Strategic Update #1 - January 20, 1942 (Full Version)

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ADavidB -> Strategic Update #1 - January 20, 1942 (8/22/2005 7:34:30 AM)

I'd like to give a strategic update as of January 20, 1942. First off, as far as losses go, I've been able to keep them to a minimum in all areas - ships, planes and troops. I've only lost one combat ship since December 7, 1941 and that was a DD lost to a sub attack. My most important losses have been the seven subs that I've lost. The biggest naval win that Tophat has achieved so far was the ambush of the supply convoy between the West Coast and Hawaii where he sank ten out of 12 transports and the minesweeper escort. I haven't been seriously contesting Tophat in the air anywhere, so my aircraft losses have been minimal since December 7. And since Tophat still hasn't taken Singapore or Manila/Clark/Bataan, or any of the Chinese cities, my troop losses have been minimal too. So this fits in with my original plan to deliberately minimize losses.

As far as "pull-backs" and "stands" go, I have a rough set of priorities for the next several months of the war. These priorities will change as the war develops and particularly once I start a counter-offensive:

A) Bases that I'll throw everything at to keep: San Francisco and Karachi - these two bases are driving my current strategy.

B) Bases that I will fight the hardest for, but won't lose the game for: Pearl, Sidney, Bombay - I am trying to make these bases "unconquerable", but will be satisfied with causing Tophat serious losses if he invades them

C) Bases that I will fight very hard for, but will withdraw from if necessary: Anchorage, Brisbane, Colombo, Calcutta, Dacca - I am hoping to make these bases "killing zones" and am building up supporting bases

D) Bases that I will fight hard for, but will withdraw from as necessary: Tricomalee, Madras, Darwin, Townsville - I am using these bases as key staging bases, so if Tophat comes in at the "wrong time" for him he could run into a lot of opposition. But that will change from time-to-time.

E) Bases where I want to draw Tophat into a war of attrition: Lashio, Myitkyima, Imphal, Kohima, Jorhat, Dimapur - I am moving the Burmese armies into those bases, along with the Chinese troops who are assigned to Southeast Asia command.

Note the bases/regions that are "missing" from the above list. Next is some of my rationale for the bases that aren't on the list above:

- I am fighting as best as possible for the Philippines, particularly Manila/Clark/Bataan, and for Singapore, but I don't expect to be able to keep them in the long run and am not allowing reinforcements in, not putting CAP over them, and not trying to supply them.

- I am going to defend the DEI with Dutch forces. I expect to eventually lose the DEI. I am moving Dutch troops from some of the isolated Dutch bases to Timor in order to try to tie up Japanese forces there and therefore allow me to strike at them from Australia.

- I am building up the malarial Northern and Northeastern Australian bases as far as air fields and fortifications go, but I won't waste a lot of effort to try to keep any of them against a serious assault. I'd rather bomb them from the non-malarial bases.

- I've abandoned New Britain, the Solomons and PNG. If Tophat doesn't do much with them I may go back later in 1942, but they aren't a priority right now and I am much happier to have the troops from that region back in non-malarial Australia.

- I've pulled the base force out of Noumea and am sending it to Christmas Island. I have replaced it with an AVD so that I can keep Catalinas there, but can also withdraw quickly from a serious assault. I've also got the Le Triomphant there to hunt down subs and to mislead Tophat about my ship dispositions.

- I am sending supplies to New Zealand and have returned the two Kiwi cruisers to NZ, but if Tophat decides to attack NZ, the Kiwis are on their own.

- I am keeping the existing troops in the various South-central Pacific bases and re-supplying them, and I will chase enemy subs in the region and react to any limited invasion, but I won't commit my main forces to their defense, nor serious ground troops. The only change that I'm making is to put some forces into Christmas Island.

- China is on its own and I am happy to tie up Japanese forces wherever I can. But I don't intend to send Brit or AVG air units into China unless I see some really "juicy" opportunities to do a one-time surprise.

Aircraft:

- If you are wondering, all of the air units from the Philippines are in non-malarial bases in Eastern Australia. I am slowly building them up to full strength and replacing the obsolete aircraft with modern models, but only after the air units at Hawaii get first cut at both replacements and upgrades.

- I am upgrading all Wirraways that can be upgraded to Hurricanes as soon as the Hurricanes are in the replacement pool. I have no intention of giving "free kills" to the Japanese air forces. I don't care about the short range because I will be using these planes for defense for the foreseeable future, not offense.

- I am upgrading all Hudsons that can be upgraded to Beauforts. I don't care about the loss of range - I want torpedo attacks.

- Three out of four of my US carrier fighter squadrons have been upgraded to F4F-4s and the last one will be within a couple of days.

