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October Regions - 6 - 1/28/2006 1:25:01 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		A different set of circumstances exist in the Bay of Bengal. Here, because I moved back Malayan forces very early on to establish a credible defense in India, and because I equally quickly moved to establish a "jungle line" defense in Burma, Tophat is faced with the situation that the Japanese are on the defensive from a position of relative weakness. My bombers have closed Mandalay and are keeping it closed. Rangoon is the only significant Japanese air base in the region now, and there are multiple Allied air bases ringing it. BTW, Pagan and Tanug Gyi are both empty of troops, while there are 4 units and 30,000 Japanese troops in Mandalay.

One key decision that Tophat made was to not attempt to occupy Akyab. I pulled my base force out within a day of the start of the game and moved it to Trimcomalee. Akyab, of course, is well within bombing range of multiple Allied bases, which makes it a potential death trap and training ground for Allied air units.

But now that my forces are well established in the region and Mandalay is suppressed, I decided to reinvest Akyab and have a British naval base force on the march towards the base. I am deliberately marching the base force because Tophat still has substantial naval LBA in Rangoon and further south and I don't want to allow him to harass my forces until I can put CAP in place. Also, the port at Akyab is still at level "0" and I don’t want to expose transport ships to attack if they are trying to unload at an undeveloped port.

So once my base force reaches Akyab (which ought to be within the next few game-weeks) I'll first set the base force to build up the port and simultaneously fly in the three experienced Spitfire units that recently upgraded after a successful stint in China. With local CAP in place I will next use transports to fly the three Chindit units in for a serious defense. I am also going to convert my B-25s to B-24s in order to start a long range threat against Rangoon which will prevent Tophat from committing too many fighters to a war of attrition over Akyab. Finally, once the port reaches level "1" I'll send in some well defended transport TFs to build up supply levels.

BTW, I still have the RN intact and at full capability, so if Tophat tries to interfere with naval forces I will be able to protect the Akyab at sea too. My longer term plans are to suppress the air fields at Rangoon and then move troops into the Andaman Islands in order to threaten more of the Malaya coastline.

Dave Baranyi






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(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 571
October Regions - 7 - 1/28/2006 1:25:48 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		Finally, I have also been building up the Far North quite steadily. I moved all units that were assigned to Northern Pacific to Alaska and have been steadily building up the bases in the region. Anchorage is fully built up and Kodiak and Dutch Harbor are well on their way to completion. Even Nome is built to near completion.

In contrast, the Kuriles have been essentially ignored by Tophat with the exception of Paramushiro Jima and Etofuro Jima. I have not quite decided yet whether I will just do raiding in the Kuriles once Spring 1943 arrives, or start some invasions of the empty islands, but Sakhalin Island still stands tempting with its lightly guarded bases.

Dave Baranyi






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(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 572
Outclassed... - 1/28/2006 2:28:19 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 9 -

Tophat's new strategy has turned out to be quite painful and irritating for me; he has essentially taken the "hit and run" strategy that I was using and has turned it against me. But with his generally better and more experienced forces and his longer ranged aircraft he is able to now keep me pretty much off balance while simultaneously keeping continuous major air on his main targets. To give you example of the Japanese air power, today Tophat launched the following successful air attacks:

Hengchow: 12 fighters + 55 bombers
Sian: 40 fighters + 121 bombers
Chungking: 78 fighters + 79 bombers

At the same time he was able to ambush my Brewsters and Demons on bombing training runs over Kai with a crack Zero squadron that shot down 14 planes with no losses to the Zeros.

My response was an attack of 40 Warhawks and 118 Wellingtons on Mandalay. So while Tophat can put up three major long range escorted air attacks in a day, I can only put one in the air. And Tophat can still simultaneously rotate other crack fighter squadrons to shut down any bombing runs where I become less cautious.

So I'm pulling back some more and regrouping again. In about two weeks I ought to have enough P-38s to equip the AVG, after which I'll have a couple of weeks wait until the planes get repaired. Then I will have two good FGs that have longer range fighters. But Tophat can still put up more planes in the Far East than I can.

BTW - Tophat did another deliberate attack at Hengchow this turn:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Hengchow

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 187940 troops, 1796 guns, 144 vehicles

Defending force 108992 troops, 421 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 7)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 6

Japanese ground losses:
4947 casualties reported
Guns lost 108
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
1685 casualties reported
Guns lost 37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tophat took some large losses again, but he is slowly wearing down my forces.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 573
RE: Outclassed... - 1/28/2006 2:52:01 AM   
Tom Hunter


Posts: 2194
Joined: 12/14/2004
Status: offline 		I have run into much the same hit and run problem Vs. Mogami, on pretty much the same dates as well!

Mog is using KB to support his hit and runs which gives him a bit more hit.

Our situation in Burma is also similar but I am somewhat ahead of you, the British have retaken the country as far as the river line 2 hexes from Rangoon. As to be expected casualties (on both sides) are heavier in the Lunacy game.

