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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled

 
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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/25/2010 8:20:55 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		December 29, 1941 – December 31, 1941

In which Kido Butai visits the Coral Sea and things go well. In a way they go too well…

Coral Sea: Carnage. On 29 December Kido Butai found a large number of ships fleeing towards Cooktown. Most of them were just passing the Great Barrier Reef when waves of Japanese carrier planes appeared overhead. The result was…well, take a look. First attack:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
B5N2 Kate x 53
D3A1 Val x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
xAP Glenapp, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Kajang, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AG Deneb, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
AGP Aldebaran, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Toendjoek, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Somelsdijk, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
xAP Kota Tjandi, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL De Haan
xAKL Siaoe, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Van Cloon, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Mariso
xAP Mijer, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
AGP Wega, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Langkoeas
xAK Boero, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL Siberoet, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Poelau Bras, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Bintang, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Bellerophon, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk

Second attack and third attacks:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
B5N2 Kate x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAKL Morazan, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Hamakua, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAKL Nevadan, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAK Bintang, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Somelsdijk, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Mariso

Fourth attack:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 48
B5N2 Kate x 37
D3A1 Val x 65

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
xAKL Sibolga, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Whangpu, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Van Cloon, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
xAKL De Haan, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Langkoeas, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL Lematang, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Mariso, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL De Klerk, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Meroendoeng, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Not too shabby, right? Sink at least 25 assorted enemy freighters, troop ships, and auxiliaries and you have to feel like it’s been a good day’s work. But…on 31 December my carriers, continuing south along the Australian coast, found a juicy collection of warships at Bowen. Sadly, however, my carriers had expended almost all their torpedoes in the massacre of the merchants. My planes did the best they could, sinking CA Pensacola and putting four bombs each into CAs Australia and Canberra. But all three cruisers could have been sunk, along with CL Perth (one bomb hit) and Queen Elizabeth (which took one of the few remaining torpedoes, though it didn’t seem to do the big ship much harm).

I really wanted to keep my carriers around for another turn and see if my planes could run up the score a bit. But they are now completely out of torpedoes, are well into enemy territory, and I have no idea where the Allied carriers are. I decided to call the raid good and sent KB back to Truk to refuel and rearm.

Malaya: The Broken Kukri. Japanese troops forced the defenders of Taiping (led by the 28th Gurkha Bde) to retreat, inflicting major casualties. The pursuit to Kuala Lumpur now begins. The two enemy brigades near Alor Star are now completely surrounded and the Japanese 2nd Division is in place. It will attempt to deliver the coup de grace next turn.

DEI: Invasions and Conquests. A Japanese regiment is now ashore at Kuching and will attack the following turn. A destroyer in the bombardment force hit a mine and will need yard time, while two xAKs in the invasion force took damage from coastal guns. The Allied garrison at Manado surrendered and an invasion force is now one day out from Davao.

End of Year: Time to Party Like It’s 1942! We now leave 1941 behind. A new year begins. As it starts Allied forces are in full retreat everywhere and panic sweeps Asia and the Pacific as the once lightly-regarded Japanese now seem unstoppable. As it ends…well, we will have to see.

Below is the victory point screen for the end of the month. So far no Japanese warships have been lost. Five midget subs, three troop transports, and ten freighters are the only casualties. Allied ship losses are exceptionally high but many of these are low-value targets, easily replaced. The only warships confirmed lost are BB Oklahoma, CA Pensacola, CL Adelaide, and six destroyers. I am pleased that fifteen assorted tankers and oilers are among the losses. Many other Allied warships have been damaged, however, possibly limiting Charbroiled’s options for interfering with Japanese operations for the next month or so.






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< Message edited by Cuttlefish -- 6/25/2010 8:23:08 AM >

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/25/2010 9:27:32 AM   
Speedysteve

 

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Status: offline 		Way to go CF! That's a nice catch you have there. Shame you ran out of torpedoes to get that QE Class bugger! Agreed on the Tankers. As an Allied player in mid-1942 I just can't ever get enough fuel to SoPac and Australia.

Keep it up!

