RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please.

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (Full Version)

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FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/23/2010 1:12:28 PM)
Heroes of the Empire On the ground most of this month wasn't very good for Japanese, and on the sea action was minimal, so all the praise goes towards the airmen. Ominato Kokutai T-1 (now on Paramushiro) will be remembered for fatally wounding CL Phoenix with just 10 sorties (and no losses on their own). They are used as an example for KB torpedo bomber pilots, who, despite flying more modern Kates, instead of Mabels, failed to sink a single warship in the open sea so far. On the Army side, pilots from Detachment A of 54th Sentai (now based in Nanchang) distinguished themselves in battles against ambushing air pirates of AVG, and proved that the latter are good only for hunting unescorted bombers. They scored 14 air kills, while losing only 8 planes (4 of them operationally or as writeoffs) and three pilots.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/23/2010 1:28:34 PM)
Japanese Industry The vehicle production finally rose to the levels where the pool grows steadily. Hopefully, no further expansion will be needed. Armament pools continue to grow steadily, so I might be able to shut off even more armament factories. With Junyo off the slip, now I have enough Naval build points to accelerate Unryu and Amagi, while building practically everyhing there is to build. Well, except Type KS subs. These suck and the Empire doesn't need them. Seriously, almost anything is a better investment than a sub with only 3500 endurance. A bunch of Type-1 TL fast tankers also was accelerated. Better to haul every drop of oil I can to Home Islands early in the game. Japan still struggles with resource deficit. As ongoing military operations eat supply like there is no tomorrow, so I cannot alleviate it by shutting off light industry. The fuel situation is also deteriorating, thanks to massive fleet operations. [image]local://upfiles/33131/D87D2921AEEA4DFBA2E346E802A5A09F.jpg[/image]

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/23/2010 1:35:40 PM)
Aircraft Production Not much change since the last month. We're making enough Mitsubishi Ha-32 to cover the demand now. Ha-33 is in deficit, though, because I've restarted the Nell factory to better prepare for Operation HI. [image]local://upfiles/33131/65C0F6B8A5C8426D96D062A1AF3B41DC.jpg[/image]

