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

[rroberson]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

ORIGINAL: ctangus

Hope to see the game going again soon. I'll ramble in reply to your ramblings. [;)]

Any chances of sneaking more supply into Manila? I've been reading Tom Hunter's lunacy thread I he did that successfully coming from the east and then around the north. With that much AV value, just one AK could make the fight last a lot longer.

My thoughts on Manila evacs are still developing, but not only is evacing fragments of everything gamey, but it's stupid too. By the time everything builds up again it'll be 1943, and they won't be needed. More PPs spent that way too. I'm trying to pick a handful of key units that could make a difference in the short term (base forces & the like) and evac large cadres of them.

Sounds good at Koepang. Maybe one minelaying run down there to team up with the CD guns?

It's possible now he could see a BB or BC in port at Batavia now.

How about a counter-attack in Malaya? LOL

not a hope in hell of getting an AK to manilla. betties/vals and kates operating from north borneo. and nells etc. in davao and now in Tarakan. Its bad enough trying to keep a short range minelayer group running. AK would be suicide.

Interesting i'll try one from the east but palau definately has/had nells. so thats bad.

with regard to mining timor . it's definately on the timetable. but im doing bases that will soon be closed by jap air cover. timor can wait a bit. not too long mind you.

Re batavia BB/BC .. yes but wll he believe it ? humm .. dont want to run .. want one suprise raid then run .. BUT discretion may be the beter part of valour.

ALichi -- hello .. some august company in here .. thanks for posting ,, yuppers mines = fun .. never done the port 9 sorbaja before .. well worth it.

One thing about our mutual opponent....he never leaves much to chance. Taking a poke at Batvia seems like a good idea... I guarantee he likely has betties in the neighborhood somewhere.

Good luck with it..I'll, be watching .

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks RRob. He sure is a very good planner. and seems to cover most contingencies very well too. he;s not left th PI bereft of bombers either. Manilla gets hit regularly with nell/betty/sally combo.

Lets just hope we can upset a few of his well planned evil plots [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Great News ! .. We are back on track. next few turn will be a catchup period.

Points score Aztez

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/04/42

Quiet turn .. apart from a jap surface raid ..on palambang .. got an AK which was stealing fuel.. and sank

Night Time Surface Combat, near Palembang at 20,55

Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu
DD Shirakumo
DD Isonami
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Asagiri
DD Sagiri

Allied Ships
AK Don Jose, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk


The daylight response was a bit weak

Day Air attack on TF at 25,52


Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 7
Blenheim IV x 14
Martin 139 x 13


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu
DD Isonami
DD Hatsuyuki

His next target will be Amboina ! .. been hitting it with BB's for a few days

Naval bombardment of Amboina, at 39,73

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato


Allied ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2

I've moved a few dutch subs between here and palau.. fingers crossed.

only the BF here .. operating a few cats.. I suspect he's trying to hit the long gone CD unit.

So glad he's back .. and we are continuing .. hoorah

[aztez]

Nice to see this game ongoing again [:D]

[X(][X(] ....You are actually leading in victory points and it's March 1942 already...[:D][&:][&:]

It seems he is really taking his time with offensives! [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

thanks aztez .. wont last for long im sure

anyway

very glad i left batavia !

Day Air attack on Batavia , at 19,59

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 57
G3M Nell x 21
G4M1 Betty x 34

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 6
Hurricane IIb x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
G3M Nell: 3 destroyed, 15 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed, 22 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 4 destroyed
Hurricane IIb: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied Ships
PT TM-13, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PT TM-15, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage



nice AA fire .. force Z left yesterday !

That was a close call .. thanks for the advice CT

[aztez]

Yes, he will go ahead in points soon but his Zero bonus, etc is ticking away too [:)]

Thankfully, you did pull out from Batavia. It seems that he is finally start pushing towards DEI.

All in all an excellent situation for allied side at the moment [8D] ..Good job!