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/25/2010 11:49:26 AM   
bklooste

 

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Status: offline 		The "seige" of SIngapore doesnt nornally last long anyway  provided Japan has sufficient forces , so anything he is doing to slow you is for him a good thing regardless of losses. Everytime you try to "move" instead of combat mode is a win for him.  The thing is you only need 2 divs to move down the peninusla so he has forced you to have major units doing little.  Those cutoff units are also quite powerfull (if intact) and force you to defend a number of locations less he cuts your supply .

As Mersing is a bit obvious maybe take Sumatra  , have a look at Fatr  Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A). Once you do have an airbase you can consider mersing...

You could even do a dummy look like you are going for Mersing with a big force with lots of broken units prepped for Mersing then go to Singkawang at the last moment ,
if he withdraws all his units to protect Mersing than it has done its job and you can go for Sumatra. If not withdraw the fleet a bit , build up the airfield for zeros  and Netties ( a few days to repair)  then attack Mersing with better CAP and LBA in case he comes out in force.

For Java the time you take Singapore is not important but the time you take Sumatra is sicne with Oosthaven and Singkawang you can invade  Java even without Singapore  ( though you wouldnt have the forces) .



< Message edited by bklooste -- 6/25/2010 11:52:07 AM >

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/27/2010 9:57:08 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

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Status: offline 		January 1, 1942 – January 7, 1942

Japan marches on. Given that so far I am not trying anything much different from the historic Japanese advance it’s hard to draw any real conclusions about how the game is going. That will take some time. But things have a good feel so far.

Malaya: Closing the Pocket. The Alor Star pocket has been eliminated. Some 10,000 British and Indian troops are now guests of the Japanese Empire. To the south Japanese units, led by the Imperial Guards, are now halfway to Kuala Lumpur. They have to stop every third day to push enemy troops further down the road.

Luzon: Assault Ordered at Clark. After several days of bombardments attacks, which accomplished very little, three Japanese divisions and the 65th Bde have been ordered to launch an attack on the next turn. We will see how it goes. It will probably take a while to wear down the defenders and capture of the base.

Burma: The Moulmein Event. British forces pulled out of Moulmein ahead of advancing Japanese armor, which occupied the base. The 33rd Division, marching over from Pisanuloke, is nearly there. Once it arrives Pegu and then Rangoon are the targets.

DEI: Looking Towards Java. Kuching has been captured. It is being built up as an airbase as quickly as possible and should soon have a level 3 airfield and 120 aviation support. The plan is for Japanese planes to start attacking airfields in western Java with a primary objective of suppressing the ML-KNIL and and a secondary objective of preventing forts from being built.

Ternate, Sorong, and Davao have all been captured, as have a number of smaller bases in the area. Troops are beginning to board transports all over the region in the launch of an operation aimed at the near-simultaneous capture of Palambang, Balikpapan, and Makassar. This will open up a route to Java. The operation will be supported by numerous SCTFs along with Ryujo and Zuiho. More details about this operation as it develops.

Japanese destroyers caught up with the last PT boat contingent in the Philippines off Mindanao and sank all but one of the little pests. Kongo and Haruna raided Soerabaja and found only half a dozen Dutch PT boats, two of which were sunk. Haruna struck a mine there but fortunately took little damage.

China: Charge at Chengchow. Japanese divisions crossed the Yellow River and captured Chengchow in the initial shock attack. This swift capture really changes the look of things in north-central China. In the south a Japanese division captured Chuhsien.

Pacific: Goto at Suva. Four Japanese heavy cruisers and escorts under the command of Rear Admiral Goto paid a visit to Suva. They arrived undetected and found an xAK and three destroyers (Le Triomphant, Lamson, and Case) in the harbor. All four ships were sunk without loss.

Kido Butai has returned to Truk, rearmed and refueled, and has been ordered out to raid the shipping lanes beyond Baker Island. Tabituea has been occupied and an invasion force is en route to Ocean Island. The 54th Division has been shipped out from Tokyo and has almost reached Truk.

Submarine Warfare: Off the West Coast. Allied submarines have been mercifully quiet following a flurry of sinkings in the middle of December. Japanese submarines, meanwhile, have been scoring kills off the West Coast. An xAK and xAKL were sunk near Vancouver Island and another xAK went down off San Francisco. Best of all, a Japanese submarine found Warspite off the mouth of Puget Sound and put two torpedoes into the battleship.