India:

I now have base force units in all coastal bases and all but three inland bases, and I have base forces on their way to those last three unoccupied bases. Many of those base forces were evacuated from Malaya. I also have combat troops or artillery units in all coastal bases and have the Indian armored units and some back up infantry divisions in strategic inland bases. I moved all of the British air units out of Malaya into India. I've changed the AVG from China Command to SEAC. All British combat ships are in Indian ports. I am going to reorganize them so that I have mutually supporting battleship-lead TFs in each key port. I have the Dutch minelayers in Indian waters, mining the Indian ports.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Tophat on the move... (8/23/2005 5:17:45 AM)

January 20 -

Tophat has gotten very, very busy. His spy subs are back in the Eastern Pacific, his air force is bombing all over the Far East, he is doing naval bombardments of new targets, his land armies are attacking, and it looks like he even dropped some paratroops.

Sinkep is Tophat's next major objective (although I'm not sure why it and not something else). He hit it with a big, battleship-lead bombardment TF, and then a bunch of Japanese troops suddenly appeared there to try a shock attack on the Dutch forces there. Well, his troops got whacked 0 to 1, which ought to slow them down a bit for a while. I didn't see a fast transport sneak in, and the troops have no artillery with them, so I'm assuming that they are paratroops. If so, that's good - I'd rather have them tied down there then have them pop up somewhere that I value more.

Tophat's ground troops were much more successful in Johore Bahru where the Japanese reinforcements enabled the attack to overwhelm the defenders and push them into Singapore. On the other hand, Tophat's deliberate attack at Clark Field resulted in a 0 to 1 failure for him, although both sides took heavy losses. Elsewhere, Tophat was satisfied to continue with artillery duels. His artillery attack at Changsha was particularly effective this time - he must have a lot of artillery units there.

Tophat has also become "serious" about Tabun-Nur and added an infantry division to back up the Mongol cavalry units that were already there. This pretty much eliminates my chance to capture the base, but I'm more than happy to keep these Japanese units tied up away from my Chinese bases.

The other main action is in Burma where Tophat is moving on Mandalay finally. I moved my AVG planes out of Mandalay and have set them and the bombers in the region to attack the approaching ground unit. I want to slow it down a bit.

It wasn't all Tophat this turn. One of my Dutch subs snuck threw a ton of escorts to put a torpedo into an AP off of Northern Borneo. It's not much, but I'll take what I get…[;)]

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 1:56:03 AM)

Here, as of January 21, 1942, are five of the key summary charts that give an indication of the state of the war and my progress towards my original objectives. Remember that my prime objective was to limit Allied losses in the early stages of the War when the Japanese have the biggest advantages.

Tophat is starting to build up a big lead in Army points as is to be expected. I've got no reasonable troops at the front which might cause him major casualties. That lead will only grow as he takes Singapore and eventually all of the Philippines. But it won't grow quite as much as he might like, because I have kept troop replacements set to "off" in both the Philippines and in Malaya. Replacements won't stop the Japanese forces and just use up supplies, so there is no reason to have them on for units that will be lost anyway. And in the case of Malaya I was able to send the Air HQs and a number of the Base Forces back to India ahead of the Japanese invasion, so they won't be around to be caught in the trap.

[image]local://upfiles/4267/02AF634B00184683A12A530048345DEB.jpg[/image]

Note that almost half of the Allied naval losses are still due to the two BBs that were sunk at Pearl. Tophat has also sunk a number of AKs, but that isn't a big issue with me at this time - I have plenty more available. The loss of those subs hurts, but I need subs to be my key scouts so I will continue to use them as such. I now have all of my BBs in the West Coast ports. I don't intend to risk my undamaged 20-knot BBs until after they have had their first upgrades in April and the ones with serious damage from the Pearl attack won't be leaving port for a long time yet.



The key to the Air losses chart below is to consider the ratio of Air-to-Air to Ground losses, and to keep in mind that Allied air losses have been minimal after the first few days of the War. I am not challenging the Japanese air superiority at this time and won't until I can establish some local air superiority in numbers as well as having current aircraft available instead of totally obsolete aircraft. So I'm quite happy to see the Japanese operational losses and flak losses. BTW - note how no Allied level bombers are in that list - I have been very, very careful to horde them behind the lines. When I use them I want them to count!


My ability eventually contest the air against Tophat depends upon my skill at balancing the right planes with the right places and with the right pilots. In the first couple of months of the War, this means replacing hopelessly inadequate planes with acceptable planes while not losing good pilots. So I have been bringing my air units back from the fronts as much as possible to locations with sufficient supplies where the planes can receive replacement and upgraded aircraft and the pilots can be trained. But I've got to have useful planes in the Air Replacement pool to be able to fill-in the air units and allow for upgrades.

