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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
Oil:  We've agreed the oil is at Yenangyaung.  On my maps, Yenangyaung is one third of the way from Mandalay to Rangoon (so, one third of seven hexes).  Where it is placed at the moment is the point that Slim debouched onto the plain in Extended Capital, surprising the Japanese by capturing Meiktila rather than Mandalay (and where the INA had their moment of 'glory', surrendering promptly without a fight).

I recommend that the oil be positioned in the hex with the letters 'awaddy', that the rail-line loops around to it from the hex with the characters 'W)', that the river go around the other side of the hex so that the oil is on the east bank, and that that oil hex be designated jungle.  The hex west of Mandalay becomes clear.

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Chittagong: At the coast, the Indian-Burmese border curves southeast, so I recommend that the hex with the letters 'Arak' be Indian. This is where Cox's Bazar (sic) was, the place British troops assembled for the thrust into Arakan. The next hex along the coast (Akyab) is especially interesting. It was full of swamps and small islands, where the British and Japanese fought each other in small boats at very close range, very much like the Mekong Delta in the Vietnam War. So I recommend it be reclassed as swamp.

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Imphal-Kohima: I haven't played WiF for some years, so all my next comments come with the caveat that of course we must be mindful of play-balance when it comes to a Japanese invasion of India. The problem is that the topography at the moment doesn't present players with the problems faced historically.

There were only two routes into India: along the coast or via Imphal-Kohima (for the Allies, the third, the Ledo Road, wasn't finished in time to greatly influence the war). Imphal is a plain where you don't expect a plain to be. It was reached only by a single all-weather road from the rail line via Kohima. The all-weather road continued south a bit, then petered out, becoming merely a 'fair-weather road' (= muddy track).

The Japanese 'invasion' of India was actually only a spoiling attack at corps strength ('Army' in Japanese inflated nomenclature) to mess up British preparations for their own attack on Burma. While the main force attacked Imphal from the southeast and east, one Japanese division struggled through the jungle to cut Imphal off from its railhead by seizing Kohima.

Slim's brilliance was not to run away as the Japanese expected but to let himself be surrounded and besieged at Imphal, supplying the entire Corps by air! Thus the Imphal hex needs to be a clear hex capable of basing aircraft (there were at least four airfields dotted around the plain). The Japanese ran out of supplies faster than the besieged British and so were defeated.

So the impassable hexsides need to be repositioned to create a corridor from the word Chindwin, to one hex west, then one hex northwest (to Imphal), then one hex northeast (to Kohima) and finally one hex northwest to the rail-line. Thus Imphal should be made attractive to both players as a plain, counterbalanced by the circuitous route ground troops have to take if they are to take advantage of it as an airbase.

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Indian oil: Just off the map, north of Naga Hills, near Ledo, was an oilfield, one of the reasons to start the Ledo road there (they laid a pipeline alongside the road).

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
Singora rather than Sawng Kla.

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Move one Malayan resource (rubber) northeast one hex.

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Anambas Islands belong to Mal rather than Mas.

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'Axis' sea-boxes???  Japan was not part of the Axis, but of the Tripartite Alliance.  (The name Axis comes from the metaphor of the world rotating around the Rome-Berlin axis).  Suggest the boxes be just called Jap or Jpn.

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Post 54:
 
Brunei really only deserves one hex.  The port is on the southwest coast of the bay, so perhaps move the bay down the coast.  The North Borneo - Brunei border was half way along the bay.

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Banggi = Banguey

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Post 56
 
Very impressed you are aware that the railway went no further than Nanning!

However, here is a piece of esoteria for you to work in.  The reason the Japanese occupied north French-IndoChina was to cut off supplies to the KMT coming in via Haiphong.  Once this line of supply was denied them, the Chinese actually disassembled the rail-line from the border to Kunming because they needed the iron!  In game terms, this can be quite important, because it looks like the best way to cut the Burma Road is a Japanese offensive from northwest French-IndoChina to Kunming along the rail-line.  In reality, this was not a meaninful option.

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Fic = FIC (as with NEI)

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ORIGINAL: brian brian

I've been reading some Samuel Eliot Morrison lately, first the condensed volume and now the first Pacific volume. He reports that during the Japanese advance south, the Allies eventually began using a small port on the south side of Java, Tjilatjap as a base. The Langley was bound there with a load of P-40s when it was sunk, and one cargo freighter with more P-40s had already reached it. It also had a small dry-dock that was used in an attempt to repair some of the smaller ships in the former US Asiatic Squadron.