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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/27/2010 11:54:31 PM   
Cribtop


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From: Lone Star Nation
Status: offline 		CF - what is the strategic objective of raiding off Baker? Be careful lest the Allies slip their CVs into the DEI before KB is there - I have painful experience with this in my own AAR, where DSwain got his CVs to interfere with a Kuching invasion in mid January. I got away with only 1 CL and about 6 empty transports sunk, but I was very lucky that mini-KB wasn't annihilated.


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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 1:11:09 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

CF - what is the strategic objective of raiding off Baker? Be careful lest the Allies slip their CVs into the DEI before KB is there - I have painful experience with this in my own AAR, where DSwain got his CVs to interfere with a Kuching invasion in mid January. I got away with only 1 CL and about 6 empty transports sunk, but I was very lucky that mini-KB wasn't annihilated.


I was actually planning on raiding well past Baker, with the objective of intercepting and destroying Allied reinforcements bound for the South Pacific. But we've done two more turns since my last update and the raid has turned into a pursuit of the Allied carrier force. Stay tuned.



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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 1:14:32 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sounds exciting. Are you going to full speed? Splitting the KB?

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 2:31:56 AM   
Cribtop


Posts: 3890
Joined: 8/10/2008
From: Lone Star Nation
Status: offline 		Wowsers - sounds like there's a definite strategic objective then! Great time in the game to come to grips with the enemy CVs on favorable terms.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 4:32:52 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline
quote:

Best of all, a Japanese submarine found Warspite off the mouth of Puget Sound and put two torpedoes into the battleship.


More work for the lads at Bremerton. Warspite always was a magnet for enemy ordnance...

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 4:48:50 AM   
Q-Ball


Posts: 7336
Joined: 6/25/2002
From: Chicago, Illinois
Status: offline 		Nice going so far. On Malaya, I'm not sure what the best strategy is, but most players seem to think it's making for Singapore fortress right off the bat.

I think standing and fighting he is doing you a favor; as soon as you get to Singers, it should fall easily

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 9:25:19 AM   
Speedysteve

 

Posts: 15998
Joined: 9/11/2001
From: Reading, England
Status: offline 		I agree with Q-Ball. I've never found a forward defence in Malaya works - mainly since you can't maximise your strength there as you need some behind the lines and in Singapore. As such with a more limited Allied defence I find they fall quickly and/or can be cut off which makes Singapore even easier to take in due course.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/28/2010 9:26:03 AM   
Speedysteve

 

Posts: 15998
Joined: 9/11/2001
From: Reading, England
Status: offline 		Also well done in China. In my game vs Faber I'm just about to retreat from the linch pin defence that is Chengchow.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 7:36:11 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		January 8, 1942 – January 13, 1942

Japan suffers its first serious reverse at sea, although the opportunity to turn defeat into a disaster for the Allies is still there. Elsewhere things proceed on schedule.

Pacific: Allied CVs 1, IJN Oilers 0. What looked like a pair of Allied carriers showed up three hexes south-southwest of Tabiteuea on 8 January and attacked a Japanese replenishment task force lingering to the northwest. Six oilers and DD Akebono were lost. At that I was fortunate; the carriers were apparently looking for Goto’s heavy cruisers and missed them by about four hexes.

There’s no way to sugar coat it, losing six oilers is a heavy loss for Japan. However…as previously mentioned, Kido Butai had been sent southeast a couple of turns before. When the attack occurred they were off Jaluit, sixteen hexes from the Allied carriers.

Now, Charbroiled is nobody’s fool and he immediately surmised (correctly) that the presence of the oilers meant KB might be due in the area. I am guessing that means he would immediately order his carriers back to Pearl. I have ordered KB to head due east to try and cut them off. So far there has been no contact. If I am counting hexes correctly, though, there is still a chance to intercept. If I am right, that is, about his carriers heading for Hawaii. The screenie below shows my carrier’s position and move for next turn. As far as I know he has not detected KB since it left the coast of Australia almost two weeks ago.

At least I now know his carriers are nowhere near the Java Sea. Putting his carriers where he did was a gutsy move, I think almost a rash one. I didn’t expect it and paid the price. I hope I can make him pay a price of his own for doing so.

