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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Allied forces on Mindanao!

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RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 8:40:39 AM

JocMeister

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Joined: 7/29/2009
From: Sweden
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

quote:

ORIGINAL: Encircled

If you keep moving the chain down by the same amount each time, you will have the perfect "tiger stripe" suntan.

Will the ladies like that?

Lady tigers.

Rawr?

(in reply to Bullwinkle58)

Post #: 1411

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 8:48:09 AM

JocMeister

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From: Sweden
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Marianas

Since landing on Tinian the Allied has sat and watched while about 100 Jap bombers have been trying to close the AF. They finally succeeded last week after almost 2 months when supply started running low.

I�m quite happy with this as I never had any intention of placing aircraft on Tinian and I think the 100 bombers could have tipped the balance in the CV clashes. The troops on Tinian will have to hunker down for a while more. Saipan invasion is due in about 2-3 months. Until then they are on their own.

Interesting enough I recently spotted a big TF on Saipan. I wonder what its doing there. Reinforcing? Supply drop? Withdrawing? Hopefully reinforcing. Then again the Marianas has lost its significance since the Allies has landed on Mindanao so Erik could be withdrawing.

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Post #: 1412

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 8:50:26 AM

JocMeister

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DEI

With the allied landing on Barbar we will slowly advance towards Java. This will be done under LBA and not given very high priority right now.

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Post #: 1413

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 9:25:08 AM

JocMeister

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From: Sweden
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Burma

Now this turned really interesting the last 3 turns as Erik withdrew his "eastern stack" from Toungoo. I�m not sure why he chose to do this right now but the 60(!) supply captured at Toungoo might be a good indication his supply situation has deteriorated to unsustainable levels? I managed to catch up with him with parts of my forces. About 3000 AV while another 4000 AV will reach the hex next turn.

Now the big question is. If he is still in the hex next turn, do I try an attack or do I take my chances and try and catch him in the open? If I can catch him in the open I�m certain I can inflict some serious casualties on him. But its a gamble as I might miss him and he can reach Pegu and the relative safety of the presumed heavy forts there.

I�m leaning towards waiting and try to attack him in the open. Worst case he escapes to Pegu but that might be weighed up by the pounding he will take from the air when moving over the open hex. Last time he did so he lost some 3000 troops in a single day. Given the opportunity I will even use the B29s to hit him in the open.

His western stack has showed movement for quite some time now. Don�t know if its fake or not but they are being pounded right now.

quote:

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 127787 troops, 1705 guns, 712 vehicles, Assault Value = 5574

Defending force 82540 troops, 954 guns, 464 vehicles, Assault Value = 2683

Japanese ground losses:
432 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
85 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

This situation is certainly grave for Erik and I�m betting its causing him some worry. If I can finally get a break in Burma and everything goes my way Erik could lose 5000 AV in the coming weeks. That is certainly a best case scenario though and everything has to go exactly my way. The key is his eastern stack.

I�m thinking his "eastern stack" is fake moving and he will try to hold there in the jungle hex until his western stack can withdraw to Pegu or Rangoon. Troops moving NE from Pegu seems to confirm this. If so I guess it comes down to wether or or not he can hold the hex or not. Its 7000 AV vs 2500. My forces are pretty fatigued by now but so should his be after moving south under constant air attack. The forces moving from Pegu will be destroyed once they hit the open hex. And the allied units are VERY good and has lots and lots of armor.

Might also be a big feint and he will try and run for it. If he hasn�t moved next turn I will know for sure.

What do you guys think of the situation? Am I interpreting this correctly or am I missing something?

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< Message edited by JocMeister -- 7/21/2013 9:29:26 AM >

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Post #: 1414

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 1:35:18 PM

BBfanboy

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From: Winnipeg, MB
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You know your opponent better than we do. If he is sneaky enough to try the fake movement you mentioned, you are correct that you should not try to attack in the jungle hex with tired troops. However, if you wait until he gets to the open hex and you bomb him, you will certainly catch up with him and be able to attack. Trouble is, you only get one initial attack and then his retreating forces are in Pegu, where you do not want them to be.

