RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (Full Version)

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apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/13/2015 8:39:10 PM)

13 Sep 42

Cebu is bombed. Cebu is probably the next target on the Philippine cleanup campaign.

Enemy artillery attack at Bandoeng, Java, same as every day. My supply will last a long time here.

One enemy unit moved from Calcutta to Diamond Harbour, probably for air or sea evacuation. I think it was an artillery unit. My daily artillery attack at Calcutta gets a really good roll, causing 219 casualties, with 1 destroyed combat squad, and 19 disabled combat squads and 1 disabled non-combat squad. Better than usual.

My long range bombing of Hong Kong from Ledo does not occur. Rescheduled for today.

I have ships unloading at Tulagi, Lunga, and Rennell Islands now. No enemy attack yesterday. We'll see about today.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/13/2015 10:23:10 PM)

Seems like he moved out his best arty counterbattery unit so your arty now dominates. Probably evacuating heavy arty to use elsewhere.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/13/2015 10:34:40 PM)

Any chance you could drive him out of Calcutta now?



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/13/2015 11:56:52 PM)

He still has 2 infantry divisions at Calcutta, with 5 other units, mostly artillery. So no, not with what I have at Calcutta right now. I'd consider it if I had the 2 Brit infantry divisions and my several tank units there, but they are holding the fort at Chittagong and protecting inland Burma now.

The terrain bonus at Calcutta is a big defensive bonus. If he drops down to 1 infantry division, then I'll try an attack.

I did just recently move my big Chinese corp out of Calcutta and they are on the way to the Burma front.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/14/2015 2:27:59 AM)

OK how about bombing the enemy troops at Calcutta? Or are your bombers still occupied with more pressing business?



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/14/2015 2:47:29 AM)

I haven't been bombing the troops in Calcutta, but I have kept the enemy airfield at Diamond Harbour shut down, and got the port damage up into the 40's. I've occasionally switched off to targets in Burma just to keep the enemy guessing, but some of those bases are pretty well defended with fighters.

My strategy so far has been to keep the Diamond Harbour airfield shut down, since earlier in the war, there were over 100 enemy fighters there, and I couldn't break through and had horrendous losses. I'm bombing the port because I want any evacuation of enemy troops to go as slowly as possible. At some point, there won't be enough enemy troops to keep me from attacking, and I should win a battle at Diamond Harbour in clear terrain.

That's the theory, anyhow.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 12:43:11 AM)

14-15 Sep 42

I'd been thinking that I had shut down Diamond Harbour, but either I had not, and/or planes are flying LR CAP from Burma. I think the former.

I was continuing to bomb the airfield, but not at maximum effort. I got caught on the 14th, with Zeros and Oscars appearing in force over Diamond Harbour. I lose 10 P40E, 6 Wellingtons, 9 Hurris, 2 B26s, and 1 B25. Bombing results were poor. Enemy losses were 7 Zeros and 8 Oscars.

My LB-30's do fly to Hong Kong and find a Nate Sentai training. 2 Nates are shot down. No hits on the port. I wanted to show that everywhere is vulnerable, in theory.

On the 15th, I do a maximum effort to Diamond Harbour, and find that Tojos have joined the Zeros and Oscars. Bombing is moderately good. I lose 14 Hurris, 7 Wellingtons, 4 P40s, 4 B25s, 3 P39s, and 2 B17s. The enemy loses 7 Zeros, 5 Oscars, and 1 Tojo.

Some of these must be flying LR CAP from Burma. I didn't hit many planes on the ground. I will keep up the heavy pressure.

Elsewhere, on these 2 days, the enemy did recon on Adak and Ulak in the Aleutians. This is the first time that any enemy recon has been done. The enemy took Attu early, and it's now built up to a level 2 airfield.

It bothers me some that this happened right after I discussed my upcoming plans in the Aleutians. I hope that there isn't any cross-thread talk. I may have to talk more about what I've done and less about what I'm going to do.