Malaya: The Tactics of Delaya. The last time my forces attacked the Brits on the road to Kuala Lumpur I held back the Imperial Guards as a pursuit force. This worked well; it gained about a day’s march for the division and allowed them to get to the base ahead of units trying to pull out of Temuloh. Kuala Lumpur fell on 13 January, pushing back the defenders with heavy losses and compelling the surrender of a Punjab battalion. Unless the seven units in and around Temuloh can quickly evacuate before I cut the rail line just north of Kuala Lumpur they will be cut off from Singapore.

Allied losses on the peninsula since the start of the war are somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 troops killed or captured; add another 6000 if I cut off the units at Temuloh.

Luzon: Opening Bell at Clark. The first Japanese attack at Clark came off at 1 to 1 odds and left the forts at level 2. This is encouraging but it will probably still take several attacks to capture the base. I’ll try to get a screen shot of this area later but his defensive deployment remains rather spread out. Recon shows six units at Manila, six more at Batangas (too many for my two regiments there to dislodge), about 13 at Bataan, and 16 at Clark, including four PA divisions.

DEI: Straightening out the Strait. Japanese units have captured Tandjoengselor and are advancing on adjacent Tarakan. Other Japanese units are heading down to Makassar Strait to attack Samarinda (and from there Balikapapan) and Pare Pare (and from there Makassar). Japanese fast battleship and heavy cruiser forces continue to roam about the Java Sea and raid Allied ports to discourage Charbroiled from trying to sneak in surface forces for an attack, while other Japanese warships guard the Strait itself.

The only opposition encountered so far has been sporadic attacks by Dutch bombers. I would make a disparaging comment to the effect that their bombardiers couldn’t hit water if they fell out of the plane but that would just about guarantee that one would lay a bomb smack on a large Japanese transport next turn.


Kido Butai approaches Hawaii, seeking revenge:






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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 11:16:29 AM   
Speedysteve

 

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Status: offline 		Go CF!

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 7:05:30 PM   
crsutton


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Status: offline 		Hmmm... I was about to give you credit for sinking so many of his tankers. Biggest problem for the Allies is getting fuel to the Southwest and South Pacific. There are just not enough tankers and any you sink compound that. However, the loss of your oilers cancels that out....

Good luck with the carrier hunt.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 7:48:47 PM   
Q-Ball


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quote:

Luzon: Opening Bell at Clark. The first Japanese attack at Clark came off at 1 to 1 odds and left the forts at level 2. This is encouraging but it will probably still take several attacks to capture the base. I’ll try to get a screen shot of this area later but his defensive deployment remains rather spread out. Recon shows six units at Manila, six more at Batangas (too many for my two regiments there to dislodge), about 13 at Bataan, and 16 at Clark, including four PA divisions.


Those Allied dispositions don't make alot of sense, splitting up defenders like that. The best thing to do IMO is to concentrate everyone at Clark, though Manila has it's merits. Apparently, he wants to defend a wide front.

He who defends everything.......

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 9:08:34 PM   
Speedysteve

 

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Status: offline 		Agreed Q-Ball. I just don't see how a dispersed defence in either Malaya or Luzon can hold gound vs a massed Japanese attack.......

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 6/29/2010 9:59:29 PM   
ckammp

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball


quote:

Luzon: Opening Bell at Clark. The first Japanese attack at Clark came off at 1 to 1 odds and left the forts at level 2. This is encouraging but it will probably still take several attacks to capture the base. I’ll try to get a screen shot of this area later but his defensive deployment remains rather spread out. Recon shows six units at Manila, six more at Batangas (too many for my two regiments there to dislodge), about 13 at Bataan, and 16 at Clark, including four PA divisions.


Those Allied dispositions don't make alot of sense, splitting up defenders like that. The best thing to do IMO is to concentrate everyone at Clark, though Manila has it's merits. Apparently, he wants to defend a wide front.

He who defends everything.......



Most puzzling is the 6 units at Batangas. There's nothing there to defend, it's just open territory. Much better to stand at Manila.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 1:58:12 AM   
Nemo121


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Status: offline 		Hmm, it seems to me that you are using Japan's primary strategic naval asset ( KB ) for some operationally and tactically exciting raids but nothing strategically vital here... Sinking 25 AKs etc is nice but not strategically decisive.