On the other hand if your opponent sometimes panics when under a lot of pressure, both Western and Eastern stack will be running for cover in Pegu and Rangoon. In that case a deliberate attack in the jungle hex would catch them in movement mode and inflict casualties before they retreat to the clear hex or the city forts. You have more opportunities to inflict casualties in this scenario, and any disablements before they get to the clear hex will be dead meat for the bombers when they hit them.

If lots of your AV is armour and he has shown poor anti-armour defences [no A/T guns] you could try using only your armour in the jungle hex and putting the rest of the troops on reserve.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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Post #: 1415

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/21/2013 1:37:18 PM

BBfanboy

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BTW, I really like your move on Babar to provoke a reaction. Looks like there is a lot of IJN shipping brought to the area already!

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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Post #: 1416

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/24/2013 4:46:27 PM

JocMeister

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From: Sweden
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Man, I need to hire a professional *bumper* or something! I head out for 3 days and I�m right back to page 2!

Turned out Erik wasn�t "fake moving" and his stack minus five units are now in the clear hex! Needless to say every fighter in Burma is set to sweep the hex and every bomber set to bomb. If I can catch his stack even with my armor only I will try for it!

Proper update coming later or tomorrow.

(in reply to BBfanboy)

Post #: 1417

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/25/2013 6:30:19 AM

JocMeister

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From: Sweden
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6th September -44

Erik has been extremely slow i returning turns lately. Judging by one of his emails he thinks I should enjoy summer more and play less AE.

Mindanao area
Erik sends in a MTB TF into my LOC between Morotai and Mindanao. These MTBs are proving almost impossible to sink. Its actually starting to turn ridiculous. I have fighters on strafe, attack bombers on Low Nav and DBs. All refuse to fly. To top that off I have six 4 ship DD TFs attacking his MTBs 3-4 times per turn but they just "evade combat" time and time again. If not that my TFs waste all their ammo without hitting a single MTB. Grrr!

I lose 3 empty LSTs.

Cotabato AF reached 8.64. Soon, soon!

DEI
Eriks TFs withdrew towards Java after busting some 10 PTs at Babar. I�m hoping to unload some BFs and engineers this turn.

Burma
As I said earlier Erik didn�t "fake move" but is indeed withdrawing towards Pegu! Last hex my armor managed to catch up with him but not the main force. Its 900 AV worth of armor. If I can catch up with him I�m going to give it a go. With his troops now exposed in the open every bomber in Burma is set to attack. Hopefully my fighters goes in sweeping before them. Its very likely Erik will try and oppose the bombings. Last time he went through this hex I devastated his troops. If he really does oppose my bombers it will be the first time in months he does something in the air over Burma.

I continue to bombard the "Western stack". This is bloody business but I�m hoping Erik will have more problems then me recoveringing from it. My losses are almost exclusively suffered by the soft Chinese.

quote:

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 127805 troops, 1705 guns, 712 vehicles, Assault Value = 5584

Defending force 82427 troops, 954 guns, 464 vehicles, Assault Value = 2674

Japanese ground losses:
403 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
317 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 14 (7 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Whatever happens in the coming days Erik will be forced to make a stand at Pegu or he will get his "Western stack" cut off. This is of course fantastic news for me as Pegu is in a clear hex. Unfortunately I don�t have a HQ combo set for Pegu. The command HQs available was/is set for Rangoon and Moulmein. I will probably reprep the one set for Rangoon for Pegu and hope for the best...I also sent in a naval bombardment at Pegu to see what the forts might look like. Judging by the bombardment forts are high. Going by the rest of Burma its probably level 6 at least.

I think Erik made a mistake here by not pulling out his Western stack first. Having to make a stand at Pegu is not ideal for him I think.

