Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy


If he landed at Cox's Bazar (and not "Cock's Bazar" like i typed before...which could be read as "Cocks Market" :-) ) with more than 90 units do you really think he could dare to land at Karachi?? with what?? i mean...it's a urban hex, defended at isolated from any japanese LBA support...KB cannot stay up there forever and i don't see where he can find enough units to accomplish this task! I think a landing at Surat could be more likely but he seems to have brought only the KB and a strong SCTF...didn't spot any invasion fleet up there...

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok, if you wanted to scary me like a little girl...well, you did it! :)

Seriously now... well, this changes really everything. If what you're foreboding is true that means i have to fall back NOW and entrench in Karachi...if i did so i'll leave the whole India in his hands without fighting and the result would be the same. With everything but Karachi in his hands he could simply siege Karachi for ages and i won't be able to run there any reinforcements...skies and seas will be under his complete controll...
However as soon as i get home i'll study the situation and see, map à-la-main, what i can do.... I was really thinking of defending Bombay in order to slow him down...like CR has done...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok, if you wanted to scary me like a little girl...well, you did it! :)

Seriously now... well, this changes really everything. If what you're foreboding is true that means i have to fall back NOW and entrench in Karachi...if i did so i'll leave the whole India in his hands without fighting and the result would be the same. With everything but Karachi in his hands he could simply siege Karachi for ages and i won't be able to run there any reinforcements...skies and seas will be under his complete controll...
However as soon as i get home i'll study the situation and see, map à-la-main, what i can do.... I was really thinking of defending Bombay in order to slow him down...like CR has done...

CR could only do that because Q-Ball refused Karachi, his biggest strategic mistake IMO. At the time I thought taking Ceylon was, on balance, wise, but after seeing how Bombay went later I don't think so now. Having that shipyard and refueling/rearming point if you're Japanese is wonderful, and killing a bunch of high-value British Army units is very nice, but the three weeks it took Q-Ball was irretrievable, and it gave CR a lot of notice to pay great attention to India at a time when Q-Ball was staging a heavy feint in Australia. A bolt-from-the-blue strike on Karachi would have taken it as a first stroke in the Indian campaign.

To defend India you need to get some US troops moving now, through CT to Mombassa, and then the short, exposed jump into Aden, then the trip down the wormhole to Karachi for deployment. The exposure from the chute to Karachi is only one day, which is why holding Karachi is so vital. If you lose it India is on organic supplies and reenforcements, the Line of Death package will rot in Aden, and the Japanese can commence to dismantle India's supply generaiton capacity and make it their own. You will lose that battle if you can't get LCUs and aircraft in from CONUS. The Indian Army at this point is not upgraded and is untrained. It will fold without time to train, upgrade, and that takes supplies.

If he takes Socotra you can be assured that Karachi is next, as Socota is the guardian of the Mombassa--Aden route. Q-Ball didn't take it because at that time nobody knew if Socotra would activate the emergency reenforcement package. It does not. If Q-Ball had held Socotra, and had moved patrol and bomber assets there, CR would have had a great deal of difficulty getting his flow of reenforcements into India from CONUS without using his carriers.

Of course, he could as easily take Socotra as a follow-up to Karachi falling. He has some time since CONUS to Karachi is a LONG trip.

As was discussed in Q-Ball's AAR, you WANT to fight the IJN now if you're worried about auto-vicotry. He has to have a 1:4 VP exchange ratio to stay on track. Said another way, if you sink one IJN CV, and he sinks three Allies, you still win in auto-vic terms. Instead of running you should be trying to get fair fights with your navy, or unfair in taking out his merchants. Every point you get is worth four against the auto-vic.

As to whether he'll try for Karachi, I think yes. You haven't shown an organized defense anywhere yet, and he is very confident he can wield his naval forces to sweep the path north. I don't know of any Japanese player yet to take all of India, so there are still strategic aspects to be worked out. Your opponent might be looking at this game as a warm up or test bed for that campaign. Which is why he might also take all of China, attack Russia, or try to do Oz as well. Experimentation.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Let me also add that losing Karachi does one more thing. It essentially prevents Abadan fuel from reaching the subcontinent. Without fuel, very quickly your HI-sourced supply generation at places like Bombay and Calcutta will stop, leaving you with only LI-generated organic supply. An allied player usually doesn't have to study the production system much, but if you lose Karachi it's vital for you to understand what supply-making bases (LI) you have left, and where. Without supply the Indian Army is just speedbumps.

