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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A)

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RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/20/2019 11:26:04 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

After that it vas basically over. We both decided to just skip to the end of the line.
This was great and very entertaining experience for me. I'll post some thoughts and screens later.

(in reply to Ardi)

Post #: 31

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/20/2019 11:43:03 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

Good game Ardi, and well played!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ardi

Day 16
Now this is a nice hit! Sinking sounds were heard, and 35 Wildcats are listed as lost, so I believe Nassau really was sunk. Though it is also a signal that main US forces are underway. I wonder which island they will target first. Convoy is spotted near Attu, along with the covering task force. I don�t see anything in a position to attack Attu next turn, if it�s not on flank speed. I hope to have at least two days to unload. Tanaka�s TF is positioned in a hex east of Attu.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Adak Island at 164,51

Japanese Ships
SS I-7, hits 2

Allied Ships
CVE Nassau, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Mustin

Ammo storage explosion on CVE Nassau
SS I-7 launches 6 torpedoes at CVE Nassau
I-7 diving deep ....
DD Mustin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mustin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mustin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mustin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mustin attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

Yeah, that turn was what really killed my chances to score a victory.

Your subs were exceptionally potent in this scenario, put a lot of USN warships into repairs as a result.

quote:

Day 25

Invasion on Kiska. Mind_messing told me later in PM that he had confused his landing forces and attacked Kiska with troops prepped for Attu, hence the huge damage on the troops upon landing.

Yup, that was big brainfart territory that cost me the game.

Double check your geography folks.

That I doubling down on invading Attu afterwards was a big mistake. I hadn't banked on the Brigade from Paramushiro being their, and it was bad juju for me. IMO it might have made the difference between a draw for me.

Lesson learned!

quote:

Two Japanese task forces were steaming south-east in darkness, fighting waves and rain. Suddenly carrier group was attacked by lonely US destroyer, probably on patrol duty. Two shells hit Zuikaku, but caused no significant damage. Agano returned fire, and US destroyer disappeared in darkness.

I was exceptionally frustrated at the Bache for spraying the Zuikaku with 40mm fire and not bothering to put a couple of 5 inch holes or some torps towards her.

The Adak battle was a calculated move on my part. Parked the fleet under solid CAP at Adak and waited. I figured that the Musashi was a one-shot weapon so I wanted to wear her down. Without the Nassau I was not going to risk the slow BB's so they ended up sitting the rest of the campaign out at Dutch.

In hindsight I should have sent a couple DD TF's to interfere with the KB's operations and maybe pick off cripples and ships low on ammo, but at this point I was too wary of bleeding extra VP's.

Our air war was pretty stagnat, mostly as a result of the scenario design and the weather. Betty's with torps did put down a USN ship or two, and that really factored in to my decision to go passive. I had planned a hail-mary reinforcement of Attu, but scrubbed it after the Betty's made a showing.

(in reply to Ardi)

Post #: 32

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 3:45:08 AM

CaptBeefheart

Posts: 2301
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline

Interesting game, gents. Thanks for the AAR. What was the final victory outcome?

Cheers,
CB

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 33

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 3:48:34 AM

jdsrae

Posts: 2716
Joined: 3/1/2010
From: Gandangara Country
Status: offline

The big surface battle was brutal!
I�ve read a few posts recently suggesting not to mix BB and CA but they seemed to perform well together there.

_____________________________

Currently playing my first PBEM, no house rules Scenario 1 as IJ.
AAR link (no SolInvictus): https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4684655

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)

Post #: 34

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 10:12:11 AM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

Interesting game, gents. Thanks for the AAR. What was the final victory outcome?

Cheers,
CB

Minor victory for Japan

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)

Post #: 35

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 10:35:25 AM

tarkalak

Posts: 289
Joined: 6/26/2017
From: Bulgaria
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ardi

quote:

ORIGINAL: tarkalak

No problem. I haven't went further than the small scenarios against AI, so my "advice" might not be spot on. Take with a pinch of salt.

Yeah, Musashi is a one shot weapon here. You can use it as a CV escort even without main gun ammo, the AA should still fire.