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 574
RE: Outclassed... - 1/28/2006 3:26:43 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

I have run into much the same hit and run problem Vs. Mogami, on pretty much the same dates as well!

Mog is using KB to support his hit and runs which gives him a bit more hit.

Our situation in Burma is also similar but I am somewhat ahead of you, the British have retaken the country as far as the river line 2 hexes from Rangoon. As to be expected casualties (on both sides) are heavier in the Lunacy game.


I expect that Tophat will eventually succumb to "temptation" and send the KB out for some strikes too...just what I need, yet another 300 Japanese aces hitting my bases...

I'm impressed by how you've kept your land casualties down so well. Tophat just keeps hammering away at my Chinese forces every turn - his air units never seem to need to rest and his land units get to bombard continuously. He is obviously having no supply problems at all in China.

Oh well, he had better not moan when I finally get Corsairs and Hellcats...he will "owe" me about 18 game-months of "misery" on his part...

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to Tom Hunter)
Post #: 575
A Waste of Time... - 1/28/2006 5:29:48 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 10 -

When it gets down to it, it's all a matter of numbers. Right now, Tophat can put up huge numbers of bombers escorted by huge numbers of top rate fighters and I just can't match the quantity. Too few of my fighter groups have good experience and fewer have long enough range to escort my bombers. And too many of my fighter squadrons have uncompetitive planes or have reasonable planes with miniscule ranges. And in the end, the problem is to be able to bring enough good fighters together at the right base to have a chance to stop the Japanese assaults.

Once again this turn Tophat sent out unbeatable numbers of good planes with good pilots, and this time did it at an additional location:

Hengchow: 15 fighters, 53 bombers
Sian: 43 fighters, 123 bombers
Chungking: 76 fighters, 76 bombers
Darwin: 8 fighters, 40 bombers

The biggest losses were at Darwin where Tophat caught my Dutch and British fighters on the ground where they were recovering from the ambush at Kai Island the previous turn.

Right now I have no front line bases where I can rest my planes in between attacks, and Tophat has too many bases from which to attack the few decent bases that I have. I've now gone back to putting all of my fighters on CAP, despite the fact that there are thunderstorms in all of my defensive areas so that I will take high operational losses next turn just from the weather.

I wrote to Tophat that I better not hear any whining when I finally get some Corsairs, but that is still six game-months away.

Having non-competitive forces is not fun gaming. I really don't care how much the Japanese fanboys complain about Allied 4-engine bombers - a good Japanese player like Tophat can plan his way to negate the Allied long range bombers in late 1942 and because of the Game design, the Allied fighters that are available aren't competitive. And Tophat isn't even bothering to use the KB!

So I'm pulling my better units even further to the Rear and I'll upgrade them to the best of whatever is available. That will allow Tophat to take even more bases and blast those that he doesn't bother to take, but there is nothing that I can do about that. The window of opportunity that I had during the late summer of 1942 in this game has closed and I have to sit around and wait for another number of months before I can do anything resembling an attack.

I committed to Tophat that I would keep on playing, so I will, but I won't start any more games, nor will I recommend WitP to anyone any longer.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 576
RE: October Regions - 7 - 1/28/2006 4:14:21 PM   
KDonovan


Posts: 1157
Joined: 9/25/2005
From: New Jersey
Status: offline 		thats quite a lot of mines there in the North Pacific.....i'm curious as to what you use as mining assets. I find it hard to keep the N. Pacific mined with so many base's needing mines in CENPAC, SOPAC, and Australia.

Also..why did you pick Attu over Kiska....i thought Kiska as better port and airfield values

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 577
RE: A Waste of Time... - 1/28/2006 4:29:22 PM   
Tom Hunter


Posts: 2194
Joined: 12/14/2004
Status: offline 		Mogami is not upgrading Oscars at this time (or he is just starting too, the huge numbers of Tony's and Tojo's are not there yet) because of a self imposed limitation. So my situation is a bit better than yours but the fundamental issue is the same.

When he does upgarde I am going to have big problems too. Though I think the pilot quality gap in the lunacy game is narrower than the pilot quality gap in your game. That is one of the benefits of the high loss rate, the Japanese suffer some problems as well.

Part of my counter strategy is the two P40B groups in CBI the 23rd and the AVG. I use them very sparingly but from time to time I concentrate them either in big offensive raids with lots of bombers or put them both up as CAP over an important base.

The offensive raids have been very successful but to keep it that way I don't launch more than 1 a month or so. I also have a lot of Dutch groups in CBI, I sent the Dutch airforce there at the start of the war, so I can push the numbers of range 7 planes up into the 150 range with perhaps 110 bring P40Bs and the rest Dutch. This means I don't suffer the numbers effect in the combat system.

On the defensive I am concentrating my CAP more and more but I have not caught Mogami and Massacred him in Burma. I did manage to inflict some serious defeats in the air in China and his bombing campaign there is much reduced. Also he is now bombing an isolated Chinese unit regularly which tells me I must have hurt his pilots enough to force him into training.

