RE: Christmas Update (Full Version)

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



Message

Bif1961 -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 1:30:06 PM)

I understand no house rules but the Batan Island thing is not a rule but a game mechanic issue.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 2:52:47 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

I understand no house rules but the Batan Island thing is not a rule but a game mechanic issue.


Where's the issue? The activation conditions for kamikazes are public knowledge.

As are things like the triggers for emergency reinforcements.




Lowpe -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 3:10:19 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

I understand no house rules but the Batan Island thing is not a rule but a game mechanic issue.


House Rules are used for perceived game mechanic failings.



Alfred -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 3:38:16 PM)

This "trick" for ensuring Kamikaze activation on 1 Jan 1944 may not deliver.

Alfred



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 3:46:36 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

This "trick" for ensuring Kamikaze activation on 1 Jan 1944 may not deliver.

Alfred


Batan Island is a level 2 airbase, 5 hexes by sea from Takao and owned by the US. It does not have the Soviet national hex code, so should not be excluded.

Am I missing something?



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/25/2019 4:19:54 PM)

June 24th & June 25th, 1942

North Pacific

With this region devoid of USN subs, I'm drawing down ASW assets in this area for diversion elsewhere.

Central Pacific

While heading back to Japan, the KB makes an interesting discovery - the sealane from Tokyo to Truk and the other SWPAC bases is teeming with USN submarines.

I'm redeploying ASW assets in response. A ASW air station at Pagan and another at Chichi-jima will start suppressing these subs.

South-West Pacific

Floatplane carrying I-boats gets another whiff of an Allied carrier on the 24th, east of Penryhn Island. IJN subs are diverted to chase and the Allied ships are detected the following day to the south. IJN subs are flooding in to hopefully get a hit.

The minelaying subs have reloaded their mines at Rabual and are headed back east to conduct mine warfare at Tahiti. With a port size of 3 and airbase of 6, this is the biggest Allied base between New Zealand and Pearl Harbour. Hopefully we should get lucky here.

Northern Australia

No news here.

DEI

A lone Allied ship is spotted moving from Western Australia towards the Lower DEI. A strong squadron of IJN DD's is dispatched from Soerabaja to intercept.

Burma

The Allied ground troops that recently fled Rangoon have managed to flee north to Prome. The closest IJA division, the 5th, is blocked by a robust Chinese rearguard:

quote:

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13949 troops, 123 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 480

Defending force 6651 troops, 34 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 152

Japanese adjusted assault: 341

Allied adjusted defense: 231

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), leaders(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
788 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled

Allied ground losses:
271 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
5th Division

Defending units:
71st Chinese Corps


The bulk of the Allied troops are now in Prome, with the bulk of their IJA pursuit two hexes behind them.

In the air, we see the first major engagements for quite some time. Three IJA Oscar Sentai, flying from Moulmein, tangle with Allied fighters above Akyab on the 25th:

quote:

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 28

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 16
Hurricane IIb Trop x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 4 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
AVG/2nd Sqn with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 8000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
No.30 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIb Trop (0 airborne, 7 on standby, 6 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 30

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar sweeping at 15000 feet

CAP engaged:
No.30 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIb Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 69 minutes


Losses for this combat is tallied at 6 Oscars for 9 Hurricanes and 9 H81-A3's.

There are some scattered skirmishes in Thailand this turn, as British and Chinese infiltrator units attempt to interfere with IJ supply lines into Burma. A Burmese battalion is routed by two thirds of the Thai Cavarly division, while a third of the 6th Thai division stops a battered Chinese fragment from taking Raeheng.

China

Scattered battles here as well, as the IJA sweep up Chinese holdouts both north and south of Hankow.

The Chinese Air Force has been making sporadic raids on the survivors of the failed attempt to take and hold Tsuyung several months previously. The defeated Japanese troops had been bombed occasionally on their long trek back to Japanese lines. There was some retribution today, however, as a squadron of IJN Zeros flying from Tuyun intercepted the Chinese bombers. Five bombers were downed for no loss.

A lone Chinese unit has appeared east of Kienko and could threaten the airbase. All aircraft are withdrawn in case the Chinese unit has the strength to seize the base. Japanese units have been caught out of position and so can't immediately respond, leaving the collection of air support units and a AA regiment exposed.

The Chinese attempt a hasty counter-attack at Chengtu, which fails.

