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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-1946 LilJoe v Rob

 
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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/2/2006 9:39:46 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Robs Carriers remain elusive, Townsville is still 'missing' a hundered or so ships, an invasion force would have hit home by now, so im suspecting that the missing ships where perhaps several single CV taskfroces, like one - two Cvs and several cruisers, destroyers etc, im not sure.

The Port Moresby invasion looks less and less likey as time progresses, KB will remain at the Shortlands, it can cover the Gilberts/Solomans/PNG well from this port, i need to catch his Carriers before they grow too strong, perhaps laying a trap, using Battleships/Cruisers as bait??

His Carriers could be anywhere, but i do beleive that he was intending to invade PNG/PM the absense of any carrier activity up north perhaps shook him and hes bailed, it wouldnt make sense to go to Brisbane/Townsville for any other reason, Noumea/Fiji are safe havens.

Not much has happened over the past few turns, more sucessful sub attacks, an APD hit, more merchants etc To counter this ive once again been forces to step up my sub war, AV's carrying seaplanes will patrol my sealanes, with APDs always close behind to find and hunt down this sub pesks.


An example of the new sub hunter groups

As you can probably see in the above image, Pakhoi also fell, but the 31st Div also arrived in Haipong, so hopefully i can stabalise the front, and maybe take back Pakhoi

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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/2/2006 10:43:45 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Defense Stratergy for the Burma front 1943



The Burma army will continue to fight down the rail, eventually abandoning Rangoon, which will spell the end of the Burma campaign, and open up the fight for Malaya and Thailand.

It is here im working on stopping him, most of the Burma army is already prepping for Moulien, and Raeheng, which are both in the process of being built up to leve 9 forts the 'Salween line' named after the river the defensive fortifications sit behind.

These level 9 forts, coupled with the river it sits behind which will force a shock attack and the massive ground forces in these two bases will halt the Allied advance and force them to manuvere around it, and launching a amphibious invasion which the Royal Navy cannot support, the amount of mines at Sabang (1000 or so) caused considerable damage to his transports, baring in mind that the mini KB is now in residense at Singapore, and that the Malaya coast will be mined heavy will hopefully bleed the Allies.


The place that is most vunlnerable to invasion is Tavoy/Victoria point/Moulmien/Rangoon, i wouldnt be suprised of a amphib invasion in this area in the next few months, robs got the LBA supreiority to prevent the IJN from getting in the Bay of Bengal, and im short on ground forces here, ill have to scrape the barrel of my Ground reserves to remedy this, building up forts for now...Tavoy is only protected by the 9th coastal gun regiment :I.

Thats all for now, a little email conversation beteewn me and rob has made it clear i was correct in my predictions of the PM invasion, but its not off, too little info about my Carriers, and the Emilies flying recon over Townsville spooked him off, a sort of roundabout victory the Japanese, but like ive said, would have rather to have caught him in the act.

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Post #: 32
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/4/2006 12:37:26 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		28th - 29th March 1943

A Japanese sunk sinks a merchant ship NW of Sabang, quite an event for the IJN, espically when i only have 20 subs left!

Rob has built Sabang up to level 3 airfield, so its looking bad for Malaya, not much i can do, the first of my evacuation subs arrived in Attu, and loaded up a cadre of the 21st of Division, sad that the last Japanese offensive has to end like this with a few squads feeling onto a sub in the dead of the night, ill try to get a cadre of every unit there over the next few weeks, drop them off in the Marshall islands. Then ill try an pull more and more of them out, so the cadre doesnt take the rest of the war to rebuild.

Ill try to launch a more widespread evacuation when i can free up some carriers, sadly im not sure when this will, Robs still bombing PM heavily, so it wouldnt suprise me if the PNG invasion is still relatively high up on his to do list. So KB needs to be on stanby, he gets his Essex respawns in 100 days or so, so i guess thats the window ive got to evac as much as possible...

Robs up to more manuevering in Burma...



Thats a Chinese div in the jungles looking to encircle somthing, they're eiether going SE to destroy that Saesbo unit and to clear the path to Rahaeng, SW to threaten, Raeheng and cut off the main route of supplies into Burma, or the most obvious route. West and trapping the Burma army again.

Ive pulled out the 18th Division and 21st Brigade, to protect the rear, should be more than enough to kick out a Chinese division which will be 200 assault points at most, and low on supplies, its those two units sitting SE of Pagan that worries me, i think they're probably going to the same place, and i dont know what units they are, so ive ordered some recon, and pulled some more troops into the rear areas.

A brigade loaded up from Kendari is on its way to Bangkok to garrision Raeheng, so that option should be secure, i want to get the Burma army out of Burma intact, and behind the 'Salween' line(which isnt really anywhere near finished) but whilst buying myself as much time as possible. A tough balance..

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Post #: 33
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/4/2006 4:07:25 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		30 - 31st March 1943

Managed to fight back somewhat against robs agressive sub war, think ive sunk at least one sub, and damaged another near Tarawa and Guadacanal, its subs that are near the frontlines that can be dealt with easily, as ive plenty of destroyers sitting around, its the ones around the Marinas and such that are annoying.


Hopefully the death of a Yankee sub

The battle for Burma continues, the 48th Division and a Tank Regiment was released, the 48th Division however wont be engaging the Chinese in the jungles of Burma, as my recon has sigted Aps outside Andaman, could just be a blip in the recon, (like earlier in the aar) but its about time i reinforced the Tavoy/Moulmien area, so this division is marching towards Victoria Point.