[Rob Brennan UK]

all this praise .. my head must be swelling up [;)]

Anyway .. looks like a DEI offence is coming soon .. Kendari port was hit today.

Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 25
G4M1 Betty x 17
Ki-46-II Dinah x 2

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 13 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Nasty . The Marblehead is one of my favourite CL's .. 29 dam 23 flt i think .. running to koepang nut the ships used 100 ops points to reload the AA ammo .. darn it !

Manilla holds once more even though supply has dropped into the red

Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 127323 troops, 1067 guns, 160 vehicles

Defending force 90939 troops, 607 guns, 211 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
2416 casualties reported HOORAH
Guns lost 79
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
714 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

More importantly no forts were reduced .. phew

Jap build up in china finally shows his strength .. whoa ! this looks nasty .. i have sever cerps already on the way to help ,

Ground combat at Changsha

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 256507 troops, 3225 guns, 52 vehicles

Defending force 80870 troops, 538 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
278 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

heres a picce for you to contemplate

[Rob Brennan UK]

Basically its run out of fuel .. in the deep sorth pacific and wont replenish itself .. rats .. slow trip to aucland from here

also heres the Marbelhead group running for koepang

[KDonovan]

Basically its run out of fuel .. in the deep sorth pacific and wont replenish itself .. rats .. slow trip to aucland from here

i like to balance TK's with the same number of AK's when sending them long distance's. with only 7500 tons of full per tanker, they don't get far by themselves while AK's with 20000 tons of fuel make handy replinishment ships for them

btw hows timor doing? wouldn't want to see Java cut off from Australia if he were to take timor

[medicff]

Sometimes ships won't replenish even with plenty of fuel in the AKs. If you create another TF of the emptys in the same hex and hit replenish, they will usually grab some fuel. Then you can recombine when done. [8|] More micromanagement.[:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

I did in fact make a replenishment TF as there was an AO in the group. all it did was replenish the DD's in the same TF. next turn i'll try the main group.

KD . there are LOTS of AK's in the group BUT it did a very long trip via the matrix logo [:D].. and i underestimated the extended fuel need. should have pulled into pago to refuel. BUT i was way south of there just in case.

Mediciff , thanks for the tip . if my AO wont work i'll give your idea a whirl .. thanks for the tip.[;)]

EDIT

Darn i hate oscars now [:@]

Day Air attack on 63rd Chinese Corps, at 43,40

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 28
Ki-51 Sonia x 19
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 38

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 7 destroyed, 11 damaged


Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

AVG nil fatigue .. good commanders and pilots flying 1 hex LR cap. unfortunately with DB's its impossible to set a good intercept altitude .. so i did a 9k and 14k split .. the (k ones came off worse .. so is he about 12k alt ?? all guess work .. and all pilots died too .. grrrr[:@]

ANd in China that huge japanese army at changsha was repulsed , which suprised me no end.

Ground combat at Changsha

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 266984 troops, 3224 guns, 51 vehicles

Defending force 80740 troops, 536 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 9)


Japanese ground losses:
2326 casualties reported
Guns lost 68
Vehicles lost 3

Allied ground losses:
1588 casualties reported
Guns lost 29


heavy losses all round but the forts held .. 3-4 more corps on the way .. I'm removing 2 from the conton woods in the south. should be safe enough with 12 left there and one was 100% prep for changsha.. so better off there instead i think.

thats it for yesterdays late night turn ,, none today unfortunately ..

[aztez]

That's is an odd air to air result! [X(] I would have expected that those AVG squadrons could have destroyed those Japanese planes.
Where the AVG set on Sweep??? or LRCAP???

It seems that the offensive in China has now officially begun! That's was not a bad result from Changsa but do you believe you can hold the base? (Supply situation, etc). Just don't let your China army to be split in two... [:)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

It was unexpected a2a resuly Aztez .. they were 2/3 rds of the AVG on LRCAP one hex away from thier base. Fatigue was 0-1 when i gave the order. most odd. NikMod you must remember gives the oscar a boost in accuracy and manouvre i think so they are a lot more dangerous than stock.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/09/42

Where this came from i have no idea !