I always tend to think that if something isn't a major offensive directly responsible for shaping the wartime position a year or 18 months from now then KB shouldn't be supporting it but should, instead, be sitting in port resting. I'd say my KB spends at least 80% of its time in port resting, upgrading and allowing its sailors to visit the local houses of ill-repute. However, every time it goes to see it is with the sure knowledge it'll meet either Allied CVs, the battleline or allow an IJA invasion to succeed which otherwise wouldn't. People are, I think, in general far too quick to commit KB to relatively meaningless combat which wears it out.


As to the Philippines dispositions. Charbroiled has already made several significant errors. That this would continue into his dispositions in the Philippines is merely to be expected. It shouldn't be a surprise to us.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 3:31:43 AM   
aprezto


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Hmm, it seems to me that you are using Japan's primary strategic naval asset ( KB ) for some operationally and tactically exciting raids but nothing strategically vital here... Sinking 25 AKs etc is nice but not strategically decisive.

I always tend to think that if something isn't a major offensive directly responsible for shaping the wartime position a year or 18 months from now then KB shouldn't be supporting it but should, instead, be sitting in port resting. I'd say my KB spends at least 80% of its time in port resting, upgrading and allowing its sailors to visit the local houses of ill-repute. However, every time it goes to see it is with the sure knowledge it'll meet either Allied CVs, the battleline or allow an IJA invasion to succeed which otherwise wouldn't. People are, I think, in general far too quick to commit KB to relatively meaningless combat which wears it out.


As to the Philippines dispositions. Charbroiled has already made several significant errors. That this would continue into his dispositions in the Philippines is merely to be expected. It shouldn't be a surprise to us.



I think your point is very valid. However I always struggle, especially in the first six months, to put KB into the docks. I always feel that the clock is ticking and if I am giving my pilots the chance to hammer any shipping, even if I don't manage toforce the allies to commit to a decisive early battle. Which I think is the point: what battles/targets are ones that you can you have 'sure knowledge you'll meet allied CVs or the battle line'? There are very very few targets that I think are 'risk the carriers against the KB - which I know are in commited to this battle/invasion' as the allies in early to mid 42.

I will usually lose my carriers or battleline because I was surprised by KB.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 3:41:49 AM   
Nemo121


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Status: offline 		Well, if that's true in your game then I would suggest you port KB for most of 42 ;-).

In reality I think that with clarity of strategic thought and priorities you find that you don't end up porting KB for 11 months of the year. Instead you find yourself committing it ONLY to truly vital targets. If you truly identify vital targets correctly then you often force a reaction but even if you don't it doesn't matter since you've taken a truly vital target.

Either is fine as either serves your purposes... that's the acme of strategy, ensuring that no matter which option the enemy takes you can make it work to your benefit.


I think a reasonable example would be from my current game. It is mid-March and I've used the Allied CVs twice for about 7 days in total. In that time I captured the Marshall Islands from the Japanese and Marcus Island and destroyed about 40% of the IJN pre-war battleline. It also looks like any chance the IJN had of expanding into the Pacific was scuppered by this intervention. So, those were important strategic objectives.

Right now, mid-March 1942 there isn't a single position on the map vitally important enough that I would commit the Allied CVs to battle. So, they are sitting in port upgrading or running the occasional fighter ferrying mission as a form of training. I don't anticipate there being any need for the Allied CVs to engage in actual combat until the end of 1942. So, in the 13 months of war until the end of 1942 I expect them to have no more than the 6 or 7 days of combat they've already had. Even with that said I think 2 of those days of combat were errors and I shouldn't have committed them.

With KB less is most definitely more. When you have a big hammer it is tempting to use it a lot but I believe better players will only use it for strategically decisive targets.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 4:12:35 AM   
aprezto


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Well, if that's true in your game then I would suggest you port KB for most of 42 ;-).

In reality I think that with clarity of strategic thought and priorities you find that you don't end up porting KB for 11 months of the year. Instead you find yourself committing it ONLY to truly vital targets. If you truly identify vital targets correctly then you often force a reaction but even if you don't it doesn't matter since you've taken a truly vital target.

Either is fine as either serves your purposes... that's the acme of strategy, ensuring that no matter which option the enemy takes you can make it work to your benefit.


I think a reasonable example would be from my current game. It is mid-March and I've used the Allied CVs twice for about 7 days in total. In that time I captured the Marshall Islands from the Japanese and Marcus Island and destroyed about 40% of the IJN pre-war battleline. It also looks like any chance the IJN had of expanding into the Pacific was scuppered by this intervention. So, those were important strategic objectives.