The 18th Div and the 21st Brigade should be into the jungle hex next turn (unless they get striken by another movement bug) Marching into this Jungle hex will eliminate any of my worries about having a group of ground units bogged down in my rear (Ohh errr) If i get stuck in a deadlock here it wont block my supply lines. And ill be able to waste more of robs time. The Salween is anywhere near ready, Rahaeng at level 5, and Moulmien at 2, although plenty of engineers incoming.


Burma front as of April fools day 1943, with 'mystery' APs.

The 31st Division ejected the chinese from Nanjing, and has 'sort of' encirled the chinese at Pakhoi, but im pretty sure he has the force here to boot the 31st Div out of Nanjjing, to help prevent this a large Bombardment group in Camarahn Bay that was going to hit Sabang, before the Malacca straight became invested with subs.



The Musashi's first combat will be bombarding Chinese troops, whodathoughit?


This group will try to flatten the chinese at Pakhoi and stop them breaking out of Nanjjing, maybe into submission so i can bag some chinese.

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Post #: 34
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/4/2006 6:54:06 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		As i put some cap over the bombardment group thats about to hit Pakhoi, i wished that i could send it against Sabang before its level 4 and can pack torpedos and medium/heavy bombers, bombarding up the Malacca straight would be safe from air attack, due to the cap i could place over the TF, and thre high level ports at Kaula Lumpa and Singapore, but i KNOW those subs will get multiple chances at screwing the tf.

Just like at Attu, expcept the Malacaa straight is a lot more concentrated, as is it ill have to grin and bare as it goes to level 4 and flattens Malaya, not prepared to lose Battleships over it.

Him taking Sabang is kind of the Oriental version of him taking Port Moresby, and Singapore in the 'Rabaul' of this area, so it isnt game, over, it would be worse if he could bomb Bangkok escourted (Truk) but i dont think he can (famous last words)

Except unlike PM, Rabaul and Truk the DEI and imparticular Palembang is on the doorstep of all this, so theres a lot more at stake..

Rob hit Rangoon which i long empty, so nothing bad, most of my supplies are coming through Siam/Indochina from Bangkok, so this place is no longer the major supply depot it used to be...

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Post #: 35
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/5/2006 11:21:50 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		5th - 6th April 1943

Burma

The Chinese encirclers have been long routed, the 18th Div, 21st Brigade and the 2nd (i think) tank regiment will now dig in at the hex to max this route of encirlement at least much more difficult for Rob.



Theres a Chinese div the 55th marching on Raeheng, along with that carbineers regiment, this area is still vulnerable, the 48th Division and some artillery than i pulled out from the main 'battle' are all headed for the Thailand coast which is just as important to hold. Reinforcements will eventually be on the way froom...

The DEI

Robs getting frisky around here, maybe the masses of troops hes got stored at Townsville will be headed to north Aus? Kai island imparticuarly looks to be reconned a lot, only a lone 5th Nlf here, and a possible max level 3 AF, with im sure with enough engineers could be squeezed up to level 4, and threaten the minor oil fields at Sorong, and the command headquarters for this area at Kendari.

The Reinforcement Brigade from Kendari should be in Singapore the next couple of turns, bolstring the defense of NE/N Malaya slightly.

Meanwhile at Timor my Aps are loading up one of the three Brigades at Koepang and with the intention of unloading them at Lautem to balance the defense of Timor a bit better,Rob interdicted this transports with a raid of B-25s escorted by Beaufighters, it was greated by a meaty cap which managed to underperform quite a bit, the A6m3 continues to somehow prove its a better interceptor than the Tojo and Tony by downing more bombers than the interceptor aircraft.


Gonna have to russel some more ground defenses of Kai island from somewhere too... I get a good sized ground reinforcement surge in a Couple of months time, so i guess ive just got to keep him scared in areas like this for a while longer..


PNG/Solomons

He gives his B-17s a rest from bombing PM, he thinks ive got my garrision division here behind level 9 forts, in reality, only level 2 :P I cant really afford to send my Tonys and Zeros to intercept these flights, as every couple of unescorted B-17 raids he does a 100+ P-38 sweep, sometimes mxiing it up, so im grounded here for now..

KB leaves Shortlands for Kwajalien now, as Robs on the verge of turning Baker into a level 4 airfield, which i wasnt even sure was possible, i guess american seebees can do anything they put there mind too..


The Gilberts

Tarawa is nearly a level 8 fort, and is looking more and more solid as days go by, now has that Air HQ, and plenty of supplies to sustain its airfield, although it could all be in vain once hes flying Hunderds of Medium bombers escourted by P-38s towards me i planned to make these twin islands (Tarawa/Apanama) so tough that rob would have no choice but ignore them until he gets his hordes of Essexs, which is 3 months or so, but now they are both under his LBA curtain this might not be the case..




Marinas

The Taiho left Saipan with moderate damage on a zigzag course to the repair ports of Japan, by the time its operation the golden age of the Japan's carrier dominance will have well and truly ended with the arrival of 5 Essex Carriers.


Aleutians

All the subs involved in the evac operation are full, so i now have cadres if the majority of the units there, when the subs return i will have cadres of all of them, still not sure how im gonna get the majority of them out..


