Rise of the Sheep! JocMeister(A) vs. Obvert(J)

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Erkki
edit: btw, now that you're in charge of the 1945 Allied monster fleet (and army, and an air force...) how do you feel about controlling it - do you find the workload overwhelming already? Compared to playing the Japanese? [:)]

Well, It seems my air force is broken...[:D] But I´m currently moving around a 3000 plane CV/CVE fleet in the South China sea. Thats pretty fun! [:D] And that not even all of them. And if I hadn´t lost the starting CVs thats another 500 planes. I´m pretty much getting a CV per month now.

LCU wise the allied firepower is just insane. I just attacked Manila with 7 forts suffering equal losses. Thats just crazy. The late USMC divisions are probably equal to 3 Japanese IDs in terms of firepower. And you have so many of them I actually lost track of them all. In 43 I could name every single allied division on map and tell you exactly where they were. Now I have "a bunch here" and "some over there". [:)]

Its fun having so much to play with! But turns takes forever... [:)]

[JocMeister]

Quick question: Does lack of supply prevent airfield repair?

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]7th-8th Jan -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

I will admit I feel pretty low after these last two turns. This game truly gives you both ups and downs. Right now I´m in a down and I just force myself to do the turns and try to focus on the few positives.

------------------------
Luzon
------------------------
I already posted the air losses. Its horrible. I can´t replace the losses. Nowhere near. So I pulled 6 squadrons off combat and sent the pilots to the other squadrons. Bomber pilots pool is now official empty. I had 6 new B29 squadrons arrive. 4 of them with LovNav pilots, 1 with recon pilots and one with "generally trained" pilots. [8|]. Stuff like that REALLY pisses me off right now. I had to pull a bunch of 2E squadrons to use the pilots for the B29s. Stupid game. B29s with LovNav trained pilots. Really. [8|]

As I said earlier the troops as Manila recovered faster than I could ever expect. Next attack going in tomorrow. Fingers crossed... Looks like Erik was unable to repair a single point of the AF. Still listed at 44 damage. Hence my question of supply and repair. Set the B29s to do another night attack. Hopefully that makes the AA burn some supply just before the attack

------------------------
Thailand
------------------------
The Fletcher failed to sink anything important. We busted a couple of "Es". But as we all know a 10 knot cargo TF unloading at the docks can easily evade a 38 knot DD TF equipped with radar. [8|]

This is all we managed to catch.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rachgia at 57,71, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
E Sanae, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
E Kiku, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
E Tsuta, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
E Kari, Shell hits 18, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Newcomb
DD Philip
DD Porterfield
DD Halsey Powell
DD Abner Read
DD Norman Scott, Shell hits 1
DD Sigsbee
DD Tingey, Shell hits 1

As I mentioned before I got an idea how to spoil this Japanese tactical victory. I´m not quite ready to share how just yet but stay with me. Every ounce of what the allies have is being poured into this right now.

Getting Bangkok is a tremendous help as the rail line opened and it gave the Fletchers a refueling point. We go back tonight. Sadly I couldn´t replenish the TTs but I guess they arn´t really needed.

I also decided to take a chance on the armor that didn´t manage to secure the crossing. They recovered by now and 98% of the Shermans are intact (I love Shermans) so I decided to give it a go. If that fails I have 4000 AV arriving in 6-8 days.

------------------------
South China Sea
------------------------
My subs are getting killed out there. [:(] I´ve lost 5 outright to super Es and air ASW. Another 10 or so are forced to RTB due to being hit by air ASW. Everyone started moving back on the 7th but it takes time to move through the area.

The fast CVs and the CVEs joined up on the 7th together with the rest of the fleet. We have now refueled most of the TFs and slowly move North towards KB. This is just a show of force. I want to show Erik I can go wherever I want from now on. I want to make him REALLY nervous about where I will go next. Just refueling most of the fleet took 80.000 fuel. I need to be careful here I don´t blow throw the reserves. Its a big ass fleet and it hogs fuel like there is no tomorrow. I have 600.000 Fuel at Cotabato and another 450.000 on tankers but I have a feeling thats not going to last as long as I think...

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Quick question: Does lack of supply prevent airfield repair?

