CAW MP AAR - Island Battles Campaign 2

[GenChaos33]

Did I take a bad pill? I'm trippin with Random's psychedelic pics. Damn crazy dude! I can't see straight now...lol.

[random_rail]

So what's the dope?  Any planning underway for the next fight?

[GenChaos33]

Just finished the Wake scenario. (IJN RA - GeneralChaos vs USN RA - RahRunner)
Pretty straight forward for IJN. Invade Wake and don't lose any transports.

[RahRunner]

BREAKING NEWS --- Wake is invaded, but dug-in US Marines stand tough and hold Wake!

Got together with GenChaos for the Wake battle/Invasion. My plan was to attack only the transports in this scenario. But I was unable to deal any major damage and all 12 transports landed there troops. My bad luck turned golden during the island battle phase.

4 IJN Marine units(12 attack factors) vs 3 USN Marine units(9 defend factors)
Land Combat Random Condition Table yields Strong Island Defence
defender bonus for turn 1(-2), turn 2(-1)

At Start - 12/9
End Rd 1 - 8/9 (die roll 1 - 2 = 0, attacker -4)
End Rd 2 - 4/9 (die roll 1 - 1 = 0, attacker -4)
End Rd 3 - 2/9 (die roll 2, attacker -2)
End Rd 4 - 1/8 (die roll 4, attacker -1 & defender -1)
End Rd 5 - 0/6 (die roll 6, attacker -2 & defender -2)

[random_rail]

Hmmm, the war isn't going so well for, as my Dad (God rest his soul) called them, "those little Pearl Harbor bombing sons of......".

[GenChaos33]

just a minor setback for IJN, better turns ahead (i hope)

END OF TURN 1 - GENERAL

- All subs RTB (both sides)

- WAKE (stays US)
IJN 4 Marines Units lost
USN 1 Marine & 2 Air Units lost

- Yap (flips US)
USN 1 Marine Unit stays/defends island


END OF TURN 1 - IJN RTB MOVEMENT (Reinforcements & Ship)

Kwajalein - 2 Air units reinforce
Truk - 1 Air unit reinforce
Saipan - 1 Marine & 1 Air units reinforce
Okinawa - 3 Marines & 2 Air units reinforce
Yap - 1 Marine & 1 Air units diverted back & reinforce Saipan

IJN Ship RTB per pic below.....
(basically all ships to Japan except for Wake, Truk, & Kwajalein forces)

[RahRunner]

END OF TURN 1 - USN RTB SHIP MOVEMENT
(island base have a max of 5 ships)
(since Yap was just captured, port not available til next turn)

GUAM - 5 CAs
WAKE - BB Texas & 4 CAs
PEARL - all remaining CAs

[GenChaos33]

TURN 2 - IJN REINFORCEMENT PHASE

[GenChaos33]

TURN 2 - IJN Operational Movement Phase (Part 1 - Marines & Air units)
Invasion of Guam & Yap, Air transfers to bases east, Marines from Japan to Iwo

[GenChaos33]

TURN 2 - IJN Operational Movement Phase (Part 2 - Home Port Ship units)
Invasion support of Guam & Yap, Defence support for bases

[RahRunner]

TURN 2 - USN SHIP & AIR/INF ACTIVATION PHASE
Not to bad. I got CV Sara and 5 BBs to join the Pacific fleet, plus 2 Air & 1 Marine unit.

[random_rail]

Any word on when the fight will happen?  How's the baby?

[GenChaos33]

Well, I don't know if the US(rahrunner) is willing to fight this turn. Unlike Turn 1, I now have reactionary forces based on Saipan, Truk, & Kwajalein. With the US only having 1CV in play, I'm betting the US will hide a few turns until they get a few more CVs.

Baby is good. She's so cute. She just needs to be nice to us and let us get some sleep.