China

The 31st and the base force in Nanning are moving out, towards Hanoi, Indochina, as theres a New Chinese div on the trails behind me, if this gets itself on the rail and i get locked in combat then these troops are good as encircled, so ive lost this battle despite the 31st's best efforts, having a Div in Hanoi will force him to garrision Pakhoi and Nanning considerably though, so maybe i can use this to my advantage eslewhere in China..



Theres quite a comprehensive update for all my adoring readers and regular posters. No turn from rob today, hope hes ok, although i suspect his PC is playing up again.

< Message edited by LittleJoe -- 9/5/2006 11:28:26 PM >

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Post #: 36
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/6/2006 6:14:28 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		7th - 8th April 1943


Burma

I can now confirm certainly that the Allied force on the right side of the Salween on the trails to Rahaeng is the 55th Chinese Div and a Carbineer regiment, whats stopping him from crossing the river before i have a chance to reinforce it with more than a half strength Saesbo unit im not sure...

His heavy bombing of my ground forces continues..


Malaya/Indochina

The 48th Div is 300 miles from Victoria Point, and not a moment too soon, as a sub is parked off the coast and he bombed it quite heavily, its pink on supplies, despite me sending my considerable air transport armada on supply missions, so ive pulled out a HQ unit to Victoria point too. I also loaded up the 9th Base Unit from Batavia this turn, and am going to send it here also.

Construction work on the Salween line continues, and plenty of reinforcements of engineers are still to come. The recent skirmishes in Burma have bought these engineers more time.


The DEI

The transport convoy carrying the 4th Mixed Brigade from Koepang left harbour and is half way to Lautem, however it was further Interdicted by PB4Y bombers flying a long range attack out of Darwin, that even our Betty bombers would be proud of! The convoy is looking a bit beat up, and i can only imagine this damage will get worse when it lands at Lautem, cant really put any cap over it..ho hum.


The aftermath...


A Yankee sub also had a lot of fun outside Batavia harbour this turn, even surfacing to sink one of the two Aks it managed to sink this turn.

Also in reaction to the lessened threat to PM ive flown out several Betty squadrons from Lae to Ambonia, along with a A6m2 and A6m3 squadron, to help the resisitance, i can do vica versa in a instant if the threat level to PM rises suddenly..

Im also sending the Musashi large Bombardment group to Kendari, to amek the place a bit tougher again..got no other naval assets here..


PNG/Solomons

Gili Gili was subjected to the largest B-17 raid of the war, a paltry cap of around 8 fighters rose but was soon beat off by the 190 odd B-17s, the AF was flattened, and the two beat up squadrons destroyed, iv evaced the small remainders of them too Lae..

I loaded up a Naval guard unit sitting in Rabaul and sent it to Jalut in the Marshalls, ill try not to repeat the same mistakes i made at Baker, and will try to have a good sized reserve ground force at this island, along with APs on constant standby, to serve as a quick counterattack force, to harm the enemy before they can consoliate, i plan to have a divisions worth (400-500 AP) of troops here to aid the defense of the remaining Gilbert islands..

Also my H8K's from Lunga seemed to have (although there was no report of it on the combat replay) sighted some enemy Battleships at Luganville, ive increased my Bettys at this base naval attack range to a mighty 7 hex's in reply to this, and sent the mini KB that fought at Baker to sit a few hexes north of Guadacanal..just in case. Strange that i seem to have found info on a base without any recon mission visabily being shown on the replay, but i suppose it helps me in the end.



Ideally id like to mine up this base, but the nearest level 9 port is at Truk, which makes it a bit of a strech, and the majoirty of my Minelayers are in the DEI/Malaya..


The Gilberts

Rob continues to recon Apanama and Nauru islands, he can have Nauru if he wants, itd take even his american engineer vechiles a while to make anything of it, so the island is ungarrisioned..


China

The Mixed Brigade that should have been destroyed at Pakhoi, looks like it will escape to fight another day, as it got to Nanning before it became contested, so it should fly down the rail and join the 31st in Hanoi by the end of the week. No idea why rob didnt kick the Brigade out of Pakhoi uncerimoniously onto a open hex, i think he was trying to encircle it completely and wasnt expecting the 31st to turn up to break the seige.

Rob bombed Chenting into the ground again, didnt like my level bombers here hitting his Chinese troops which are now a few miles from the border of the Soviet Union on the verge of being destroyed, i dont think ive documented the battle going on up there so ill take some screenies next turn.

He destroyed hundereds of Level bombers, doesnt really matter ive got plenty of airframes, and i dont think any of us are playing for points, im in this till Japan is conquered anyway...

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Post #: 37
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/6/2006 9:35:09 PM   
aztez

 

Posts: 4031
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline 		You planning anykind of big offensives? I mean Rob has had pretty much his way lately and personally I feel you do not want him to start planning safely his advances.

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Post #: 38
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/6/2006 9:58:08 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Attu has been a defeat, and i would imagine Midway is a similarly fortified, i dont have the ground forces to persue any offensive unfortunately, as ive been saying im desperately short of ground forces in some areas.

Even in AARS where the Japanese player has done exceptionally well, PZB/Admiral Laurent, theres little chance of a sucessful offensive in April 1943, Allied land base air is too strong to make it worthwhile.

