Moondawggie tries to defeat the AI!

[Moondawggie]

04/06/43

It's bad news when you're pounded day and night, as the Rabaul garrison has learned. Everytime some supply barges from Kavieng try to resupply Rabaul, they run into my bombardment TF making the nightly run from Buka to Rabaul. The barges don't last long, and my surface forces gain in night time experience.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul at 21,28

Japanese Ships
AG 118, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
AG 119, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
AG 120, and is sunk
AG 121, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
AG 122, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AG 122, and is sunk

Naval bombardment of Rabaul, at 21,28

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 194
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 6
Runway hits 166
Port hits 3


A few IJN APs dare to risk the run out of Truk to the IJA bases to the south; those that do are quickly picked off by my Enterprise TF sailing between Truk and Kavieng. There is nos sign of his surface or air combatants at this point.

Air attack on TF at 20,11

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 26
SBD Dauntless x 26
TBF Avenger x 18
Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Yoshino Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Maya Maru, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
AP Kiri Maru
AP Hakka Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 246
Guns lost 2

Meanwhile, deliberate attacks by my 100K troops at Rabaul are beginning to crack the IJA defense:

Ground combat at Rabaul

Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 69115 troops, 834 guns, 288 vehicles
Defending force 42981 troops, 408 guns, 19 vehicles

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 6 [:D]

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 5 [:D]


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 947
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 198

The "Rising Sun" looks to be setting in the west...

[Moondawggie]

04 10 43:

Ground combat at Rabaul

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5600 troops, 52 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 104244 troops, 937 guns, 429 vehicles
No allied casualties

Ground combat at Rabaul
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 75045 troops, 911 guns, 288 vehicles
Defending force 39671 troops, 388 guns, 19 vehicles
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 0

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 1567
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 202

It should be over with a shock attack in the next few turns. The map will not look like this for long...[;)]

[Moondawggie]

4/12/43:

How sweet it is!

Ground combat at Rabaul

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 78063 troops, 946 guns, 288 vehicles

Defending force 35965 troops, 376 guns, 19 vehicles

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Rabaul base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 27587
Guns lost 150
Vehicles lost 8

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 37

Time to round up the survivors with a shock attack next turn.

[Moondawggie]

4/25/43

After the fall of Rabaul, my CVEs covered multiple landings of Aussie troops in Papua and the Admiralties, while the USA 32nd Division cleared out the IJA bases at Gasmata and Hoskins. Virtually every red dot in New Britain and New Ireland has been changed to green. My one CV TF roamed the waters between Truk and points south, and prevented any seaborne reinforcement.

Long-range Nells and Betties from Truk did manage to put the hurt onto a few of my transports, and a skillful torpedo attack by 30+ Betties managed to take down one of my CVEs, but the Bismarck Sea is now an Allied lake!

Right now I'm consolidating all of my forces at Lae and Rabaul, and MSs are prepping Kavieng for a major amphib assault.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words:

[scott64]

[Moondawggie]

So there I was--the SeaBees and EAB's repaired all of the damage at Rabaul, and I had about 5 divisions lying around in the sun soaking up rays and beer, and lots of supplies coming in from Noumea. Since Kavieng (like Shortlands) is pretty isolated, I didn't think I'd be able to take it with my preferred approach of landing one hex awy, and then marching in.

So I gathered up lots of APDs and DDs and created some fast transport TFs, and sent the 1st and 2nd MARDIVS in to Kavieng, covered by a large BB-lead bombardment TF. Several DDs and APDs were mauled by the shore defenses, but none were sunk, and after a few turns, all of the landing forces were ashore.

A few deliberate attacks later, Kavieng surrendered, and I suffered minimal casualties.

I then mopped up on the islands around New Ireland, converting the red dots to green.

So, Kavieng is now an up-and-running allied base. All my 4E long range bombers are based there, and are pounding Japan's only remaining active base at Truk.