I completely agree that PDU breaks the air game. And with the leader bug, disappearing units and all the rest I cannot reccomend the game either.

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 578
RE: October Regions - 7 - 1/28/2006 4:33:50 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: KDonovan

thats quite a lot of mines there in the North Pacific.....i'm curious as to what you use as mining assets. I find it hard to keep the N. Pacific mined with so many base's needing mines in CENPAC, SOPAC, and Australia.

Also..why did you pick Attu over Kiska....i thought Kiska as better port and airfield values


I've got that old slow US minelayer that starts out in the HI. I moved it to the West Coast then slowly went up north. Since Anchorage is a level 9 port I just keep on sending the ship, along with one old DD, on minelaying missions to all of the islands in the chain. I'm just trying to avoid allowing Tophat to sneak in any nuisance raids.

I use my DMs to mine my bases in the Central Pacific, South Pacific and Eastern Oz. Right at the beginning of the game I converted a bunch of AKs to MLEs (along with other support vessels such as ARs, ADs, AS and AGPs) so I don't have any problems reloading my minelayers in the island ports. I've also built up to Port level 9 every base that can be built that high.

As far as Attu goes, it's a bit of a "wash" between it and Kiska as far as base capacity goes, and I want every extra hex of distance that I can get for my naval search planes.

Thanks -

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to KDonovan)
Post #: 579
RE: A Waste of Time... - 1/28/2006 4:42:04 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

I completely agree that PDU breaks the air game. And with the leader bug, disappearing units and all the rest I cannot reccomend the game either.


The air balance was buggered up before PDU, when in v1.50 Mike W upgraded the capabilities of the Tonys and Tojos and downgraded the capabilities of the Allied bombers.

Without PDU I'd still be stuck with P-36s in Pearl. (Been there, done that.) The issue for me isn't the Tonys and Tojos, its the absolute numbers of good fighters that Tophat can bring into play. He is laying waste to Northern Australia with Zeros and Bettys. (That's thanks a large part to Mike W's change to the Bettys in v1.50 that gave them armaments and armor equivalent to B-25s.)

It's October 1942 and I still can't stand up to Zeros unless I use B-17s! The fighter model is totally buggered up as compared to the historical reality. (If this fighter model existed in the real 1942, we would all be writing here in Japanese, not English.)

And yes, I more than understand that this is a "game", and not a "historical simulation" - that's why I say that the Game is no fun to play as the Allies because the fighter model is buggered up.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to Tom Hunter)
Post #: 580
Regrouping... - 1/28/2006 11:38:27 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 11 -

My regrouping activities continued this turn without direct interruption from Tophat's forces. That's not to say that Tophat was quiet; his bombers hit Hengchow and Sian hard as well as the Philippine bases, and he sent out a lot of recon flights over China and northern Australia. But there were no more surprise strikes at my air fields. So I was able to pull more air units back and readjust my remaining frontline air units.

One big "WTF" moment came when a cruiser division bombarded Iloilo. Remnants of a Philippine base force and infantry unit are still there. They are the usual targets of Tophat's daily training flights, along with a "base force" in Cebu that actually consists only of two damaged sound detectors. (I "love" the fact that this bugger-all Game design leaves little bits and pieces for air practice… ) I have no idea why Tophat would bother doing this bombardment; I can't believe that he will bother to invade and capture the place. Maybe these are new ships and Tophat wants to get some training for them too.

Just to remind Tophat that he isn't "playing by himself" I did send out my Wellingtons today along with P-40Bs to hit Mandalay again. He seems to be putting more effort in to try to repair the air field; maybe he is "smelling blood" and thinks that he can restart his efforts in Burma. We’ll see how he reacts once I get that base force into Akyab.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 581
Strange Training... - 1/30/2006 7:15:11 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 12 -

Where are the Japanese subs? I've been wondering about this for game-weeks and finally today one Japanese sub showed up around half way between Baker Island and Palmyra. So, assuming that the sub will continue sailing to the Northeast, I ordered an ASW ship out to try to find it. But what about the rest of the Japanese subs? I occasionally see one between Canton Island and Baker Island, but not regularly. I wonder if Tophat has put his subs into a picket line of his own?

I don't have to ask where Tophat's bombers are located; 122 bombers and 78 fighters hit Hengchow today. Tophat sure wants to be certain that I don't interfere with his actions in southern China. Fortunately, no bombers hit Sian or Chungking which allowed more damage to be repaired in both bases. I finally got the last plane repaired and out of Chungking, which is a great relief. Now I've got almost all of my key air units in the CBI in well supplied and large backwater bases where I can start to upgrade them. For example, in another game-week I ought to be able to give those hotshots in the AVG some nice new toys to play with…

I sent a recon flight over Rangoon today for the first time. Tophat only has around 10K troops there and not a lot of fighters or bombers either. I'm sending another recon flight out again today, just to recheck things and to help get Tophat a little bit worried. In the meanwhile I'm sending the Wellingtons and the 23rd FG off to hit Mandalay again. I also ordered a Coronado squadron to recon Tarawa next turn. Tophat has been sending Nells from Tarawa to Canton Island; I'll return the favor and bother him a bit too.

