RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesesteak v. RADM Yamaguchi

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesesteak v. RADM Yamaguchi

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RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/6/2020 1:58:40 PM

Cheesesteak

Posts: 301
Joined: 11/8/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

This is definitely an interesting game. Not reading your opponent's AAR makes it even more interesting.

Maybe he picked up those Rockhampton units with fast transports?

If you haven't seen any interesting SigInt (e.g. "4ID is preparing for East Codswallop" or "17/4ID is on xAP Circle Maru heading for East Codswallop") then maybe a cigar is just a cigar--i.e. he's pulling back to establish a better defense.

Cheers,
CB

one thing our opponent is completely and utterly diligent about is invalidating the use of sigint. literally every single hit we get regarding 'heading for...' is fake. We guess he sets up waypoints or something like that, but it completely defeats the mechanic meant to simulate Allied real life advantages.

_____________________________

"Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)

Post #: 421

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/6/2020 3:53:53 PM

BBfanboy

Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

This is definitely an interesting game. Not reading your opponent's AAR makes it even more interesting.

Maybe he picked up those Rockhampton units with fast transports?

If you haven't seen any interesting SigInt (e.g. "4ID is preparing for East Codswallop" or "17/4ID is on xAP Circle Maru heading for East Codswallop") then maybe a cigar is just a cigar--i.e. he's pulling back to establish a better defense.

Cheers,
CB

Even with enough ships, there are loading limits for ports and I am pretty sure 10,000 men and their gear could not be loaded in one turn. I suspect some of them took the rails to another port the Japanese have where they will try to extricate them.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)

Post #: 422

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/6/2020 5:08:51 PM

HansBolter

Posts: 7704
Joined: 7/6/2006
From: United States
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quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

This is definitely an interesting game. Not reading your opponent's AAR makes it even more interesting.

Maybe he picked up those Rockhampton units with fast transports?

If you haven't seen any interesting SigInt (e.g. "4ID is preparing for East Codswallop" or "17/4ID is on xAP Circle Maru heading for East Codswallop") then maybe a cigar is just a cigar--i.e. he's pulling back to establish a better defense.

Cheers,
CB

Even with enough ships, there are loading limits for ports and I am pretty sure 10,000 men and their gear could not be loaded in one turn. I suspect some of them took the rails to another port the Japanese have where they will try to extricate them.

At size 9 and 10 ports I have had Amphib TFs with 100 ships completely load three full divisions plus assets in a single day.

In fact when loading Three amphib TFs with 100 ships each at the same level 9 port I have had 2 out of the 3 completely load in one turn.

_____________________________

Hans

(in reply to BBfanboy)

Post #: 423

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/6/2020 11:11:37 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

Interesting discussion. It's not possible he railed them out because Rockhampton was completely surrounded. Air search said the TF was ~10 ships...it's only a Size 3 port so having large enough ships to do this seems like a stretch. Maybe possible if he was doing amphib loads and not loading any supplies and had some naval support?

Or maybe our recon just wasn't very good, average skill of the pilots flying was around 50. Anybody know the mechanic for how recon pilot skill feeds into detection level? Does higher skill = higher DL or is an 8/10 DL by a Recon pilot with skill 50 less reliable than an 8/10 DL from a pilot with skill 75?

(in reply to HansBolter)

Post #: 424

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/6/2020 11:26:19 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 18, 1942

I figured out something useful for Beaufighters to do! They've basically swept away the Rufe nuisances at Lord Howe.

We hit the place pretty hard today, BBs Mississippi and Warspite plus 5 DDs do this:
Japanese ground losses:
182 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Port hits 19
Port supply hits 1

Then then 2 squadrons of B-25s and one of B-17s deliver this:
Japanese ground losses:
227 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

The KB is most likely moving to Luganville to replenish, subs we have patrolling north of New Caledonia are getting 10/10 DLs on them all of a sudden.

