Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Stop getting attached to your pilots!

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

July 21, 1943

A tough day.

Indi-Burma border. Kalemyo.
While the 55th ID sleeps away, the 2nd area army and the whole lot of supporting troops are left behind. Hard choice to make, but a couple of more days and I could have lost 2 full experienced divisions.
While the AA units and the guns can easily bought back, a division is expensive and takes a lot of time to be rebuilt... a choice I had to make.
The support units are overrunned and two are destroyed (an AA unit and an heavy mortar unit). Will be bought back and sent to the Mariannas.

Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21426 troops, 303 guns, 1098 vehicles, Assault Value = 789

Defending force 5193 troops, 162 guns, 196 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Allied adjusted assault: 349

Japanese adjusted defense: 73

Allied assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Kalemyo !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
731 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 211 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 144 (143 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 201 (201 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 8
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
762nd Tank Battalion
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion
3rd Marine Division
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
754th Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
150th RAC Regiment
50th Tank Brigade
6th Medium Regiment
III Indian Corps
134th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Hyderabad Base Force
183rd Field Artillery Battalion
IV Indian Corps
2/1st Med Regiment
1st West African AA Regiment

Defending units:
1st Art.Mortar Regiment
31st Ind.AA Gun Co
36th Field AA Battalion
2nd Area Army
2nd Ind.AA Gun Co
2nd RF Gun Battalion
41st Air Defense AA Battalion
6th Air Defense AA Regiment
54th Field AA Battalion
1st RF Gun Battalion
12th Ind. AA Battalion



IN SOPAC/SWPAC

At Finshhafen, Erik tries to support his two advanced units (still don't know what they are) with a supply landing operation. The ships are welcomed by the CD gun fire and by some mines...
At Buin, heavy naval bombing, followed up by air bombings, plaster the base. Erik lands the 2nd USMC regiment, but the following attack only achieve a 1-2 and forts remain at 4. Won't last long, I know, but everyday helps

Ground combat at Buin (109,131)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12191 troops, 250 guns, 163 vehicles, Assault Value = 455

Defending force 7126 troops, 56 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 193

Allied adjusted assault: 544

Japanese adjusted defense: 711

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
405 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
104 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
32nd Infantry Division
2nd Marine Regiment
147th Field Artillery Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
97th Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
18th Garrison Unit
46th Naval Guard Unit
42nd JNAF AF Unit
44th JNAF AF Unit
45th JNAF AF Unit




In the Marshalls, after several days of bombings, the yanks launch another DA...and got butchered! :-)


Ground combat at Kwajalein Island (132,115)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4478 troops, 55 guns, 31 vehicles, Assault Value = 105

Defending force 3948 troops, 49 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Allied adjusted assault: 10

Japanese adjusted defense: 50

Allied assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
102 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
847 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 106 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
37th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
110th Cmbt Engineer Battalion
1/542nd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion

Defending units:
Maizuru 2nd SNLF
44th Naval Guard Unit
6th Fleet
Nimur Naval Fortress
Kwajalein Base Force

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Interesting but with the change to AA in DaBabes my philosophy about defending bases with fighters has changed. I sometimes just load up key bases with AA and pull the fighters out. Unless the base if operating a lot of bombers, I don't fret too much about fighter defense. The AA makes it dangerous enough to Japanese bombers and lessen the effects of their attacks. Sometimes the best defense vs Japanese sweeps is no defense. Depends....

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton
The spit V is a remarkably disappointing plane from the Allies perspective. Just too damn slow for 1943. (not to mention the lack of any range) The Kittyhawk III is a much better plane but both are bound to suffer at the hands of the George and Frank. I really avoid using the spit V in combat if I can. It just gets your pilots killed and the pool of Australian pilots is very difficult to maintain. He really needs some Jugs at Lae. The P38 is good enough but not really for base defense.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton
The spit V is a remarkably disappointing plane from the Allies perspective. Just too damn slow for 1943. (not to mention the lack of any range) The Kittyhawk III is a much better plane but both are bound to suffer at the hands of the George and Frank. I really avoid using the spit V in combat if I can. It just gets your pilots killed and the pool of Australian pilots is very difficult to maintain. He really needs some Jugs at Lae. The P38 is good enough but not really for base defense.

Woot?! I´ve done very well with the Oz Spits! I use them defensively until the VII comes around and by that time the old V squadrons have a couple of 100 kills and loads of EXP. Some of my best pilots started in the Spit V!

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Can´t remember really what I did with the Vs. I do remember sending then in whenever I wanted a solid CAP. They did extremely well on defensive CAP. Might have been a EXP thing though.

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Can´t remember really what I did with the Vs. I do remember sending then in whenever I wanted a solid CAP. They did extremely well on defensive CAP. Might have been a EXP thing though.

In the DBB air mode, the spit V is too slow to be able to stand the N1K1. However it is a good fighter and, against the Zeros, can be very effective.

