Bullwinkle58
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Joined: 2/24/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mind_messing quote:
ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58 quote:
ORIGINAL: mind_messing Chengtu lies abandoned, no idea why, and a mixed brigade has been detached to occupy that base. 7k Chinese AV in Kunming, against 3k Japanese AV. I'll move most of my AV to help with the seige of Chungking and leave a screening force in case the Chinese like the odds of attacking IJA troops in the mountains with low supply. No idea how much Chinese AV is in Chungking, but I'd wager around the 3-4k mark. Chungking is the priority base; don't want the Chinese respawning to fight again, even if I'd like the VP's. Question to you, Bullwinkle. Is bombing the industry in Chungking/Kunming worth it? Does it reduce the length of the seige? Re Chengtu: as soon as you take it count on it being firebombed. Loka. knows how much supply it generates. It can be reached from Ledo, Imphal, Lashio, etc. If it's out of the supply business the siege supply for Chungking has to be hauled farther, with hex losses. If you take this base you should have fighters there immediately, else leave it for now. It's funny how a little knowledge of your opponents playstyle allows you to draw together odd scraps of inteligence. Ledo, along with the rest of Assam, has underwent a significant expansion. I assumed this was to support a late '42 Burma campaign (lots of LCU's in Akyab and Cox's Bazzar), but I suspect a strategic bombing campaign against China might be his goal. Yeah, we all have scraps of other games floating around our noggins. In my case Loka had read my AAR versus Mike and knew about the China Bug-Out Plan. Me, in only my second game and not knowing Loka at all, tried it again and I'm still paying for it. (Paoshan just fell today.) I traded time for space and he took both, with tanks being preeminent. OTOH, as soon as I lost Chengtu I bombed it from Ledo, taking about 85 LI and some other industry. Ledo is a cocked gun pointed at China, really forever unless Burma is a total collapse. It's one cost of Japan taking all of China. It can be burnt down. Ledo might be built for a Burma campaign, or strat bombing, or to supply Imphal's sector, or other things. Generally it's just BUILT. Prime location, on rails, easily supplied. Akyab/Cox/Chittagong is a different story to me. Akyab is in the Top-5 most important hexes on the map for 1942 Allies. It is on the railroad and leads into the heart of India without break. It leads to Calcutta first, which is the key to all of NE India. I have done everything I can to hold that 3-base string. I lost Lexington and two RN carriers (and took Kaga) in a preemptive effort. I have virtually all of my IO navy--about 15 good cruisers and DDs, operating out of Calcutta, prowling that corner. I recon Rangoon constantly looking for TF loading. I have most of my CBI air force in that corner as well. Torpedo HQs. Frantic digging. Huge, 70-ship transport effort to shove supply into Chittagong to hold as well as supply interior Burma. The Allies can't lose Akyab. In our game I think he's going in there as soon as Lashio falls and he can flood the north with troops. (He has Mandalay/Schwebo.) I have Imphal and the jungle. And time if I get it. It will be close. I'll have fighters detailed to fly in to Chengtu on the date that it's captured. Nates won't do anything to B-17s, but they've not had a chance to fight the CAF much. In Ledo he'll mostly have RAF 4Es. Nowhere as good as B-17s, or as durable. Oscars might do it. quote:
It's hard to do Chungking and Kunming at the same time. K. also makes a lot of supply and he probably has Forts 5/6 there. To me the two have different purposes. I'd do C. if I wanted the VPs, the big industrial base, and to turn off re-spawning. I'd do K. if I was heading into the mountains to drive to the Irrawaddy through Lashio and unify the theaters. They have different challenges and could require different LCU selections. My dispositions force me to remove Chungking from my rear and join my two stacks in China together for Kunming. My forces at Kunming have a great deal of infantry, but little artillery, while the stack north of Chungking has plenty of artillery tubes, but lacks the raw AV required to break Chungking. So joining them together is a must No matter what, with re-spawning Chungking is a grind. Arty doesn't help with Forts much. You need tanks and/or lots of engineers, plus odds. And Chungking's LCUs to fight at 25% due to zero supply. If your tanks are elsewhere . . . hmm. It's my own fault - I'd anticipated a hard fight from Nanyang to Sian, and the swift collapse of that front threw my dispositions off. Combined with the wholesale Chinese withdrawal, Loka. may have bought himself more time by running away than he would have if he'd fought me every step of the way. I think he did for sure. Too many Allied players fight over every city in China. You can't win that. quote:
I have over 8000 AV in Chungking against Loka., but it's Chinese AV (arty light, no tanks, very low-anti-hard) and a good bit of it is at zero supply. He has bombed HI/LI severely, but late in the effort shifted to Resource bombing, which shuts off LI if the base is isolated and hexes to nearby Chinese Resources are closed. That N-something base to the NW of Chungking is a big Resource generator. So it depends on your order of operations re Chungking. Once you have units in-hex the internal Resources shut down and LI is running on stocks. Loka didn't put LCUs in-hex and still hasn't. But he shut down the industry. Of course, when the base falls he doesn't have that supply or the 200+ HI per day he would have had without the bombing. But he went down that branch of the decision tree. It's a valid choice, but nothing is free. If playing for auto-vic it's probably the lowest cost choice for Japan given Chungking has virtually no anti-air capability. Chungking is very nearly complete isolated, and troops will be moving in-hex shortly. The consolation I have is that I'll not face 8000 AV at Chungking. Even 5000 would be a stretch. That said, there's 7k Chinese AV in Kunming, and that's a x3 hex (Chungking is just a x2), which more than makes up for it. Loka's move is excellent in that I lose out no matter what choice I take. Focus on Chungking and I lose the chance of getting the bulk of Manchurian and Chinese divisions to Burma. Focus on Kunming and the Chinese deny me the industry and the ability to shut down Chinese LCU respawns. Yep. Both is very hard. If you've also gone on an Oz vacation maybe not do-able. quote:
Loka still has not hit the city on the ground. I don't know what he'll use and how well the Forts will hold. Elsewhere he has been very efficient in using tanks combined with at least 2:1 odds to eat down my Forts. He's very patient. I expect he is in the defense as well. That's not encouraging. Most of the IJA tanks that start in China are up at the far-northern oil centers, while most of the Manchurian tanks have been sent off to Austrailia to give the IJA there some more mobility. I can scrape some together, but the IJA will need to resort to the WW1 method of clearing fortifications: big artillery guns and lots of infantry. The distance to Urumchi is enticing for tank use, but it's a mirage. There's not enough oil up there to matter, and a lot of it won't flow to Shanghai or the coast. Your tanks are far, far better employed in sieges.
< Message edited by Bullwinkle58 -- 3/26/2014 7:30:32 PM >
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