Surprise at Singapore
After our CV clash in the Celebes sea I got whiff of a CV/CVL/CVE moving west towards Singapore. Its quite likely Erik was moving a damaged ship to the repairyard at Singa. This was some time ago. I have been waiting for an opportunity to strike at the port. Assuming Erik moved all airpower in the area to Burma to cover the clear hex I ordered the B29s to go for it. Hopefully there won�t be a CAP up. Its 34 hexes so they are going in with reduced load. Its still over 700 500 lb bombs! Fingers crossed we get something juicy!

Here is a screen of Burma!

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 1418

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/25/2013 8:16:12 PM

JocMeister

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7th September -44

Not the results I had expected...

Mindanao area
I finally manage to get to some of those pesky MTBs. They were all smoking in the replay so I�m guessing the reacted too far out burning all the fuel. One of the reasons I avoid using react as much as possible...6 MTBs are reported sunk.

A big reinforcement TF reached Cotabato. I have two Corps artillery units landing that will help suppress Cagayan and bring it to its knees. I also have a division flanking Cagayan that just secured the base in central Mindanao.

First deliberate attack at Manado in a long time shows promise!

quote:

Ground combat at Manado (75,99)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37014 troops, 684 guns, 956 vehicles, Assault Value = 1376

Defending force 21897 troops, 215 guns, 29 vehicles, Assault Value = 627

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 566

Japanese adjusted defense: 653

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2687 casualties reported
Squads: 76 destroyed, 119 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 53 disabled
Guns lost 32 (14 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1157 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 123 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 39 (1 destroyed, 38 disabled)

DEI
BFs landed almost unopposed. A sub managed to slip through the screen (84 ASW value) in the shallows of Babar and nail a APA...

BFs are onshore though and soon I will begin the next jump.

Burma
In a stroke of insane bad luck both the 2Es and 4Es rained in.

So this turn no movement was hindered. That might be enough to make good the escape. CRAP!

My forces are in pursuit though and managed to catch so of Eriks arty lagging behind.

quote:

1086 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 112 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 43 (42 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 57 (38 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Units retreated 2
Units destroyed 1

Defending units:
5th RF Gun Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
68th JAAF AF Bn

I really hope the weather clears tomorrow. We did have a small aerial battle over the hex as my fighters taking of from central Burma did take off. Got roughly a 3:1 advantage. 13 Pilots KIA but no aces lost. 8 new gained.

P51s did really bad due to high fatigue but the 3x18 Corsairs did fantastic considering the pilots were very fresh.

Perhaps Erik has burned his candle in the air war. Either that or he is saving up for something. My pilot pools are fantastic right now. I have 600 trained navy fighter pilots for example. And get this. The LOWEST experienced one has 72 EXP and 2 kills.

Singapore strike
While I can�t complain the results wern�t what I had hoped for. No CAP up as expected. I guess if nothing this raid will force Erik to keep a daytime CAP up over everything 35 hexes from the nearest Allied base that he doesn�t want sunk. Mowhaha!

quote:

E Hashidate, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Katsuriki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Itukusima Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS I-171, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
TK Ayagiri Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS I-9, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS I-11, Bomb hits 1
TK Kuremente Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CM Katsuriki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
E Sanae, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tatuharu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AG Kaishi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
TK Manshu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS RO-41, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AKE Kashino, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Kitano Maru, Bomb hits 1
TK Daijo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CMc Kuroshima, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AV Kamikawa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Sado Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
TK Toyohi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Nothing exciting to write home about. But perhaps this will have a big psychological impact.

No interesting screen to show. Let me know if you want me to post something or have any questions and I�ll try to get it for you.

Erik and I have been really out of sync with the turns lately only managing one per day. Hopefully it will sort itself out eventually.

(in reply to JocMeister)

Post #: 1419

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/25/2013 10:05:32 PM

jonreb31

Posts: 714
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From: Santa Cruz, California
Status: offline

This has been a really fun read, I'm especially enjoying the drive thru to the Philippines, you're making excellent headway!

Lurking from afar

Jon

< Message edited by JonReb -- 7/25/2013 10:08:33 PM >

_____________________________

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Post #: 1420

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 5:12:30 AM

JocMeister

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Joined: 7/29/2009
From: Sweden
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: JonReb

This has been a really fun read, I'm especially enjoying the drive thru to the Philippines, you're making excellent headway!