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/24/2010 3:52:23 PM)
Naval Bombardments Still Are Nuclear This is the report on Japanese night naval bombardment of Midway before the invasion: Night Naval bombardment of Midway Island at 158,91 - Coastal Guns Fire Back! Japanese Ships BB Hyuga BB Ise BB Yamashiro BB Fuso Allied ground losses: 596 casualties reported Squads: 3 destroyed, 12 disabled Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 88 disabled Engineers: 4 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 37 (2 destroyed, 35 disabled) Vehicles lost 18 (6 destroyed, 12 disabled) Airbase hits 17 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 51 Port hits 14 Port supply hits 2 F1M2 Pete acting as spotter for BB Hyuga BB Hyuga firing at Midway Island E13A1 Jake acting as spotter for BB Ise 6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Ise BB Ise firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion BB Yamashiro firing at Midway Island BB Fuso firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion 6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Fuso Needless to say, the defenders were very much screwed by this, so while the landing force still took some damage from coastal guns (training CL Katori and AK Sasako Maru were moderately damaged and will require a trip to Home Islands shipyards before returning to active strength), few troops were lost during the landing, the initial shock attack dropped the forts from 3 to 0 and the second attack seized the island. Only US subs contested the landing. SS Cachalot should be mentioned for launching 3 attacks in 2 days and putting a torpedo into BB Ise (the damage caused Ise's speed to drop, so she's another mission-killed ship). We took a measure of revenge one day later, when KB moved southeast and found AV Wright and PC Taney between Johnston and French Frigate Shoal. 13 Kates sortied from Akagi and easily sank both. Stupid Mistake Yeah, failing to remember that Zero does not have enough ferry range to reach Hawaii from Marshalls was one on my part. We'll need to take Johnston before our main landing force proceeds to Hilo (chosen because it is barely in range of American fighters from Oahu). Unfortunately, taking Johnston with a poorly-prepped regiment will require an ultra-massive bombardment, leaving Combined Fleet with relatively little surface strength to cover the Hilo landing... However, as Glen recon shows very few ships in or around of Pearl, this might be much less of a problem that luring Allies to fight in the first place. Did Yubari decide to pull a complete Sir Robin? This might be conceivable if he perceives Hawaii as weakly defended and recent "sinking" reports regarding nearly all of remaining Pearl Harbor battleships (including Nevada, which apparently survived the attack) confirm, that he moved Pacific Fleet away, with his battlewagons taking flotation damage in the process. I hope some of them flounder. USN not showing up to play will be supremely annoying. Although Hawaii, if they are indeed not fortified, are a prize in itself.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/24/2010 8:03:43 PM)
Japanese Strategic Conundrum At this point, I must admit to myself, that, due to my grave mismanagement of Singapore siege, there is no way in hell I can land the bulk of Southern Army on Oahu before the Japanese amphibious bonus expires (IIRC, in the end of March). Even if theoretically 25th Army and 16th Divsion can get there on time, practically they will need some major R&R (16th is still recovering disablement at Cagayan). Combined with the uber coastal defenses (on Oahu in general and under the current patch), this has a potential to result in a horrible slaughter. Unfortunately, the forces already committed towards Hawaii (over 3 Divisions) may be extreme overkill for outlying islands unless these were considerably reinforced. At this point, I'm facing three possible operational decisions, two of which will prompt another decision about the choice of strategic directions: 1)True Operation HI. Soldier forward towards Hawaii with all my strength no matter what. Throw the bulk of my bomber force into suppressing Oahu and hope that the combined IJN battleline will be able to pound Oahu forts into submissiong before the decisive landing around May. On the positive side, this course of action is more likely to elicit serious USN response than any other. On the negative, it is a risky play with extremely high stakes. Also, extremely fuel-expensive. 2)Limited Operation HI. Just take outlying islands and disengage most of the infantry soon thereafter, or even don't send all of it in the first place. Keep a limited part of Japanese airforce engaged in the attritional battle with Americans. Positives: Less risk - can be done super cheaply (save fuel) if Allies keep playing Sir Robin - and the Empire can launch another strategic offensive during the spring. Negatives: Forces left on Hawaii will be really doomed in the autumn. Acceptance of large pointless movements of troops back and forth. 3)Abort Operation HI. Take just Johnston, and turn the rest of the ships back. Or use them to descend on Suva. Positives: Avoiding the negatives of ## 1-2. Negatives: Acceptance of little gain for enormous burn of fuel. Acceptance of considerable loss of operational tempo/channeling of forces into an undesirable strategic direction. In case of choices #2 and #3, another choice must be made - between India-Ceilon and Southern Pacific as the next direction of efforts. To be fair, I really prefere the former, because there's just isn't much useful stuff to plunder in the latter, if nothing else.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/27/2010 5:54:03 PM)
Well, after some deliberation, I decided to proceed at least with the part of Operation HI that is already in the process, namely taking outlying islands. Johnston is on the verge of falling at the moment (naval bombardments cracked the resistance there as well after the repeated efforts - cruiser bombardments were ineffective, and Nagatos were forces to unload much of their ammunition on the island, but their effort paid off) and the main invasion fleet + both KBs are moving towards Hilo. Still no sign of Allied surface forces anywhere, but I believe Yubari won't be able to resist the temptation infinitely. Hilo and Lahaina appear to have significant garrizons, so at least bringing whole divisions to them is going to pay off. The Last Shots of the Dutch Dutch subs and flying boats scored unexpectedly and heavily against my transports that participated in the invasion of Samarinda, sinking one xAK and damaging another. Yet another xAK was sunk by Do-24s near Tarakan. As AK Sasako Maru unexpectedly sank on the way from Midway, this was a bad week for Japanese transport fleets.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (7/31/2010 12:53:25 PM)
Hunting Sir Robin The first wave of Hawaii invasion landed at Hilo on March 14. I picked Hilo because it was the most distant airbase hex from Oahu, allowing to minimize the risk to KB (at the moment both KB-1 and KB-2, now reduced to Mini-KB, hang around). Not only USN did not show up to oppose the invasion fleets, but American planes did not fly as well. Lots of subs appeared but all were foiled by the escorts. On the same day, I-2 torpedoed CA Pensacola right next to San Francisco, and detected two CLs right next to it. Does Yubari indeed decide not to fight at sea? However, the ground force found at Hilo was fairly strong, if consisting of a gaggle of small units: Ground combat at Hilo (183,111) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 5240 troops, 184 guns, 65 vehicles, Assault Value = 312 Defending force 15315 troops, 132 guns, 125 vehicles, Assault Value = 434 Allied ground losses: 3 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 754th Tank Battalion 2nd USMC Engineer Regiment 2nd Marine Regiment 1st/298th Infantry Battalion 1st/102nd Infantry Battalion 1st Marine Defense Battalion 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion 109th USN Base Force 70th Coast AA Regiment 810th Engineer Aviation Battalion 205th Field Artillery Battalion Defending units: 38th Div /2 9th Field AF Const Bn /1 11th Air Fleet /1 36th Const Co /1 3rd Engineer Const Bn /1 30th Fld AA Gun Co /1 Despite what the report says, almost all troops, save for a 38th Division fragment, managed to unload during 14th and got on the shore in order and with litte disruption, even though CD fire was intense (I had no bombardment group to spare at the moment), but xAP Suva Maru was sunk by coastal guns and several more ships took significant damage. While I intended to send 48th Division for Lahaina, after taking Hilo airfield looks like the Hilo landing must be reinforced to succeed, so the second wave will land there on the next day. With over 900 AV, we'll surely smash the defenders. Endgame in Burma In a bit of good news to offset the difficulties in the Pacific and at Singapore (which still holds, although now, after half a month of incessant bombardment by nearly the entire Southern Army artillery part, Allied AV has failed to recover at remains at less than 600, compared to almost 2000 of Japanese AV, so I believe it'll finally fall very soon), we caught the rearguard of the Burma Corps in Warazup, eliminating a whole host of valuable construction troops and devices: Ground combat at Warazup (63,41) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 14434 troops, 156 guns, 235 vehicles, Assault Value = 822 Defending force 5076 troops, 96 guns, 34 vehicles, Assault Value = 57 Japanese adjusted assault: 406 Allied adjusted defense: 39 Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 0) Japanese forces CAPTURE Warazup !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), preparation(-), morale(-) experience(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 15 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 2965 casualties reported Squads: 56 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 240 destroyed, 14 disabled Engineers: 123 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 81 (81 destroyed, 0 disabled) Vehicles lost 37 (37 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 6 Units destroyed 2 Defeated Allied Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 1st Tank Regiment 112th Infantry Regiment 14th Tank Regiment Imperial Guards Division 143rd Infantry Regiment 55th Mountain Gun Regiment 15th Army 21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion Defending units: Upper Burma BAF Battalion Tenasserim BAF Battalion 103rd RN Base Force 108th RAF Base Force 104th RAF Base Force 1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment 102nd RAF Base Force 100th RAF Base Force Better yet, as you can see on the map below the beaten Allied force was cut off from the safety of the jungle and had retreated to southwest, right into the middle of Japanese territory. It is doomed now. While Yubari was able to save a large part of his AV, eliminating British support troops in Burma is possibly even more important that killing off low-quality infantry. [image]local://upfiles/33131/B3D22A0FA0CB4FD9A7EE8399C590DF7B.jpg[/image]

