Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (Full Version)

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports



Message

Jorge_Stanbury -> Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (9/7/2014 7:55:23 PM)

Hello, I will be starting very soon my fist Allied game, DaBabes-C, PBEM and AAR. My worthy opponent is Prester John.

I will be posting my ideas, perspectives and requests of advice. So far all my experience had been on the Japanese side and against the AI. So don't expect advanced tactics here, but hopefully a very fun game.

Settings:
DaBabes-C
One day turns
Scen 28 with latest beta patch
Extended map and stacking limits
PDU ON and Realistic RnD ON
Non historical first turn, December surprise, faulty USN torpedoes, allied damage control, FOW
Advanced Weather OFF
Fixed Reinforcements

House Rules: I stole some of this from AARs I liked. Thanks in advance to all experienced players that developed these HRs

Player must pay PP to move restricted units across borders
No partial parachute deployments (i.e. one unit, one target)
All PT boats in a hex must be in the same TF
No carrier hunting on the first 3 turns
Only submarine designed FPs on Japanese subs

Strategic bombing
- Only manpower strikes allowed during daylight
- Only manpower strikes allowed during night with sliding scale:
o 25 planes/target in 41
o 50 planes/target in 42
o 100 planes/target in 43
o 200 planes/target in 44
o 400 planes/target in 45-46.

CV strikes allowed for any strategic target at any time

Night bombing port/airfield:
- 50 planes/target for the entire war.

Aerial mining:
- 50 planes/target only at night for the entire war.

Ground bombing:
- No 4E ground unit bombing

Naval bombing:
- No 4E naval bombing below 10k

Picket ships:
- Must be warships of at least 1500 tons

Altitude of CAP/sweep:
15k in 41
20k in 42
25k in 43
32k in 44-46.

First turn:
No restrictions on port strikes for IJ
No new TFs for Allies but existing may move
No air groups changing location, but can change CAP settings
No crazy deep "*TF" moves: no Mersing, no deep invasions, nothing historically dubious.

Finally a gentleman agreement:
China will be a secondary theater. no steamroll, no blitzkrieg to achieve Auto victory.


From now on, PresterJohn not allowed to read



IdahoNYer -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/7/2014 8:38:16 PM)

Looking forward to another DBB-C Allied AAR!



topeverest -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 4:18:57 AM)

I am unclear are you empire or Allies?

if you take china out. it should be a much more rational game. to get empire auto victory will have to be the old fashioned way. Also be warned that early strat bombing is a way to pad empire scorecard. some favor putting it off until 1943 or so. Very surprised players agreed no 4e ground bombing. That is far more valuable for allies than 4e naval after 1942. Also what is the harm in empire CV hunting? allies should get option to use cv's ( and POW R) turn one if empire can hunt them. pretty even trade.

PP for country borders in Asia also makes harder for empire to get auto victory In most iterations.

Allies get soooo strong by 43, you aren't giving anything up as allies by giving away magic move task forces.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 12:41:47 PM)

Hello I updated the description; this is an Allied AAR

We are certainly not playing "Quiet China", we will be fighting there; but what I asked him is to make it a secondary theatre. This means no attempt to knock out China to achieve AV. We are playing with stacking limits, and it is my hope this will help balance the game into a slow campaign.
There will be no Strat bombing during our game... only manpower bombing, from day one (with nightime limits) + CVs all targets always allowed. 4E can unbalance the game... remember we are playing DBB-C which means the Japanese side will have a tough time either way.

