Iron Storm (Scenario 50): Playtest

[Alikchi2]

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Cruft and I are going to do a joint AAR with the scenario I've created, Iron Storm. [8D]

Well, I have mentioned my mod in my other AAR, but if you want the full story check out the manual (link) or the thread in the Scenario forum (link).

In essence, the Japanese have a new, tougher fleet, the British have massively reinforced Malaya, and the Dutch have battlecruisers! [X(] As the Japanese player, my job just got a bit more difficult.

Our settings are - historical first turn, December 7th surprise, and sub doctrines off. House rules are the same as in Cruft and I's other game. And this time I'm Japanese!

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12/7/41

Overall, the turn went very well - especially Pearl Harbor!

In Iron Storm, the Kido Butai is composed of Akagi and Kaga, plus the Kairyu-class carriers: Hiryu, Kairyu, Koryu, Unryu, Soryu and Donryu. Each carrier has 81 aircraft aboard - that means that the KB carries more than 600 aircraft! The extra two CVs have their aigroups set to port attack, and it showed...

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[center]CarDivs 2, 3 and 5 shortly before the war.[/center]

The airstrike was 202 Vals and 218 Kates escoted by 130+ Zeroes. Arizona sunk immediately after being absolutely hammered - 14 bombs and 5 torpedoes - while hardly any other battleship escaped with less than 15 bomb hits, though torpedoes were more rare. CV Lexington, sadly held back by defensive-minded Kimmel, absorbed 22 bombs!

Oklahoma was not spotted in the harbor - intelligence reports that she has moved to the west coast for minor repairs. Ah, well.

The Clark Field attack was amazingly powerful. Another change to Iron Storm is Japanese production of the G5N Liz heavy bomber - Sasebo has a functioning factory, and the G1/ and G2/ Takao Daitais are outfitted with them. These are high experience units and the added bombload certainly proved its worth in the Clark strike - the field was totally blasted.

All landings in the PI went as expected and more troops are on the way.

In Iron Storm, strong navy forces have been concentrated at Pescadores and Taan - the Japanese have deployed them forward in order to support the invasion of Malaya. At this point Allied fanboys are probably angry - the Japanese are getting all the breaks! Well, after Italy's surrender and the end of the war in the Med, Malaya has been -extensively- reinforced. Several New Zealander and Aussie brigades occupy the northern peninsula, along with tanks. 18th UK Division and 3rd Armoured Brigade are also expected to reinforce Singapore within days. The RAF in Malaya is now something to be feared - Spitfires, Hurribombers, and Beauforts now back up the Buffalos and Blenheims. Not to mention the Royal Navy, which has 4 carriers available, plus several extra battleships...

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[center]The famous British carrier Ark Royal, shown here on maneuevers near Singapore. One of my bigger problems.[/center]

No ships have been launched, no troops have been landed. An attack in the face of that strength would be suicidal at this point. What am I going to do about this? I can't tell you. [:D] But oh, I have a plan. The first step will be suppresing the RAF.

The only real failure of today was a hit on I-1 by an SBD flying off Saratoga's flight deck (before it was utterly shattered, of course). She should make it back to Kwaj...

Tomorrow, I begin reducing Fortress Malaya, and the Japanese empire will advance forward everywhere.

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[center]Losses [/center]

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[51st Highland Div]

Very nice..like the alternate history as well.Keep it coming plz...[:D]

[Captain Cruft]

Yes that was an even more unpleasant first turn than usual

PH now has c.140 aircraft, about 90% damaged. Clark has only about 40, again mostly damaged. Runway is at 95% damage in both cases. It's going to be a while before either field is in operation again and that's assuming no further attacks.

The Lexington has not sunk. Whether it will stay that way is another matter of course

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The main difference with this scen from the Allies viewpoint is having the super-Brits in Malaya. I'm going to try and hold on as long as possible - no running away from the peninsular. No sign of Jap convoys in the Gulf of Siam yet but when they do turn up the fleet shall sally forth to give battle. Stringbags at the ready!

I'll give a summary of the ground and air forces and what not when I've had a better look.

[Captain Cruft]

The first turn is winging its way to Imperial Japanese HQ. I managed to struggle through the standard tedium of an Allied 1st turn, moving the gazillion subs out of Manila etc.

