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Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy

 
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Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 10:17:18 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		After being one of the most avid players/posters on these forums for years, having been involved (in a kind of mad scientist consultant tester role) in the Beta of this fantastic game, I called it quits because I just didn't have time to play (not by choice!). I spent a couple of years in the wilderness without games, and in the last couple of years (yes, WITP is that old!) I came back to online gaming and tried out some other genres.

It was in one of these other genres (Pirates of the Burning Sea) an arch nemesis from the evil French nation (my being British and earning an online "living" by sinking and boarding this sort of scum) recognised my name from the original me Vs Raver AARs on this forum . . . not that many Luskan's around really (good thing for my banana too!). So he tried to get me to teach him to play this wonderful, but sometimes daunting game.

I resisted for a bit, not quite ready to return to a game that had happily stolen so many hours (read: wife not entirely pleased about the potential of screaming raging fits when commanders make foolish decisions in the Pacific theatre) I started up a single player to refresh myself while offering wise/sage* advice to my newfound student.

* = Wise and sage in that I told him enough of how to play, and how to run the first turn as the japs and basic principles of the game. How to win on the other hand I fed him a pile of ****.

We began a "teaching" PBEM, where he would play (where else is a new player going to get the sort of control and enjoyment - especially at the start of a game vs an experienced player?!) and I would play the allies, for what would be the first time since Beta testing (and that particular game lasted about 2 weeks for me).

I explained the first turn and potential objectives (but left the details to him) and we began a PBEM under the following rules:
- Stock Scn 15. There is no other as far as I'm concerned.
- As a newb, the Jap Ladyboy (aka Hooper my opponent) gets 1 free reload back in time 1 turn at any point during the game, just in case his newbness causes a mistake that ruins an otherwise enjoyable game.
- I would abide by certain house rules along Turn 1 granting the japs operational surprise (allowed to give orders to CV tfs only, otherwise allied turn is just an open, save and resend).
- I would point out errors in his gameplay (but not in his strategy) as we went.
- I would not pursue the ahistorical early soviet entry gameplay, and the chinese are limited to moving Force Y to Burma before 1943 only, and not allowed to advance "north" or "east" beyond the railroad.
- No silly bugger speading out chinese nuisance groups into countryside hexes and flooding the "front"
- No allied bombers operating from Chinese fields, or fighters other than the AVG
- No Singapore port attack on turn 1, or Manila port attack (or maybe that was allowed)
- Quite happy for him to mid ocean intercept every allied TF at sea other than carriers (not that he decided to)
- I would limit the uber allied PT boat spam strategy by only allowing myself 20 PT boats in combat theatres (anywhere other than pearl or brisbane type thing where they might actually need to fight) at any one time.
- Fast gameplay. In the time of teamspeak/vent, fast internet connections and the same time zone and 2 avid strategy players, I wanted to burn through turns. No stuffing around with 1 or 2 a night if at all possible.

There may have been other house rules - I don't remember since this game is now probably 8 months old. With that in mind, bear the retelling might be a bit garbled, a bit in the wrong order, and possibly fictional (truth not really being a prominent feature of most of my AARs to date anyway).

I'll try and break it up into sensible episode like posts, but I may just splurge as I remember.

Enjoy.







_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?
Post #: 1
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 10:33:36 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		So, the war started, and I was immediately aware of a few things on turn 1:
- Hooper really took my blitzkreig lesson to heart in Malaya and Burma, lots of red troops landing there.
- Hooper went for most of the small SRA bases I usually go for-
- Hooper didn't do 100% as I had told him he should/expected him to do!
- He didn't bother with Rabaul (or much of northern PNG on turn 1)
- He took and quickly set up an advanced SRA containment base at Morotai, which I've never seen before. Between that and Kendari he really sealed that end of things up well.
- He didn't go for the full gamble of mid ocean intercepting all the allied TFs on turn 1.

Other than that, he let loose some pretty serious carnage which will have allied fanboys cringing. He was lucky with his Pearl strike because he shattered the fleet totally, putting big hurt on BBs and loads of other ships (more than usual). He was unlucky not to sink a single BB, even though he had 4 in the 90+ sys damage.

Hooper hung around the next day for a second strike (I think) in which he was extra unlucky not to sink anything big, although his pilots did a pretty good number on the CAs and DDs and aux ships in the harbour.

He stuffed up the sub game early, expecting me to run my cripples out immediately. His massive sub blockade around pearl just made it easy for my to devote 100% of my remaining floating and airborne resources to sinking his sub fleet for the next 3 months of gameplay. That was accomplished pretty well and now he's probably only got 20 subs left (and we're in 1944). He won't make that mistake again.

On day 2, Hooper had done a great job to close most of the escape routes for allied shipping, but I managed to slip quite a bit out through various channels. Houston survived, as did 2 AS ships, but the AV and another AS ship (and some unlucky transports) got smashed mid ocean, and his bombers hit Manila and wiped the allied sub fleet there out without breaking a sweat. Landings in the phillipines were quite small (bulk of hsi troops elsewhere) and Malaya went much as every game starts in Malaya when the Jap player decides he wants the place fast.

Prince of Wales and Repulse escape South (yes, south) and keep escaping all the way to Rabaul where I expected to use them in the defence against the week 2 invasion, but more on that later. Basically all my surface units escaped pretty much unsmashed.

Now I'm spending every political point I can, evacuating every plane I can to java (where they can hold out for a while) getting HQs onto transports (or sub transport groups - anything) and getting them out. Lucky to have much of an Asiatic fleet HQ escape Manila after Hooper's betties wiped them out. Fortunately the cripples floated toa earby island before sinking 2 days later and got some of the HQ off.

No allied bomber in the SRA can hit anything.

I evacuate troops from Malaya - I leave the historical units in Singapore hoping to hold until Feb, and decide I'm going to hold Andaman and Rangoon against this newb, shipping in every unit I can move in India, marching Y force in (consolidating my chinese defensive line too, turning off replacements to back water units etc.) and basically sacking every crap commander I can with the spare PP points (and there were some crap commanders).

Macarthur, unlikely to be in two palces at once, is relieved of command of SouthWest Pac and left to defend the Phillipines. Asiatic Fleet and USAAFFE HQs mostly evacuated by endless, repeated sub transport missions that used every allied sub I had in range and left them all with 30-40 sys damage.

No sub has sunk anything at this point.

In the pacific, Wake doesn't get hit on turn 1 (stuff up on Hooper's part) and he takes the usual places. I decide to create an island fortress and supply chain from Pearl to Midway, Palmyra, Baker, Christmas Island, Fiji, Pago Pago, Lunga, Shortlands, Rabaul, PM, Brisbane in that order.

By using enormous TFs, I started at the northern end, and spent a year making sure each of the above bases had a base force, engineers, a CD unit, and at least 100k supply and fuel. Australia came close to starving for a while. New Zealand did starve.

Nobody cared about that.

The process of uber, slow 1 big hit supply (no lectures on spoilage needed thankyou) took about a year.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 2
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 10:51:39 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Ok, so what happened in that year (of note?) - Hooper surprised me again, by slowing right down.

He carefully mopped up lesser phillipine bases and islands, Borneo, pacific bases and made slow to no progress on Luzon, while going hell for leather on Malaya, basically slamming my troops into Singapore in one hell of a rush and then pausing.

The pause aws good for him, he was organised, well defended at all times and I got none of my trademark sneaky night surface combat intercepts/invasion fleet beat ups that I so enjoyed.  No transports went unescorted by a surface combat TF, and very little unnecessary air power got used where it didn't need to be.  It was good for me too as I evacuated base forces, planes, hqs, some small land combat units, readied Java for a fight and raced troops into  . . . well that pacific supply line I mentioned earlier, as well as Burma.

I even saved enough PP points to send some tiny starving kiwi troops ot Lunga and Rabaul to hold out against the inevitable enslaught.

I may have run out of fuel in Australia a few times, but since history is written by the victor (it is going to be me) I'm going to omit that later.

In Burma, I'm confident.  For some reason, I have decided that in my superiority, I am going to be able to make the same mistakes that all those lesser allied fanboys made against me in the early game AND win.  I had a good force at Rangoon, plenty of troops behind the various river crossings into Burma and tanks and all the arty in threatre (not to mention infantry and engineers) and a steady fort building gig and Andaman going on.  I was so confident.

