RE: Lies, D@mn Lies, and Statistics...

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> After Action Reports >> RE: Lies, D@mn Lies, and Statistics...

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RE: Lies, D@mn Lies, and Statistics... - 10/7/2005 4:40:59 PM

ADavidB

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Finally, here are the top air losses. Notice that 8 or the top 10 aircraft are Japanese.

Dave Baranyi

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RE: Lies, D@mn Lies, and Statistics... - 10/7/2005 7:02:23 PM

anarchyintheuk

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Random comments:

It's nice to see that flak is effective. Having a better than 1-1 ratio for air losses through the middle of April is pretty amazing. Your strategy of denying points is working well. Good to see that you've accumulated that many RAF replacement pilots.

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 212

RE: Lies, D@mn Lies, and Statistics... - 10/7/2005 8:09:18 PM

ADavidB

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

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Random comments:

It's nice to see that flak is effective. Having a better than 1-1 ratio for air losses through the middle of April is pretty amazing. Your strategy of denying points is working well. Good to see that you've accumulated that many RAF replacement pilots.

It takes a lot to "resist temptation", but I've thrown away too many planes and pilots in previous games to want to do it again this game. Eventually one of two things will happen:

1 - Tophat will bring his forces to one of my heavily defended areas where I can bring local superiority in forces to bear and fight on my terms

or

2 - Tophat will stand pat in something like the historical gains and I will eventually bring a local superiority in forces against some weak point in his defenses, as the Allied actually did

What I want to continue to avoid is finding myself in a position where Tophat can grind down my useful forces by means of creating his own local superiority.

Thanks for the comments -

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 213

Rain, rain, go away... - 10/7/2005 8:11:18 PM

ADavidB

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April 12 -

Tophat's bombardment TF did go to Koepang and caused a lot of general damage, as expected. But there were no planes, and the air field damage is actually quite light. Since I put a fair amount of supplies there earlier, there are still enough to keep my troops "in the black" and allow for the air field to be repaired. Although I could rush some bombers back into Koepang I won't bother because Tophat's ships will be back under the protection of CAP by next turn anyway.

Tophat's troops also captured Pomala this turn. I suspect that the raid on Koepang was part of a plan to keep my LBA out of the way while Tophat goes after the various empty bases between Timor and Sumatra. I'll let him think that this is succeeding until he actually has some "soft" task forces in range, then I'll bring my bombers back in for some raids.

Speaking of air raids, Tophat must have also noticed his bomber losses due to flak because his air attacks this turn were at much higher altitudes than before. Never-the-less, the Japanese bombers still suffered flak and operational losses. But thanks to rain that covered the entire Pacific Rim as far as my bases were concerned, I also had a number of operational losses and damage to my fighters on training. This is a very irritating aspect of this game, but one that is not amenable to sensible action since the only "cure" is to keep all fighters and fighter bombers set to "stand down".

Another less-than-enjoyable aspect of the Game's programming logic reared its idiot head this turn in Burma. I set a Brit infantry group in Lashio to go to Asanol in order to let it rest and recover from spending months in the malarial jungles. But this turn I noticed that the unit was one hex from Mandalay. The idiot AI sent my unit along the "railroad", right towards the now heavily fortified enemy base of Rangoon, instead of having the unit go up the trail to the east. So I've had to order that unit to go back to Lashio, then I'll have to send it along its way to Asanol one hex at a time.

BTW - a fourth infantry division arrived at Pearl Harbor today and started to unload. Speaking of transports - that @#$%^ Japanese sub I-4 is still following my tanker task force. This time it didn't get any torpedoes off, but in return my escorts didn't get any depth charges off either. In the meanwhile, the tanker that was hit last turn is still limping towards Hilo.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 214

Reinforcements... - 10/7/2005 11:04:53 PM

ADavidB

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April 13 -

Tophat is getting busy again. This turn Japanese forces landed at three new undefended bases; Sorong, Vella Lavella, and Makale. In addition, that Japanese transport that has been sitting at Sag Sag for the past two weeks also left port and headed east. I wonder where it is going? In any event, that has tweaked my curiosity enough for me to send my Australia cruisers and destroyers northwards, just in case Tophat is getting some ideas about Eastern PNG.

Rain was again the constant companion of my forces all over the map. As a result, few of my air missions flew. But at least the rain didn't interrupt the arrival of the land portion of my mid-April reinforcements. I'm leaving all the Indian arrivals in the bases where they showed up - I want them to help build up those bases. I am waiting a couple of turns before I move the US CD and engineering units that showed up in San Fran. It is easier to load newly arrived land units onto ships once they have had a chance to bring their internal "supply" levels up scratch. Otherwise, any troopships that you choose will try to load supplies first.