We send out more surface ships to continue battering Lord Howe figuring we have at least 3-4 days before they could be down here. It'll be interesting to see what kind of reaction we draw. If we can get the KB to move a week or so sail away we can probably recapture the place. We have the below roster of units ready to go at Sydney (prep %):

2nd USMC Para Bn (100%)
2/4 Ind Co (100%)
2nd USMC Regt (26%)
2/8 Ind Co (63%)
Half Strength PM Brig (68%)
Kanga Force Bn at Co. Strength (70%)
3rd USMC Raider Bn (91%)

So 163 AV even if we don't use the poorly prepped 2nd Marines. Against two presumably beat to hell, disrupted SNLFs. Opinions?

Burma

With the IJN gone we win a decisive victory in the skies over Akyab, over 100 fighters sweep away his Oscar CAP. Intel says we got 21 in exchange for 3 P-40s. Not bad. We send in the BB Royal Sovereign with 4 older RN CLs and a few DDs to bombard. A B-26 group from Dacca and a couple RAF Blenheim squadrons will try to make sure the field is closed tomorrow.

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 425

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/7/2020 3:03:59 AM

aaffins

Posts: 254
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From: Richmond, VA
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May 19, 1942

Argonaut catches and sinks a loaded xAK near Rabaul.

Between the Akyab bombardment and the massed raids I'm pretty sure we closed the Akyab airfield. Intel thinks we got 10 Oscars on the ground. We'll continue the attacks until he does something about it.

We hit Lord Howe hard again, another 250 casualties. Enemy ships showing up there now, but almost all single ships so not sure if that's a real sighting. CA Louisville and CL Perth move in to intercept.

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 426

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/7/2020 11:41:37 AM

HansBolter

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quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

May 19, 1942

Argonaut catches and sinks a loaded xAK near Rabaul.

Between the Akyab bombardment and the massed raids I'm pretty sure we closed the Akyab airfield. Intel thinks we got 10 Oscars on the ground. We'll continue the attacks until he does something about it.

We hit Lord Howe hard again, another 250 casualties. Enemy ships showing up there now, but almost all single ships so not sure if that's a real sighting. CA Louisville and CL Perth move in to intercept.

Single ships headed to a small island/atoll occupied by a single small unit are likely delivering supply. I almost always use single ships for this task.

_____________________________

Hans

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 427

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/7/2020 12:02:25 PM

Alfred

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

Interesting discussion. It's not possible he railed them out because Rockhampton was completely surrounded. Air search said the TF was ~10 ships...it's only a Size 3 port so having large enough ships to do this seems like a stretch. Maybe possible if he was doing amphib loads and not loading any supplies and had some naval support?

Or maybe our recon just wasn't very good, average skill of the pilots flying was around 50. Anybody know the mechanic for how recon pilot skill feeds into detection level? Does higher skill = higher DL or is an 8/10 DL by a Recon pilot with skill 50 less reliable than an 8/10 DL from a pilot with skill 75?

The recon skill level of the pilot does not alter the reliability of the DL. The higher skilled pilot is more likely to get you a high DL than a lower skilled pilot. Once you have the DL it doesn't matter what the pilot skill level is.

Alfred

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 428

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/7/2020 2:53:42 PM

Zorch

Posts: 7087
Joined: 3/7/2010
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

Interesting discussion. It's not possible he railed them out because Rockhampton was completely surrounded. Air search said the TF was ~10 ships...it's only a Size 3 port so having large enough ships to do this seems like a stretch. Maybe possible if he was doing amphib loads and not loading any supplies and had some naval support?

Or maybe our recon just wasn't very good, average skill of the pilots flying was around 50. Anybody know the mechanic for how recon pilot skill feeds into detection level? Does higher skill = higher DL or is an 8/10 DL by a Recon pilot with skill 50 less reliable than an 8/10 DL from a pilot with skill 75?

The recon skill level of the pilot does not alter the reliability of the DL. The higher skilled pilot is more likely to get you a high DL than a lower skilled pilot. Once you have the DL it doesn't matter what the pilot skill level is.

Alfred

The Oracle of AE has spoken!

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Post #: 429

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/7/2020 7:39:12 PM

Cheesesteak

Posts: 301
Joined: 11/8/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zorch

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

Interesting discussion. It's not possible he railed them out because Rockhampton was completely surrounded. Air search said the TF was ~10 ships...it's only a Size 3 port so having large enough ships to do this seems like a stretch. Maybe possible if he was doing amphib loads and not loading any supplies and had some naval support?