It's probably just a coincidence, and I'll assume that for now.




jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 2:12:42 AM)

I follow both threads (and comment a bit in each) and to the best of my knowledge there hasn't been any security leak in either direction. My bet is simply that your opponent independently decided it was time for some recon up there.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 2:53:19 AM)

Thanks jwolf. I'm glad to hear that.

I've accelerated my efforts at occupying Adak. I would like to get there before the enemy. Transports are moving to pick up assigned units, but it will be some time before getting to the area.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 1:09:13 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I've accelerated my efforts at occupying Adak. I would like to get there before the enemy.


Apparently you two haven't really had any interaction in the Aleutians until now? I'm surprised Adak would be up for grabs for so long. Quite a contrast to my game (also Allies) where it's only late March and already I have lost the entire island chain and I'm barely holding at Cold Bay.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 6:26:44 PM)

This is true. It probably sounds strange to say that I'm rushing to Adak now, while I've ignored the Aleutians until now. I had accepted that the enemy could take whatever they wanted in the Aleutians up till now. Now I'm ready to contest it, but not counter attack Attu, which is the only enemy held island. Earlier I was thinking that if I just barely garrisoned the islands, they would just get eliminated anyhow. Now I'm ready to send enough to thwart anything but a major effort. If I get there first. It's winter, and landing on a friendly base is the only real option, compared to attacking a base in the Artic winter.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/15/2015 6:40:43 PM)

I don't know about the actual Aleutian weather (except that it's really, really bad) but in game winter conditions won't take affect until November. There are some penalties to winter operations but IMHO they aren't nearly severe enough. In my game my opponent easily managed invasions and even air ops from Shoho during January and February 1942. But in your game you will have "normal" conditions, such as they are up there, for another month and a half.

What is particularly irritating about Japanese held Aleutians is that they have a nice forward sub base to attack the US west coast. If you can hold the line at or near Adak that should (??) minimize the problem. Good luck and I hope you get there (Adak) first with the most!



jmalter -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/16/2015 12:29:38 AM)

I agree w/ jwolf, Cold Zone penalties aren't nearly enough! The manual states that CZ 'steaming' penalties are doubled, but I've really not noticed this in the Aleutians - although shipping in the antipodean Cape Town > NZ May-August period suffers heavily.

Dutch Harbor is a prob, it took me forever to build its airbase to lvl-1, but I've really not had any problems building up other Aleutian bases. Also I've got 7 4EB airgroups based on Shemya, Agattu & Buldir pasting Paramushiro-Jima for some months, supported by Recon flying from Attu. None of these groups are showing anything out-of-the-way in ops damage, though all groups are at least 60% rest. Para is totally suppressed, and 'orrid amounts of USA/Canadian troopers are prepped at Adak for a spring invasion of the Kuriles. (My game is in Feb 43 vs. IJ AI, the Cold Zone doesn't seem to have much effect. A recent BB bombardmentTF ran unmolested into Para at the end of January, it didn't get nearly the full-speed steaming-damage I expected, nor did the MinesweeperTF that preceded them.

Another nifty thing about the Aleuts is that they're all under POA or West Coast [R] command, so w/ a judicious build-up of airbases bordering the Gulf of Alaska, you can stage restricted USA fighter airgroups into the area to protect yourself. Nor will you forget to bring AVP/AVD auxiliaries to support Catalina patrol aircraft, or neglect your ASW airsearch. I use Prince Rupert as the major supply-source for Adak, but San Francisco contributes as well.



HansBolter -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/16/2015 12:54:24 PM)

Steaming penalties seem to be pretty random and can really whack a TF when they do hit.

I've gotten them in the Marshals before so it is in effect everywhere.

Damn eye opening when you go to give a TF new orders and have that WTF moment of surprise when you discover half your TF is carrying 15-20 sys damage and 1-5 floatation damage.