Naval bombardment of Canton Island, at 98,99


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed
PB2Y Coronado: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Yubari
CL Tatsuta
CA Kako
CA Aoba

Allied Ships
AD Dixie, Shell hits 1


Allied ground losses:
730 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 6

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 17

Completely out of the blue this one .. and i have a BB in port to discourage this kind of activity ( although im still awaiting escorts for her) CV Hornet is closeby too. I think I'll keep her east of canton and see if they come back. Might be fun.

Balikpapan is getting reduced

Ground combat at Balikpapan

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 23788 troops, 264 guns, 20 vehicles

Defending force 6354 troops, 69 guns, 8 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3


Japanese ground losses:
481 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Allied ground losses:
195 casualties reported
Guns lost 8


This is quite annoying as i have 1000+ mines here ! Darn ! All planes evacuated earlier and some damaged ships limping to soerbaja ( if they get there)

With Amboina now in japanese hands ( i think he forget to send a base force as no a/c are there)
I'll have to be careful with LR cap of transport groups heading to Timor. The BIG one is loading at Derby ( 3 dutch units inc. a 99% fixed barisan regiment which is quite tough now) along with another 30 AV support . heading to Timor ( Koepang) .. LR buffs moved to here as well. I am very short on fighters in the DEI overall and the dutch ones are 20-30 exp for the most part. i.e useless except for deterring unescorted LR Torp attacks.

Force Z was moved out of Tjiljap after being reconed .. they are cruising 8 hexes west of Java and will probably come back as i doubt he'd expect it. POW has 10 sys damage which is annoying .. please dont creep upto 11 .. helps detecting and slows her down if that happens.

The Invaluabe swordfish have been relocated to timor too. There are plenty of good bombers in java and sumatra right now and i have 25 wildebeest stationed in NW Borneo. ( might come as a suprise).

The RN is gathering at Colombo 2CV's now and relatively potent. Im unsure whether to leave them in the indian ocean or head south .. Useful in both places potentially.

4 US Fleet carriers about 4 days from Perth too [:D]. I may sail them upto Derby if i can get better fighter cover for the base . Else I'll try using them as a mobile reserve west of Timor/Java. Oddly Fuel in Perth might be problematic. Enough for one top up for all my ships but no more. I've been using AK's to haul fuel from java/amboina etc to Darwin and Derby. Perth just gets oil( so does adelaide). I'll jave to start nicking more fuel from Java from now on. As said before Batavia is almost empty on the oil front. Although balikpapan and Palambang are crammed with the stuff.

I cant seem to re-fuel that TF heading to Aukland ????? so i;ve split off the 'good' ships and the slow ones can catch up later. Also the replenishment group decided not to follow orders and headed to NZ instead ( now rectified).

Changsha is looking like the main event in China .. I am going to try and hold it with everything i have if possible. However i dont have much of a reserve in Chungking as i'd sent troops earlier to Sian and Ichang to pre-empt a northern attack.

Supply in Changsha is fine and no flanking moves detected yet.

Ground combat at Changsha

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 261674 troops, 3157 guns, 42 vehicles

Defending force 76762 troops, 484 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 8)


Japanese ground losses:
1458 casualties reported
Guns lost 47

Allied ground losses:
825 casualties reported
Guns lost 13


just hold a little while longer boys ! .. forts ordered to be rebuilt too.

The B17C unit in burma upgraded ( if thats the right word) to B26B's yesterday so i'll rebuild to 64 plane size and i believe this varient is better in burma as the planes are well defended with guns and 1 hex less range is not such a problem ( over the b25c). also 4E can operate from chandpur/ledo/kohima/imphal without penalty. Also in Burma and india border. I've tried to make sure each base is para proof ( hopefully). even as far back as anasol.