I also had the Chinese bomb the Japanese troops long distance at Hengchow today, causing a surprisingly large number of casualties. That ought to irritate Tophat a bit. Maybe he will LR CAP Hengchow for a change. The Japanese haven't been suffering enough operations losses lately for my tastes.

The WTF moment of the day was when I saw that Tophat is training Rufes in the Philippines. What the Devil for? He must have run out of good planes to train.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 582
RE: Strange Training... - 1/30/2006 12:10:55 PM   
String


Posts: 2661
Joined: 10/7/2003
From: Estonia
Status: offline 		Well.. I think the rufes can be useful vs unescorted bombers. So he can station them in rear area bases that are in range of allied bombers but not in range of allied fighters.

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 583
RE: Strange Training... - 1/30/2006 1:06:23 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: String

Well.. I think the rufes can be useful vs unescorted bombers. So he can station them in rear area bases that are in range of allied bombers but not in range of allied fighters.


I can't wait to see a Rufe squadron try to intercept one of my B-17 groups that has been practicing against Zeros...

Thanks -

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to String)
Post #: 584
RE: October Regions - 6 - 1/30/2006 3:51:12 PM   
saj42


Posts: 1125
Joined: 4/19/2005
From: Somerset, England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

I am also going to convert my B-25s to B-24s in order to start a long range threat against Rangoon which will prevent Tophat from committing too many fighters to a war of attrition over Akyab......



One small question - don't you have any 'house rules' regarding PDU and converting 2e to 4e?

I'm most impressed by your mutually supporting bases in the South and Central Pacific - a sound doctrine and well implemented. It would be 'interesting' to see Tophat make a move in this area; it seems to me his (cautious) style of play would suffer badly there.

_____________________________


Banner by rogueusmc

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 585
RE: October Regions - 6 - 1/30/2006 6:26:48 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!


quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

I am also going to convert my B-25s to B-24s in order to start a long range threat against Rangoon which will prevent Tophat from committing too many fighters to a war of attrition over Akyab......



One small question - don't you have any 'house rules' regarding PDU and converting 2e to 4e?

I'm most impressed by your mutually supporting bases in the South and Central Pacific - a sound doctrine and well implemented. It would be 'interesting' to see Tophat make a move in this area; it seems to me his (cautious) style of play would suffer badly there.


As far as 2E to 4E goes, "house rules, house fools" - the only house rule we set at the beginning was that we would limit ourselves to 4 escort dedicated ASW TFs. And that's an easy one for me because I almost always use single ship ASW TFs.

If you've been following my "rants" here and elsewhere you can tell that I am generally unhappy with the number of advantages that have been given to the Japanese side in Game - the ability to change factories and aircraft build types alone allows the Japanese player to maintain air superiority months and months after historical parity was reached. Tophat changes Oscars to Tojos, so I change B-18s to B-24s - "what's good for the goose is good for the gander".

Anyway, with the upgrades to the Tojos and Tonys in v1.50, along with the downgrades to 4E bombers in the same Game revision, the old days of an Allied player simply bombing everything within range into oblivion are long gone. An Allied player can't close down a Japanese air base without bringing along good long range escorts, and the Allied player is at a huge disadvantage here for the first 12 game-months.

Never-the-less, I don't like to upgrade all of my 2Es to 4Es because 2Es operate much better out of level 4 airfields that 4Es. As I've mentioned before, "numbers are everything", and I much prefer to have a full Group of B-25s hitting an enemy airfield than a partial Group of B-17s. Anyway, the v1.50 revision also gave 2E bombers more "teeth", although the Japanese 2Es should not have been moved on par with B-25s, but I'll take everything that I can get.

So, do it strike me as "unfair" that I will upgrade that B-25 Group in India and have a group of B-24s there before B-24s historically arrived in India? Not in the least bit. It hasn't bothered Tophat to put into China hundreds of Tojos, Tonys, crack Zeros and crack bombers that were trained on deliberately by-passed bases in the Philippines.

As "everyone" keeps on telling me, this is a "Game", not a historical simulation, and I want to have a chance to win the game.

As far as the South Pacific goes, that is a good example of where longer-range 2E bombers are priceless - there are lots of bases there that can only be upgraded to a level 4 airfield; that's perfect for swarming with B-25s or B-26s but not so good for 4Es. By building up lots of bases I can have a mix of planes - 4Es, 2Es, Dive bombers and eventually Torpedo bombers - all mutually supporting each other. And since I've maintained both my surface combat and naval air combat forces intact Tophat can't just try to shut me down with bombardment TFs or the KB. If he wants to go in and not get hammered, he has to bring "everything" and take his chances with the "roll of the dice".

