RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (Full Version)

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Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 9:00:57 AM)

No way out.
The very successful U-Boote champaign against the Allied Arctic convoys was one main factors that helped bring down the USSR too its knees. Up to November 20 1942 the western democracies had sent 4039 MPPs via convoys to Stalin but a staggering 1700 MPPs were lost (42% sunk ). Worse still, since February 1942 the losses have been terrible, only getting about 60 MMPs per turn while more than 180 MPPs were lost (75%-80% sunk). Soon, with the arrival of winter, the port of Arkhangetsk will be close and not a single MPP will arrive by ship…

[image]local://upfiles/23459/1B74FC560AB64A47876B2F0A4FDEF60E.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 6:15:31 PM)

The question that naturally arose as Japan tightened her grip on the DIE and the Philippines was what steps she proposed to take in the next critical phase of the war. When Japan went to war against the USSR she did so only to cut the US aid to Stalin. Suddenly the war came with the US and the British Empire. In the Southeast area she was committed to a policy of securing objectives that she intended to maintain through a battle of attrition along a defensive perimeter. Despite no easy successes in the initial months of the war, two matters had become extremely clear by July 1942.  First, it had become clear that the Western Democracies were giving priority to check the Japanese advances everywhere, engaging countless land forces supported by strong Naval and Air Forces. Second, the Imperial Navy had failed either to destroy or to neutralize the enemy’s main CV force.
The question that Japan faced was how best to consolidate her success. Since Japan was in a position of material inferiority to her enemies, her only compensation was to remain on the offensive. Essentially Japan faced three major options. She could extend her operations southwards against Australia, eastwards into the Pacific, or westwards into the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean option was the selected one as it was the more rewarding (and I have used it previously successfully 2 times against veteran players, marcinus1985 and calcwerc).

[image]local://upfiles/23459/BDFCE798EA9C4E6F91859B8EB58BA8F3.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 6:17:21 PM)

August 24 1942
The Japanese will risk everything on a mayor military and naval effort in the Indian Ocean against Ceylon and a suitable port in India. As a preliminary, for several months, Japan increased sub operations near Sidney and New Zealand to mislead the Allies. The Japanese knew that 2 British CVs were operating in the Bay of Bengal but had no information about the US carriers. The Kido Butai with 4 carriers after refitting and resting in Japan left the home ports end of August and headed towards the South China Sea. The land forces earmarked for the initial landings would be the troops that conquered Java (3 SNF units plus HQ fully refitted and rested) and they would be reinforced later by several Armies released from the China front.
At this time Singapore was about to fall as the defending Indian Army was exhausted. But in Sumatra another Indian Army left behind was still holding Padang while Kuching (Sarawak) and Brunei were still in enemy hands…

[image]local://upfiles/23459/8BC2E38A51C145F5AC92187DA169628A.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 6:21:03 PM)

At this exact moment the USA launched their first offensive of the war in the Central Pacific. Non-defended Tarawa was captured in the Gilbert Islands by an Infantry corps. At Truk a Japanese tactical bomber wing was destroyed and the key port captured by a team of US marines and an Infantry corps with US carrier support. Saipan and San Jose in the Marianas were bombarded by US ships to spot our defenses.
Singapore was evacuated by the Indians safely…

September 25 1942
The attack comes as a complete surprise for Japan. The Kido Butai is immediately recalled to defend the homeland and turns back in haste towards Iwo Jima. Our maritime bombers in the Marianas damage a BB and CA and a Japanese CVL damages the sub.

[image]local://upfiles/23459/A1AA61053CE44CFCB20E6131270B3D39.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 6:25:05 PM)

Meanwhile a reconnaissance by our forces of the Bay of Bengal and Northern India revealed the Allied troops and air groups dispositions. Calcutta was defended by an Indian infantry corps and Vizagapatam by Indian special forces. From the area around Ledo operated the enemies’ bombers.

There are several areas of the world that could vie for the unenviable title of the worst theater in which men had to do battle during WWII and Burma’s Indian border claims for this dubious distinction are particularly strong. The jungle terrain and roads are terrible. In difficult combat, the last Chinese troops isolated at Lashio were about to be destroyed. A Japanese Army advancing in the jungle towards Kohima Pass successfully pushed back the US Marines. But the writing was on the wall: the Indian Ocean offensive was cancelled until further notice. The Japanese now turned Burma as a buffer zone, a shield for the gains they made in the Indies.



[image]local://upfiles/23459/A8E92FA06E2F4031B947584B536E3304.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/23/2021 7:03:42 PM)

October 1942
The US continued their offensive operations and Rabaul was captured by a US AA unit. A combined Allied multi national Task Force entered the Java Sea and blocked the Dutch ports. An Australian DD blocked Penang port in Malaysia. Two US maritime bombers stationed Kuching and Brunei attacked a Japanese destroyer at Saigon in a show of force!

