Alien Invasion: Oh, the Humanity!

[USSAmerica]

[font="times new roman"]12/15/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Kuching saw more Alien troops come ashore today, and the base was captured easily.  My Dutch sub fleet scored another hit on an AP in the invasion TF there, but no hits on enemy shipping from the air today.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The waters around Singapore were busy with sub/asw action again today.  AK Dayak, which hit a mine at Singapore yesterday, turned around and headed back toward Batavia.  I-155 found her and finished her off 60 miles SE of Singapore.  I-156 is still operating 1 hex SW of Toboali.  Despite the best efforts of a Brit ASW TF, I-156 hit and sunk MSW Bantam.  Speaking of MSW’s, my TF sweeping at Singapore cleared more mines away, but then a PC in the group (returning from ASW duty) hit a mine and sank.  [8|][/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Sub activity heated up to the NE of Hawaii today as well.  I-21 was pounded by the same 6 DD’s for the 3rd day in a row, 2 hexes NE of Hilo.  5 reported hits today to go with 6 previous.  They must be low on DC’s.  2 hexes NE of Lahaina, 4 DD’s found but failed to hit I-23, and 3 hexes NE of Lahaina, 6 more DD’s tangled with I-26.  It was actually a sub attack, and I-26 put 2 fish into Ralph Talbot.  She broke in half and sank straight away.  Her brothers retaliated, hitting I-26 6 times and leaving her on fire.  The good news is that all this activity tied up Mynok’s subs and allowed my two TF’s of damaged ships to slip through and head for the West Coast.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Near Wake, I am now convinced that Mynok had the KB replenish from his TK’s, which is why he moved the CV’s to the NE yesterday.  Today, both the KB and replenishment TF’s were spotted, with the KB moving due west and the TK’s moving NW toward Japan.  My CV’s are going to forgo taking on fuel, and will head directly back to Pearl.  I’ll have my AO continue to Midway to unload it’s fuel cargo there.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Aliens landed at Sorong today.  I saw them inbound yesterday and pulled out my Dutch Patrol squadron and the AVD that was supporting them.  No attack today, but I have almost nothing on the ground there, if anything, so I’m sure the Martian flag will be raised over the base tomorrow.  With Sorong and Kuching in Alien hands, things will surely get very interesting, very quickly, in the DEI.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Other bases that fell today beside Kuching include:   Jolo, Clark Field, Lamon Bay, and Georgetown.  At Nanchang, my forces were again successful at keeping open the escape route from SE China.  Mynok deliberate attacked me here, and our forces were almost exactly even.  The 1 to 1 result did not leave even casualties, however, as he lost 2300 troops to my 630.  Just west of Hangchow, my shock attack was a great success.  My 5 Chinese corps were facing what turned out to be 2/3 of the 22nd Div.  They were in poor shape after their misguided shock attack yesterday, so my 51 to 1 result was only a small surprise.  Again, the major objective of this was to rob Alien units of some supply, cause major disruption, and kill their morale.  There are other forces in Hangchow (how strong I don’t know), and just east of there at Shanghai.  This should weaken and stall them enough for some of my forces to march along the trails in the area onto the minor railway, and then form up for the march to Nanchang and out of the pocket.  [/font]

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: USS America

[font="times new roman"]12/15/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]  Just west of Hangchow, my shock attack was a great success.  My 5 Chinese corps were facing what turned out to be 2/3 of the 22nd Div.  They were in poor shape after their misguided shock attack yesterday, so my 51 to 1 result was only a small surprise.  Again, the major objective of this was to rob Alien units of some supply, cause major disruption, and kill their morale.  There are other forces in Hangchow (how strong I don’t know), and just east of there at Shanghai.  This should weaken and stall them enough for some of my forces to march along the trails in the area onto the minor railway, and then form up for the march to Nanchang and out of the pocket.  [/font]

Nice bit of work in China -- and very unusual for Dec. '41!

