Slitherine

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR May 22, 43
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Sub attack near Truk at 112,106

Japanese Ships
AO Nippon Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Isokaze
AO Toei Maru
AO Ken'yo Maru
DD Namikaze
DD Asagiri

Allied Ships
SS Haddo

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

They call me the Refrigerator.

:)

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Here are more specifics as to which divisions are at Sabang: four USA, one Marine, one Brit, and one Indian. Seven in total. Two of these are still in decent shape. The rest have been beat up through long campaigning, and I long ago turned off replacements and upgrades to minimize supply draw (correctly recognizing that combat strength wasn't my limiting factor, supply was).

And there are two USA arty units, three tank units, fragments of a couple of RCTs, two good combat engineer units, etc.

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

The sacrifice on Sumatra & Malaya are only worthwhile if CIRCUS is 150% effective, disrupting JIII defences and resulting in substantial CV losses (5+ CV sunk).
The 7+ Divisions, large numbers of non combat support units, Shipping and hundreds (thousands) of aircraft ARE a substantial loss, swapping them for some South Pacific/DEI malaria ridden swamp is not going to win the game.

Comparisons of Longstreet, Jackson, Lee or even McClellan are wrong, its the tactics of Haig or Navarre.

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

CIRCUS is a month late, Sabang is lost so diversions will not help, the new front will get 100% of JIII's attention so you cant set up another "Anzio" I hope CIRCUS results in a reaction which gathers so much attention that other fronts can move forward and that by good management or luck, results in massive losses to JIII's empire, but I fear those 7+ Divisions will be sorely lost

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

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ORIGINAL: obvert

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

This is not good strategy for Japan to last until the bitter end. It's fun, and it's John III's MO, but in the end using your resources for strategic, not tactical purposes, will get the Japanese closer to a good result on VPs. He has actually been surprisingly good to that end, forcing the issue to eventually get the big bag of Allied troop points on Sumatra without having to pay in territorial losses elsewhere or catastrophic losses to his fleet, and it's mid 43. The Allies are supposed to be moving forward now.

The burden is always with the Allies to prove they can take back territory at appropriate cost. Japan has to make them pay. We get to watch.

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

The sacrifice on Sumatra & Malaya are only worthwhile if CIRCUS is 150% effective, disrupting JIII defences and resulting in substantial CV losses (5+ CV sunk).
The 7+ Divisions, large numbers of non combat support units, Shipping and hundreds (thousands) of aircraft ARE a substantial loss, swapping them for some South Pacific/DEI malaria ridden swamp is not going to win the game.

Comparisons of Longstreet, Jackson, Lee or even McClellan are wrong, its the tactics of Haig or Navarre.

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

CIRCUS is a month late, Sabang is lost so diversions will not help, the new front will get 100% of JIII's attention so you cant set up another "Anzio" I hope CIRCUS results in a reaction which gathers so much attention that other fronts can move forward and that by good management or luck, results in massive losses to JIII's empire, but I fear those 7+ Divisions will be sorely lost

You have a good point about the losses (I would not have risked it) but John had to hold the full KB in place for almost all of the time that Dan was in Sumatra. If not Canoe could have reinforced Sumatra or just pulled out after smashing things up a bit. It is a finely run thing but if Circus draws his full attention without Sumatra being secured then Dan can switch his now potent carrier force back and either reinforce or withdraw. At this stage of the war John can't really afford to split up his carriers to fight the intact Allied carrier force. But it is going to be a close one for Dan. John still has a potent carrier force but his surface force losses have been substantial. In the end this is a naval game and I see nothing wrong about an action that sinks Japanese ships.

In the next sixty days the Allies are going to get about 25 new DDs. The faucet really begins to flow from now on.

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

The sacrifice on Sumatra & Malaya are only worthwhile if CIRCUS is 150% effective, disrupting JIII defences and resulting in substantial CV losses (5+ CV sunk).
The 7+ Divisions, large numbers of non combat support units, Shipping and hundreds (thousands) of aircraft ARE a substantial loss, swapping them for some South Pacific/DEI malaria ridden swamp is not going to win the game.

Comparisons of Longstreet, Jackson, Lee or even McClellan are wrong, its the tactics of Haig or Navarre.

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

CIRCUS is a month late, Sabang is lost so diversions will not help, the new front will get 100% of JIII's attention so you cant set up another "Anzio" I hope CIRCUS results in a reaction which gathers so much attention that other fronts can move forward and that by good management or luck, results in massive losses to JIII's empire, but I fear those 7+ Divisions will be sorely lost

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ORIGINAL: desicat

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ORIGINAL: JeffK

The sacrifice on Sumatra & Malaya are only worthwhile if CIRCUS is 150% effective, disrupting JIII defences and resulting in substantial CV losses (5+ CV sunk).
The 7+ Divisions, large numbers of non combat support units, Shipping and hundreds (thousands) of aircraft ARE a substantial loss, swapping them for some South Pacific/DEI malaria ridden swamp is not going to win the game.

Comparisons of Longstreet, Jackson, Lee or even McClellan are wrong, its the tactics of Haig or Navarre.

Equally the strategy of JIII has been odd, while he has you by the throat on Sumatra he should have been using his 15+ CV to run around smashing Allied positions, damn the Fuel loss. win the war in 1943.