If rob landed 3 or more Divisions at Victoria point, there would be nothing stopping him eiether capturing Malaya or encircling the Burma army (not sure what would be more disasterous)

The best thing that might come out of my offensive at Attu is keeping his 6 Essex Carriers busy for a month or so.


Rob has three choices for his 'last' advance before the Essexs arrive.

1. Use his base at Sabang to support an invasion of the Victoria point area, and eiether march down on Singapore, or march East and threaten the Burma armys supply lines at Bangkok/Moulmien/Rahaeng.

2. Use his soon to be level 4 airfield at Baker to invade Tarawa/Apanama. (Probably the invasion that i could crush most easily)

3. Launch an invasion from Darwin/Derby, invading Kai island/Timor.

Theres not much i can do to prevent any of them from happening, all i can do is prepare and fortify, if i lose the KB in a needless invasion then rob can split up his Essexs and interdict my shipping lanes freely.


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Post #: 39
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 4:02:11 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Another quick question, hopefully itll get more of a response than th e Taiho one..


Would it be worth launching a deliberate attack in a open rail hex, when I the Japanese have 3910 Assault points and Rob has 2610. ????

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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 4:21:39 AM   
VSWG


Posts: 3432
Joined: 5/31/2006
From: Germany
Status: offline 		Morale? Fatigue? Disruption? HQs? Air support? Leaders? Guns? Tanks? Impossible to answer such a question without knowing the circumstances. If you think that all those factors are roughly equal, then sure, go for it.

Regarding the Taiho: if someone claims to be able to predict Japanese damage control, he's either an idiot or a liar. Or both. I'd sent some ARs; I found them to be very good at containing flood damage.


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Post #: 41
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 4:36:43 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Yeah i did so with Taiho, shes safe for now as i said earlier, should be in Maizuru next turn.

Morale is generally in the 40-60 range, although theres a few exceptions to that, that are eiether a bit higher or a bit lower.

Fatigue is mid 30's throughout, Disruption in the teens. Burma army and 15th Army HQ's so both command and army. Plenty of artillery, not that jap artillery is much good, but got a few dedicated Artillery units.

Got 5 tank regiments....

And i have zero Air support, he bombs me reguarally with his heavy bombers...

I think ill give a deliberate attack a go, whats the worst that could happen!

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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 4:51:01 AM   
2ndACR


Posts: 5665
Joined: 8/31/2003
From: Irving,Tx
Status: offline 		Move those tank regiments to the base where you want to build forts or anything else. Place an engineer regiment with them and watch them go. It is a bug, but what the heck. Japan did have earth moving equipment in the war, but not in this game.

The motorized support squads act as engineer vehicles IIRC.

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Post #: 43
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 5:06:08 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Cheers, ill move out a couple of tank regiments after this deliberate attack, and send them towards Rahaeng/Moulmien. Probably could afford to do the same with the engineer regiments, as the IJA isnt going to be needing to knock down any forts on this front anymore...

Just having a comprehensive orders phrase, tidying up all the odd bits here and there, Tarawa and Apanama look very strong, can get over a hundered fighters over both islands, due to a Air HQ at Tarawa.

About 60 A6m3s, 20 A6m2s and 30 Oscar IIs (yeah i know but they can be bait, and numbers seem to count for a lot in this game)

Don't know if Rob said anything about it in his aar, but 30 or so P-38s sweeped, or attempted to sweep Apanama, when they where ordered on cap :S, shame they didnt, 30 P-38s vs that cap would have been a nice chance to cut him down to size..Bad weather canceled the mission.


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RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 5:14:40 AM   
2ndACR


Posts: 5665
Joined: 8/31/2003
From: Irving,Tx
Status: offline 		 I do not think they have fixed this bug anyway.

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Post #: 45
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 7:16:27 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		9th - 12th - April 1943

Burma

Heavy bombing of all ground forces in the region continues, he still inexplainably sits on his side of the Salween, the 22nd Brigade from Kendari is unloading at Bangkok as we speak, so his window of oppertunity to cross this natural barrier is fading fast..

As was discussed, rob seems to have moved a few of his troops from the frontline and into the hex SE of Pagan, perhaps to retake the jungle hex that i kicked him out of a few days ago? Im about 1.5 to 1 in numbers here, so im gonna give a deliberate attack a go, not that id be able to follow it up if his forces did flee, but itd waste a bit more of his time, and piss him off.


Malaya/Indochina

Rob continues to bomb Victoria point airfield heavily, nothing there apart from a few Oscars that i cant get out, raids escorted by the AVG, so not much that i care or could do to stop it.

48th Div is around 230 miles from Victoria point, currently in Tavoy, my supply aircraft at Bangkok must have had a good day as Victoria point is now 'in the white' supply wise. The HQ unit is still on its way though..

Salaween line is 'half' done, Moulmien at 4, Rahaeng at 5. Gonna give the tank regiment suggestion a go once the attack in Burma is over.

Oh yes and his beautforts at Sabang strafed some Destroyers that have been long dead, outside Georgetown, from the surface fighting outside Sabang, too much flood to get them to go anywhere esle, so theyre just stuck outside the place, i did have a squad of A6m3s on cap here last turn..


The DEI

'Super' LBA continues to wreck havoc on the transport convoy carrying the 4th Brigade, sinking two Aps in transit, the convoy is now in Lautem and has unloaded the majority of the unit, more Aps will sink however.