Or maybe our recon just wasn't very good, average skill of the pilots flying was around 50. Anybody know the mechanic for how recon pilot skill feeds into detection level? Does higher skill = higher DL or is an 8/10 DL by a Recon pilot with skill 50 less reliable than an 8/10 DL from a pilot with skill 75?

The recon skill level of the pilot does not alter the reliability of the DL. The higher skilled pilot is more likely to get you a high DL than a lower skilled pilot. Once you have the DL it doesn't matter what the pilot skill level is.

Alfred

The Oracle of AE has spoken!

appreciate the idiot-proof answer. Helps save me from these moments -

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

"Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

(in reply to Zorch)

Post #: 430

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/9/2020 1:50:54 AM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 20, 1942

We send four squadrons of USAAF fighters from Charters Towers to sweep Cairns. One goes in alone and struggles, but the other three coordinate and seem to do fairly well. Intel says 31 A6M2s vs. 33 P-39/40s. Don't want to drain our pools too much, but we want to keep the pressure on so we're going to go again in a day or two.

In China Wuchow falls, we had to pull our forces out to defend Kweilin.

He tries another para drop on Kunming, it doesn't work and he takes moderate casualties.

Akyab gets a bit of a reprieve as Chittagong and Dacca are socked in. We still get in a decent amount of hits with squadrons from Calcutta.

(in reply to Cheesesteak)

Post #: 431

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/11/2020 9:26:12 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 21, 1942

Burma

Weather clears up and we resume our hammering of Akyab. Representative strike:

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 10
Hudson IIIa x 14
Hurricane IIa Trop x 10
Wellington Ic x 15
B-26 Marauder x 12
P-39D Airacobra x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 34
Port hits 1

Australia

We continue to hit Lord Howe I. from the air

All those single ships at Lord Howe I. do appear to be subs, our cruiser TF encounters no surface combatants, just subs, we send in a trio of Aussie DDs with high ASW ratings.

3 SNFL Cos. force us out of Port Hedland

In China Kwangchowan falls to a couple of Vietnamese militia regiments.

May 22, 1942

The IJN finally makes an appearance at Akyab, four CAs intercept our bombardment TF and we lose the CL Emerald. Light damage otherwise, we retire to Calcutta.

No aerial interdiction, we continue to hammer the airfield with a few squadrons also hitting the port and troops.

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 432

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/12/2020 3:32:37 AM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 23, 1942

We resume the sweeps over Cairns. A USMC squadron leads the way and takes some serious losses, however the follow on USAAF squadrons mop up the CAP. I'm not sure why he's been so reticent to reinforce his Cairns squadron(s)but I think we've worn the one he has there down. We moved bombers from Sydney (the Lord Howe attackers) to Charters Towers and if he doesn't reinforce next turn we'll attack all those ships in port.

He also appears to have a TF of some sort docked there, we send in a trio of DDs to investigate.

The sub horde around Lord Howe seems gone, so we send in Repulse and friends to bombard.

In Burma the IJN SCTF retires and we line up our CLs for another bombardment run. Air raids continue.

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 433

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/12/2020 2:32:06 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 24, 1942

A much more interesting turn...

CBI

Apparently the IJN CAs did not retire as we expected so our CL bombardment TF runs into them again. We lose the DD Arrow, CLs Enterprise and Danae have serious but non-sinking damage. We barely scratch the paint on the CAs, may have slightly damaged a DD.

Bad weather (guess it is the Monsoon season) results in a day of respite for Akyab. Recon with 8/12 DL is still showing 81% AF damage so I don't think we'll be seeing the appearance of a lot of LBA. I suspect he landed a good amount of supply with his invasion force, but I wonder if that might eventually become an issue for him.

He tries dropping more paras on Kunming and is repulsed with heavy losses. I would imagine he realizes this is a failed venture, but doesn't want to abandon the units he's already dropped. We have two additional divisions arriving in a few days that should be able to mop up the remaining troops, who must have virtually no supply.