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/1/2010 9:58:10 AM)
Operation HI Continues USN still didn't show up on March 15, although air search detected BBs now at Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, my bombardment TF failed to move to Hilo on time and several more ships were roughed by coastal guns. Considering poor Japanese damage control, I might pay with up to 5 fast transports for the invasion of Hilo. The second wave of troops got ashore mostly in order, though. I'll be able to haul them to other Hawaian islands by xAKLs in the future. American aviation sorties in very limited numbers, trying to sweep Hilo and attack unloading ships. Overbleeding Zero CAP from KB and Mini-KB ate American fighters for lunch, taking down around 20 Wildcats and Warhawks in exchange for around 2-3 planes of their own (Zero also fought Hurricanes over Calcutta this day, with success but not without losses, so the exact distribution of lost Zeros is unclear). They also shot down between 1 and 3 B-17s. 6 Dauntlesses however, broke through and hit another transport (contributing to the overall losses prospect). Also, two of my minesweepers, detached into a separate TF, sank and three more took major sys damage for no clear reason at all. This is disturbig.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/1/2010 12:57:23 PM)
Well, the minelayer riddle is solved, looks like they got shot up by coastal guns while trying to take the hex, but this wasn't in the replay, only in the report. Meanwhile... Victory in Central China The Japanese main force just broke the last siege in the Central China, shock attacking across the river and routing a four-corps Chinese army at Wuchang. I've marked recent major Japanese marches by arrows on the map below and areas of battles in March by ellipses. While the pursuit of the Chinese army retreating from Sinyang was relatively unsuccesful, with only one corps caught and smashed on the road to Ichang (although aviation also took significant toll on Chinese troops as they marched to safety), Wuchang compensated this. Overall Chinese losses in March already exceed 1050 infantry squads. In my opinion, retreating withot a fight was a mistake on Yubari's part. I expected to lose months of time and hundreds of squads evicting Chinese from the defensible terrain, but instead Japanese managed to score two relatively cheap victories. Now I can move the bulk of my forces out of the central region without much worries. It's about time to do so, as well. Yubari launched some advances, marked on the map below by yellow squares. One in the south seems to be closed already, but in the north a massive force descends on Nanyang. Japanese aviation just got ambushed by AVG again, while trying to slow down this move (I don't know how Yubari managed this, Sian seemed to still have only size 1 airfield when I looked the last time, and you cannot fly LRCAP from size 1 airfields). The main force might need to return there once again, but it stands no chance of getting to Nanyang in time, so I'm moving other forces, including two brigades now freed from the rear by increase of garrizon units' AV from rest and reinforcements, to try and hold until the help arrives. This is a significant crisis, but this also might be a golden opportunity to demolish the Sian Army in the open terrain, if Yubari decided to press the attack. [image]local://upfiles/33131/9047C65112744BD093FD77DAEABCECA8.jpg[/image]