No. It only prevents moving up levels. Same with ports and forts.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Wow Pax. Thats a truly great post! I´ll save it in my "good to know" folder! [&o] Even a stupid allied player like me understands that! [:D]

My initial reaction is that planes sound very, very cheap compared to the rest? A ID is the same as 2800(!) planes!? [X(] So if I wreck a Japanese ID thats 2800(!!) planes less produced? [X(] Thats sounds crazy cheap for planes? Do you really understand what I would trade for 2800 fighters? 2 IDs? Take it. 4 IDs? Hmmm sure. 6 IDs...naaaa...no. 2 Fast CVs? In a second. 10 CVEs? Absolutely! 2800 Fighters? That more than a entire years worth of USAAF fighters. IN 45!

I´m pretty sure Erik hasn´t wrecked his economy nor is he going too. He is way too smart for that and he is meticulous in his play. And that is what scares me. I´ve thrown everything in the air at him since late 43 and getting good results. Yet his air force is stronger than ever and my allied pools are completely drained. I posted a screen in the AAR Post #1983. You can see the total air losses there too.

tm.asp?m=3121206&mpage=67&key=

The screen is about a month old. The difference now is that the USN pools are slightly better while the USAAF are now completely drained. Zip, zilch, nada. And this is the dilemma and kind of what I was trying to get at with my earlier post. As an allied player I can´t really compete against a competent Japanese player in the air war. Despite doing well or even very well. I don´t have the numbers. Simple as that. After I posted that screen there has been virtually NO combat at all. So after a month of inactivity ONE day of fighting blew my pools again. The losses won´t even make Erik vince. He showed me his production number about a year back and I can´t find the email. By then he was outproducing me by 5:1 in fighters. And that was when I was counting crap like the P40. I have no reason to believe things have changed on that front! So I need a 5:1 ratio just to keep up. Lately I have been getting a 2:1. Thats not even close.

You have an intimate knowledge of the Jap production. Is this a "normal" situation? Is this something every Japanese player can achieve if they do the Japanese production "right"? For me its frustrating and not very fun atm. I simply lack the tools to do anything about it. So this leads to a situation in 1945 where I have to concede the airspace all over the map because I lack fighters. This makes it VERY hard to go on the offensive as I can´t use bombers to try and soften up defenders, slow troop movements and hinder supply. Its very hard to play offensively without those things.

I wrote it before in many places but I quite strongly feel there has to be something that slows down Japan's ability to produce an almost unlimited number of planes and pilots. Whats your view from the other side of the fence? [:D]

Joc,

I can't respond because I have been invovled in Eric's threads. however, everything I wrote above is accurate. To build planes early means you have less to build later. You can only build so many planes total. That's it. As the IJ you can choose when to build them is all. And of course with PDU ON you can improve the model mix.

As for trading ID's for planes, remember two things: Planes never took a single hex in history, you must have ground forces to take possession. In terms of total LCU's the two sides were fairly well matched.

As for trading CV's for planes, the allies can think of it, but the IJ? They get so few, they need every lousy one they get and they're still short.

As for unlimited, no it isn't. It seems that way while the allies are busy beating Hitler. All their production is going there while an IJ player can choose to build more planes in 42/43. But for every Tojo he builds in '43, that is one less Sam or Frank or Shinden he can build in 44/45. You already should know that you would prefer to fight Tojo's rather than Franks. He will be fighting with Tojo's in '45 ... its what he built. You will get shiny new P51H and he will have Tojo ... you are flying at 470, he is at 370 ... what do you think will happen? This is why the Mike Solli school is to bank 4M HI so that you can run your economy with no oil and little HI production. He can still build a ton of Shinden which also flies at 470, making it much more of a match against the P51H.

[jonreb31]

I'm interested in what Pax is saying. I agree for the most part from a production/late war perspective but I'd like to add a few points to the discussion.

First of all, what about player morale? As we can see from many games and even this one it can be demoralizing for the Good-guy to get so many shots to the gut with no seeming adequate way of counter. This can carry on all the way up to 1945. This, let's say, weary mindset leads to hasty decisions and further mistakes and so the Allied player falls right into the Empire's hands. I believe as has been mentioned, either in this thread or another, the essential means of most successful Japanese strategy & victory relies on decisively exploiting any mistakes an Allied player makes to maximize delays against the ever-advancing Green(mostly) hordes. So busting and dazing the other player's morale plays into that beautifully on many occasions.

