Q-Ball -> RE: Illinois Yankee in Showa Court (Q-Ball v Canoe) (8/27/2010 3:47:42 PM)
|
crsutton: That is the reason that I decided on India in the end: The opportunity to grind down the British Army. You're correct that the Brits/Indians are short on many devices. Dan won his game with Miller in Burma, so the more space I can create and more damage I can do to the British army, the better. Invading Australia, I would anticipate running into the Americans more. The US Army is a bottomless pit of replacements. Combat Report, Feb 18-21, 1942: Java: Batavia falls on the 20th, along with about 1/2 the KNIL. The other half is at Soerbaya. I had a couple small units clearing the island, so we can quickly RR over to the other side, and be at the gates of Soerbaya in just a few days. Hopefully, I can have Java completely cleared by the first week of March. When I took Madioen, 33 Dutch planes were captured on the ground; Dan forgot to move them, though it doesn't matter much at this point. The KNIL airforce wasn't doing much anyway. Australia: I have no idea if my diversions on Australia are convincing Dan of an invasion; fact is I can't commit large units, so I have to make it look like a precursor. Cooktown fell, as well as Palm Is, right accross from Townsville I am landing at Darwin on the 23rd; not 100% sure I have enough guys, but if I get stranded, a) the Allies won't be able to reinforce easily, and b) I should have troops available from Java in a couple weeks Also NORFOLK ISLAND fell; that's about as far as I will go, setting up a seaplane base there. China: An attack on a stack of 4 corps came off 1-2 near Changsha. I think I'm running out of steam; really, the Chinese are reaching better ground in good order, probably getting trained, and finding a smaller area. I need to clear the rest of the coastline, but I don't see alot more progress in China. Miller did better than I did, but then again, he did get uber artillery and strat bombing; both of which are off-limits. Sumatra: Medan, Sabang, and all bases fell in short order. I landed Paras at Padang, mostly to get a bunch of flying boats there, which I did. STRATEGIC SUMMARY OF FIRST 10 WEEKS: WHAT I HAVE DONE WRONG: I am not where I wanted to be at this point. I expected to be landing in India by now, and the delay was Singapore. How would I have done this differently? My frame of reference was pre-patch AE, where 4 divisions was plenty to clear Singapore. I should have adjusted better, by including extra combat troops. Instead of 38th Div on Luzon, I should have landed that at Singers, along with more airplanes, and more Shock attacks. I didn't realize until a couple failures that I didn't bring enough force. That was a mistake on my part, and cost me about 3 weeks. The other part I have fallen short was not having a fully-baked plan for Phase 2; I have a plan OUTLINE, which is better than nothing, but felt I should have planned a little better. A better plan in the Pacific, too, might have yielded more results. Dan pretty much handed me whatever I wanted, and I could have grabbed it. Then again, I'm not really inclined to push the perimeter out just to increase space. I also haven't spent enough time on sub placements; I haven't had alot of sinkings there. WHAT I HAVE DONE RIGHT: I have kept emphasis on time and tempo, including an early enough landing on Java that the KNIL can't really get settled. It's February 22nd, and Soerbaya is really the last holdout in the DEI; if I clear that by early March, that's about right in terms of timing. I've gotten fairly far in Australia too, reaching out into space that Dan was not defending. If the Allies are going to let you have it, you may as well take it. I also did not overcommit to Burma; 1 2/3 Division was about right, less than that and the Allies would be inclined to hang around, but that's enough to move them along. Dan decided early he was not going to defend it. LOSS SUMMARY: I just received confirmation that CL ST LOUIS sank the first week (I thought it must have). So, Allied losses to date: BB: I think 6 BBs at Pearl, plus PoW and REPULSE CA CANBERRA, CL ST.LOUIS, CL PERTH, CL DeRUYTER DD: 9 MODERN USN DDs, and 11 OLD DDs Also, 8 Subs So, Allied losses have been light; Dan hasn't really challenged me other than a couple raids, the Allies are playing Sir Robin. I haven't seen a raid in awhile. The only serious losses were at Pearl Harbor. (as a strange note, the 2 Survivors of the PH attack I think are NEVADA and ARIZONA!) IJN LOSSES: 2 CLs (KINU and KISO, sunk by PERTH at TRUK) 2 Modern DDs (both sunk by sub) 69 Transports My losses are also light; 69 transports sounds like alot, but it really isn't at this stage for Japan. The 2 CLs hurt; that was just a bad surface combat, but c'est la guerre. [image]local://upfiles/6931/B3857D8EE23F4C3F849C63AE94D4F1A8.jpg[/image]
|
|
|
|