I repelled an attack out of the Clarke airbase hex (weak attack) and got cocky.  I repelled a little probe up the railway line to Rangoon, got cockier.  Even repelled an attack on rangoon as well, thinking I was the greatest.  Of course then the main force turned up and Rangoon turned into a slugging match.  I tried to run more troops in via transport and got them sunk (how did I fall for that?! I know the range of a betty from Bangkok!) and happily managed to get my slow british BBs torpedoed and sunk in fruitless attmpts to get into battle with the invasion fleet Hooper landed at Rangoon while his land forces were invading from the other direction.  I lost the initiative in Burma when Rangoon fell weeks earlier than I expected, taking a ridiculous number of allied troops with it.

Andaman is still strong, I've still got surface combat ships, I've got brit light and normal CVs around it, I've got forts, tanks and experience.  As with Hooper's first opposed invasions, he landed a little unit and it got spanked and I got cocky.  The RN tussled with his 2 old BBs and no one got a real damage on the other side, but they held me off.  I ran out of fuel in theatre (basically) and have to withdraw my surface combat units.  Also because the betties are a menace and Andaman doesn't ahve supply to spare for planes.

I pull off a nice move by anticipating a regular 2 old BB bombardment team Hooper had been poudning Andaman with and sat my light CVs right where they would retire to the next day, and had the RN surface ships meet them at Andaman one night.  Sure enough, both sides got pounded at Andaman (truth be told, brits lost) but as my ships limped back to trincomalee, I caught 2 damaged jap battleships and escorts 1 hex from british carriers.  I sank one BB immediately, crippled the other (sank later I think) and got a cruiser.  I then went and extra-cancelled my success by trying to bombard rangoon with a new (old) brit BB that got sunk 10 hexes from bombarding (2.5 days sailing for that old tub) by the same betties that I knew were there already.  sigh.

Ok - Andaman gets another fort level, and the battle of the Indian ocean is definitely going my way now - I've still got Andaman, it is early 42 and although Hooper gets troops on the island, and controls the waters around it, I'm holding out.

I try another surface combat group - just CAs and destroyers and about 4 CLs, and try to do the same with my cvs again, intercept on their return route the day AFTER they've had the fight at Andaman and sink cripples . . .  I get spanked in the surface combat for no reward (At this point I've lost about 8 allied CLs of about 8 or 9 in game at that time) and there are 2 jap fleet CVs waiting 1 hex from the brit CV and CVE team I was using so well. 

Another idiotic mistake that puts Hooper firmly in control of the Indian ocean.  I race troops into Akyab, Y force reaches Mandalay, and Hooper, now well ahead in sunk ships and killed troops, crushes Mandalay with most of the British combat units and engineers with them.  I have gambled with the total force I had in india and some I evacuated from malaya and lost the lot.  When Singapore falls in January, I have lost 8000 army points to Hoopers 150.  I'm so screwed.

In the pacific, Hooper settles in to take Luzon, creep his way along northern PNG, and sets about building his fortress empire.  I am doing the same with the building, only terrifie that sooner or later he is going to come for me, so I'm penny packeting divisions out to little islands as soon as they show up.  I have no initiative here.

Long story short, Hooper brings in overwhelming force to Luzon and grinds Macarthur to dust (good riddance) and now I've probably killed 1 jap soldier for every 25 I've lost doing it.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 3
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 11:07:47 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Hooper pauses here at some point, and consolidates.  Troops are rested, reorganised, ships are reorganised, a few damaged ships are sent home, his only serious loss has been sending 8 APs through the manila hex while I still held it and the guns there cleaned them up (apart from the BBs in the indian ocean I mentioned).  I lose another Brit BB (seriously, I can't get them sunk fast enough doing stupid things and Winston keep sending them) and the anticipated invasions of Rabaul and lunga never happen.

Hooper shows no interest in Akyab and no interest in Mandalay -he's building up for the uber crushing defeat of java. 

Suddenly, afetr 6 or more months of missing every target in sight, the dutch bombers start hitting jap transports.  1 a turn.  2 a turn.  It is so unsuual that Hooper doesn't do anything about it for quite a while - disbelief that they're actually even getting bomb hitting the ocean animatins is impressive.  So many sorties in those 6 months for no benefit, and suddenly my dutch pilots are the best I have.  I barely save them as Java falls, and they get the first squadron of new mitchell bombers off the production line (I control my upgrades closely).  They are 89 experience ;)

Hooper leaves a few empty allied bases as practise targets for his air force and he starts drilling them (especially those Nates) hard.  He takes Java, starts shipipng uber amounts of stuff back to japan for his industry and is content in the knowledge that my subs are not bothering him (he's sunk them, taken all bases close enough for me to operate them from, unaware but probably suspecting that I have no fuel in Australia or anywhere nearby to operate subs and the surviving subs were used as transports in 4 X 25 sub tfs and that has really messed them up!). 

He mops up Sumatra slowly, takes Kai Island (south of Kendari, north of Darwin, west of San Francisco) and starts building it up.  I look menacingly from the northern Australian coast as finally the aussie troops get up the railway line to defend it.  I don't really have the fuel, supplies or planes to beat up on him there so he goes unmolested and his creep along PNG begins.

Hooper gets as far as Wewak (look it up - it is important) and I decide that it is now mid to late 42, and the time for me to tae the initiative (I'm supposed to be in Tokyo by 43) has come.  1 week after landing a small troop at Wewak, I land an Australian division and base force there in retaliation and take it back.  This is the first time I've taken a base off him, and his troops retreat up the road.

Up until now there has been some combat between baker and Tarawa (I bombard, he bombards better, I bomb, his fighters are too good, I run out of supply - airbase too small, he brings in carriers and smashes 20 cruisers and DDs at port, only sinks about half (and all the CLs)). There hasn't really been a flash point in the game yet where both sides have contended equally.  Northern PNG will be that battlefield.

After Hooper lands 4 or 5 divisions at Darwin (plastered into the ground by enemy BBs) and covers the invasion with KB.  I'm stunned - KB hasn't been seen in months and here it is on my doorstep.  I've got heaps of (crap) planes now, and plenty of troops, but the invasion was so unexpected, and so powerful I'm in trouble.  I barely keep the place, and strip my troops from all other bases (and evac all the leftover planes from Darwin - not that his BBs left many intact) elsewhere.  My reinforcements arrive just in time to stop his next big push, and he thinks the better of it, and reloads his transports and retreats.

That was a long saga condensed short, but apart from my dutch bombers hitting a jap transport now and then (never sinking) Hooper landed 5 divisions and engineers and support, smashed the fort right down, shattered most of my troops at Darwin and evacuated them without losing any LCU power of note, or costing him more than half a dozen damaged transports and letting KB have another field day.

Lucky escape for me, but I'm confident again . . . I've defended Darwin against a massive force, and I've retaken Wewak, and have local superiority there.  What could go wrong??!

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 4
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 11:14:28 AM   
2ndACR


Posts: 5665
Joined: 8/31/2003
From: Irving,Tx
Status: offline 		Good to see you back at it again........You will be surprised by the mods that are out, much better than stock.

Nikmod 9.2b will really wake you up if you try it.........AA fire actually works and there is no more uber cap.......not even early war for the IJN. Always going to be leakers getting thru which can really get the sweat flowing.

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 5
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 11:27:32 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Confidence . . . big mistake.  Sure that I knew more about this game, I had been assembling the force to retake Wake by September 1942.

In truth I'd launched this invasion a few times but chickened out/had to rush the en route troops to the solomons or other places the tea leaves told me Hooper was going to strike (he never did - just like he never let me know where KB was by using them - kept them hidden and menacing the whole time).

Finally the 1st marine, and a whole army division (27th? Can't remember and can't look them up anymore because they're all dead) 8 arty units, 4 ARM units (basically all the stuff on the west coast) and a small allied HQ are loaded onto transports, escorted by my fleet of 2 new fast BBs and a bunch of old slow ones repaired from Pearl.  I have 6 carriers, although the F4F isn't all the way through them yet.  I have the long island as well, I have unlimited supply, transports, and they're at 100% preparation for a wake invasion.  I also throw in about 4 SeeBee units and an additional RCT just for fun.

Went badly - starting with a massive, surprise carrier battle where (actually this took place a few days before) both sides launched fully, and the allies scored about 4 damaged jap CVs (but none likely to sink) in trade off for 4 smashed allied CVs, of which 4 looked likely to sink the next turn, Long Island sunk, most of the allied planes either shot down or drowned and most of the jap planes surviving.  Even so I escaped with my CVs (just - Hooper got very unlucky with betties out of Wake a couple of times because they sank allied BBs with the invasion force instead, and crippled both my fast new BBs) and I'd hurt him enough to drive him off.

VADM Brown sails into the Wake lagoon, turned to Van De Grift and says "In you go."