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The interest here definitely lies with Malaya and the Brits. At Singapore I have 4 CVs, being Ark Royal, Illustrious, Formidable and Furious. They are carrying 188 planes in total, Sea Hurricanes and Albacores. The pilots are all in the 70-80 range, which makes them potentially useful Accompanying them in the harbour are the PoW, Repulse, Warspite, Barham and Valiant. All these BBs are capable of 25 knots, though any sys damage would quickly reduce the old WWI clunkers to 4 hexes per phase.

Numerous cruisers and destroyers are also present. I'm not hugely familiar with all these, they will be selected for missions based primarily on their AA rating and speed.

Anyway, for now the fleet is just sitting tight waiting for developments. I have a lot fighters on air defence at Singapore to protect them ...

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Back at Colombo in reserve is what you might call the 'B' team. This comprises Hermes, Eagle and three slow Resolution class BBs. The Indomitable is also here, presumably only recently arrived in theatre. I will probably send her on to Singapore later depending on developments.

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As far as the RAF goes there are far more planes in Malaya than normal. I have Spitfires (2 squadrons), Hurricanes (2 squadrons), Buffalos (4 squadrons), Beauforts (3 squadrons), Wellingtons (1 squadron), Blenheim Is (2 squadrons) and Blenheim IVs (2 squadrons) plus the standard small Catalina, AACU Swordfish and W Flight Wirraway units. The aim currently is to use the Blenheims on airfield attacks, the Wellingtons on night airfield/port attacks and anything with a torpedo on naval attacks.

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Army wise, things are also a lot better than normal. Numerous British, Indian, Australian and NZ brigades occupy the various bases. However, I don't think any base could stand up to two good Japanese divisions for very long. Appropriate setting of prep points will be very important for the Japanese here.

If I were General Yamashita I would be tempted to just march everything in via the rail line from the north. Gamey but nevertheless entirely possible due to the over-powered rail movement.

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Elsewhere I will just play my normal Allied game. This involves a bit of running away and a bit of fighting where we stand. Since I have never played Alikchi as the Allies before I am interested in what he will do with his super-duper 600+ planes KB. Whatever it is, there's nothing I can do about it, that's for sure.

[Alikchi2]

Lots of Allied ships slip beneath the waves today...

12/8/41

Well, the 8th begin with several night interceptions of fleeing Hong Kong refugees. DDs Scout and Thanet were caught by CL Naka and her Tanigiri-class destroyers - Scout was hammered under by 5" shells, while Thanet took two torpedoes from Tokitsukaze, rolled over and sank.

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The Tanigiri-class destroyer, built from 1936 as an updated Fubuki with the same high-angle 5" anti-ship armament.[/center]

Ise and Hyuga's battlegroup caught AK Kiangsu and summarily sent her under, as well. Farther south a new problem arose - Admiral Hart sortied DDs John D. Ford and Pope to intercept Japanese invasion fleets at Vigan. Pope was caught unawares by the 4.7" guns of MSW W.9 and damaged badly by three hits! Embarrasing. W.7 was hit hard by Pope but the convoy was protected.

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British PGs caught by a small Japanese task force centering around CA Aso and CL Ikoma.[/center]

As day broke, with Japanese troops disembarking on Guam, Wake, Vigan and throughout the Pacific, the British launched their first attack out of Malaya - 25 Blenheims escorted by 56 (!!) Buffalos. This is almost his entire Buffalo strength! It's also the only British fighter with range right now...

The raid met 7 Nates and 8 Oscars on CAP over Kompong Som, which had trouble bringing down Blenheims and Buffalos with their light machine guns. Still, the enemy's aim was thrown off and no damage was reported.

The reason CAP was so low was that most of the fighters were escorting raids on Malaya. A big Army raid hit Alor Star, where flak was heavy, but 30 runway hits were scored total.

In the Philippines, my raids were -not- escorted. The Zeroes decided to defend the Anns dive-bombing his Hong Kong refugees instead of the IJNAAF bomber force, so 24 Lizzies showed up over Manila with no escort whatsoever. 11 Warhawks tore into them and it looks like that particular Daitai will be out of action for a while. Another moderate raid on Clark with 12 Nells was more successful, scoring 14 runway hits and several AC destroyed on the ground.

The American P-40Es and B-17s have all been set to naval attack and scored a few hits on my transports through the day. AP Burisuben Maru absorbed a bomb but should be fine, while I was forced to scuttle Ataka Maru.