3 units ( 1st Burma / 49th Chinese and ??SVSF??) now rebuilding and repairing at dacca. Basically losing the malarial troops. I'll use the transports to try and rotate units in/out of mandalay to reduce the malarial effect. In the mean time the 32 Dakotas and 16 dutch will fly supply to both china and ledo . Ledo has a small BF 2 chinese divs and a chinese HQ i pinched from china command.

Back to the SW Pacific and Noumea gets 64 Mitchells flown in via suva from canton. Now we have at least a small air presence here. ( along with PBY obviously).

RCT unloaded in pago .. next one will go to tung??thingy. between suva and pago. as its the weak link here. I've decided to stop thinking about Baker is. too exposed for now.

NorthPac is very very slowly rebuilding its units in Anchorage. So many are with some serious disablements even with the HQ and plenty of supply and support it's taking forever to fix them, but there is no rush here.

PH down to 40k supply ! yikes .. that went fast .. HUGE convoy loading up at San Fran (27 5k AK's) with 1 DD escort ! but i have seen no jap subs operating between PH and teh west coast. "nd wave of ex-PH BB's heading to LA .. decent escort and 1/2 way there. 3 BB's remain in PH ( v heavily damaged still) while 3 more in SF are coming along nicely 13-25 sys damage. When repaired off to the south pacific as a deterrance force.

Well thats my musings for the day . no piccie as i have no turn [;)]

[Nikademus]

Yep....one cannot discount those Ki-43's anymore....especially when on defense. I've been pleased with the results seeing of late. I had been thinking that they were still too nerfed against the P40's but a recent ass-thrashing by Bombur using Oscars on defense has made me reconsider that position. Two somewhat green P40E FG's have taken a severe beating. Fortunately those same Oscars have a tough time against modern bombers like the B-25....only a couple have been lost.

Can't wait to see the Ki-43-II in action in the AAR's. [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

you mean the Oscar2 is going to be useful ! nerf nerf .. i surrender now ..

BTW can i have a few of grommits corsairs .. Great avatar [;)]

[aztez]

Just 40 000 supplies at Pearl Harbour [:-] ...You better start kicking some AK's that way [:D]

I think that is safe to say that DEI will be history soon. I wasn't counting that you could have held it this long so it is a victory nonethless.

Btw, since your CV's seems to stationed in OZ than what kind of a naval force you got protecting CenPac?

[Rob Brennan UK]

I have aztez .. 25 x 5.5 K .. should last a wee while.

No formal update as been rather slow and sod all happening apart from

1) balikpapan fell today .. dutch retreating west. boo the mines were wasted. unless he's cant see them and brings in AP's .. 2 jap regiments here now.

2) ML group heading to timor (1st trip)

3) thats it .. nowt .. the usual a/c activity and singapore is looking very bad on supply .. lone ak loading and level bombers trying a few supply runs.

the end .. [>:][>:][>:]

[Rob Brennan UK]

OK proper update .. something happened !

Well he started out sweeping balikpapan port .. bah

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/12/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 38 encounters mine field at Balikpapan (31,64)

Japanese Ships
MSW W.15
MSW W.10
MSW W.9
MSW W.8
MSW W.7
MSW W.5
MSW W.4
MSW W.3
MSW W.1

then a lone MSW .. NE of borneo was attacked by trusty

Sub attack at 25,56

Japanese Ships
MSW W.17

Allied Ships
SS Trusty

hit and failed to detonate .. oh well

Then this unfortunate MSW attracted this sort of attanetion


Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 7
Vildebeest IV x 22


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
MSW W.17, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage SUNK

Rats , thats one of my little traps sprung .. time to rearrange my a/f once more .

speak of A/F .. tha chinese have been weakening the japs around Pakhoi ..

Day Air attack on Kainan Guard SNLF, at 39,39


Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 23
SB-2c x 44


Allied aircraft losses
SB-2c: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
83 casualties reported


Well .. today we evicted them from the hex ( can now draw supply )..

Ground combat at Pakhoi

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7175 troops, 50 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 2837 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Guns lost 5


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

It's not much i know ,, but it is 20% confirmed kills and thats a few more points.