I had 3 A6m3s squadrons LCAPing this convoy, but only 15 bothered turning up, only manged to stop a handful of the Hudsons realeasing thier bombs. On one strike 7 Hudsons mangaged to score 5 bomb hits, or somthing like that, i commented to rob that Navy Divebombers would dream of accuracy like that, let alone Hudsons flying at 6k.

Plenty more sub attacks, i feel the sub war is reaching a critical point, he cant continue scoring as many hits as this, or my merchant navy will cease to exist in 44'.

Flew out a Tony squadron that has been training at Kendari, towards Lae in reaction to a massive attack on Lae.


PNG/Solomons

Another big raid on the 'tail' of New Guinea, this time further north, Lae airfield, around a 170 if my memory serves me correct, B-17s hit the AF, one turn after i flew out a couple of Zero squadrons from the place. Managed to shoot down about 20 somthing i think, but the rest got through a caused a lot of damaged, airfield at 46 damage by the orders phrase, so no critical, hopefully the fatigue and morale damaged it caused will prevent him from doing it frequently enough for him to close the AF, because if he does that PM invasion will be a lot easier.

Some of the B-17s turned back so i reckon it did, hell probably give them a rest for a few turns.

Battleships seem to have dissapeared from Luganville, some amount of ships in port, so it was eiether a dodgy sighting in the first place (The Emilys are flying at 28k) or theyve just not been seen... Mini KB got into place north of Guadacanal just in case.

Highlight of the turn, however, through all the bombing, and sub attacks, and my impending doom. This absolute gem that made my day.

Day Air attack on TF, near Ndini at 72,101

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 14

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged


Allied Ships
ML Weehawken, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Shepparton





I found some Minelayers lying around to Rabaul and Truk during my clearout, so theyre all headed to Lunga..


The Gilberts

Rob decided to recon Makin this turn, i think hes trying to keep me guessing as to where hes going to land next, seems like somthing he does reguarlly, doesnt really work when theres only x amount of bases worth defending in the region..


China

The Mixed brigade managed to escape, sitting in Hanoi now, probably will stay here to force Rob to garrison his gains here, a chinese unit ended up in Nanning, itll fall next turn.

As promised the battle versus apparently Communist Chinese forces on the Soviet Border, (there drawing supplies from the Soviet Union according to Rob )



Marching some Mongolian cavarly into that last remaning open hex, to make sure he doesnt escape this time, those two Jap Divs highlighted have been pulled from Yenen, to destroy the Chinese.

Rob attempted breaking out the troops here at the crossroads to the SW many weeks ago, but those chinese troops have dissapeared snice.

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Post #: 46
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/7/2006 8:04:04 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Nothing from rob so far today, hope hes ok.

Nice to have a break though, gives me time to do other things, and not stress over the game.

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Post #: 47
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/8/2006 6:40:09 PM   
mc3744


Posts: 1957
Joined: 3/9/2004
From: Italy
Status: offline 		Hey LittleJoe,

I just managed to read it all. I started it a few days ago and then I had to stop.

When I saw you were going for the Aleutians I thought: big mistake! And there you went ... sorry

Even if you managed to conquer it, it would have been just a trap for any troop there and a nice place to train his troops/navy.

I'm an Allied fanboy and I can telel you for sure that in '43 you have to rely on the two assets you have: lots of strong divsisions and the BBs.
Anywhere you can use these you can strike some succes.

The other thing that - IMHO - can work are surprise attacks by the KB behind the lines on ports and airfields. Sneak up to Karachi and bomb the port. Lots of points and lots of confusion.
Then of course you have to run fast

Or SriLanka or Western Australia. Hit and run may work, nothing else.
Surprise should be the keyword for the Japs.

Burma-Siam is critical. The Allies are only missing one thing in that area: infantry. Navy and airforce are overwhelming. But if you have lots of ground units, even the bombings won't disrupt them all.
Bring in engineers, AA, tanks, infantry. From Siam he can interdict all your naval traffic north of Borneo.
You have to try and stop him just below Rangoon or the game will start going south faster than you know.

Just my two cents.

Good luck, I'll keep reading.

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(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 48
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/8/2006 8:04:07 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Yeah i smacked up a decent amount of the shipping he sent to Baker, with my Cruisers, which is Japans most valuable ships behind the Carriers imo.

Unfortunately he didnt commit much to the invasion, Sabang as i said, would be another 'Attu' run, ith my Battleships having to dodge several sub attacks going up and down the Mallaca Straight.

Carrier raids with the KB would be too risky, if i lose them as i said earlier rob would be able to sail around with his Essexs where he pleases, and as soon as they reveal themselves somewhere rob will strike, and ill just lose land for nothing.

I may use the mini KB thats in the Malaya area, and send them out to the shipping lanes imbeteewn Sabang and Sri Lanka/India, to sink a few more supplies/troops, maybe draw the Royal Navy out to play...

But KB raids would only end in superficial damage to robs navy, and me losing PM/Timor/Tarawa, which i know hes intending on hitting..

And yeah regarding Burma thats the point of the Salween line, to prevent him from being 'set free' its the last Bottleneck in the area, before he can use the relatively open sapce of Indochina/Siam/Malaya to outmanuvere me. Cant afford to let Rob get anywhere near Palembang before late 44, so ive got to fight hard here!