BTW - it wouldn't surprise me to see Tophat try a "last minute" dash to grab Noumea in an attempt to grab AV at the very end of 1942. But I've set up my forces in anticipation of that and I think that I can counter that quite nicely and maybe even turn it into a very costly trap for him.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to saj42)
Post #: 586
RE: October Regions - 6 - 1/30/2006 7:24:55 PM   
saj42


Posts: 1125
Joined: 4/19/2005
From: Somerset, England
Status: offline 		I don't want to hijack your AAR with discussions on PDus etc, but you are right - PDU favours Japan because the Allies CANNOT alter their Production levels. OK, so some here will counter that it does cost a lot of supply to 're-tool' the aircraft and engine factories, but at least the Japs can change out their obsolete a/c faster/earlier than the Allies.

Well thats my impression - for what it's worth - NOW BACK TO THE WAR

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 587
RE: Regrouping... - 1/30/2006 11:35:33 PM   
anarchyintheuk

 

Posts: 3921
Joined: 5/5/2004
From: Dallas
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

October 11 -

One big "WTF" moment came when a cruiser division bombarded Iloilo. Remnants of a Philippine base force and infantry unit are still there. They are the usual targets of Tophat's daily training flights, along with a "base force" in Cebu that actually consists only of two damaged sound detectors.

Dave Baranyi



I usually have an excess of PA replacements because I forget to evac a div or two and you can never have enough base forces, even the small ones. Might as well evac those two from Iliolo.


(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 588
Kicking Some Mongol Butt... - 1/31/2006 1:24:58 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 13 -

We'll have to feed this one to the propaganda machine at home - a Japanese attack has been thrown back!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Lanchow

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13414 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 4400 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
336 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, so that wasn't very much, and those Mongolian Cavalry units had been pounded for weeks and were virtually cut off from supply, but any good new is welcome.

Tophat also took some time this turn to "pick on" some helpless Allied units; he landed troops at one of the by-passed Philippine bases - Iloilo. There is a tiny remnant of a Philippine infantry unit there, along with two damaged Sound Detectors that are all that are left from a Base Force. I'm just amazed that those two units still exist at all after being used for aerial target practice; day after day, month after month. Never fear, Tophat still has a trapped Philippine army unit in Cebu to use for training.

In other news, Japanese planes bombed Hengchow hard again, but only recon flights were sent over Sian, Chungking, Wuchow and the other Chinese frontline bases. Tophat also sent a Zero sweep over Darwin, but there was "no one home". This was followed by a Betty attack, but the Betties suffered more damage from operations and flak than they caused. Tophat also sent a Zero strafing attack on Derby, but there wasn't anything there to attack.

I've got better things to do than let Tophat attack my planes on the ground; one of which was another strong Wellington attack on Mandalay in order to keep the airfield closed. I had the 23rd FG in their P-40Bs along for escort duties, just in case Tophat tried something "sneaky" again. But Tophat instead put a second fighter unit in Rangoon as I expected and he may even put in more now that I've sent a recon flight over Rangoon for the second day in a row.

But it will be a while before I start to bomb Rangoon. Today I replaced the B-25s in that bomber group in India with B-24s. It will be a couple of weeks before the unit is at full strength and I won't use it until then. Around that time I ought to also have enough P-38s to re-equip the AVG. Together they ought to do a "nice" job on Rangoon, particularly if I send the 23rd FG along for fun. BTW - upon a second look, thanks to the recon flight, it appears that Tophat has around 15K troops in Rangoon. That's fine, the more to bomb, the merrier.

It will also be a couple of weeks before my Brit Base Force finally completes the long overland trip to Akyab. I'm hoping that the bombers and fighters are ready in time to hit Rangoon just as Tophat realizes that I've brought troops back to Akyab. And just in case Tophat decides to try some "Tokyo Express" runs at Akyab, I'm moving the Brit BBs back up to the Bay of Bengal.

In one other bit of preparatory misdirection, my Coronados flew over Tarawa today for the first time. It will be interesting to see what Tophat does in response. I've also sent a newly upgraded and repaired fast battle group on its way to the Line Islands in order to provide some nearby firepower in case of a raid by the Japanese surface fleet in that region too.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to anarchyintheuk)
Post #: 589
RE: Regrouping... - 1/31/2006 1:26:27 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk


quote:

ORIGINAL: ADavidB

October 11 -

One big "WTF" moment came when a cruiser division bombarded Iloilo. Remnants of a Philippine base force and infantry unit are still there. They are the usual targets of Tophat's daily training flights, along with a "base force" in Cebu that actually consists only of two damaged sound detectors.

Dave Baranyi



I usually have an excess of PA replacements because I forget to evac a div or two and you can never have enough base forces, even the small ones. Might as well evac those two from Iliolo.




