Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[vettim89]

My ships sunk screen. Of course I have lots of damaged ships including Repulse at 93 Syst in Singapore Harbor. Situation is really a lot better because Larry told me the other day that he had lost over 70 ships. FOW only showing 60 right now. Wonder who else is dead

[vettim89]

Aircraft losses. Considering Greasylake has 200 Op losses I don't feel like I am winning the airwar in the truest sense. Then again I have over 500 ground losses.

[vettim89]

Situation PI

[vettim89]

Situation SE Asia

[vettim89]

Situation NEI

[Alfred]

If you don't get some Dutch into Merak, you will regret it.  The Dutch at Singkawang and Pontianak are not going to hold long when the Japs arrive - you should be thinking about thinning out those troops and redeploying them to Merak.
 
Alfred

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

If you don't get some Dutch into Merak, you will regret it.  The Dutch at Singkawang and Pontianak are not going to hold long when the Japs arrive - you should be thinking about thinning out those troops and redeploying them to Merak.

Alfred

Appreciate the advice Alfred but I think I am stuck where I am. Greasylake has been running KB West in and out of the Java Sea on a near constant basis now for 3 weeks. Because I unwisely choice red as a font color you can hardly see it, but if you look at the NEI situation map you will notice a notation in the lower right corner that KB West is one or two hexes off the map ESE of Kendari. Any shipping I have tried to move into the NEI has died of late - that is why my DD losses are so high. Every game is different and as the Allies I am becoming intimately aware that you just have to make choices as to where you are going to make a stand. Batavia is well stocked and forts are at 3 and growing. Same at Soerobaja. I have covered as much as I can. Most of the bases on Java have a single unit in them to help ward off paradrops, but I just can't be everywhere at once now, and Greasylakes use of KB West as a roaming ship killer has about paralyzed me in this area. With its present location I probably could move stuff around the Western Java Sea right now but just a week ago KB was there. I have to just accept this fate right now.

[vettim89]

1 Feb 1942

Well things continue to intensify at the primary points of interst. From the image you can see the kinds of raids I am seeing on Singapore. KB West has withdrawn from the Celebes Sea to the NE. Supplies are dwindling at Singapore and Mersing. Don't suspect I have but a week or two at most. I did want to show the most recent combat report to give readers an idea on how its going.

Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 171792 troops, 1184 guns, 572 vehicles

Defending force 53567 troops, 205 guns, 322 vehicles

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


Japanese ground losses:
2637 casualties reported
Guns lost 53
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
2688 casualties reported
Guns lost 35
Vehicles lost 10


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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 117790 troops, 957 guns, 118 vehicles

Defending force 56750 troops, 282 guns, 7 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1


Japanese ground losses:
963 casualties reported
Guns lost 24

Allied ground losses:
2135 casualties reported
Guns lost 63


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Ground combat at Mersing

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34461 troops, 248 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 14349 troops, 67 guns, 4 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1


Japanese ground losses:
625 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Allied ground losses:
203 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Cagayan

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 7164 troops, 60 guns, 10 vehicles

Defending force 7664 troops, 63 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Singapore

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 26088 troops, 157 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 116092 troops, 919 guns, 118 vehicles



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Ground combat at Cagayan

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5722 troops, 59 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 10300 troops, 80 guns, 10 vehicles

[vettim89]

2 Feb 1942

I question this one. I don't know if this is a pre-invasion run up or a raid. As I haven't spotted any AmpTF yet I am leaning towards a raid. If that is true, it makes no sense to me. I don't know if Larry need to prove to me that becasue I raided Wake, he can do the same with much greater force or what. If this is a raid it is a usless dissipation of his force. I raided Wake to get some EXP for my CV air groups. It was not a demonstration. His airgroups are already highly experienced. He lost a bunch of Kates in this raid and he told me via E-Mail that his Navy pilot pool is empty. The other thing is I still have a CV TF near Moratai. Obviously FOW is playing some tricks on me here. Oops, forgot the second annotation - the TF near Midway is a single Damaged ML

Only other action was another failed deliberate attack at Singapore and a 1 to 1 at Mersing with forts being reduced to 1. Things will be wrapping up in Malaya soon I fear. At least for now I know the troops ther will likely be tabbed for the DEI and/or Burma. At this stage I think a Burma Campaign is still several months off.