It "hurts" me to look at the chart below. I won't be in a position to use those SBDs and Dakotas for months. And I am very limited in air units that can upgrade at this time to those ever-tempting Wellingtons. Notice how many Wirraways I have in stock - I have no intention of using them as front line CAP - why waste the pilots and air points?


Here is the other view of the same info - you can see what my priorities are as far as aircraft upgrades go - I want to have the best CAP available that I can, and I want as much patrol capability as I can. I am currently using all of my heavy bomber groups on long-range patrol - it is much more important to me at this time to know what Tophat is doing than to waste bombers against his concentrated air defenses. Only my tactical bombers are being assigned to combat duties at this time, and they are all simultaneously being set to partial naval patrol.


The real "killers" at this point are the low replacement rates of P-36A Mohawks and P-40Bs. They may be second-line fighters, but I have a lot of bases in the West Coast that depend upon them and I still have "third-line" fighters around too. So it's been a balancing act to upgrade the fighter squadrons at the bases that are nearer to the front in order to backfill the fighter groups at the rear. Only recently was I able to convert the P-26A squadron in the Hawaiian Islands to P-39s, and only then by keeping replacements "off" for the P-39 units on the West Coast. And I still have one more P-26A squadron and a P-35 squadron in Australia that escaped from the Philippines. It will be several more weeks before I can upgrade them, and I then I will have to decide between using the next squadron-worth of P-40Es to upgrade those P-35s, or to first upgrade the squadron of P-36s that is in Anchorage. (Upgrading those Alaskan P-36s puts more planes into the pool for my P-36 fighter groups in the West Coast.)

So as long as Tophat continues to grab bases in the Far East and leaves India, Australia, Hawaii and the West Coast/Alaska alone for a while I will be in reasonably good shape by the time I get my next big influx of reinforcements in mid-February 1942.

Dave Baranyi





ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 1:59:19 AM)

The last post was supposed to have a number of screen captures embedded in it, but it didn't work. I don't know why. I'll fool around with it a bit to see if I can get it to work...

Dave



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:06:32 AM)

Huh? I can only embed one picture per post? Oh well. here goes...[8|]



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:07:21 AM)

Okay, here are the Naval losses:



[image]local://upfiles/4267/0912F631A9D54807B74768DC963A4A40.jpg[/image]



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:07:50 AM)

And here are the Air losses

[image]local://upfiles/4267/08278B7F66E0450090298826C00A6EE5.jpg[/image]



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:08:25 AM)

And here is the state of the Air Pool:



[image]local://upfiles/4267/3A1A1CCD54D04A13BA24172AFF9F9F34.jpg[/image]



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:09:18 AM)

And here, finally, are the planes used from the air pool...this definitely loses a lot of its immediacy...[:(]



[image]local://upfiles/4267/CFED499E2A804A3A94A6E4A42097619A.jpg[/image]



ADavidB -> RE: Strategic Update #1a - January 21, 1942 (8/24/2005 2:10:33 AM)

My apologies to everyone for mucking that up - it looked much, much better when I created it as a Word document.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 4:30:35 AM)

January 21 -

Well, after that snafu with the embedded pictures that wouldn't embed, I'm going to hold off on pictures for a bit and try something else a bit different (for me at least).

January 21 was a fairly quiet day in many ways, although there were a couple of interesting occurrences. Tophat intensified his aerial bombardment of my troops in the Philippines, but let many of his air groups elsewhere rest. His Glen-equipped spy subs were also busy, but my forces couldn't detect them, and in the absence of the KB, I'm not going to worry about those subs too much because I still don't have a lot of naval traffic sailing around.

Three notable things happened from my perspective. First off, my air units in the Burma region took off and actually bombed that Japanese unit that is on the "Road to Mandalay". [;)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 33rd Division, at 32, 31

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 11

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Day Air attack on 33rd Division, at 32, 31

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 18
P-40B Tomahawk x 15

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My IL-4Cs from China also attacked, but without any success. I want to disrupt that unit a bit - with the malaria in that region it won't recover very quickly.

The second notable occurrence was a Japanese bombardment attack at Tabun-Nur that went wrong for the Japanese:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Tabun-Nur

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 19110 troops, 144 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 28338 troops, 216 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally, an unplanned attack occurred:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 51, 30

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 18624 troops, 143 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 14193 troops, 184 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
399 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't plan that - I had just ordered those two Chinese units to move into that hex to check out that Japanese unit. It was a road, not an atoll, so why did my units initiate a Shock Attack? Oh well, I guess I'll just have those two Chinese units follow the Japanese unit and see what mischief I can cause.

Dave Baranyi



wobbly -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 4:47:57 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

I didn't plan that - I had just ordered those two Chinese units to move into that hex to check out that Japanese unit. It was a road, not an atoll, so why did my units initiate a Shock Attack? Oh well, I guess I'll just have those two Chinese units follow the Japanese unit and see what mischief I can cause.