Secondly, there can be massive tactical and strategic implications caused by early mass production of aircraft by the Japanese player that otherwise would not exist. This obviously directly correlates with how much progress & distance the Allies cover and so what the later year situation will turn out to be. Furthermore if played skillfully, the Japanese player can maximize the effectiveness of his extra pools of sky angels, have very little early-war aircraft leftover (not saying this is the case with obvert, I don't know), and make a full transition to late-war aircraft to face the bigger guns of Western Industry.

Anyways.. it'll be interesting to continue seeing how this works out with this epic clash between Joc and Obvert. I believe one of the defining factors that Pax is pointing out is that Japan might have some serious supply issues and handicapped ability to keep up to snuff in terms of LCU/AC when he has to make that very last stand. We shall see..

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Joc,

I can't respond because I have been invovled in Eric's threads. however, everything I wrote above is accurate. To build planes early means you have less to build later. You can only build so many planes total. That's it. As the IJ you can choose when to build them is all. And of course with PDU ON you can improve the model mix.

As for trading ID's for planes, remember two things: Planes never took a single hex in history, you must have ground forces to take possession. In terms of total LCU's the two sides were fairly well matched.

As for trading CV's for planes, the allies can think of it, but the IJ? They get so few, they need every lousy one they get and they're still short.

As for unlimited, no it isn't. It seems that way while the allies are busy beating Hitler. All their production is going there while an IJ player can choose to build more planes in 42/43. But for every Tojo he builds in '43, that is one less Sam or Frank or Shinden he can build in 44/45. You already should know that you would prefer to fight Tojo's rather than Franks. He will be fighting with Tojo's in '45 ... its what he built. You will get shiny new P51H and he will have Tojo ... you are flying at 470, he is at 370 ... what do you think will happen? This is why the Mike Solli school is to bank 4M HI so that you can run your economy with no oil and little HI production. He can still build a ton of Shinden which also flies at 470, making it much more of a match against the P51H.

I understand. Wasn´t trying to fish for information. [:)] The subject of game balance is a interesting thing though. Given the complexity of the game the devs have done astonishing well. There are problems though as we all know. And in most likelihood they will never be sorted out. Too many variables. And a huge one is the skill of the Japanese player I think and that one can never be balanced by game changes.

Whatever the cause I will now have to play on without air superiority and the use of my bombers in Japanese airspace. Good thing the Army and USMC stepped up to the challenge this turn! [:)]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JonReb

I'm interested in what Pax is saying. I agree for the most part from a production/late war perspective but I'd like to add a few points to the discussion.

First of all, what about player morale? As we can see from many games and even this one it can be demoralizing for the Good-guy to get so many shots to the gut with no seeming adequate way of counter. This can carry on all the way up to 1945. This, let's say, weary mindset leads to hasty decisions and further mistakes and so the Allied player falls right into the Empire's hands. I believe as has been mentioned, either in this thread or another, the essential means of most successful Japanese strategy & victory relies on decisively exploiting any mistakes an Allied player makes to maximize delays against the ever-advancing Green(mostly) hordes. So busting and dazing the other player's morale plays into that beautifully on many occasions.

Secondly, there can be massive tactical and strategic implications caused by early mass production of aircraft by the Japanese player that otherwise would not exist. This obviously directly correlates with how much progress & distance the Allies cover and so what the later year situation will turn out to be. Furthermore if played skillfully, the Japanese player can maximize the effectiveness of his extra pools of sky angels, have very little early-war aircraft leftover (not saying this is the case with obvert, I don't know), and make a full transition to late-war aircraft to face the bigger guns of Western Industry.

Anyways.. it'll be interesting to continue seeing how this works out with this epic clash between Joc and Obvert. I believe one of the defining factors that Pax is pointing out is that Japan might have some serious supply issues and handicapped ability to keep up to snuff in terms of LCU/AC when he has to make that very last stand. We shall see..