The IJA conducts the first deliberate attack on Chungking on the 25th, the results of which are excellent:

quote:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 260805 troops, 2773 guns, 1199 vehicles, Assault Value = 8234

Defending force 135613 troops, 674 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3161

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese adjusted assault: 6184

Allied adjusted defense: 10289

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
19717 casualties reported
Squads: 99 destroyed, 2874 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 277 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 338 disabled
Guns lost 182 (5 destroyed, 177 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4872 casualties reported
Squads: 112 destroyed, 446 disabled
Non Combat: 74 destroyed, 242 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 37 disabled
Guns lost 36 (6 destroyed, 30 disabled)


Despite the heavy Japanese losses, the majority of squads are disabled. Most importantly, the forts have been knocked down to level 4 from a previous level of 6.

Battered units are rotating out to replenish, and the ground and air bombardment will continue. We will consider attacking again at the start of July - by that point an additional 300 AV worth of tanks should be accessible.

I've paid 150 PP's to upgrade the remaining single-engine bombers to twin engine bombers, so for the moment all air operations against Chungking are based from Tuyun.

Wrapping China up in the next few months is looking more and more likely now...


[img]https://i.imgur.com/BVaKBj8.png[/img]



Bif1961 -> RE: Christmas Update (6/26/2019 1:56:57 PM)

The difference with Batan Island in my opinion is that normally to stop someone from gaming the play they are not allowed to do something, like naval bombing below 10,000 feet with non-naval bombers, or not putting 100 PT boats at a level one port to use up the ammo of any incoming bombardment surface TFs. Here the game mechanics will do something automatically that the other side didn't cause. The allies didn't invade, even accidently something that might trigger an early Kamikazes activation, the game does it. An early activation is a balance against hyper aggressive allies who might attempt to take a deep target early, it is a hedge to try and bring play into balance. By the Japanese not taking Batan island it allows the game to give the Japanese an advantage the allies did not cause and have no ability to correct. You may not agree and I can see some don't but I consider it a difference caused automatically by the mechanics of the game trying to bring it in balance when the Allies did not, in this case do something and now they are in affect being punished for it. So the game is not out of balance but the Japanese get an game provided advantage as if it were.



GetAssista -> RE: Christmas Update (6/26/2019 4:00:46 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

The difference with Batan Island in my opinion is that normally to stop someone from gaming the play they are not allowed to do something, like naval bombing below 10,000 feet with non-naval bombers, or not putting 100 PT boats at a level one port to use up the ammo of any incoming bombardment surface TFs. Here the game mechanics will do something automatically that the other side didn't cause. The allies didn't invade, even accidently something that might trigger an early Kamikazes activation, the game does it. An early activation is a balance against hyper aggressive allies who might attempt to take a deep target early, it is a hedge to try and bring play into balance. By the Japanese not taking Batan island it allows the game to give the Japanese an advantage the allies did not cause and have no ability to correct. You may not agree and I can see some don't but I consider it a difference caused automatically by the mechanics of the game trying to bring it in balance when the Allies did not, in this case do something and now they are in affect being punished for it. So the game is not out of balance but the Japanese get an game provided advantage as if it were.

It's just kamikazes at the predetermined date, nothing else. Hard to see why this particular rule might be worse compared to the usual geographical one, assuming both players agree to it. It's not like Japanese command would take into account distance and not an overall course of the war when deciding on kami campaign. The original rule was there to adjust for the possible difference in player skills, to delay if the Allied player is not coming strong. Here the assumption of drastic skill difference is not applicable.
And no, balance should not even be discussed here. WITP is unbalanced in many ways and it is up to the players to shift it here or there.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/26/2019 6:19:12 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

The difference with Batan Island in my opinion is that normally to stop someone from gaming the play they are not allowed to do something, like naval bombing below 10,000 feet with non-naval bombers, or not putting 100 PT boats at a level one port to use up the ammo of any incoming bombardment surface TFs. Here the game mechanics will do something automatically that the other side didn't cause. The allies didn't invade, even accidently something that might trigger an early Kamikazes activation, the game does it. An early activation is a balance against hyper aggressive allies who might attempt to take a deep target early, it is a hedge to try and bring play into balance. By the Japanese not taking Batan island it allows the game to give the Japanese an advantage the allies did not cause and have no ability to correct. You may not agree and I can see some don't but I consider it a difference caused automatically by the mechanics of the game trying to bring it in balance when the Allies did not, in this case do something and now they are in affect being punished for it. So the game is not out of balance but the Japanese get an game provided advantage as if it were.


I'm firmly in the "its a game" camp in the "game versus simulation" debate.

To that end, I'm quite comfortable getting every advantage out of the games rules that I can.




tarkalak -> RE: Christmas Update (6/27/2019 12:12:07 PM)

The allied player can land some air support and supplies with a sub and fly some cats there, right?



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/27/2019 12:37:35 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: tarkalak

The allied player can land some air support and supplies with a sub and fly some cats there, right?


