Slitherine

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about the "sea option"...Rader knows...He knows i'll have to take that option...and he'll be ready with the whole KB, 1000 LBA fighters and 1000 LBA bombers. My CVs will be outnumbered by 2-1 in terms of planes...whatever landing i chose he'll be ready. i think once he considered "lost" those troops at tulagi he had already decided to shift back to India again....probably already in Jan 43....
I assume he has moved his CVs back to Singapore by now...waiting for me... that defeat could really end the war...and i cannot risk such a terrible outcome!
God...i HAD to see the risks i was running...i had to play conservately and wait for better days...impatient. Stupid and impatient.

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CR
15k AV cannot take Karachi if your army makes it back there. If he besieges Karachi and you have 7k or 8k AV plus 200k supplies (or more, if possible), he's going to get his arse cooked eventually.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Another way of "reconning" a hex is to assign bombers to target the hex.  IIRC, the bombers won't accept the target, or won't fly anyway, if there aren't any troops in the hex.  That might help you find out if there are any troops threatening your flank.

If there isn't a sizeable IJ army sneaking across the desert from Jodpur, you should be good.

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ORIGINAL: USS America

GreyJoy, how many days until the Med is opened and you are free to ship to Aden from the UK, US, etc?  I would prepare for this by getting ships to the UK and US and having them already loaded up with as much supply as you can possibly haul from those bases.  The first turn the path is open, you can get them underway for Aden.  Once at Aden, don't bother to unload.  Break them up into TF's that are small enough to dock at Karachi and unload there, and then get them moving every couple of days, allowing just enough time between them for the previous TF to finish unloading at Karachi.  You should be able to quickly pump a million supply into Karachi.  That would allow your troops in India to hold out for a VERY long time.

Meanwhile, you can have LCU's and air groups transferring to Aden via off map movement from the East US and UK, which doesn't require ships.  Once your big supply dump at Karachi is completed, your troops and air groups will start arriving at Aden and you can then move from there with the ships that hauled supply across the Atlantic and Med.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In the old WitP, the computer wouldn't let you target a hex that didn't have enemy troops.  IE, when you clicked on the hex to target, nothing would happen. 

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ORIGINAL: House Stark

Well either he's finally launched whatever operation he planned on launching from Rabaul (probably rushed due to your 4E attack), or he's evacuating before your bombers pay him another visit. Do you have any subs in the area? 300 ships must be hard to hide, even in the open ocean.

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ORIGINAL: Smeulders

Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but did you actually have any idea about what was in the army chasing you ?  If I'm not mistake this is a rought timeline.

1) Radar gives up on capturing India, sends many divisions of to other areas.
2) You go on the offensive towards Multan
3) Radar starts switching forces back to India

Now there are a couple of ways to explain this.
1) As you seem to be doing, Radar just thought it a good idea to stop his India offensive for a couple of months and give his troops a cruise to the Solomons and back before the final attack
2) Radar thought he'd be able to outflank you army and destroy it away from your bases. He's bringing in extra forces for the final attack, which could work because your army would be crippled in the open.
3) Radar knows he is outmatched in India and is bringing in forces for defensive purposes. The sortie from Multan consisted of weak units/engineers/etc.... He knew your recon was bad due to a lack of airfields and tried to bluff you with the amount of units.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3, but I'm not going to blame you for retreating. You didn't have any way of telling 2 and 3 apart so the retreat was the prudent move. However, right now it's looking more and more like that was the case. His bombing is giving him very good recon and Radar decided to give up the chase. Your retreating army is almost certainly too strong to be defeated in the open by Radar's (Doesn't mean that you could have taken Multan though, he'll have high forts there) I don't think you should worry about an attack on your bases too much.

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ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

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ORIGINAL: Smeulders

Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but did you actually have any idea about what was in the army chasing you ?  If I'm not mistake this is a rought timeline.

1) Radar gives up on capturing India, sends many divisions of to other areas.
2) You go on the offensive towards Multan
3) Radar starts switching forces back to India

Now there are a couple of ways to explain this.
1) As you seem to be doing, Radar just thought it a good idea to stop his India offensive for a couple of months and give his troops a cruise to the Solomons and back before the final attack
2) Radar thought he'd be able to outflank you army and destroy it away from your bases. He's bringing in extra forces for the final attack, which could work because your army would be crippled in the open.
3) Radar knows he is outmatched in India and is bringing in forces for defensive purposes. The sortie from Multan consisted of weak units/engineers/etc.... He knew your recon was bad due to a lack of airfields and tried to bluff you with the amount of units.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3, but I'm not going to blame you for retreating. You didn't have any way of telling 2 and 3 apart so the retreat was the prudent move. However, right now it's looking more and more like that was the case. His bombing is giving him very good recon and Radar decided to give up the chase. Your retreating army is almost certainly too strong to be defeated in the open by Radar's (Doesn't mean that you could have taken Multan though, he'll have high forts there) I don't think you should worry about an attack on your bases too much.

Thanks mate!