Great post Jon. [&o]

Morale is certainly a big factor. I guess no one reading this AAR has missed the utter frustration that allied fighter pools lead to. [:D]

Its the same frustration you get in early China as the allies. The game throws in something completely out of your control and shackles you to limitations while your opponent are completely unaffected. Situations like that will always create frustration and create resentment. Not so sure its a good thing for the game in the long run to have scenarios like that. But thats a different discussion I think. [:)]

The Manila strike was a big mistake. JeffK is absolutely correct when saying I need to stop trying in the air and rely on the two things I have superiority in. Navy and LCUs. The strike was borne out of frustration and it led me to do a stupid thing.

I guess the question here is: But how much fun is it? For either side?

I just thought of something and Pax can correct me if I´m wrong. Concerning building masses of Tojos for example. Didn´t michealm do something in the BETA regards to Japanese pools not being used? So they break down into HI if you don´t have any active squadrons?

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Manila - 2nd attack[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

So, the next attack went in. Wow. Beyond my wildest hopes. [:)] I looked at the replay and while you can´t see all the units what I could see was very encouraging. Most of the small BDEs are shot with 0 AV. One of the Tank divs was down to two digit AV.

And here is the really good news. 95% those lost allied Vehicle losses are Motorized support. [&o] I opened the turn expecting carnage on my poor tanks. They are almost in mint condition! [:)]

I may just scratch everything I had planned for Luzon. Next time its level 4 forts and my losses will be even less. This is going to have a snowball effect. But I´m going to get the Lingayen troops into position to land if Erik decides to reinforce from his troops there. He has a big stack sitting there. Last time I checked it was some 60.000 troops. I guess he learned from the Cotabato landing that I really like clear hexes.

This is good for morale! [:D]

Ground combat at Manila (79,77)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 127403 troops, 2461 guns, 5286 vehicles, Assault Value = 5246

Defending force 113058 troops, 1356 guns, 1591 vehicles, Assault Value = 3057

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 5 [&o][&o][&o]

Allied adjusted assault: 1901

Japanese adjusted defense: 11609

Allied assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 5) This was 1:8 last time!

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

Japanese ground losses:
8281 casualties reported [&o]
Squads: 144 destroyed, 410 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 117 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 79 disabled
Guns lost 216 (49 destroyed, 167 disabled)
Vehicles lost 61 (19 destroyed, 42 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4924 casualties reported
Squads: 32 destroyed, 254 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 256 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 114 disabled
Guns lost 145 (25 destroyed, 120 disabled)
Vehicles lost 451 (37 destroyed, 414 disabled)

Assaulting units:
44th Tank Battalion
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
40th Infantry Division
1st USMC Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
102nd Combat Engineer Regiment
766th Tank Battalion
762nd Tank Battalion
710th Tank Battalion
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
713th Flame Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
754th Tank Battalion
38th Infantry Division
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
716th Tank Battalion
5th USMC Tank Battalion
25th Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
763rd Tank Battalion
193rd Tank Battalion
6th Infantry Division
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
4th USMC Tank Battalion
37th Infantry Division
CenPac Amphib Tank Brigade
93rd Infantry Division
192nd Tank Battalion
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
225th Field Artillery Battalion
Tenth US Army
694th Field Artillery Battalion
XI Corps Artillery
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
XIV US Corps
147th Field Artillery Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
XI US Corps
XIV Corps Artillery
10th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
16th NZ AA Bde
8th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
251st Field Artillery Battalion
South Pacific
9th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
X Corps Artillery
1 USMC Seacoast Art
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
X US Corps
I Corps Artillery
I US Corps
XXIV US Corps
III US Amphib Corps
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
53rd Infantry Brigade
58th Infantry Brigade
59th Ind.Mixed Brigade
43rd Recon Regiment
105th Division
6th Division
1st Tank Division
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
102nd Division
61st Ind.Mixed Brigade
4th Tank Division
56th Division
64th Ind.Mixed Brigade
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Ind.Mixed Brigade
16th Army
2nd Air Fleet
60th JNAF AF Unit
88th Field AA Battalion
12th JNAF AF Unit
13th Air Fleet
33rd Special Base Force
21st Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
102nd AA Regiment
216th Naval Construction Battalion
20th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
28th JNAF AF Unit
20th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
7th Air Division
9th RF Gun Battalion
14th Area Army
16th Field AA Machinecannon Company
104th AA Regiment
78th Field AA Battalion
77th Field AA Battalion
30th Special Base Force
27th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
3rd Rocket Gun Battalion
56th JNAF AF Unit
58th JNAF AF Unit /2
91st JAAF AF Bn
1st Base Force
24th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
33rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
85th Field AA Battalion
26th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
157th JAAF AF Bn
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Base Force
20th RF Gun Battalion
21st JAAF Base Force /2

