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Nemo121 -> Empires Ablaze: Nemo vs Jagdfluger (11/27/2006 2:55:39 AM)
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Well this is going to be the AAR for my game with Andy Mac. We are using my own Empires Ablaze mod so I will start off with a few words about the mod itself so people know the background:
Empires Ablaze uses RHS EOS as a base from which to diverge. I am using RHS as the base because I believe the air to air combat model in RHS is far superior to the stock A2A combat model and significantly superior to NikMod with an increased number of leakers even when facing very large CAPs and none of the deleterious changes to the FlAK inherent in NikMod. We are using EOS because that is, explicitly, a "what if" mod postulated on Japan having a more unified, rational approach to the war. As such it forms a good basis for the backstory which I have envisioned for this mod.
What is this backstory? Well, here is the first draft of the introduction to the mod ( which I will be posting to the Alternate History Scenario Site kindly being set up by AKDreamer once Andy and I have played enough to spot the most obvious errors)...
Report of the Senate Commission for the Investigation of
Japan's Conduct of the Great Pacific War.
Reporting to the Armed Services Committee, 1947.
In June of 1939 a round of assasinations swept the political and military doyens of Japanese strategy. The most visible proponents of each faction's ideologies were removed in a brutal and efficient series of assasinations and by the time the parties involved realised that their old enemies are not guilty of ordering these assasinations it is too late and they are involved in a silent, deadly war of assasination and counter-assasination. What emerged in the winter of 1939 was a cadre of middle-ranking officers who have tired of the in-fighting, factionalism and ideology which has riven the national political level of decision-making and have decided, with Emperor Hirohito's implicit consent, that for Japan to succeed on the international stage pragmatism and not ideology must guide its actions.
With most ideologues either dead or in hiding Emperor Hirohito asste increased control over his much-diminished privy council and the replacement of the dead and cowering by those of a more pragmatic bent began. They immediately went to work and the results of their deliberations would rock the world back on its heels in the first three years of the Great Pacific War.
The first conclusion of the new Grand Commanders of the Army and Navy, General Yamashita and Admiral Yamamoto respectively, was that war with the west was inevitable and with the growing importance of airpower it was vital to push the boundaries of the empire out as far as possible so as to protect it from the sort of unstoppable air raids the Italian theorist Douhet predicted would be a staple of future wars.
The second conclusion was tied to the acceptance of Admiral Yamamoto's view that America was an industrial powerhouse the Japanese could simply not hope to defeat in a war of attrition. Thus the army and navy agreed that they would subjugate military needs to economic reality and strive, at all times, to maximise the effective military force they could create from their limite pools of manpower and materiel.
The third conclusion was that the Imperial Japanese Navy had been equipping itself to fight "the last war" and not the war that was coming. The underpinning of naval strategy for the past decades had been the belief that the Imperial Japanese Navy would meet the American Navy in a decisive High Seas engagement near the Phillipines after weakening the American navy with concentrated destroyer and submarine attacks on the way. This doctrine was now abandoned and replaced with one focusing much more on the airplane, naval carriers and power projection from captured airbases.
What did this specifically result in?
1. Cancellation of Nate production and concentration of all efforts into producing the A6M2 and A6M-N2.
2. Increased efforts to gain technological insight from the Germans including the purchase of three Ju-88s, three Me-264s, several Me-109s and, later, several Uhu prototypes during the period in which interest in the design in Germany was low.
3. The conversion of the Yamato and Musashi into armoured carriers with deck armour proof against the largest bombs known to be carried by Allied naval divebombers.
4. A recognition that the Navy Task Forces were weak in terms of air defence and the conversion of one of the CAs in production to a "Designer Class" heavy cruiser foregoing all heavy anti-ship armament and focussing instead on packing as many 3.9 inch, 40mm Bofors and 25mm AAA weapons as possible onto a heavily-armoured CA hull as well as the laying down of a series of anti-aircraft destroyers of the Samurai class. With the Designer Class CAs to anchor the CV TF defence and draw enemy attackers onto themselves as flames to a moth and the Samurai class to provide additional firepower it was envisioned that the strength of anti-aircraft defensive fire protectin Japan's precious carriers would increase logarithmically.
5. A clear division between navy torpedo-armed twin-engined bombers designed for naval strikes and army bombers designed for the ground attack role. No longer would army bombers carry a paltry number of 250 Kg bombs in order to maximise their effectiveness against naval targets. No, army bombers would now carry a greater number of smaller, 100Kg and 50 Kg bombs, to increase their effectiveness against enemy ground targets while the role of attacking enemy surface fleets would devolve onto the torpedo-attack arm.
6. The laying down of a small number ultra-light, ultra-long range CVLs mounting no armour but capable of dashes at 30 knots as well as a series of four oilers capable of keeping pace with them.