The problem is that all that is left from the Base Force is a couple of damaged Sound Detectors, and they won't fit on board submarines.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to anarchyintheuk)
Post #: 590
A Lost Base... - 1/31/2006 6:53:04 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 14 -

For the first time in a long time the Japanese captured an Allied base. Now, that's not too unexpected, because the base was the by-passed Philippine base Iloilo and the two pitiful remnants of Philippine units there were captured by a full Japanese division! I'm guessing that this was a division of former paper pushers who need easy experience.

Otherwise, things were fairly normal. Tophat sent large air attacks on Hengchow and Sian and sent out recon planes to most other fronts. I had my planes on the ground for the most part.

I received my usual mid-month reinforcements. There were lots of engineers, two fighter bomber groups and my first land-based Avenger squadron. I'm sending most everyone out to the South Pacific. I also sent more combat ships to Pearl. Everything takes a while, but it is slowly getting in place.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 591
Moving out... - 2/1/2006 3:28:23 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 15 -

Tophat continued his focus on Hengchow this turn and in addition to the regular heavy bombardments he also sent more troops to participate in the siege. But Sian wasn't forgotten and it received its usual aerial bombardments. Tophat also tried a sneak attack on the airfield at Sinning from where I had sent Chinese bombers to hit the retreating Mongolian Cavalry. But I had already pulled those air units out so there was nothing for the Japanese bombers to hit. The rest of China just had to put up with aerial reconnaissance flights.

At the same time I hammered Mandalay again with the Wellingtons. My recon tells me that there are now only three units in Mandalay, down from four. There is also a small Japanese unit on the road away from Mandalay. I'm guessing that unit was probably just pulled from Mandalay so that it can be sent for R&R.

The other big news is that I am sending out my fleet submarines again after they spent the last several months in ports being repaired and receiving upgrades. Each day as more subs get repaired down to reasonably low levels I am sending them out to patrol different regions. Since it is still 1942 and the US torpedo problems are still present I don't expect the subs to sink many ships, but now that they have radar I hope that they spot more ships.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 592
Mine futility... - 2/1/2006 3:29:16 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 16 -

For whatever reason I never seem to have much luck with mining, whether its offensive mining or defensive mining. For example, the poor old Argonaut finally left port to go mine Lautem after being under repair for game-months. The Argo (which hasn't been upgraded) laid its mines and left on its slow journey back to an MLE. Two turns later a TF of Japanese APDs comes into port, detects the mines, and sweeps most of them with no hits on the APDs. Oh well, at least I know that Tophat is doing some sort of "Tokyo Express" run to Timor.

In the main site of the action, China, Tophat sent a couple of big air attacks on Hengchow again, followed by a big air attack on Sian. My forces "replied" with a little raid by some Chinese bombers on some of the Japanese troops besieging Hengchow. I'm sending the Wellingtons out after Mandalay again this turn, so they ought to do better.

Otherwise, not a lot else happened, other than my slow, steady and continuous movement of reinforcements to my front lines. Slow times…

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 593
The Last Days of Cebu... - 2/1/2006 6:04:01 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 17 -

The last unoccupied Allied base in the Philippines, Cebu, is under imminent threat of finally being taken over as Tophat started to land troops there this turn. I guess that he figures that he can get all the air training he needs in China and can afford to take the points associated with the remaining Allied straggler bases within the Japanese lines.

Other than that, the rest of the action was, as usual, in China. Two large air attacks hit Hengchow and a single very big air attack hit Sian. The Brit Wellingtons slammed Mandalay again in return. Tophat is starting to get a bit nervous about Rangoon as I have continued to send recon flights over on a daily basis. My Naval Base Force is still a couple of game-weeks away from Akyab, so Tophat doesn't have anything to worry about yet. But he will soon enough.

I was surprised to see for a second time that no Japanese CAP came up to meet my Coronados as they flew over Tarawa. Tophat must be feeling quite secure with the KB nearby in the Marshalls. That's fine, the time is coming closer when that area will be awakened from its long sleep.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 594
Cebu Falls - Training Goes "Real"... - 2/1/2006 11:57:40 PM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 18 -

The final chapter on the Japanese invasion of the Philippines was closed this turn as more troops landed at Cebu and then captured the base in one deliberate attack. Tophat is already making good use in China of the bombers and fighters that used to be trained in the Philippines. For example, this turn in addition to attacks on Hengchow and Sian, Tophat also sent planes in to hit Kungchang, although the Kungchang attack accomplished nothing.

What was interesting this turn was that Tophat sent unescorted bombers in to hit Hengchow. Is he reallocating his fighters, perhaps to confront my air offensive in Burma? Recon of Rangoon showed only one Zero daitai in Rangoon this turn. My bet is that he is setting up to try to "hunt" more Allied planes in China.

I've got most everything pulled out of China right now as I get ready to start a new air offensive in Burma next month. The AVG should be able to upgrade to P-38s next turn, and by the time that they are all ready (probably in two to three game-weeks) my B-24s should be ready too. (I'm not going into a critical battle with partial air groups - I want them at full strength and well rested.)