[JeffroK]

As for trading ID's for planes, remember two things: Planes never took a single hex in history, you must have ground forces to take possession. In terms of total LCU's the two sides were fairly well matched.

BUT with an historical air supremacy the AFB SHOULD be able to beat the IJA to a pulp, taking out one arm lessens the effect of the others.

Why is so much effort taken to explain why the JFB is able to over produce and maximise the effectiveness of its air force. The apparent need to make the game enjoyable to one player places the other in a less than enjoyable position.

Joc, Well done in Manila, IMVHO this shows he is low on supply in Manila, keep on bashing.

[Speedysteve]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

As for trading ID's for planes, remember two things: Planes never took a single hex in history, you must have ground forces to take possession. In terms of total LCU's the two sides were fairly well matched.

BUT with an historical air supremacy the AFB SHOULD be able to beat the IJA to a pulp, taking out one arm lessens the effect of the others.

Why is so much effort taken to explain why the JFB is able to over produce and maximise the effectiveness of its air force. The apparent need to make the game enjoyable to one player places the other in a less than enjoyable position.

Joc, Well done in Manila, IMVHO this shows he is low on supply in Manila, keep on bashing.

Agreed JeffK on all points....

[JocMeister]

Thanks for the support guys. I´m glad I´m not the only one feeling things are a little out of whack. [:)]

I shudder to think how this game would look if we had played with the official release where LBA rules all so I would have been denied the seas too. It will surely be a challenge now to try and advance under Japanese air superiority and no allied bomber support. We will try and find a way. [:)]

Things SHOULD look better in 9/45 when I get 300 P51s per month. But by then again I´ll probably be going up against 500 Shindens and 500 Jets! [:D] (I am kidding) On a more serious note it does look very bleak for a daytime bombing campaign against the HI. But thats far off in any case.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]South China Sea January 10th -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

I´m really curious on two things here. What is Erik going to do with the KB.

Is he going to get lured by the air fortress at Saigon and tries for a combined LBA/KB strike...Never know when it comes to Erik and the KB. If I were him I would wait and try and wreck a landing on Formosa/China/Okinawa instead. But he doesn´t know what the fleet looks like. He is getting only crappy intel with 2-3 TFs lit up by 2-5 DL. He could believe this is a landing on the Indochina coast. Or that this is just a portion of the CV fleet...I would love for him to come now. The entire Allied fleet gathered in one spot, KB far from the HI and loads of allied subs in the vicinity...By moving north I hope to make it look like a landing and lure him in. In reality I just want to cut off all those VPs..eh I mean ships in Saigon from the HI. He can´t maintain a 1000 plane CAP forever.

I´m also very curious to why he moved his ASW TFs west? Did my move North caught him off guard and he didn´t expect it? So he was going to use the ASW TFs to escort the 100 ships at Saigon to the HI?

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]9th-10th January -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Besides the things I already posted not much happened in the rest of the map.

------------------------
Cotabato
------------------------
I scattered many of the supply TFs to places like Balikpapan, Tarakan, Iloilo and Luzon. In all about 3 million supply is being distributed. Tankers are topping off Iloilo and Cotabato while the AO top off the tanks to be ready to support the fleet. Some of the 8800 RNG tankers will remain in theatre and start hauling locally produced fuel from Tarakan and Balikpapan. [:)]

------------------------
DEI
------------------------
I still lack lift here so things move slowly.

------------------------
Indochina
------------------------
The attack at the rivercrossing failed miserably. I know this one was a bad roll of the dice as my CR showed equal losses for both sides. I´ll have to wait for the rest of troops to arrive. 4500 AV is about 2 week from the actual crossing. Not really sure if I should risk a crossing or go around? It will cost me 4-6 days to go around. What do you guys think? Here is the opposition.