bklooste -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/2/2010 2:30:49 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: FatR 2)I'll NOT upgrade the main Zero plant to A6M8 and I'll NOT switch Nakajima Ha-35 production to Mitshubishi Ha-33. I'll keep A6M5b and redirect my research effort towards bringing A7M2 into production even earlier Tough call , i would definetly build some A6M8 you get it early and the A6M5b really suffers from the extra weight ( poor top speed and maneuver) , I sometimes wonder of the A6M2 is better since the armour dont do much vs late was allied cannons ( It does help vs bombers but thats not really a zero roll) . A7 you wont get ( in quantity ) till very late

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/2/2010 3:55:28 PM)
You're confusing A6M5b with A6M5c. And as I mentioned, I do intend to add a smaller A6M8 factory after they are available and see how it performs.

topeverest -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/3/2010 7:04:56 PM)
I anxiously await your moves in Hawaii. Not many Empire players attempt.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/3/2010 9:07:11 PM)
Currently I'm seeing with my eyes why this is so. We played two more turns and in one of them I did a ton of screwups, failing to properly calculate the range between KB and Oahu, so that my planes sortied against CL Trenton and only damaged it (1 torp), while exchanging fighters 1:1 with Americans. Also a whole ton of scout planes went down. Also me failing to call off the unloading of supplies at Hilo, despite intending to do so, resluted in losing even more ships as a result. Now I believe I should have sent the Lahaina force to Kona, which is empty. Hilo was chosen purely to keep at least some CAP from KB over the landings while keeping KB out of Warhawk range from Oahu. But as it seems, Yubari is not too keen about the perspective of a carrier battle, so my fears of being caught between a rock and a hard place might have been unfounded. Now I'm directing 17th Regiment (from Midway, now already in position for the new landing) and 24th Regiment from Johnston to Kona, because to top it all my troops failed to take Hilo, suffering 10:1 (!) casualties despite engineers dropping the forts to 2 and having more than tree times their enemy's AV. They are short on supply now as well. The trouble is, I have no free air support in the immediate vicinity to establish an airfield right away. I was not dilligent enough with extending the logistical pipeline (including hauling fuel and supplies to Johnston). Still, in this situation I have no choice but to press forward. In good news, Ise was patched enough to Kwajalein to restore her full cruise and nearly restore the full combat speed. When more battleships arrive after reloading ammo and small repairs, I'll be able to crack Hilo (tried to bombard it with cruisers, but it seems that anything short of battleship is practically useless bombardments, and Nagatos need to keep their remaining ammo in case if Yubari decides to give a surface battle after all - it is clear, that some surface units do hang at Oahu).

topeverest -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/3/2010 9:52:27 PM)
Tough nut no doubt, and the situation is so fluid that what was deemed as prudent one turn looks like folly the next. IMHO Your CV Zeroes are your life. Deplete them before establishing a strong land based cap, and there are many more bad outcomes than good. Logistics will be very important after the base is established. You will have a very long, exposed supply line subject to interruption as long as any US navy or air force is in the Hawain islands. I hope you overloaded engineers to build up some bases suitable to tango with the two majors the allies still hold. Banzai.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/3/2010 10:37:31 PM)
In a bit good news, Junyo and repaired Chiyoda just joined the main fleet, bringing 21 more Zeros to play, more than covering losses for the entire operation, including routine ops losses. But another logistical problem that I've failed to mention lies in the fact, that even with about 380 naval support and AKEs, Kwajalein seems to have big trouble replenishing BB magaizines. Ise, and IIRC, Fuso, have loaded ammo for the main guns successfuly, while other two old BBs seem to be unable to do so no matter what.