In the South Central Pacific, Tophat still doesn't have any CAP up over Tarawa. That area is getting more and more interesting. Once the AVG has been upgraded to P-38s I'll likely use the next "crop" of P-38s to upgrade some of the Central and South Pacific fighter units. (I've already got plenty of bombers in the region.)

Tophat mentioned this turn that his destroyers are now all "upgraded". So it appears that during this lengthy lull in the action both sides have been preparing for future "apocalyptic encounters". I continue to send out upgraded and repaired fleet submarines. Soon I will have a much better idea of what is going on behind the Enemy lines than I do now.

As far as major combined arms offensives go, I'm now looking to wait until early 1943 to start any. It would be a shame to go into a naval air battle while the Allied carriers are still under the "single ship" constraint if I don't have to do so. Instead I'll start to do more LBA attacks and maybe a few surface TF raids just to probe the Japanese defences.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 595
A Quick Note... - 2/2/2006 6:21:06 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 19 -

Pretty much, "same old, same old"... Hengchow, Sian and Kungchang were bombed. A deliberate attack on Hengchow reduced the fortifications by 1 but cost the Japanese a lot of casualties. Rain happened all over the map...

And the AVG got its long awaited new toys...

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 596
Getting Antsy... - 2/3/2006 1:43:32 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 20 -

Tophat continues to put the pressure on China. He has brought yet more troops to Hengchow and continues his aerial bombardments of Hengchow, Sian and now Kungchang. Fortunately, Tophat doesn't seem to have enough air units to hit Wuchow along with the other three.

But Tophat is no dummy and today he sent a small air raid against Akyab to hit the air fields there. It will still be a while before my Brit Naval Base Force makes it to Akyab (thanks to the "mile a day rule" that could have only been invented by a total and complete moron…) so it will be interesting to see how much damage Tophat can do before my troops make it there. I've decided to "up the ante" and I've ordered more troops to take the long slow march to Akyab too. I've also moved my three good Spitfire units up close so that they can eventually fly in to provide air support. (I don't want to start to fly in troops until I've got CAP in the base.) The only thing that is keeping Tophat at all in check is my Wellington/P-40B attacks on Mandalay. As such, the Brits and 23rd FG did another good job today.

I'm starting to get antsy about Tophat's general intentions. It's obvious that he wants to crush my outer defense line in China and attack Chungking, but I believe that I can hold him off for the next two and a half game months. However, Chungking isn't enough to give Tophat the Auto Victory that he wants; he also has to reduce my current totals (I've got around 6300 points versus Tophat's 14,300 points). The key to this is Noumea, thanks once again to an incomprehensible value of 1200 points for the Allies. (See my comment above about the mile-a-day rule…) If Tophat can capture Chungking he gets 5600 points and if I lose Noumea I lose 1200 points, which puts Tophat right at the edge of an Auto Victory.

Given that situation, I've decided to step up my schedule and start to move troops into Noumea ahead of my original plans. Fortunately, I've got troops, transports, warships and carriers in the region. I'll be sweating things for the next few game-weeks, but if Tophat doesn't move during the next two-game weeks I ought to be able to set up a defense in New Caledonia that can hold off a Japanese assault. The one thing on my side is that Tophat has committed so many troops to China, so at least he can't bring a half dozen crack divisions to play in an invasion down there.

One surprising note from the SIGINT folks this turn; Kai Island, where I had been getting freebie practice until Tophat decided to bring hundreds of Bettys and Zeros to Timor, has a construction engineering unit in it. I had thought that there was only a small combat unit. I wonder if he snuck that unit in via Fast Transport?

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 597
Database Headaches Again... - 2/3/2006 4:18:22 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline 		October 21 -

Hmmm - something's funny here. SIGINT gave me yet another "4th Division is planning an attack on Canton Island" message. Previously 4th Division was identified as b in the Philippines. But a game-week ago I recorded 4th Division as being in Wuchow! The question is - am I being duped by Tophat, or did I mistakenly place the last location of the 4th Division as Wuchow instead of Wotje, which is the line above Wuchow on my spreadsheet! (And uncomfortably close to Canton Island!) So I re-ran the Combat Replay and sure enough, when the Japanese bombardment attack at Wuchow started the 4th Division showed up there, shelling away with the rest of the gang. Now I wonder if Tophat is trying to dupe me or has just forgotten to reset the objective of the 4th Division. If it's the latter, I hope that he forgot for more units too.

In other odd news, I tried to slip the Truant past Singapore and into the South China Sea, and the sub was not only spotted but it was also attacked by an ASW TF. Fortunately no damage was done. (I have a feeling that I'm watching a remake of "Das Boot" here…)

Tophat must also be getting a bit paranoid about things in the Bay of Bengal because he sent a recon flight over the Andaman Islands this turn. Maybe he thinks that I'm planning to Fast Transport some troops into the base. (I am, but that's only after I neutralize Rangoon.)