[USSAmerica]

Thanks, Capt.  I think I just got lucky that Mynok stumbled into way more than he expected and his forces were spent from attacking.  No complaints from this end.  [:)]

Edit: Can't spell. [8|]

[USSAmerica]

After receiving an inquiry, here are the major ships sunk for each side through 12/15/41, sorted by point value:
 

 

[USSAmerica]

[font="times new roman"]12/16/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Not a whole lot of action today, but some interesting land combat took place.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Kuching, my TB’s from Sinkawing put a torp into another AK as Mynok has begun pulling all his ships back toward French Indochina.  All but one, that is.  It seems from my map recon that there is a single BB in port at Kuching.  [;)]  He has moved some planes onto the Kuching airfield, but I have to take a crack at a port attack with my remaining TB’s anyway.  They are ordered in for tomorrow.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I must have had a bad die roll while getting CAP into the air over Singapore to intercept a raid from Kota Bharu.  The raid easily got past my 12 fighter CAP and hit the airfield, taking out 2 Wirraway’s and 4 Buffalo’s along with 6 bombers on the ground.  I nailed 1 and damaged 16 of 29 attacking Sally’s.  He bombed from 15k feet, so my flak was not as effective as I would hope.  All the damage was easily repaired, and I’ve upgraded one of the Aussie Buffalo squadrons to Hurricanes.  Singapore’s forts are at 5 + 13% and still building, but a little slow as I’ve kept a bunch of Malaya Command engineer units at Kuala Lumpur to hopefully do some good damage to that big 600 Resource center when it’s taken.  Singapore supply is also slowly growing (up to 48k) even though Alien subs are making it expensive for me.  I lost another AK and had one hit by a single torp today, without getting any hits in return on Mynok’s subs in the area.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The CV/KB dance drama around Wake is officially over.  He’s moved the KB even farther to the NW of Wake, heading for Japan, while my CV’s cruise back to Pearl to replenish and join up with Sara.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]After several days in a target rich environment, Mynok’s mini KB south of the PI must be getting low on sorties.  They have hit a LOT of my ships.  In anticipation of them having to withdraw soon to replenish, I moved a SC TF based around Houston, Boise, Marblehead, and De Ruyter, along with 9 DD’s forward from Balikpapan, toward Tarakan.  I hope to hit one of the smaller landing forces in the Southern PI while the mini KB is out of position, and before Mynok gets too many Bettys and Nells deployed to the PI.  I have not yet shown a glimpse of this TF to Mynok, so I might be able to catch him off guard.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]On to the ground action:  [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Undefended Sorong was taken easily today.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I’m not sure what Mynok is waiting for to reinforce at Hong Kong, but the units he started with there deliberately attacked again.  Base AV, he has a 5:3 edge, but my 3 forts and urban terrain give me an adjusted AV ratio of 4:1.  I am getting low on supply, and he could surely wait it out in a siege, but I would bring in more guys and guns from Canton and capture the 200 Resources and 200 Heavy Industry there as quickly as possible.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Nanchang, the Aliens launched another Deliberate attack.  Our base assault values are quite equal, but after adjustments, I have about a 3:2 advantage.  I’m still well supplied here, so I can keep this up for quite a long time, unless Mynok brings in strong reinforcements from across the river at Kiukiang and Anking.  I have 3 more corps and another HQ unit slowly making their way into Nanchang.  They will have to be enough to keep the road open until I can pull out of the pocket.  My 3 units marching along the trail from Pucheng to the road are 33, 36, and 36 miles out of 60.  I would guess about another 7-10 days for them to get onto the light rail/main road, and then another 7-10 days to march everyone along the road to Nanchang.  2 to 3 weeks sure gives Mynok a lot of time to move in some strong reinforcements if he wants to kick me out of the city.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Manila, I was able to take advantage of another opportunity on the ground today.  While capturing Clark Field yesterday, Mynok’s 4th and 7th Tank Regiments pursued my retreating units into Manila.[;)]  I had to take the chance to give them a bloody nose before they could be backed up by lots of infantry.  My shock attack was quite a success.  Even though the 48th Division was also revealed to be at Manila, it must have been split or very under strength, and I rolled a 4:1 result.  My casualties were much higher than his, but both Tk Rgts and the 48th retreated to Lucena.  Disruption and supply loss.  Delay, delay, delay.  [:)][/font]

[witpqs]

Just a PS on that bug with the Marine para unit failing to show up - I downloaded the latest CHS files to start an AI game. I went into the files to make sure I didn't get bit by the same thing when I started, and all the CHS scenario files already were fixed (meaning the work-around of changing the arrival date to 12/9/41 instead of 12/8/41). The files are dated in August 2006, so you guys might have an old version.