Ground combat at 64,60 (near Vinh)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8627 troops, 47 guns, 930 vehicles, Assault Value = 594

Defending force 11485 troops, 29 guns, 200 vehicles, Assault Value = 432

Allied adjusted assault: 366

Japanese adjusted defense: 583

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 59 (23 destroyed, 36 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
523 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 78 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 90 (16 destroyed, 74 disabled)

Assaulting units:
50th Tank Brigade
254th Armoured Brigade
255th Indian Tank Brigade
18th Cavalry Regiment

Defending units:
12th Tank Regiment
27th Electric Engineer Regiment
13th Ind.Infantry Brigade
65th Brigade
176th JAAF AF Bn /3

------------------------
Superstack
------------------------
I´m starting to feel really grateful for these attacks. Knowing each ID is 2800 planes times 12 divisions = 33600 planes. And thats not counting everything else. Besides they will come back with 35/35 EXP/MRL. [:)]

I´ve started moving everything out besides a lone Chinese Corps and Chinese Corp HQ.

Ground combat at 55,59 (near Tavoy)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 92537 troops, 1251 guns, 1898 vehicles, Assault Value = 740

Defending force 60590 troops, 914 guns, 572 vehicles, Assault Value = 1696

Japanese adjusted assault: 4 [:D]

Allied adjusted defense: 6001

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1500 [:D]

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
11106 casualties reported
Squads: 426 destroyed, 180 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 224 disabled
Engineers: 31 destroyed, 29 disabled
Guns lost 70 (38 destroyed, 32 disabled)
Vehicles lost 48 (28 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
564 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Assaulting units:
2nd Division
29th Ind.Mixed Brigade
55th Division
33rd Division
5th Division
3rd Tank Division
18th Division
24th Ind.Mixed Brigade
38th Division
39th Division
16th Division
2nd Tank Division
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
79th Brigade
2nd Area Army
2nd Medium Mortar Battalion
21st Division
27th Fld AA Gun Co
25th Army
Burma Area Army
43rd Const Co
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd RF Gun Battalion
10th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Ind.Mixed Regiment
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Army
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
10th RF Gun Battalion
14th Mortar Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Guards Division
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
28th Army
15th Army
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
22nd Tank Regiment
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
14th RF Gun (Pack) Battalion
3rd Medium Mortar Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
11th Mortar Battalion
8th RF Gun Battalion
75th Infantry Brigade
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Art.Mortar Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
19th Army
7th JAAF Base Force

Defending units:
11th (East African) Division
2nd New Chinese Corps
6th New Chinese Corps
6th Medium Regiment
NCAC
XXXIII Indian Corps
33rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
X' Force
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment
86th Medium Regiment
8th Belfast Heavy Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
Provisional GMC Grp

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Victory Points[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Although we don´t "play for them" I can´t help looking at this screen almost every turn lately. Its a great motivator right now when all else feels a bit bleak. Obviously I´m doing something right despite the setbacks. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]11th January -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Not much action.

------------------------
Manila
------------------------
I order a bombardment to check the results of the DA yesterday. We are definitely moving in the right direction. The raw AV is now 1,78 from the last attacks 1,72. So again we increased the raw AV difference and lowered the forts. Hurrah! [:)]

Interestingly enough it looks like Erik is going to reinforce. Not sure thats the best move at this stage. Next attack will be against (hopefully) level 4 forts possibly making it even more bloody for him. I´m pretty confident Manila may fall before January is up. But I´m going to hedge my bet. I have 3 divisions planning for secondary targets in Mars/April. I´m going to move them to Manila adding weight to the assault. One of the divisions is the 4th Marine division. So its a substantial addition. [:)]

I´ve also started picking up the Lingayen troops at their various locations (Balikpapan, Sarmi, Cotabato) to assemble at Iloilo. To make the landing secure I will give CV support to the operation.