Lurking from afar

Jon

Hey Jon.

Thank you. I�m glad you are enjoying the read.

< Message edited by JocMeister -- 7/26/2013 6:39:24 AM >

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Post #: 1421

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 7:09:42 AM

JocMeister

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8th September -44

Mindanao area
Not much to report. The newly landed artillery and armor moves out from Cotabato towards Cagayan. Erik has moved some combat ships to Balabac (see screenshot). Probably a defensive mission covering a troop landing at said base. I don�t have the means to do anything about this yet.

Cotabato airfield reaches 8.89. Next turn the bomber hive moves in. In preparation I have moved 2000 AS to Cotabato. This will be my main airbase for quite some time. First job is to reduce Eriks troops on Jolo to rubble!

I did some sweeps in the area to get a feel of Eriks determination. Forgot to chance altitude on 2 of the Corsair squadrons and paid the price for it.

One 7 kill ace lost but 3 new gained.

DEI
No opposition. BFs are onshore with a radar set. Started expanding the level 4 AF. Erik has moved some BBs and CAs within striking range again. Only PTs will face them for now.

Burma
Finally the bombers took off! My sweeps rained in though but luckily Erik had given up trying to cover his troops after yesterdays sweeps. This is what Allied bombers do to troops in the open in 44!

quote:

923 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 50 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 83 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Vehicles lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

918 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 106 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 28 (3 destroyed, 25 disabled)

179 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

343 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

140 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

59 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

109 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

145 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

117 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

34 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)

179 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 44 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

69 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

27 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

96 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

126 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

96 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Vehicles lost 11 (1 destroyed, 10 disabled)

56 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

168 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

106 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

66 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

105 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

70 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

76 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

82 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

52 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

111 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

74 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

100 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

55 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Quite happy with that obviously!

Hoping for more tomorrow...some of my armor managed to get into the hex this turn. Only 600 AV though but I decided to risk an attack. Hopefully Eriks troops are so disrupted after the bombings I won�t cripple myself. There is also a chance Erik will have time to move out since my strikes rained in yesterday. I�ll know tonight. Switched one of the Command HQs to Pegu. 25 prep now on Pegu.

The coming week will decide the future of South East Asia. If I can defeat Erik around Pegu the road is wide open to Thailand and Malaysia. Erik has nothing but small brigades and BFs in the area. I�m counting 30.000 troops in Thailand. Thats it! Will try not to get my hopes up though...

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 1422

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 12:57:01 PM

JocMeister

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From: Sweden
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Hmmm

Ideas on what this can be...? Is he actually going to try naval bombarding Cotabato? I have 5 PT TFs and two Fletcher ones. No mines. No important shipping besides a big Cargo TF.

Trying to bombard makes no sense at all. But thats the only thing I can think of.

Ideas?

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 1423

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 4:44:33 PM

BBfanboy

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From: Winnipeg, MB
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If there really are CVs/CVEs in those TFs, he is probably hoping to sink a reinforcement convoy full of troops.

Why are you not sure about the bombardment of Cotabato? It makes a lot of sense since he does not want it to get to level 9 and it seems to be your only air base in the area?

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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Post #: 1424

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 5:36:47 PM

JocMeister

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Joined: 7/29/2009
From: Sweden
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If there really are CVs/CVEs in those TFs, he is probably hoping to sink a reinforcement convoy full of troops.

Why are you not sure about the bombardment of Cotabato? It makes a lot of sense since he does not want it to get to level 9 and it seems to be your only air base in the area?

I�m not so sure about the CVs/CVEs being on a strike mission. Its too close to Cotabato so any strike would risk hitting the Cotabato CAP (400 fighters). I�m thinking they are purely there for CAP. Sounds reasonable?

What I mean about bombarding Cotabato making no sense is that it has gone from level 1 to 9 (hit 9 this turn!