Every jap CD unit in the game (had to be) is lined up wheel to wheel along the shore at Wake.  They open fire at once, and the carnage is amazing.  I'll post some sunk ship lists later, but in 1 night I lost 10 minesweepers (1 or 2 hits each and they're gone) 20 transports sunk (troops aboard) another 50 transports hit and damaged and burning (yup, troops on those too not too happy either) and my CAs and DDs are copping a pounding too.  My CAs (BBs all crippled or destroyed - very bad luck here) can't bombard hard enough and can't do much more than take the punches from Hooper's surface combat units (which only got amongst the transports once, but that was enough to murder thousands more allied troops).

The troops hit the beach and lost about 20k casualties in the first night, atoll warfare gone very very wrong.  The lack of enemy CVs compels me to press on, so like an idiot, I continue landing troops and taking enormous beatings no transports, escorts and troops for a whole week, thinking I'm going to take the place the first time I attack.

First time I attack the Japanese troops actually don't notice, it was that ineffective.  1st marine core is 75% casualties, the ARM units are holding up better but supply is low, the arty units are smashed, the eng units are smashed and the HQ mostly drowned . . . my other division and spare RCT are still landing... I'm rushing more troops in, and I have gone from unlimited transports and shipping to more damaged ships in the game than normal.

Hooper only has 2 nav guard units on the island, along with engineers, a full sized fort and all those CD units and a base force.  I would have creamed him if I'd been able to get ashore - but he'd made sure I couldn't (pun intended).  Just to make sure he lands his own division, and in one attack, all my arty units (FARK FARK FARK FARK FARK - that is ALL of them) and the 27th dvision (still unsure) surrender or die from lack of supply.  Two eng units go the way of the dodo a turn later and I realise it is time to salvage anything I can.

As my troops dig in to hold the 2 rocks and patch of sand they control, I start evacuating troops, starting with the 1st marines (which I couldn't bear to lose - and nearly did).  Using 75 subs in sub rtansport missions while Hooper patiently waited for his final attack, and lots of crippled ships, and accepting that a burning ship is better htan no ship, and indeed, pulling my hair out, I evacuated just over half of the 1st marine (most of it casualties) when Hooper finished it and closed the book on allied initiative in 1942 forever.

I've lost 11k (have to check that next turn I think - could be making that up) points worth of allied troops and he's lost about 1000 at this point I think.  Mostly to malaria.  1st Marine is 2 months getting back to the west coast (no shipping, some bits got unloaded at midway and had to be ferried etc.) and arrives at 22/54 (started at 105/105).  Even the allied war machine can't replace losses like that (glad I got van der grift out - I lost Lee at Wake as well).  1st Marine, my biggest and finest, is now my smallest, weakest division and went from 96/95 exp morale to 55/15 exp morale.  That odd RCT really saved the division (at the cost of their own lives) and the loss of my other division wasn't that nice either.


Will post more over the weekend (we're now in 1944 Jan) about what else happened that I remember.



< Message edited by Luskan -- 2/20/2009 1:43:06 PM >

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 6
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 1:51:16 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		This is out of order, but just so you know, here is the sunk ship total as of 1944 (well, 23rd of Dec 1943).

Allied/Jap

AD 1/1
AS 1/4
AVD 1/0
AV 1/0
APD 9/12
AK 131/96
AP 41/81
TK 6/18 (not too happy - shows you how little subs have played a role this game)
AO 2/0
SS 24/44 (happy)
PT 30/6 (Hooper uses Tanaka a LOT).
PG 19/36
PC 2/33
MSW 60/36 (large numbers lost at Wake)
ML 1/23 (happy with this)
DD 58/53 (pretty even)
DMS 4/0
DM 5/0

CV 2/0 (only brits)
CVE 2/3
CVL 1/1
CL 15/5 (ouch)
CA 7/7
BB 7/4 (4 brit BBs IIRC included in the allied losses)
SC 28/0 (yup - at Wake most of them died)
LCX 10/0

459 Allied ships sunk for 5333 points
598 jap ships sunk for 4780 points


_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 7
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 4:23:09 PM   
Hooper82

 

Posts: 41
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline 		Hai All.

Long long ago I bought WITP and tried playing it once and twice. While I loved the game, I couldn't get over the learning hump...However I loved reading some of the AAR's on this forum...especially Luskan V's Raver Dave.
So, when I saw the name Luskan in Pirates of the Burning Sea, I had to find out if it was the same...and it was.

So, after bludgeoning Luskan on Teamspeak, and sinking him in-game (Viva la France!), I convinced him to teach me about WITP. Over the next week or so, chatting on teamspeak, I tried to absorb as much information as I could...and then launched into my first game. When I say first game, I mean first game of WITP Ever (Other than the tutorial). I've never finished Scenario 15 (Or any other Scenario). Although that's mainly cause I find playing the AI (Any AI, not just WITP) REALLY boring.


Below is a map (from turn one) showing my opening moves. I didn't get any open sea intercepts (as it was 4-5am when I'd finished T1...I wasn't going to stay up longer to get those intercepts...a mistake on my behalf).



Red Lines = Landings
Yellow Lines = Planed extent of the Imperial Japanese Empire

The initial plan was to take Kendari and Morotai on T1 as part of my blockade of the Philipines. The Kendari landing force had all the base forces necessary and Betties where flying out by T3 (if I remember correctly) and began sinking allied shipping. Morotai had as many construction units as I could spare and some basic recon/patrol aircraft. Its initial goal was to spot for my CVE force operating in the Celebes Sea / Philippine Sea.
I also took Sandakan on T1 for a similar purpose...without realizing it had a size 0 airfield. Jesselton served as my western flank on the Philippines to assist with finding the flood of allied transports.

On the Malaya peninsular I pushed as many troops into it as possible to storm down...but I stuffed up. That pause that Luskan talks about was me organizing my troops to cross the Johore Bahru - Singapore water cause in one large lump instead of dribs and drabs.

Into Siam/Burma I sent 3 full divisions (including the Imperial Guards), along with all of the close by Armored Regiments. These quickly stormed up the road/railway and took Rangoon...but where stopped cold by Y-Force at Mandalay.

Andaman Island was quickly fortified by Luskan...but after smashing the RN back to 1918, and dropping two IJA Divisions onto Andaman (Slowing down taking Singapore further), the Bay of Bengal was mine. I never planned to take Akyab, hoping I could neutralize it with my Sallys striking from Pagan / Mandalay...Unfortunately...Mandalay never fell into Japanese hands (Although it was close a couple of times!)

You'll notice that my Pacific plans where never extensive...this is more oversight on my part and not planning ahead for the pacific. I did want to cut down south to try to lengthen the supply chain between the USA and Australia. While I took the Gilberts T1-3...I didn't capitalize on this and push further...worrying about allied navel power and the length of my supply line from Japan.

I never intended on going into the Solomons, not wanting to jump into the grinder. And PNG was a wait-and-see. I would have liked Port Moresby...but only ever planned to go as far as Lae and Rabaul...A mistake in hindsight...but I didn't expect this game to last past 1943.

My biggest mistake was Rabaul...Not realizing that this should be taken ASAP...by the time I started to look at it...it was an allied fortress.


Anyway...its 2:17am...and time for me to go to bed...but expect some updates as the game progresses and some lowdates? of things that have passed already.

IG - His and/or Her Imperial Japanese Majesty Kuro-Yaiba Hakaisha, Gender-Challenged Emperor of the Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
IRL - Hooper (and just a bloke)

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 8
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 5:09:11 PM   
NormS3


Posts: 521
Joined: 12/10/2007
From: Wild and Wonderful WV, just don't drink the water
Status: offline 		Great narrative Luskan I was LMAO! Good luck to you and Hopper and I look forward to future updates!

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 9
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/20/2009 5:50:20 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		Welcome back! You won't remember me - I was just a lurker back in the old days - but I certainly remember you. Your "Aussie's Affair" AAR was one of the ones that lured me into trying WitP. So you are one of the ones that I can credit (or blame) for the hundreds of hours I have poured into playing and writing about this game. I'm glad to see you have returned.

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 10
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/21/2009 10:23:29 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Hi Cuttle - I've been lurking since I started playing again so you're familiar ;)

Has been good to see how many of the original guys are still around - still arguing with people about the same things ;)

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 11
RE: Stretching an old muscle: Luskan V Hooper the Ladyboy - 2/21/2009 10:28:20 PM   
BrucePowers


Posts: 12094
Joined: 7/3/2004
Status: offline 		Luskin! You're back.