Main event was a sub attack from an american one who's torps worked !

Sub attack at 36,61

Japanese Ships
TK Eiyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage ** Fuel Burning **
PC Ch 5
PC Ch 4
PC Ch 3

Allied Ships
SS Sealion silver stars all round ,, coffee and muffins waiting back in port.


Defensively Changsha held well too .. 2 more corps (one 100% prep) 1-2 days away. 3 cav corps and one HQ (again all 100% prep heading down too maybe 2 weeks )..

also the bombers made supply runs unhindered to singapore , I'll send in the Batavia groups now too.

enjoy the piccie .. I did !

[Rob Brennan UK]

Have a look at this picture and tell me whats whong with it .. both O19 and O20 look like CV escorts now !

[Rob Brennan UK]

the game carries on .. O19 and O20 sent on mining ops .. lets see how many they drop off .. ELse i'll use them as Flak Subs ! ..

first off we both swopped mines .. his sunk mine didnt .. but its banged up badly

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/13/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 57 encounters mine field at Tawi Tawi (38,60)

Japanese Ships
TK Eiyo Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage SUNK

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1106 encounters mine field at Soerabaja (22,65)

Allied Ships
TK Iris, Mine hits 1, heavy damage

Then in china .. the P40's i had on 90%CAP on ?? foregt name .. 2 hexes west of changsha .. leaked some few fighters over changsha .. actually not too bad .. all kills were a2a 4 Sally and 2 oscar for 4 P40's ..

Day Air attack on Changsha , at 47,36

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 34
Ki-21 Sally x 70
Ki-46-II Dinah x 5

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged


Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported

Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 41


WHOAH you might say .. 4P40's ! .. yes 2 crashed on landing pilots died .. but look at the odds ! i was 1/2 expecting to lose all my a/c in dogfights .

Example daily raid on manilla

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 25
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 6
Ki-21 Sally x 21
Ki-49 Helen x 49
Ki-46-II Dinah x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 damaged


Allied ground losses:
122 casualties reported

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 34

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 8000 feet
14 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 7000 feet
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
8 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 10000 feet
4 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 7000 feet
5 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 8000 feet
8 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
5 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 10000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 8000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 7000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 10000 feet
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 10000 feet
4 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 8000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 7000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 8000 feet
2 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 7000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 10000 feet

Altitude is coming down now i;m in the red supply wise .. doom approaches the PI forces

In ground combat however Manilla held

Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 131255 troops, 874 guns, 151 vehicles

Defending force 84118 troops, 507 guns, 198 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)


Japanese ground losses:
2541 casualties reported
Guns lost 83
Vehicles lost 3

Allied ground losses:
1084 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 3


so did Singapore

Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 105009 troops, 709 guns, 114 vehicles

Defending force 66313 troops, 306 guns, 20 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)


Japanese ground losses:
1381 casualties reported
Guns lost 58
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
1205 casualties reported
Guns lost 45
Vehicles lost 3

This attack threw me into the red again with supply .. but i have 40 bombers and 10 PBY 's ferrying in supply every day .. 1/2 tempted to move the dakotas back from burma .. BUT they are too useful there .

Speaking of which .. allied transports in Dacca picking up the 104 Brit base force ( max 90 AV ) and now at 1/2 strength .. for R&R in india .. ( from mandalay).

3 more chinese divs make ot out of the malarial hell of burma to calcutta for refit etc .. will take 1-2 months as a guess for full fix up.. and i need to rotate out more troops from mandaly . but its a bit under manned right now .. but no sign of japanese troops anywhere near .. recon a/c moved back into mandalay to survey the area .

todays piccie .. Koepang .. may not look like much but its all i can scrape together and its all 90-100% prepped for koepang too

EDIT .. the mine TF 2 kexes away has 600 small japanese presents too. covered by lr cap from soerbaja then koopang ( god loves the buffs range if nothing else) . should help . EDIT