I feel very optimistic about Luzon right now. [:)]

------------------------
Kudat
------------------------
First attack went ahead today. Good results. Air force has been working over them sporadically. Don´t need the base anymore but might as well go ahead to grab it since the troops are there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Kudat (69,86)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9669 troops, 165 guns, 169 vehicles, Assault Value = 404

Defending force 4572 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 132

Allied adjusted assault: 185

Japanese adjusted defense: 117

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
257 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
352 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 50 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Assaulting units:
3rd Motor Brigade
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
22nd Australian Brigade

Defending units:
63rd Infantry Brigade
172nd JAAF AF Bn

------------------------
Subs
------------------------
Another 4 damaged by ASW air. I hope we are out of danger tomorrow. The british subs arrived at Cotabato. Pretty beat up though after running the gauntlet around singers. Two were sunk by ASW air and one by "Es". Another 10 or so damaged. 4 of those will have to go to the yard in OZ.

------------------------
Strat bombing
------------------------
Trying something new here. I set all B29s to go after the Irwing plant. With any luck there are no NFs there. I´ve had horrible hit ratios doing this in sandbox so I don´t expect any hits. But I hope Erik gets concerned and moves some NFs here.


Here is a screen of Luzon.

[poodlebrain]

One startling statistic I noticed from the Aircraft Losses table. The Allies have flown 22,273 more sorties than the Japanese during the entire campaign. That is hard to believe for January 8, 1945. How is that possible given the disparity in the amount of Aviation Support between the sides?

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Thanks for the replies guys. I´ll get back on that tonight!

Just watched the replay...I thought Erik couldn´t adequately cover Luzon with the 900-1100 fighters he has in Thailand. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. [:(]

Don´t think I have to paint a picture how bad this is... 4 Sweeps came in before the bombers. The escorts didn´t fly at all for some unknown reason. Doubt that would make a difference though because most likely the 200 escorts would have attached themselves to a 8 plane fragment while the rest would have went in unescorted.

Bad, bad, bad day for the already beaten USAAF. I REALLY need those overpowered 4Es. Anyone knows when or where they arrive? [&:]

[princep01]

Joc, I think you miss read the Manila situation.  I don't think he is going to reinforce Manila; rather, I think he sees the writing on the wall and is preparing a new defensive position aimed at the evacuation of Luzon thru Aparri.  I think what you are seeing is preparation for a staged withdrawal from Manila.  A couple of turns will tell.
 
Nice to get Bangkok on the cheap, but sorry you did not nab the lot and put them behind contina wire.  As for the superstack in junglegrad, that is quite a show.  Surrender you fools!  Live to rebuild Japan.  Oh wait...they will comeback to life in Japan soon enough.  Oh well they will resemble zombies in their ability to fight when they do come back....at a cost:)!

[Crackaces]

" ...Oh well they will resemble zombies in their ability to fight when they do come back....at a cost:)! ... "

I am very curious to follow the effect of strat bombing on supplies within the home islands and the rebuilding of units. I am thinking that forces are going to intersect producing a supply crises of sorts ...

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Joc, I think you miss read the Manila situation.  I don't think he is going to reinforce Manila; rather, I think he sees the writing on the wall and is preparing a new defensive position aimed at the evacuation of Luzon thru Aparri.  I think what you are seeing is preparation for a staged withdrawal from Manila.  A couple of turns will tell.

Nice to get Bangkok on the cheap, but sorry you did not nab the lot and put them behind contina wire.  As for the superstack in junglegrad, that is quite a show.  Surrender you fools!  Live to rebuild Japan.  Oh wait...they will comeback to life in Japan soon enough.  Oh well they will resemble zombies in their ability to fight when they do come back....at a cost:)!

Hey princep! [:)]

I had actually not considered a withdrawal. That would be...interesting! [X(] If he does I will unleash the tanks and park the CV fleet outside Northern Luzon! None shall pass! Eeehr I mean escape! [:D]

He keeps shock attacking each turn with about 10k losses per day but no message of destroyed units yet. Seems they are a but unwilling to die for the emperor! [:D]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

" ...Oh well they will resemble zombies in their ability to fight when they do come back....at a cost:)! ... "

I am very curious to follow the effect of strat bombing on supplies within the home islands and the rebuilding of units. I am thinking that forces are going to intersect producing a supply crises of sorts ...

I´m note sure I understand what you mean by supply crises? Care to explain to a dimwit? [:)]