You can bombard his invasion forces with the cruisers. If you can keep his disablements, fatigue and disruption high they should collapse. Your attack on Attu costed him more than you - he has more disabled. That is if you trust the casualies in the AAR of course.

Without the CVE he cannot CAP his planes outside bases and LRCAP is less effective. You have seen that at Attu. Your best bet at sinking his ships at sea.

How is your Naval Search organized? Do you have night search as well?

EDIT: Btw are you replacing your pilots from the reserve pool? You have like 200 "superman" pilots there.

Actually about Musashi being one-shot weapon. I believe there is some possibility to withdraw ship offmap (even Japanese in small scenario) to repair and replenish it. Will try that with Musashi later. Since US lack air striking capability in the scenario, I doubt it will be useful as AA platform and I don't want to risk such big bag of VPs if it is unable to fire back.

It's true about the bombardments. My AKE is coming to disband at Attu so it could rearm ships there. Not sure if can save Kiska garrison, but I'll be able to avenge them at least. But first I want be sure that I won't be intercepted by battleship task force. Mybe low threat tolerance will help, since my cruisers aree faster than US BBs. Didn't take it to account before.

Naval search is performed by 2 Jake groups (no arcs, just around Attu). There were also Bettys flying from Paramushiro, but I decided to try and move them to Attu by sea (messed up with that though, wrong transport force composition. Now they are all damaged becaused they were accidently unloaded, and I'll have to return for them later with next convoy). Now carriers and float planes from cruisers also help. Actually I don't fly night search. Are japanese able to spot anything at night? Probably should switch couple of floatplane groups to night search.

I do use reserve pool, but not as much as I should have probably. Mostly I just expanded the pilot number in the groups with it, so pilots would be less fatigued.

Check the scenario notes, I don't think that you could withdraw ships for repair in this one. I think only Gualdalcanal has this option.

If you ship planes in a cargo ship they will come out damaged. This simulates putting them in crates and then reassemblying them at the target. You need an AKV, CVE or CV to ship them in ready form. You would have been better off rebasing them, they fly to their destination.

Both day and night search helps. Nights aren't pitch dark with all the stars and the Moon. Well, unless you go into a cave. So Night search does spot ships.

I had one Jake group fly night and the rest fly day. One of the groups was at Kiska. The Betties and the Mavises flew directed search at a low percentage. I was paying attention to not cover Adak, so that I don't loose a lot to CAP. Night search accumulates more pilot fatigue and morale loss, so I rotated the night group.

If you used the "Request Veteran" option you were fine. You have a huge pool of 80-90 XP pilots so there is no need to pull out rookies.

Congratulations.

< Message edited by tarkalak -- 5/21/2019 10:44:54 AM >

_____________________________

I do not know what is scarier: that I do understand nothing of this demonic script or that I am starting to see the demons that it evokes.

Me, studying for a PHD entry exam in Applied Mathematics.

(in reply to Ardi)

Post #: 36

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 4:26:37 PM

AleRonin

Posts: 125
Joined: 4/30/2019
Status: offline

Thanks for the AAR

(in reply to tarkalak)

Post #: 37

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:01:13 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

Here is the final VP screen.

The main benefits surely came from destroying units at Attu and sinking of Nassau. Around 300 VPs in total for those.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 38

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:05:26 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

Japanese ship losses. Could be better a bit, but most likely could be much worse. Losing oiler was unpleasant, but its sacrifice saved a bunch of my transport ships delivering troops (that was actually the moment where I could lose the game completely. Wouldn't have any means to deliver brigade to Attu and would lose tone of ground troops there).

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 39

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:13:20 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

Allied ships lost. Oddly enough, while combat report credited Kumano for sinking all three US cruisers, this report shows two of the cruisers being sunk by 46cm monsters of Musashi.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 40

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:14:02 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

Air losses.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Ardi)

Post #: 41

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:21:29 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: tarkalak

Check the scenario notes, I don't think that you could withdraw ships for repair in this one. I think only Gualdalcanal has this option.