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

Japanese ground losses:
743 casualties reported
Squads: 33 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 13 (6 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
99 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /1
2nd Raiding Regiment
1st Raiding Regiment
Yokosuka Assault SNLF /1

He's positioned at least 3 R-boats along the southern coast of Ceylon. Imagine he's trying to catch us moving ships out of Ceylon. Does make me hesitant to send out the old RN BBs with only one DD for escort.

Australia

Action on the ground and sea and in the air around Cairns today. In the skies he moved in a sentai of Oscars, but they don't really change the balance much, intel says we took down 21 with USAAF sweeps, we lose 14 P-40s. We have about 60 USAAF bombers of various types at Charter Towers, we'll attack the port next turn which is still showing 28 ships docked. As the below attack reveals, he's badly short of AV support here.

At sea our DDs encounter 10 PBs and beat them up fairly well. None show sunk but 1-2 probably will. The three DDs are 4 stackers that started with the Asiatic Fleet, they're having a hell of a war.

Most interesting development is on the ground, where our recon bombardment finds both divisions evacuated from Rockhampton and two others we suspected. If we could somehow figure out a way to destroy a significant portion of these forces it would be a pivotal victory. I can't imagine he'll allow that, but if we can get him to commit the KB up here perhaps we can finally feel safe launching our Lord Howe invasion Take 2. In the short term I wonder if he might try a quick counter attack. We showed up with the 7th Aus Div and a good amount of armor - just over 700 AV. If he launched an immediate shock attack with 4 divisions he might be able to defeat us. We do have the 6th Aus and Americal Divs unloading from trains at Townsville along with several independent Army regiments and a ton of arty, so I feel confident we'll be able to reduce the enemy with time.

Ground combat at Cairns (92,140)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 18560 troops, 363 guns, 620 vehicles, Assault Value = 702

Defending force 50868 troops, 480 guns, 187 vehicles, Assault Value = 1726

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Aus Div Cav Regiment
193rd Tank Battalion
2/3rd MG Battalion
25th Australian Brigade
21st Australian Brigade
18th Australian Brigade
1st Motor Brigade
109th Tank Attack Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment

Defending units:
33rd Division
38th Division
21st Division
2nd Division
3rd Engineer Construction Battalion
22nd Ind.AA Gun Co
9th Field AF Construction Battalion
92nd JAAF AF Bn

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 434

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/13/2020 12:07:04 PM

HansBolter

Posts: 7704
Joined: 7/6/2006
From: United States
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Para drops force a Shock attack with every drop.

That's why it's important to use enough air craft to ensure dropping the entire unit in one trip and also why reinforcing a failed drop with additional drops makes no sense.

The only way to relieve a failed para drop is with land troops.

_____________________________

Hans

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 435

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/14/2020 11:42:00 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 25, 1942

Another turn with quite a bit of action.

It started at Lord Howe where our bombardment TF was intercepted by a group of Japanese CLs:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lord Howe Island at 100,169, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Kuma, Shell hits 2
CL Tama, Shell hits 2
CL Kiso, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi, Shell hits 1
DD Tanikaze, Shell hits 2
DD Minegumo, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
BB Resolution, Shell hits 7, on fire
BC Repulse, Shell hits 6
CL Hobart, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Cassin, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD MacDonough, Shell hits 2
DD Voyager
DD Vampire, Shell hits 17, and is sunk

Resolution has 14 Sys damage, Hobart is 32 with some minor FLT and ENG. Not exactly great, but could have been worse if we got Long Lanced, I guess.

There were two additional small SCTFs we clashed with one with a CL and 4 DDs and another with just 4 DDs. No appreciable damage suffered by either side.

IJN CVs show up off Rockhampton again, not sure if this is the KB or a smaller carrier group yet.

At Cairns we do catch a bunch of ships in port, I've combined the many raids into one list of ships hit:

xAK Mikage Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Asosan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Toei Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Momokawa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Awata Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Aobasan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Asakasan Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Baikal Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
LSD Shinshu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Arabia Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Amagisan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Ural Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kashii Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Kirikawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Ussuri Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Kansai Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Taizan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Keihuku Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Atsuta Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
SC Ch 3, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Montevideo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

We did lose 18 planes of various models in this effort, but I think it was worthwhile.