The rationale for the no CV hunting on the first 3 turns is simply to give the Allies some time (2 or 3 turns seems reasonable) to build back the "fog of war". Any player knows exactly where each and every Allied (and Japanese) ship is on December 7th, thus it is entirely possible to use the magic turn to place the KB ready to ambush the US carriers. The issue is not of course if it is fair or not, simply not historically plausible. Nagumo's mission was a sneak attack to PH, and he had no clue about the location of the US carriers (he hoped they would be anchored at PH).
I think most players won't do it anyway, but the HR reduces even more the ambiguity in case it happens by mistake

IdahoNYer: I am also reading yours!. I really hope you don't mind I will be stealing some of your ideas



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 1:27:25 PM)

Some initial thoughts on my game as I am still waiting for the 1st turn

Yesterday, I reviewed the Allied side for the 1st time (I had always played Japan). My initial thoughts:

- The pilot's overall quality is crap. I will need to start an extensive training program on the rear areas.
- Economics look very simple, piece of cake compared to the Japanese. On turn 2 I will start working on my convoys; probably a no brainer: run convoys by cruise speed and endurance, move supplies and fuel to Australia and war areas, AKLs to use off-map, put anything with a gun as escort, reshuffle escorts to keep convoys escorted when close to port.
- I need more ACMs: I will be converting some yard patrols.
- The Allies start with zillions of flying boats [:)] many will become trainers for NavSearch, ASW, naval bombing (torp and bombs)
- The Allies start with few float planes, those not engaged in combat will by used for training "sweep" as there are way too few fighters
- As adviced in many AARs: I will be converting the 4-stackers DDs parked on the West coast into APDs.
- I will need some time to "marshal the fleet", I need to put all these individual DDs, CLs, into TFs capable of biting.

Intelligence update:
- I have strong intelligence that the Pearl Harbor attack will only include 4 carriers. If this is the case, then I will expect very strong carrier presence supporting the Malaya/ Sumatra campaign.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 5:35:06 PM)

Training program (to be expanded):

The first idea is to have 3 squadron categories; these of course is relevant to the main air forces (US, Commonwealth), smaller ones like China or Netherlands will require some ad-hoc program

- Frontline: Already engaged (example: Malaya or the PI)
No or seldom training. Best pilots here, understanding there are few good ones, so some inadequately trained pilots will need to learn quickly. Also: # of pilots will match # of planes, I cannot afford to have spare pilots. Moreover, realities of early war's attrition means that very soon these frontline squadrons will have a lot less airframes than pilots regardless. I will try to reduce KIAs/ MIAs by fighting close to bases, ideally over bases with strong AA cover to make the Japanese pay for each bombing run.

- Outer perimeter: Places not engaged but at risk (example: Hawaii or Fiji)
I will put here all those pilots that are neither good for frontline nor "fresh" from fly school. Some % will go into regular operations, mostly they will be training.

- Rear areas:
This is for pilots directly coming from the replacement pools, 100% training. Important not to mix these pilots with more experienced ones as that will increase the training time



ny59giants -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 6:28:31 PM)

Leaders - your game long air groups will need to have a steady flow of replacement leaders flowing into them to improve training and combat results. My 4e bombers and fighters get first priority. It takes a while to get this done, but it is worth it.

Upgrades/conversions - You have two groups of xAKs that convert to xAPs after about 24 days. Many start in India and I send them to Cape Town for conversion before they make the trip to USA. Look at the early postings in my AAR vs Cribtop to find the list of xAK/xAP/TKs and how I use them.

KVs - Your Canadian KVs are good early war escorts for your transports leaving the USA for NZ/OZ. You will be short quality escorts for the first 6 months or so. Once the SC start coming out in numbers from mid-42 and beyond, they will not be used as much.



IdahoNYer -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/8/2014 11:42:14 PM)

quote:

IdahoNYer: I am also reading yours!. I really hope you don't mind I will be stealing some of your ideas



I'm already soaking up your comments, so have at it!


I like your pilot program. As NY59Giants said for your air units, leadership is key to improve training. I'll even take those Army pilots who get around 80 experience, and pull them off the line into training squadrons. I think they'll be more effective flying the P-38 when it becomes avail, than getting smoked in a P-40 or P-39. I don't think TRACOM does much for the Allies.
Naval units effectiveness is also leader critical - I swap out all the poor sub commanders and ASW commander as I can afford.