topeverest -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/3/2010 10:48:27 PM)
If u've built Kwaj port to level 5, you need 840 naval support to replenish the 40CM guns on Mutsu. 878 NS with level 4 port. Or you need an AE / AKE disbanded in port with supply with 4500 cargo capacity. Anyone, please correct me if I got the math wrong.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/8/2010 7:07:42 PM)
I meant Yamashiro and Hyuga, topeverest. Don't know what's so different with them. Anyway, we've played two more turns (even though heat, and, now, smoke haze, presumably from forest fires, are turning my brains to mush). Once again my ships did not retreat in time and I lost an AV to torpedo boats. Those American PTs are surprisingly effective. Their colleagues at Philippines didn't hit anything, and now I'm losing a second ship to them. Mines at Kona also damaged a whole bunch of ships. One DD is practically doomed (95 flotation damage!) and one CA is out of battle. But 17th Regiment took the base and by the next turn I'll fly in some air support by flying boats. Much more is on the way at sea. Seeing that American aviation is very passive and that Oahu CAP was fairly weak, I decided to sweep PH the last turn. Zeros from four carriers, despite going in 4 separate sweeps, achieved about 4:1 kill ratio (approximately 40 Allied planes shot down for 9 lost Zeros) against the assortment of Allied fighters that included even P-26s and Texans. Either Yubari is extremely sneaky, or Allied plane pools are totally dry. With overall Allied fighter losses at Hawaii being around 70 now, the latter doesn't seem impossible. I'm willing to bet on the last assumption. KB will move closer to Oahu the next turn and will try to kill off or chase away any surface combatants that lurk there. Seeing as how it seems possible to initiate surface combat in enemy hexes without provoking coastal guns, I might follow with a surface attack by Nagatos, depending on what will be found there. But as battleships are my best tools for troop support, and such a move is quite risky (mines, and whatnot) I'd prefer to keep them for breaking the Allied defence at Hilo, unless the prey is extremely juicy.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/9/2010 12:09:46 PM)
Air Struggle Huge air battles took place on March 20 over Hawaii and Calcutta, as Japanese struggled to establish air superiority. Allied losses for the day are reported as 79 planes, almost all of them fighters, while Japanese lost 47 (and 27 pilots), including a significant number of naval search Jakes. (I don't know how to preserve my poor Jakes. They die in droves every time their search radius includes Oahu). Over Hawaii, Japanese pilot superiority carried the day, but only a couple of destroyers was found at Oahu. Several Kates sortied and accomplished nothing except losing some of their own. Over Calcutta, Hurricanes gained the upper hand over 1st Sentai and Yamada Ku. Army pilots will return after resting and recovering their losses, Navy fighters will hold back from now on. Their pilots are more valuable, because IJN has less traning units. And their pilots seem to grow in skill slower. For Army, I already have a solid reserve of Air skill 70 fighter pilots, for Navy... I don't. A lot of pilots in 60-65 Air skill range across the training units based in Home Islands, but they don't seem to be improving much lately. Overall, about 15-20 KB Zeros were shot down. This is pretty bad, but not crippling. With all carriers concentrated, this is still far too much for USN to challenge directly. Particularly now, when the land-based air force at Hawaii is heavily depleted and probably suffers from low morale and the first bunch Zeros will arrive at Kona airfield on this turn. I've lost my first major naval combatant in this operation, with old DD Sawakaze being finished by a sub, after being crippled by a mine at Hilo, as I mentioned above. In revenge, I-10 sank the four-stacker Chew next to San Francisco. Meanwhile, Dutch are retreating from Batavia to the mountain stronghold of Malang (of this I approve - more chances for me to take the industry intact), and in China an interesting situations develops which I'll report when I have the time.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/13/2010 10:25:14 AM)
The Critical Stage at Hawaii Passed? Well, I thought so, as I managed to haul enough air support, engineers and two Daitai of Zeros to Kona, but on March 23 Allies staged a massive air raid, that ended up causing higher plane casualtiers to Japanese, considering those destroyed on the ground. Everything and kitchen sink from Pearl Harbor seemed sweeping with very good coordination and at altitude higher than most of my CAP. Yubari says, that his planes were on escort, actually, and that's why they flew higher than allowed by our HRs. Considering his gentelmanry conduct of operations to this moment, I'm inclined to believe him. But this makes withdrawing KB still unsafe. Mini-KB moved west, to cover my shipping, reload planes at Kwajalein and simply remove part of my carrier strength from where Yubari can see it. It should be noted, that Yubari could have absolutely crippled my operation at no cost before, by slipping his carriers somewhere between Johnston and Kwajalein, while all the Japanese ones were busy at Hawaii. In good news, my ground force in Kona just got reinforced by 17th Regiment and is about to launch another attack. Also, there is a massive airfield buildup at Lahaina. If Yubari indeed detached a large force to there, that's a big mistake that will cost him! But judging by his commitment at Hilo, that might indeed be the case. And while said defense of Hilo cost me dearly in ships, it will cost Allies 300+ AV that might have contributed to making Oahu impregnable. At sea, not much happens still. Modern DD Tanikaze, assigned to covering minesweepers at Kona, rammed the last mine in the harbor and was finished by a sub attack, the second Japanese warship to siffer such fate. It seems, that non-minesweepers attached to minesweeper taskforces are at increased risk. In return, patrolling destroyers managed to finally sink a pair of pesky PT boats, and DDs Asanagi and Kamikaze deptcharged and forced to surface SS Gudgeon at Kona. The unfortunate sub was immediately sent back under the waves by BB Ise, avenging the damage Ise took from a sub attack at Midway. Inspired by this success, Kamikaze attacked and damaged S-47 on the same night, probably non-fatally. So far, besides Gudgeon Americans likely lost only one S-sub at Hilo.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/13/2010 7:18:20 PM)
Meanwhile in China... Yubari launched a powerful offensive in the North, after all, with his main northern army suddenly (without dipsplaying a corresponding movement arrow) moving to Nanyang (1) and also a movement towards Tsiaotso (2). Tsiaotso is fairly safe, with over 750 quality AV, level 3 forts and rough terrain, but Nanyang had only 1364 AV, including weak-ass Ankey SNLF and a brigade prepared for Loyang against 6472 Chinese AV. Aviation also did not fly in support on the defenders on the fist day, due to weather. On March 23 losses were about 2.8k Japanese vs. 7.5k Chinese (169 combat squads vs 651) and the attack dropped the forts from 4 to 3. On March 24 the second deliberate attack failed to drop the forts, likely due to massive negative AV adjustments from lack of supply, but caused 3.6k of Japanese casualties vs only 1.6k Chinese (233 combat squads vs 345). Air raids mostly hit support parts of the enemy force and added only 38 more combat squads to the tally. I hope that Chinese supply stores are completely dry by now, otherwise my main force, that was sitting in Sinyang, might not be in time. I should say, that the Chinese move on Tsiaotso inadverently messed up the likely plan of Yubari. The only reason my main force was still sitting is Sinyang was waiting until the Chinese crosses into Tsiaotso, leaving which without roads is not easy, thus opening the way for a drive from Chengting direction. In the south (3), meanwhile, the big Chinese surrendered Pucheng army and is trying to break to the mainland, presumably due to supply situation. I smashed its rearguard twice, routing 3 once-whole corps, and aviation scourged Chinese columns all the way relentlessly. At the moment, most of Nanchang garrizon attempts to interdict the Chinese main body on the open plain. They have less than 700 AV against up to 3000, but the Chinese force should have no supply whatsoever at this point (all roads were cut for several turns). I ordered a deliberate attack for March 25. [image]local://upfiles/33131/965ADBBCAE484665942082DFEB77AA07.jpg[/image]