If you can, safely, drop as much fuel as possible into Karachi NOW. It will flow to the HI cities. That said, if he's already scouting Socotra with the KB it might be too late unless you want to toast your tanker fleet.

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At the same time he conquered Chittaong and he paradropped north of Dacca, cutting my RR line. I thought - because i'm idiot - that the RR was united between Dacca and Calcutta...well, it is not

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

A few words about India from somebody who nearly lost it and who knows exactly how you feel at the moment.

Bombay and Karachi are, as you know, the keys.  Karachi is key for reinforcing - getting to India all the troops that will arrive at Aden in coming weeks and months.  If the enemy crosses the line of death, you do get the Waristan Division directly at Karachi, which adds 300 AV to your defenses.

Bombay is a great defensive position due to the major urban terrain.  You'll need to configure supply as best you can, but I'd definately try to hold Bombay with as much AV as I can muster.  If you can get 2,000 AV there, your opponent is going to have a really hard time taking it.

Calcutta is also major urban terrain.  In my game with Q-Ball, just the static fortress unit managed to hold against a division for several weeks.  If you can get more than that there it's probably worth it as a speed bump.  Your garrison will ultimately die, but it should be worth it to you.  Use air transport to extract troops from the Imphal/Ledo regions.

Do not impale yourself in southern India including Madras.  Your opponent can cut off your troops down there using armor, aircraft (to slow movement) and paratroops.  It aint worth losing troops.  Get those guys up to Bombay, Karachi, Surat, and Ahmadebad.

The line of death is well known. It's marked with a thick blue line on a map I posted in my AAR with Q-Ball - soemtime during the turns for March 1942.

Rader isn't a month ahead of Q-Ball.  Q-Ball landed at Ceylon on March 7, 1942.  He spent a month there, but by destroying a UK division it might have been worth it.  Your going to have a tough time until around September.  After that, if you manage to hold out, your opponent will begin to go on the defensive, will make mistakes, and you will score alot of points.  So you've got to hold for about six months.  It will be hard.

You might need to be prepared to sacrifice the RN if in doing so you can savage a big landing force or exact a heavy toll in enemy combat ships. 

I can't remember if your opponent took New Caledonia or Fiji, but plan to use your Aussie troops to reclaim them if so.  They are high value and you'll need to be doing something offensive in the Pacific while your opponent is tied up in India.

Good luck.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Forgive me if you've already detailed this at length (I missed several days of reading due to power outage).

How much assault value do you have in India?  At this point, I'm guessing you probably have 5k or 6k assuming some of the UK divisions are posted there.  Is that right?

If so, you will be able to defend more than one location.  IE, you don't need 5k troops at Karachi. You could split your troops between Karachi, Ahmadebad and Bombay with some given to Calcutta.  That would be a fairly stout defense, especially since a "cross the line invasion" would add the Waristan Division to Karachi's defense automatically.

If your MLR consists of two or three strong bases, it really complicates things for Rader.  He'll need a huge army to reduce just one of those bases, but he'll have to watch his flank and keep you bottled up.  For instance, if he focuses on Karachi and you have, say, 2,500 AV there, he might need 5,000 AV - that's ten divisions.  While he's dealing with Karachi, meanwhile, you'll have another 2,500 or so AV on his right flank.  How is he going to deal with that?  How's he going to stop you from going on the offensive and threatening his positions to the south and east?

Also, you get regular reinforcements throughout the coming months, so your position gradually gets stronger and stronger.

If he takes Socotra it will complicate things for you, but you really can't defend it with ground troops.

Do you have transports (xAPs) at Aden to carry the "line of death" reinforcements to Karachi should the need arise?  Of course, if he's taken Bombay or Surat, he's going to impose a blockade with the KB and combat ships.  But you might be able to do an end run and counterinvade Socatra or even southern India to try to make life for him difficult.