I'll also convert a lot of Flush deckers to APDs - but only about 1/3, and not all early on. I need the ASW and escort capability in early '42. The flush deckers are at least something for surface TF and convoy escort (and those Canadian KVs work well too). I'll also convert some flush deckers to DEs - I find those seem to do better against subs than APDs even though they have the same ASW value.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/9/2014 3:30:07 AM)

Thanks, yes better leadership will be the priority for PP. But I will start with submarines: Dutch submarines to be more specific. As I said before, I think there will be heavy (fleet) carrier presence from early on to attempt a delayed Mersing.. which will be make it an ideal hunting ground for the dutch submarines.

I agree conversions shouldn't occur early on, as I won't be invading anything for a long time. And yes, playing as Japan, I can say that I was only worried when my submarines were attacked by KVs or British DDs (talking early war). I will put them to good use. I will also press into escort service anything that can be used as escort, including minesweepers, AMCs, minelayers, etc.




Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge(A) crusade to liberate the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C (9/9/2014 4:01:42 AM)

Air forces in the Philippines

Far East USAAF
All Fighters: This is straight forward... they will all fight on CAP (and likely die) defending Clark and Manila. I expect all airframes to be lost at the end of the campaign. I will try to save as many pilots as I can. This can be achieved by fighting close to base

B-17s: I am not so sure about what to do with the B-17s; I have several restricted B-17Ds in the Philippines, problem is I don't have a airbase to use them: Clark field will be heavily bombed and Cagayan (Mindanao in general) does not have enough supply to operate them; nor the capability to bring more supplies as the Sulu sea will become an IJN hunting ground soon.
I was thinking about using them in the very early turns, and then disband them to save the airframes. I don't know if saving early B-17s is a good trade-off vs. trying to use them from a damaged airbase. I am playing PDU ON.. but I don't want to be Sir Robin.

Recon: I have 1 USAAF recon unit and 2 Philippines. They will just do recon missions for as long as possible, then I will disband the O-47

Philippine Air Force: There are no replacement pools for these guys, therefore they will fight till the end.

Asiatic Fleet
All Float Planes or Patrol: I will move them out of Manila/ Davao ASAP (second turn). Pto Princesa and Bataan are relatively safe early on, so they will be based there doing NavSearch for as long as it is feasible.



PresterJohn001 -> RE: Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (9/10/2014 7:02:25 PM)

o/ Jorge Invited me to read the first few posts, so just popping in to say hi.Looking forward to a good fun game. The DBB-C setting should be a challenge. Jorge was kind enough to allow me the choice between PDU on and off, after some consideration i opted for PDU on, most previous games i had played were PDU off. Close call either way though.

I'll not be back after this post. Considering starting a thread for my own questions and posts but unlikely to do a full AAR.

cry havoc!




Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (9/11/2014 3:35:30 PM)

Steve (PresterJohn) sent me the 1st turn. The ball is now in my court!

I have started working on the 1st turn, main focus is on the air squadron training program and moving existing TFs (I am not allowed to create new ones until 2nd turn).

Some principles I hope to follow for this, my 1st PBEM game:

I want to play as historical as possible, which means that decisions should be based on what was plausible: examples:
- Force Z shall support Malaya operations 1st and foremost; because that was the British main priority. Only after overwhelming odds, I can withdraw it to Ceylon/ DEI. That said, I won't just throw it to Khota Bahru as torpedo magnet, instead, I should try to wreck the landings and stay close to Singers.
- AVG will fight in China/ Burma: because that was their purpose,
- I will try to avoid mixing units until after ABDA's creation
- Don't overuse the 20/20 hindsight

That said, I want him to pay the price of each and every early war conquest; the 2 main prioritites early on are:
- Shipping, warships in particular: this is the only factor in which a Japanese player does not have any control in terms of replacing losses.
- Experienced pilots: this is critical for hoping for any kind of 1-to-1 chance later on

