Rob vs. 2ndACR .. Divine intervention needed NIK mod 5.2

[aztez]

Hopefully the raid at Menandao goes through without problems [:)]

Allthough, I have a feeling that your opponent is planning something big! [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Menado raid failed to occur, he'd left before i arrived . then i sailed home safely. nothing .. better than getting nells from davao mind you.

Apologies for no recent updates, 2ndACR has had a busy weekend and dodgy mail.

I've re-instated some limited ASW patrols in the pacific now that KB 'appears' tp have gone. I'll speculate on that later.

Subs doing good in the DEI and a dratted glen equipped spy sub will be heaing hone (slowly)( off west coast) or sinking.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/13/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 43,59

Japanese Ships
AP Haaburu Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
SS S-39

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 140,54

Japanese Ships
SS I-20, hits 8

Allied Ships
DD Perkins
DD Cushing
DD Jarvis
DD Walke
DD Anderson
DD Hughes

Mandaly has been swept daily by 40-50 zeros. they butchered a few buffs but i moved in the AVG (all of it) as a counter to his elite , and possibly a bit tired pilots. Results weren't spectacular but bloody on both sides.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 45

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 61

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 12 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 15 destroyed, 24 damaged

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

total losses 17P40 - 13 Zeros. and i lost 10 pilots. but it appears they were in the 40-50 bracket as i have very few bolow 60 exp now. moving back to calcutta for rest and refit. don't want to waste the AVG, as its the only unit that can counter the zero bonus this early. Everything else dies in droves ..

i.e

Day Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
G3M Nell x 3
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 37

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 5 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Tjikandi, Torpedo hits 1, on fire almost finished unloading

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet

LRcap got slaughtered .. rest boys

In china more jap air attacks but little else noted. I will do another 'ambush' out of wuchow tomorrow . with the 'manilla boys' and 2 squadrons of I16's .

Overall sit rep.

Pacific.

I'm still nervous about the CV's .. havnt sent out troops convoys yet and its getting me well behind in south pac operations. Am i feeling brave? Well another large tanker heavy supply convoy heading south then west to australia. Lets see if they encounter anything. Several single/small units have seen nothing in past couple of weeks but catalinas havnt noted any movement west to indicates he's left the area. There is a gap in the north BUT supply run to anchorage was unmolested so he 'may' have gone home that way .. ?? just don't know for sure.

Australia

N Aus .. frantic shipping and 40k supply 2 days out of derby will allow the aussies to get hurricanes and beauforts. also faster repair on the dutch ive evacuated here. ex-perth CD guns loading up and heading to Koepang . a RAF BF was delivered yesterday now 60 AV support. I'll pull out the damaged dutch ones for repair. Swordfish based here with Do24 in lautern for spotting.

DEI

Gradual improvement of equipment . 32 hurris and about 40 beauforts now operational in several key bases. Kragen point is well guarded and building forts. Else all seems quiet

Malaysia

1st Jap attack on johore baru .

Ground combat at Johore Bahru

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 69371 troops, 684 guns, 115 vehicles

Defending force 32513 troops, 239 guns, 7 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 5)


Japanese ground losses:
1709 casualties reported
Guns lost 46
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
285 casualties reported
Guns lost 13

went as well as could be expected .. supply levels are fine .. 10k more was recently delivered and i have more heading to palambang for the final run under CAP.

Phillipines

Humm .. naga woods was 'too' well defended . he's invested clarke with more than i was expecting. a LOT more to be honest .. 2 divs and some tanks sent up to clarke ( if they arrive on time )

Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 64033 troops, 821 guns, 31 vehicles

Defending force 14720 troops, 140 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
187 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

One thing of note in the PI i put the tank units on recieve replcaments as an experiment. i assume 1 tank = 1 squad for supply purposes so i have a feeling its supply well worth spending. Armour can tp the odds quite alarmingly at times.

No piccie as there isnt much to show ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

Quick update ..

Worked out well in china

Day Air attack on 51st Chinese Corps, at 43,40

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-51 Sonia x 22
Ki-48 Lily x 20
Ki-15 Babs x 1

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 19
I-16c x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-51 Sonia: 3 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 10 destroyed
Ki-15 Babs: 1 destroyed



Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

pretty much all a2a kills and not even one damaged on my side. now
evac wuuchow as i susect the sallys will come calling soon.

The buttlet has been very much bitten in the cent pac.

