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Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Nothing Up My Sleeve: Magical Moose Tricks--Bullwinkle58 vs.1EyedJacks (1/3/2013 5:28:34 PM)
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February 3, 1942
The Curtain Opens . . .
To me, the two worst days of the war do not include 12/7/41. That one is going to happen, you're fresh to the new game, eager to see what's to be. It's almost never as bad as history and most of the ships will survive to be yardbirds. No, for me the two worst, the two which make that Tracker chart line in the VP section do an 80 degree power shift, are when Singers and Bataan fall. An Allied player riding along at 1.8:1 or so in the core ratio is suddenly drowning, with ten months to go until auto-vic lottery draw day. To add to the misery, unlike Pearl which is over in one bad combat replay session, both Singers and Bataan usually take days, or weeks, of viewing before the inevitable.
Today the twin stadium shows started as the Japanese hordes crossed the causeway and hit Singers like a bull. The base was battened down. One day past a key Forts 4 milestone, it had not had time to build organic supply without engineers holding their hands out. Inventories were at about 12,000 points. Three Fast Transport missions from Palembang had come and gone with 1000 each load, but the Full speed needed to ensure the TF could make the round-trip in one turn had already taken some of the APDs into mid-teens system damage. Singers had no planes present, so there was no warning of the crossing. Only one harbor defense launch was there to see it either. The shipyard was empty. Every LCU was in combat mode, and at least somewhat prepped; a few were at 100%. All COs had been upgraded, some lavishly. And then the assault . . .
But first, the day's other news.
1) ASW air patrol fly-fly boys are the biggest liars in the game. Based on their reports the Allies have already sunk 87 IJN subs. I always pass over their claims that every time they see a sub and drop on it there's a sunk sub there. But today that report was accompanied by the deep-water sunk sub breaking-up noises and a report that I-9 was down. The next turn's opening screen shows no icon north of Pearl where one had been. So, in this case, I believe the lying fool. [:'(] Well done, Army.
2) Dutch sub attacks APD SW of Balikpapan. Don't know if this is ASW barrier patrol or a piece of a landing force going for the Celebes or southern Borneo. Still no sight of the TF attacked and wounded three days ago. Soerbaja raider TF headed home to fuel today.
3) Heavy, sustained attacks on Sabang again. There is a good AA unit there from CT, so the attacks are usually 10,000 ft., and do little. But this is more evidence Japan is thinking fuel and oil and might see Palembang as a tougher nut.
4) Another day of bombing at Praboemoelih. Multiple days got my attention and this turn a Dutch infantry unit leaves Palembang to go sit there. If it meets paras so much the better. Oosthaven has three TFs in port today unloading multiple aircraft groups (Aircobras and B-26) as well as loading fuel to run to Cocos. A landing force there in the next three days would make me unhappy.
5) The last Singers bombing day before the attack does a lot of damage again to IJA planes:
apanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 20
Ki-27b Nate x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 18 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed by flak
And then the Main Event . . .
6) First, the raw results:
Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 59539 troops, 597 guns, 353 vehicles, Assault Value = 2026
Defending force 46131 troops, 582 guns, 367 vehicles, Assault Value = 1307
Japanese adjusted assault: 541
Allied adjusted defense: 6799
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 12 (fort level 4)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)
Japanese ground losses:
9362 casualties reported
Squads: 304 destroyed, 1163 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 110 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 218 disabled
Guns lost 76 (26 destroyed, 50 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (1 destroyed, 25 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
1997 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 190 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 61 (4 destroyed, 57 disabled)
Assaulting units:
56th Infantry Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
55th Infantry Regiment
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
12th Engineer Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
21st Infantry Regiment
42nd Infantry Regiment
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
11th Infantry Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
5th Recon Regiment
56th Engineer Regiment
114th Infantry Regiment
24th Infantry Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
25th Army
56th Field Artillery Regiment
20th AA Regiment
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Field Artillery Regiment
18th Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
34th Field AA Battalion
Defending units:
27th Australian Brigade
22nd Australian Brigade
3rd Cavalry Regiment
1st Malay Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
SSVF Brigade
2nd Loyal Battalion
2/17 Dogra Battalion
3rd SSVF Battalion
5/14th Punjab Battalion
1st Hyderabad Battalion
1st Mysore Battalion
2nd Malay Battalion
11th Indian Division
9th Indian Division
1st ISF Base Force
FMSV Brigade
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Base Force
223 Group RAF
110th RAF Base Force
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
AHQ Far East
112th RAF Base Force
2nd ISF Base Force
Singapore Fortress
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
111th RAF Base Force
3rd ISF Base Force
Malaya Army
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
III Indian Corps
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
Malayan Air Wing
109th RAF Base Force
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
109th RN Base Force
On balance these results make me ecstatic.
1) His infantry is not formed into divisions. Is this normal for human JFBs? The AI would have 7-8 full divisions in this effort, and very few non-combined formations.
2) Forts held at 4. I was very afraid I would lose one, or maybe two, levels and I can't afford to rebuild now.
3) The casualty ratios speak for themselves considering I have only three premium infantry units (the two Aussies and the Indian 11th division), no AFVs to speak of, and a lot less arty than I'd like.
4) I watched the attack animation in full, which I almost never do. The Guards Division began at 441 on the number next to its line in the stack, and ended at 332. All of the infantry regiments but one ended at 0. That one was at 6.
5) Ending Allied conditions are good. Still have about 11,800 supply. Disruption accrual was nil, as was fatigue. Here are about half the Allied LCUs sorted by fatigue.
[image]local://upfiles/31387/F68E81F538114C589D58801AA1BFE8B7.jpg[/image]
6) Japanese VPs lost due to troop loss 12/7 through today was 80. After today: 122. It was a "black" day overall for Allied VP ratios.
So, any comments?
Question for the ground combat experts out there: is it worth the supply usage to bombard him after this? I expect he already has max experience in his LCUs so that isn't much of a consideration to me, but is the disruption hit worth the supplies and counter-battery risk to me?
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