Dave Baranyi



did they cross a river getting to the hex with the enemy?



ADavidB -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 5:07:03 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: wobbly


quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

I didn't plan that - I had just ordered those two Chinese units to move into that hex to check out that Japanese unit. It was a road, not an atoll, so why did my units initiate a Shock Attack? Oh well, I guess I'll just have those two Chinese units follow the Japanese unit and see what mischief I can cause.

Dave Baranyi



did they cross a river getting to the hex with the enemy?


The went into that road hex that crosses the Hwang Ho River - that's where the Japanese unit was sitting. So I guess that counts as "crossing the river".

Thanks for spotting that! [:)]

Dave Baranyi



wobbly -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 6:53:23 AM)

I found that out the hard way! Now I try to get as many defenders opposite rivers as I can - with some fortification. Even the chinese can meet out some nasty results to a neglectful commander with this one.

My pleasure on the heads up.



ADavidB -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 1:19:05 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: wobbly

I found that out the hard way! Now I try to get as many defenders opposite rivers as I can - with some fortification. Even the chinese can meet out some nasty results to a neglectful commander with this one.

My pleasure on the heads up.


I'm still surprised that my Chinese troops were able to kick that Japanese unit out of that hex. Interestingly enough, only one of the two Chinese units ended up with high Disruption from the attack. Regardless of that, this will soon become the fifth area in China where I am causing Tophat to tie up sizable numbers of troops. I should probably now send some troops to Nanning just to round out the picture...[:D]

Thanks again -

Dave Baranyi



frank1970 -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 3:55:24 PM)

Only some ideas from me:
1. Why not putting some of the Phillippine fighters into China/India?
It is a very long way from Australia to India after the DEI fell and some longlegged fighters in India aren´t that useless (it is nice to protect your Wellingtons!).
2. Have you thought about a mining campaign against your opponents forward bases?
You use your subs as pickets, now let them do something usefull before you put them in their recon sectors. Remember that many small minefields are deadler than one large one.
3. It would be good to put the Dutch baseforces from useless bases into Northern Australia or into India.
4. Try to save those Dutch recon planes, they will upgrade to Recon mustangs lateron and be quite usefull.

Just my 5 cents

frank



ADavidB -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 8:01:53 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Frank

Only some ideas from me:
1. Why not putting some of the Phillippine fighters into China/India?
It is a very long way from Australia to India after the DEI fell and some longlegged fighters in India aren´t that useless (it is nice to protect your Wellingtons!).
2. Have you thought about a mining campaign against your opponents forward bases?
You use your subs as pickets, now let them do something usefull before you put them in their recon sectors. Remember that many small minefields are deadler than one large one.
3. It would be good to put the Dutch baseforces from useless bases into Northern Australia or into India.
4. Try to save those Dutch recon planes, they will upgrade to Recon mustangs lateron and be quite usefull.

Just my 5 cents

frank



1 - I usually find that I am more short of relatively good fighters in Australia than in India. I do have the AVG in India, as well the Brit and Australian fighters from Malaya. And in the long run, what will decide India's fate, if Tophat decides to attack it, will be the ground troops and the naval forces that I have there. As my game against PzB showed, air power can't stop LCUs and naval bombardments.

As far as China goes - Tophat has to worry about my land forces taking over his bases - he doesn't have the luxury right now of doing a strategic air campaign against me.

I'm more interested in protecting my bases (providing CAP) than engaging in strategic bombing in India/Burma in 1942, so Hurricanes and Spitfires will meet my needs nicely, and having the AVG is a bonus.

2 - I have been planting mines at his bases - notice how much they have done so far? Neither have I...( [:(] ) Right now I feel that my subs are generally more valuable as pickets, not as minelayers.

3 - I am re-locating some of the Dutch forces closer to Australia - but I don't want nor need them in India or Australia right now. And by doing this it means that Tophat can't cut the DEI off from Australia by simply fast-tranporting in a handful of troops to the empty bases in between.

4 - The Dutch recon planes are still doing their jobs, which is to provide naval search patrols - I find them quite useful for that. I'll save whatever is savable when the time comes.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi




ADavidB -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/24/2005 9:55:47 PM)

January 22 -

Borneo is Tophat's main target now. He sent another big bombardment TF, including 5 BBs, to hit Tarakan, and started to land troops at Brunei. But maybe he should have sent a few of those ships from the Tarakan TF to hit Brunei too - the incoming transport TF hit a mine, had a gun duel with the Coastal Defense, then one of the landed units decided to retreat to Jesselton without even being seriously engaged with my troops. And my LBA flew in to hit one of the APs in the invasion TF. Realistically, Brunei won't last long, but its defenders are still causing Tophat some headaches. Nearby, Tophat started to unload some troops at Puerto Princesa. There's no one home there, so he will grab that next turn.