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Post #: 49
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/8/2006 8:45:31 PM   
Kereguelen


Posts: 1829
Joined: 5/13/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LittleJoe
I may use the mini KB thats in the Malaya area, and send them out to the shipping lanes imbeteewn Sabang and Sri Lanka/India, to sink a few more supplies/troops, maybe draw the Royal Navy out to play...


Be careful with what you wish for. RN carriers in 1943 should be more than a match for mini KB, especially if you play with PDU's on (?). But even without PDU's this should be a more than dangerous encounter,even more so if your opponent has some long-range bombers within range.

When playing Japan I would not tackle with the RN in 1943 even with the "real" KB present.

K

(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 50
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/8/2006 11:53:19 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Really? Why not?

I can understand Mini KB being a bit of a risk, but real KB? PDU is off. i doubt ill go ahead with it anyway was just a musing.


Rob raided PNG big again, another 150 B-17s hit Buna, sort of a bad move on his part, as his 17s where low on morale, 40-50 B-17s turned back, and around 30 where shot down. The 70 that got through caused minor damage to the airfield, and destroyed 20 or so easily replaceable airframes.

Lots of dead merchants though..

Oh yeah and the Deliberate attack was replused, ill go into more detail later.

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Post #: 51
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/9/2006 12:08:51 AM   
Kereguelen


Posts: 1829
Joined: 5/13/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LittleJoe

Really? Why not?

I can understand Mini KB being a bit of a risk, but real KB? PDU is off. i doubt ill go ahead with it anyway was just a musing.



Hi,

RN carriers are quite tough and (without PDU) at least one will fly Corsairs by now. The smaller Japanese carriers (CV Hiyo and Junyo and the CVL's) will not survive much damage, and the RN carriers have full complements of torpedo bombers. They'll not win a battle against the "real" KB, but Japan cannot afford to loose a single carrier while the RN carriers are somewhat expendable for the Allied cause (and near their home ports they have a good chance to survive even after multiple hits).

K



(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 52
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/9/2006 12:25:16 AM   
mc3744


Posts: 1957
Joined: 3/9/2004
From: Italy
Status: offline 		Frankly, as an Allied player, I don't care much about Jap CVs in '43.

Probably because I avoid Central Pacific. The only place where the F4F CAP cannot be complemented by P-38's LRCAP.

Once you have a couple of P-38 squadron and maybe a couple more of trained Dutch pilot aqudrons on Demon's (they are very effective with good pilots) LRCAPping your carriers, you are pretty much safe whatever happens.

If you are attacked by a KB rather than by LBA it's even better. I cannot sink an airfield but I can surely sink the CVs.

Hence, as Allied player, the KB bothers me most if acting as 'commando' rather than as front line infantry.
In head-to-head they are dead in the water.

I'm of course assuming that by '43 the Allied player has lots of high exp (80-90) fighter squadrons.

I don't care about Central Pacific because there are few VPs to be gained and lot to loose ... but that's just me of course

I play with PDU and the Seafire is a killer. The British carriers are deadly once they get enough of those. I shot down - literally - hundres of Jap planes in the game I'm writing the AAR about.
And the swordfish can certainly do his job.

Enough of this Allied ranting

Very nice AAR, keep it up ... and maybe post a few combat reports. Just the relevant ones. Thks

_____________________________

Nec recisa recedit

(in reply to Kereguelen)
Post #: 53
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/9/2006 12:32:08 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		I see, i wont go ahead with it, i cant go ahead with raids with the KB, so i guess any raids i do do will have to be away from robs carriers.

The Raid in the Indian Ocean was quite sucessfull, shame the AKs werent full of troops/planes though..May try another IO raid, although RN may be waiting there...

Rob emailed me, conceeded his Buna raid hadnt gone as planned, he was trying to 'double guess' me, i think he thought Lae was the only big airfield, so he was expeceting me throw up all my cap over Lae again, guess hes a bit more intimate with the Air defenses of the PNG now. A small but rewarding victory.

20 or so ships dissapeared from Lunganville according to my Emily Recon, a sub was spotted headding towards the solomons, so maybe it was just a few subs rearming/fueling.

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Post #: 54
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/11/2006 8:47:37 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		13th - 18th April 1943


Burma

Continued bombing my ground forces, still hasnt crossed the Salween, the 22nd Brigade arrived in Rahaeng. and is now marching along the 120 mile strech of trial to block his advance across the Salween.

The Deliberate attack on the rail failed 0 to 1, no real damage done, was worth a go, Rob moved into the Jungle Hex i ejected him from earlier in the month, we seem to be similar infantry wise, but he seems to have a lot of Armoured units there. We are not playing shock persuit on anything but rail hex, so im holding any retreat off until the defenders are beaten out of the hex, although thinking about it some Allied paras in the hex behind my main army group would screw me over, so ill place some troops here too.


Malaya/Indochina

Rob continues reconning Victoria point and now Geogretown. a large convoy arriving in Sabang didnt do much for my nerves, and the Mushshi surface group was sent to Singapore, and the mini KB sortied to the Eastern Malaya coast, i placed my entire airforce at Songkhia on naval attack, in an attempt to smash his airforce with my escorts, and to smack up some transports.. .

Bad weather cancelled the strike, and his ships when home a couple of days later, once again the gods are on our side, fine weather would have made us suffer huge losses for nothing.