If i have to be honest, i think option 2 was, till the Japanese Tank Army defeat, the most probable.
As far as i can tell right now there are at least 6 big identified divisions at Multan, plus all those tank units we've fought against.
I do think Rader's plan was to lure me east of the Multan river, knowing that i had to keep my stack united in order to be able to defend against his bombers, and, after having engaged my main army with a decent force that he was sure was not going to be defeated in open ground, move behind my shoulders a 1000 AV Tank corp to cut my supply path and retreat route, thus opening the very gates of a possible future land offensive against an -almost- undefended Karachi.
The mistake he has made with his tanks was brutal, and, united with the fact that i sniffed something and moved back behind the river just in time, saved my butt from a total annihilation.
When he realized he was no more able to win the race game towards Hyderabad because his bombers were unable (due to the forced very high cieling) to slow me down enough, he halted the advance and got back to Multan.

now if this hypotesis corresponds to reality, we have a strong japanese army in Multan and many more big units aboard Marus moving to India. Obviously the latters can be redirected somewhere else now, but it's clear that, unless i completeley mistaken the situation and a japanese army pops up from nowhere, my two Indian bases are safe for the moment being. Med will be open in 40 days and so we'll be able to bring in more supplies to help the struggle. But it's also clear that untill i'll be able to fight back in the Indian skies, the "status quo" could not be changed.

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ORIGINAL: Crackaces

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ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

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ORIGINAL: Smeulders

Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but did you actually have any idea about what was in the army chasing you ?  If I'm not mistake this is a rought timeline.

1) Radar gives up on capturing India, sends many divisions of to other areas.
2) You go on the offensive towards Multan
3) Radar starts switching forces back to India

Now there are a couple of ways to explain this.
1) As you seem to be doing, Radar just thought it a good idea to stop his India offensive for a couple of months and give his troops a cruise to the Solomons and back before the final attack
2) Radar thought he'd be able to outflank you army and destroy it away from your bases. He's bringing in extra forces for the final attack, which could work because your army would be crippled in the open.
3) Radar knows he is outmatched in India and is bringing in forces for defensive purposes. The sortie from Multan consisted of weak units/engineers/etc.... He knew your recon was bad due to a lack of airfields and tried to bluff you with the amount of units.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3, but I'm not going to blame you for retreating. You didn't have any way of telling 2 and 3 apart so the retreat was the prudent move. However, right now it's looking more and more like that was the case. His bombing is giving him very good recon and Radar decided to give up the chase. Your retreating army is almost certainly too strong to be defeated in the open by Radar's (Doesn't mean that you could have taken Multan though, he'll have high forts there) I don't think you should worry about an attack on your bases too much.

Thanks mate!

If i have to be honest, i think option 2 was, till the Japanese Tank Army defeat, the most probable.
As far as i can tell right now there are at least 6 big identified divisions at Multan, plus all those tank units we've fought against.
I do think Rader's plan was to lure me east of the Multan river, knowing that i had to keep my stack united in order to be able to defend against his bombers, and, after having engaged my main army with a decent force that he was sure was not going to be defeated in open ground, move behind my shoulders a 1000 AV Tank corp to cut my supply path and retreat route, thus opening the very gates of a possible future land offensive against an -almost- undefended Karachi.
The mistake he has made with his tanks was brutal, and, united with the fact that i sniffed something and moved back behind the river just in time, saved my butt from a total annihilation.
When he realized he was no more able to win the race game towards Hyderabad because his bombers were unable (due to the forced very high cieling) to slow me down enough, he halted the advance and got back to Multan.

now if this hypotesis corresponds to reality, we have a strong japanese army in Multan and many more big units aboard Marus moving to India. Obviously the latters can be redirected somewhere else now, but it's clear that, unless i completeley mistaken the situation and a japanese army pops up from nowhere, my two Indian bases are safe for the moment being. Med will be open in 40 days and so we'll be able to bring in more supplies to help the struggle. But it's also clear that untill i'll be able to fight back in the Indian skies, the "status quo" could not be changed.

I might add a comment if I could strcitly from a newbie to the game but experinced at wargaming. I would propose that Radier is desperate for an instant victory. The move back into the solomons was to give him time but now he has no time so the India campaign is one last thrust to find victory. Probably as desperate as the "Battle of the Bulge". I would also propose that Radier now respects GreyJoy's abilities and can figure that he will be able to use the 1944 - 1945 forces with complete competence. I beleive Radier asked himself , "given the immediate circumstances How do I win this thing ???.." Capture India! .. I do beleive this was the orginal plan, but he did not completly stick to this strategy responding to the Solomons thinking he could out think GreyJoy somehow. Much like moving chess pieces in a basic opening move because it works, but without really understanding where the pieces will be in the middle of the game. It works only if the player has an establsihed strategy at the begning not just because the pieces get into an establsihed position.

Also, I now understand what CR has been saying in this thread. Just like how the BoTB hastened German defeat .. this foray in India so late in the scheme of things will produce an instant result like the Bulge, cause some drama, but in fact hasten defeat. It will be fun to watch ...

Just my .02 ..

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So now we have a HUGE jap army in India