I'll bring up more supplies (this could take months), put togehter about 5 -8 Divisions onto regular Aks and Aps, and then set sail north to try to take out Truk---I've never been in a position to pull that off before.

I'm still limited to only 1 Cv and 3 CVEs, so I'm a bit wary about going up there unless the heavies can put Truk's AF out of commission---a doubtful proposition, seeing that Truk has a bottomless amout of supplies.

Here is one sweet looking map:

[AcePylut]

Well, pretty sweet looking, but, uh, there is that one red ship in it. [:'(]    [:)]   

[Mike Wethington]

If it's anything like the sub bug where the Japanese Division loaded on the American Sub, I would be worried about Noumea or Brisbane!

[Moondawggie]

Good points, Ace and Mike.

Right now I'm just sitting around at Kavieng, bringing up more troops and supplies, sending out ASW TFs on every pesy sub sighting----sometimes I find them and nail a sub, sometimes they find my DDs, APDs, or (most often) SCs and drive home a few torpedos. All in all, I'm taking down a few more subs than losing ships. The graphic below shows the overall score: parity in aircraft losses; big advantage to the allies in the other categories.

But, being bored by the inactivity, I decided to "raid" Truk with an air TF composed of 4 CVEs, and one CV---I got a few hits in on IJN ships ported there, but lost a CVE and 20+ SBDs by the time the action finally ended. [:@]

Unless Pearl opens up its pocketbook and releases a few more CVs, etc., any attempt to take Truk would appear to be way too costly. My resources aren't anything like what Ray Spruance and Bull Halsey really had when they took it all the way downfield in '44 and '45-----there is still some amazing realism built into this game, even when I've been far more successful than I had hoped. (On the other hand, if Truk Lagoon on UVs map had a land hex adjacent to Truk, things would be different!)

Well, as the sainted Mick Jagger once sang, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you can get what you need." Maybe I can't get Truk----but I'm going to find out!

So, here's the overall score to date (07 24 43):

[Mike Wethington]

Nice tallies, even the US/JA aircraft totals are good. MacArthur must have the biggest swelled head in the Pacific...oh wait, forgot, he already does.[;)]

[Moondawggie]

Well, this campaign has been going on for well over a year in sim time now. I've conquered every Japanese base except Truk, but I don't have enough carrier air strength to pull on an invasion there.

So I've been preparing by moving virtually every allied Division to Kavieng, along with lots of supplies, and sending my one carrier TF on frequent raids up to Truk: no attaack planes on board, just fighters, The Corsairs and Wildcats are working over the IJN/IJA fighters protecting Truk with few losses, and B-17s and B-24s hit Truk's AF and port.

And then today, when I check the ship availablity screen, I'm astonished to see that Pearl harbor hasn't forgotten about me after all! [:D][:D][:D]

There is going to be one very interesting D-Day type invasion hitting Truk before this game is over! [:)]

[Moondawggie]

8/31/43:

I've taken the last non-Truk piece of land that Japan holds: the island of Pohnpei, located 14 hexes east of Truk----maybe, just maybe, in range for P-38s to sweep Truk, and certainly within range of my B-25s and B-26s, who cannot reach Truk from Kavieng. Now I'm landing some base forces, some SeaBees and supplies, and hope to build up an airfield on Pohnpei right quick. If so, then when I start my all-out assault on Trk beginning in November, Truk's ability to attack by air might be limited, 'cause I'll be clobbering it with medium bombers...


Meanwhile, my "carrier sweep-strategy" on Truk continues to take its toll of japanese fighters protecting the base. My LBA out of Kavieng are beginning to encounter substantially less resistance.

[Moondawggie]

Ah, it's great to get an airfield withing range of Truk: you build it up to level 1, stock it with all kinds of supplies, and transfer a boatload of P-38s, F4U Corsairs, and Hellcats.

The offloading transports and oilers offloading there are such tempting targets that Truk's Dinahs just have to call for a strike.