In theroy, yes. In practice, I'm not sure he has bases close enough to enable plane transfers.



Lowpe -> RE: Christmas Update (6/27/2019 1:48:25 PM)

The hefty defense of Chungking bodes well for clearing out all the mountain passes to Paoshan![:)]



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/27/2019 2:48:12 PM)

June 26th to June 29th, 1942

North Pacific

I've shifted a bunch more xAK's to Sakhilin to help draw down the resource surplus here.

Otherwise nothing worth reporting.

Central Pacific

The ASW assets I sent out to operate off Saipan have been doing a good job. No sinkings as of yet, but the planes are keeping the USN subs heads down. The 8 Momi DD's have had less luck; they've mostly been dodging wonky USN torps and dropping ineffective Type 95 depth charges, but it keeps morale up.

South-West Pacific

IJN cruiser bombardments of Suva are becoming a regular feature now, which is doing good work towards keeping the Allied base suppressed.

The Imperial Guards and some arty are about two weeks out from Rabual, where they'll off-load and reload in amphibious mode for landing on Fiji.

In the air, Allied opposition has been absent, but Allied engineers are hard at work expanding their bases at Pago Pago and surrounding islands.

The spotted Allied carrier force vanishes, with no leads, so IJN submarines have returned to their picket line duties.

ASW air assets get a nice boon, with the USN sub Porpoise reported as scuttled off Luganville. This follows the reported sinking of another USN sub off New Caledonia the week before. It seems that IJA ASW air efforts are paying off...

I debated ordering a deliberate attack at Suva, but decided to hold off till the Imperial Guards Division arrived. However, I think that I am going to go ahead with it next turn. My reasoning is that the 1942 US Army squads start to arrive come July, which boosts their anti-armor. I want to put more pressure on the Allied supply situation at Suva to prevent upgrades and reinforcement. I've not much idea about the current supply situation of the Allied troops, but I'm certain that it's limited to sub transports. At the very least a IJ deliberate attack will give some indication as to the defenders supply situation.

Northern Australia

The lone Allied ship spotted earlier in the week turns out to be the British minelayer Kung Wo. IJN destroyers sink it, but not before it drops off 150 mines at Wyndham. The IJN DD Nokaze wanders in to one, and it's in Wyndham pumping out water as a result.

Minesweepers from Soerabaja are en-route. The IJA 40th Division is about two days out, and will linger off Timor for a day or two until the mines are cleared. An IJA brigade will do the same.

The paratroopers for the Darwin descent are about two weeks out from Timor, despite fast xAP's being used.

A Dutch sub has been spotted west of Darwin as well, so I may move some assets from Soerabaja to support operations here.

DEI

Dot hex clean up continues.

The arrival of the Std-C tankers is doing wonders to keep Miri drained. It's freed up a bunch of the small 1250 tankers to start moving oil from Bolea and Babo. The upside to most of Java's oil and reinferies being fried is that it simplifies the job of getting the stuff back to Japan.

Burma

The Allied withdrawal from Rangoon to Akyab continues, with the IJA close on the heels of the British rearguard at Prome. Despite wanting to kick the British & Chinese stack once more before it makes it to saftey, I'd prefer to secure Middle Burma first. To that end, once Prome falls, the main IJA stack will move north-east towards Magwe and seize Burma's oilfields.

I fully expect a major Allied air campaign to destroy them as soon as the base is in Japanese hands. To that end, 7 AA units are with the advance force, having some 80 odds 8cm AA guns. I'll also try to have large numbers of aviation support and fighters ready to move in to the base instantly upon capture. Defending the oil is nice, but I really would relish this as a chance to attrition Allied air units over friendly territory.

Speaking of attritioning Allied air units, June 28th sees some of the biggest air-to-air combat in Burma so far. Allied fighter numbers at Akyab jumped up to around 75 following the engagements on the 25th. In response, IJA and IJN squadrons took a few days off, then came back to sweep the Allies from the skies.

First in were the crack IJN pilots of Shoho-1, who have been flying from land bases for most of the war. They meet 4 Allied squadrons, two of the American Volunteer Group and two RAF Hurricane Groups.
quote:

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 32
Hurricane IIa Trop x 16
Hurricane IIb Trop x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 13000 feet

CAP engaged:
AVG/1st Sqn with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 1 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 32000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
AVG/3rd Sqn with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 2 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 32000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
No.17 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIa Trop (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 2 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 35000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
No.261 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIb Trop (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 10 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 23 minutes


The Allies are flying at altitude, and even the experienced IJN pilots struggle. The Zeros are sent running, losing about 14 planes to combat and OPS in return for only a single kill.