BTW, your people are to be complimented on standing up to an alien invasion so stoutly!

[USSAmerica]

Thanks for the compliment, witpqs!
 
As for the 2nd Marine Para, the editor for my scenario shows them scheduled to arrive on 12/9/41, so I think our files are good.  Maybe Mynok started the game with 'Variable Reinforcements' ON.  [&:]

[ny59giants]

You can usually get Nanchang to fall if your aggressive in capturing it early in the game. He will eventually take it back, but it does keep he busy for a while. If possible, make a play for Ichang. Its hard as you have to go by trails to get there and he can react quickly as he has roads to move troops. I just found out why.  In my CHS game, he is launching air raids on Chungking from only 5 hexes away. YIKES!! [X(]
 
I am starting to form an opinion as an Allied player that as soon as possible, form single CV TF, but keep them all together. Maybe it has been my bad experiences when I only have 2 CV TF operating together when I run into trouble. [:@]  I think you can sometimes get away with not operating them all together, but it seems that trouble is just around the corner, if you do. [;)]  Just my 2 cents. [:D]

[USSAmerica]

Hi ny, I agree with you on all points.  My primary goal at Nanchang is to allow the evacuation of my Chinese corps to the SE of there.  Once I get all of those guys back to Nanchang, I'll evaluate the situation to see if I have a chance of taking the city.  Mynok has already pulled out of Ichang, and I'm marching a token force of two guerilla units by trail to run up the Chinese flag. 
 
My CV's will operate as single carrier TF's, but with at least 3-4 grouped together.  The only reason I was operating initially with just 2 CV's is because that's what starts at sea within striking distance of Wake.  Sara is already waiting to join them at Pearl, and Yorktown is transiting from Panama.  All 4 will operate together for a long while. 

[Yava]

Nice job at PI, it slows Mynok a bit... [:)]
So far so good! [:)] I like your China plans, it's good that you are not trying to bunker yourself with the Peanut somewhere in China but attacking and keeping him busy. [:)]

[USSAmerica]

Thanks, Yava.  I suspect from lots of reading that I won't be able to do a whole lot in China before I become crippled by a lack of supply.  My strategic plan is completely defensive here, but I have to counter punch every once in a while to keep our Martian friend honest.  [;)]

[Yava]

ORIGINAL: USS America

Thanks, Yava. I suspect from lots of reading that I won't be able to do a whole lot in China before I become crippled by a lack of supply. My strategic plan is completely defensive here, but I have to counter punch every once in a while to keep our Martian friend honest. [;)]

Yeah, suplly levels in China are really a pain in the... [:D] Not to mention almost total Jap air superiority...

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Yava

ORIGINAL: USS America

Thanks, Yava. I suspect from lots of reading that I won't be able to do a whole lot in China before I become crippled by a lack of supply. My strategic plan is completely defensive here, but I have to counter punch every once in a while to keep our Martian friend honest. [;)]

Yeah, suplly levels in China are really a pain in the... [:D] Not to mention almost total Jap air superiority...

Speaking of Jap air superiority, I've completed the redeployment of the entire Chinese air force to a couple of well supplied airfields in India. They will sit there while they recover morale and slowly fill out. As some PP's become available, I'll also start upgrading their leaders. I figure by the time they are all ready to get into the fight (and most likely die a quick death for the glory of Humanity [:D]) my land forces should be safely in their Chinese defensive positions and not running around attacking and burning up supply.

Long term, I'm planning to evacuate most of the squadrons from the PI and Malaya to India. They should be able to pop into China to help out from time to time, especially some quality fighter cover. I have a handful of key bases building forts, and will only start expanding airfields at 2 or 3 bases after the forts reach level 9. I think the key in China will be patience, patience, patience. Of course, that's the key for the Allies as a whole during the first 6 months. [;)]

[bobogoboom]

ORIGINAL: USS America

ORIGINAL: Yava

ORIGINAL: USS America

Thanks, Yava. I suspect from lots of reading that I won't be able to do a whole lot in China before I become crippled by a lack of supply. My strategic plan is completely defensive here, but I have to counter punch every once in a while to keep our Martian friend honest. [;)]

Yeah, suplly levels in China are really a pain in the... [:D] Not to mention almost total Jap air superiority...