The 'Malay Barrier' is hard enough for the Japanese to defend already, and the change of scale makes this moreso as a few more of the hexes bordering the South China Sea are junlge hexes that can base planes automatically, so playing Japan I would hate to see this port on the map. But realistically it would seem to be a WiF-style minor port.

I only bring this up to get it on here electronically before I forget about it, so there is a record for future work on the map.

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
Singora rather than Sawng Kla.

You're right. I was not able to find that Sawng Kla place when I worked on the maps, so I left them as on ADG's maps.

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Move one Malayan resource (rubber) northeast one hex.

I would do it gladly, but it would allow 1 of these resources to be shipped directly from the South China Sea which is a big departure from the original game. Another possible place in Burma, but not in the city or another Sout China Sea coastal hex ?

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Anambas Islands belong to Mal rather than Mas.

Well, the IOC code for Malaya is MAS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOC_country_codes). I agree that MAL for Malaya seems better, but we agreed to take the IOC 3 letter codes for the game. But the wikipedia page quoted here also says that Malaya had MAL as a code, and then MAS. MAL is not used by another country. Should we change MAS to MAL for Malaya country code Steve ?

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'Axis' sea-boxes???  Japan was not part of the Axis, but of the Tripartite Alliance.  (The name Axis comes from the metaphor of the world rotating around the Rome-Berlin axis).  Suggest the boxes be just called Jap or Jpn.

In WiF FE, the Allied are opposed to the Axis. The Russians for example are part of the Allied Camp. Japan is part of the Axis camp.

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Post 54:
 
Brunei really only deserves one hex.  The port is on the southwest coast of the bay, so perhaps move the bay down the coast.  The North Borneo - Brunei border was half way along the bay.

Brunei is small, and could be only 1 hex, but it is hard with this scale to show reality. I thought that it was not too bad that way. Not one of my best places on the map.

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Banggi = Banguey

Well, my map show Banggi, and Banguey show no response on Wikipedia. Where did you find Banguey ?

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Post 56
 
Very impressed you are aware that the railway went no further than Nanning!

However, here is a piece of esoteria for you to work in.  The reason the Japanese occupied north French-IndoChina was to cut off supplies to the KMT coming in via Haiphong.  Once this line of supply was denied them, the Chinese actually disassembled the rail-line from the border to Kunming because they needed the iron!  In game terms, this can be quite important, because it looks like the best way to cut the Burma Road is a Japanese offensive from northwest French-IndoChina to Kunming along the rail-line.  In reality, this was not a meaninful option.

Thanks for the story, but difficult to translate in game terms. In WiF, railways are permanent and indestructible.

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Fic = FIC (as with NEI)

Yes, corrected.

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

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ORIGINAL: brian brian

I've been reading some Samuel Eliot Morrison lately, first the condensed volume and now the first Pacific volume. He reports that during the Japanese advance south, the Allies eventually began using a small port on the south side of Java, Tjilatjap as a base. The Langley was bound there with a load of P-40s when it was sunk, and one cargo freighter with more P-40s had already reached it. It also had a small dry-dock that was used in an attempt to repair some of the smaller ships in the former US Asiatic Squadron.

The 'Malay Barrier' is hard enough for the Japanese to defend already, and the change of scale makes this moreso as a few more of the hexes bordering the South China Sea are junlge hexes that can base planes automatically, so playing Japan I would hate to see this port on the map. But realistically it would seem to be a WiF-style minor port.

I only bring this up to get it on here electronically before I forget about it, so there is a record for future work on the map.

Adding a port, even minor here, would add a change that we do not want to add, as you said.
But I add the name, as it is one of those WWII famous names, as Akyab, and it deserve to be on the map.

As a note, adding a minor port here is trivial for those interested to have it in their games in the future.

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

I cannot remember just how severe mountains are on movement and supply. 

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

Burma Oil: I agree that the important thing is to force the Japanese to make the same sort of effort to reach the oil as in the earlier version.

Akyab and Imphal: Different people have different design philosophies.  I subscribe to the school that is known as 'Design for Effect'.  DFE's doctrine is that it is not important what actually is: what is important is that the game recreates the effect of reality.  Thus, you argue that in real life there is not enough plain for Imphal (and not enough swamp for Akyab) because in both places mountains predominate.  I say that what counts is where the fighting actually took place.  Since 90% of the military activity was on the plain and in the swamps, that's what should determine the terrain type.  Thus using DFE at Imphal mandates a plain-terrain hex in order to attract both sides to it as happened to the historical generals.  The size of the plain is immaterial.  After all, look at Midway's hex: 99% of that hex is empty sea in reality, but you wouldn't suggest leaving Midway off the map because of it!