[vettim89]

4 February 1942

Slow few days. Greasylake attempted another shock attack at Manila - lost 5k to my 2 k. Have to believe his disruption is pretty high. He stayed at Midway one more day then left. My only loss was one ML. Very slow right now. Suspect he is building up for the next push.

Attached image shows a typical raid at Singapore. Wish land based AAA was more effective.

[vettim89]

7 February 1942

Well Greasylake took Singapore and Mersing in the same turn. The siege here lasted much shorter than Manilla even though Manilla was in worse shape to start (Forts only at 2 vice 5 at Singapore). The Mersing troops retreated north so it is not over in Malaya yet. I suspect Larry is kicking himself for not clearing the two remaining bases. I have a couple of questions for those who know. The first is how long will it take for Greasylake to rebuild his units at Singapore? The second is from the attached image how bad were the facilities damaged?

No action anywhere else on the map other than continued bombardments by air and ground at Manila

[vettim89]

11 February 1942

Well after the fall of Singapore things are very quiet. I only have one Japanese TF detected right now - at Rabaul unloading troops. Talk about quiet. One note I forgot to mention is that with the fall of SIngapore, I lost Repulse. I never had much hope for her, and she served her purpose as a distraction to Larry

[vettim89]

12 February 1942

Will go by areas here

PI Another failed Deliberate attack at Manila. Bombardment at Cagayan. No further action on smaller islands

Malaya Mersing survivors retreating north towards Kuantang

SE No movement. Greasylake holds only Tavoy. 35K supplies at Rangoon. Forts at 4 and climbing. Going to take a while to crack this nut

NEI No action

CentPac An unseen SCTF sneaks into Midway and trashes my minelayers. CD rips the TF hard. One DD sinks and several other are hit hard. Still don't know how he got so close. Added another PBY squadron to avoid future events

SoPac Bombardment attack at Rabaul. Forts are 3 here.

[saj42]

Re damage to Singapore, the screenshot shows that:
Heavy Inustry has 77 operational and 111 damaged factories
Resources has 5 functioning and 6 damaged
Repair shipyard has 15 functional and 18 damaged

I'll need to load the scenario afresh to check the starting levels for the above But I do think some shipyards were permanently lost.
Greasylake won't mourn the loss of the resources, but will need to spend supply to repair the shipyard. Maybe the HI too depeding on his economic requirements.

As for the troops retreating to Kuantan, I suggest you gather some subs and try to rescue key units as much as possible to rebuild back in Karachi. Some players see sub evac as 'gamey' but as long as you try to get all the unit out I think its OK ( and those units should be pretty beat up by now)

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!

Re damage to Singapore, the screenshot shows that:
Heavy Inustry has 77 operational and 111 damaged factories
Resources has 5 functioning and 6 damaged
Repair shipyard has 15 functional and 18 damaged

I'll need to load the scenario afresh to check the starting levels for the above But I do think some shipyards were permanently lost.
Greasylake won't mourn the loss of the resources, but will need to spend supply to repair the shipyard. Maybe the HI too depeding on his economic requirements.