Tojo reacted firmly to this Allied offensive. The Marianas Islands and several other Japanese possessions were reinforced in the Pacific. Our bombers sunk the Australian DD blocking Penang and damaged severely the Australian CA in the Java Sea. In Burma the Japanese are crushing the last Chinese around Lashio.

[image]local://upfiles/23459/B9EEAE0C8B834F22B88F46826D907442.jpg[/image]



Marcinos1985 -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/24/2021 7:19:44 AM)

Allies allocated plenty of resources to Pacific/Asia, there's a heavy bomber near Ledo. We will see how it plays out.



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/24/2021 7:23:09 PM)

November 20 1942
The Allied multi national Task Force that entered the Java Sea left the area heading east and was spotted southwest of Truk by Japanese maritime bombers based in the Palaus. Attacking under zero fighter escorts from the Marianas, the Dutch CL was hit but a British CV intercepted the raid. In a second attack the British CV was targeted and a second British CV intercepted the raid. Now the Allies have regrouped all their carriers together around the Caroline Islands (5-6 CVs). With the enemy possessing a clear superiority of numbers in all types of warships, the Japanese knew that they could not risk a direct confrontation.


[image]local://upfiles/23459/9B2548DCE49444CFB31324EA01C3715B.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/24/2021 7:27:05 PM)

December 1942-January 1943
The Allies continued their offensive in the Pacific. Australian troops captured Dili in Timor, Lae and Wewak in Papua together with Hollandia and Sorong in Dutch New Guinea (all not defended by our troops). They hold firmly Guam, their forward bastion, the island being defended by a US AA and an Infantry corps. Guadalcanal and our possessions in the Marshall Islands are bombarded by BBs, a preliminary before an amphibious assault…

January 15 1943
The Japanese launch operation “BLEACH” a counterattack in Borneo! From Singapore our land bombers plaster Kuching and eliminate a US heavy bomber based Kuching. A unit of SNL forces land near Miri and attack the US fighters based there. The Kido Butai CVs finish the job eliminating the US fighters and a unit of US Maritime Bombers based Brunei. In the following turns all the land units are destroyed out of supply: the Indian special forces, the Infantry corps and the garrison. Borneo is now Allied disinfected for good! [:)]

[image]local://upfiles/23459/66DB9819E72949D1ACAAB26F8CAC216E.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/26/2021 3:24:32 PM)

February 1943
The Allies captured an empty Port Moresby and Majuro island in the Marshalls but Kwajalein and Eniwetok are still in our hands. At Guadalcanal 3 marine units landed and attacked Kukum and the last starved Japanese defenders will die for the Emperor next turn. (I think that this was an expensive expedition, an overkill and that those 3 marine units could have been better employed somewhere else in the Pacific or Europe).

The last Soviet defenders were clustered around Perm. Fighting for their last Capital.

[image]local://upfiles/23459/8E44B17708664E6C98113BD17DFCB34D.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/26/2021 3:25:38 PM)

February 1943
Crossing Iran, the Germans head towards Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

[image]local://upfiles/23459/FE1E809EFF2F4C0099CD7BA667F28CFD.jpg[/image]



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/26/2021 3:27:04 PM)

May 7 1943
Some reflections about the War in the East. As Scott pointed out to me these were some of the Key elements:

1. Keeping Russian and US mobilization low early on.
2. Putting diplomacy towards Finland (once the Allies got 3 consecutive hits). Lots of people would not have done that, that was fairly important.
3. Sending forces to Finland to retake northern port. At the time I thought that it was a waste of resources.

...
4. Made huge mistake in not defending Rostov and oil fields with set defenses. Probably would not have mattered, but should have done that.
5. Didn't press Royal Navy attack on Murmansk convoy when I should have. Gave uboats room to operate, when I could have jammed them up.


[image]local://upfiles/23459/57D5FDA87FB44B858CFB7AE1CEC64BD6.jpg[/image]



John B. -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/26/2021 7:41:18 PM)

Very interesting AAR. Thanks!



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/28/2021 2:19:54 PM)

The game ended here as my opponent resigned with the USSR surrender. I would like to thank Scott for his time and to remark that he is a great opponent and a true gentleman, never using gamely moves during the whole game. [sm=00000436.gif]


Final shot from the game, the painful losses:

[image]local://upfiles/23459/2AAF8E12E98F402CAD384571F2625C2F.jpg[/image]



BillRunacre -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/28/2021 8:41:17 PM)

Thanks for taking the time to make this very interesting AAR Taifun!