For shipping, the 3 best chances early on are:
- mine warfare: put as many mines as I could on strategic places, ideally those places have coastal batteries. Even if not, by mining I am forcing him to expend at least a day on DMS operations, or risk losses
- sub operations: I am havinh high hopes for my Dutch submarines... I used to hate them when playing as Japan against the AI... so I hope to do better
- CL+DD: task forces ready to raid, counter attack... he just can't cover everything, I hope to be at the right place at the right time... I will be using the "Exodus" fleet as bait if required

For killing pilots: only hope is to fight on places with AA and to try to avoid his sweeps



IdahoNYer -> RE: Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (9/11/2014 9:00:14 PM)

quote:

- I will try to avoid mixing units until after ABDA's creation


Be cautious on tying your moves to historical dates/events. While I like to think I play an historically themed game as well, events such as ABDA's creation was precipitated by Japanese moves - and I can practically guarantee you that your opponent will move more aggressively than his historical counterpart...so "create" your ABDA based on your game's events, not history!

My $.02

But at any rate - good luck as you whether the initial blow!!



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Jorge's(A) crusade to the fabled kingdom of PresterJohn(J) DBB-C --- Allied AAR (9/13/2014 12:09:36 AM)

True...
I guess it will depend on how aggresive my opponent plays. I just sent my turn, tomorrow is a day that will live in infamy [sm=sterb020.gif]



Jorge_Stanbury -> A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 2:59:58 PM)

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 -a date which will live in infamy- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

I got the 1st turn reply; so while patiently waiting for my turn, I will write about what I saw in it.

Pearl Harbor
2 midgets scored against Maryland and California
I was attacked by 4 carriers: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu and Soryu.
Japanese loses were 8 Vals and 6 Kates + probably 2 or 3 more op losses due to battle damage.
Allied losses: No massive explossions [;)] Maryland and Nevada received heavy damage, all the rest lightly or minimal damage. A DD and a CL were torpedoed, some auxiliary bombed.
Maybe 10 aircraft were destroyed? this will be updated once I get the turn
Overall a weak PH attack; but I guess this is what can be expected when attacking with only 4 CVs

Wake
Sleeping Wildcats[:(] many destroyed on the ground

Manila... the most successful Manila raid I have ever seen
This was by far the worst defeat of the day. It started with a sweep attack by our friends of the Tainan-Ku. And although, in the 1st turn I did move good pilots to the Philippines and took the losers out... still the Zeroes mopped the floor with them; 10 Allies down for only 1 zero
Then 1st wave of pounding: 80 Betties did a great job; Swordfish and S-37 sank, AV Langley heavy damaged (it sunk later on), 7 other SS damaged, many others types hit (1 DD, AKs,)
2nd wave: 36 Netties: Seawolf and one AM got sunk
3rd wave: Kaga and Akagi showed no mercy: for no Japanese losses (what happened to the AA?? [:@]) he got: Stingray, Pike, S-37, S-41, Permit, Spearfish. Many AOs and TPs on fire
4th wave: airfield attack: 18 Sallies damaged multiple P-40s and Catalinas

Rangoon... why Rangoon?
Then a puzzle... why was Rangoon attacked on the 1st turn? one *AK and 3 *AKLs on fire

Khota B, Georgetown, Alor S
Standard Airfield pounding; Sallies and Lillies destroyed multiple bombers; many more damaged. we will see how many can be salvaged
In most attacks, the CAP did fly, but it didn't kill anything.. damn Buffalos
Malaya raids, in general, were highly successful for Japan. Strong Allied loses for very minimal Japanese; his bomber force is intact.

Hong Kong
Port strike; most AKs sunk; and looks like the survivors will be useless now, I will scuttle the worst hit.