They're followed by effectively the combat debut of the Ki-45. Despite being using in China for some weeks, it's the first time that the new IJA fighter-bomber has went toe-to-toe with modern Allied fighters. The fighter-bombers swing in and catch the Allies out of position from tangling with the Zeros:

quote:

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 45 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 26

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 22
Hurricane IIa Trop x 11
Hurricane IIb Trop x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 2 destroyed


Two Nicks are lost to various causes, and in exchange the squadron is credited with three Allied planes.

A squadron of the older Oscars follows them, and the less modern and lighter Japanese planes struggle at first, but an increasingly disorganized and exhausted Allied CAP is worn down:

quote:

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 25

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 11
Hurricane IIa Trop x 10
Hurricane IIb Trop x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 3 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 30

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 4
Hurricane IIa Trop x 5
Hurricane IIb Trop x 7

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 2 destroyed
Hurricane IIa Trop: 2 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
17 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar sweeping at 15000 feet


The penultimate Japanese sweep is met by a single Hurricane, and the final Japanese sweep of the day meets no opposition at all...

Losses in the air are surprisingly equal for both sides 30 Japanese planes lost for 28 Allied. This is the total for the day across the entire map, but the combat over Akyab had the edge just to Japan. I am happy with this exchange, as it kicked a bunch more IJA and IJN pilots into TRACOM status.

The following day, the Allied fighters are absent from Akyab, leaving only reports of some 13 bomber aircraft that are conducting recon for the Allies across Burma and Thailand.

There has been an Allied convoy of about 8 ships operating off Akyab, and this battle opens the way for two IJN DD's to attempt to intercept next turn. Rangoon is cleared of mines, and 4 IJN CA' plus escorts wait to see if bombardment operations can be conducted against Akyab if the Allies keep using it as a forward base.

All in all, a good result.

China

Two battered Chinese corps managed to displace a RGC unit from Changteh. 4 IJA divisions are in the neighbourhood on clearing duty, so they'll retake the base. So far industry hasn't been damaged, so hopefully we can take it back intact as well.

My fears at Kienko are unfounded: a worn-out Chinese base force botches attacking across a river into the IJA avaition units.

The tanks reach Chungking, and I order another deliberate attack. It's very soon after the last one, but disruption and fatigue are low. The raw AV is 5.7k Japanese to 3k Chinese. Fingers cross for another good result...

Home Islands

The KB is back in home waters and undergoing repairs. The carrier planes have dismounted to Kobe, and started flying CAP (for the fighters) or training missions of NavS (for the TB's) or ASW (for the DB's).

The Akagi has started resizing IJN training squadrons, starting with the fighters, then we'll start on the torpedo bombers and finally the dive bombers. I want to get this done ASAP as all the IJN DB squadrons and most of the TB squadrons are stuck in the training role. Expanding the training programme will help me to get a couple squadrons of each on the frontline. That lets me start building more of that all important EXP!

More on that later, however. The KB should be back to 100% effectiveness by 21st July.

[image]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Akagi_2.jpg/964px-Akagi_2.jpg[/image]

The Akagi off Kobe. Her impending upgrade removes her 20cm guns and nearly doubles her light AA armament.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/27/2019 3:00:45 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

The hefty defense of Chungking bodes well for clearing out all the mountain passes to Paoshan![:)]


Ten units at Kunming, two at Tsuyung and five at Paoshan.

Tsuyung and Paoshan seem to be mostly weaker units to prevent a paratrooper assualt. The ten units at Kunming appear a bit stiffer, but approx 40k men and 100 or so guns doesn't suggest a very roubst resistance. We shall see...



Bif1961 -> RE: Christmas Update (6/28/2019 5:15:20 PM)

Even though you had a roughly equal exchange with the Allies fighters of Akyab, as long as you can keep up the pressure you can whittle down his pools to nothing and he will have to try shipping additional American squadrons from elsewhere to make up for the lack of British planes to man there available squadrons. It might be he had radar in one of his base forces at Akyab that allowed his CAP to be above and waiting for your first sweepers, that may be the reason your best pilots in the best plane in june 42 came out on the wrong end of the stick.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (6/28/2019 11:22:38 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Even though you had a roughly equal exchange with the Allies fighters of Akyab, as long as you can keep up the pressure you can whittle down his pools to nothing and he will have to try shipping additional American squadrons from elsewhere to make up for the lack of British planes to man there available squadrons. It might be he had radar in one of his base forces at Akyab that allowed his CAP to be above and waiting for your first sweepers, that may be the reason your best pilots in the best plane in june 42 came out on the wrong end of the stick.