However, this does not compare to Allied losses throughout the day. Junho and Unho (CVLs) are moving to preven the escape of Allied shipping south through Mindanao and scored several sunken AKs today. Even a few Nells from Saigon got in on it, putting 5 bombs into AS Otus in Manila Bay.

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Over in the Eastern Pacific, the Wake garrison's Wildcats are fruitlesly dive-bombing the IJN covering force. A shock attack brought the one fort down to zero and we expect a glorious victory over the stinky Westerners tomorrow.

[Captain Cruft]

Stinky huh? We'll see about that!

I really shouldn't read the AAR until I've watched the combat replay. Impatience is not a virtue

That actually sounds not too bad considering. Managing Takao is one of the many problems the Japanese players faces in these early days. Lots of disparate aircraft at one base is not really a blessing ...

[Captain Cruft]

Having actually watched the turn now I am cautiously optimistic about the RAF in Malaya. There is plenty of aviation support about and all bases have a reasonable amount of engineers. Alor Star is nowhere near being put of action yet.

However, one of the big problems playing the Allies at this stage is that you have no decent Recon planes to speak of. Or at least not in the right places (there are 9 F5A Lightnings at the United States base assigned to SWPAC). I'm sure I could do some damage to Kompomg Som if I could recon it properly. Even if I was a gamey ass and brought some of the Dutch Falcons over they don't have the range. Ditto the Lysanders which start at Delhi.

I am so used to having hordes of Babses and Dinahs as the Japanese. What an asset they are!

[Alikchi2]

The last few days have been more of the same, with lots of movement in the background - getting my troops where I want them!

12/9/41-12/11/41

For the last three days the northern Malaya airfields have been hammered by my bombers - Nells, Sallys and Lizzies. Alor Star received a fairly good plastering this turn but it appears that both Kota Bharu and Alor Star have very few targets remaining (perhaps the aircraft have been flown out?). We have arranged a full-blast attack on Georgetown tomorrow and expect good results. Recon has been stepped up as well so we can determine exactly where those RAF blokes have run off to.

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A G5N Liz sits ready to take-off from Saigon airfield early on the morning of the 10th.[/center]

In the Philippines we are still unloading troops and supplies over those crappy Filipino ports. Aviation units are on the way and we expect to have a formidable fighter and bomber force in position by January.


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The CVL Junho steams south of Mindanao, having just launched large strikes against Allied merchants fleeing towards Tarakan. Picture taken from CVL Unho.[/center]

Throughout the rest of the Pacific little action is encountered. We expect the Admiralty Islands to fall tomorrow - however, fighting at Wake continues to go badly, with tubby "Wildcat" fighters strafing our demoralized troops. Reinforcements are on the way, and CarDiv5 has been detached to cover a renewed effort.

Intelligence also reports that substantial enemy reinforcements are on their way to the theatre. The Americans are expected to transfer major assets to the Pacific, while Churchill has loudly trumpeted his dispatch of large Royal Navy assets to the Indian Ocean, including (reportedly) the famous Battlecruiser "Hood".

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The HMS Hood passes through the peaceful Mediterranean, heading for the Suez Canal.[/b].[/center]

We proceed with confidence in the divine mission appointed us by His Imperial Majesty.

[Captain Cruft]

Yes Alor Star and Kota Bharu are looking a bit unwell. Far from being totally out of action though. The problem is that once your air groups start getting bombed on the ground, together with the "service damage" their morale hits rock bottom. Therefore the Buffs and Blenheims have been temporarily withdrawn to other bases to recover.

While the RAF has been quite active so far the Royal Navy is itching to get going. Some ships will be putting to sea soon, destination classified. It's just a shame I have such a poor selection of admirals with which to lead them ...

[Alikchi2]

The tension mounts..

12/12/41

As always, the Malaya theatre comes first!

The "full-blast" attack on Georgetown was launched today with great effeciency - 117 Nells and 24 Lizzies, escorted by 37 Zeroes, arrived over the airbase in the morning. Unfortunately 26 Hurricanes met them and to the horror of Southern Army HQ they managed to maintain an equal standing with the Zeroes, downing 5 in the first minutes of the engagement! Once involved in a turning fight the Zeroes avenged their comrades but this is not a good sign for the future. We have yet to encounter the famous British "Spitfire" - perhaps they are protecting Singapore?

