Slitherine

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utilizing only two CVE for escort purposes

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Marcus is a level 1 airfield, so it can't base offensive missions, right?

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Marcus is a level 1 airfield, so it can't base offensive missions, right?

I plan to use the two CVEs at Wake Island - they can carry a total of 40 fighters. Wake is an atoll and a level three airfield, so that's a concern. But Brad can't have a heckuva lot there given the garrison limit.

Yes, I'm counting on surprise, and yes, these forces are fairly expendable.

Created by the amazing Dixie

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Yes and no about Wake. I know that Brad cannot have more than about 6,500 troops on Wake - any more and the supply situation becomes absolutely impossible.

Given a garrison limit of 6k, he probably has a base force, an engineer unit, and an SNLF or Naval Guard unit.

A major part of my plan is the elaborate deception activities that have been part of the game since early on. But I get your point. I will re-evaluate. I could possibly reconfigure Allied activity in CenPac to await arrival of the Allied carriers - assuming I send then to the Pacific, which I'm currently mulling over.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Bombay: I'm watching Bombay's supply level drop pretty steadily - from 66k to 49k in about eight days (and it was 100k about a month or so ago). I turned off fort building a few weeks ago (at 7.5). Japanese bombing hasn't been particularly heavy or effective, so I'm a bit surprised at the rate of decline. The Allies will need to reopen the road eventually, though it's by no means critical in the near term. Another Indian armored unit (122 AV) arrives in a few days, followed by an Indian division (350 AV) in less than a month. Also, the Allies have alot of USAAF sqadrons set to arrive within the next ten days. Bombay is a level 9 airfield, Ahmadebad is level 8 (it won't reach nine for weeks), and Karachi is a level 7 or 8. Most of the other airfields ar pretty small, though I'm building at Cawnpore, Surat, and Indore.

Clausewitz: I'm not student of this military strategist, but I believe he said something about an army on the offensive taking too long to knock out the enemy, thus permitting the enemy to adjust and eventually counterattack. I think that's what's going to happen in India, though I'm not distcounting Brad. He's a good strategist and an excellent player, but I think this is taking too long. He landed at Ceylon on 3/7/42 and rolled up nearly everything he has today within three months, but the past three months have been awfully quiet, while Allied forces have been seriously strengthened by reinforcements (having the US Army and Marines present is a relief).

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

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ORIGINAL: witpqs

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

A few notes: With such low prep, upon landing they will take a lot of disruption, made worse by the lack of real attack landing ships. Most likely one unit will take the brunt of the casualties on the first day and possibly be combat ineffective. Sitting quiet will recover the fatigue, which will make all the difference when they do attack. If you over-stack the island, supplies will disappear more quickly. Very quickly if you are way over, more quickly than you can land supplies so you will not be able to stockpile. The good news is that harry's experience at Kwajalein showed that combat takes place before the supply penalty is applied, meaning that whatever you land during the turn is available for combat. I do not know when disruption is reduced, so I do not know if landed supplies are available for that before the penalty.

With the forces you outlined I doubt you'll be much over on stacking so you should be OK on that score.

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

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ORIGINAL: witpqs

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

A few notes: With such low prep, upon landing they will take a lot of disruption, made worse by the lack of real attack landing ships. Most likely one unit will take the brunt of the casualties on the first day and possibly be combat ineffective. Sitting quiet will recover the fatigue, which will make all the difference when they do attack. If you over-stack the island, supplies will disappear more quickly. Very quickly if you are way over, more quickly than you can land supplies so you will not be able to stockpile. The good news is that harry's experience at Kwajalein showed that combat takes place before the supply penalty is applied, meaning that whatever you land during the turn is available for combat. I do not know when disruption is reduced, so I do not know if landed supplies are available for that before the penalty.

With the forces you outlined I doubt you'll be much over on stacking so you should be OK on that score.

A question here. I know that low prepped units will take a big hit. I accidently sent the wrong division to sieze an unoccupied Lunga and suffered about 50% casualties due to zero prep (kids, don't try this at home). What about low-prepped follow up troops landed at a contested but enemy controlled base. Will they suffer the same disruptions as the unit that originally landed or will they land in better shape? I am just getting into the offensive stage of my campaign and am unsure about this.

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Bombay: I'm watching Bombay's supply level drop pretty steadily - from 66k to 49k in about eight days (and it was 100k about a month or so ago). I turned off fort building a few weeks ago (at 7.5). Japanese bombing hasn't been particularly heavy or effective, so I'm a bit surprised at the rate of decline. The Allies will need to reopen the road eventually, though it's by no means critical in the near term. Another Indian armored unit (122 AV) arrives in a few days, followed by an Indian division (350 AV) in less than a month. Also, the Allies have alot of USAAF sqadrons set to arrive within the next ten days. Bombay is a level 9 airfield, Ahmadebad is level 8 (it won't reach nine for weeks), and Karachi is a level 7 or 8. Most of the other airfields ar pretty small, though I'm building at Cawnpore, Surat, and Indore.