Yup, spot on. Loka tends to manage his pools very, very diligently. To that I, I love to take every chance I can to wreck them :)



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/8/2019 3:24:53 PM)

June 30th to July 4th, 1942

Pretty straightforward turns here, which is nice.

North Pacific

Nothing to report up here.

Central Pacific

Quiet here as well, with nothing happening other than the occasional tangle with USN subs off the Marianas.

South-West Pacific

We keep getting hits on Allied shipping east of Pago Pago, including a supposed Allied CV TF around the Cook Islands. IJN subs are sent to intercept but nothing really materializes from it.

I've put the defences in the Luganville-Suva-Noumea triangle on high alert, and I've enough warning to blunt even a serious Allied raid.

Bombardment by air, ground and sea assets continues at Suva. The Imperial Guards is off-loading at Rabual to re-load in amphibious mode for the final run on to Fiji, so within ten days or so we should have another division ashore. At that point I think I'll consider another deliberate attack down here.

Northern Australia

Both the 40th Division and the Mixed Brigade get ashore without much issue. A Dutch sub slams a torp into an xAP but the damage doesn't seem fatal.

The airborne assault on Darwin is about a week away from taking place as well, and so far the Allies seem unaware of the increased Japanese commitment to this theatre.

DEI

Dot base clean-up here.

A bunch of engineers and support units from Luzon have landed on Java, so I'll be parcelling them out to bases across the island. I'm not dead set on a base network for Java, but I'm currently leaning towards Batavia and Soerabaja (obviously), with the inland bases of Madioen, Soerakarta and Bandoeng to give the region some density. The last three are all on rails and x3 terrain, and the only downside is they're limited in size. However I'll chew it over.

Burma

The Allied refugees from Rangoon escape to the north, and are lost from sight. A shame, but much remains to be done in Burma. The IJA forces are turning their sights on Middle Burma, more specifically Magwe and the oilfields there.

Thai units have managed to sweep up a couple of Chinese infiltrator units in Thailand.

Additional aviation support is marching overland from Thailand to Burma. I don't think I'll deploy very many aircraft in Burma itself, but I want to be able to use Rangoon and possibly Magwe for defensive CAP.

China

The deliberate attack at Chungking on June 30th goes well for Japan:

quote:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 197808 troops, 2259 guns, 1465 vehicles, Assault Value = 5844

Defending force 143128 troops, 739 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3051

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese adjusted assault: 5283

Allied adjusted defense: 4221

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7329 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 1239 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 110 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 98 disabled
Guns lost 86 (2 destroyed, 84 disabled)
Vehicles lost 145 (5 destroyed, 140 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
7721 casualties reported
Squads: 73 destroyed, 166 disabled
Non Combat: 102 destroyed, 553 disabled
Engineers: 27 destroyed, 31 disabled
Guns lost 48 (15 destroyed, 33 disabled)


Over the next couple of days bombardments and bombings keep the pressure up on the Chinese.

The Chinese are cleared out of Kienko, and that base is set up as a R&R base for units battered in the Chungking fighting.

I've pulled out the units that have suffered heaviest from the fighting at Chungking, and I'm waiting for the fatigue and disruption on the remaining units to drop to acceptable levels before I attack again.

I have a feeling that we may very well have Chungking in hand before late 1942, but I dare not get too hopeful. However, forts at level 3 and getting 1:1 odds really does bode well for the immediate future.

Home Islands

The KB goes into dock for its mid-42 upgrade/repair cycle and should be back in three weeks. In the meantime, the IJN shore-based training establishment is being upsized using the Akagi. The fighter squadrons should be finished within another few days. After that I'll probably be able to consolidate IJN fighter training down into small squadrons, and move at least one or maybe two squadrons to frontline duties. However, the bottleneck here is going to be A6M2 Zero airframes, as the KB resize will swallow up the current pool.

I'm really excited by this, as I can forsee the potential to really snowball in regards to the abilities of IJN pilots. The KB fighter pilots have an average EXP of 75 across the board (that's after sending the elite pilots to TRACOM). The average EXP of torpedo and dive bomber pilots lags a little at around 70, but I'm training hard to bring that up.

In other news, R&D bumped the date of the A6M5c Zero forward a month to 9/44, as well as bringing the Nakajima Ha-44 (used for the Ki-94-II) forward to 2/43.

All appears well...




Mike Solli -> RE: Christmas Update (7/8/2019 3:45:31 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I've pulled out the units that have suffered heaviest from the fighting at Chungking, and I'm waiting for the fatigue and disruption on the remaining units to drop to acceptable levels before I attack again.


What are acceptable levels to you?