Not only do i have big troop and a/c convoys on the move The US cv's (2) are leaving san fran and moving at cruise south. i have detached 2 DD's as forward pickets 10 hexes infront. should catch his attention of he i still around. Else i would stay holed up in port for ever.

In summary .. 27th inf - Canton + sundries

2-3 AV support and eng - australia

big 72 wings of P40 + P39 to aus too. ( plan on having in N australia. )but the delay on getting them out might prove to be a worry.

2ndUSMC .. still on terra firma ( just in case).. Will follow in a few days if all is well to noumea/suva area

Wish me luck !

[Rob Brennan UK]

2nd ACR is sracing me with comments aboyt kb spliting / hunting / hiding in the deep pacific ..

Well i am trying my best to ignore him .. i just cant sit in america till 43 [:D]. So in addition to the above post im shipping even more stuff to australia/south pacific. basically everything apart from the 4oth div and 2ndUSMC. all planes/CD/arty/eng/arm etc. etc. and tons of fuel and supply too.

IF he catches this rather strung out convoy im scre%%%D. BIG time .. CV's left Suva to meet up with the coth bound convoy and will provide additional escort ( 4CV's total). i even put Ca's and and a BB in transport tf's to attract the bombers just in case.

He knows it coming .. those blasted glen carrying subs are a pain.

anyway .. on land .. CLarke held just in time .. and johore got another kicking today

Ground combat at Johore Bahru

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 86662 troops, 844 guns, 21 vehicles

Defending force 30888 troops, 221 guns, 5 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
365 casualties reported
Guns lost 13
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
289 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

I dont like these losses one bit. I'm not confident of holding singapore much into feb at this rate. and the PI will probably collapse about the same time ( mid-feb) which is v early for me.

DEI quiet as the grave .. lost a PG and an AO running from Manilla .. one near saipan. other in the PI itself.

BIG supply (40k) convoy unloading into derby now .. tomorrow i can upgrade the wirrys to hurricanes.

I've pretty much stolen all the fuel from tjiljap now ( nice) and the fuel is good in N.OZ .. fuel on the east coast of OZ is really bad by contrast. NONE in townsville (sub base) and less that 10k in both sydney and brisbane. Won't the AI rail some around for me ? it should but im guessign it wont. About the only up side is Noumea now has some to operate the CA fleet based here. and the NZ brigade arrived safely.

The next few game weeks will be critical. i'm calling his bluff in the pacific and it cound go either way. IF i'm right then S Pac and australia will be MUCH better off. If im wrong i may lose CV's and lots of stuff at sea .. fingers crossed !

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/18/42

Time creeps on ..

was very quiet bar 2 related events.

Naga woods repulsed a heavy jap assault very handily !

Ground combat at 43,53

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 72163 troops, 641 guns, 151 vehicles

Defending force 33021 troops, 349 guns, 104 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
2347 casualties reported
Guns lost 71
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
386 casualties reported
Guns lost 13


Also the PI div . stuck at lamon bay finally moved into these self same woods and helped repulse the attack causing heavy jap casualties. ! hoorah

I 'may' move 1 more to clarke. but it seems to be holding well(ish) there for now.

Ecaving Naga was a good move on my part i think . It would have been very easy to isloate it with a naval landing. allowed concentration of force in the woods and its holding v v well.

Never tried this approach in Philipines before .. its a viable defence.

I'm still terrified of the central pacific ! he keep alluding to jap carriers in the area .. i really hope he's bluffing

[Rob Brennan UK]

ok he's now threatened to turn my hair prematurely white !


well i'm going a bit grey and dignified anyway ,, but i cant help to feel very insecure in the pacific .. for the first time ever i might add .

i am loathe to use single AK's as its gaming the sytem imo .

actua;;y the more i think about it, its a bluff . he has been so quiet in the dei ( even alowing be to bomb his troops) . mush be upto summat big for the DEI ,, he needs this place for oil after all. pac is a sidewater for him .

[ctangus]

I tend to agree with your reasoning & that it's a bluff. If he was still hanging around your SLOCs, he'd have to be very low on fuel by this date. At the same time, I'm still nervous for you. You definitely seem to be up against a formidable opponent.

You mentioned a couple posts back about having a BB in a transport TF. How do you do that?

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Wish me luck !

Good luck!

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks for the reply Ct.

make an escort TF . then chage it to a transport tf to load up stuff. It's a trick i leared from the boards. also very nice for (both sides) in invasions where you have real gunfire support.