The other fronts were fairly quiet with the exception of China, where we continue to fight artillery duels. Tophat's shear numbers of troops are starting to suppress my guns, but it is taking him a lot of units to accomplish this. For example, Tophat now has 6 units (1 infantry division and 5 Mongolian cavalry divisions) at Tabun-Nur. I did notice in the Sigint report that a Mortar unit is planning an attack at Wochow, so I'll get to tie up more of his units in that region.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> RE: A simpler approach... (8/25/2005 5:00:06 AM)

January 23 -

Tophat gained his first major victory in China today as his forces finally captured Yenen. I'm surprised that my forces there held out as long as they did. It now appears that Tophat is trying to sneak around to the North and isolate my forces, so I'll probably have to call off my siege of Tabun-Nur. Tophat's forces also occupied Puerto Princesa and Mandalay. Tophat seemed surprised that I didn't try to defend Mandalay, particularly since it is in a river hex. But none of my ground troops in that region are really up to holding off the big Japanese divisions in the area. The only question now is will my Chinese troops be able to make it forward before Tophat moves into the next bases. I'll now move my aerial bombardments to Mandalay to try to slow Tophat down as well as keep him from using the air fields.

Elsewhere, the main action was again off of Borneo. More of Tophat's troops retreated from Brunei - gawd knows why… And my Dutch subs and planes hit several of Tophat's APs off of Northern Borneo, sinking two of them. That's nice - every little bit helps. His ASW did find the range on one of my subs, however, and I'm not certain if it will make it back to port.

Meanwhile, my "Buildup in the Boonies" continued as planned, other than it seems that the replacement rate for some types of aircraft has stagnated. I don't know if replacement aircraft are being diverted to fill out new groups that are due in the next couple of weeks or what.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Trouble on the far horizon... (8/25/2005 10:02:07 PM)

January 24 -

The KB is back! My picket line of subs is paying off already. The Gudgeon was sitting northmost in the line of submarines, about halfway between Midway and Kiska Island, when it was first spotted by a Val, then hit by a Kate. So I've called an orange alert for the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska and a yellow alert for the West Coast, and started to divert task forces southwards. Fortunately, I don't have any task forces in the northern routes between the West Coast and Hawaii/Midway, only submarines. I've also emptied Pearl of non-combat ships. I'll leave my combat ships in port for a day or two more until I have a better idea of where the KB is headed. This is a pain, but not a disaster.

Back in the West-Central Pacific I got a bit of a surprise - a Kate attacked one of my subs which was sitting just to the west of Palau. Does Tophat have a carrier group in Palau too? This bears watching. It would be nice if Tophat split the KB - I would love to catch up to a part of it. [;)]

At the same time, off of the north coast of Borneo, my Dutch subs emptied their torpedo tubes again into an AK and an AP. While they are off to reload a couple of my US subs will get to see if they are equally lucky.

In other action, I continued with my aerial bombing of Mandalay, and Tophat kept up his air attacks in China, the Philippines and the DEI. And in the ground combat war, Tophat finally captured Changsha and Sinkep. Once again, I was quite happy with the efforts by my troops at Changsha. Surprisingly, Tophat hasn't moved any troops into Singapore yet, nor has he started a bombing campaign. And, oddly enough, he hasn't at Manila either.

In my strategic resource reallocation effort; with Tophat's CVs thousands of miles off to the East, my forces in India continued to sail around in peace, other than occasionally being shadowed by some long range search planes. Tophat also sent a couple of subs into the Bay of Bengal, but they haven't shown up yet. So I will continue to monitor Tophat's progress while I await my next big delivery of reinforcements in another 19 days.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Game-free weekend... (8/26/2005 6:05:33 AM)

January 25 -

It looks as if the KB may be traveling along with its refueling TF again because its Kates spotted and attempted to bomb the Gudgeon again this turn as the sub was trying to limp away. I'm not sure what the point of this is, other than to be a nuisance. If the KB keeps on crawling around the Northeastern Pacific at tanker speeds I'll have a couple of Essex carriers before it finds anything worth hunting… [;)] Oh well, I shouldn't complain.

Elsewhere, Tophat has some troops hunting down my last survivors in Mindanao. They will be done for soon. He is also moving more troops towards Clark Field. I guess that he is getting tired of fooling around there.

My Brit and Chinese bombers are starting to get the hang of doing their jobs as they hit Mandalay again today. Tophat now has two units in Mandalay. He will probably start to move one of them along soon.

Otherwise, things were fairly quiet. One of my US subs moved into the waters off of Northern Borneo where the Dutch subs have been having success recently, but its attack on an already damaged freighter was unsuccessful.