In naval action, that tanker that was torpedoed last turn sank this turn, as expected. In the meanwhile, another Japanese sub showed up off of Los Angeles and was depthcharged by the escorts of an empty transport TF that is on its way back to the West Coast. But there were no hits on I-25, so it will still be around and able to cause mischief.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 215

Strange subs... - 10/8/2005 5:54:18 AM

ADavidB

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April 14 -

This was a busy turn that turned out a bit odd too. First off, Tophat automatically occupied Bacolod, a "dot base" in the Philippines that I didn't even notice before. Then his troops captured Vella Lavella, Makale and Sorong. But in the case of Sorong, as was predicted by my SIGINT, Tophat not only landed a combat unit but also a base force, along with an AA unit. So I am guessing that Tophat intends to bring some planes into Sorong right away.

My air attack on Bulla worked quite well, despite the presence of 19 Zeros on CAP. Fourteen B-17Es and 2 Catalinas flew in, photographed and bombed the airbase without casualties to themselves while damaging a Zero. Tophat has either brought more Zeros to Amboina or he has a carrier in the region. Either way, I'm happy with the result and giving my bomber boys a rest.

Tophat's air units were busy themselves. A couple of fairly large air strikes came in against Banjarmasin. I no longer have any planes there, so I don't care about the damage. And this is a good indication that Banjarmasin will likely be seeing an invasion soon too.

Now for the really strange news: first off, my air patrols in the Hawaiian Islands spotted Japanese sub I-21 right next to Oahu. Then a couple of my twin-engine bombers on naval attack bombed and hit I-21. Next, my patrols spotted I-23 in the same hex! So more of my twin-engine bombers bombed and hit I-23. What the Devil is Tophat doing sending a couple of fleet subs in right next to my biggest and best defended base? All that will happen next turn is that I will send out a couple of dozen small, fast and heavily armed ASW TFs and blanket the entire area. I've also set the two P-39 groups that I have in Pearl to naval attack at 100 feet. I don't mind the chance to give my guys ASW practice.

BTW - if you are wondering, Tophat is still doing artillery exchanges in Singapore and still achieving surprising low Brit casualty numbers. At this rate the Brits may well still be in Singapore in the New Year.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 216

The little sub that wasn't there... - 10/8/2005 11:32:24 PM

ADavidB

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April 15 -

How the Devil did all of my ASW TFs miss those Japanese subs? And if that sighting by a B-26 to the Southwest of Hawaii was one of those two subs from last turn, how did it get there so fast? It appears that Tophat not only has "stealthy" subs but also high speed subs. This was a very surprising turn of events - I expected at least some of my ASW TFs to make contact at the minimum. Hmmm�

So while my forces were practicing pure futility in the Hawaiian Islands, Tophat's forces expanded their air attacks in the DEI and even returned to the Philippines to bomb Cebu for the first time in a very long time. Tophat also sent a cruiser-lead task force to bombard Banjarmasin. So it appears that Banjarmasin is coming close to facing an invasion.

Otherwise it was pretty much the "same old, same old" as I continue to build up forces at my strong points. I've pretty much finished my rearrangements of forces for this period; the next major moves will wait until I get my next large group of reinforcements in two week's time.

The more I examine the state of my forces, the happier I am that I didn't commit to some risky attempt to interdict Tophat's advances so far. He has done a very good job of staying within his air and sea cover and I just don't feel like throwing away any forces in an attempt to "surprise" Tophat somewhere. I can't stop him in a serious manner in the DEI, so there is no real point to try to grapple with his forces yet.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 217

Cruisers in the Straights of Malacca... - 10/9/2005 3:17:37 AM

ADavidB

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April 16 -

Well, Tophat is extending his area of interest; a cruiser-lead TF bombarded Bankha on the Straights of Malacca this turn. Last turn I received SIGINT indicating that a radio signal was located coming from the middle of the South China Sea - I wonder if that mystery task force is heading to northern Sumatra?

Tophat automatically "occupied" another dot base this turn - something called "Pinrang". Other than that and the bombardment of Bankha, the rest of Tophat's activities consisted of bomber attacks on various points in the Philippines, DEI, Singapore and China, along with the daily artillery exchanges in China.

I did send my Darwin-based B-17s after the port at Sorong this turn. They caused a nice amount of damage to the port, but the effect of the Japanese AA unit in Sorong was felt; four B-17s and two Catalinas were damaged in the raid. So, with my test over with, I'll leave Sorong alone for now.