48th Div should be in Victoria next turn.


The DEI

He turned his Beautforts towards Kai Island, so i turned around the Musashi group again considering splitting it in two to cover both..

The Ap convoy headed to Lautem was completely destroyed [:(, but the majority of the 4th is on dry land, not sure how im gonna supply the place now.

He smacked up some Aks outside Manumere carrying supplies, from what i see he has two sub wars going on, one in shallow waters sitting off millitary airfields/ports. To try and deprive them of some supplies.

And his deep sea sub war, hunting my convoy routes, Oil/Resources/troops, supplies the lot..


PNG/Solomons

Rob continued hitting the tail of New Guinea, another huge raid, directed at Buna, his B-17s low morale showed, and i think Rob was counting on me concentrating my airforce at one base, and Buna being the weak link. I stopped half the 17's in thier tracks, and the ones that got through caused negliable damage.

He then assumed i was going to cap Port Moresby, and his a P-38 sweep, nothing there though, i cant contest the skies of PM, can only take one his P-38s over my own airfields at best.

My Bettys had another good few days, rob sent some Apds too close to Guadacanal, two of them where sunk by Bettys flying out of Lunga, the A6m3s escorting them did well against the P-38 cap over them.


The Gilberts

Robs been mainly reconning Naru and Apanama, i suspect hes going to hit Apanama with his heavy bombers from Nanomea Atoll and Baker, hes probably massing his P-38s as we speek to knock down my considerable cap.


China

Nanning fell, rob claims he wont use it for bombers, as it would be unsustainable supply wise, which if true is a releif.

The fight near the Soviet Union border NE of Yenen looks like its entering its final phrases, unless rob throws in a lot of Chinese troops from somewhere, 1st and 36th Div are moving in for the kill. Just be a matter of time waiting for the Mongolian cav to complete the encirclement. (Wonder how a battle like this would work irl, how would the Soviets stop the Chinese from retreating into thier land, would it count as a declaration of war if the Japanese did move into Soviet Union, persuing Chinese forces?)

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(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 55
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/11/2006 8:56:01 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Didnt see your post above Mc, i understand what your saying, KB is more of a deterant if anything, rob would have invaded PM/Timor/Malaya/Tarawa/Apanama if he knew the location of the KB.

Sending it on a raid would reveal its location and rob would be able to release the dogs of war.

I dont see rob as the sort of player that would worry about supporting his invasion tf entirely under LRCAP, hes proven how agressive he is many times in 42, and more recently at Sabang/Baker. Baker was an absolute mess for him, if KB was present he would have lost everything.

Ill post some combat reports with the AAR in future as well, thanks for the feedback.

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(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 56
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/13/2006 9:42:02 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		23 - 24th April 1943


Burma

He launched a couple of attacks on my flanks both of which failed, the first in the Jungle hex South of Pagan, where my infantry held off robs forces with the sizeable tank support.

And his Chinese/British forces crossed the Salween, the Saesbo unit there on the other side of the banks of the river miracuously held off the shock attack which happened the previous turn, and the deliberate attack this turn.

Ground combat at 33,34

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6056 troops, 30 guns, 87 vehicles, Assault Value = 197

Defending force 756 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 26

Allied max assault: 118 - adjusted assault: 37

Japanese max defense: 24 - adjusted defense: 43

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
26 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported

Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1


More performances like this from our ground forces and the enemy will pay a crippling price for advancing towards the home islands.


Malaya/Indochina


Rob bombed Victoria point and Georgetown, in Malaya im laying mines on the Southern extremes of the Malaya coast, more of a deterant if anything it make him land imbeteewn Georgetown/Songkhia where my forces are most concentrated, Malaya is still extremly weak ground unit wise though, relying on naval presense to prevent it falling really.

48th Division arrived in Victoria point, he contiued to bomb the place, so maybe hes not aware of it yet, or he just wants to keep me guessing. Who knows!


The DEI

Nothing much really, training...he continues to recon Koepang.


PNG/Solomons

No heavy bombers raid on PNG since my victory over Buna, he continues to recon though, a recce of Townsville revealed no ships in port, probably false though..

My mini KB taskforce was spotted several times North of Guadacanal, gonna keep it there though hell have to come get them if he wants to do somthing about it.


The Gilberts

Baker whent level 4, Tarawa and Apanama braces itself.. Rob continued to recon the islands in this chain, but as ive said before im only defending the two islands said above.


China

My forces move aganoisingly slowly in attempting to encirle his forces on the SU border, nothing esle of note...quiet turn.



My ASW damaged a couple of American subs near Iwo Jima SE of Japan. Which was nice...unfortunately one of my DDs got hit the process.

_____________________________


(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 57
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/16/2006 11:04:14 PM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Long(ish) time snice update, but not has happened in all honestly..

1st May - 2nd May 1943


Burma

Still disrupting and fatiguing my troops with his heavy bombers, we are now deadlocked here for the time being, even Rob has admitted. The Brigade (cant remember its name) arrvied to support the Saesbo unit that held the Chinese/British forces that crossed the Salween.

Hope to hold here until the Autumn.


Malaya/Indochina

He bombed Victoria point here again, got no chance of getting any fort levels up here, so the 48th and co will have to hope they can hold off any British invaders long enough for reinforcements to arrive, as thier will be no forts to hide behind.