So now I am going to be taking a break from the Game for the next few days as my wife and I go off on a pc-free, "dirty weekend" in celebration of our 29th wedding anniversary. We will be wine-tasting and art browsing in a very picturesque area of Ontario known as Prince Edward County, on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

Cheers -

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Back from the Game-free weekend... (8/31/2005 3:41:04 AM)

January 26 -

Tophat and I are back at it after I was away on a pc-free three day weekend with my wife. Good food, good wine, good sightseeing, and a good room in a historic inn made for a great 29th wedding anniversary celebration for the Missus and me.

Tophat is obviously trying to "spoil the mood" by having the KB sail south towards Midway. Kates and Vals attacked another of my picket subs, but this time they didn't score any hits. I wonder if the KB is raiding again, or is it setting up this time for an invasion? In any event, I'm ready for either contingency, and if Tophat isn't careful I might be able to surprise him.

Elsewhere things were fairly quiet. I continue to send my planes over Mandalay but only the Brit Blenheim IVs are having any success. But Tophat isn't opposing my planes, so I'll just keep it up. Tophat sent a fair number of planes after my Chinese troops at Tabun-Nur, but I was still able to pull three units back and the other will be out of there next turn. I'll back up to the Soviet border and see what happens. Tophat also continues to bomb my troops at Clark, but has been leaving most other troops in the PI and DEI alone except for Tarakan. So I'll continue building up behind the lines and keep an eye on where Tophat goes next.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Tophat gets back into the Groove (8/31/2005 5:09:12 AM)

January 27 -

The KB has vanished again. So I gave orders to my remaining ships in Pearl and sent them out to sea. I've put the rest of the forces in the region on Red Alert. I've got more subs going into the region, so I ought to detect something soon. There is also a Japanese sub to the Southwest of Hawaii, so I've sending an ASW TF after it too. We'll see if we get lucky this time.

Tophat has gotten back into the groove as far as bombing goes. He sent out bombers all around the Far East, including Singapore for the first time in a while. I was tempted to put some Dutch fighters into Sinagapore for a turn or two, but I withstood the temptation because he is still sending Zeros along with the bombers. And his Zeros can always decimate my Dutch fighters, as happened when some Dutch fighters escorted some Brit Hudsons that attempted to attack ships near Menado.

My bombers in southern Borneo did have some luck in attacking transports off of Brunei. Tophat sent a fresh invasion TF in and both the CD guns and my bombers got some hits. But I may not get away with this much longer - this turn Tophat sent some Sallys in to bomb Balikpapan, and my Brewsters that were on CAP didn't hit a one of them. Fortunately the AA did damage some of the bombers and thus the damage to the air field was light. But Tophat is bound to follow-up by sending some Zeros in as escorts which will end any pretense on the part of my fighter pilots. (If they can't shoot down unescorted bombers, they don't have a hope against Zeros.)

On the replacement/reinforcement front - one more day and I ought to have sufficient P-39s to retire the last of my P-26s. And it's only around two more weeks until I get my next big reinforcement delivery, including the fifth US carrier. Also, come February, some of my cruisers will receive their first upgrades.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Oh, By the way... (8/31/2005 6:41:13 AM)

January 27, continued -

I forgot to mention this, but it is a fairly significant milestone in my plan - the first supply task force from India reached Northern Australia today. And there are three more supply TFs behind it. I plan to "top up" the supply levels at all of the Australian bases to above the "20K" level via supply TFs from India, not the West Coast. Since Tophat isn't paying a lot of attention to the DEI and I still have Singapore, this is quite easy for me. (And yes, I'm sailing those TFs "down" the Indian Ocean, not through the Straights of Malacca.)

The "20K" mark is important to me because at that point my engineers become most effective at upgrading bases and I can also upgrade planes without having the applicable HQ near by. I don't like to put much more than 30K worth of supplies in any forward base at this point in the game just in case the Japanese player does a sudden "lunge", captures a base by surprise, and gets a pile of supplies. And since I'm not waging any air campaigns out of Australia at this time I don't need to pile up megatons of supplies.

And once those AKs are empty, I'll just send them via the long Southern route to the West Coast. Sure, it will take more than a month to get there, but I've got a good supply of transports at both "ends" of the map because I've been quite successful at extricating my AKs and APs from the front lines and getting them over to my main supply depots. (I don't leave transports anywhere near the Front until I am on the offensive.)

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> @#$% Subs... (9/1/2005 12:41:42 AM)

January 28 -

The KB is still out of sight of my subs and land-based naval air patrols, so I'll assume that this means the potential for trouble continues. However, three of Tophat's long range subs showed up. I-16 was "run over" by a big, fast combat TF southwest of Hawaii and didn't get any shots off, but the combat TF also missed with its depth charges so it is a "wash" for now. But I've got a dedicated ASW TF in the area and I'll send them over to see if they get lucky. My patrols also located another Japanese sub to the northeast of Johnson Island, so I've sent a fast ASW TF after it too.