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/14/2010 12:42:43 PM)
AE Transportation Magic Well, the speed with which resources and supply can be moved by road in AE is nothing short of magical. Singapore FINALLY fell on March 25, and by the end of the same day, huge piles of supply and resources from Cam Rahn Bay were relocated there. Oh well. Time to reroute my convoys. Meanwhile, harsh lessons need to be drawn from the horrible Singapore meatgrinder (which, I'm sure, would have continued for about two months more, if not for reinforcements from Philippines). Past the artillery nerf, it seems to be extremely hard to evict Allied forces from there, due to terrain. Even if you reduce forts, the negative AV modifier is just too huge. I believe at least 2500 AV are now needed to quickly take Singapore if the entire Malaya Army retreats there. Things become even worse, if Allies commit 18th Division to Singapore. This means, that unless the Japanese player successfully pulls off the Mersing Gambit (which I failed to do), or the Allied players makes the huge mistake of actually fighting on the peninsula, it is probably better to leave Singapore alone, until DEI and Bataan are cleared. And if you don't, you should not hesitate to sacrifice your aviation to keep the forts down after the initial assault. Otherwise, Allied troops will gain experience and city will become much harder to take.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/14/2010 10:53:08 PM)
Quirks of Training When making March 26 turn I started transferring IJNAF pilots to reserve, in anticipation of major air gring over Hawaii (by the way, 24th Sentai is currently in the process of moving to Hawaii - on Maloelap at the moment - to supplement Navy guys and shift a part of the burden on the more pilot-rich Army airforce). These mostly consisted of pilots from seaplane units, who trained on sweep, to increase Air skill of the pilots. Unfortunately, looks like the primary mission of the unit and not the highest skill determines the kind of reserve pilots end up in. So, a whole bunch my Air 65-71 pilots ended up in patrol reserve, from which they must be extracted manually... I'm not sure if this hassle is worth extra fighter pilots in the long run, but at the moment three more dozens of well-trained fighter jockeys are invaluable.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/16/2010 9:00:56 PM)
Raid on Oahu, March 26 On March 26, I sent an SCTF comprised of four old destroyers (Nagatsuki, Minekaze, Asagao and Fuyo) to raid Oahu hex and check if it is possible to do so without running into mines/coast defenses. They were set to full speed and had retirement allowed. After brushing aside a PT boat TF, my destroyers clashed with the Allied TF, consisting of DD Maury and DMS Boggs, Chandler and Wasmuth. Neither side took significant damage and my SCTF, after using up nearly all of its ammo, successfully retreated to Hilo before the Allied aircraft could take off. On the same night, my screening DD SCTF before Kona found but failed to engage a Philippinian xAKL, doing something sneaky on the approach to Hilo. As day broke out, search planes from KB, which just moved to the east of PH, to search for a convoy, spotted the previous day by Mavises from Kona, found all those ships in the attack range. Three strike groups sortied, sinking the xAKL and probably all three of the minesweepers (the least damaged one took a torp). As the minesweeper TF was one hex from Oahu, the cost was not light. Almost 20 carrier plane were shot down or crashed during the day, including about a dozen of Zeros (another combat with Zero losses took place against Flying Fortresses that attacked Kona - unsuccessfully and losing 5 of their number during the day - so it is not clear how many carrier Zeros were lost), and almost all carried their pilots to watery graves with them. Allies lost 24 US fighters during this day, hopefully mostly with pilots, due to fighting over the open sea, yet my pilots are way more valuable. This exchange was in Allied favor. Mostly because I'm no longer confident, that with accumulating Zero losses KB can challenge Allied CVs without fighter cover from Kona. KB has enough fuel still, and only Akagi is short on torpedoes, so I might try to replenish a couple of the most beaten-up squadrons by landing them at Kona and trying to take new planes and pilots as if they were normal land-based squadrons. Meanwhile, the assault on Hilo managed to took forts to 0 before stalling. The airfield is pretty wrecked by two consecutive battleship bombardments, so I believe Allies won't be able to raise the forts before my troops recover from disruption and fatigue.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/17/2010 12:35:04 PM)
March 27, Good and Bad News As about bad news, Yubari finally started attacking my communications. His cruisers slipped to Kwajalein, just one day after Mini-KB left the vicinity and found an emply xAKL TF, that was the part of gathering of ships for amphibious assaults after the expiration of the amphibious bonus. Results were messy: Night Time Surface Combat, near Johnston Island at 163,111, Range 11,000 Yards Japanese Ships PB Magane Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk xAKL Takegawa Maru, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Shinrei Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk xAKL Toten Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Hinode Maru, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Yuki Maru, Shell hits 2 xAKL Shinmei Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk xAKL Dori Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk xAKL Gyoku Maru, Shell hits 1 xAKL Hiyori Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Shinshui Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk xAKL Naruo Maru, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Eiwa Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk xAKL Sakae Maru, Shell hits 13, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Astoria, Shell hits 1 CA San Francisco CL Detroit DD Shaw DD Reid, Shell hits 1 DD Tucker DD Downes Only two xAKLs survived. At least they missed troop- and supply-loaded TFs that also departed a day before. But the fact that the naval search once again did jack to detect the raiders, despite units on Midway and Johnston itself is disturbing. Thankfully the most critical phase of the invasion is now passed. I still should have been much more careful with planning my convoys, particularly because now I technically can provide decent cover to my shipping in the area, something that wasn't really possible a week ago. The worst thing, though, instead of creating the situation where I can inflict damage on the Allied fleet, the invasion of Hawaii so far create the situation where my own fleet suffers severe damage. While drain on Allied plane pool is apparently severe (my esteemed opponent even stood down that pesky AVG), ship-wise the campaign goes hugely in the Allied favor so far. In good news, Japanese Southern China army just broke the back of the main Chinese force in the region, catching it in the open terrain one hex southeast of Nanchang: Ground combat at 85,55 Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 68797 troops, 687 guns, 206 vehicles, Assault Value = 2285 Defending force 79426 troops, 466 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2387 Japanese adjusted assault: 1161 Allied adjusted defense: 188 Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: disruption(-), experience(-), supply(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 2204 casualties reported Squads: 8 destroyed, 309 disabled Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 200 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled Allied ground losses: 10693 casualties reported Squads: 1569 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 945 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 24 destroyed, 7 disabled Guns lost 17 (17 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 9 Defeated Allied Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 15th Division 12th Ind.Mixed Brigade 1st Ind.Mixed Brigade 39th Division 115th Infantry Regiment 22nd Division 60th Division 17th Division Shanghai SNLF 58th Division 138th Infantry Regiment 13th Army RGC Army 4th Mortar Battalion Defending units: 26th Chinese Corps 58th Chinese/B Corps 86th Chinese/B Corps 72nd Chinese Corps 78th Chinese Corps 86th Chinese/C Corps 74th Chinese Corps 88th Chinese Corps 58th Chinese/C Corps Chinese had about 4000 AV when they started their retreat from Pucheng to the north and then to the west. In four battles since then, they permanently lost approximately 2100 AV (1 Chinese infantry squad = 1 AV) from this number. As the ground combat reports are FOWed, the actual results might differ by a hundred or two squads in one direction or another, but still, I think I can safely assume that the half of the main southern Chinese army is gone. Japanese lost less than twenty combat squads destroyed, although a tank regiment that interdicted the road southwest of Nanchang was routed two turns ago (supplies still apparently failed to flow to Chinese in time), so vehicle losses are somewhat noticeable. Still, this is nothing short of a great result, particularly considering that Japanese ground troops production exceeds Chinese by a huge margin. My strategy of concentrating the main force at Pucheng and isolating the region by armored units was very successful, although I must say, this probably the case of a campaign won by sheer persistence in following the plan and enemy mistakes rather than by any particular brilliance. In particular, Yubari could have created a disastrous supply situation for my troops in Pucheng if he only commanded his corps evicted from Foochow in February to continue holding my pursuing forces in the forest between Foochow and Pucheng, which it was capable of doing, thus preventing me from taking control of the hexside on Foochow-Pucheng road and establishing supply flow from the coast.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/18/2010 3:31:54 PM)
March 28: Disaster! This day will go down in history as the day of the biggest Japanese plane losses on the ground since beginning of the war. The most infuriating part of this lies in the fact, that so much was done to prevent exactly this scenario. I had a radar-equipped AAA unit in Kona, KB one hex from there and dozens of Zeros on patrol, specifically to offset the vulnerability of staking 100+ planes on a level 1 airfield. Nothing helped in the slightest, as the large Allied raid was detected only in 18 NM (much less than distances at which Chinese infantry usually detects incoming bombers), went in undisrupted (7 Allied fighters bought the farm for one Zero, still no consolation), faced, as far as I can tell, no defensive flak, and, in the clear weather, destroyed no less than 58 Zeros and Mavises on the ground, also wrecking the airfield massively just before it could have upgraded to level 2. Not only these plane losses are quite bad (half of monthly Zero production), this crap means that the Kona airfield stands a good chance of being suppressed forever, and we need to take Hilo ASAP. 24th Regiment is on the way from Kona, at the moment, and it should be enough to overrun the defenders and force a capitulation. To add injury to injury, the force of American PT boats once again broke through to the beach at Kona, despite two patrolling SCTFs, and sank APD Hagi an a large xAK, the latter by goddamn 0.50 machinegun fire, which ignited the fuel load. Two torpedo boats were sank in return, which was no consolation. These abject failures despite all the precautions against exactly what Allied did are disheartening to say the least.