In the "build-up war", the airfield at Lahina reached level 5 this turn. That means that I now have two level 5 airfields in the Hawaiian Islands along with Pearl which has a level 10 airfield from the start. That means that I can operate 4-engine bombers from three different bases in the region without penalties. The port at Johnson Island finally reached level three. That certainly took a long time, but at least now I can disband ships into Johnson's port too.

The other big news is that I finally brought a couple of US battleships back to Pearl Harbor. They both have radar and some upgraded AA, so I can commit them to defend against surface attacks. That means that if Tophat happens to want to throw the Combined Fleet against the Hawaiian Islands I can now respond to surface bombardments. I have another BB due for a radar upgrade, but it has been sitting in port waiting for weeks to get down to system damage 3 from level 5. Last turn it finally went down to level 4, so with any luck I ought to get the upgrade within another week or two.

I also now have all of my US carriers in forward ports. They are all upgraded and are in good shape, along with their escorts. The US Navy is now a respectable force in the Eastern Pacific.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 218

Mid-April Maps... - 10/9/2005 4:18:29 AM

ADavidB

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Okay, to help illustrate the situation in the Game as of mid-April 1942 I'm going to post five maps showing the main contested areas -

- The Philippines and Eastern DEI
- The Western DEI
- The Timor region
- The Burma-China region
- The China-Manchuria region

So I'll start out with the Philippines and Eastern DEI.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 219

RE: Mid-April Maps... - 10/9/2005 4:19:36 AM

ADavidB

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Next, the Western DEI.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 220

RE: Mid-April Maps... - 10/9/2005 4:20:17 AM

ADavidB

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Next - the Timor area.

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Post #: 221

RE: Mid-April Maps... - 10/9/2005 4:21:11 AM

ADavidB

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Now - the Burma-China area.

Dave Baranyi

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RE: Mid-April Maps... - 10/9/2005 4:21:59 AM

ADavidB

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Finally, the China-Manchuria region.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 223

Rainy season... - 10/9/2005 3:39:08 PM

ADavidB

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April 17 -

Tophat started his invasion of Banjarmasin today. First he hit it with a bombardment TF, then he started to land troops, and finally he sent a bunch of bombers on to hit it. Tophat isn't taking any chance, but I don't think that the troops there will stand up very long. For example, there was no gunfire in opposition to the troop landings.

Tophat is also sending that big battleship-lead task force against Koepang again. They were waiting just off the north coast of Timor this turn, but luck was with Tophat so the TF was covered by clouds and my bombers at Koepang went futilely after a cruiser at Kendari instead. So I moved the bombers out of Koepang again this turn. But instead of moving them to Australia, I moved them back to Soerabaja, along with the other Dutch Martin bombers that have been resting in Northern Australia. I am hoping that they get a chance to strike at the Japanese task forces that are unloading in Banjarmasin. But given how this appears to be the "rainy season", I'm not holding out much hope. But it's worth the chance.

Speaking of "forlorn hope", a new "milestone" of sorts was reached today - Singapore is now out of supply. Fortunately, Tophat hasn't considered that possibility and he is continuing to do artillery bombardments instead of attacks. I've loaded some supplies onto a couple of subs in Ceylon and am sending them to Singapore, but that won't help much. But it will be interesting to see when Tophat does decide to finally attack again, and if the lack of supplies weakens the defenders as it should.

I'm looking forward to "May Day" 1942 - it can't come soon enough. Then I can finally start to replace the garbage Brit planes that I have been stuck with since the beginning of the War. That includes those Brit biplane fighters on the Brit carriers. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until June to start to replace Buffalos with Spitfires.

In other build-up news, another handful of bases received upgrades to their facilities. It's unfortunate that the game allows the opposing sides to see the reports of base build-ups, particularly since I am such an enthusiast about building up bases behind the Front Lines. This way Tophat gets to know where I have base forces. But he doesn't get to know where I have the rest of my forces, so that information is only partially useful to him.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 224

RE: Rainy season... - 10/9/2005 11:17:57 PM

ADavidB

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April 18 -

Tophat surprised me this turn by having a bombardment TF hit Batavia - and the Haruna and Kongo were in that TF. So I once again know where seven of Tophat's BBs are located. Fortunately there was nothing in Batavia too important. I was a bit surprised that the 120mm CD guns didn't fire, but maybe even they were out of range of the BBs. Tophat's CAs also hit Bankha again. And finally, the five-BB TF hit Koepang again.

Okay, none of that was unexpected. The task forces at Banjarmasin continued to unload troops, and lo-and-behold, my planes spotted the ships and took off from Soerabaja.

The Martins didn't get a single hit on any of the ships. There wasn't even any LRCAP. And these groups have experience in the 60s and 70s!