It does seem to happen more often in the north in winter so I believe it is WAD if perhaps a tad under designed for the north.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/17/2015 3:24:04 AM)

16 Sep 42

Slow turn. Weather prevents any bombing of Diamond Harbour, and this is bad. I expect a full enemy CAP defense of it now, with the airfield damage being repaired.

In Burma, we'll know very soon what kind of jungle offensive is in the works, or if the enemy movement is just defensive positioning. I believe it is offensive, seeing the Imperial Guard Division moving inland toward Imphal.

In a game this vast, no matter how much you play, little mistakes occur. I had a KV at Pearl Harbor come due for withdrawl. Without much thinking, I thought that PH was a valid withdrawl base for ships. It isn't, so I've been running to San Francisco losing 4 points a day. Not a big deal, but in a game of micro-managing so many things, I missed this one.

As for the Aleutians discussion, I don't want a fight there yet, I just want to quietly garrison my empty bases that are still Allied controlled. I have shipping moving toward the theater now, with troops prepping.




apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/18/2015 12:03:22 AM)

17 Sep 42

I fly everything to Diamond Harbour, and find lots of enemy CAP there, as feared. Most of my sweepers flew after the bombers, so it was a bloody day. I did determine that Oscars and Zeros are at Diamond Harbour, and Tojos are flying LR CAP from Burma somewhere. I took a lot of losses, but will continue hitting the airfield and try to shut it down again. As long as I avoid too many P40 losses, I think I can sustain this. Oh, I do have to lose fewer bombers too.

Today's losses were 9 P40Es, 9 Hurris, 15 Blens, 5 P39s, 5 B25s, and 1 B17. Enemy losses were 16 Oscars, 15 Zeros, and 4 Tojos.

I think that the enemy is putting together something for the Aleutians. I got double heavy activity SigInt messages for Ominato, which hasn't happened before. If this is true, he will get there first. I hope not, but I can live with that. I will get there last.

I should get another turn or two over the weekend, but my honorable opponent is going on an extended vacation without his laptop, so we'll both be suffering from AE withdrawl for awhile.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/18/2015 11:39:40 PM)

18 Sep 42

Bad weather once again prevents my bombing of Diamond Harbour. Now both the airfield and the port show single digit damage. I'll try again today.

I note that Rabaul is reported to have 123 fighters, 52 bombers, and 42 auxiliary aircraft. I see what could be cruisers and destroyers there now.

At Rangoon, I see a task force reported to consist of PG CS CS CS DD PB xAP xAP. Probably a troop transport task force. I do a dedicated recon of Rangoon today.

I've been shuffling fragments of units around in the South Pacific. When my invasion of Nauru/Ocean/Tabituea was cancelled, those task forces went to Ndeni, Vanik., and Russell Islands and started to unload. Then KB approached and everyone fled south and unloaded at places like Koumac, Noumea, Efate, and Tanna. Now I'm picking up the pieces and rebuilding these units.

I did recon Attu Island. I see a couple of subs there and a task force with 8 ships of at least some patrol boats.

One trend I've noticed with my opponent is the frequent sightings of subs at small forward bases. These bases, like Attu, don't have an AS in port, so the subs aren't based there. I think he is using lots of subs for forward base supply. I've seen the same thing in the Solomons at Munda and Ontong Java.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/19/2015 2:08:22 AM)

It's discouraging that you couldn't keep Diamond Harbor shut down. Seems like a great effort at high cost ... that lasted less than a week? [:(] Good luck as you continue the fight.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/20/2015 6:10:39 AM)

19 Sep 42

Yes, some bad weather, combined with my diversifying my targets (which wasn't a good idea), contributed to Diamond Harbour becoming operational again. I will continue to bomb it.


I fly lots of sweepers and all of my heavy bombers to Diamond Harbour. My medium bombers are still recovering from previous attempts. I lose no B-17s today, but I do lose 10 P40Es, 8 P39s, 7 Hurris, and 4 Mohawks, while the enemy loses 9 Oscars, 7 Zeros, and 2 Tojos. The airfield is reported to now be at 14 damage, and the port is shown to be 0. I will continue, and should do better when the medium bombers can join in again. The 3 fighter groups that the enemy has been using are now worn down and battered. Previously, when this happened, he did not replace his groups as he pulled them out of Diamond Harbour.