CIRCUS is a month late, Sabang is lost so diversions will not help, the new front will get 100% of JIII's attention so you cant set up another "Anzio" I hope CIRCUS results in a reaction which gathers so much attention that other fronts can move forward and that by good management or luck, results in massive losses to JIII's empire, but I fear those 7+ Divisions will be sorely lost

Japan in this Mod is hyper powerful. The date of the last turn was 5/24/43 and the Allies have a toe hold in Sumatra, are driving north in Oz - with another major invasion (or 2?) imminent, what has Japan accomplished?

Take a look at all the other current AAR's, the Japanese players have fine tuned the game to the point where India is routinely invaded and Oz is heavily invested on both coasts. Heck. Mandrake is currently barely holding Tasmania and Southern Oz.

CR's early attack stopped the Japanese expansion cold in this game. Of course the costs were going to be heavy, but with Allied production finally kicking in the Japanese are doomed. The Japanese perimeter that is way smaller than normal, their naval losses have been high (except for CV's), upgrades have been delayed, and their ground forces are poorly positioned and probably have poor prep levels for their locations and possible destinations. No, this has been a major victory for CR, he just needs to finish it out.

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As someone who has played both sides I can tell you that the farther the Japanese go in 42-43 the better it is for the Allies, regardless of scenario. Even this one doesn't give help to the economy, and Japan stops fighting when supply and fuel run out. I've been run out of supply and fuel after doing some of the things you'e talking about in 42, and in spite of all of the flash and bang of these exciting early campaigns, it's not the best strategy for the IJ to last as a competitive force late.

India, OZ, the forays into Alaska and strategically bombing the West Coast, those are all about trying for AV. That's fine, and it's fun, but it is not a poor strategy to keep a solid defensible and historical perimeter. Check with Pax Mondo, Mike Solli and a number of other players who pay attention to the economic side of things. It's a game in itself. More territory and farther flung battles don't help it stay healthy.

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ORIGINAL: desicat

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As someone who has played both sides I can tell you that the farther the Japanese go in 42-43 the better it is for the Allies, regardless of scenario. Even this one doesn't give help to the economy, and Japan stops fighting when supply and fuel run out. I've been run out of supply and fuel after doing some of the things you'e talking about in 42, and in spite of all of the flash and bang of these exciting early campaigns, it's not the best strategy for the IJ to last as a competitive force late.

India, OZ, the forays into Alaska and strategically bombing the West Coast, those are all about trying for AV. That's fine, and it's fun, but it is not a poor strategy to keep a solid defensible and historical perimeter. Check with Pax Mondo, Mike Solli and a number of other players who pay attention to the economic side of things. It's a game in itself. More territory and farther flung battles don't help it stay healthy.

I agree with this, and IF John had planned his reduced perimeter you would be spot on. Unfortunately John did not plan his current perimeter, it was fashioned by reaction and necessity. He also has suffered oil production loss and burned his fuel resources at a higher than normal rate - he is in big trouble.

When he reacts to the Circus invasion(s) he will further increase his fuel burn rate, still won't have time to upgrade or rest his surface fleet, and will once again be forced to commit his land forces piecemeal and with little prep.

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ORIGINAL: desicat

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As someone who has played both sides I can tell you that the farther the Japanese go in 42-43 the better it is for the Allies, regardless of scenario. Even this one doesn't give help to the economy, and Japan stops fighting when supply and fuel run out. I've been run out of supply and fuel after doing some of the things you'e talking about in 42, and in spite of all of the flash and bang of these exciting early campaigns, it's not the best strategy for the IJ to last as a competitive force late.

India, OZ, the forays into Alaska and strategically bombing the West Coast, those are all about trying for AV. That's fine, and it's fun, but it is not a poor strategy to keep a solid defensible and historical perimeter. Check with Pax Mondo, Mike Solli and a number of other players who pay attention to the economic side of things. It's a game in itself. More territory and farther flung battles don't help it stay healthy.

I agree with this, and IF John had planned his reduced perimeter you would be spot on. Unfortunately John did not plan his current perimeter, it was fashioned by reaction and necessity. He also has suffered oil production loss and burned his fuel resources at a higher than normal rate - he is in big trouble.

When he reacts to the Circus invasion(s) he will further increase his fuel burn rate, still won't have time to upgrade or rest his surface fleet, and will once again be forced to commit his land forces piecemeal and with little prep.

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ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

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ORIGINAL: desicat

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As someone who has played both sides I can tell you that the farther the Japanese go in 42-43 the better it is for the Allies, regardless of scenario. Even this one doesn't give help to the economy, and Japan stops fighting when supply and fuel run out. I've been run out of supply and fuel after doing some of the things you'e talking about in 42, and in spite of all of the flash and bang of these exciting early campaigns, it's not the best strategy for the IJ to last as a competitive force late.

India, OZ, the forays into Alaska and strategically bombing the West Coast, those are all about trying for AV. That's fine, and it's fun, but it is not a poor strategy to keep a solid defensible and historical perimeter. Check with Pax Mondo, Mike Solli and a number of other players who pay attention to the economic side of things. It's a game in itself. More territory and farther flung battles don't help it stay healthy.

I agree with this, and IF John had planned his reduced perimeter you would be spot on. Unfortunately John did not plan his current perimeter, it was fashioned by reaction and necessity. He also has suffered oil production loss and burned his fuel resources at a higher than normal rate - he is in big trouble.

When he reacts to the Circus invasion(s) he will further increase his fuel burn rate, still won't have time to upgrade or rest his surface fleet, and will once again be forced to commit his land forces piecemeal and with little prep.

Dont forget he starts with 1 million less supply, thats a big deal in my book.He will certainly get fuel troubles later but depending on how he handled the economy that might spell desater very soon.Especially considering he was fighting non stop.