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/8/2019 4:31:58 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli


quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I've pulled out the units that have suffered heaviest from the fighting at Chungking, and I'm waiting for the fatigue and disruption on the remaining units to drop to acceptable levels before I attack again.


What are acceptable levels to you?


Sub 20.



HansBolter -> RE: Christmas Update (7/8/2019 5:03:15 PM)

I typically wait until disruption is sub 10 and fatigue is sub 30.

Disruption typically recovers more quickly than fatigue and is usually 10-15 points lower, unless you just suffered a poor combat result.

Getting fatigue to sub 20 can be a long wait and will almost never happen in a malaria zone.

Attacking in a siege condition with fatigue in the mid 20s is normally not over debilitating and I can re-attack again in 3-5-7 days.

If I attack again while fatigue is over 30 the results usually push fatigue too high to recover on the 3-5-7 day timeline.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/9/2019 12:19:43 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

I typically wait until disruption is sub 10 and fatigue is sub 30.

Disruption typically recovers more quickly than fatigue and is usually 10-15 points lower, unless you just suffered a poor combat result.

Getting fatigue to sub 20 can be a long wait and will almost never happen in a malaria zone.

Attacking in a siege condition with fatigue in the mid 20s is normally not over debilitating and I can re-attack again in 3-5-7 days.

If I attack again while fatigue is over 30 the results usually push fatigue too high to recover on the 3-5-7 day timeline.


For that reason I tend to prioritize leaders with Leadership, Insp, Land and Admin at least in the 60s across the board for the big combat units and Corp HQs.

I feel it really makes a difference, especially with the bigger units.



mind_messing -> RE: Rematch: Ragnarök - mind_messing (J) vs Lokasenna (A) (7/15/2019 6:37:06 PM)

July 5th to July 7th, 1942

North Pacific

Nada...

Central Pacific

Also nada...

South-West Pacific

There's almost certainly USN carriers in the theatre. Sub floatplanes spotted CV's a few turns back, and a couple of subs off Auckland report Dauntless dive bombers snooping around. Combined, it suggests to me that the Allied CV's are parked in New Zealand.

Appropriate preventative measures have been taken: CAP beefed up in Japanese bases in the region, search has been stepped up and more subs are vectored towards New Zealand.

On Fiji, I commit to a deliberate attack at Suva after much wracking of brains. The results are interesting:

quote:

Ground combat at Suva (132,160)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 50883 troops, 455 guns, 68 vehicles, Assault Value = 1657

Defending force 44354 troops, 838 guns, 879 vehicles, Assault Value = 1339

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 2260

Allied adjusted defense: 2825

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)

Japanese ground losses:
2370 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 93 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Guns lost 19 (1 destroyed, 18 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
773 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 32 (3 destroyed, 29 disabled)

Assaulting units:
4th Division
54th Division
Guards Mixed Brigade
16th Division
Maizuru 1st SNLF
62nd Naval Guard Unit
17th Army
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
Americal Infantry Division
24th Infantry Div /1
27th Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division
8th NZ Brigade
8th Marine Rgt /1
8th Marine Defense Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Regiment
9th Australian Brigade
1st RNZAF Base Force


It's a pretty poor attack for Japan, but the appearance of the supply malus for the Allies has got my hopes up. The large number of IJA disablements will be easily handled thanks to the Command and Corps HQ and plenty of supply, and naval and air bombardments are set to continue.

Northern Australia

The drop on Darwin is about ready to go, with the IJN paratroopers landing on Timor, and an IJA tank regiment ashore to follow-on once the guns are destroyed.

I've scraped up a few squadrons for support, but it's limited. For now, some floatplanes and a squadron of Betties is all we have to go on. This will change in the near future.

DEI

Not much to report here. Tinkering with convoys, mostly.

Burma

Things here have went quiet again. Chinese infiltrators to Thailand have been wiped out and aviation support is headed to Rangoon. Still marching towards Magwe with little opposition.

After a few turns stood down, the IJ air power in the region is coming back with a vengance to hit Allied troops still in Burma.

China

Another deliberate attack at Chungking comfirms that the Chinese troops are degrading into a state of terminal decline:

quote:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 164660 troops, 1975 guns, 1395 vehicles, Assault Value = 4873

Defending force 103682 troops, 511 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2392

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 4841

Allied adjusted defense: 4893

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
19186 casualties reported
Squads: 97 destroyed, 920 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 122 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 211 disabled
Guns lost 76 (2 destroyed, 74 disabled)
Vehicles lost 83 (7 destroyed, 76 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
5817 casualties reported
Squads: 36 destroyed, 195 disabled
Non Combat: 32 destroyed, 169 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 35 disabled
Units destroyed 2


IJA troops are on stand-down. Some Chinese units have fled the open hex-side to the south-west, but I've three IJA divisions waiting to bottle them up. The units that suffered worst are rotating out, and the divisions are split into their components to facilitate quicker recovery. Hopefully there's only a few more attacks left before it falls!