Invasions
As requested, PresterJohn didn't do anything crazy; invasions were 100% historical; with landings on Khota and Bataan Island

Intel report
I know the location of the 6 fleet carriers: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu and Soryu close to PH. Akagi and Kaga are 6 hexes west of Manila
No clue on the location of Taiyo and Ryujo




Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 4:10:20 PM)

Singapore, Clark Field and Kuantan were not attacked on the 1st turn. Pearl Harbor lightly damaged at most

That means Singapore as a port/ airbase is "safe" for the time being. AA defenses there are significant, therefore it will be great if he tries to bomb it from now on

Clark Field: After such a succesful 1st turn raid on Manila, he will definitively be focusing on Clark from now on.. I plan to move all available fighters there ASAP. Should I try any sort of offensive mission? I have an unscratched level 8 airfield..

Kuantan: I think I should abandon it; it is too isolated. All level and torpedo bombers will move to Singapore.

Pearl Harbor: It is my most sincere hope that he tries a new raid here; I am a bit disappointed so few of his KB veterans were lost on 1st turn




BBfanboy -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 4:13:18 PM)

It is one thing to lose all those subs and AOs at Manila, but when he sets your Toilet Paper on fire, that's enough to start a war![:D]

Why not Rangoon? His aircraft have the range to do it and he knows there will be some ships there on turn one. This is legit - the Japanese had coast/port watchers too.
However, he may be telegraphing his intentions to go hot and heavy into the Bay of Bengal/Burma areas as early as possible.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 4:17:37 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

It is one thing to lose all those subs and AOs at Manila, but when he sets your Toilet Paper on fire, that's enough to start a war![:D]

Why not Rangoon? His aircraft have the range to do it and he knows there will be some ships there on turn one. This is legit - the Japanese had coast/port watchers too.
However, he may be telegraphing his intentions to go hot and heavy into the Bay of Bengal/Burma areas as early as possible.


The comment was not a complaint... Rangoon was a valid place to bomb... but there are no good targets there; 3 *AKs, 4 *AKLs, few motor launches. I would had bombed the airfield instead... or even better: go for Kuantan
I think he might want to go heavy there; or maybe he wants me to believe, he will go heavy there [:D]



BBfanboy -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 4:28:24 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury


quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

It is one thing to lose all those subs and AOs at Manila, but when he sets your Toilet Paper on fire, that's enough to start a war![:D]

Why not Rangoon? His aircraft have the range to do it and he knows there will be some ships there on turn one. This is legit - the Japanese had coast/port watchers too.
However, he may be telegraphing his intentions to go hot and heavy into the Bay of Bengal/Burma areas as early as possible.


The comment was not a complaint... Rangoon was a valid place to bomb... but there are no good targets there; 3 *AKs, 4 *AKLs, few motor launches.
I think he might want to go heavy there; or maybe he wants me to believe, he will go heavy there [:D]

Ah, yes! The mind games never stop within the game. Canoerebel once set out to play without using mind games since he is a straightforward guy and is never deceitful IRL.
It wasn't long before he had to start using misdirection and maskirovka to keep his opponent guessing!



IdahoNYer -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 6:48:38 PM)

Actually sounds like you're in pretty good shape - especially at PH. No ships permanently sunk and having your aircraft pretty much intact (especially the PBYs!) are a nice bonus in Dec '41.

Can your damaged subs either be repaired in Manila or make it to Java? Losing some subs are tough, but it could have been much worse.