7. The conversion of many merchant shipyards to naval needs in order to provide the number of ultra-light Kaitana class raiding CVLs and small escorts envisioned in the plan.
8. The addition of two more infantry divisions to the Southern Area Army and a greater emphasis on armoured warfare than had been present heretofore. All Independent Tank Companies in the Army and Navy were consolidated into two understrength brigades and 3 Tank Divisions, Hirohito, Imperial and Kamikaze, were due to be raised in the latter portion of 1942.
Unfortunately the above planning was all focussed on the assumption that the war would not begin until late 1942. With the American strangulation of Japan's economic lifeblood beginning with the imposition of sanctions in early 1941 Japan's leaders decided to go to war in late 1941 to try to carve out as much of an empire as they could with the forces at their disposal at that time. Their hope was that the arrival of the new fleet and new airplanes during the course of 1942 and 1943 would allow them to so strongly fortify their holdings that any American counter-offensive would be crushed and the Americans forced to sue for peace.
So what are the specific changes:
1. Yamato and Musashi are not built as BBs but, instead, as CVs. Their deck armour is strengthened and their belt armour reduced. This is to follow the design intent of the Nemo class CAs ( yeah, I know, I know) and try to reduce their vulnerability to dive bombers.
2. The two contemplated Yamato class BBs/Shinano CVs are completed late-war along the same lines.
3. At Andy's suggestion a series of 6 CVLs is built in 1942 with a view to creating a credible, fast light strike force for threatening enemy convoys and expendably scouting in advance of the main fleet. They carry 27 aircraft each ( a chutai of Zeroes, a chutai of Kates and a shotai of recon planes). They can dash at 32 knots and cruise at 21 knots. They have pitiful sortie rates, absolutely no armour whatsoever and a durability on the order of a weak CL. In essence the first hit they take will put them out of the battle completely. Their only defence is to avoid being hit.
4. The Nemo class of CA is designed using traditional Japanese CAs as a base. They are specialised anti-aircraft warfare escorts for the CVs and are intended to both increase the strength of the anti-aircraft defence of the CV TFs AND free the CAs and BBs which would otherwise thus have to be detailed to this duty. The Nemo class features multiple 3.9 inch, 40mm Bofors and 25mm AAA weapons mounts both fore, aft and to both sides of the ship as well as an experimental "pedestal" mount replacing much of the vessel's superstructure and mounting several more 25mm and 40mm mounts with 360 degree arcs of fire. As this ship is expected to both destroy enemy airplanes AND draw them away from the CVs and onto itself the care taken with watertight compartmenting and other such survivability aids has been reflected in a durability of 75. The ship completely lacks any large-calibre guns, having sacrificed all its surface combat capability ( save the ability to fight enemy destroyers ) in return for additional AAA weapons. The other 5 vessels in the Nemo class will enter service during 1942 and early 43 and are all named after individuals who have had a hand in developing WiTP or its mods.
5. The Samurai class of DDs. These DDs enter service in mid-42 with the final ship in the class of twelve due for delivery in mid-43. These are specialised CV escorts again optimised for anti-aircraft warfare but carrying a significant ASW and torpedo battery just in case. They are large ships with each ship being roughly 3/4 of the size of a pre-war Japanese CL and having a construction cost to match.
6. All Japanese transport submarines have been changed for attack models.
7. Japan is assumed to have adopted the A6M2 as its primary fighter and is in the middle of re-equipping its frontline forces with the A6M2. While no additional A6M2s are in service at the start of the war the monthly production of A6M2s is approximately 120 per month ( due to the retooling of Nate factories) and this should aid immeasurably in replenishing early losses/upgrading the Claudes still in service navy-wide.
8. Japan is assumed to have been interested in the Me-264 and has the following models about to enter service:
a) Me-264 Angel - Carrying 48 x 100 Kg bombs = 4,800 Kg or just under 11,000 lbs. Needs a level 6 airfield to fly at full load. Due to enter service January 42.
b) Me-264 Behemoth - Carrying 8 x Hs-293s and requiring a Level 7 airfield to fly at full load. Due to enter service June 42.
c) G9M Marlina- carrying a single modified Long Lance in the torpedo bomber role. Requires a Level 5 airfield to fly with its torpedo and is due to enter service in June 42.
9. Japan is also assumed to invest in the He-219 Uhu. This plane has slightly inferior performance to the Mosquito Night-fighter ( added to the Allied order of battle) but is armoured and carries a truly awesome amount of firepower ( 8 cannons).