BB New Mexico was torpedoed near Kodiak, heavy damage unfortunately - 62 FLT. We'll attempt to limp back to Seattle for repairs.

(in reply to HansBolter)

Post #: 436

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/19/2020 1:54:40 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 26, 1942

Subs hit a couple of ships that were presumably trying to limp away from Cairns:

AK Awata Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Aobasan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Toei Maru, Shell hits 5, on fire

No ships left in port.

He pours in more Oscars and our sweepers meet 50 on CAP overhead. We lose about 30 P-40s and 30 bombers, mostly A-24s and Wirraways. We have about 30 P-40s in our replacement pool after replenishing our squadrons, so we need to be a bit careful with how we use our fighters.

The KB also moves north, with the likelihood of a major strike being launched against Charters Towers I switch most of the squadrons to CAP and stand down the bombers.

May 27, 1942 is a pretty quiet turn.

A USMC squadron sweeps Cairns and takes a few losses but takes several Oscars with them.

A couple of tankers get torpedoed off Perth, one sinks. We've had good success keeping his subs suppressed with several ASW TFs in this area...not sure why he suddenly is having luck. I send out another 4 Ducth DDs to patrol.

We begin bombarding at Cairns; it's pretty clear he's not going to attack and we've had several more FA units arrive.

KB takes up a position 2 hexes off Cairns. I presume he's using them for supplementary CAP since he can't support that many aircraft with his lone JNAF unit. Likely also to cover an evac of his troops. Would love to try to trap the troops here, but attacking the KB at this point would not be a high percentage play.

However, with the KB tied up we do begin loading troops at Auckland to attack Raoul I. and send out ships to bombard Lord Howe again.

< Message edited by aaffins -- 1/19/2020 2:03:23 PM >

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 437

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/19/2020 2:19:44 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 28, 1942

The Dutch sub KIX got two of those ships we attacked (and likely sank) on the 26th...today she gets two more:

ASW attack near Cooktown at 94,138

Japanese Ships
PB Choko Maru #2, Torpedo hits 1
PB Shosei Maru
PB Nikkai Maru
PB Magan Maru
PB Kaikei Maru
PB Eiko Maru
PB Edo Maru
PB Aso Maru #3
PB Kohoku Maru
PB Kunitu Maru
PB Hakkaisan Maru
PB Taiko Maru

Allied Ships
SS KIX

Japanese Ships
PB Kaiun Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PB Shosei Maru
PB Nikkai Maru
PB Magan Maru
PB Kaikei Maru
PB Eiko Maru
PB Edo Maru
PB Choko Maru #2
PB Aso Maru #3
PB Kohoku Maru
PB Kunitu Maru
PB Hakkaisan Maru
PB Taiko Maru

Allied Ships
SS KIX

First, that a sub launched in 1922 is proving to be our most effective ship is kind of funny. Second, any thoughts on what's up with the all-PB TF composition? That's too many ships to be an ASW TF and as evidenced by the above it's clearly not functioning very well as one if that is what he's trying to do.

BBs Mississippi and Warspite visit Lord Howe I. with limited impact.

In the Bay of Bengal two RN BBs were positioning to hit Akyab, unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the possibility of a long range raid from Port Blair. Ramilles was hit by 7 torpedoes and sunk.

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Post #: 438

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/19/2020 8:26:09 PM

Encircled

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From: Northern England
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Thats a fast transport configuration

_____________________________

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Post #: 439

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/19/2020 8:36:58 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Thats a fast transport configuration

I guess that makes sense, but what's the logic in using PBs that way? Can't really carry that much cargo and he should have AKs that are as fast or faster than the 14 knot PBs.

(in reply to Encircled)

Post #: 440

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/19/2020 8:51:37 PM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
Status: offline

May 29, 1942

We launch a sweep of Mandalay to see how well he's CAPing Burma, just Oscars again. One of the big mysteries of our opponent's play to me is how little he's utilized his land-based Zero squadrons. This is Scen 2 so he should have plenty of squadrons to go around.

The PB TF is now at Cairns, unclear on its purpose. Logically he would be bringing in some more Aviation support, but we didn't see any casualties reported when we torpedoed two yesterday. PT Boats are going to try for an intercept from Townsville. KB is positioned one hex from Cairns.