As for the troops retreating to Kuantan, I suggest you gather some subs and try to rescue key units as much as possible to rebuild back in Karachi. Some players see sub evac as 'gamey' but as long as you try to get all the unit out I think its OK ( and those units should be pretty beat up by now)

Fragments of those units have already been pulled. They are now in Australia and/or India. Thanks for the advice

[vettim89]

12 February 1942

The most important thing happening is the appearance of AmpTF near Midway. Unfortunately I lost my screen shot some how to show what is up. A large contingent of KB is also present with at least 4 CV's. The SCTF that bombarded is retreating west. I think there are some hurting ships there. I have lots of useless subs in the area. They will blockade the island in hopes that maybe one will get a lucky hit. At this stage of the game I cannot contest this. Only Lexington has a full compliment of F4F-3's. Enterprise hase 23/27 and Saratoga has 20. Those three are all at PH. Yorktown has 17/27 and is returning from Suva. Hornet is just now leaving the shipping Channel from Panama and has a full compliment. No F4F-3's in pool and with a build rate of 20 it will take a month just to get airgroups up to full strength.

No other action so I think this is the focus of Larry's thoughts right now. I suspect he wants to wrap up at Manilla first and rebuild the units at Singapore before heading South.

[vettim89]

17 February 1942

Realized its been quite a few turns since I've posted. That tells you how slow things are going right now. I think Larry is getting ready for the big push. NEI has got to be a priority to him and he better get moving 'cause time's a wastin'. Update by area

CBI Larry has started a small offensive in southern china. He is trying to take Puching but has failed in two deliberate attacks. I do have one unit cut off east of Canton and would try to kill it but supplies are in short supply. In Burma Japanese 55th Div is in Tavoy and has been there for weeks. Seems to be no interest in moving here. Because of the long siege of Singapore, there has been very little air activity here. I have used that to my advantage to build up Rangoon which now has forts 5 and 48 k supplies. If Larry does not move here soon, I am considering moving up some units from India to reinforce here.

NEI Palembang's airfield has been reduced to rubble. All a/c have been withdrawn. Also Larry has slowly whittled away at the remaining 3 Dutch DD's at Kuching. Only one remains undamaged. Two are seriously banged up and one has been sunk. These and 6 PT's at Balikapaypan are all the surface units I have in the area. The remnants of the Asiatic fleet are halfway between Perth and Adelaid heading for Sidney. The Duth remants are heading for Melbourne and are just south of Perth. There are still 2 brtish Cl's at Soerobaja - one with 67 syst and one with 17. I thought about pulling the lesser damaged one out but don't know where to send her - she has very short legs (3500 nm)

SoPac Lots of convoys moving here. First supply convoy has left Brisbane and is heading to Pogo Pgo which is my current way station. Papete is being prepared as a fall back in case Larry makes moves here. Japanese have failed to dislodge the defenders at Rabaul but forts have fallen to 1 so it will be soon.

CentPac KB won't leave Midway! They have been lurking at there for a week now. I had a small TranTF heading there (1 AK, 4 MSW) When I saw the carriers, I told it to return to PH. Apparent the captain failed to get the order because they got bounced today losing 1 MSW and all ships now damaged. They are heading back to PH I hope. Imaged attached. I think Larry was hoping to bait me into a battle but I am not interested. Yorktown should make PH this next turn and Hornet should make SF in two. Only Lex and Hornet have full fighter squadrons. Only 11 days until F4F production kicks in. At leat then I can upgrade one squadron when the count reaches 27 which will open up the remain -3's to fill out everybody else.

[vettim89]

22 Feb 1942

Just a brief post. Only thing going on right now is Larry is moving on Midway. He keeps taunting me about coming out to fight. WIth my lack of SV fighters at this point, I cannot challenge him. So I have sent a dozen subs out into the area.
Quite Frankly I don't think this is all bad for me. I am thinking having to fight the battle of attrition so close to my main base

I have a question for readers: can Rangoon be defended. It is now almost March. Larry has one unit - 55th Div in theatre. I have already moved up tons of supplies to Rangoon (88k). SHould I move some combat units from India?

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

I have a question for readers: can Rangoon be defended. It is now almost March. Larry has one unit - 55th Div in theatre. I have already moved up tons of supplies to Rangoon (88k). SHould I move some combat units from India?