For what concerns CAP, Erik is very meticulous not to let me catch with my sweeps his leaking CAP...so, 3 times out of 4, my sweeps find only thin air...

quote:

ORIGINAL: MrKane

I see you have serious stand in Finshhafen, how about site north of Lea (AF lvl 9), don't remember name but it was major allied base during WW2.

Can you leak some information about your AF-bases defending Sumatra ? I mean those bases with range to prevent allied landing on north end of Island.

quote:

Erik responds to my Netties raid at Attu immediately placing 50 planes on CAP, but I don't eat the bait and my netties are back to Nav Search at Diego. Now at Diego there are also some fighters

quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

quote:

Erik responds to my Netties raid at Attu immediately placing 50 planes on CAP, but I don't eat the bait and my netties are back to Nav Search at Diego. Now at Diego there are also some fighters

Nic,
Did you mean Addu, not Attu??

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

That's why I believe this Air Mod is really really well balanced only when played with PDU OFF.
The N1K1 is a really powerful beast.
If I could upgrade all the IJN LBA sentais to the George, by now Erik would be forced to keep all his fighters downed. Imagine what 2/300 Georges could do on sweep to a large allied base.
While, having only 1 Sentai of Georges available, balances things out. I've never played a match where the air war was so fun and so balanced like in this one.
Japan has few interesting toys, that can be used in a very limited way...but when they do, they are useful, as they should be.

In 54 days i'll get the first (and only until mid 1944) J2M Jack sentai (27 planes). Would really like to use it in SOPAC if possible. Hopefully, by the time it arrives, Rabaul will still be operative

quote:

ORIGINAL: veji1

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

That's why I believe this Air Mod is really really well balanced only when played with PDU OFF.
The N1K1 is a really powerful beast.
If I could upgrade all the IJN LBA sentais to the George, by now Erik would be forced to keep all his fighters downed. Imagine what 2/300 Georges could do on sweep to a large allied base.
While, having only 1 Sentai of Georges available, balances things out. I've never played a match where the air war was so fun and so balanced like in this one.
Japan has few interesting toys, that can be used in a very limited way...but when they do, they are useful, as they should be.

In 54 days i'll get the first (and only until mid 1944) J2M Jack sentai (27 planes). Would really like to use it in SOPAC if possible. Hopefully, by the time it arrives, Rabaul will still be operative

True, PDU off makes the game more fun. A nitpicky option would be a semihistoric go between, sort of like PDU 20% on or something, where one could optimize a wee bit more than with pdu off, but not too much though. Anyway this is really nitpicking. This game is fun to watch, I look forward to the rest of 43 : He really should start thinking about the DEI : It takes time to creep up to the oil, and if isn't starting to nibble northern Oz and Merauke/Horn island etc, he will find himself in early 44 still very far from the oil.

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

That's why I believe this Air Mod is really really well balanced only when played with PDU OFF.
The N1K1 is a really powerful beast.
If I could upgrade all the IJN LBA sentais to the George, by now Erik would be forced to keep all his fighters downed. Imagine what 2/300 Georges could do on sweep to a large allied base.
While, having only 1 Sentai of Georges available, balances things out. I've never played a match where the air war was so fun and so balanced like in this one.
Japan has few interesting toys, that can be used in a very limited way...but when they do, they are useful, as they should be.

In 54 days i'll get the first (and only until mid 1944) J2M Jack sentai (27 planes). Would really like to use it in SOPAC if possible. Hopefully, by the time it arrives, Rabaul will still be operative

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I thought you were putting a Tank Division on either Guam or Saipan or both!

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I thought you were putting a Tank Division on either Guam or Saipan or both!

I was...but am not so certain now.

Tank IDs are very usefull in china now and, maybe, later on in Thailand when Burma will fall.
They could be more usefull there, maybe, instead of in a static defence stance in the Mariannas?
don't really know the answer...

Surely 4 Tank divisions At Saipan, Guam, Tinian and Pagan, backed up, maybe, by a small IJA ID (IJA-C), will be pretty awesome....mmmmm.....

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
I agree. I'd love to have the tanks to contest atolls in particular, but they are just far more useful on the continent where you can use them to at least counter the maneuverability of the Allied tanks in terms of hex side control. When you put them on an island, you sacrifice that major perk. I do wonder about using them on Luzon, though - with the grey roads, they could be your mobile reserve to meet a landing. But usually if the Allies are landing on Luzon, you can't stop them anyway...

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I thought you were putting a Tank Division on either Guam or Saipan or both!

I was...but am not so certain now.

Tank IDs are very usefull in china now and, maybe, later on in Thailand when Burma will fall.
They could be more usefull there, maybe, instead of in a static defence stance in the Mariannas?
don't really know the answer...

Surely 4 Tank divisions At Saipan, Guam, Tinian and Pagan, backed up, maybe, by a small IJA ID (IJA-C), will be pretty awesome....mmmmm.....