Air attacks continue as before.

Home Islands

14 days (as of 7/7/41) before the KB is back at 100% status. Air group resizing has continued, with most of the IJN fighter units upsized and we're now on to the dive-bombers.

The KB's re-org will happen mid July, as the CVE Unyo is due in 9 days, and the CV Hiyo in 23 days. I need to make a decision about having the Junyo's with the KB or not. I'm inclined to say yes, as I value 106 extra planes over losing three knots in speed, but I'm open to dissenting opinions! :)



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 9:52:53 PM)

Strategic Musings

So, being just over a half-year into the game, I think it's prudent to stop and see where things are.

I'll go over the current overall situation theatre-by-theatre.

Home Islands

On the ground, the situation isn't as I'd like. Most of the ground forces in Japan are at Nagasaki/Sasebo working on finishing the port to level 9. Once that is completed, I will shift things around.

Overall engineering works are pretty slow. Once Nagasaki's port is completed, the priority of engineering works is going to be as follows:

Kyushu
- Nagasaki airbase
- Fukoka airbase
- Kumamoto airbase

Central Honshu
- Maizuru airbase
- Gifu airbase
- Nagoya airbase
- Hamamatsu airbase

Eastern Honshu
- Chiba airbase
- Utsonomiya airbase
- Iwaki airbase
- Akita airbase
- Ominato port
- Ominato airbase

That should keep our engineers occupied for quite some time, and once it's completed it should leave us in a solid position in the Home Islands.

There's a solid core of aircraft of all types based throughout Japan for the Home Islands, which are more than enough to respond to any Allied raids in the area.

The 6 CL and 20 DD of the Home Islands Fleet should be sufficient to catch any long-range surface raiders from the Aleutians or Central Pacific.

North Pacific

The five easternmost Kuriles (from Paramushrio-jima to Shimushiri-jima) have all been garrisoned. Paramushrio-jima will soon make level 5 airbase: Shimushiri and Onnekotan are level 1 airbases and slowly expanding.

The next wave of reinforcements for this theatre are destined to Sakhalin, which will be the core position for this theatre.

Hokkaido is very sparsely defended at present, and I'm trusting on remoteness and geography to be able to skimp on the defences here for the present. In the medium term I'm looking at buying out a unit from Manchuria and sending two SNLF units to Hokkaido in the interm for garrison duties. Engineers will likely come from China once the situation there resolves itself.

Central Pacific

The Japanese strategy here has been one of delay.

Japanese positions east of the Gilberts are held with token forces of a sole Naval Guard, with units at Tabiteuea and Baker Island. Canton Island and Funafuti have slightly more troops, with both hosting floatplane stations.

I won't be deploying anything eastward of the Marshall Islands as I feel it's not worthwhile. If we get indications for Allied movements in this area, we'll review our commitments, but I fully intend to fight from the Marshalls. I just don't think it's a viable theatre for Japan to seriously contest the Allies given the small base sizes.

South-West Pacific

Currently considering big plays in this region. Current plan is a three-stage process to hopefully attain a suitable VP advantage through the rest of 1942.

Step 1: Move troops freed from Luzon to Fiji to eliminate US troops on the island.
Step 2: Secure Norfolk and Lord Howe Island to provide Japan with search assets deep in to Allied SLOC.
Step 3: Begin utilizing the KB to conduct strategic bombing raids on Australian cities on the Eastern and North-Eastern Coasts.

My hope is that this will have two outcomes:

1. Ideally, provoke the Allies in to committing significant assets into the SWPAC theatre, allowing Japan to focus assets on prepared positions.
2. Generate strategic VP's at a favourable ratio for Japan.

Subsequently, the KB, along with major IJA combat units, and centralized here.

Northern Australia

With the paratrooper assault on Darwin going ahead (more on that later), we should have the strategic advantage. This is a smash and grab, however. Once Darwin has been neutered, IJ troops will be pulling out and the area left as a buffer for the Lower DEI.

DEI

My strategic plans are suffering from a lack of assets at present, mostly engineers. The forray in to Australia is buying valuable time to prepare positions in the Eastern DEI, which is going at a good pace. I'll detail my plans for the future here in more detail at a later date.

With the Western DEI, the focus is firmly on Sumatra, specifically Palembang. I intend for this island to be a fortress in due course. Java will get a similar, if less intensive, investment.