Speaking of Jap air superiority, I've completed the redeployment of the entire Chinese air force to a couple of well supplied airfields in India. They will sit there while they recover morale and slowly fill out. As some PP's become available, I'll also start upgrading their leaders. I figure by the time they are all ready to get into the fight (and most likely die a quick death for the glory of Humanity [:D]) my land forces should be safely in their Chinese defensive positions and not running around attacking and burning up supply.

Long term, I'm planning to evacuate most of the squadrons from the PI and Malaya to India. They should be able to pop into China to help out from time to time, especially some quality fighter cover. I have a handful of key bases building forts, and will only start expanding airfields at 2 or 3 bases after the forts reach level 9. I think the key in China will be patience, patience, patience. Of course, that's the key for the Allies as a whole during the first 6 months. [;)]

One thing i have found is that i left all my air squadrons in china and used them plus 2 40 group and 1 philipinee group plus the avg to harras my opponents training centers. once ever month i send all my units to a training center and maul his planes. the caf can become quiet usful when it gets p43 and p66s.

[USSAmerica]

Likely to be a slow weekend around here, as I'm out of town for my son's hockey tournament, and dealing with "spotty" wireless access.  The bar in the lobby has good, free wireless, and there's a Starbucks next door.  [;)]  It's nice to be in an urban setting again for some convenience factors.  [:D]

[USSAmerica]

[font="times new roman"]12/17/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]I have two turns of action to catch up on.  Most of the real action involved submarines.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]My Dutch boys put a single torp into an AK and 2 AP’s, and two fish into another AK on the way back from Kuching toward Saigon.  3 Martin’s from Sinkawing also put a single bomb into an AP heading home.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I-164 used two torps and two shells to sink an AK between Toboali and Pontianak.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]One of my ASW groups found I-21 near Pearl and hit her two times.  Heavy damage was reported.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Mynok has some Alien Claude’s flying CAP over Kuching, so I lost one of my Vildebeest attackers on the run into the port.  Supply must now be too low at Sinkawing, since they all dropped bombs for just a few casualties.  They are being ordered back to Singapore.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Mynok continues to send a daily 75-80 Zero sweep to Manlia from Formosa.  No bombers yet, but he’s making sure I don’t have any fighter cover there when he does send in the bombers.  (and taking a few op losses [;)])  I have no plans to move aircraft back into Manlia until sometime in ’44.  [:'(][/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Minimal bombardment attacks at Nanchang and Hong Kong were followed by Alien troops occupying the empty base at Tavoy.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]No other real action to report for today.  All of my initial, big West Coast convoys have now shipped out toward their destinations, and my two damaged ship groups from Pearl are about 1/3 and 1/2 of the way to the West Coast for repairs.  [/font]
 

[USSAmerica]

[font="times new roman"]12/18/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]In a fierce exchange of fire 1 hex SW of Toboali, 3 SC’s tangled with I-164.  SC Nigella ate a torpedo and went down, but in return, 2 DC hits were scored on I-164, with reports of fire and heavy damage.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I had contact with the KB today, but not the good kind.  They found one of my AK escapee’s from China that was trying to slip back to Hawaii, well North of Marcus I.  Contact with the KB was soon lost.  [:D][/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]12 Hudson’s from Singapore hit two AP’s returning from Kuching, scoring 2 and 6 hits on them.  The same hex, 5 SW of Saigon, saw O16 miss BB Kongo with a spread of fish.  Several of the Dutch and British subs in the area are going to try to get ahead of Kongo for another attempt.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Back near Hawaii, 4 DD’s were attacked by I-23.  None were hit, and they paid her back with 6 DC hits.  [;)]  In the last week, 3 Alien subs have taken a bunch of hits in this area:  I-21 - 13 hits, I-23 - 6 hits, and I-26 - 6 hits.  I-21 is the only one to show up on the Sunk Ships list ... so far.  [8D][/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Taiping was captured as the advancing Alien troops shock attacked my pitiful rearguard Bde.  Those Indian troops did their duty, as the Aliens were slowed down by one day, and forced to use some supplies and ammunition…[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]3 of my Chinese guerillas were chased off of road hexes they had been blockading today.  They will move toward the next closest road hex that they can occupy to interdict supply movement.  [/font]

[Yava]

At least you know where KB is.... more or less... [;)]

[bobogoboom]