So I pulled the Martins back to Australia. Tophat is sure to bomb Soerabaja back into the Stone Age next turn and also LRCAP his TFs at Banjarmasin. To "add insult to injury", Tophat's troops captured Banjarmasin on their first attempt.

Oh well, my Dutch bomber pilots have another chance coming up to redeem themselves - there is an invasion TF off the north coast of Timor. I'm betting it is going to Koepang so I'm not putting any long range bombers into there. Instead they are all being placed into the northern Australian bases from where they can still hit Koepang.

Otherwise there isn't much new to report on. The Eastern, Central and South Pacific theaters remain quiet except for the occasional Japanese submarine captain who surfaces to pull down the lower lid on his left eye and stick out his tongue at my useless ASW forces. (That is a Japanese gesture that is equivalent to thumbing one's nose.) Tophat is, as usual, bombing my remaining forces in the Philippines and DEI and we are exchanging artillery barrages as usual in China and Singapore.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 225

Worse than blind squirrels... - 10/10/2005 2:16:14 AM

ADavidB

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April 19 -

It's a good thing that I didn�t "send the cavalry to the rescue" at Koepang in the form of one of my cruiser TFs - Tophat has "parked" his 5-BB TF at Koepang and is keeping it there to hammer the base and keep a watchful eye out for my ships while his landing party sits safely off shore. I suspect that there may well be a carrier TF in the neighborhood too that is providing LR CAP because none of the bombers from four different bases budged an inch to go after either TF, despite both TFs being well spotted by my multiple patrol units. I didn't notice any rain or clouds over any of the northern Australian bases either.

This is a good example of why I don't try to "save" the DEI in PBEM games. I find that too often my forces just won't attack when I want them too. I suspect that it is a combination of factors such as lack of Air HQs, poor air unit leaders, mediocre experience of my air units, and my inability to provide CAP for my bombers. Therefore, I assume that I won't be able to do much, and I am usually proven correct. Eventually I will get the forces that I need to do what I want, but I have to be patient.

So while no Japanese troops landed at Koepang this turn, they did land at Bankha after another bombardment. I am trying to retreat the base force out of there, but I don't know if they will move fast enough to avoid being kicked out, with the resulting loss of morale and fatigue gain.

Tophat is starting to get a little suspicious about the situation at Singapore. He asked me why my AA isn't as effective as it used to be. I'm not telling him that it is because they are out of supply. I just gave him some misdirection about my forces generally not being able to shoot straight�

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 226

RE: Worse than blind squirrels... - 10/10/2005 6:02:07 AM

ADavidB

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April 20 -

Japanese troops are landing at Koepang. Japanese ships cruise offshore at Koepang. Various air patrols spot the combat and invasion task forces at Koepang. And my bomber pilots sit back and contemplate life, or their navels, or the local girls or something, but they aren't flying. Even moving air units around and bringing new units in isn't doing anything. Oh well, there goes that great idea�

Elsewhere, Tophat's troops captured Bankha this turn. Unfortunately, I started to try to move the base force out of there too late and so they were roundly defeated and sent packing with miserable morale and high fatigue. Haruna and Kongo came back to whack Batavia again too. The CD guns didn't shoot again.

Tophat was questioning again about the troops at Singapore - wondering if they weren't firing because their morale was down. I responded truthfully (but with misdirection intended

) that their morale was actually up a lot, and their fatigue is down. I have no idea why. I have troops in temperate bases with tons of supplies and even HQs in place whose morale stays low and their fatigue stays high as if they were in malarial jungles. (But that doesn't happen to all of the units in those bases, so it doesn't appear to be base-related.)

So it now looks as if Tophat intends to wind things up in the DEI fairly soon. If he keeps up his current pace he ought to have everything under his control by the end of May.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 227

Singapore holds again... - 10/10/2005 3:00:26 PM

ADavidB

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April 21 -

My bombers in northern Australia refused to fly again. Tophat laughed at me - saying that his LR CAP was scaring away my bombers. So with that "help" I decided to send my B-17s after Koepang; not on Naval Attack, which I can't control, but on Ground Attack against the troops that he has already landed. This way I'll be able to find out for certain if there are any fighters on LR CAP over Koepang.

Tophat decided to test his own "theory" about Singapore, and to the surprise of both of us, my troops at Singapore survived a Shock Attack. That's despite there being no supply in the base, although my individual troop units still have some supply of their own. And to add insult to injury as far as Tophat is concerned, for some reason his combat engineers used the attack as an opportunity to go back over the river, therefore there wasn't even any reduction of the fortifications from the current level of 7. Tophat also incurred almost 4 times the casualties that I did. I'm starting to think that it may well be worthwhile to do sub transport of supplies to Singapore in a more serious manner.