Right now, mid-March 1942 there isn't a single position on the map vitally important enough that I would commit the Allied CVs to battle. So, they are sitting in port upgrading or running the occasional fighter ferrying mission as a form of training. I don't anticipate there being any need for the Allied CVs to engage in actual combat until the end of 1942. So, in the 13 months of war until the end of 1942 I expect them to have no more than the 6 or 7 days of combat they've already had. Even with that said I think 2 of those days of combat were errors and I shouldn't have committed them.

With KB less is most definitely more. When you have a big hammer it is tempting to use it a lot but I believe better players will only use it for strategically decisive targets.


Oh man - don't I even get to try at Pearl??? :-(

I am struggling a little with an apparent contradiction. In paragraph one, in mid-march, you've taken the Marshals and destroyed 40% of the battle line, but in paragraph two there is no single position on the map vitally important that you'd commit the allied CVs to? I think the point you are making is that you did attack in mid-march, it was a smashing success, and now the carriers go away again because you can't see any reason to bring them out again and risk them - since (I imagine) - you assess the Japanese ability to be offensive to be severely curtailed, but that you don't have the strength or quality of carriers (and planes) to go on the offensive yourself.

Actually, the example you've given - one you'll have to pardon me that I'm not familiar with - implies that you chanced your arm incredibly. Taking the Marshals in March 42 would mean you had started prepping for these locations at the beginning of the game, that you used APx shipping as amphibious invasion vessels, as you wouldn't have enough APs to carry invasion forces for all the islands in one load (which means you may have had to take multiple bites at it - surely creating an IJN response - one it appears you won - but wouldn't have known ahead of time).
All in all this implies wonderful forethought and chancing the loss of the south pacific in order to use their historical defenders as offensive forces in the Marshals.
All hypothesis - I'll take a look at your AAR (I imagine it is an AARed game?)

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Post #: 82
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 4:23:01 AM   
Cap Mandrake


Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002
From: Southern California
Status: offline 		Arguably, putting a burr under the Allied saddle and causing them to take great caution with convoys and to keep resources in Hawaii does have a strategic purpose.

(in reply to aprezto)
Post #: 83
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 4:25:07 AM   
CapAndGown


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Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Arguably, putting a burr under the Allied saddle and causing them to take great caution with convoys and to keep resources in Hawaii does have a strategic purpose.


Nothing is strategic unless Nemo says it is.

(in reply to Cap Mandrake)
Post #: 84
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 4:35:54 AM   
Nemo121


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Status: offline 		Mandrake, arguably but from the AAR I dont get a sense of the raids as being part of such a cohesive strategy. They seem to be ad hoc, operational level things, not part of an overall strategic plan to shape the Allied position greatly.

Maybe it is but it just hasn't been fully explained yet. That's always possible.

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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 9:27:12 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Mandrake, arguably but from the AAR I dont get a sense of the raids as being part of such a cohesive strategy. They seem to be ad hoc, operational level things, not part of an overall strategic plan to shape the Allied position greatly.

Maybe it is but it just hasn't been fully explained yet. That's always possible.


There is a doctrine at work here. I've hinted at it but perhaps have not stated it explicitly. I am using surface forces and KB to penetrate deeply into Allied territory and hit locations that Allied players, in my experience, like to use as staging areas for troops and resources. The object of this is psychological rather than material. I am always happy to destroy enemy shipping when I find it but the real idea is to induce fear and caution in my opponent.

In my game against Q-Ball I allowed him to become entirely too comfortable operating behind his own lines. The same is true to some extent with my game against Erstad. The only reason that game has gone better than the one against Q-Ball is that my defensive dispositions are less flawed. What this has taught me, however, is that there is a limit to what defensive preparations can accomplish for Japan in AE.

Which leads me to this game and the idea that perhaps the best way to stop Allied offensives is by trying to keep them from getting launched in the first place. To that end I want to keep my opponent thinking defensively. The raids against bases and sea lanes are part of this concept.

