Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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I've just sent the turn to Chez (aka Steve), so we'll have a turn as soon as his schedule gives him some time. This is Scenario Two and Steve is an experienced player. However, he hasn't played Scenario Two before and I don't know if he's by nature aggressive or not. For now, I'm going to err on the side of assuming I will face a Q-Ball-sized onslaught. With that in mind, here are my general strategic objectives early in the war: 1. I will assume that Steve will target either India or Oz. Of those two, India may be the most important, so I'll give her alot of attention. In particular, I want to get supply there ASAP. 2. I'm sending many USAAF squadrons to Capetown. Upon arrival, I'll allocate them between India and Oz. 3. In trying to figure out whether Oz or India will be the target, guessing wrong would be a disaster. I'd hate to have sent all my troops to the one, only to have the other targeted. And yet, splitting between the two could leave both too weak to stave off a Q-Ball-sized assault by 15-20 IJA divisions. With that in mind, I do not want to leave defeat to the chance outcome of a 50/50 guess about his target. Instead of trying my best to guess right, I want to fight the war on my terms as best I can. 4. To conquer Oz or India, Steve will need a sizeable army and, for a considerable period, the KB. He'll need to get started early (probably January if Oz is the target; February or March if it's going to be India). I want the Allies to be in a position to launch a major invasion of the Kuriles and Sikhalin Island by spring of '42 if the Japanese indeed move on India or Oz. Such an invasion is pure folly under most circumstances, because the Japanese can easily take control of the sea and air....but to do so requires commitment of major combat ships and carriers. I don't think the Japanese can successfully prosecute an auto-victory maneuver against Oz or India without the KB, so I want to force Steve to make the choice of carrying through with his invasion down south only at the risk of allowing the Allies to get a major hold on his northern perimeter. If he diverts his carriers to NoPac, he can destroy the Allied troops there, but it makes it very difficult for him to impose a blockade of Oz or India. 5. I don't want Japan to get a lodgement in the western Aleutians in late '42 or early '42, because that would break the LOC between any Allied beachheads in the Kuriles/Sikhalin and Achorage/Kodiak/Dutch Harbor. Thus the Allies intend to occupy the western Aleutians ASAP, along with committing some combat ships and carriers to the region early in the war. 6. Most of the Pacific Isles are deemed expendable. I will try to secure Midway, the Hawaiin chain, Pago Pago, and New Zealand as the game develops. (Hawaii, of course, is already strongly defended, but needs more.) 7. I will try to use combat ships and troops in the DEI to slow Japan just a bit, or at least to force Steve to protect his amphibious TFs. I will also try to create a roadblock somewhere sensible - probably Singapore. 8. Ceylon, Diego Garcia, Port Blair, and Socatra will get enough troops (something on the order of an Indian brigade) to make sure the enemy can't just waltz right through, but not enough to stop a serious attack. 9. China: No offensive plans here. I want to protect the Chinese army and ensure that I have a good MLR.
< Message edited by Canoerebel -- 2/21/2011 8:13:20 PM >
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