10. Japan is also assumed to invest more into twin-engined fighter bombers and come up with further daytime variants and developments of the Ki-45 at the expense of its night-fighter variant ( which is ably replaced by the Ki-219 Uhu ). These include the Ki-45 II a more heavily armed and slightly faster single-seater development of the Ki-45 IB and the Ki-93 an extremely heavily armoured twin-engined, fighter-bomber mounting 2 x 20mm and 1 x 57mm cannon in the nose, ideal for strafing attacks against the Allied fleet during the latter half of 1944.
11. The only other significant addition to RHS EOS is the addition of the Ki-115 Tsuguri - a mass-producible kamikaze which Japan will be able to churn out in huge numbers in 1945. Due to a technical trick I hae been able to reduce the cost of the Ki-115 to just 18 HI per plane, compared with 36 for a single-engined fighter, 54 for a twin-engined plane and 90 for a four-engined plane. Given that the plane can carry an 800 Kg bomb I'm sure it is obvious that the Allies will have to honour the threat posed by massed Tsuguri strikes. So, what are the drawbacks of this plane? It has pitiful top speed, pitiful manoeuvrability ( along the lines of a twin-engined bomber rather than a single-engined plane) and a durability of only 8 - so should be exceedingly easy for FlAK to destroy. It also only has a ceiling of 24,000 feet so as to ensure that the Allies will have no problems intercepting it.
12. A class of 400 or so Kaiten-equipped PT boats has been added to Japanese forces. These build at a rate of about 50 per month throughout the first half of 1944.
13. As far as the ground war goes the only significant changes have been as follows:
a) The Southern Area Army divisions at Shanghai have been shifted to Canton which makes a more logical embarkation point for both the Phillipines and Malaysia given early Japanese shipping movements.
b) Japan has gained Infantry Divisions. 2 begin the game in Tokyo with two more coming online through 1942.
c) The innumerable Independent Tank Companies have been consolidated into two weak armoured Brigades.
d) Japan gets three tank divisions throughout 1942 and 43 BUT it has to have the armour points to fill them at the time they arrive or they will be quite ineffective. Unless Japan does very well this could prove extremely difficult.
e) Japan gains a Parachute Division in late 42/early 43.
All of these changes have been balanced by additions to the Allied side. The overall intention is to make Japan stronger in 42 BUT allow America to fight back more effectively at an earlier date. Hopefully this will see significant, balanced, battles throughout all of 1943 before the Allies gain ascendancy in late 1943 and through the first half of 1944. If I've judged things right this ascendancy should begin to slip in mid-44 and early 45 with the appearance of waves of Japanese ships and planes suited to kamikaze tactics before being re-established in the 2nd quarter of 45 with a fresh wave of Allied reinforcements.
The Allied changes have been as follows:
1. The UK gains 2 infantry divisions. One at gamestart and another in mid-42.
2. The US gains a parachute division, a tank division and a USMC division - mostly in 1943.
3. The P-51B Experimental becomes available in September 42 and carrier-capable Corsairs become available in January 43.
4. The upgrade paths of various planes have been changed at Andy's request to give him a bit more leeway as to what to upgrade to what.
5. Britain gains 2 BBs, 4 CLs and 12 DDs in March 42, an additional 2 Fijis late on and has its 1944 CVs and CVLs accelerated by between 12 and 18 months and gains a new CVL into the bargain. In addition the C and D class cruisers gain significant AAA upgrades in 1943 making them crucial ships for any CV TF ( their radars get a range of about 4 hexes at that time). The Hawkins class CAs also get major surface warfare upgrades in mid-43.
6. The US gains 5 Iowa class BBs, an Alaska class BC and 4 CAs in addition to an additional 4 Essex class CVs and 2 new replenishment CVEs with the express purpose of allowing underway replenishment of CV-capable corsairs. I have also given the Allies 2 x Kittyhawk CVLs with a nominal aircraft capacity of 120 planes but no aircraft ordnance so that Andy can use them as fast aircraft transports with which to support India or Australia.
7. Aircraft changes on the Allied side have been fairly limited:
a) P-51 available one year earlier than historically the case.
b) Corsairs available on CVs from January 43.
c) Tripled the B-17 replacement rate in RHS so that Andy has some replaceability for his four-engined bomber force.
d) Created the Mosquito Night Fighter as a counter to the Uhu.
e) Increased the replacement rates for a number of four-engined and single-engined planes.
8. Review of Allied pilot experience.
USN and IJN pilot experience was pegged at 65 for the game.
British, USMC and US Army experience was pegged at 60 ( as was IJA experience).
Pretty much everyone else got 55 except the Soviets and Chinese who got 40 and 35 respectively.