How much Assault Value do you have there. The Jap 55th Div alone will be worth more than 300 Ass Val, and you can rest assured it won't come a callin' just by itself.

The problem with defending Rangoon in strength is that if you fail to hold he will quickly capture the Burma bases because either (a) he cuts off your escape route from Rangoon, or (b) he will use the pursue order (particularly if he has an armour unit doing the pursuing) and being on railway lines, allow no time to recover disablements before you are pushed out to the next position.

Rather than passively defending Rangoon, there are at least 2 other options you could consider:

(1) if you have a static fortress unit located in Rangoon, a fortification level of 5 will double its Ass Val. That may be sufficient to act as a road block. If so, consider moving most of your mobile units out of Rangoon and via use of the railway lines, once the Japanese enter Rangoon, swiftly move the mobile Kampfgruppe behind the Japanese besiegers to cut off their LOC.

(2) move most of your units (particularly those with engineers) back to Mandalay. Wrecking the local resources at Mandalay is more harmful to the Japanese than similarly wrecking Rangoon's resources.

Alfred

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: vettim89

I have a question for readers: can Rangoon be defended. It is now almost March. Larry has one unit - 55th Div in theatre. I have already moved up tons of supplies to Rangoon (88k). SHould I move some combat units from India?

How much Assault Value do you have there. The Jap 55th Div alone will be worth more than 300 Ass Val, and you can rest assured it won't come a callin' just by itself.

The problem with defending Rangoon in strength is that if you fail to hold he will quickly capture the Burma bases because either (a) he cuts off your escape route from Rangoon, or (b) he will use the pursue order (particularly if he has an armour unit doing the pursuing) and being on railway lines, allow no time to recover disablements before you are pushed out to the next position.

Rather than passively defending Rangoon, there are at least 2 other options you could consider:

(1) if you have a static fortress unit located in Rangoon, a fortification level of 5 will double its Ass Val. That may be sufficient to act as a road block. If so, consider moving most of your mobile units out of Rangoon and via use of the railway lines, once the Japanese enter Rangoon, swiftly move the mobile Kampfgruppe behind the Japanese besiegers to cut off their LOC.

(2) move most of your units (particularly those with engineers) back to Mandalay. Wrecking the local resources at Mandalay is more harmful to the Japanese than similarly wrecking Rangoon's resources.

Alfred

As always, Alfred, thanks for the advice. The exposed nature of Rangoons position has me concerned. That said my opponent has thus far shown an inability to multitask. Since he took Singapore, he has moved on Midway, but no where else. He seems to only attack where he can bring overwhelming force. WHile I understand that is the way to win in this game, at this point in time, I think he is being too cautious. He has precious few months to accomplish a lot. We are now just 65 days until I can start upgrading British air units. If he doesn't strike Burma soon, it will be a tough row to hoe. I think I will keep my original Ledo to Mandaly defensive line until I see Larry make a move. If he isn't in Burma by May 1, I will reconsider. I am moving SE Asia HQ to the furthest SE base in India prepping for Rangoon. This hex is exactly 9 hexes from Rangoon and at least will help with its command bonus.

24 February Update

Larry has 5 units on Midway. CD has been very harsh on him with 3 DD, an AK, and 3 MSW already reported sunk. Have a hunch this number will only grow with time. I downgrade VMF-211 at PH to F2A to put more F4F-3's into pool. My hope is this will help my CV Fighter groups move up to full strength. At present Enterprise is at 26 and Yorktown is still at 17. Lexington is at Full strength and Hornet is at SF with 27 F4F-4. Just 5 days until -4 come into full production but it will take more than a month to get enough into the pool to convert the airgroups on Lex, Sara, and Enterprise. My Duth ML subs have too much systems damage to lay mines anymore (at least that is what I am assuming) Will have to move them out of theatre I think to repair [:(]

Good new is the remains of the Asiatic Fleet disbanded at Brisbane today. All ships are over 40 syst damage so its going to be a while for repairs to be accomplished.