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Mar 23-24 1942

The KB moved towards Scoodra again (westwards), leaving Karachi area. He's concentrating around Scoodra some SCTFs (with AVs and CSs in them) clearly in order to stop my route from CT to Aden channell.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

It will take him some time to marshal his forces and march across India. He can expedite things by (1) using para assault to seize forward bases and then using strategic movement, and (2) attacking weak Allied stacks and using his armor in reserve to advance.

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ORIGINAL: Alfred

Radar doesn't need in India, at the sites mentioned, the AV figures which are being bandied about. Three basic reasons why.

1. The Allied adjusted AV will be considerably less.
2. Far superior Japanese firepower will quickly whittle the raw, unadjusted Allied AV.
3. Aggressive defence by Japan will destroy Allied logistics.

Alfred

quote:

ORIGINAL: PresterJohn

Some thoughts on India.... i tried an half assed invasion of India (scenario 1), achieved what i wanted (mostly), undoubtably showed strategic ineptness and commited other heinous crimes against good play but i'll share anyway

So what stopped me - well defending in good terrain, invaluable force multiplier, it all buys time and time is what you want. Air Power or P-38 Lightnings and Allied 4E bombers. The Lightnings on sweep can go higher than all the Japanese planes, a squadron with the best pilots you can muster should get very good results. 4E bombers against ground units murderize them. In the open you will cause large casualties. In better terrain you won't kill so many but if there are only a couple of units a big strike will cause battle altering fatigue and disruption. I can tell you its pretty hard to attack with fatigue and disruption 60+. As i said bombers go in, you kill 3 men so it doesn't look effective. It is. Only caveat is the more units in the hex you are attacking the more the love gets spread out and over 4-5 units its probably not too effective. In that case bomb in the open. So sweep with P-38's then pulverise with 4E's. Also bombing changes mode from move to combat and slows em down. That buys time.

Of course pretty pointless buying time if you don't do something with it. So what to do, well if KB is in the Indian Ocean, its not in the Pacific. I'd suggest you need to make the KB sail to the Pacific. To do this you need to commit your carriers and start taking strategic targets. I'm thinking a regiment and bases in the Solomons, hell Shortlands if you think you can. Thats a 6 month shortcut to Japan. Wake and Marcus Islands etc. Its possible these are very very lightly garissoned at the moment and with no KB round to protect them.

Probe his DEI defenses. The Japanese can't be everywhere but they can concentrate force pretty quickly so don't hang around. A carrier strike in Southern DEI maybe towards Singers will get his attention - if you sail next to Padang you can port strike Singapore (hopefully lots of lovely tankers) - but you need to not get caught by Land Based Air and do enough damage that he needs to send KB to sort you out. When KB heads towards you you need that internal clock. Hopefully you are getting a feel for how Rader plays, how long it takes to travel from A to B. You want to attract KB not fight it.

Thats the last and probably most important point, know your opponent, how he plays, how he reacts, get a feel for his style and start trying to predict what he will do, then you may be able to bait him to traps.. Also he'll be doing the same to you so don't become too predictable and/or double think him, Princess Bride style :)

Air Superiority
Make him react to you (initiative)
Know your opponent

quote:

ORIGINAL: PresterJohn

Mili i think stats with static defences, might be hard. If i were going to hit the Marshalls i'd go Ocean, Nauru and Kusaie and threaten to cut the whole place off. Supplies a bitch to run in for the Japanese once you get a few air bases set up. Kusiae might not be holdable but i think you want to make him react.

Think you're doing just fine against a much more experienced opponent, good luck

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

quote:

ORIGINAL: PresterJohn

Mili i think stats with static defences, might be hard. If i were going to hit the Marshalls i'd go Ocean, Nauru and Kusaie and threaten to cut the whole place off. Supplies a bitch to run in for the Japanese once you get a few air bases set up. Kusiae might not be holdable but i think you want to make him react.


Think you're doing just fine against a much more experienced opponent, good luck

Thanks mate! Oh, that's a very usefull information!!! Ocean, Naru and Kusaie? Never heard those names ... Ok, i took a look...well, they can be expanded, it's true...but i'll be right between the Tarawa area and the Guadalcanal area...right in the middle of his bases...very very risky i'd say. Don't you think that Tarawa, once taken, could be enough? I mean, with my seabees i could bring it up to a decent level in a very short time, and, once estabilished as a main bomber base, i could threaten the whole Marshalls with my 4Es...right?