(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 12
How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/21/2009 10:57:21 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		So - the next little story I'm going to tell is the struggle for northern PNG, where both sides got into a protracted fight.

As I mentioned before, I'd tried (futile) to use heavy airpower from Midway vs Wake (too far) and from Baker Vs Tarawa & Apanama (airbase on Baker too small, too many jap ships around making life hard, lots of fighters, not enough supply, not enough heavy bombers that I could fit on the airbase along with a fighter unit etc.).

I should also have mentioned that I saved all the B17s from the SRA, and had not really used them or any liberators much at all for the first 9 months of the game.  I had massed them together, scrupulously preventing squadrons from upgrading so I had a nice little pool of 4E bombers with which I was going to rule the world.  Didn't quite work out that way though.

With Wewak in hand, I got some consistant sigInt that the Ladyboy was looking at cutting Wewak off by stealing Rabaul, Shortlands or Lunga (from the north).  So I wasted valuable months and PP and ships shoving troops and supply into those three bases.  By now my "island fortress" chain from Pearl was complete, lots of supply and fuel and troops at all those bases, lots of ASW and search aircraft, and although it was a ridiculously long way around, my transports were making it to the Solomons and Oz in acceptable time/condition.  It should be noted that I also moved over 100 transports from the Bay of Bengal (where Hooper's betties out of Andaman and Rangoon ruled) to Perth, to Sydney for a refit, then back to San Francisco for another refit and eventual transport duty.  This really helped (but effectively closed the Burma threatre).

On a side note, I just managed to stop the japs at Mandalay a few tumes during this period - fortunately.

As it turns out, the SigInt was deliberate Jap misinformation, and it took me a while to put it together (and without my extensive knowledge of the Jap OOB - I never would have realised that the units planning for the assault on Lunga were in China).  In the meantime Hooper's withdrawn engineers from Kai Island (and elsewhere Im' guessing) and suddenly they're at Hollandia (and Sarma and Saidor behind it).

It must be said that Hooper is an experienced strategy gamer - as such his construction and organisation of Jap bases has been absolutely first rate with just 1 or two newb oversights (more on those later).  Basically he could build a base to full size faster than I could, and then his engineer units get back on their ships and move on to the next base (as far as I could tell).  So Hollandia sprung up faster than Wewak.

Embarassing I know.

Anyway, as soon as it got to nasty size 7 airbase, lots of jap bombers start hammering at Wewak, and the ships I'm rushing in there.  Hooper's really set himself up with a big airbase, and I decide it is time to start deploying my concentrated heavy bombers (takes a week to move them, supply them, rest them and launch them) to crush his foolish concentration of troops and planes.  130 B17s went in at 10k from Rabaul and ran into several hundred fighters and lots and lots of flak.

Another side note here: Hooper trains his pilots ALL the time.  He has neatly avoided the disasterous non training of real life and has great pilots coming out his nose.  Due to range issues, so far in the war unless you're a spitfire pilot in Burma, a member of the AVG, or one of the (deceased) members of the flight crews from my CVs . . . you haven't seen combat and you're as green as hell.

So, my 130 exp 60 B17s went in, got bounced, hammered, slaughtered (took 20 fighters with them) and 45 of them came back in various states of disrepair.  I panic, shove them aside to heal and bring in all my mitchells, and try to operate them from an already overcrowded (because it isn't full size because it keeps getting bombarded) Wewak.  I take some punches there too.  Thus far, Hooper is winning the Hollandia V Wewak/Lae/Rabaul air and sea battle.  There are numerous surface combat clashes I'm glossing over here, but essentially every time I get a group of combat vessels together with some CAs and DDs (All the CVs and BBs are in the shop already) Hooper has Tanaka or Kono or both whip in from sea and engage.  I take a few of his destroyers with me, but the end result is I have no surface combat vessels undamaged and in the battle in the Pacific, and pearl, the west coast and Sydney end up with about 500 damaged ships.

I even deployed my PT boats there and watched Hooper sink them and re bombard the base.  This struggle goes on for a while as I try to out supply him, also bringing in 200 dakotas to fly supply into Wewak (as well as sending transports to their doom - although truly most of them were only crippled).

After a while, the pounding slows (I've moved the bombers out and the fighters in, and the RAAF, kiwis, canadians and marines manage to establish a bloody balance in the air above Wewak, so I try to use mitchells (Extreme range) to hit back.  These all end in failure, but force Hooper to cyce his bombers out and have his own fighters at Hollandia.  I move in my first squadron of P-38s, which doesn't really do that much to begin with other than provide the possibility of a fighter escort for a raid on Hollandia.

Finally a week of thunderstorms show up, and both sides get to resting, preparing and supplying, and I decide early that I'm going to be the first one to hit back, so move all the fighters out of Wewak (except the 38's) move all the B17s and mitchells in (I'm size 7 now too) and co-ordinate with my 1 operational (new) battleship, the Washington.  Washington? What happened to North Carolina you ask? Her captain decided that getting to Wewak (a month ago) was so vital he'd cut the corner off the planned route and passed within 6 hexes of Tarawa and got bettied to oblivion.  Grr.

Miracle of miracles, Hollandia is closed while Wewak is open, and that night my first and best BB bombardment goes in and half shuts the airfield, and gives Hooper a wakeup call to the dangers of concentrating too much force as the japs.  My B17s and mitchells go in healthy, and although the flak smashes them up and puts them out of action for another month the damage gets done.  Hollandia is closed, and Hooper loses several hundred level bombers on the ground right before he can obliterrate me with them.

So, you're expecting at this point I just land troops and triumph right? No - but Hooper is off balance now, and can't recover the upper hand in northern PNG.

I landed some ARM units and little troops (and uses paratroops) to steal all the empty jap bases between Wewak and Hollandia (can't remember names now) and eventually built them all into full size airfields, put marine divebombers on them and some fighters.  The nearby smaller bases were going after jap shipping and providing fighter escort while Wewak became the level bomber base for plastering the enemy airfield and keeping it shut.  Marine divebombers are hopeless at this point, and Hooper evacuates most of his engineers (fort already built) and I think base forces and flak units to bases further up the coast while I miss every transport in sight.  Only the dutch keep him honest.

The slugging match in PNG has been matched on a smaller scale at Kai island where Darwin has finally started to get the upper hand (as allied pilots learn to fly/bomb/land) (rhyme unintended) and Hooper pulls his air and eng units back. 

I decided on a dual invasion . . . this battle has been going on for 4 months, so I have managed to scrape together 2 cruiser surface combat groups (my BBs having been bettied and damaged) and my transport fleet has recovered from the Wake disaster some 6 months prior.  Kai and Hollandia will be stolen at the same time, so that hopefully if Hooper's heavies show up and smash me, they'll only smash one and not the other.

to be continued.



_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 13
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/23/2009 12:50:30 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		So, with about as much premonition as the token black grunt in a war film I saddled up and sent in my simultaneous invasions of Kai and Hollandia.  To prevent further walls of text I'll summarise below:

Hollandia:
- Awful landing, troops get smushed
- Lots of Hooper's surface combat units racing in, sinking ships, a couple of earth shattering surface combat duels with did more to rock my world than his (translation: he won)
- Lots of crap allied bomber pilots missing said jap surface combatants (crippled or not) aside from the odd 1000 lbs hit on a Jap BB like Yamato which she jus shrugs off.
- LOTS of crappy allied torpedo bombers (exp 55ish) copping flak
- Lots of enemy transport units reinforcing . . . except that they weren't.  For the most part they were evacuating - Hooper left 1 division (6th? Can't remember) and a few supporting units and that was all.  Of course I didn't hit any of the evacuation convoys so I didn't know if they were full of troops or not until the last one, which my 4Es found and smashed from 6000 feet.  About 12 transports vs 150 4Es, each with possibly 6 bombs = 900 bombs, about 3 hits on each transport etc.  Much better result (and let me know he was evacuating because my bomber pilots saw burning troops on the transports as they sank).
- Slow landing, in part because I stuffed up and had a junior grade Lt in charge of the largest amphibious landing TF in history (fark) and I had an ordinary captain in charge of the shattered remnants (really, Hooper hammered my surface ships) of the surface screen, having lost 4 (record?) admirals in the fortnight of belting I got there.
- Landings lasted 2 weeks.
- Fighting lasted about 3 weeks before I took the place and another week to mop up.
- Early landed LCUs were shattered - ones that landed later fared better and were in ok shape by the end.
- Mostly Australian troops, but I landed LOADS of arty and tanks and gave my uber green troops some experience. 
- I also took the base beyond Hollandia (Sarmi?) with Paratroops, raced in a base force and some bombers which further protected the landings.
- P 38s on cap vs unescorted betties that didn't bother with the full transports, but smashed up transports returning to Rabaul or Oz.  This continued for a very long time before I was able to get Admiralty/Emirau up big enough to pound Truk into silence and scare off enemy bombers freom palau or further up the coast.