)in 20 days. So Erik must know I have an insane number of engineers there. So even if he managed to close it he can never keep it closed. Had he done this when it was level 3-4 it would have made more sense. Now its just too late.

I think I will do the following. There is no need for me to take any unnecessary risks. I�m going to fly out everything valuable (P47s/Corsairs/Spits) and send the 2 CLs to Morotai. The Fletchers and PTs will stay. Taking on 50 PT boats and 22 Fletchers at night with only 50% moonlight with BBs...Not something I would like to try.

I�ll also fly in every TB and DB I have in the area and fly in some 200 Hellcats and other expendable AC and set it on naval strike. If the base gets nuked I�ve not lost anything I�ll miss. If he does bombard and it fizzles...well it could be interesting!

(in reply to BBfanboy)

Post #: 1425

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 6:27:01 PM

jonreb31

Posts: 714
Joined: 11/26/2006
From: Santa Cruz, California
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He must know how incredibly risky it would be to bombard Cotabato even without your capital ships involved. And for what? At best he'll destroy some planes on the ground, but the pilots will live on.

At this stage of the war, from my POV, Japan should be looking almost solely at defense, well-timed counter attacks, and harassment-- whatever can reasonably cause the most damage per second and put some wrenches in the Allied war cogs. It'd be foolhardy to attempt to blockade or damage your current beachhead, especially so late as you mentioned. Maybe he doesn't want to play to your tune and is trying to draw you into another naval battle where the odds favor him? That requires a reaction on your part of course. He's already starting to miss quite a lot of critical mass but extra LBA can sometimes do the job.

Or it's all a feint. Keep your eyes on San Francisco!

< Message edited by JonReb -- 7/26/2013 6:44:03 PM >

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Post #: 1426

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 7:02:30 PM

JocMeister

Posts: 8262
Joined: 7/29/2009
From: Sweden
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: JonReb

He must know how incredibly risky it would be to bombard Cotabato even without your capital ships involved. And for what? At best he'll destroy some planes on the ground, but the pilots will live on.

At this stage of the war, from my POV, Japan should be looking almost solely at defense, well-timed counter attacks, and harassment-- whatever can reasonably cause the most damage per second and put some wrenches in the Allied war cogs. It'd be foolhardy to attempt to blockade or damage your current beachhead, especially so late as you mentioned. Maybe he doesn't want to play to your tune and is trying to draw you into another naval battle where the odds favor him? That requires a reaction on your part of course. He's already starting to miss quite a lot of critical mass but extra LBA can sometimes do the job.

Or it's all a feint. Keep your eyes on San Francisco!

Thats exactly my thinking too. But Erik has been very aggressive in past so it wouldn�t surprise me too much if he went for it.

You know what. You might be right with your second part. Hadn�t crossed my mind!

It actually makes a lot more sense for him to try and draw me to another CV battle at this point then bombarding Cotabato. That would explain the 500 bombers around Manilla too...could be a very elaborate trap indeed! But as you say that requires me to react and I won�t!

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Post #: 1427

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 7:03:56 PM

JocMeister

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AKAGI

Bah, not too unexpected I just got confirmation she wasn�t sunk.

I guess she will be out of action for quite some time though.

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Post #: 1428

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/26/2013 8:11:17 PM

JocMeister

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9th September -44

Besides the CV/BB combo moving into the Sulu sea we had a big air battle in Burma.

Burma
Not the day I had hoped. It all begins great with my sweeps crashing into a VERY big LRCAP.

quote:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 10
A6M5 Zero x 8
A6M5b Zero x 4
N1K1-J George x 13
N1K2-J George x 33
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 99
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 36
Ki-61-II KAI Tony x 6
Ki-84a Frank x 69

These are worn down with little loss during the AM phase. Interesting to see so many Oscars. I wonder if Erik hasn�t recovered his prime air frames yet. Unfortunately the bombers doesn�t go in until the PM phase and by then Erik has some LRCAP up again. Not as big but still very sizable.

quote:

A6M3a Zero x 7
A6M5 Zero x 5
A6M5b Zero x 4
N1K1-J George x 10
N1K2-J George x 25
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 60
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 23
Ki-61-II KAI Tony x 4
Ki-84a Frank x 44

I of course suffers a bit but not too badly. If it wasn�t for the RAF... I have no idea how they can continuously suffer 80% of the losses while only constituting 10% of the force.