Looks like he's forming a pretty big "mini" KB to support operations in the DEI - my bet is Ryujo is at Takao swapping out Claudes for Zeros and then linking up with Zuiho and Hosho out of Japan. That's a pretty potent CV Group combining with the Akagi and Kaga roaming the DEI early on - or pushing into the Indian Ocean if he's heading that way.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 7:31:44 PM)

I got back the turn; damage looks heavy, but we will recover

Manila submarine losses
7 boats sunk: 4 "Fleet", 3 "S"
3 with float damage > 75: They will go to the shipyard, I doubt they can reach Java
2 with float damage >50: I think they will take their chances to Java... unless forum feedback difers
7 with float damage ~30/ 40: They will definitively go to Java for repair
1 with float damage =11: It will be pressed into service on the Makassar strait, just to keep it close to Soerabaja in case damage gets worst

I have 7 boats (all fleet) that will start patroling the South China sea

Warship/ Aux losses
Sunk: AV Langley, AM Quail [:D][:D][:D] this is it!

Heavily damaged: BB Maryland and DD Cummings will require extensive repair. they are, however, out of risk.
Medium damage: BB Nevada, BB West Virginia, CL Helena, DD Litchfield, DD Peary
Light damage: BB California, DD Pope,

Basically I have a nice fleet-in-being of 5 BBs anchored at Pearl




Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 8:00:44 PM)

I think I will send a revenge SCTF: 4 BBs + 3 CA + 5 CLs + 12 DDs

Settings: patrol "KB" hex (175, 107), remain 0 days, retirement allowed, max react 1 hex.
Full speed

The idea is that I reach him at night time, and then either I find and beat the crap out of him or most likely, I found nothing and then I go back to safety at PH by dawn

[image]local://upfiles/41287/0AE21A1D589F490FA7462C982F9783B0.jpg[/image]



Mike McCreery -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 9:33:35 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

I think I will send a revenge SCTF: 4 BBs + 3 CA + 5 CLs + 12 DDs

Settings: patrol "KB" hex (175, 107), remain 0 days, retirement allowed, max react 1 hex.
Full speed

The idea is that I reach him at night time, and then either I find and beat the crap out of him or most likely, I found nothing and then I go back to safety at PH by dawn

[image]local://upfiles/41287/0AE21A1D589F490FA7462C982F9783B0.jpg[/image]


I think that is too many ships to put into one force. You should separate BB's, CA's and CL's usually for best results. Also use night search.



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 9:44:56 PM)

My worries on spliting is that I would have to assume he brought two Kongos and two Tone class cruisers plus the night time exp advantage

Maybe if I split it into 2 TFs of 2 BB + 4 cruisers?

or 3 12-ship TFs: BB1, BB2, Cruiser



Mike McCreery -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 10:57:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

My worries on spliting is that I would have to assume he brought two Kongos and two Tone class cruisers plus the night time exp advantage

Maybe if I split it into 2 TFs of 2 BB + 4 cruisers?

or 3 12-ship TFs: BB1, BB2, Cruiser


I am not sure what your DL is on that fleet. Does he have escorts or is it all in one bunch? I would risk the ships split up just for the chance to get a solid hit on some of his aircraft carriers early in the war but I am crazy like that. The last time I did it I lost about 4 heavy cruisers...



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/13/2014 11:31:24 PM)

DL is bad, according to it, there are 10 CVs moving East (PH direction) [8|]

I will build 3 TFs and see what happens



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/14/2014 6:11:10 PM)

December 8th was a quiet turn; some highlights:

My revenge SCTFs didn't find KB[:(] it will be another time. Still a big win to have an almost intact PH.

Rangoon: I mentioned before I was puzzled about attacking Rangoon on the 1st turn... well he did it again (likely by mistake), but this time I had the 67 RAF squadron and the 1st AVG on 100% CAP
I think I shot 19 Betties [&o] which means the highly experienced (+70 EXP average) Kanoya Ku was trashed [:'(] . He will easily replace the airframes, but losing all those veteran IJN 2E pilots is a great win

Battle of Mersing: I had 2 Danae, Mauritius + DDs on Mersing; I was trying to make him believe this was Force Z... while the real Force Z is in a secret location.
It didn't turn that way, still we had our first inconclusive battle:

[image]local://upfiles/41287/A5DA810F723D4ED998DCA4F36EF08C60.jpg[/image]