Paradoxically at Kai Island I landed mostly american troops, all considerably more green than the Hollandia invasion.
- Less guns and support units at Kai
- No enemy interference (that I can remember)
- Massive pre landing bombardments by sea and air for weeks
- Smaller enemy units (mixed brigade and a couple of naval infs with support units only)
- Much better invasion commander (very high aggression, ok land skill about 38)
- CV backup that wasn't needed . . . because I barely had any surface combatants because every time they enter a combat zone hooper engages and hurts them.
- Better landing with fewer casualties, but very high disruption.
- Worse generals in charge of the invasion, not enough HQs and generally poorer result in spite of outnumbering the enemy better than I did at Hollandia.
- Fighting takes a whole freaking month of bombing and reinforcing and bringing in yet more troops and resting and supplying and bombarding before I take the worthless palce, and then another 2 weeks to clean the japs off the island.  The japs really fought hard, and absolutely shattered every unit fighting there.  Fortunately I had some ridiculous number of support points at Brisbane (having concentrated all allied HQ's not in PNG there, like Southwest command, Australia HQ, malaya Army and ABDA etc.), and managed to repair them in a few months but still - absolutely whalloped.

At the end of this excercise I had:
- Taken the other lvl 7 airfield on the top of PNG - all small fry until the mainland turns into Ambiona and Morotai etc from here on (PNG campaign looking long but victorious eventually)
- Killed my first enemy units in their entirety, the 6th(?) division, a mix brigade and a few base forces and naval infs (truth be told, I lost as many troops as Hooper did so the ratio of allied troop deaths to Jap didn't change much).  Even though I was aware hooper's economy might just replace that missing division without sweat because he's lost no tankers, few transports at all and my subs aren't bothering him yet from their bases in whoop whoop.
- Realised the importance of not bothering with stupid little bases I don't need that I could reasonably starve out.  Unfortunately there aren't many bases I can ignore just now, but later, if I don't have to fight, I won't.  Kai was not a vital target, and I spend 6 weeks fighting there, and my land combat units were absolutely useless for the next 2 months.  If Kai takes 3 months, how long with a real Jap target take?!?!
- I start to understand that the winner (by points) in this game will be determined by how fast I move to take the big ticket items.  My losses and damage only slows me and so far Hooper has basically achieved 3/3 wins in my forward movements (outright win a Wake, and win on time/effort for Hollandia and Kai).
- I also realise the biggest limiting factor for me is aircraft range - especially fighter range.  Hooper's fighters are good enough (and his economy keeps them modern enough) to truly maul my heavy bombers (that and he has a lot of flak units concentrated at the only places I'm able to bomb - e.g. 30 out of 48 liberators get damaged in a pass over Wake or Tarawa, and 10 of those turn into op losses.
- I go through a enforced period of little to no activity as my surface combat ships, CV fleet, transport fleet and aux fleet all go into the shop for massive repairs.
- I spend plenty of time bombing stuff from Darwin and Kai and Hollandia, and steal a few more empty little abses along the northern PNG coast while swatting away enemy betties from Truk and Palau.

It is about this time that my pacific fleet and troops are coming back online after their losses at Wake, and I select another target: Apanama (which is still US, but right on top of Tarawa and that other island).  Or maybe it was the other island hooper left US (the nothern one anyway).

More details after I look up the name.



_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 14
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/23/2009 3:57:02 PM   
stuman


Posts: 3907
Joined: 9/14/2008
From: Elvis' Hometown
Status: offline 		Didn't know you from earlier, but nice to have a vet back . I enjoyed reading this abbreviated AAR, very succint and points out to this newb Allied player several things I need to avoid when I jump into my first PBEM.

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 15
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/23/2009 4:13:09 PM   
witpqs


Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline 		Luskan,

You make this guy (Hooper) sound like a real monster. Can you sit down yet or is your bottom still sore? Damn!

(in reply to stuman)
Post #: 16
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/25/2009 8:21:19 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Luskan,

You make this guy (Hooper) sound like a real monster. Can you sit down yet or is your bottom still sore? Damn!


Ye of little faith - thou really shouldn't have any other WITP Jap-god before me*. The story is only half told - we're in 1944 already and thing have progressed. But I don't want to spoil the order of the AAR.

* = except maybe Mogami, and maybe Sneer, and possibly Nik, although none of them had bananas.



_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to witpqs)
Post #: 17
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/26/2009 1:00:11 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Ok - so the next chapter and verse of this little drama was pretty straightforward.

In Burma: I held at Mandalay and bombed Pagan from Chandpur, Akyab and Mandalay while Hooper tried to take Mandalay now and then, bombs mandalay or Akyab from Rangoon.  After a while he starts to conserve his level bombers because my spits and hurris are really starting to get some good exp and be very dangerous to bombers.  No range though, and I remain unable to drop a big hit on Andaman (range) or Rangoon (range + CAP) - even with brt liberators getting introduced to replace the wellingtons slowly.  This theatre (aside from some big air battles) stays stagnant until mid 1943.

In the Pacific: I prepare for the invasion launching from Baker (rally point only really) -> Tarawa.  5 of my 6 original CVs are back in business, I have a couple of CVEs and CVLs to augment my covering CV fleet, I've replaced all the dead pilots from before, I'm now 100% F4F, and feeling good about my chances of a rematch (last CV battle cost about a thousand pilots for both sides all up but 0 ships - every US CV damaged to some extent and half the japs damaged a bit - most of the pilots lost were mine by drowning).

I load a LOT of firepower into this landing force, including 2 marine divisions (1st Marine not included - still only at about 67% repaired after the Wake disaster), 2 army divisions, loads of RCTs, ENG, etc. etc.  Basically I've got the kitchen sink and all either at Baker, or on ships rallied at Baker, ready to go in.

I may be remembering some of this a little out of order.

Anyhow - Hooper had left the northernmost island in the Gilberts (forget the name still) untaken - it was still US base.  So the first step was a trio of sub transport TFs, 25 subs each, landing 2 marine raider detachments on the island with a little supply, followed by 2 fast transport TFs that delivered more supply, returned to baker, loaded a SeeBees unit and dumped them on the island to start building an airbase (I have the most dakotas in the world at Baker - nothing else flying from the base except for 6 catalinas).

Hooper bombards (my warning that he's noticed) and start bombing the place (lightly - he didn't over commit) from Tarawa.  He starts to damage the fast transport groups that run every 2 or 3 days into the base, carrying more engineers, the small parts of a CD unit, more engineers etc.  He tried a crappy counter invasion and gives up after landing 400 troops which are massacred and retires. 

Then I decide it is time to send in normal transports, with CV cover to this base (Apanama? or that might be the southern one).  2 hexes from Tarawa -> I need those CVs, and I send in 4 different surface combat groups (all my combat ships in the world at this point - most of the destroyers are British for crying out loud), with 2 new BBs, 2 old BBs (one of them the PoW) and a BC (Repulse), about 7 CAs (2 british) and escorts to cover the 200 transports and their precious cargo of troops, planes and mass supply.  If I pull off this one move, i'll be able to barge/landing craft from the northern base onto Tarawa, and have all the aircover a size 4 (once built) base can give me, and I'll never have to risk my CVs and slow transports there again - I plan to dump all the invasion troops onto the northern base and just use one or two small ship tfs to ferry them onto the beach.  I can't risk the transports Vs Hoopers CD units again.

I get there without incident and Hooper's battle groups (1 group with 3 BBs + escorts and 1 with CLs and DDs only) strike the next night - either he was lucky or he was waiting.  Repulse cops a nasty big shell from Yamato (or something with big big guns) and is shattered in the opening shot, but doesn't get long lanced (which would have been the end of her).  PoW does a sterling job, taking a serious pounding from the enemy BBs, and a torp hit but holding them off the transports as Hooper's DDs manifestly outclass the british and smash them one after the other - about half sink.  PoW vs Yamato at 3000 yards with their AA armaments was cool - but I didn't land any really big hits here.  My CAs (Shropshire especially) land lots of 8 inch hits on Hooper's BBs but apart from a bit of a glow around a couple they didn't really hurt him. 