[RahRunner]

[font="times new roman"]Good point, GC (:cute baby,too:). After staring at the map for many hours, hiding seems like my only option. I just don’t have enough ships to get into an even up battle. And if I lose the Saratoga this turn, who knows which upcoming turn I will get more CVs! I know Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet, and Wasp are in the works, but don’t know when![/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Current US ship list: Total - 1CV, 6BB, 15CA (note some of the ships are at Guam & Wake)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]IMO, the amount of ships I have means I can only do like one operation. So what island do I go for?[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Let me compare each area with IJN forces possibly responding(by ship #/type)….[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Note – does not include possible IJN subs[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I could do some reinforcement of currently US-held islands.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Attu – is totally safe. No reactionary IJN ships can reach area.[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Midway – only IJN ships from Kwajalein can reach (1CV, 2BB, 2CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Tarawa – IJN ships from both Truk & Kwajalein (3CV, 3BB, 4CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Wake – IJN ships from Saipan, Truk, & Kwajalein (4CV, 5BB, 6CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Yap - IJN ships from Saipan, Truk, & Kwajalein (4CV, 5BB, 6CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Guam - IJN ships from both Truk & Saipan (3CV, 3BB, 4CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I could invade a Jap Island (that all US ships can reach). But the numbers get worse.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Kwajalein - IJN ships from Truk, Kwajalein, & inbound Def Op ships from Japan (3CV, 2CVL, 4BB, 5CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Truk - IJN ships from Truk, Kwajalein, Saipan & inbound Def Op ships from Japan (4CV, 5BB, 8CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Saipan - IJN ships from Truk, Saipan & inbound Def Op ships from Japan (3CV, 2CVL, 4BB, 5CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I could invade a Jap Island (that only Guam & Pearl US ships can reach).[/font]
[font="times new roman"]But this might be a bad idea, since it takes defending US marines off islands that will be invaded this turn.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Okinawa - IJN ships from both Japan & Saipan (2CV, 3BB, 4CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Iwo Jima - IJN ships from both Japan & Saipan (2CV, 3BB, 4CA)[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]On Turn 1, I knew that I was only going to be dealing with only 2 IJN CVLs (about 30-40 planes total for the battle/scenario). But with this turn, the IJN CVs are really now in play and can react into a battle (so 150 planes with 2CVs or up to 300 planes with 4CVs for the battle/scenario).[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I really don’t like the odds this turn. I’m going to sleep on it tonite and hopefully turn in my moves sometime within the next 24hrs.[/font]

[RahRunner]

TURN 2 - USN Operational Movement Phase

Well, I decide to try and reinforce both Midway and Tarawa. Since both of these two bases are within 2 Movement points from Pearl, I'll save my warship movement until the Turn 2 USN Reaction Movement Phase. This will let me see the IJN Reaction Movement Phase first before I decide which battle(s) to take on.

NOTE: New map, GenChaos added port boxes to islands to help clarify which ships are in port / land unit on base(units touching white rectangle) and which ships/units are actually out at sea.

[GenChaos33]

TURN 2 - IJN REACTION PHASE (warships still at base can move up to 2 movement points)

I decide to counter both reinforcements of Midway & Tarawa, and some ships go support my own reinforcements for Truk & Iwo.

[random_rail]

Sure is nice of ya to leave us alone.[:)] So who's going to fight this round? Good lookin kid by the way.[:)]

[RahRunner]

TURN 2 - USN REACTION PHASE (US warships still at base can move up to 2 movement points)

I send both surface groups from Guam & Wake to stop the Saipan supply, while the Sara CV group support the reinforcement of Midway.

Since we are now basically done with the 4 movement phases of Turn 2, hopefully we can get the battles setup soon.

[GenChaos33]

After the movement phase, there are 5 possible battles.
Random draw determines which battle to address first.
1-Yap, 2-Tarawa, 3-Guam, 4-Saipan, and 5-Midway

EARLY WITHDRAWL PHASE (random draw determines which side chooses early withdrawl first, if they want to)

1 - Yap Battle Proceeds ( USN cannot withdrawl since no ships in area / IJN wants battle )

2 - Tarawa No Battle ( IJN wants battle / USN withdraws from area )

3 - Guam Battle Proceeds ( USN cannot withdrawl since no ships in area / IJN wants battle )

4 - Saipan Battle Proceeds ( USN wants battle / IJN wants battle )

5 - Midway No Battle ( USN wants battle / IJN withdraws from area )


So now there only 3 battles for Turn 2: Yap, Guam, and Saipan

[GenChaos33]

TURN 2 - Sub Activation Phase

IJN rolls D6(2) - places both subs in Saipan area
USN rolls D6(5) - places all 5 subs in Guam area

next up is the Yap Invasion (no scenario battle since US has no ships/planes in area)