D-Day at Raoul will probably be tomorrow.

(in reply to aaffins)

Post #: 441

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/20/2020 4:33:10 AM

aaffins

Posts: 254
Joined: 3/7/2010
From: Richmond, VA
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May 30, 1942

He's definitely evacuating Cairns...his AV went down almost 600 compared to yesterday. We're thinking he's doing a massive airlift out using Sallies. He's had 8 ops losses, so that would seem to make sense. Still impressed he's able to pull that much out with just PBs and maybe APDs. We've decided to try a massive sweep with 100+ fighters from Charters Towers tomorrow. We figure he has to be flying his fighters at lower altitudes to protect against bombers, so we'll try to bag some KB pilots. We'll also attack on the ground; with the arrival of more of our units and so much AV being pulled out we're basically even, if he pulls out more troops perhaps we get lucky and capture a decent number.

Rough day for the Aussie Navy in their ASW efforts, 2 DDs and an AM get sunk by IJN subs...pretty terrible results. There's basically a carpet of subs between Sydney and Lord Howe I.

We hit the beach at Raoul tomorrow. Playing a pretty risky game with no air cover.

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Post #: 442

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/20/2020 7:09:27 AM

Encircled

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From: Northern England
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quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Thats a fast transport configuration

I guess that makes sense, but what's the logic in using PBs that way? Can't really carry that much cargo and he should have AKs that are as fast or faster than the 14 knot PBs.

Remember that any Japanese warship can carry troops in a Fast Transport, I seriously doubt that will have been his only Fast Transport if he is evacuating Oz.

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Post #: 443

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/20/2020 3:05:35 PM

aaffins

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From: Richmond, VA
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

quote:

ORIGINAL: aaffins

quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Thats a fast transport configuration

I guess that makes sense, but what's the logic in using PBs that way? Can't really carry that much cargo and he should have AKs that are as fast or faster than the 14 knot PBs.

Remember that any Japanese warship can carry troops in a Fast Transport, I seriously doubt that will have been his only Fast Transport if he is evacuating Oz.

Yep, you're correct. Now showing 3 TFs, 2 of PBs and one that appears to be real transports.

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Post #: 444

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/20/2020 3:27:59 PM

aaffins

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From: Richmond, VA
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May 31, 1942

Our sweeps are not very successful; we lose 39 planes in exchange for 18, only 6 of which are the Zeroes we were hoping for. The combat report shows CAP from the Akagi, Kaga and Soryu, so has he possibly split the KB up? It's also moved away, not showing on air search so it could just be that he had half his squadrons flying LRCAP and half are flying CAP over the TF.

Our ground attack is really rough, his AV was the same as yesterday so perhaps he did not evacuate any overnight:

Ground combat at Cairns (92,140)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 29611 troops, 625 guns, 1069 vehicles, Assault Value = 1647

Defending force 38925 troops, 151 guns, 113 vehicles, Assault Value = 1093

Allied adjusted assault: 387

Japanese adjusted defense: 5485

Allied assault odds: 1 to 14 (fort level 4)

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

Japanese ground losses:
544 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 50 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 20 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3258 casualties reported
Squads: 138 destroyed, 241 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 49 disabled
Guns lost 68 (5 destroyed, 63 disabled)
Vehicles lost 27 (3 destroyed, 24 disabled)

Assaulting units:
25th Australian Brigade
16th Australian Brigade
2/2 AIF Pioneer Battalion
2/3rd MG Battalion
18th Australian Brigade
2/5th Armoured Regiment
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
7th Aus Div Cav Regiment
102nd Combat Engineer Regiment
17th Australian Brigade
182nd Infantry Regiment
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
164th Infantry Regiment
193rd Tank Battalion
21st Australian Brigade
1st Motor Brigade
2/13th Field Regiment
148th Field Artillery Battalion
4th Field Artillery Battalion
108th Tank Attack Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
109th Tank Attack Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
147th Field Artillery Regiment
131st Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Regiment

Defending units:
21st Division
38th Division
33rd Division
2nd Division
9th Field AF Construction Battalion
3rd Engineer Construction Battalion
22nd Ind.AA Gun Co
92nd JAAF AF Bn

PT Boats are turned away by CA SCTF.