Enemy BB group leaves the smashed up PoW group (both cap ships at 50 sys or more, half the escorts sunk, the other half damaged for 1 enemy DD sunk and 1 damaged) and Tanaka takes on my second BB group, with 2 old battlewagons in it.  These battlewagons were surprised, and took a few hits each (not as bad as PoW) and I lose a few more British and Australian destroyers.  An aussie CA gets line and length on a jap CL for a while but that is about it.

Hooper's light group engages, and torps one of the aforementioned (again - surprised) battlewagons, and sink a pair of my CAs in one of the few long lance attacks (where the admiral launches the lances and retires) of the game.  Surface combat over, CVs and transports alive, and I still have 2 unengaged, undamaged BBs (unusual for me). 

The cripples start to limp home and I get another two days of precious unloading time and the airfield nears size 1 (taking forever) when Hooper's CVs show up - I get some intel that tells me what hex Kaga is in, I look it up and they're about a half day north towards Kwajalein.  I order Halsey and the CVs north, as the airfield finally hits size 1, and I immediately transfer in my only squadron of Corsairs (arrived very, very late in this game).  Corsairs don't do a great job (65 exp) vs Hoopers planes but they do enough (and I get in a BB bombardment - lose a DD to a mine at Tarawa, but quietens the bombings down for a bit).

Long story short on the CV battle, both sides see each other, close and launch.  Both sides get annoying, confused launches without concentrating - my attack was about 25 "waves" of unescorted bombers or escorted bombers etc, all in groups of 10 or 25.  Same with Hooper.

I get lucky - very lucky - on the first round, putting a bomb through a CVL and a CV and getting a nice fuel explosion.  I put another bomb through a CV but don't see much damage other than an AA mount destroyed.  Not a single torpedo hit, and Hooper's CAP (who mostly survived and benefited from our last CV vs CV tangle) kill basically every torpedo plane sent at them.  Hooper has 3or 4 groups not find my CVs, and the rest tangle with my CAP but don't get any hits (aside from a CVE that cops a few bombs).  I'm thinking: I've got him! I'm going to smash him!

Hair-on-fire-Halsey charges in the next day for the kills and the glory, expecting Hooper to have retired after such a bad start - to find the jap carriers charged at him and they passed in the night - they're behind him now.  This time when they launch, I still get stupid staggered attacks, and I get half a dozen hits on 3-4 different CVs, my wildcats are doing ok on escort, but I'm now basically out of Torpedo bombers, and starting to look a bit thin on dauntlesses as well.  Hooper gets a nice concentrated attack, that while a bit smaller than the day before (he had some flight decks out from my damage) the quality and condensed attack pattern made a difference.  His zeros blew right through the cap, and the shooting gallery commenced (again).

Enterprise took 4 torpedoes and 3 bombs, but didn't sink - limped back to Baker at 95 sys and 80 flt and 15 fire.
Saratoga cops 3 torps
Lexington cops about 8 bombs and an ammo explosion
Hornet takes 2 torps
Yorktown takes 2 torps 2 bombs, but no that badly damaged
Another 2 CVEs are damaged and I think a 3rd is sunk.

Fortunately, I had so few planes that the Hornet and Yorktown were still able to recover most of the returning planes.

Now my surviving 2 BBs, remember them? They go play decoy while Hooper's CVs close for the kill.  Both BBs get smashed up, and I lose another 2 CAs and DDs (who shot dwn a few bombers with good flak) giving me 3-4 days while Hooper flails madly but can't find my cripples in hte bad weather.  Some make it to my Gilberts base, some make it to Baker, Hornet and Yorktown run for Pearl but stop halfway to put some runaway flt damage to rights.

Again, a CV battle, AGAIN no clear winner and no fleet CVs sunk, although AGAIN I've come off definitely second best.  Again, the invasion fleet survives unmolested, and AGAIN I'm out of working BBs.  It takes 8 MONTHS to get all the BBs and CVs from this fight back 0 flt damage, then hidden and covered while they escape the combat area and back to Pearl avoiding subs and then to the West coast and then repaired.  I get Essex and a few other fleet CVs and lots of little CVLs in the meantime, but this really put CV battles off the map for both of us.

Next: Invasion Tarawa, leapfrog PNG, stolen Timor.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 18
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/27/2009 3:46:32 AM   
Hooper82

 

Posts: 41
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline 		On the Japanese side of this battle -

Before I start, I need to stop for a second. I'm intending on giving the Japanese rundown of the battle over Wewak and Hollandia. However, the outcome of that fight was that 70% of my effective surface combat fleet was in the shop after making runs at allied transport fleets full of marines on the northern coast of Guinea. My airforces had been decimated by the Allied bombardment at Hollandia (I estimate that I lost between 400 and 500 aircraft in that bombardment), and the following furious aerial combat.

All I had left for combat was KB (fully recovered from Wake), and that surface combat group consisting of 3 BB's, some CA's, CL's and DD's. I'd figured the next most obvious point for Luskan to hit was the Gilberts. So I had my surface combat group stationed down there. KB was in the pacific ready to rush to the defence of the SRA or South Eastern Pacific (I'd declared Burma 'safe').

While I had Divisions, and transports for them, I didn't have the forces to secure the sea or air in order to land them. Nor did I consider the Gilberts of particluar importance. They didn't significantly lengthen the transport lanes between the US and Australia. I was quite happy to trade them for time in order to get my forces repaired and my squadrons re-stocked.

So, as Luskan has said, I split my surface combat group into a heavy and light force, giving Tanaka command of the Light force. They did very well...and it was a very Japanese outcome. Much honour was earn't for the Lady-Boy Emperor. But, No transports where sunk (that I can remember). I would have prefered more shells and long lances where spent on allied transports than allied destroyers.

Its been a runing joke of this PBEM that Luskans BB's get the worst luck. The Gilberts where no different with, from memory, at least one Allied BB sunk and the rest damaged. However, the game also followed form with the Carrier Battles.
The first day was totally indecisive, with little damage being done to ether side. Two of my fleet carriers where put out of action and they scurried off with a minimal escort. I decided to throw the dice again, hoping I'd counted right and the allies where mostly out of aircraft. That and my land based aircraft would tip the battle in my favour. It was a successful second day, and I'm glad I threw the dice...but...

While I may have "won" the battle, I didn't do enough. Loosing a CVE is nothing to the allies. I had hoped my limited submarine net would catch the Enterprise, Saratoga, Lexington, and Hornet...but no such luck (I suspect my sub commanders wern't willing to show there periscopes after the shalacking they received in the first 3 months of the war).

I didn't have the aircraft left for a 3rd day. Most of my carriers where down to 1-2 fighters, and a 3rd of their dive and torpedo bomber forces. I had to pull out, Oh how I wanted to let loose the japanese pilots for another day and try to finish off those cripples and transports...I couldn't. The deciding factor was fuel. My carriers where in the red.

I'd built up a large stockpile of fuel at Kwajalein, but having those battleships stationed had drained it. A replenishment taskforce had arrived at Kwajalein a day before my carriers had passed though...but only unloaded 15,000 fuel or so. My carriers had rushed into battle with less than half full tanks...and I paid the price now.

While I had won the engagment, I'd lost the battle. An interesting side note, over the following week, every single float-plane transport the Japanese owned based itself out of Kwajalein and air-transported the base forces (And even some of the NLF units) from under the allies noses.

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 19
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/27/2009 8:53:38 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		As Hooper as said, he was evacuating Tarawa by air, and although I'd secured the sea and air (and next door island) my lightning "unload at the base, then reload onto smaller barges and LSTs and LCIs then hit the beach at Tarawa in successive waves" move turned into a much more US kind of plodding "left wheel kinda" manouvre.  Took a week to get all the troops I needed onto the island to take the place (for the first time my tank units really stood up to the japs and made life a bit easier) and once Tarawa was mine . . . I spent another week mopping up, another week catching my breath, then invading the last island in the chain, another few weeks, Naaru taken back as a side show etc. etc.

Basically securing the Gilberts was never in question once we'd fought our sea battles, but the time, effort and number of troops and admaged ships took a fairly big toll.  I parked lots of HQs in the islands, redistributed all the unit fragments to be with their parents again and let everyone heal (and all units preparing for invasion Kwajalein).

Just to be cheeky, my marine raiders snapped up a couple of empty islands on the southern end of Kwajalein's island chain but really just nuisance value at this stage.

At this point I've transferred my uber Dakota fleet to PNG and Kai/Darwin.  From PNG, I launched into a series of recon missions to see where Hooper wasn't (and even when he was somewhere he didn't have any real force) and I stole every empty base with paratroops, flew in base forces, moved dakota's forward, flew out the paratroops and moved on.  I hopped all the way up PNG like this with only a coulpe of minor landings vs opposition, getting into range of Morotai without really copping too much damage (Hooper bettied me most of the way from palau and Truk but I'd started to lay some pain on Truk and he was pulling out his aircraft now).