Still no action in the pac . or anywhere else for that matter. He's fallen asleep. or planning something really really big [;)]

[aztez]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Thanks for the reply Ct.

make an escort TF . then chage it to a transport tf to load up stuff. It's a trick i leared from the boards. also very nice for (both sides) in invasions where you have real gunfire support.

Still no action in the pac . or anywhere else for that matter. He's fallen asleep. or planning something really really big [;)]

I would bet on the fact that he will move ahead with operations in DEI very soon. He will propably have huge assault force when he comes in.

Another place where I would guess he will move soon is South Pacific. (Noumea and surrounding islands)

So, you better not fall to sleep Rob! [8|][>:][:D][:D][:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Its all very very quiet Aztez ..

South pac .. i have 2 cvs in suva ( moved back). and catalinas operating from noumea/suva/pago/canton . spotted zilch so far.

Aussie surface group will hit lunga in 2 days .. he's got a/c here now ( search i assume). and they are based in noumea so he;d better have cv's around if he makes a move here.

As for the DEI .. i've been doing something differant. called operation " Get that damn port bigger" at soerbaja instead of building forts. have 4 ML's waiting in harbour to sew the DEI with tons of mines .. O19+20 have been placing both offensive and defensive fields at various places too.( based from diamond harbour).

[Rob Brennan UK]

KB AHOY ! .. maybe ???

[aztez]

[:D]... I think you just found KB or at least part of it!

...but where on earth is it heading? [&:] ...Pearl Harbour???? [&:]

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: aztez

[:D]... I think you just found KB or at least part of it!

...but where on earth is it heading? [&:] ...Pearl Harbour???? [&:]

hasn't budged for 2 days .. i 'think' hes set it so to trap any ASW groups going for that sub to the east of it.

anyway today was BAD ..

Dominated by bombardment

Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 32,57 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Wakatake
DD Yukaze
DD Yakaze
DD Sawakaze
DD Arashio
CL Oi
CA Suzuya
CA Chokai
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Haruna
BB Kongo


Allied ground losses:
147 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 17
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 6

fortunately just mover the torp bombers out.

Then THIS happened !

Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 67,97 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

388 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Le Triomphant, Shell hits 39, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
DD Voyager, Shell hits 46, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
DD Stuart, Shell hits 39, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
CL Perth, Shell hits 27
CL Achilles, Shell hits 15
CL Leander, Shell hits 42, on fire
CA Canberra, Shell hits 34, on fire, heavy damage WIll SINK .. 86/80 damage
CA Australia, Shell hits 16

Japanese ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Guns lost 3


Looks like i walked into a trap ! .. never seen CD guns kill a CA before .. and how many times have i reminded other players to turn 'escort bombard' off !!!! IDIOT ..

yikes ..

oh well .. at least johore baru survided an assault yesterday .. 2.2k jap losses to my 600. and forts remain as 4 .

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/23/42 just so you know the date .

[tiger111]

Hi Rob
Wow what a situation!
2ndACR seems to be a
great opponent.....

To throw in my tuppence worth perhaps that sighting W of PH is a baby KB++ ie reinforced to either coax you out or score against convoys.
But I reckon that the main KB is holed up in Kwajelein or nearby.- or Truk. I think his main target maybe Noumea. Those Coastal batteries may also be shielding something ?????

Anyway rather you than me (: P.S. Recon as much as you can-he can`t hide once he leaves port.

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

ORIGINAL: aztez

[:D]... I think you just found KB or at least part of it!

...but where on earth is it heading? [&:] ...Pearl Harbour???? [&:]

hasn't budged for 2 days .. i 'think' hes set it so to trap any ASW groups going for that sub to the east of it.

anyway today was BAD ..

Dominated by bombardment

Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 32,57 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Wakatake
DD Yukaze
DD Yakaze
DD Sawakaze
DD Arashio
CL Oi
CA Suzuya
CA Chokai
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Haruna
BB Kongo


Allied ground losses:
147 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 17
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 6

fortunately just mover the torp bombers out.

Then THIS happened !

Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 67,97 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

388 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Le Triomphant, Shell hits 39, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
DD Voyager, Shell hits 46, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
DD Stuart, Shell hits 39, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
CL Perth, Shell hits 27
CL Achilles, Shell hits 15
CL Leander, Shell hits 42, on fire
CA Canberra, Shell hits 34, on fire, heavy damage WIll SINK .. 86/80 damage
CA Australia, Shell hits 16

Japanese ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Looks like i walked into a trap ! .. never seen CD guns kill a CA before .. and how many times have i reminded other players to turn 'escort bombard' off !!!! IDIOT ..

No..it's the frigging game! So little of the mechanics and design assumptions is not bogus. This is ridiculous. I said during development it is whacky and I say it now. C'mon! Fix this nonsense.
yikes ..

oh well .. at least johore baru survided an assault yesterday .. 2.2k jap losses to my 600. and forts remain as 4 .

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/23/42 just so you know the date .

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hi Ron , thanks for taking the time to post .

Yes the result was not what i suspected it would be. BUT it's the fortunes of war imo. This is the first time in many games i have seen this . 2nd ACR said it was a trap and he was hopeing for bigger game .. by todays result you can see why [;)]

These oddition happen , i chalk it up to bad navigation/ element of suprise / just things going badly wrong and of course good ole murphey [;)]

24th dawned

good old chinese fighters .. in a bunch they do rather well . even shot down a tojo !

Day Air attack on 51st Chinese Corps, at 43,40

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 6
Ki-51 Sonia x 22
Ki-48 Lily x 9
Ki-15 Babs x 1

Allied aircraft
I-16c x 47

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-51 Sonia: 7 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
I-16c: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
56 casualties reported

Then i found some jap carriers the hard way .. you all remember the badly organised CF that was yesterday.. well it got worse .. even running at full steam ( sod refuelled).. got hit by this

Day Air attack on TF at 68,102

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
D3A Val x 44
B5N Kate x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Australia, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CL Leander, Bomb hits 17, on fire, heavy damage
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 18, on fire, heavy damage
CL Perth, Bomb hits 12, on fire, heavy damage


If anyone has the gall to complain about naval boming (in)accuracy i'll shoot them myself .. range 5 too.

Day Air attack on TF at 68,102

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
D3A Val x 28
B5N Kate x 22

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CA Australia, on fire, heavy damage
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Perth, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
CL Leander, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Day Air attack on TF at 68,100

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Not 1 ship survived .. 3 CL's scuttled to save points .. now the allied navy in east australin waters is the CL adelaide ! whoopee ! .. 2 good cruisers now lie at the bottom ..

Well looking positively he's not in the pacific anymore [;)] ( well the SLOC part).

Shall i sortie my 2 cvs to engage ?? no i dont think so !

2ndACR is a good player ( v good). this hasnt disrupted or changed any short or medium term plans one iota .. its an allied defeat but not critical.

oh did i mention he's a sneaky %£$%%^%

.. also definately identified CV's is that TF NW of johnson .. but still not moving and he definately saw a catalina today ..

piccie of the battle area .. notice the lack of any allied tf's [;)]

[KDonovan]

wow...those were a rough few turns for you....hang in there rob.

I wonder what guns he had at Lunga, must've been bigger than standard 5.5in guns CD-units in the Jap arsenal, as those would only cause superstructure damage on CA's. I guess the good part is you'll be getting lots of Baltimore class CA's later on.

I hope you hide those precious CV's of your's really well....as its the only thing you got going for you. Pago Pago is always a nice choice as it gives you plenty of PBY warning time to scatter if the KB shows up. Also remember to move some of those AA-units to base's (you can hold) in the SOPAC. Base's with those AA-units allow safe ports for your CV's to dock, as any incoming KB strike will get hard with Nik's AA's modifications.

Also...now that the KB looks to be located in the E. Pacific...any plan's in the DEI?? Looks like a good oppurtunity to strike back with his CV's i away from the theatre

[ctangus]

With Jap CVs west of PH, I'd suspect he's planning to invade Johnston, Midway or French Frigate Shoals. He's taken Wake, hasn't he? (I may have missed something.) What do you have at those bases & PH?

I agree with KDonovan - you could have an opportunity or 3 in the DEI.

[Nikademus]

Canberra is (was) very thin skinned. Makes her vulnerable to coastal fire. Her sister would have weathered it as she received an armor refit prior to the war. Course that wouldn't have helped against crack KB pilots. [;)]

[aztez]

I have to agree with ctangus. There has to be reason for this "silence".

Also I doubt he has stationed part of KB in that region if he does not have any intensions of moving againts Midway, Johnston Island.

That is how I see it also!