Clausewitz: I'm not student of this military strategist, but I believe he said something about an army on the offensive taking too long to knock out the enemy, thus permitting the enemy to adjust and eventually counterattack. I think that's what's going to happen in India, though I'm not distcounting Brad. He's a good strategist and an excellent player, but I think this is taking too long. He landed at Ceylon on 3/7/42 and rolled up nearly everything he has today within three months, but the past three months have been awfully quiet, while Allied forces have been seriously strengthened by reinforcements (having the US Army and Marines present is a relief).

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

How many AA units do you have in Bombay? I had the same experience at Lunga where my units were under steady air attack. I am beginning to suspect that AA units firing use up an inordinate amount of supply. Bug perhaps?

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Chickenboy, for the past four months, with the exception of three days, I've based six recon aircraft and two small P-38 squadrons at Bombay. On the other three days, I loaded up the airfield with perhaps 175 fighters (and there have been a few other days where I've moved in a few fighter squadrons in ineffective efforts to wage war). No bombers have been based at Bombay for a long, long time, so I don't believe my aircraft are draining supplies. I think it's more likely that Japanese bomber hits, though not that huge, are my problem. On the few days Brad has stood down his bombers, supply barely declined.

crsutton - the low-prepped ground units that follow the initial landings will still suffer tremendous disruption.

P.S. I'm not concerned about the upcoming Norfolk Island invasion. Even with my troops prepped around 40-50%, they should still run roughshod over the 1,000 Japanese troops holding the island.

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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/3/42

Bombay: I'm watching Bombay's supply level drop pretty steadily - from 66k to 49k in about eight days (and it was 100k about a month or so ago). I turned off fort building a few weeks ago (at 7.5). Japanese bombing hasn't been particularly heavy or effective, so I'm a bit surprised at the rate of decline. The Allies will need to reopen the road eventually, though it's by no means critical in the near term. Another Indian armored unit (122 AV) arrives in a few days, followed by an Indian division (350 AV) in less than a month. Also, the Allies have alot of USAAF sqadrons set to arrive within the next ten days. Bombay is a level 9 airfield, Ahmadebad is level 8 (it won't reach nine for weeks), and Karachi is a level 7 or 8. Most of the other airfields ar pretty small, though I'm building at Cawnpore, Surat, and Indore.

Clausewitz: I'm not student of this military strategist, but I believe he said something about an army on the offensive taking too long to knock out the enemy, thus permitting the enemy to adjust and eventually counterattack. I think that's what's going to happen in India, though I'm not distcounting Brad. He's a good strategist and an excellent player, but I think this is taking too long. He landed at Ceylon on 3/7/42 and rolled up nearly everything he has today within three months, but the past three months have been awfully quiet, while Allied forces have been seriously strengthened by reinforcements (having the US Army and Marines present is a relief).

Norfolk Island: The Allies just paid to buy an Oz brigade (80 AV). I also have an Oz machine gun battalion (20 or 30 AV), and the Kiwi N Force Detachment (40 AV). The defenses are two units totaling just 1000 troops, so I don't anticipate much opposition. My guys are currently prepped just 20%, so by the time this operation gets underway prep will be just 40% or so. I think that's okay. Also, the Allies have engineers and base force (18) at Lord Howe Island, which is a level three airfield. That will permit bombing by B-17s at fairly close range. D-Day - perhaps three weeks.

How many AA units do you have in Bombay? I had the same experience at Lunga where my units were under steady air attack. I am beginning to suspect that AA units firing use up an inordinate amount of supply. Bug perhaps?

I think flying a ****-load of fighters and / or bombers out of the hex on a daily basis is a more likely expenditure of supply in quantity than AAA fire, don't you?

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Perhaps it's the early date - we're in September '42 - but this is consistent with what I found in my previous PBEM game. Production seems to be out of balance in a major way. Or am I overlooking something?

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Perhaps it's the early date - we're in September '42 - but this is consistent with what I found in my previous PBEM game. Production seems to be out of balance in a major way. Or am I overlooking something?

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

Well, I had no fighters based at Lunga but still my supply ran down very quick. Had 3 or four AA unit plus all the AA in base forces and a marine defence unit. Could have been just the hits and the repairs that did it but is seemed to drop about 15,000 in about a week.

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ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

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Perhaps it's the early date - we're in September '42 - but this is consistent with what I found in my previous PBEM game. Production seems to be out of balance in a major way. Or am I overlooking something?

A toast to unrealistic aircraft production!