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Oh, those wonderful men and their flying machines![/center]

In any case, the bombing went fairly well, although again several Hurricanes penetrated our fighter screen, and about half a dozen Nells were destroyed. Others, demoralized, turned back. Still, we scored 43 runway hits and 11 airbase hits - not too bad. We must redouble our efforts! The invasion date edges ever closer ...

In the Philippines, landings at Davao commenced covered by our cruisers. The beach was essentially undefended and casualties were minor. We hope to kick out the defenders within three days.

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Superior Japanese soldiers advance over the beach of Davao. Banzai![/center]

In the Pacific landings commenced at the Admiralties today, which are undefended. The NLF assigned should capture the base tomorrow as a first step into future great conquests in the New Britain/New Guinea area of operations.

Farther north, CarDiv 5 (Soryu, Donryu) lauched a large airstrike on the stubborn American holdouts at Wake. Several tubby Wildcats were shot down or caught on the field and we hope to finish them off by tomorrow.

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Zeroes, Kates and Vals prepare to launch off the Donryu. Following is the Soryu.[/center]

Crush the Western menace!

[Captain Cruft]

It's probably worth noting that most of my RAF Hurricane and Spitfire groups have reasonable pilots with 60+ experience. Which helps a lot ...

[Speedysteve]

Great AAR guys

[Captain Cruft]

Thanks matey Say hi to Reading Station for me (the hub of the universe).

I just realised last night that what I had been referring to as "Resolution" class battlehips are actually Royal Sovereigns. Oops and sorry.

[Alikchi2]

I've heard them referred to as "Revenge", "Royal Sovereign" and "R-class" - better to just stick with the RS thing and call them Really Slow. [:D]

Either way, the turn is back to you Cruft, and it was "interesting"!

12/13/41

In the very early morning hours of today the convoy carrying 35th Bde and the covering Destroyer Division under Admiral Komatsu arrived at Kuching and began unloading troops and supplies onto the beach.

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Light Cruiser Natori leads DesDiv 22 (of DesRon 5) out of Saigon.[/center]

Unfortunately, the British and Dutch detected our approach, and a large surface force was dispatched from Singapore to intercept. Cunningham sent his best and most modern - the famous heavy cruiser Exeter (of the Battle of the River Platte), 3 light cruisers of the new Southampton class, and 6 destroyers recently transferred from the Mediterranean. Admiral Komatsu's covering force, in contrast, was the leftover scraps of an overstretched Navy. Komatsu commanded 6 elderly Mutsuki class destroyers, led by the even older light cruiser Natori.

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The lonely night patrol of destroyer Satsuki.[/center]

The battle was a disaster - Exeter's first salvo smashed into the bridge of Natori and killed Komatsu instantly. Birmingham, Glasgow, Sheffield, and the destroyers broke off to engage the Japanese destroyers - Hatakaze was blown in half by two direct torpedo hits. Fumizuki, Nagatsuki, Satsuki and Harukaze are heavily damaged to one degree or another. Only Satsuki is still in battle condition.

However, the troopships were protected. 35th Brigade is nearly fully disembarked and Kuching should be ours tomorrow. A larger, nastier defence force will be on hand to prevent further surprises.

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HMS Exeter returns to Singapore. I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time![/center]

As for Malaya itself - no air raids were made by either side today. My Zeroes needed a rest after their poor showing over Georgetown on the 12th.

In the Philippines, Japanese men and material continue to pour over the beached. A massive strike was launched again - at Clark Field - we intend to turn the airbase into one giant crater. A few more aircraft were caught on the ground, but it's safe to say that we now need to project airpower further south.

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Nells release their loads over Clark.[/center]

In the Pacific, the Admiralties fell, netting us a good-sized airbase. Over at Wake, our reinforcments began landing, covered by Zeroes from Soryu and Donryu.

The SRA shall be ours!

[FeurerKrieg]

Great AAR, it certainly lifts my interest level in your scenario. Maybe I can try it out when some of my current games end, so lets see... that should be around 2010. [X(]

[Captain Cruft]

I was VERY pleased with the result of that surface battle, especially at night. Adm Palliser (promising, very aggressive) did well. So well indeed that I will even keep him in charge of "Force N" (N for Night).