So, overall Japan gets 216 x 65 Exp pilots per month to America's 200 x 65 Exp pilots per month while Japan gets 150 x 60 Exp pilots to the Allied 580 x 60 Exp pilots. So, Japan, IF things go well, should be able to maintain an edge in experience for some time BUT it cannot afford attrition. If Japan gets drawn into a war of attrition with Allied land-based air it WILL lose and it WILL lose quickly. Out at sea things are a lot more even.
My plan in this game is to use my Armoured Carrier Strike Force ( Yamato and Musashi) to push through the Malacca straits and up towards Ceylon forcing the abandonment of the naval base there and allowing me to land two divisions to take Trincomalee and Colombo itself by late December. I will then use this base to cut the SLOC between Aden and Karachi while I take Malaysia and the Phillipines. Once I have the Allies hemmed up in Bataan and Manilla I will transfer most of my forces out of the Phillipines and bring them ( along with the forces in Malaysia) to India to complete its capture. Ideally I'd like to have India wrapped up by March 42.
Pacific plans:
1. Capture Aleutians. Prepare for operations against Kodiak & Alaska once winter time passes.
2. Cut Pearl Harbour off from resupply and try to sink the BBs there as they make a run for it. Invade once forces become available following the collapse of India.
3. Take Rabaul and Port Moresby in the initial rush. Build up Guadalcanal and develop on attack on Noumea after India has fallen. The aim here is to allow the Allies to strengthen the defence of Noumea and to destroy the largest number of ground combat formations possible. Giving the Allies time to strengthen Noumea will help ensure they commit many troops there... troops the absence of whom will slow their counter-offensive in 1943.
4. New Zealand and Oz as appropriate.
China:
Resource bombing to the maximum followed by a speedy collapse of the Chinese position once I bring the force from India into the mix.
Soviet Union:
On the target list once China is rendered irrelevant.
Industry:
I have added a lot of 0/0 HI, armaments, vehicle, engine and airframe plants wherever there are significant resources and HI on the map. This is to simulate the ability to create new centres of production as a response to:
a) the allied submarine effort ( if the factory is co-located with the resources then one doesn't need to ship anything back to the Home Islands) and
b) the expected Allied strategic bombing campaign.
Andy has also gained several large repair yards, most notably at Capetown and Perth as well as expansions of existing capacit at Aden and Ceylon.
We have agreed on a single port attack on turn 1. I have elected to attack Manilla harbour. I am committing my entire Ki-21, Ki-32, Ki-48, G3M, G4M and land-based B4Y and B5N force to this mission with two Daitai of Zeroes to clear the way. With over 800 bombers attacking the port at Manilla and the airfields at Manilla and Clark I expect good results and the virtual annihilation of the enemy submarine force. Meanwhile my carriers will attack the airfields at Singapore and Pearl Harbour.
On Day 2 the force at Hawaii will begin to dance around PH in an effort to destroy American ships as they flee and bring the invasion force into position to land at Hilo or Kona. The Assault Carrier Division ( Yamato and Musashi) will sprint through the Malacca straits in conjunction with the heavily escorted Ceylon invasion fleet) and my two mini-KBs will take up position north and south of Java with a view to cutting off those ships which try to escape via these routes. The CVEs will close the passage via Merak while the CVLs will be posted just south of Java and sink ships heading that way.
Overall I wouldn't be surprised to clear 100 Allied ships sunk by Day 2 and 250 sunk by the end of the first month. My own losses should be much lighter than in my game against Jutland because:
a) Andy seems to be a more cautious opponent and
b) I am hitting FAR fewer bases and thus have the escorts available to escort my convoys properly. Essentially I am missing out on most of the initial DEI invasions because India insisted on this as a house rule and I decided to make the best of a bad situation and just concentrate the force which would have been dispersed over 4 or 5 bases into a mailed fist which will hit one of his more important bases quite hard far more quickly than he is used to.
This is important because over the first half of the war the Allied anti-ship torpedo bomber surface strike capability is significantly increased oer stock and EOS. In the second half of the war ( 1944 onwards) this capability is increased even further. Thus it is important to do what I can to rob the Allies of the shipping they require to support this increased capability as early as possible.
So, overall, this mod features a more powerful Japan AND more powerful Allies. Ideally it is designed so that the Japanese lose their edge earlier than in stock BUT manage to narrow the gap between themselves and the Allies several times over the course of 1943 and 44. The most significant narrowing of this gap occurs with the advent of the Tsuguri which I expect to prove something of a shock to the Allies. A single hit will tend to render combat incapable anything smaller than a BB and with the potential to create many hundreds per month the Japanese should have the capability to send waves of several hundred Tsuguri per day into the teeth of the enemy CAP when an important invasion must be opposed. Even flown by 30 Exp pilots and sent in as nothing more than airframes and meat for the CAP to chew on ( such that the real strike gets through less molested than is currently the case) the Tsuguri has great value.
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