Cpuncher -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (4/29/2021 1:55:57 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Taifun

Final shot from the game, the painful losses:

[image]local://upfiles/23459/2AAF8E12E98F402CAD384571F2625C2F.jpg[/image]


I can see how brutal the war for the Russians had been. I'm a bit curious about the tank losses on both sides. The Axis managed to not lose a single tank!, while the Russians only lost a few. In one of my previous war, my Allies lost about 50 armored units of all kinds and my opponent the Germans lost close to 20. Most of my tanks reformed over and over again. I'd assume both sides always focus on killing each others' tanks, and you can't always hide them behind a screen if you want to use them fully.



smckechnie -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (5/2/2021 3:07:08 AM)

I will post a number of comments on this game starting with this post.

Defending Russia against an elite player is very difficult. In fact, in talking with some of the elite players, they do x moves on Russia and then just pray that the opponent makes a mistake. I am going to post a new defending Russia post for ideas on how to better defend Russia.

What I was trying to do in Russia was to give ground so that the Soviets could get to level 2 inf, 2 AA and lots of units in order to take on the Germans in 1942. This strategy actually worked around Leningrad and Moscow, but I failed to put up a significant defense in the Caucasus. I should have put up some heavy defenses around Rostov. The failure to do this led to the Caucasus being overrun by the ridiculous 1 level supply panzer units that still can move 5 hexes.

Entering into 1942, the Russians held Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. They had achieved my goal of getting 2 level two inf and AA guns, but MPPs got crushed by no Murmansk, the Caucasus, and no MPPs through the Far East because Japan attacked. Taifun, actually did not throw his forces at Leningrad or Moscow until he had hit level 3 tanks and moved forces around to overwhelm the Russian Moscow defenses. I looked for times to counterattack with anti-tank and tank units, but he kept the tank units at arms length and when he did attack the units were basically invincible. Play by me here should have been better and will be on future games.








smckechnie -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (5/2/2021 3:26:23 AM)

Naval warfare in the game was really an overall disaster for the allies.

1. The axis strategy was to max out sub research. This doesn’t guarantee success, but if the allies get behind on ASW research like I did, this can be really bad for the allies.
2. It now appears that a very good axis strategy is to bring out Italian fleet from the med have those units scout for the Germans early on, but then combine them with German surface and sub forces to destroy any allied fleet units that are isolated. This is like the 3d or 4th game that I have seen this tactic done and it really means that the allied Navies need to group themselves into larger task forces or risk piecemeal destruction.
3. Against any of the elite players, I think that you are taking a big chance on not doing ASW research early. A level 2 sub against any allied ship with 0 ASW will get slaughtered. I am not sure about how many ships I lost to subs, but it had to be close to half or more of the allied casualties.
4. On a positive note, early on,I did form a task force to patrol the Atlantic and did catch two of his German cruisers and sink them. I did also pretty much sink most of the German surface forces.
5. I do think that my failure to have a better overall Naval strategy for the allies cost me the game.



smckechnie -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (5/2/2021 3:50:41 AM)

In the Pacific theatre:

1. I had a really good defense of China, but part of the reason for that in hindsight was that Taifun was building this large Air Force, with lots of research going to tac air, long range flight, and strategic bombers?
2. Do not get behind on fighter research as the western allies is the takeaway here.
3. I had two American HQ’s in Burma and India. Wainwright escaped the Philippines and one that I built and sent to the region before hostilities. The plan was to send bombers, tac air, and fighters to help the Chinese and defend India. Because I failed to keep pace with fighter research this plan got blown out of the water. He must have had 2-3 jap fighters built too.
4. Normally if an opponent kinda of messes up the attack in the Pacific, it is hard to recover. Well that is not the case if you have level 2 or 3 tac air, level 3 long range aircraft, and position ground forces correctly. The tac air, maritime bombers, and fighters were able to help him capture DEI, Malaysia, Borneo, Thailand, and Sarawak after the japs initially failed to take any of those in the opening stages of war in the Pacific. The only saving grace was that he was busy doing that and not attacking India, which he would have been doing had the Japs had a great opening attack in the Pacific.
5. One thing that I did learn was that to cut off supplies coming out of the DEI, you have to hit both of the ports below 5.
6. I thought about continuing the game because of the pacific even after Russia surrendering, because I had 8 carriers and massive navy in the Pacific. Ground forces were significant too. I decided against this because Jap morale was so high from conquest of Russia. The IJN wasn’t that big actually.



Taifun -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (5/2/2021 11:17:02 AM)

Great analysis Scott,

Defending the USSR is very difficult. I think that in the game the USSR is not strong enough, that more reserves should be available in the queue during the crucial autumn 1941. I did like a lot our Pacific camping and would have loved to see how the Japanese could defend their conquest against your forces, and I must admit that my navy was small with only 4 carriers and 1 sub... When the game finished I had 3 Japanese fighter wings and lots of bombers (can not recall how many). But Germany had 10 U-Boote (I bought 3 new ones) level 4 and level 5 on its way...

Great game, We should replay again!



John B. -> RE: TAIFUN (Axis) vs smckechnie (Allies) Full game 1939 (5/2/2021 12:55:57 PM)

Thanks to both of you for a great AAR!



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