Tophat is sending other TFs all over the place in the DEI and there is even one that appears to be heading towards eastern PNG. Therefore, I am finally sending my Aussie cruisers and DDs to eastern PNG to check things out. For some reason, Tophat hasn't bothered to build up the air field at Rabaul beyond its original level 3, so I'm feeling somewhat safer than I normally would. We'll find out if I'm right, or wrong (I get "twitchy" just thinking about airborne torpedoes...

).

In other news, one of my Coronados not only spotted a sub this turn (I-21, which escaped a few days ago) but sank it with a bomb. I like Coronados, despite their slow replacement rate, and I am changing whatever Catalinas I can to Coronados so that I get that extra range.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 228

Air Wars... - 10/10/2005 4:34:38 PM

ADavidB

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April 22 -

My "test" proved out my theory - my B-17E squadron did run into Zeros over Koepang - that's why my twin-engine bombers weren't flying during the past few turns. The 16 B-17s did their jobs - they fought off the 3 Zeros on LR CAP, shooting down one, damaging another and driving off the third - while sustaining minor damage to four of their own. And they even successfully bombed Tophat's troops on the beaches. Once this was done, my twin-engine bomber crews got their nerves back and attacked the Japanese task forces at Koepang. But as is the design of the Game, the majority of the "twins" wasted their time trying to attack the battleships and cruisers in the surface combat task force. Only one Hudson unit tried to attack a transport ship, and that attack was unsuccessful.

So land-based air is not going to be able to do much about this particular invasion - such is the cost for not being able to deliver torpedoes at long distance by air. The only good result out of the whole episode was that at the end of the day Tophat's troops weren't able to capture Koepang with their first attack. So I have to hope that Tophat didn't bring more troops or supplies.

In other news, Tophat started to land troops at Macassar. I don�t expect the troops there to last long. There is only one other base left in the Celebes and it is a long way for defeated troops to march to. Tophat also switched back to bombardment attacks at Singapore. In China Tophat is moving more troops forward to try to break the stalemates, but I am doing the same, so the trench-race continues. BTW - my Chinese fighter pilots are holding their own and more against the Japanese fighters. Tophat has a choice - keep his Zeros where they can stop my bombers, or use them to control the air in China. But he can't do both.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 229

Experience counts... - 10/10/2005 9:47:22 PM

ADavidB

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April 23 -

Tophat wrote to me, "Experience counts." He replaced the Zero unit that was on LR CAP over Koepang last turn with his most experienced Zero unit this turn. The difference was striking:

Day Air attack on 56th Division, at 28, 77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 6000 feet

These were the same B-17s that did so well the last turn. My later attacks with twin-engine bombers were also fairly costly, despite the recent programming change to give twin-engine bombers more firepower in response to fighter attacks. The thing to keep in mind is that all of the bomber groups had average experience in the mid-70s, but when faced with Zeros with experience that I assume is in the 80s or higher, the Zeros ruled the air.

Since I have no worthwhile long range fighters available (and I certainly don't want to bother wasting Brewsters with experience in the 50s against these Zeros) this effectively ends my bombing campaign against the invasion at Koepang. But then, considering how ineffectual the twin-engine bombers were when they did get through, that might not be such a bad thing after all. I'm now going to retire my Martins well back of the Front to wait for July when they can upgrade to Mitchells, and keep my Hudsons and B-17s for patrol work.

Tophat's forces were not just busy in the air. Bombardment TFs hit Koepang and Macassar. The effect of several days of aerial and naval bombardments on Macassar was clear and definite - the Dutch troops there surrendered upon the first land attack. In Koepang however, the Dutch troops withstood another attack. The fortifications were brought down another level to 1, but the troops still held and inflicted 10 times the casualties on the Japanese as they suffered themselves. Never-the-less, I expect Koepang to fall next turn if Tophat does another deliberate attack.