In general I agree with Nemo that KB should be used as sparingly as possible. I think at one point in the game against Erstad we went nearly a year without a Japanese carrier being seen. But in this game KB will appear enough in the early going to establish the idea that I am likely to use my carriers aggressively. We will see how it works. I am not, frankly, a great strategist. I operate much better at a tactical level. But I do like to think I can admit my mistakes and learn from them and slowly I am groping towards a Japanese doctrine that is both reasonably effective and fun for me to play.



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Post #: 86
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 10:16:33 AM   
FatR

 

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
Status: offline 		Without revealing too much about my plans in my current Japanese PBEM, I'd say that yes, I believe harassing raids against Allies are worthwhile, as long as they don't interfere with your timetable for strategic offensive operations and do not waste your valuable assets in attacking heavily defended targets. Simple demonstration that you're willing to go and blow up Allied stuff, both with carriers and SCTFs is likely to force positive effects that are not limited to the direct damage from attacks, such as convoys being rerouted to safer sealanes and naval assets being spread out for anti-raider patrols and convoy escorting.

All of this will slow down Allied buildup in the first months of the war, when Allies are relatively short on troop-carrying capacity and reduce their ability to concentrate surface assets.

(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 87
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/3/2010 3:46:26 PM   
Nemo121


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Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline 		Ok, interesting Cuttlefish.... Could you outline the other aspects of your strategic plan into which the raids fit? I'm curious as to how you're going to pin him back.

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Post #: 88
RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/6/2010 12:54:50 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Ok, interesting Cuttlefish.... Could you outline the other aspects of your strategic plan into which the raids fit? I'm curious as to how you're going to pin him back.


- I will attempt to maintain the strategic initiative. I have a bad habit of reaching a pre-determined line and then digging in behind it. In this game I intend to try and keep my opponent reacting to my moves, not waiting to react to his.

- I am going to try and be much better at gathering intelligence about my opponent's dispositions and thus intentions. I want to get the most possible use out of long-range aircraft, submarines (and especially sub-based Glens), and small, fast SCTFs to find out where his forces are (and where they are not - I want to know where seams in his air-search patterns are).

- Information thus gathered will be used to disrupt and threaten forward bases that look like they are being used as springboards for offensive operations.

- There are so many possible invasion points that there is no way for Japan to cover them all. When most lowly dot-hex bases can be turned very quickly by the Allies into major bases a static defense seems like an exercise in futility. I am going to reverse my usual practice of using my infantry divisions as garrisons and instead keep a large force ready to counterattack or counter-invade. KB and the bulk of the Combined Fleet will also be held ready for this purpose.

I guess the sum of all this is that I will use small, fast forces to keep my opponent off balance and to maintain at least the illusion that I retain the initiative. When, inevitably, Allied attacks do occur they will be met by reserve forces. All this will require a more aggresive mind-set than I have had previously - it will be interesting to see how it works.



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RE: The Calimari War - Cuttlefish Gets Charbroiled - 7/6/2010 1:14:04 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		January 14, 1942 - January 17, 1942

I'm on vacation and running turns and accessing the forums as time and internet access permit. A few developments worth noting have happened, though more detailed information (and screen shots) will have to wait a few days.

Pacific: Allied CVs Escape. Kido Butai found no evidence of the Allied carriers near Pearl. Some B-17s attacked, and five were shot down at a cost of five Zeros (the -D model is easier to bring down than the -E and -F types). Meanwhile KB found and destroyed an ASW task force (one DM and three PCs) and a small amphibious TF at Palmyra (three xAKs and a DM). Having to be content with this meager prey my carriers have faded once again into the mist and are on their way back to Truk.

China: Loyang is Captured. Japanese forces advanced from Chengchow to Loyang, taking the base on the first assault and inflicting a massive number of casualties in the process. I am going to try and drive next on Nanyang before Charbroiled can consolidate his forces. The capture of Chengchow and Loyang has occured very quickly and I want to keep the Chinese reeling.

Luzon: Japan 1, Forts 0. I'm still getting 1 to 1 odds at Clark but the forts there are now down to zero. This should make my air attacks and bombardments more effective and I hope to wear the defenders down quickly. A big question is where the defenders will retreat when they are finally forced out - Manila or Bataan?

Malaya: A Second Pocket Forms. Japanese forces have succeeded in isolating the Allied units at Temuloh. This pocket consists of seven units, though the reported number of troops trapped is down from 6000 to 3000 as recon reports become more refined.


(in reply to Cuttlefish)
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