RAF 4E pools are now critical after some 30 are lost after OPS are counted. On the plus side I only suffer 1 ace KIA (6 kills), 1 WIA (8 kills) and one MIA (5 kills). I gain 12 new aces and 1 double ace!

My armor also make the deliberate attack. By the looks of it Erik force is pretty hammered. My losses look worse than they are. The numbers are off in the report as the only units actually in the attack are 4 armoured units. The others popped into the hex the same turn and for some reason showed up in the report. Erik raw AV is halved!

quote:

Ground combat at 56,52 (near Pegu)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13140 troops, 278 guns, 1028 vehicles, Assault Value = 6451

Defending force 83230 troops, 1163 guns, 757 vehicles, Assault Value = 2444

Allied adjusted assault: 230

Japanese adjusted defense: 1122

Allied assault odds: 1 to 4

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1408 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 95 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 40 (10 destroyed, 30 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
361 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 52 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Guns lost 35 (5 destroyed, 30 disabled)
Vehicles lost 146 (13 destroyed, 133 disabled)

If his troops doesn�t manage to leave the hex next turn it will be a carnage. But I�m 99% sure he will reach Pegu before I can attack. His other stack reached Rangoon this turn. I don�t think they will hang around but will join the "eastern stack" at Pegu. He has to or risk being cut off. Forts or no forts I will make an all out attack at Pegu with my full stack (now 8000 AV) as soon as they arrive at Pegu. I will never get a chance to hit him in the open again. Make or break.

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< Message edited by JocMeister -- 7/26/2013 8:13:44 PM >

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Post #: 1429

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 9:06:16 AM

JocMeister

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I asked Erik to upload the replay in case he didn�t have time to do the turn. Sadly no replay, turn or word from Erik. So I�m still in the dark about Cotabato and if I managed to get to his troops in China.

Airwar
While things were very dire just some six months ago they have really brightened up despite very heavy combat with the SWPAC/SOPAC advance. Eriks withdrawal over Burma and everywhere else have given my pools time to recover. The current score is 25699 Japanese planes for 14505 allied. My scheme to use green pilots (50/70/70) in expendable airframes (P38/Hellcats) has increased my losses a bit. But I feel its worth it as its putting a toll on Erik and giving me a very healthy pool of fantastic pilots. As I gain aces in the green squadrons I phase them out replacing them with green pilots.

There are some concerns still lingering though. The RAF 4E pool is a disaster after the last turn losses. Same with the B29 pool with only 18 spare planes. Corsair pool is also really low but that because I have taken the luxury of upgrading most CV squadrons to Corsairs to make up for the recent losses in CVEs. If in a pickle I can always downgrade some squadrons to Hellcats which are plentiful.

US Army fighter pool is looking decent. I�m still on target with the P47 losses. P38 pool is looking really good with over 200 replacements. The P38 is feeling a bit outdated now though and is taking quite heavy losses.

British fighterpool is fantastic. 200 Spit VII and 100 Thunderbolt!

Wish they wern�t stuck with the crappy 16 plane squadrons and I had more squadrons.

Pilotspools are also in great shape with 2 exceptions. USN TB trained pilots are in really shortage and so is USAAF bomber GRND trained ones. I hope to remedy this by the time 44 is up.

Attached a screen of the top pilots down to the double aces.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 1430

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 9:11:39 AM

JocMeister

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Naval losses

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Post #: 1431

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 9:44:32 AM

Speedysteve

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Good luck in Burma. Will be massive if you can breakthrough here and storm down into Indo-China....good to see the progress you're making into Mindanao as well. A very nicely conducted campaign

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Post #: 1432

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 10:16:00 AM

JocMeister

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Thank you Speedy!