ORIGINAL: USS America

[font="times new roman"]12/16/41[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Not a whole lot of action today, but some interesting land combat took place.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Kuching, my TB’s from Sinkawing put a torp into another AK as Mynok has begun pulling all his ships back toward French Indochina.  All but one, that is.  It seems from my map recon that there is a single BB in port at Kuching.  [;)]  He has moved some planes onto the Kuching airfield, but I have to take a crack at a port attack with my remaining TB’s anyway.  They are ordered in for tomorrow.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I must have had a bad die roll while getting CAP into the air over Singapore to intercept a raid from Kota Bharu.  The raid easily got past my 12 fighter CAP and hit the airfield, taking out 2 Wirraway’s and 4 Buffalo’s along with 6 bombers on the ground.  I nailed 1 and damaged 16 of 29 attacking Sally’s.  He bombed from 15k feet, so my flak was not as effective as I would hope.  All the damage was easily repaired, and I’ve upgraded one of the Aussie Buffalo squadrons to Hurricanes.  Singapore’s forts are at 5 + 13% and still building, but a little slow as I’ve kept a bunch of Malaya Command engineer units at Kuala Lumpur to hopefully do some good damage to that big 600 Resource center when it’s taken.  Singapore supply is also slowly growing (up to 48k) even though Alien subs are making it expensive for me.  I lost another AK and had one hit by a single torp today, without getting any hits in return on Mynok’s subs in the area.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The CV/KB dance drama around Wake is officially over.  He’s moved the KB even farther to the NW of Wake, heading for Japan, while my CV’s cruise back to Pearl to replenish and join up with Sara.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]After several days in a target rich environment, Mynok’s mini KB south of the PI must be getting low on sorties.  They have hit a LOT of my ships.  In anticipation of them having to withdraw soon to replenish, I moved a SC TF based around Houston, Boise, Marblehead, and De Ruyter, along with 9 DD’s forward from Balikpapan, toward Tarakan.  I hope to hit one of the smaller landing forces in the Southern PI while the mini KB is out of position, and before Mynok gets too many Bettys and Nells deployed to the PI.  I have not yet shown a glimpse of this TF to Mynok, so I might be able to catch him off guard.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]On to the ground action:  [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Undefended Sorong was taken easily today.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I’m not sure what Mynok is waiting for to reinforce at Hong Kong, but the units he started with there deliberately attacked again.  Base AV, he has a 5:3 edge, but my 3 forts and urban terrain give me an adjusted AV ratio of 4:1.  I am getting low on supply, and he could surely wait it out in a siege, but I would bring in more guys and guns from Canton and capture the 200 Resources and 200 Heavy Industry there as quickly as possible.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Nanchang, the Aliens launched another Deliberate attack.  Our base assault values are quite equal, but after adjustments, I have about a 3:2 advantage.  I’m still well supplied here, so I can keep this up for quite a long time, unless Mynok brings in strong reinforcements from across the river at Kiukiang and Anking.  I have 3 more corps and another HQ unit slowly making their way into Nanchang.  They will have to be enough to keep the road open until I can pull out of the pocket.  My 3 units marching along the trail from Pucheng to the road are 33, 36, and 36 miles out of 60.  I would guess about another 7-10 days for them to get onto the light rail/main road, and then another 7-10 days to march everyone along the road to Nanchang.  2 to 3 weeks sure gives Mynok a lot of time to move in some strong reinforcements if he wants to kick me out of the city.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]At Manila, I was able to take advantage of another opportunity on the ground today.  While capturing Clark Field yesterday, Mynok’s 4th and 7th Tank Regiments pursued my retreating units into Manila.[;)]  I had to take the chance to give them a bloody nose before they could be backed up by lots of infantry.  My shock attack was quite a success.  Even though the 48th Division was also revealed to be at Manila, it must have been split or very under strength, and I rolled a 4:1 result.  My casualties were much higher than his, but both Tk Rgts and the 48th retreated to Lucena.  Disruption and supply loss.  Delay, delay, delay.  [:)][/font]

in chs if he moved the amount of av he needs to take honkong he will leave canton to weekly defended you have enough chinese corps that you can make a push for canton and maybe to relieve hong kong in chs.

[USSAmerica]

Hmm, interesting idea, bobo.  It may be time to scrounge up some recon flights over the Alien troops at Canton and 1 hex NW of there.  [:)]