I upgrade a P40E group to the new P40K. This will help a bit with the number of P40E airframes available.

Northeast of Tulagi, I spot some kind of enemy surface group. It shows 4 patrol boats, which I don't believe, and it shows the task force is west bound, which I also don't believe. It is in range to bombard Tulagi or Lunga. If it's carriers, it can hit anything in the Solomons next turn, including Ndeni.

My unloading in the area was about finished, so I pull out my ships, including a light cruiser task force at Lunga. That may have been getting the enemy's attention. I do send a tiny transport task force into Rennell Island, and CAP the island. At Lunga, I leave one F4F group, on escort, and bring in 2 SBD and 1 TBF squadrons, set for range 6 attack. Now we'll see if anything shows up.

I expect that the turn I get from my opponent tomorrow will be his last turn for several weeks.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/21/2015 7:45:20 PM)

20 Sep 42

My Diamond Harbour strikes are slaughtered today. The bad weather allowed the enemy to recover. My losses are too high to sustain. Even some B-17s were lost today. The Tojos seemed to be very effective. My sweeps did go in, but since each sweep goes in alone, and Hurri squadrons hold 16 planes and P40s hold 20-some, they didn't have a chance against over 100 CAP fighters. This effort is set aside for now.

Elsewhere, the patrol boats northeast of Tulagi continued to the west, as if they came from Nauru Island.

Lexington and Saratoga still have 19 days of refit to go. Lots of US ships have a refit scheduled on October 1, with lots of excellent upgrades to AAA for carriers and cruisers. The bottom line is that my fleet will be out of action until the end of October. It's a worthwhile pause, I think.

Speaking of pauses, this was the last turn from my opponent for several weeks. I will do a detailed area by area update sometime during this hiatus.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/22/2015 1:49:40 AM)

20 Sep 42 (continued)

I tallied the air losses over Diamond Harbour. I lost 21 P40Es, 8 Hurris, 6 B17s, and 3 Mohawks. The enemy lost 6 Oscars, 5 Zeros, and 3 Tojos.

As I said, this is unsustainable. With my last attempt at slipping in battleships to the area to bombard DH failing, I think that the last thing my opponent expects is another attempt.

This time, instead of crossing the middle of the Bay of Bengal hoping for surprise, I will hug the Indian coast and provide as much LR CAP as I can.

I'm seeing lots of naval activity at Akyab again. Sometimes this is more units arriving, sometimes it means ships are about to go to Diamond Harbour.

I am still scratching my head at why I'm consistently seeing 2 enemy subs at enemy forward bases, or just enemy dot bases that are empty. Just this turn, I'm seeing this at Attu, Port Headland, Vangunu (next to Munda), and Ontong Java. None of these are known to have an AS (or any other) ships in port.

I will update each theater in detail at some time over the next couple of weeks. No new turns for about 3 weeks, so I'll be looking over every detail of the Allied forces, doing some detailed planning, fiddling with pilots, etc.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/22/2015 2:02:48 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I am still scratching my head at why I'm consistently seeing 2 enemy subs at enemy forward bases...


Minelaying, as a defense against bombardment and/or invasion?



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/22/2015 2:11:25 AM)

I don't think it is minelaying. The subs sit there for more than one day. I don't know. Could be supplying (but not at bases that aren't even occupied). Maybe it's just a defense in case I show up there. Regardless, seems like a poor use of subs that have torpedoes that work. I've been completely unhindered in my shipping from the West Coast to the South Pacific. The first subs I run into are around Luganville and Ndeni. If he was ever looking for my big supply routes, he hasn't found them so far.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (7/22/2015 4:06:39 AM)

Not sure you can differentiate mini-subs from subs until you go into the hex, but I am thinking they are mini-subs on harbour defence, and the sub icon is just FOW.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 3:34:23 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - Borneo and Java

Dutch forces still hold Samarinda on Borneo and Bandoeng on Java. Samarinda has been out of supply for awhile, but Bandoeng has a good deal of supply left (over 20k I think). Bandoeng does get bombed every day, but effects are minimal.