I did manage to maul two of his divisions and most of his arty before they reached Pegu! Could be significant for the battle of Pegu!

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Post #: 1433

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 10:36:52 AM

ny59giants

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Burma into Thailand - Why don't I see troops in your screenshot moving down from Taung Gyi into Thailand to threaten Chiang Mai?

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Post #: 1434

RE: Allied forces on Mindanao! - 7/27/2013 10:50:07 AM

JocMeister

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Burma into Thailand - Why don't I see troops in your screenshot moving down from Taung Gyi into Thailand to threaten Chiang Mai?

Because I�m "superstacking" at Pegu.

I want all my available AV at there. Besides it would take a month moving to Chiang Mai and with the rail there Erik can easily reinforce while mine would take a months or more to get there. Its to easy to block me there basically.

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Post #: 1435

KB in the Celebes Sea! - 7/27/2013 11:33:17 AM

JocMeister

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10th of September

Okey, I�m kicking myself here. Partly because I didn�t foresee what Erik was doing and partly because that man has more luck then the devil...

Celebes Sea
Erik sent the KB into the Celebes Sea.

Nothing goes for Cotabato. This caught me really off guard and I loose a some 50 (

) ships and 2 OZ engineer units. Also most of the support for 93rd ID went down in one of the convoys. The big Cargo TF that departed Cotabato didn�t make it and some 120.000 supply is lost together with some 20 xAKs.

This is not the first time Erik goes up against LBA with the KB and yet again he gets away without a scratch. Despite having a really piss poor CAP up of only 55 fighters they manage to shoot down 150 TBs, 50 DBs and 50 Hellcats for almost no own losses.

In the last attack only 9 fighters were still airborne but they still manages to shoot down 26 Helldivers.

So nothing new here...

I keep telling me his luck has to run out sometime but it never does.

So after raging for a few minutes

I take a look at the turn file and take a few deep breaths. When assessing the situation a bit more objectively I realise all this doesn�t matter much. I won�t miss the shipping or the troops. The only thing I will really miss are the TB pilots. So basically Erik didn�t achieve much besides giving away three important things:
-The location of the KB
-The fact that he knows where my CVs are. Or think he does...
-The KB is quite severely weakened judging by the strikes and I can easily take it on with what I currently have available.

-Knowing the location of the KB gives me the opportunity to launch a little surprise OP I have had brewing for a while. More on that later.
-I have been keeping a really close eye on my CV TFs and Sarmi and have not had any rise in DL. I think Erik might have made a mistake here. About a week ago he spotted my cripple CVE TF heading to Sydney for repairs. Could it be that he thought this was my CV fleet?

The biggest problem I have to face now is I�m short about 100 TB pilots. Since most of the TB planes were flown off my CVE fleet its now severely reduced in striking power until I can make up the losses. Not good and I have no clear solution on this right now.

Burma
Some better news here though. Erik didn�t manage to get everything out in time. Two IDs are severely mauled and most of his artillery will be out of action for a very long time. They certainly won�t be able to take part in the coming battle of Pegu!

quote:

Ground combat at 56,52 (near Pegu)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 152906 troops, 3118 guns, 2739 vehicles, Assault Value = 8154

Defending force 26288 troops, 459 guns, 219 vehicles, Assault Value = 829

Allied adjusted assault: 4284

Japanese adjusted defense: 142

Allied assault odds: 30 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
12987 casualties reported
Squads: 632 destroyed, 62 disabled
Non Combat: 449 destroyed, 227 disabled
Engineers: 90 destroyed, 28 disabled
Guns lost 386 (344 destroyed, 42 disabled)
Vehicles lost 145 (106 destroyed, 39 disabled)
Units retreated 3
Units destroyed 3