So far as designing the Imphal corridor is concerned, I'd rather leave that to you, as it is years since I played the game and I cannot remember just how severe mountains are on movement and supply.  All that is important is to make the corridor attractive enough to both sides to draw them to use it.

Similarly with Cox's Bazar.  In that hex the only troop movements were in India, therefore the hex should be Indian (because it feels right).

Malayan rubber:  I take your point about not shipping straight out to sea, so suggest the second resource should be one hex NE of Kuala Lumpur: there was tin in Malaya too.

IOC codes:  These are anachronistic.  'Mas' stands for Malaysia which did not exist in the forties.  Malaysia was the name adopted at independence when Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo united.  That's why the code changed from 'Mal' to 'Mas'.

Banguey: from my English atlases of 1936 and 1942.

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IOC codes: These are anachronistic. 'Mas' stands for Malaysia which did not exist in the forties. Malaysia was the name adopted at independence when Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo united. That's why the code changed from 'Mal' to 'Mas'.

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Malayan rubber: I take your point about not shipping straight out to sea, so suggest the second resource should be one hex NE of Kuala Lumpur: there was tin in Malaya too.

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
My motherlode source is Oxford Economic Atlas of the World.  Although my edition is dated 1959, in many cases it has pre-war statistics for comparison.  The bulk of the book is divided by resource, but at the back there are 'biographies' of each country.  How I love this book!

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Tin: Malaya is both the largest ore-producer and largest ore-smelter.  Pre-war it smelted 38% of the world's tin.  "This trade is dominated by Malaya which exports over one third of the world's output, and the USA which imports almost half."  The small scale world map identifies the major producing district as Kinta/Larut, with lesser production at Kuala Lumpur and Seremban.  Google says that Kinta is a tributary of the Sungai Perak river, the valley lying between the Keledang and Main ranges, and refers to it being in the west.  Wiki says that Kinta is in Perak province, so a better site for the tin resource would be the mountain hex NW of Kuala Lumpur, rather than NE as I previously suggested.

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

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IOC codes: These are anachronistic. 'Mas' stands for Malaysia which did not exist in the forties. Malaysia was the name adopted at independence when Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo united. That's why the code changed from 'Mal' to 'Mas'.

I agree we should use MAL instead of MAS, for the same reason as you say. MAS is for MAlaSia, which was called MALaya during WWII.

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

The Singapore fortress: can a Japanese task force creep along the east (or west) coast of Malaya and invade Singapore across the northeast (or northwest) hexside, thus avoiding the guns of the fortress?

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

Actually, I think the answer is no.  Reading the second paragraph of 11.14 very carefully, an invasion must come across an all-sea hexside, and the only valid all-sea hexside is the one southeast of Singapore ... which is protected by guns.  I believe it is not permissible to sidle down the coast.

But that second paragraph of 11.14 creates a new problem.  According to the RAW, Singapore cannot be invaded from the Bay of Bengal, because there happens to be no Singaporean all-sea hexside even partly on the Bay of Bengal front.  Is this intentional?  The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest seaways in the world.

Perhaps given the acknowledged difficulty Japan has defending the Malay Barrier, this is an acceptable play-balance device. Indeed, looking at the WiF FE maps, I see the problem was even more acute there. In spite of Operation Zipper, no invasion of Malaya's west coast was possible at all in that edition.

I have also noticed that the southern shore of Sumatra is now much easier for the Allies to invade. Every single coastal hex can be invaded, whereas in WiF FE some were protected by the off-shore islands. Those islands are between 75km and 120km from the shore, so some could be re-drawn to intrude into the new all-sea hexes and so protect some of Sumatra as was done in WiF FE.

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ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
But that second paragraph of 11.14 creates a new problem.  According to the RAW, Singapore cannot be invaded from the Bay of Bengal, because there happens to be no Singaporean all-sea hexside even partly on the Bay of Bengal front.  Is this intentional?  The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest seaways in the world.

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Perhaps given the acknowledged difficulty Japan has defending the Malay Barrier, this is an acceptable play-balance device. Indeed, looking at the WiF FE maps, I see the problem was even more acute there. In spite of Operation Zipper, no invasion of Malaya's west coast was possible at all in that edition.

I have also noticed that the southern shore of Sumatra is now much easier for the Allies to invade. Every single coastal hex can be invaded, whereas in WiF FE some were protected by the off-shore islands. Those islands are between 75km and 120km from the shore, so some could be re-drawn to intrude into the new all-sea hexes and so protect some of Sumatra as was done in WiF FE.