks to rout, which causes my militia cannon fodder to rout, which starts a general chain rout. I have crossed attached my squads to various companies, and kept everyone within communication range. I believe Chinese Morale averages at a respectable 60 ( compared with a very low 30 in Sp waw). What is causing this chain rout? Should I put my militia away from my officers and elite troops? Won't they run even faster when seperated? And seriously, what is wrong with my tankers? They have armour command values of low teens. Are these guys professional tankers, or infantry men snatched from their unit and plonked into tanks?

3. Knowing the situation, I searched the encyclopedia for AA weapons. I see China gets a type 24 AAMG in 1930 (I am playing a june 1931 battle btw). However, try as I might, I find that I am unable to find them on the purchase screen. I searched Arty for them, and I checked each and every squad in the infantry purchase, but I can't find the type 24 AAMG. I do find type 24 HMGs, but these don't seem to have AA capacity. Where are these elusive weapons? I mean OOB designers can't really leave China out to dry with no AA weapons right?

4. In some games, I get a good map that forces Japan to dash across open ground while my heavy Mgs tear them apart. That is the best situation. Usually, I get a very heavily forested area, and our squads stuble into each other. My scouts have the honor of dying in minutes, as the normal Japanese Squads usually spot them first, and Banzai charge them if the nades don't kill them. Then my Pioneers/ overlords stumble into their support sqads, and get ripped apart, despite my squads being close combat specialists. I can't drop arty on the enemy (due to poor arty skill that causes long lags and huge drifts). What would be good advice for this situation?

5. Last question. I dimly recall that almost every squad could call arty in SP WAW, but in SP ww2 it seems limited. Who exactly can call arty? The arty delays in this game is horrible!

Thanks so much. I am really itching to kick some Japanese/ Communist troops around. This game is quite a blast to play.