Meanwhile, in Java I have started to pull all combat units back to Soerabaja, along with most of the base forces for one last stand. I am only leaving the CD units in place elsewhere since most have had upgrades that immobilized their guns. I know that I can't hold Java, but I want to make the battle there drag out as long as possible.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 230

Ship upgrade headaches again... - 10/11/2005 3:58:00 AM

ADavidB

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April 24 -

I'm starting to become an unhappy camper again with the Game again. The Maryland has been sitting in different West Coast ports all game-month, first at sys damage level 5, then at level 4 and finally, for the last two days in San Francisco, at level 3. And yet the Maryland hasn't had its April 1942 upgrade. I hope that this isn't another of the artifacts from the original versions of the game - I thought that the OOB problems with upgrading the 20-knot US battleships had been fixed in v1.50 - and we started this game in v1.602. I'll tolerate (with some bad grace) the design decisions that I happen to disagree with, but I can't stand seeing my ability to win battles in this game hindered by programming errors. I'm going to leave the Maryland in San Fran for a couple more days, then if she doesn't get upgraded, I'll send her to Pearl in the hopes that something "magical" happens there. I still contend that the logic behind requiring the ships to be below a "magic" number of system damage in order to upgrade was a very poor decision, does nothing for the playability of the game, and reflects history in no manner whatsoever.

Okay soap box aside for now, this was a fairly quiet turn from the Allied point of view because I didn't send more planes to be slaughtered by the LR CAP Zeros over Koepang. Left unbothered, Tophat's invasion force in Koepang tried another attack, and succeeded in lowering the fortification level to 0, but only achieved a 1 to 1 result. So they will have to try again next time. The strangest thing is that Tophat's bombardment TF continues to bombard every turn. They can't make it back and forth to Kendari in the same turn, so how is it that they still have ammo? Elsewhere, Tophat's forces started to land at Hansa and Wewak in PNG.

Dave Baranyi

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Post #: 231

Miracles happen... - 10/11/2005 6:21:51 AM

ADavidB

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April 25 -

Well, wouldn't you know it; I griped too soon. Sure enough, this turn Maryland was upgraded. Gawd knows why it didn't happen sooner, but I'm just happy that it did. So at least I got one good piece of news this turn. Everything else was all Tophat.

Tophat's troops finally captured Koepang this turn, along with Wewak and Hansa. A CA-lead TF also came in to bombard Medan, which means that is likely the next major target. I'm trying to move the Dutch troops out of there and to the northernmost base, which happens to have plenty of supplies, but it is unlikely that my troops will move out before they are kicked out.

I tried an air raid on the port in Taan where there were a lot of Japanese ships. My planes flew out of China, but they ran into a couple of squadrons of Oscars and Nates. So all of my IL-4c planes got damaged and there was only one bomb hit on an AP.

SIGINT has given me a couple of interesting tidbits. First off, there is now a "heavy AA" unit in Amboina, so this means that there are even more reasons not to send long range bombers off to try to bomb Amboina. The other info was a little more vague - a radio intercept that originated at sea to the north of the Marshalls. Is that just a routine convoy going into the Marshalls or something a bit more threatening? In response I started to extend my submarine picket lines into the region between Wake and the Marshalls.

The other big news this turn is that I am essentially abandoning all of Java except Soerabaja. I'm even moving in the few base forces that I left around to make the place look more occupied. I want the troops to get to Soerabaja with some time to spare so that they can use up some of the spare Dutch reinforcements and be able to fight the Japanese better. It will be interesting to see how this approach plays out. This also helps me increase the fortifications at Soerabaja more quickly too.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 232

China fights on... - 10/12/2005 12:32:20 AM

ADavidB

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

April 26 -

I forgot to stand down my Chinese Il-4c bombers last turn, so they flew off to Taan again, braved the CAP and the flak, and were able to hit an AK with a bomb and set it on fire. But they are pretty worn down now, so I made certain to stand them down. The only other action I initiated was having some more Chinese bombers hit Tophat's troops at Kungchang. I'm back to doing that on a daily basis. Tophat has a lot of ground units committed in the four stalemate areas of China, including a number or artillery units. I wonder how close he is to going under the minimum number of forces in Manchuria that are necessary to keep the Soviets out of the fray? At this point I wouldn't mind marching some Soviet troops into Manchuria.

Elsewhere things were fairly quiet. Tophat bombed Singapore and Batavia again, along with the remaining Philippine bases, but that's not doing much other than to give his air units some experience. Tophat does seem to have a lot of Betties on patrol in the DEI; they were spotting my subs all over the area. I guess that he is trying to avoid letting me sneak in with my carriers.

I'm biding my time right now and waiting for May to arrive with its reinforcements. I am currently sending a fifth infantry division to Hawaii. This is no longer as much a case of defensive positioning as it is preparation for eventual offensive operations. BTW - Moloaki now contains a base force, an infantry unit, an AA unit, a CD unit and a Seabee unit, so it is rapidly building up to become a full "partner" in my defensive set up in the Hawaiian Islands. I no longer believe that Tophat will try to raid or invade Hawaii anymore, but he may well consider trying to grab one of the outer periphery islands - Midway, Johnson, Canton or Palmyra. I have them all garrisoned against a "historic" invasion - i.e. a Naval Landing Force or two going in - but I'm not prepared to contest a major, multi-division invasion of those islands at this time.

So I don't yet know where Tophat will go after he completes his conquest of the DEI. He has only now started to land in the Central North shore of PNG and hasn't attempted to grab any of the Eastern North shore yet. He also hasn't gone farther East in the Solomons than Villa Levilla. In Burma he is still content to stay in Rangoon and Mandalay. This has allowed me to pull back more troops out of Burma to give them well-needed R&R. After nearly five months in the malarial jungle my troops are very worn down. Fortunately, they recover quickly in Asanol, which I have established as my major strong point in Eastern India. In a couple few more weeks I will get two more good LCUs in India which will allow me to pretty much complete my ground defences there. Now, if only those bases will build up faster.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 233

RE: China fights on... - 10/12/2005 2:29:16 AM

Kwik E Mart

Posts: 2447
Joined: 7/22/2004
Status: offline

just browsed this AAR and it looks really well done so far...is there a counter AAR from tophat? didn't see anything on first page of AAR's, but maybe it's back more? thanks...

_____________________________

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(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 234

RE: China fights on... - 10/12/2005 2:31:59 AM

ADavidB

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

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kwik E Mart

just browsed this AAR and it looks really well done so far...is there a counter AAR from tophat? didn't see anything on first page of AAR's, but maybe it's back more? thanks...

Thanks!

Tophat had one going at the beginning, then he stopped. But then, most of what I am reporting on are Tophat's advances, so it's almost as if he is co-authoring this one.

Thanks again -

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to Kwik E Mart)

Post #: 235

Rain, rain, go away... - 10/12/2005 4:46:23 AM

ADavidB

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

April 27 -

Rain seemed to be affecting both sides equally this turn - Tophat got very few air missions off. However, he did get a number of naval patrols out. He now has Nells along with those Betties covering the waters between Java and Australia and they are detecting a couple of my subs every turn. The only notable action this turn was the automatic occupation of Dagua. Tophat is probably resting his troops before the next set of invasions. He now has troops in malarial zones so they won't recover as well as before.

It appears that I will be able to get all of my troops into Soerabaja before Tophat invades Java. This will put an interesting decision before Tophat - does he dare use naval bombardments or not? Tophat has not done any naval bombardments of Singapore and he still hasn't captured the place. But does he want to risk his ships against my shore guns? I now have 150mm guns along with plenty of 120mm guns. And the fortifications are already up to 7.5 and climbing fast thanks to all of the base forces that I am pulling into Soerabaja. This may end up being an interesting test. The longer that Tophat is tied up in the DEI and Singapore, the longer I have to build up and consider counter moves elsewhere.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 236

Another Milestone... - 10/12/2005 6:22:44 AM

ADavidB

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

April 28 -

This was yet another generally rainy turn, with few air missions getting out on either side. Rain doesn't stop bombardment TFs, so Medan get whacked again. And rain doesn't stop automatic occupation, so Waigeu was occupied this turn. (I bet Tophat can't find it either. <L>)

It appears that in addition to preparing to invade Medan, Tophat is also preparing to invade Java. He has been bombing Batavia regularly and today he sent a Nell to recon Kragen. I had a small combat unit in Kragen, but I pulled it out - it won't stop any serious Japanese invasion and so it will be better for it to be in Soerabaja where it can recuperate for a while.

My big news is a major milestone from that point of view of my overall strategy in this game - my last unfilled P-40E group received its 72nd plane today. That means that all of my P-40E squadrons and groups are now full and further replacements will start to go into the replacement pool. I'm still 20 planes (which equal 2 months) from filling my last unfilled P-40B group, but never-the-less; it sure feels good to generally have plenty of planes on hand in case that I need them.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 237

Successful sub wars... - 10/13/2005 12:14:00 AM

ADavidB

Posts: 2464
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From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline

April 29 -

There was more activity this turn, although continuing rain did slow down the pace of some air operations for both sides. Tophat kept his plans moving forward with a troop landing at Aitape on the north shore of PNG. He also benefited from another automatic occupation at Merak. Batavia received another air raid, but everything that can be moved out has been moved out, so all these raids are accomplishing is to damage the base more badly for when the Japanese capture it. Tophat also increased his air raids on my remaining forces in the Philippines.

Speaking of air raids, Mandalay was finally built up to a level four air base. That means that Tophat can now base twin-engine bombers there and get full function from them. I'll have to keep an eye on this. Fortunately, I get to start to upgrade my British air units in May, so that will help to offset any advantage that Tophat has gained by building up Mandalay. Tophat is still keeping a couple of large fighter units in Mandalay, so I haven't been doing any regular bombing of it.

In the naval wars, last turn my bombers in Hawaii spotted a Japanese sub to the northeast of the islands, so I sent out about a dozen single-ship DD ASW TFs to cover the region. The Mustin ran into the sub first, but the sub got the jump on the DD and put a torpedo into it, causing serious damage. But then the Meredith came by and got off an ASW attack that scored three hits, sinking I-9. I'm not sure if the Mustin will make it home, but it was worth the cost to get rid of that sub and remove one of Tophat's spies from those waters during my ongoing reallocation of forces.

In other news, I received part of my current big reinforcement delivery in the form of a number of useful ground units. I'm letting the units sit for a day or two to take on supplies before I start to load the units on to ships and send them forward. And the next big arrival of reinforcements that comes in around two weeks has two very strong combat units for India. I'll leave the big Indian Division in Karachi and move the British unit to Madras. This will further strengthen my defence in India.

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 238

Bombs Over Koepang... - 10/13/2005 5:06:11 AM

ADavidB

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

April 30 -

This was another busy turn for Tophat. A bombardment TF once again hit Medan, and this time troops started to land too. The Dutch forces there are out of supplies so they had nothing to fight back with. Another bombardment TF hit Batavia again, but this time a couple of the CD guns did shoot back and hit a CA. That's just "icing" if the gunners there get lucky - right now their job is to cover the retreat of the rest of the Dutch forces to Soerabaja. That move is almost complete and I am hoping that the combined forces at Soerabaja give the Japanese forces a few fits for a while.

In the meanwhile, Tophat's other activities are also working out for him; for example, his troops captured Aitape this turn. And in a potentially bothersome occurrence, the air field at Tarawa was improved to level 4 this turn. That means that Tophat can now base Betties and Nells there and have them fly to their full range. That will help support any expansion that Tophat makes into the Southcentral Pacific.

But then, I've got bombers that can go a long ways too, as I demonstrated to Tophat again this turn by having my B-17s return to Amboina to hit the airfield hard. Tophat still doesn't have a base force in Amboina so he is stuck with providing LR CAP. From the look of the results:

Day Air attack on Koepang, at 28, 77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5

Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 3
B-17E Fortress x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 15

It appears that his Zero pilots were tired. Never-the-less, I have stood down my B-17s again as to not fall into the same trap as last time.

A strange occurrence showed up near the Marshall Islands - one of my picket subs was spotted by a Jake. Hmmm - is that a Jake flying from a base or from a ship? I should do some scouting around and find out.

I spent more time than usual preparing the May 1, 1942 turn to return to Tophat. For the first time in a couple of game-months I had a request to return some British ships - in this case a CL and two DDs. Fortunately, I still have several of each class with poor AA ratings so I am happy to send them back. I also started to upgrade the British planes. It felt good to change those odds and ends Brit fighters to something halfway decent. As well, this allowed me to improve upon my bomber forces in India. What I didn't do was change the Brit Buffalos. If Tophat doesn't challenge me in India I will leave the Buffalos as they are until June when I start to get Spitfires. I don't want to run out of reserve Hurricanes and I also like to keep a mix of planes around to fit different roles as the occasions arise.

Tophat was in a hurry to get this turn back and he sent the same turn again just as I was mailing off my response, just in case I hadn't received it the first time. I guess that he is planning something "big" and is in a hurry to see how it works�

Dave Baranyi

(in reply to ADavidB)

Post #: 239

May Day... - 10/13/2005 6:27:57 AM

ADavidB

Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
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May 1, 1942 -

May Day came with plenty of reasons for the defenders of Singapore to celebrate - they beat back yet another Japanese assault:

Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 142688 troops, 1595 guns, 30 vehicles

Defending force 51089 troops, 311 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)

Japanese ground losses:
1278 casualties reported
Guns lost 44

Allied ground losses:
122 casualties reported
Guns lost

Tophat hat ought to pull out his troops, send them home to rest and rebuild, and ignore Singapore.

Elsewhere, Batavia got whacked by a bombardment TF again, but this time the CD guns were silent. Tophat is also busy trying to get rid of my subs from the Banda Sea and the waters between Timor and Java. He has tons of Betties and Nells searching that area, along with at least one ASW TF. This is causing me to move my subs every turn.

Otherwise, things are very quiet and I am just fine tuning my forces. The May 1st score totals are below. Tophat has taken a clear lead in points, but it isn't 2:1 yet. He is also close to having a 20% lead in aircraft losses over me. That's a lead I'd welcome seeing grow.

Dave Baranyi

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