My sub activity here is not substantial. I've patrolled near Balikpapan and the straits to the northeast, but haven't found tankers.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/4C1B800B07194340AF5A0E2AA88DCDA8.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 3:37:08 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - Northern Australia

Very quiet here. There were a few combat ships poking around Carnavon about a month ago, but I did not respond. I put some aircraft there on naval attack just in case they return, but they have not, so far.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/AA2C1EAF842F49A28A58C062A6B6D5D5.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 3:46:01 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - The Aleutians

There appear to be 6 or 8 patrol boats at Attu. I had not garrisoned anything west of Umnak Island, and expected the enemy to ignore everything but Attu, since it was ignored for so long. But just recently, Adak and Ulak had recon planes visit. I then decided (maybe too late) to send in the troops to garrison the Allied controlled bases. I have significant forces alloted for the area. Troops for Adak are loading now.

I have Cats at the small base southwest of Adak. The enemy has not looked here yet. I figured that was a good place to put a support ship. Adak was the obvious place, and it would have already been bombed had it been there.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/0780E6996CF645B98ECEEF26E21E0179.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 3:53:34 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - China

The enemy offensive west of Canton and Wuchow stopped at the river awhile ago. No activity of any kind seen since, other than large numbers of recon missions poking around various Allied bases in China.

Most of the Chinese air force was bought out and moved to India to train. My supply situation was slowly but steadily getting worse until this was done, and transports are flying the Hump bringing supply.

My test of supplying China at the top of the map continues. Results so far are inconclusive. I have 2 squadrons flying in supply. Supply is accumulating in predictable amounts at the destination, and doesn't appear to be drawn further down the very long trail into the rest of China. It could be that it never will be drawn, or it could be that I need a critical mass of supply before it happens.

I am building up the airfields on both ends of this route. I read somewhere that a larger airfield helps reduce attrition. May be true, may not. This is just an experiment all around.



[image]local://upfiles/6549/FD5D5F8A29C3411F85D93FBA6A82C660.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 3:58:35 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - The Gilberts

The enemy is slowly building Tabiteuea. I've just recently garrisoned Baker Island, and am building it. Canton Island has been recently reinforced and that is building also. Funafuti was just a seaplane base, but now I have troops there and I am building it up.

My forces that were going to invade Tabiteuea, Ocean Island, and Nauru Island have moved on to other places in the Solomons and south, but still have their original planning targets, so I haven't ruled out returning here in the future.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/80C3828129484C3C823BE869C3A0669A.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/3/2015 4:05:49 AM)

Mid September 1942 Update - The Solomons

There have been multiple task forces spotted at Rabaul, and around 20 ground units there. My bases are well defended (in my opinion). It would take a multiple division commitment to try to take any of them. My bases are building nicely, and I've just started to move naval bombers in from time to time.

My main problem here has been that the enemy loads up the bases around Buin with fighters and does massive sweeps of one of my bases. Defending all of my bases with my limited number of fighter groups ensures that whichever one is swept, I lose the fight in a big way.

I changed my strategy to leaving no aircraft on my bases, and then loading up a base when a task force needs protection. So far, this has not been challenged.

Time is on my side here. I'll keep building, and there will come a time in the near future when my heavies can base from rear bases in the Solomons and we can start shutting down the enemy bases.

This is a good place to point out that the US carriers are in port and a couple are finishing a refit. Many US ships, mainly cruisers and carriers, will refit in October, and I will be doing those also. The AAA upgrades are too good to pass up. The month of inactivity is something I can accept for the long range benefit.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/6407B587A9A44BE2AC6BFEA144486A31.gif[/image]



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