In one other response to my activities, Tophat finally put some Zeros into Tarawa to meet my recon flight. He has also started to recon some of my South Pacific bases, but he finds Wildcats at all of them.

And, of course, Tophat continued with his daily aerial bombardments of Hengchow, Sian and Kungchang. All of my bases were rained in but that didn't stop the Japanese from flying in and hitting hard. I'm also not doing anything in India at the moment because every base is closed with thunderstorms.

Ah, the "wonders" of the @#$%^&* database and data structure in this game. On top of the return of Bad Weather Everywhere, my new air replenishment CVE is taking on pilots with experience of 40!!!!!!! Where does the Game find them? I have 600+ USN pilots who are supposed to have 55+ experience. And today the Pennsylvania finally got its system damage down to "3" in Seattle, and it didn't upgrade! It is still waiting for the April 1942 upgrade, let alone any October 1942 upgrade. I wonder if this upgrade was forgotten in the database too, as was the case in other 20-knot US BBs in the earlier versions of this game.

Of course, as "everyone" keeps on telling me; "Wait for 1943." Oops, wait a minute - they're now saying "Wait for 1944." Hmmm… does that mean that the Game is so buggered up that I now have to play for 700 turns before I can start to win battles?

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 598
RE: Database Headaches Again... - 2/3/2006 5:35:50 AM   
BLurking


Posts: 199
Joined: 3/24/2005
From: Frisco, TX
Status: offline 		David,

Relax - sounds like you are winning and don't know it yet .
You've kept his score low, so you must have preserved much of your starting assets. The problem seems to be that BOTH scores are pretty low, thus the proximity (relatively speaking) to the magic 4-1 ratio. Time for you to pick a safe objective, and force the issue. Attrition battles favor the Allies, but you can't attrit (sp?) if you don't engage. Start prepping for an offensive now, you'll have the necessary assets (LR fighters, etc.) in place by the time your LCUs have enough PPs.

End of '42 is the time for the Allies to quit worrying about IJN offensives, and make the IJN worry about Allied offensives...

Brian

Oh, and I frequently use Chinese (and especially Manchuko garrison) LCU objectives to 'spoof' the Allied sigint. I'm sure that's what your opponent is up to.

< Message edited by BLurking -- 2/3/2006 5:37:07 AM >

(in reply to ADavidB)
Post #: 599
RE: Database Headaches Again... - 2/3/2006 6:08:15 AM   
ADavidB


Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: BLurking

David,

Relax - sounds like you are winning and don't know it yet .
You've kept his score low, so you must have preserved much of your starting assets. The problem seems to be that BOTH scores are pretty low, thus the proximity (relatively speaking) to the magic 4-1 ratio. Time for you to pick a safe objective, and force the issue. Attrition battles favor the Allies, but you can't attrit (sp?) if you don't engage. Start prepping for an offensive now, you'll have the necessary assets (LR fighters, etc.) in place by the time your LCUs have enough PPs.

End of '42 is the time for the Allies to quit worrying about IJN offensives, and make the IJN worry about Allied offensives...

Brian

Oh, and I frequently use Chinese (and especially Manchuko garrison) LCU objectives to 'spoof' the Allied sigint. I'm sure that's what your opponent is up to.


Thanks for the comments Brian. But I'm still not sure that an "attrition" strategy is a viable way for an Allied player to win. Certainly I haven't seen many AARs here where the Allied player has started to close in on an Allied Auto Victory.

My gut feeling, from playing this game since it first came out, and from reading many AARs, is that the Allied player has to crush the Japanese player, which means crushing the KB, then play "Pacman" with the Japanese bases. The key is - how to crush the KB without losing too many points and losing too much offensive capability?

I'm also not certain that slugging it out on low value outer perimeter bases is such a good idea either. I want to bypass those heavily fortified atolls and go onto attack non-atoll bases that are worth more points. But it all gets down to control of the air. Tophat can put up 600 first class long range fighters right now. The reality is that I won't be able to match that until mid-1943, and then only if I don't fritter away my planes first.

But I've also got to be able to survive all the little things that cumulatively go wrong with the Game. If my ships don't upgrade to get radar, then they are ships that are useless to me. If my replacement aircraft come in with experience 40 pilots then there are a bunch of planes that I can't send into battle. If it rains 90% of the time over my bases then I can neither train my pilots nor fly my planes.

And when it gets down to it, I'm tired of playing turn after turn, month after month (of real time) and not being able to commit my forces with a good hope of success except in few very limited situations. I don't find the Game Design "fun" to play as an Allied player. I'm playing it still out of stubborness, to see if it really can be won, but I don't believe it can be.

And I still have to be terribly careful. Sure, I've got all my starting forces, but so does Tophat. And PzB and others have shown how the Japanese player can keep on with successful offensives well into 1943.

Once again, thanks for the comments. I'm sorry that I'm blowing steam so often here, but this is so close to being a great game that it kills me to stumble into the game's shortcomings time after time.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to BLurking)
Post #: 600
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