Kept myself building up the defense of Malaya, by getting my Minelayers working out of Singapore to mine up the West coast of Malaya. To disuade him from landing close to Singapore which is where im weakest, although i suspect hes going to land around Georgetown. These mines will hopefully make my guess correct, as the 500 or so mines i had at Sabang hurt him quite a bit, i can hypothetically put tens of thousands of the things here so close to a level 9 port at Singapore.



Theres around over a thousand mines at each base, might mine the bases north of Georgetown, but then i risk naval attacks from Sabang, ill give it a go...


The DEI

Pulled out a Brigade from Koepang, put enough cap over the transport convoy so it diditn get blown to bits, now only got one Brigade at Koepang, but Malaya is really looking vulnerable..


PNG/Solomons

He hit Gili Gili hard over the two days with B-17 raids, nothing there to hit anymore, the airfield is long evaced, apart from one H8K Squadron which took some losses..

Send out more minelayers to mine up Lunga.


The Gilberts

He sweeped Apanama last turn, managed to get 3-1 kills, against Apanamas cap, mainly Oscars and some A6m3s, then on the second day due to the distance he had to fly from Baker, the slightly beat up Cap managed to score 1-1, even the Oscars accounted for themselves well.

So im not sure if his P-38s can hit Tarawa from Baker, but i dont think so, so i ordered LCAP from Tarawa over Apanama, and managed to throw up over a 150 fighters, including 70 A6m3s, so if Rob cant hit Tarawa from Baker, hell have a hard time shutting Apanama airfield, as due to the two day turns, even if he manages a good k/d ration on the first day, on the second his fatigue will hurt him.

Hopefully this will make him reconsider trying anything on the place till he has all his Essexs come Autumn, then hopefully the place will be strong enough to make his Carriers bleed a bit.


China

The Mongolian Cavalry is 10 miles away from completing the encirclement at the Soviet border, so hopefully ill destroy some Chinese troops, then attempt a manuevre and try and get behind him at Yenen.


Aleutians


He smelt blood at Attu and appears to be moving in for the kill, he began bombarding Attu with American Battleships , and has started using the place as his own little training ground, even the U.S Carriers are joining in! 15 SBDs hit the place, i have up to now presumed its the American fleet, but could be some a mini carrier? An American CVL/CVE, hmmm a bluff perhaps as ive reacted to it by...


All the US Carriers, or somthing less?


Marshalls

Ive sortied the Kido Butai! Engaging the American Carriers (presuming that is the entire American Carrier Fleet) near Attu would be a slaughter, so im going to do what an American player would do in 42, and raid his supply lines!

Kido Butai is sailing north from Kwajalien, where it will stop NE of Wake, before heading into what is hopefully a 'blind spot for American search planes, The strech of Sea imbeteewn Pearl Harbour and the Aluetians. And then straight outside San Fran, where i will sail up and down the West Coast for a while, hopefully sinking plenty of supplies/troops/warships??

I was going to do this, but i was thinking this could be a bluff....his Carriers could still be waiting in South Pac, hoping that him revealing his Carriers and BBs up north will make me react to the otherside of the map.. He seemed to play up how scared he was...


my LBA search is solid .. i think .. now you have me worried ..

doing the turn now

Only 15 Dauntlesses on ground attack is either because thats all he has to train up but then again why would he bother training up a little mini carrier thats not really gonna be a decisive factor?

OR hes only planning on training up one bomber unit at a time, and leaving the majoirity of his Dive bombers/Torpedo bombers on naval attack incase somthing turns up?????

Hmmmm, cant really just sit KB in Kwajalien for the rest of the war, so i think im gonna go ahead with the WC raid!

_____________________________


(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 58
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/17/2006 2:02:26 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		3rd May - 4th May 1943

It clicked how i could find out what Carriers hes got up there, check what squadron of dauntlesses it was doing the AF attacks.

VMSB-4

Now that M in the name sounds like its a Marine squadron, meaning it is a CVE/CVL?

I think it is by the looks of it, ive halted the KB a few hundered miles north of Kwajalien, i think im gonna be turning it back, this could work to my advantage, if he beleives that im coming North, or just sortying my tf north.

Im gonna try and find out where this squadron belongs, if anyone could help me where it does, id appreciate it, im beginning to beleive this is a Bluff to get my Carriers out fo the way.

Ive encircled his troops on Soviet Border, ordered a attack, should be 1,200 assault points vs 600, so should spill some blood.



Thats about all that happened, except to increase my paranoia at being tricked into sailing north, according to my recon Townsville now has 39 units, where it did have 40 the previous turn. Inconisistent recon or somthing more dangerous? I sent a Glen equipped sub to sit off the coral reef outside the place to have a looksie.

_____________________________


(in reply to LittleJoe)
Post #: 59
RE: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-19... - 9/17/2006 5:40:37 AM   
LittleJoe


Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline 		Ive worked out that, that Dauntless squadron is Marine, so i guess its definate that, that is a CVL/CVE, perhaps the Long island?

My subs will continue to persue and try and find out more intimately, but i think i will keep KB in Kwaj, as he isnt bombing Attu with a CVEs airgroup for training, hes attempting a bluff trying to lure me north with the promise of his Battleships and 'Carriers'



< Message edited by LittleJoe -- 9/17/2006 5:43:02 AM >

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Post #: 60
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