Again, the major shortage is engineers, but they should start to be freed up within the next few months.

To signify the heavy emphasis I have on holding the oil (as well as a fuel-saving measure) most of the IJN fleet assets still remain mothballed here in the event of Allied moves in this area.

China

There's a limited degree of strategy left to discuss here. We'll take Chungking shortly. The Chinese will then either scatter or fight it out in the mountain redoubts. Either way this theatre will wind-down within a few months and a caretaker force will be left behind.

Burma

Once the oil centre of Magwe is secured, we will have gained the main prize in Central Burma. The current plan is for the IJA to pivot and march on Lashio and then Myitkyina before withdrawing back to more defensible terrain. I would like to make this theatre as static as possible to save supplies and assets for elsewhere. Securing a good defensive line will be key to this once the Allies have been chased out.


Thoughts are welcome!




RangerJoe -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 10:23:50 PM)

Don't forget the AAA for Magwe oil. Move it in immediately along with a base force for the radar/searchlights for detection. Maybe even have them move in with the attackers in case the Allies have bombers already tasks with the range set so only Magwe will be the only target available. That should help prevent bombing before units can move in and/or rail in and then unpack. Have other units waiting to rail in if possible. Don't forget fighters as well, for day and night.

Once Chungking is taken, life fire exercise bombing for training units . . .

If you have extra float plane units and have supersized them, 24 Jakes set at LowNav can hurt DDs fairly well. Maybe not to sink them, but they will be damaged and thus easier to kill. The extra float plane units can come from surface ships that have two units and/or pull them from AMCs and light cruisers that have only one float plane. Training the pilots will also ready them for Kamikaze action.

If you have left a size 1 airfield within the kamikaze activation range, do NOT take it so you will have Kamikazes as soon as is possible. Jake float planes sent to bypassed bases on kamikaze missions could easily damage/sink loaded transports and/or smaller escorts that are behind the major actions where there may be no or insufficient fighters on CAP.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 10:33:54 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Don't forget the AAA for Magwe oil. Move it in immediately along with a base force for the radar/searchlights for detection. Maybe even have them move in with the attackers in case the Allies have bombers already tasks with the range set so only Magwe will be the only target available. That should help prevent bombing before units can move in and/or rail in and then unpack. Have other units waiting to rail in if possible. Don't forget fighters as well, for day and night.

Once Chungking is taken, life fire exercise bombing for training units . . .

If you have extra float plane units and have supersized them, 24 Jakes set at LowNav can hurt DDs fairly well. Maybe not to sink them, but they will be damaged and thus easier to kill. The extra float plane units can come from surface ships that have two units and/or pull them from AMCs and light cruisers that have only one float plane. Training the pilots will also ready them for Kamikaze action.

If you have left a size 1 airfield within the kamikaze activation range, do NOT take it so you will have Kamikazes as soon as is possible. Jake float planes sent to bypassed bases on kamikaze missions could easily damage/sink loaded transports and/or smaller escorts that are behind the major actions where there may be no or insufficient fighters on CAP.


Done, done, done and done :)

I'm not going to start training LowNav on my Jakes just yet. I want a solid reserve of good NavS/ASW pilots. Once I've that, I think I'll work NavB in over LowNav. LowNav is pretty much only useful for kamis, and they're a bit off. NavB/ASW/NavS has almost perfect overlap with the IJN 2E pilot skills (just missing NavT) so it gives me a little more depth.



RangerJoe -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 11:17:04 PM)

Jakes on LowNav do not suffer penalties. Nor does it affect any aircraft where the torpedo is the main ordanance . . .



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 11:29:49 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Jakes on LowNav do not suffer penalties. Nor does it affect any aircraft where the torpedo is the main ordanance . . .


That's not the case:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2466161

However, I don't want to train Jakes on LowNav yet as I'd rather have the pilots in reserve with NavB/ASW/NavS skillset for the IJN 2E airframes, which are far more capable than Jakes.



mind_messing -> RE: Christmas Update (7/20/2019 11:38:47 PM)

Actually the game may not even count Jakes as land-based, but I'm not for training LowNav yet.



RangerJoe -> RE: Christmas Update (7/21/2019 2:36:50 AM)

quote:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Port Blair at 46,58

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 2 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
PG Lawrence, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb


Now to find one with Jakes . . .



RangerJoe -> RE: Christmas Update (7/21/2019 11:44:07 AM)

Jakes:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Palmyra at 178,132

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 1,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
E13A1 Jake x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Stuart, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x E13A1 Jake bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb



Page: <<   < prev  6 7 8 [9] 10   next >   >>

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI
1.125