Allied ground losses:
870 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 133 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Guns lost 40 (2 destroyed, 38 disabled)
Vehicles lost 36 (5 destroyed, 31 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Provisionl Tank Brigade
5th Indian Division
6th Australian Division
36th Indian Division
41st Infantry Division
268th Motorised Brigade
18th British Division
50th Tank Brigade
20th Indian Division
IV Corps Engineer Battalion
27th Infantry Division
17th Indian Division
7th Indian Division
7th Infantry Division
255th Indian Tank Brigade
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
475th USA Regiment
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
2nd British Division
43rd Infantry Division
254th Armoured Brigade
11th (East African) Division
1st New Chinese Corps
XV Corps Engineer Battalion
9th Australian Division
2/11th Field Regiment
23rd AA Bde
XV Indian Corps
30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/13th Field Regiment
1st Indian Light AA Regiment
101st Heavy AA Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
Southeast Asia
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
118th Light AA Regiment
163rd Light AA Regiment
15th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Indian Heavy AA Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
IV Indian Corps
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
17th Indian Light AA Regiment
III Indian Corps
12th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
225 Group RAF
33rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Army
8th Mahratta AT Gun Regiment
1st West African AA Regiment

Defending units:
9th Division
38th Division
49th AA Machinecannon Company
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
50th Field AA Battalion
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
39th Field AA Battalion
69th Field AA Battalion
1st Air Defense AA Regiment
40th Field AA Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Mortar Battalion
9th RF Gun Battalion

This got to hurt for him. He lost a crapload of Arty and AA here hopefully giving my bombers a even greater impact at Pegu starting tomorrow. His "Western stack" will probably reach Pegu tomorrow adding another 2500 AV to his total numbers. I estimate he total AV at Pegu will be around 4000 against my 8000. Forts will be decisive.

Question
How many days will it approximately take for him to move out of the Pegu hex across the river towards Moulmain in combat mode? I would love for my own "western stack" to catch up with its 5500 AV but I doubt that's possible. Erik will probably leave some troops for slaughter at Rangoon to halt me for a turn.

While happy about the events in Burma the events in the Celebes Sea leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I will have to try and turn this into my advantage so the losses wasn�t in vain.

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Post #: 1436

RE: KB in the Celebes Sea! - 7/27/2013 1:14:12 PM

JocMeister

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Black day in the Celebes Sea
I just did a quick count. I lost 73 (crikey!) ships from 1 point LCIs up to 8 point xAP for a total of 475 VP. The Engineers and support troops lost was worth about 270 more VPs. Not a good day at all.

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Post #: 1437

RE: KB in the Celebes Sea! - 7/27/2013 1:24:05 PM

DOCUP

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That sucks Joc.

Burma looks good though.

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Post #: 1438

RE: KB in the Celebes Sea! - 7/27/2013 2:13:48 PM

Speedysteve

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Ouch indeed. The fun part of being Japan I guess is these small victories. Know what you mean though. I'd be very miffed and frustrated. More so at myself for not spotting it. I mean we have to have the all seeing eye right?

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Post #: 1439

RE: KB in the Celebes Sea! - 7/27/2013 2:24:56 PM

JocMeister

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Indeed! Sadly my all seeing eye was broken yesterday it seems!

Have to hand it to Erik though. I was a really, really nice move. Hats off to him. The thought he would move into the Celebes never crossed my mind. As so many times before it could have ended a lot worse for me so I won�t complain too much. And in the big scheme of things losing a bunch of LCI/LSTs/xAKs doesn�t matter at this stage for the allies. Everything lost (besides the TB pilots) are easily replaced. Now I just have to try and use this new found knowledge of the KB location to best effect.

He lost virtually no KB planes so he might hang around. I�m going to move my CVs forward and fill out the lost CVE strike planes with USMC DBs. If he hangs around I might catch up in two days.

Erik sent me a mail expressing some thought on the power of ground bombing in Burma. I think the word he used were "crap"!

He mentioned that I was able to do in Burma in a day took him a month in China. I told him that's not how I remembered it since he caused around 1000 losses each day for 6 months time regardless of terrain using a fraction of the bombload I�m using in Burma. So I wasn't generally too sympathetic towards his plight! But it did make me feel a little better!

< Message edited by JocMeister -- 7/27/2013 2:35:49 PM >

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Post #: 1440