PNG was a pushoever after I had knocked him off balance at Hollandia, so I didn't try and out do myself there. 

Next I landed paratroops at Koepang (bottom left corner of Timor) and stole the base from the unfriendly jap base force pretty convincingly.  I landed a fast transport group with Lark Force on the right hand base at Timor, and marched overland to take the centre base (Dili?).  Timor secure, I send in the engineers, base forces (got a lot of them by now) and then some more engineers, and start building bases.  My obvious 2 objectives: Kendari and Ambiona.



_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Hooper82)
Post #: 20
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/28/2009 8:57:38 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		With Timor in my pocket, I stole a few more islands westward towards java, but the truth was I was so out of supply and fuel and my 4E bombers were so tired I basically stood the theatre down until some uber convoys could come in and resupply and refuel everything to the point I could go back on the offensive. Took a while - but that was ok because I needed all the repair time I could get.

Worth mentioning here somewhere the CA Houston is still afloat even after starting life in the SRA. Houston has been torped 6 times so far on 3 separate occasions and keeps going back to Sydney for more repairs.

Anyhow, I mopped up the rest of northern PNG and did a quick hop across to Wasile (? Base under morotai) and set up a small base there - Hooper had long since moved his fighters out of Morotai so wasn't going to be much of a battle.

Finally I decided I would land at Bulla first (in order to cut off any retreating from Ambiona) and knocked the little force out of there easily enough, and then I settled in to build a smallish airbase so I could land at Ambiona without fear of Kendari and its betties (although Hooper always prudently moves his Betties out of the front line as soon as I look able to bombard or 4E it to oblivion).

This boring phase of the game took a month game time or so - I landed at Ambiona without getting smashed up much (a few mines, that is all) and wiped out the South Seas Detachment (or was that at Kai?). Anoyhow, Ambiona wasn't hard, and suddenly I had Ambiona Kai and Timor in B17, liberator and extreme mitchell range of Kendari and Macassar so I started to pound away in preparation for my biggest battle yet.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 21
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 2/28/2009 4:22:00 PM   
Oliver Heindorf


Posts: 1911
Joined: 5/1/2002
From: Hamburg/Deutschland
Status: offline 		Luskan alte Rinde ! Nice to see ya back. Should have played longer together but hey, we had a gr8 time

good luck in this game - I stopped playing stock in Feb 08. I am now enjoyning RHS which is so much fun but a different game.

good luck here. seems that you were a more nasty player as jap but a nice surprise at wake hehehe

_____________________________


(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 22
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 3/2/2009 11:10:43 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Hi Oli - yeah - good to see some old hands still around!

So - details getting a bit hazy here because the pace of the game slowed considerably and Hooper and i were blitzing through 5-6 turns a night and dozens on weekends.

Having noticed that Hooper went for hedgehog defence (1 base, heavily defended, no spreading out) I sent in my sub transport fleet (subs not having sunk a damned thing in this game because they've never been used that way) to marine raider a few of those annoying little bases around Kendari, Macassar and Menado and stole them (cutting off escape routes prior to hitting Kendari), and spent a lot of time upgrading planes - moving them forward (first time in the game i've got bases in dauntless range of an enemy and my dauntlesses NEED the practise).

And now the decision: I have the US troops (mainly) with canadians massed at Ambiona & Hollandia (shipping most of them back to Ambiona for northwards strikes at palau, truk, Guam etc.), recovering their strength, and I've got the Australians and Kiwis at Darwin (moved back from kai and Timor), also recovering. Which force do I use (I also have the yanks out at Tarawa but they're going to Kwajalein next so aren't any use).

In the end, I opt for the Anzacs - those Australian divisions are big, Darwin is a bit easier to co-ordinate the invasion from, and I'll be using just about every anzac plane in the softening up face from Timor so may as well match up with ground troops.

The fleet gets assembled, this time with battleships, about a dozen cruisers, 200 AKs, 50 APs, all 75 LCT and LST type ships in the game, and even 50 LCVPs I've cooked up. I've got PT boats, Minesweepers, ASW TFs, a CV TF loaded with 3 repaired fleet carriers and half a dozen slow CVEs loaded with wildcats for cap. I've got P-38s at Ambiona and Timor ready to LRCAP, and I've got lots of bombers pounding the base to smithereens.

I wait.

I wait until KEndari's airbase stops repairing (good sign) and then the ABDA HQ, Malaya HQ, one of the army HQs, a dozen eng units, 3 arty units, 4 tank units, an MAW and 6 (!) Australian divisions (yes - numbered 1st -> 6th) go into the lead wave at Kendari.

Weirdly enough, this time I deal with the mines, sink a sub, beat off some betties, beat off a fairly weak surface combat strike, bomb a surface combat strike still a day out from Kendari from up the Javanese chain a bit, and counter bombard the CD guns at Kendari and get troops ashore in good order on turn 1.

Now this is the second of Hooper's divisions I've cornered, with a couple of eng and small infs at kendari - and turn one has gone brilliantly.

Unfortunately it kind of stalled there - as the CD units got better, not worse as the unloading went on for over a week (I landed a stupendous amount of stuff!) and my 6 Australian divisions chewed the fort from size 9 -> size 4 in no time . . . but after 15 days I was still at size 3 fort, my bombardments were doing a little damage, but my attacks really weren't. Hooper's assault points suddenly surge back up as his troops begin to repair a bit, my planes get exhausted and the weather stops me bombing Kendari for almost a week.

I'm not going to lose, but I can't win either, so I double or nothing, load up all the left over troops at Darwin, everything from odd RCTs, Kiwi brigades, a Cav division (no horses), an RAF aviation Eng, lots more engineers (lots - really, about 14 of them) and shipped them inot Kendari.

Mistake: messed up the whole sending of damaged transports home and one of my uber amphibious groups is commanded by a Lt. Thought I'd made that mistake already this game - and watched the CD unit smack up my SC and MSW escorts (and a few transports) a lot worse than in the original wave. None the less I get another wave of troops ashore and progress begins again. I get the fort down to 0 after 3 days of deliberate attacks . . . and then I stall again.

Hooper's 60k troops have been bombed (obviously not well enough), starved (not long enough) and invaded (with everything I had massing at Darwin we're talking 3500 assault points) and had survived and resisted brilliantly. I now have about 1200 assault points, and most of my LCUs are at 30% effectiveness.

I spend political points, and heads roll. Lots of inf commanders get promoted to command those divisions. Then I finally take Kendari . . . but Hooper's guys don't retreat. He loses a couple of small inf units but the Division is still there, on the hex, shooting at me.

Fed up, I load all the troops I HAD been going to land at Morotai off Ambiona's docks and onto Kendari, and it takes those guys about a week to finally stamp out all resistance.

A few bad commanders, a slow unloading and not enough preparation meant that although my overwhelming force couldn't be beaten, Kendari took me 5 weeks of pain to take, and left me with a bunch of shattered Australian divisions that would take months to get back to full strength. The only good news was that now all the troops in theatre were blooded and a lot more experienced than when they hit the beach at Kendari.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Oliver Heindorf)
Post #: 23
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 3/2/2009 12:42:43 PM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Ok - so I've got Kendari, one of the few bases in the SRA that produces enough supply to support itself.  Good start Hooper losing it.

So, if you've been paying attention you know what my problem is now, and how I have to solve it:

Problem: Front line moved forward, I've got shattered divisions sitting there, no supply and no fuel.
Solution: Ship in a gigantic supply convoy of fuel, and anothe rof supply, move all extra units (HQs, the lot) to Kendari which becomes the new Darwin Super HQ, park the 4Es in there (takes a while, airfield not really big enough and supply definitely not that copious) and sit around for a month resting, bombing stuff.

At this point subs finally start to play in the game as I'm now within range, and park subs off all Hooper's resource and oil ports.  I start bombing Borneo, and that is about all that happens in this theatre until December 1943.

Over in my other theatre, I do my usual overwhelming force thing at Kwajalein, it goes swimmingly (Hooper didn't really try and defend it) and although it takes a while to mop up Kwajalein and the surrounding islands (especially Eniwetok - just ran out of steam too early) the Marines do a kick ass job.  Northern front going well (excepting the whole Wake thing), Southern front at Kendari already . . . the South Western front kind of got bypassed a bit.