But the third sub, I-17, was the one that gave me the problems as it was hiding to the far southwest of San Diego and found one of my transport TFs. The escorts got off a couple of depth charge hits but not before the sub put a torpedo into one of the transports. So I've split that TF into two and will let the damaged transport limp along as best as possible with one escort while the rest continue along at flank speed. BTW - that other transport that was hit a week or so ago on the way to Christmas Island finally limped into Pago-Pago this turn. Once it unloads I'll re-board its troops onto undamaged ships and let them continue on their way to Christmas Island.

Elsewhere, Tophat continued his landings at Brunei, but my CD guns and air attacks weren't successful this turn. I expect that he will assault the base next turn. BTW - as I predicted, Tophat followed up his bomber attack on Balikpapan with a Zero sweep that shot down one of my Brewster 339Ds. But I'm not pulling out of there yet and I simply set the Brewsters to a higher altitude. Speaking of fighters, since Tophat attacked Singapore with unescorted bombers this turn I moved some Dutch fighters in to see if I get lucky next turn. [:D]

On the ground, Tophat tried a Deliberate Attack on Clark Field and lowered the fortification level by one, but he still ended up with a 0:1 result. I've ordered yet another worn-out base force to leave Clark and go to Manila. I prefer to only keep units in a battle that can contribute one way or another.

In other news, I finally upgraded my last squadron of P-26s to P-39s. Now I can let my P-39 groups elsewhere to start to build up their strength. That leaves only one more US squadron with third-string planes; the unit that is still equipped with P-35s. But since Australia doesn't seem to be at much of a risk right now, I'll probably let those planes alone and upgrade the P-36 squadron in Anchorage first. That also has the advantage of releasing P-36s for incorporation into my P-36 groups on the West Coast. This will all work out well as long as Tophat doesn't actively engage my forces in Hawaii for the next couple of weeks.

As far as the rest of the air war goes, Tophat continues to bomb my troops in the Philippines and China, and I continue to bomb Mandalay and Nanning unopposed. I am also getting my repositioned Dutch base forces in place so Tophat may well get a bit of a surprise at where my Dutch patrol and fighter aircraft show up in the near future.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Sub Wars... (9/1/2005 4:32:08 AM)

January 29 -

The KB remains invisible. Did it sit down its search planes and sneak through my sub pickets into the Blind Zone or did Tophat withdraw it after being spotted? More Japanese subs keep on appearing around Hawaii, so Tophat is definitely scouting around. And why hasn't he made any move into the New Britain/PNG/Solomons areas, other than having some subs scout around? Meanwhile, SIGINT brought some very odd news this turn - 110K men are reported at Camranh Bay. Huh??? Why; and where are they going to go? [&:]

Perplexing Intel aside, this was definitely a day of Sub War. A ML TF on the way from Palmyra to Canton "ran over" I-8 about halfway between the two bases, but missed it with their depth charges. And the transport escorts out in the far southeastern Pacific route dropped more depth charges on I-17 but missed it also. At the same time my subs in the DEI were busy and one of them sank an AK during a flurry of attacks.

In the air war, Tophat sent bombers and escorts simultaneously over Balikpapan this time, resulting in more Brewsters being shot down. I will probably need to abandon Balikpapan soon. But since my planes hit another ship (an MSW) off of Brunei this turn, I'm reluctant to pull them out yet. Tophat didn't send any air attacks to Singapore, so my attempted surprise didn't work. Therefore I pulled my fighters back since Tophat likely knows they are there and will probably do a Zero sweep.

On the ground, Tophat finally started to land some troops at Jolo. I wonder why he waited so long? I pulled the base force out of there long ago - there are much better places for them to rest and recover. Tophat's troops attempted a Deliberate Attack at Brunei, but only got 1:1 odds. They will likely capture it next turn. And Tophat's troops at Clark Field didn’t do anything this turn as they rested from last turn's unsuccessful attack. But my troops were happy to bombard them.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Now, Air Wars... (9/1/2005 6:32:04 AM)

January 30 -

There is still no sign of the KB in the Eastern Pacific, so I'm relaxing my alert level a bit and letting my combat TFs return to Pearl at "mission" speed. My sub picket lines are firming up and I believe that now I can find out whatever I need in time to be able to respond.

Another Japanese sub showed up near French Frigate Shoals - it is moving west and probably going for a fill-up after sitting around to the East with no traffic moving by. There is also a Glen-equipped sub off of Canton. It spotted my ML TF whipping along at 28 knots without identifying the ship-types. With any luck Tophat will think that one of my combat TFs is down there.

Some place called "Galeia" was occupied by the Japanese this turn; probably via "troop osmosis". Tophat's troops also captured an empty Jolo and other troops finally pushed my Brit base force out of Brunei. They held up quite well there.