HMS Resolution -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/18/2010 3:38:06 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: FatR ...destroyed no less than 58 Zeros and Mavises on the ground, also wrecking the airfield massively just before it could have upgraded to level 2. Holy crap!

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/18/2010 10:46:11 PM)
You bet. This battle of Hawaii already tests the limits of my fighting spirit. I can only hope that taking a bunch of prisoners at Hilo will compensate the recent misfortunes somewhat. I also started to redeploy my subs into a more offenisive position, because cordons around Hawaii meet practically nothing. In other news, the large Chinese army at Nanyang slipped away before being counterattacked by my main force. I don't have enough AV to challenge them in open terrain, so it is back to previous positions.

topeverest -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/19/2010 12:52:05 AM)
You should be able to wipe the Chinese board unless they are in rough or woods. Chinese AV dont equal Empire AV PH is a tough nut, and certainly it hasnt been any easier in your effort. Let me suggest you increase the committment / go for more islands in the chain to further isolate \ get more LBA involved or call it quits before the enemy gets that lucky battle result.

FatR -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/19/2010 8:32:58 AM)
Argh, that was an obvious mistake about Chinese). I meant the forest right northwest of Nanyang. As about increasing the commitment, I need to haul more infantry from Home Islands and Singapore first. All I have in reserve are Naval Guard units.

topeverest -> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please. (8/20/2010 2:29:52 PM)
Can you perform sealane interdiction between PH and USA? Give him a piece of his own medicine by detaching a CV and patrolling about 20 hexes out. Make a hit and then change patrol zone? Anyway a thought

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