If you ship planes in a cargo ship they will come out damaged. This simulates putting them in crates and then reassemblying them at the target. You need an AKV, CVE or CV to ship them in ready form. You would have been better off rebasing them, they fly to their destination.

Both day and night search helps. Nights aren't pitch dark with all the stars and the Moon. Well, unless you go into a cave. So Night search does spot ships.

I had one Jake group fly night and the rest fly day. One of the groups was at Kiska. The Betties and the Mavises flew directed search at a low percentage. I was paying attention to not cover Adak, so that I don't loose a lot to CAP. Night search accumulates more pilot fatigue and morale loss, so I rotated the night group.

If you used the "Request Veteran" option you were fine. You have a huge pool of 80-90 XP pilots so there is no need to pull out rookies.

Congratulations.

Aye, you are right about withdrawing. I thought that all small scenarios have this possibility, my mistake.

About transporting - I kinda messed up there. Because of constant transportaition flights half of the Emilys were damaged/on maintenance and I decided to load them on ships since my last Ait support was also moving. For some reason I decided "Why not to take Bettys with them". This caused a lot of trouble with some ships not unloading those planes on Attu, and I effectively lost these squadrons for a week at least due to this mess. Should have returned AV to Paramushiro to provide repairs for remaining aircraft, rather than putting them on ships. Lesson learned.

Okay, will be experimenting with Night search in the future. Could come in handy.

The only problem with Veterans - they sometimes take their time to arrive. So I mainly just reinforce squadrons with them, without replacing existing pilots (which mostly are good enough, in this scenario at least)

(in reply to tarkalak)

Post #: 42

RE: The Thousand Mile War: Ardi (J) vs mind_messing (A) - 5/21/2019 7:45:20 PM

Ardi

Posts: 90
Joined: 2/8/2015
From: Arkhangelsk, Russia
Status: offline

Thank you all for reading and commenting! Will try to do some analysis.

What I did right?
Submarine warfare. Putting captains with good Naval Skill and Agression, using subs on single hex patrol in Direct/Absolute settings with 1 hex reaction. Preferrably to avoid using in shallow waters, since most of the damage was done there, though as well as some important sinkings (Louisville and Branch).
Reinforcement of Attu. This was main target for the US, and if i didn't reinforce it and MM landed forces correctly, Attu would have been a goner even without US reinforcements. I managed to choose correct timing to move a brigade into there, avoiding main US forces.

What I did wrong?
Chasing after small fry knowing that there is superior force somewhere nearby. It has nearly costed me my whole merchant fleed and thus, transport capability, since there were no means to provide any cover to it.
No supply to Kiska. I didn't resupply it even once. Emily certainly helped, but I believe if I moved 2-3k supply there preemptively, island could hold longer, and if I won the Naval superiority, I could bombard Yanks to the oblivion and even hold the island.
Messed up transportation. As I noted above I messed up a lot with Bettys and Emilys (which also cancelled that thin supply stream on Kiska).

What I'm not sure about
Adak battle. As it happens both me and mind_messing planned to make it a battleground. I thought he will prefer to stay under CAP after the loss of Nassau to be protected from carrier strikes and I made efforts to wear down this defence and nullify this advantage. My idea actually worked since a lot of strike planes came through, there just wasn't a lot of targets for them. Luckily for me, my subs put half of Allied cruisers to the repair yard (and one to the bottom), it would be much more messed up if I met 6-7 cruisers, also accompanied by 3 battleships, even slow ones. Should I have left 3 CAs with carriers? And was it wise to send SAG into the fray in the first place, withought preemptive air strike? I got the upper hand this time, but this success was mainly due to the favourable situation created beforehand (and I didn't put such deep thoughts into it when I was making the decision to commit). Should think about such matter more thoughtfully next time.

Also mind_messing proposed to play this scenario, but with switching sides, which I found interesting. Now whtn we know capabilities of our forces well from the both sides, it will be quite like chess with fog of war. So stay tuned for next AAR!

(in reply to Ardi)

Post #: 43

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