Tophat sent escorted bombers against Balikpapan again, and once again my Brewsters got decimated. I've been flying in a fresh fighter squadron each turn and flying out the shot-up squadron. Despite having the airfield bombed my Martin 139s in Balikpapan were able to fly out and attack a transport TF at Brunei, hitting one DD. And near Sinkep Island my bombers from Java attacked a transport TF, hitting two APs. Tophat is finding out that I will defend some areas.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> Sumatra threatened... (9/1/2005 8:26:07 PM)

January 31 -

There is still no sign of the KB, so I've decided to send a couple of "canaries into the coal mine". I created two small TFs in San Francisco - each one consisting of a single small AK and a single MSW as an escort. I'm loading them with supplies and sending one to Lahina and the other to Hilo along the normal Central route across the Eastern Pacific. If the KB and/or subs are out there waiting, this ought to draw them out. In the meanwhile I am continuing to set up my submarine picket lines (yes, that is lines; "plural") in the Central Pacific.

The action in the DEI continues to heat up. Tophat is bombing Tarakan and Balikpapan every turn now. The airfield at Tarakan is wrecked, but that doesn't matter because I pulled my planes out of there quite a while ago. I am still fighting at Balikpapan, and still losing Brewsters to Tophat's Zeros, but between the sacrifices of the Brewsters and the AA fire of my troops, Tophat's bombers haven't been able to do any cumulative damage to the airfields at Balikpapan yet. Therefore, my bombers at Balikpapan continue to be able to harass Tophat's ships off of Brunei, despite the presence now of Oscars on CAP there. This turn my Martin 139s sank an MSW and set an AP on fire off shore.

The other action in the DEI is happening at Sumatra where Tophat has a transport TF heading for Jambi. This is the same TF that my bombers hit last turn, but the ships are still steaming onwards. This turn Tophat had some Zeros on LR CAP over the TF and so my bombers and escorts had to fight their way through it and ended up unsuccessfully attacking a CA that is in the invasion TF. But I am prepared to respond on the waves as well as in the air, and have a Dutch PT TF waiting in Jambi as well as a second one on its way. Surprisingly, Tophat doesn't seem to have a combat TF going in along with the transport TF to clear the way first, so my PTs might have an opportunity with that and get lucky.

In Asia proper, Tophat is preparing an assault on Wuchow and has kicked out the unit that I had sitting on the crossroads in-between Wuchow and Canton. I have a lot of units on the road to the East - if Tophat disregards them and goes directly for Wuchow I'll simply move back into that crossroads hex and try to cut his forces off. Tophat is on the move almost everywhere in China simultaneously, so the situation there ought to get complicated fairly soon.

Burma, on the other hand, remains quiet. Tophat seems content to leave his two units in Mandalay, and I am content to bomb them on a daily basis. The first of my Chinese units reached Myitkyina today and others are following, as are the units who are nearing Lashio, so I ought to have the Burma Road fairly well secured soon. My general defensive strategy in India is also coming together nicely and within a few days the last unoccupied base in India will have a base force unit in it. I also have the British fleet strategically positioned, with lots of air backup, so I am starting to feel fairly comfortable about the situation in India. Now, if Tophat decides to embark those four divisions, or whatever he has in Camranh Bay, and send them to India along with the KB things will get interesting, but I still think that I can bog down any serious invasion and repel any raids.

In the Philippines, Tophat's forces continue to exchange artillery fire with my forces at Clark Field and also bomb various units there from the air. I expect that the next serious attack there will breach my defences. Never-the-less, I am quite pleased with how well my troops have held up - Tophat has a lot of units at Clark Field and more on the way. BTW - Catanduanes was occupied by "troop osmosis" this turn.

In the build-up activities, the big news this turn was that I was finally able to upgrade those B-18s in Pearl to A-20Bs. Sure, A-20Bs aren't the best bomber in the world, but there are lots of them and they are certainly better than B-18s. This also allows my B-18 groups in the West Coast to finally fill-in to near maximum.

Dave Baranyi



ADavidB -> February 1, 1942 Update (9/1/2005 8:33:03 PM)

Here is a screen cap of the Intel screen with score, losses and so on. I'm quite happy with the low numbers of aircraft that I've lost.

Dave Baranyi



[image]local://upfiles/4267/59B4184F9DD5459A92E872B680CD419D.jpg[/image]



ADavidB -> RE: February 1, 1942 Update (9/1/2005 8:34:38 PM)

Here's a screen cap of the Japanese ship losses. Notice that most are due to submarine or air attacks. I have deliberately avoided committing my major surface combat ships to-date.

Dave Baranyi



[image]local://upfiles/4267/6C87745EDD4546DFB01D368B65EFAB83.jpg[/image]



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