And here are the bloody results (talk about sucking 'em in!):

Air attack on Pohnpei Island

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero x 9 destroyed
G3M Nell x 13 destroyed
G4M1 Betty x 35 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning x 5 destroyed

Wow---61 Japanese attackers fall from the skies, with the US losing 5 Lightnings.

Keep it up, AI---those are a lot of planes and pilots that won't be available to rough up my invading task forces a month from now! [;)]

[Moondawggie]

10 15 43

It's time to start prepping Truk for an amphibious invasion. A MS task force with follow-on Bombardment TF is now only one hex away from Truk, covered by my 2 air combat TFs.

The Japanese air force hits at both Pohnpei Island and the rapidly closing allied TFs, and LBA goes after Truk's docks: lordy, do I love Corsairs, Lightnings and Hellcats:


CVE Unyo, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 2
ML Hoko, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Ise, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

A6M3 Zero x 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty x 5 destroyed
G4M2 Betty x 6 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 2 destroyed
Ki-46 Dinah x 1 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen x 2 destroyed

F4U-1 Corsair x 2 destroyed
P-38G Lightning x 3 destroyed


A6M3 Zero x 5 destroyed
G4M2 Betty x 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 5 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 12 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia x 3 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily x 8 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen x 2 destroyed

F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 destroyed

A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally x 1 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily x 1 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen x 1 destroyed

F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 destroyed


A6M3 Zero x 3 destroyed
D3A Val x 72 destroyed
D4Y Judy x 5 destroyed
G4M2 Betty x 2 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 1 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 3 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally x 2 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily x 3 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen x 1 destroyed

F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
DM Sicard, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Washington, Bomb hits 2
DMS Hopkins, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Indianapolis
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 3
CA Minneapolis
BB Colorado, Bomb hits 1
CA Northampton
CA Baltimore, Bomb hits 1
BB Nevada
CA Portland

Wow: only one allied DM roughed up, and she should make it back to Kavieng OK. In exchange, 153 Japanese planes are destroyed, against only 8 USN fighters... [:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Moondawggie]

11/03/43:

Never been this far into the game before... [:'(]

AKs and APDs are unloading troops over the beach at Truk. Dai Nippon is about to lose its last base in the SOPAC!

The prep with MS Tfs, Bombardment TFs, LBA, Carrier raids, etc, appears to have been successful: lots of Japanese planes fall down and go boom!, and very few USN ships take damage running into Truk harbor to offload troops.

Man, this is a far cry from mid-42 when PM hung on thread... The Road to Tokyo now has a speed limit of 80 MPH, and darn few cops are niw in sight! [;)]

[&o]

[Moondawggie]

11/7/43:

Truk's defenders (all 150,000+ of them) are tough, but softening:

[Moondawggie]

Ground combat at Truk

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 97988 troops, 1030 guns, 481 vehicles

Defending force 158042 troops, 1653 guns, 313 vehicles Still Powerful!

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 0 [8D]

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

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 1127
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 1710
Guns lost 4

[DuckofTindalos]

That's quite the task you've taken on there...

[Moondawggie]

12/7/43

Just about everything and everybody has landed on Truk: over 300,000 allied and Japanese troops have been squaring off now for about a month. I've got the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Marine Divisions there, as well as the Americal, the 25th, the 32nd, the 37th, the 41st and 43rd US Army divisions. Also now landed at Truk are the Aussie 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 9th, as well as the NZ 3rd, and all kinds of other raiders, tank batallions, cavalry units, etc.

Will it be enough? [8|]

I've reduced the Japanese troop strength down to 130,000 from about 155,000 when I first landed. Daily allied deliberate attacks are now trading casualties at about a 10:1 ratio in my favor, but there are only 3 weeks left in the game.

It's time for some shock attacks, I guess: one thing about attacking Truk: you never cut them off from supply, so it's darn hard to disrupt and disorganize the enemy forces there.

[Moondawggie]

12/10/43

A shock attack, and look what happened: