Yue Jin (Axis) Vs Ncc1701e (Allies) patch 1.00.07

[YueJin]

I think Kunming is defendable even against the strongest pushes in 1942 and after that, the Japanese really need to start moving some of the armies to South-East Asia. It requires very accurate positioning of the strongest army groups from the Chinese though. I thought Ncc1701e defended pretty well but a few out of position army groups in the south and misallocation of a couple of strong groups to the north let me make it.

I'm a big advocate of stuffing 8+armies and 4 close support bomber groups into China in 1942 as the Japanese and going for the knock out punch in the south. It frees up so much for the late war when you're only dealing with a 40 production China that has to attack over a river to get anywhere. It also gives you two guaranteed VP cities for the whole game that generate a decent amount of production as well.

The only thing you give up is the big attack on India but I think that's a lot more defensible on the current patch and likely to leave your troops badly overstretched and easily cut off when the Americans arrive.

[YueJin]

June 6th 1943

The dreaded UK armoured corps shows up in India blasting a hole through one of the weaker defending armies south of Imphal. However in a misplay, my opponent leaves it vunerable on the front lines and the counterattack from the Elite 23rd and 21st armies take off 12 strength from it. It should be at least a month before it's a threatening formation again.

Halfway through 1943 and I still don't feel the need to withdraw from Ledo yet. It's bloody but the results are good.



At Nomea, the Allies attempt to enforce the blockade by using two large stacks of surface ships on night move and raider mode to cover all the hexes surrounding the port. This means any single destroyer groups on blockade breaking duty are suicidal as the Americans can flip the nearby fleet to attack, then withdraw using the remaining OP. I move in several Battlecruiser and heavy cruiser squadrons to prepare to break this blockade by force.

I don't mind the troops being out of supply for a turn or two and can always use a submarine group to resupply if needed though so the danger isn't yet severe.

[YueJin]

June 20th 1943

Rain in India finally this turn should slow down the Allied attempts to attrite my forces there. I did a little damage to the sub groups operating off the coast of Japan and they appear to have disappeared for now. Some merchant marine are in the queue to make good the losses, I don't want to be low until 1945 when it shouldn't matter as much.

At Nomea, the allied ships stick around to maintain the blockade. I can't airstrike them due to the strength of the American fighter units nearby, the bomber is only to be used if the American carriers show up. My BC and CA fleet moves out to break the blockade next to the weaker US task force, it's showing no CV's or BB's so my fleet should be superior in a night battle.

[YueJin]

July 4th 1943

The Americans up the ante further at Nomea, sending out all 12 carrier groups in raider mode to threaten a port strike next turn. I stuff it full of disposable torpedo boats and move the IJN into attack range at Munda. This port is outside of Allies reconnaissance thanks to the capture of Milne Bay. If they stick around for another turn then we may seek a decisive battle due to their low efficiency after two turns at sea.

[YueJin]

July 18th 1943

The Americans do attack with everything at Nomea, sinking two DD groups and three patrol boats. I probably should have removed the DD's from the port last turn, losing them was a bit of a waste. The remaining patrol boat resupplies the garrison, efficiency is still at 85% so nothing to fear from a landing yet. Holding Nomea through to 1944 without sacrificing any major assets is the goal here. No American moves in the Celebes or Marshall islands yet so not feeling the need to make any big moves.

[YueJin]

September 12th 1943

Submarine warfare looks like it's going to become a main Allied focus in the next two years. It is one that will pay off, but will be a long time before it starts to have an impact. 8 merchant marine are sunk this turn although airstrikes do pick off one of the sub groups and inflict 2 damage on another so we come out slightly ahead in PP value. There are 50 more merchants in the build queue and I hope that should be enough to see me through at full production until the end of 1944.





The Indians strike heavily against the Tenshin Shudan brigade, with around 10 casualties on both sides, a trade in the Allies favour. They're replaced by a fresh army though and heavy rain means a break for the attacks next turn.





At Nomea, the Americans continue to use six groups to blockade the island. I use a DD group to break it this turn, it's a risk but three DD/CA groups attacking a DD in raider mode on a medium reconnaissance hex have no guarantee of finding, let alone sinking my DD. If this fails, I may have to bring in a more powerful surface group to the port. I still want to hold Nomea through to the end of the year





I couldn't find a way to get a better quality image unfortunately, but we can try to look at the overall war situation.

Currently, assuming that the Russian VP's count towards the Allied total, we have 22 VP hexes to the Allied 13, a net gain of 9 per turn. The current lead is 418 and given that the Allies are unlikely to take a VP in the next couple of turns, that will continue to grow. They need to take five hexes to begin closing the gap and will need to take at least 3 quickly to stop the lead from growing out of hand.

The areas circled in red are the main prospects that I can see for the Allies and I've defended accordingly. Kwajalein has an army on it and a couple of destroyers in port to keep supply, Ledo will be abandoned in early 1944 but should hold until then through the rainy season. Nomea is where my opponent has most of his forces concentrated (a COMMINT showed the entire Allied navy in port at Fiji) so I do expect it to fall eventually but not until November at the earliest.

[YueJin]

October 10th 1943

The 25th army takes a terrible pounding outside of Ledo taking 13 casualties and only inflicting 9 in return, a bad showing from an elite formation. The real damage here is that their 64% experience will drop to around 55% once the replacements come in. I may have to fall back to the shorter line around Mandalay sooner than liked if this continues next turn.



At Nomeau, an American carrier task force is waiting offshore clearly planning to strike the port to clear out my rotating destroyer group. Thanks to priority upgrades though, the escort fighter group at Namuga recently obtained 1944 tech levels, allowing it to cover the area around New Caledonia. Casualties are heavy, with half the group being wiped out but they open the way for the tactical bombers at Nomea to sink the Monterrey CVL group. A small victory but a welcome one.

[YueJin]

October 24th 1943

A very bold move by my opponent this turn as the Americans land two corps on Sumatra, dislodging the garrison at Bandar Lampung and taking Cape Carot. A big mistake on my part not have had an HQ at Batavia to provide tenacity and the army at Manilla would have been better garrisoning Sumatra probably, lesson learned there.

It's not going to be easy for the Allies to keep Sumatra supplied though. I have five air wings in the area ready to punish resupplying ships and more fighters on the way. Two armies disembark at Batavia as well, ready to assault Bandar with naval support once the rain clears.

The oil situation isn't too bad, even without Palembang. I have 620 in the stockpile and income matches expenditure currently. Heavy use of airpower will drain me dry before 1945 but nothing to panic about yet.

[YueJin]

November 7th 1943

Sumatra is fully blockaded with little possibility to resupply. As long as I maintain control of the hexes next to Bandar it should be almost impossible for the Allies to resupply the corps there. General Sadamura with 7-4 stats, the second best after Yamashita arrives at Batavia to command the operation of retaking the island.



In India, we have to pull back from Ledo. The UK armour corps has been reinforced and the clear weather means we have to retreat behind the Chindwin. Unfortunate to not hold in India until '44 but not unexpected.



The submarines are beginning to become overwhelming. We lose 10 merchants in exchange for one sub group. The Americans have clearly bought at least 20 sub groups so eventually merchants will be exhausted. In better news, the DD group trying to blockade the Marshall islands forgets to use night move and is sunk by the bombers at Kwajalein.

[CrackingShow]

I'm going to call Axis victory... big VP lead and Allies has a lot of land to get.

[YueJin]

Assuming I retake Palembang which should happen, I can't see any way for the Allies to relieve it without sacrificing a big chunk of the fleet, then I agree, I should win the game handily.

The Allies will retake Nomea around January '44 I expect but after that, there really are no more easy targets. They'll grind onto Rangoon in '44 and probably invade the Marshall Islands but it's hard to see how they make rapid progress then. Every VP hex has an army on it which means places like Truk, Guam and Iwo can't be taken without a lengthy blockade.

The Merchant Marine will be an issue, and I expect in '45 I'll have to withdraw out of much of South East Asia due to falling production but even if Saigon and Hanoi fall it should be too late to make a difference.

Ncc1701e has improved greatly since our last game though where I'd sunk most of the Allied fleet by the end of 1943 and taken every production city in China except Lanzhou. The Allies should finish the game in the ascendency regardless of the VP score.

[YueJin]

December 5th 1943

The garrison at Nomea is beginning to struggle for effectiveness after the constant months of blockade breaking. A sub group is put at risk in order to resupply the troops for at least another three turns. I may decide to evacuate the army here eventually if I see an opportunity, but equally I don't mind holding onto the island for as long as possible if that seems to be a better course.



The American landings at Sumatra seem to be falling apart. As predicted, there's no way for supplies to reach the beleaguered soldiers and we should be able to retake Bandar Lampung next turn even if the heavy rain continues. This strikes me as an example of a move that would have been excellent by the Allies if it was delayed for a month or two and prepared by taking some of the Andaman islands first to allow night move blockade breaking at any port.



In Burma, forces have shifted back towards Mandalay to allow the line to be shortened. Both sides have about equal manpower available in this theatre, but the Commonwealth can replace losses far more easily. I expect to slowly pull back towards Rangoon throughout 1944 holding on for as long as possible without taking significant losses.

[YueJin]

December 19th 1943

Around Nomea the sub sent to resupply the garrison is sunk, as feared. I've moved two DD and a CA group into the port to attempt one more blockade break when I may evacuate the army. It could be used in China as it has 1944 tech and I'm concerned about a counterattack in 1944 now there are some army groups with decent attack value on the line.



Some positive news in India for once, as the Commonwealth attack on Chittagong is brutally repulsed with an entire Indian corps being overrun. The plains hex highlighted is a lovely trap spot I like to use, three strong formations can destroy any enemy unit that enters it making advancing through Chittagong very challenging. This should give the British some pause for thought before attacking again, the Japanese still have teeth in this theatre with some very strong armies.



Finally, things go very well on Sumatra. The 17th army recaptures Bandar Lampung, overrunning the New Zealand bombers that sank the Akagi off of Madras last year, a pleasant revenge. The Palembang oil fields should be captured next turn allowing me to stock up for the year before the Merchant Marine crisis becomes too serious.

[YueJin]

January 2nd 1944

Unfortunately, American bombers sink the CA Tone group at port in Nomea even through six AA guns. American airpower is probably at 1944 tech level and very strong by now so any operations in medium+ reconnaissance hexes is going to be risky. The two DD groups attempt to break the blockade so I can evac the army, the marines will be left behind to delay further if possible.



Around Chittagong, further heavy losses are inflicted on the Indian formations with one corps losing more than half its men. The Thai army has enough PP in the bank to replace it's losses so I'm pleased to be using them rather than Japanese troops here.



The land battles have been intense the last couple of turns with the American surrender on Sumatra and the battles in India. We're inflicting losses at around a 3:1 ratio across the map and another corps at Cape Carot will surrender next turn. I'm sure there are still several US large corps in reserve but losses of this scale should delay more major invasions.

[YueJin]

January 16th 1944

The first real 'bad' turn of the war in terms of ships lost as an American battleship stack with torpedoes attacks the DD groups at Nomea sinking them then gets heavy rain on the next turn making them very safe. There won't be any more attempt to evacuate the garrison now that a CA and two DD groups have been lost here, I should have stuck with my instinct to just use the remaining subs and patrol boats to prolong their defence.



At least Palembang is recaptured this turn. Those two armies will be my firefighting force for any American surprise landings on the Philippines, South East Asia or the Home Islands. Alternatively, they could contain China if really necessary.

[YueJin]

January 30th 1944

Heroic action by the I-174 sub group which survives the turn and sinks the Salt Lake City CA group making me feel better about losing the Tone. Still no invasion by the Allies here. If the garrison holds out until the end of February I'll be thrilled.



The British keep trying to force a crossing over the Chindwin river with no success, they take heavy casualties and general Wavell is killed in the action. The X armour corps which is the most powerful unit in theatre, should be out of action for some time as well.



Finally some success in the submarine war as bomber units from Iwo and Okinawa manage to sink two of the groups operating off of Japan and damage two more. They will still sink all merchant shipping eventually but hopefully I can force the US to keep spending resources on them.

[YueJin]

February 13th 1944

The Americans land at Tarawa with two corps and a powerful fleet (4CVL 2BB) and capture the island, taking some decent losses in the process though. On my turn, the bomber unit at Kwajalein flies and manages to sink the Pennsylvania BB group. This is definitely a good trade for me, the allies can't afford to be spending 60 landing craft and a battleship on every atoll in the Pacific. I may decide to withdraw from the Marshall Islands after US planes land on Tarawa though. I've no intention of letting the garrisons there be lost cheaply as they'll do great work later in the year.

[YueJin]

February 27th 1944

A very quiet turn. No action at Nomea, Burma or the Marshall Islands. One US sub group is sunk and four other damaged in exchange for 3 merchant marine so finally getting a positive turn there. Down to 90 merchant though which is starting to hurt production, oil flowing freely though.

A milestone is reached in fleet build up as I now have twenty CV/CVL groups at Truk waiting for the American offensive to begin in earnest. Some of these are still at 1939 tech as all my production is going into upgrading armies and air wings currently but this is an exceptionally powerful force that should be a match for the Allies even going into 1945.

[YueJin]

March 12th 1944

Still no more action from the Allies other than another failed attempt to cross the Chindwin in Burma.

I've decided to pull out the army from Kwajalein now that American airpower has arrived. A fight here would not be in my favour and I'll pull out the Wotje and Maloelap garrisons next turn as well. I've just reached 1,400 VP's, a lead of 500 so happy to concede the Marshalls by mid 1944.

[CrackingShow]

Do you think the tanks would be ok if they were placed in the danger hex next to Chittagong? It would be hit from 3 hexes but maybe with enough air support it would live. He needs to take Chittagong rather than trying to push over the river.