Hatsuyuki was hit 10 times; so, there is a good chance it sunk



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: A date that will live in infamy (9/14/2014 6:28:18 PM)

December 8th (continued)

Landings:
- Khota B, Aparri and Makin were captured
- Aparri was a paradrop

Naval warfare:
- Mogami, Mikuya, Suzuya, Kumano+ DDs reconnoitred Kuantan, sinking a small *AKL. As already mentioned, 4 Fubukis tried to reconnoitre Mersing... this plus the fact Kuantan had not been bombarded means he will land on Kuantan to capture the L4 airfield, followed by a full Mersing invasion (with CAP support).

Submarines:
- SS Pompano sunk, I-171 got a lucky shot [:@]
- TK Mobilfuel ate a torp [sm=00000023.gif] we will see if it can be saved... And I will be very happy when I-121 dies
- 1 *AK, 1 *AKL also lost
- Allied submarines did nothing [8|]

Intelligence report
- CarDiv1 (Akagi and Kaga) vanished without trace
- Kido Butai also vanishes; but in this case, a Catalina on night search found it NW of PH.. this will be consistent with the fact I had all search done with eastern arcs
- Ryujo was found; SW of Davao, with Claudes; it spent around 24 torpedoes against *AKLs/ AVDs




Jorge_Stanbury -> POW sunk (9/15/2014 2:00:12 PM)

Got the combat report; this will be expanded once I get the turn

Overall, another "quiet" turn.

I had Force Z on Pontianac, I wanted to ambush the Singkawang invasion, and keep him guessing on where was it located.
Big mistake.. too close to the logical path of Akagi/ Kaga...

PoW got 3 torps, and many bombs, I give it 85% chance of sinking next turn
Repulse got some bombs, all bounced itt will leave the area ASAP
the 2 CLs, also got some torpedo/ bomb hits. I don't think they are at risk

[image]local://upfiles/41287/F277AC3CF4294253A2C589104EDD6205.jpg[/image]

Force Z, having tried (and failed) to stop the Malaya invasion will now withdraw in defeat, likely to Autralia. I still believe, keeping it on Malaya was the right thing to do, Churchill would not have allowed it to go anywhere else while the most important British colony on the East gets invaded.
The idea of ambushing the invasion fleet was good, the execution not so, you live and learn

The Malaya's campaign is so far a total failure; so far the only success is the potential sinking of a fast Japanese *AP.
That said, the orderly withdraw to Singapore will soon start; I don't think he can now stop it. Also, no bombings yet on Singapore means that forts building will start soon




Jorge_Stanbury -> POW sunk (9/15/2014 2:41:31 PM)

Much better news from the Philippines,
He did some sweeps and the overall results were not impressive. No bombings: every turn I can keep Manila and Clark repairing damage, fixing submarines or building forts is a good one. I expect more invasions to start soon, I have strong intelligence that Mauban is the selected place, thus I am moving all those isolated garrisons to Manila.

DEI:
The "exodus fleet" leaving Manila had only been attacked by Ryujo (now with bombs), Betties from Babeldaob and the ocassional submarine. No DDs or cruisers, at least not yet. I will keep my "fleet in being" until I see where are the nasty CAs.
The longer he keeps Ryujo without torpedoes, the better... how long would it take Zuiho and Hosho to arrive? I guess 1 or 2 days more max.


Ship losses:
- Langley
- PoW (likely next turn)
- many minelayers; as I had been agressively sending them to the key potential invasion points (Jolo, Mersing, Singkawang). He likely had already noticed this trend, and thereby he might send DMS fleets to clean before invasion... At the very least, I will gain a day
- 8 submarines, 7 in Manila
- assorted AKs, AKL, etc. nothing major or unexpected
- AOs, TKs, AS from the "exodus fleet"... i will update once the exodus is over












Page: [1] 2 3 4 5   next >   >>

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI
2.125