I had spotted the invasion TF a couple of turns ago but decided to wait until it actually reached Kuching so I knew where it was rather than risk a dodgy mid-ocean intercept. It is precisely 6 hexes from Singapore to Kuching so I thought a quick nip out and in at night would be safer than trying to arrive in daylight. Of course I am paranoid about the Nells at Saigon, even though they are currently a bit knackered out from bombing my airfields. Ships for the mission were selected purely on speed (> 30 knots) and max AA rating, just in case.

My only casualty was a destroyer with 31 sys, 14 float damage. Definitely a total drubbing

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It also looks like something is heading for Brunei but there is nothing I can do about this. I have drained the port of fuel but the oil is still there.

[Alikchi2]

You certainly did well [:)] A lot better than my attempted intercept at Kuching in our other game. Caught by those Nells..

The one thing that the Allies don't lack are acceptable floatplanes - Dornier Wals and Catalinas really, really help.

As for Brunei, that is classified. [:D]

Great AAR, it certainly lifts my interest level in your scenario. Maybe I can try it out when some of my current games end, so lets see... that should be around 2010.

Thanks Feurer! I was hoping this would attract some attention [8D] And thanks for your interest, too! 5 years isn't too long by WitP standards. [:D] By then I will probably have a new version out - with large changes to the USN (Lexington battlecruisers, anyone?) and perhaps some Iron Dukes transferred to Canada after WWI.. hmm!

[51st Highland Div]

Yep guys keep it coming...[:D]

[Alikchi2]

Yep guys keep it coming...

Another update in a couple of hours! [8D]

Thanks for your interest, the longer this thread stays at the top the more people download that hunk of formatting I worked on [;)]

[Alikchi2]

Another not-so-fantastic day for Imperial Japan!

12/14/41

The British are putting up a fight for Kuching. And we aren't really. [:(]

Just as the last few bits of supplies were unloaded at Kuching and the transports began to prepare to turn back for Saigon, the Royal Navy's carriers, lying in wait only a few hundred miles to the west, launched a massive airstrike. 53 Swordfish and 51 Albacores, escorted by 43 Sea Hurricanes, descended upon our defenseless transports.

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The dreaded Stringbag.[/center]

Japan is lucky that they were emptied so quickly. Several ships sunk immediately from multiple torpedo hits and more are expected to follow. The Kuching was captured but this is an ignominous defeat, with our surface ships and invasion convoy crushed and scattered.

The size and strength of the British airstrike has caused some worries in Tokyo. The British pilots are experienced and the Sea Hurricane is not a bad fighter, though it lacks range. What can AA guns do against 100 torpedo bombers piloted by veterans of the war in the Mediterranean? We need better and more aircover. We know what happened at Taranto. The English will have to be taken down a notch, very soon. Nagumo has been ordered to pick the pace up a bit.

Farther north more bungling resulted in Sallies showing up over Georgetown with no Oscar escort. They got off lightly - only 3 or 4 bombers shot down total, though with many damaged by the Hurricane CAP - but it won't happen again. Or someone's going to get sacked.

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These Sallies are in trouble. Hurricanes swarm about.[/center]

The RAF is invited to leave the peninsula. As soon as possible. Now.

Tomorrow will be a decisive day in this theatre. The British carriers have been (unintentionally) drawn off to the south, his northern airbases have been slightly reduced, and we have strong assets in the area. Perhaps we can make up for our earlier mistakes.

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Battleship Ise (note the removal of center turrets) steams westward. This ship's 1933 rebuild and removal of center turrets allowed for boilers that bring Ise's top speed up to 29 knots.[/center]

In the Philippines, Davao fell and will soon be a large airbase. The Americans scored a lucky hit on a destroyer but she'll be fine. We continue to advance with confidence in this theatre, and with significant force backing us up - powerful battlewagons included. No airstrikes were launched today - our pilots needed a rest!

We advance with perhaps too much confidence in the Central Pacific. The commander of our reinforced landing force at Wake Island ordered an immediate shock attack before the enemy was properly reduced. Heavy losses were sustained and said commander has since committed seppuku. Further reinforcement - and a new commander - will be necessary to liquidate the obstinate Americans. Both are on the way...

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F%#&ing Marines![/center]

All in all, morale is rather low at Imperial General Headquarters. Today has been the worst of the war by far. Hopefully, tomorrow will turn things around a bit.