At Raoul our troops encounter two SNLFs:

Ground combat at Raoul Island (128,177)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2909 troops, 24 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 131

Defending force 7953 troops, 192 guns, 147 vehicles, Assault Value = 194

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

Assaulting units:
42nd Naval Guard Unit
43rd Naval Guard Unit
7th Air Defense AA Regiment
6th Air Defense AA Regiment
34th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
9th Marine Regiment
2nd Marine Raider Bn /2
1st Marine Raider Bn /5
148th Infantry Rgt /4
I US Amphib Corps
97th Field Artillery Battalion
134th Field Artillery Battalion

Despite the odd numbering on the CR all troops are ashore. The two regiments had low prep and are heavily disrupted as a result. FA will bombard and we'll take a few turns to recover. Raiders were 100% prepped and are in good order so they should be able to repel any counter. Ships are moving away to Auckland.

Enterprise/Yorktown/Hornet finished their upgrade at Melbourne and are moving past Hobart towards NZ. If he keeps a significant portion of the KB tied up in NE Oz there may be an opportunity to attack any IJN interdiction at Raoul I.

Two TFs show up moving towards Cocos I., which he never took. We have the 44th Indian Brig dug in there at full strength with full prep, so if he brings less than a division I think he will have a hard time. Only drawback is unit Exp is only 30...

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Post #: 445

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/21/2020 9:38:42 AM

Encircled

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From: Northern England
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Are you sure he's pulling out?

Thats 4 of the better IJA divisions there.

And its well in his interests to see you take damage like that to Commonwealth units.

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Post #: 446

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/21/2020 12:20:05 PM

HansBolter

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With four stout divisions entrenched in a base hex you will need real divisions to take the fight to it, not the motley conglomeration you have there now.

Yes, you technically have more AV, but its firepower that matters.
You also didn't get a fort reduction so you need Combat Engineers before making any further attacks.

You will also need to bomb, bombard, and eliminate their supply. If you can't presently accomplish those tasks, then repeated ground attacks are pointless. Better to invest and prevent the base from serving any useful purpose and bide your time.

< Message edited by HansBolter -- 1/21/2020 12:21:40 PM >

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Post #: 447

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/24/2020 2:34:53 AM

aaffins

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From: Richmond, VA
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Are you sure he's pulling out?

Thats 4 of the better IJA divisions there.

And its well in his interests to see you take damage like that to Commonwealth units.

Yes, positive, the next turn his AV total dropped all the way to 407 with only a fragment of the 21st Division now showing on the CR.

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Post #: 448

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/24/2020 2:43:32 AM

aaffins

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From: Richmond, VA
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June 1, 1942

Very quiet turn...we bombard at Cairns and as noted above his AV is now down to 407 so he's definitely withdrawing. A sub detects the Warspite off Sydney, but he probably assumes we're setting up for more Lord Howe bombardment.

June 2, 1942

Bit more going on this turn. Our PT Boats attack the evac, revealing it's mostly AMCs and AVs with a few small escorts. Unfortunately the enemy slips away before we can get in any attacks.

With the amphibs safely away from Raoul I. I sent the CA Vincennes + 4 DDs back to see if we could get lucky...we encounter 8 enemy DDs apparently evacuating enemy troops, a brief skirmish leaves one enemy DD with moderate damage. A bombardment attack reveals only 23 AV left on the island so we'll attack tomorrow and hopefully secure it.

At Cairns we launch another attack, his AV is down to 205 now and we get 1:1 odds and reduce the forts. Would be good if we can eliminate these remaining troops at least.

Worse news at Cocos I. in the IO...he bombards with 5 BBs causing major casualties, then lands the 55th Division. That's enough to roll our inexperienced Indian brigade and he takes the base. Unfortunate, that would have been a useful launching pad.

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Post #: 449

RE: Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesest... - 1/24/2020 12:00:12 PM

HansBolter

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Joined: 7/6/2006
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I seriously doubt he can afford to leave a full division as the garrison for Cocos.
The time will come when you can retake it.

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