I had uber forces at Hollandia, but few transports (less than 30), 1 small surface combat group (old ships) and some CVEs.  Since things at Kwajalein went well, and sooner or later I'd get some proper naval reinforcement from over there while the marines got back to full strength, I invaded Woleli (sp?).  Small island north of Hollandia.

Why? Well for starters it is OUT OF THE MALARIAL ZONE.  Perfect for the new uber base for my trillion units.  Also it will be in range of Guam, Palau etc. and behind Truk (cutting it off even further).  Big enough airfield to protect myself, so I set my sights, and start planning a quick steal move with my few ships.

_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 24
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 3/2/2009 4:44:09 PM   
Nomad


Posts: 5905
Joined: 9/5/2001
From: West Yellowstone, Montana
Status: offline 		Go Banana Boy. You're showing how much the Allies can screw up and still have a chance to win.

_____________________________


(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 25
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 3/4/2009 9:44:08 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Yes - I'm aware there are some allied fanboys that won't be happy with my performance to date. But what I lack in allied player skill I make up for with overwhelming numerical superiority. And when that fails me - good looks.

Anyhow, I put my bandaid/rubber band little plan into action and land at Wolelei or whatever and get into a surprisingly tough but short little fight. Fine. Take the place, victory is mine, the kiwis hoisted the american flag (base has a star on it) in a bit of a flag mix up that the Anzac's will regret forever, etc.

Then Hooper's betties start niggling - they have been quiet for a while now but there is no airbase built at Wolei yet and they start taking advantage of the fact and start picking off troop filled transports. They don't sink many but they damage quite a few on the endless return trips from Wewak, Rabaul, Admiralty, Hollandia as I use my limited ship numbers to move the troops out of the Malairal zone to my new super invasion launching fwd base!

Then the surface combat attacks start up again - I did ok with the first one, MSWs and SCs died heroicly to protect my transports (as they should) and I brought in some PT boats, which Hooper subsequently smashed out of the water with his usual combination of 1 BB rgoup and 1 smaller faster group, operating from palaul a big, but mostly Guam. I try to tough it out, but am losing ships too fast, so I bring in more transports - speed up the unloading.

After a little hiatus, I'm thinking I'm ok because I bring in lots of engineers, the 4th fleet HQ and the newly repaired cruisers Minnesota, Dorsetshire, Suffolk, and match them up with some slightly more worn CAs and CLs to form a formidible (see what I did there?) fleet that sets at Wolei as a permanent police force vs Hooper's ships. I bring in more PT boats (running out now in spite of the house rule that I only have 20 in combat areas at any one time - amde the mistake of spawning them in Oz which caused no end of problems).

Houston joins the defence team and immediately gets bettied and has to return to Sydney. That night, while 100 transports are unloading (I upped the ante) Hooper's 2 surface combat groups sweep in the from sea. I'm calm - I was expecting it, I'm not expecting to win, but I'm expecting to bloody his nose and get him to give me a bit of room - enough room to get an airfield built and a cap up at least, or enough room to get my little CVEs into the fray.

Of course, Wolei has NO FUEL, and little supplies (in spite of the troops and supply I'm dumping on it, they haven't exactly built the warehouse properly yet). The no fuel thing ends up biting me as my PT boats, fresh from their transit from Hollandia are out of fuel and do not engage. $% (*&^( )(*%@*& )_(() *&!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My CA group of about 5 CAs goes head to head with 2-3 Jap BBs, a similar number of cruisers and destroyers and things start off well with my pummelling a jap destroyer under the waves without missing a beat. However the BBs eventually find their range and sink 2 CAs, cripple another one (sunk by betties in the morning) and damage the other two. If Houston had still been there, she would have no doubt been damaged as well.

The BBs get amongst the transports, but don't have the time to linger and work so they sink 10-12 of them (no troops on board) and exit stage left, while the light group engages a different bunch of transports and sinks another 5-6, this time with some troops aboard. Annoying.

I reform my destroyers into a surface combat group while my CAs either limp home or settle on the bottom, and rush in a CVE group - which narrowly misses getting caught at the Wolei base again - but catches Hooper's BBs on the way back out.

Revenge!

Is the name of one of the old slow Brit BBs I got sunk at the start of the game - certainly isn't what happened.

My CVEs are mostly loaded with fighters, but there were still about 100 TBFs aboard as well, and about 48 dauntlesses. This group has about 10 CVEs in it by now and is pretty kick ass, if slow. Good endurance too. They launch a big strike, and every torpedo bomber misses, and about 10% get shot down. Embarassing, try again in the afternoon fellas! Hrm . . . no improvement. In compensation my dauntlesses bounced a few bombs off Yamato or one of those big jap bastards but didn't do any damage.

Hooper retires his forces to Guam under a nice fat cap that my next day's airstrike tangles with quite poorly - corsairs do ok but htey're crappy pilots, wildcats generally don't fare that well, and the avengers, surprise surprise take losses and no hits.

Stupid CVEs now out of fuel and return to Hollandia to refuel while Hooper brings in more ships to bombard/cycles others out etc.

Rinse and repair for a week or so and add up the cost of the damage/embarassment as my CVEs can't seem to strike his fleet.

Salvation as Wolei gets an airfield, and then gets it to size 2, 15 engineer units working aronud the clock on that one. I load in dauntlesses, and manage to completely miss a jap surface combat group that the liberators I've stuffed back into Hollandia catch. Those liberators are excellent pilots, and and absolutely pound the snot out of 2 of Hooper's BBs, and take out some AA guns and maybe a turret . . . but no real damage. Enough to send them away for a while.

Hooper brings in new BBs, sinks more PT boats and some more transports, I bring the Washington (new BB) and one of the old battlewagons just off the repair yard and they go head to head with 3 of Hooper's BBs one night. My BBs don't get a single hit on his, although a couple of cruisers do score plenty of 8 inch hits on the jap monsters, while Washington cops a large shell through the front turret that takes it out completely (no ammo explosion though) and I lose some more dds.

A few days later, as Washington limps back to the west coast, the battlewagon I left behind gets bettied bad enough to send her limping back to Sydney. She's still there now.

Finally Wolei gets to size 4, Hooper tries to play a game with his CVE fleet and they lose significantly (sank one, damaged a few) vs my level bombers and CVE fleet and they go park the cripples in a nearby port which I bomb and get a couple more kills at.










_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Nomad)
Post #: 26
RE: How to skin a Ladyboy with a Banana. - 3/24/2009 9:20:07 AM   
Luskan

 

Posts: 1897
Joined: 7/11/2002
From: Down Under
Status: offline 		Ok, so there is a bit of a resting period while my damaged ships lug themselves back to a repair port and I try to give my battered LCU's a chance to recover.  Very little of note happens for a while so I'll bullet point the next few months of the game:
- Hooper rebuids his naval air arm.
- I nurse ships back to health, address a lot of supply issues.
- I do some short, cheap hops from Kendari to steal back bases that Hooper isn't defending - he's got big forces at Morotai, Macassar and Bali, and Davao etc. so I land a single division (risky) with no surface combat escort at Balikpapan, bypassing his fortresses and landing on Borneo.  I also land my allied tank spearhead here and they drive all the way to Tarakan, and are currently reversing course to take on the significantly better defended Banjarmasin (which is probably beyond the forces I have landed there now) so while they're rolling into position I'm figuring out how to ship troops in.
- I bomb a lot of stuff a lot.  Especially morotai (which has the jap 5th air force HQ thing there).
- Hooper's fighters and betties pull back (although they score some easy wins in the indian ocean as I ship excess tanks and troops from Karachi -> invade Tjilijap . . . that's right, I landed unopposed on Java.
- I sweep up to Batavia and liberate it without much opposition - I've landed a LOT of british tanks and a few indian divisions, and this goes very fast.  I start basing fighters on Java to protect my unloading fleets.  Progress very very fast (little opposition) until I ran into Soerbaja where one of Hooper's more elite divisions and support units sits behind a lvl 9 fort.  They also have enough AA to sneer at my best heavy bombing attempts so far, and my lightning Javanese invasion ground to a sudden and abrupt stop.  I have been cutting corners shipping in troops that aren't on the front in India, but I've lost too many transports sailing past the tip of Sumatra to be happy about it.
- Hooper lets his jap tank spearhead come questing forward in Burma by a hex without the 35 if units protecting it and I land on it with 52 chinese and half a dozen brit/indian divisions/arm units/arty units and give them a spanking.  He loses a couple of hundred tanks but seeing as the war hasn't exactly been taxing his economy yet that isn't that big a deal.



_____________________________

With dancing Bananas and Storm Troopers who needs BBs?

(in reply to Luskan)
Post #: 27
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