Moses(AL)Jwilkerson(IJ)

[moses]

30-31 Dec:

KB has turned south toward Darwin instead of Kendari?? I can't believe my luck!! I was practically defenseless as my fighter force has been sheaded. I could easily see Japan rolling up my position from right to left. But now he has spent two days sailing south.

I think he was tempted by the desire to punish my destroyer raid on Ambonia and he did in fact get one of my crippled destroyers. Then once he'd gone that far he probably figured might as well see what could be bombed at Darwin. (About 10 AK's and an AP.) These are all damaged now. But all my surface forces safely fled toward Darby.

He stayed in his tight ball of transport, surface and air group so it will take at least three days for the transports to get back to Kendari. Plus KB has burned fuel, 4 or 5 planes, and more importantly sorties hitting my destroyer and the port of Darwin.

I get at least five days to rebuild my air groups. Plus the first small fighter units from the USA have now reached Austrailia. What a boost to my confidance after the defeat at Ambonia.

[ny59giants]

Darwin was a fishing trip for him. Lucky for you, you didn't keep much there. I have had too many ships there as an Allied player and was fortunate not to get caught. [:D] He could go west and then north to the southern tip of Java and launch an attack on Soerabaja trying to see what shipping he can get.

[patrickl]

Hi,

Look forward to following the thread religiously. I find that the real challenge in playing WITP is when one plays Allied.[:D] Hope you can forward some maps too.

All the best! We are rooting for the Allied![&o]

Pat

[moses]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Darwin was a fishing trip for him. Lucky for you, you didn't keep much there. I have had too many ships there as an Allied player and was fortunate not to get caught. [:D] He could go west and then north to the southern tip of Java and launch an attack on Soerabaja trying to see what shipping he can get.

I've been trying to make sure my surface combatants stay well away from KB except when I specifically decide to take the risk. My only worry is always that he will make some random 12 hex move at full speed from which he can reach a lot of places. But now that he has moved around a bit he probably will not risk a full speed move due to fuel constrainsts. Plus he seems to be determined to keep his transports under the protection of his carriers.

[moses]

ORIGINAL: patrickl

[:D] Hope you can forward some maps too.

There's KB 4 hexes from Darwin with the transports/ASW/surface fleet in toe. At Wyndham are the slightly damaged CA Bosie and a few other destroyers which bailed out of Darwin. To the far west at Darby is my main battle fleet. Those two subs near Darby are cripples from the sub slaughter up north and are now headed to Wyndham foor safety.

Not the ground reinforcements heading toward Darwin just in case he does land.

[moses]

Dec 29-31:



Malaysia: He has made several attacks at Kuala Lumpur where I have made a brief stand. I had a bit of a scare when my unit BDE holding the mountain pass from Kuantan moved to Malacca leaving only a badly damaged base force unit. His armor unit shock attacked and occupied Malacca for a turn until I drove him out. Had my forces in Kuala Lumpur been defeated I could have suffered a mass surrender.


Japanese Shock attack at Kuala Lumpur--30 Dec.

Attacking force 27066 troops, 269 guns, 315 vehicles, Assault Value = 1030
Defending force 15721 troops, 136 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 343
Japanese max assault: 1080 - adjusted assault: 311
Allied max defense: 328 - adjusted defense: 303

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 4)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Japanese ground losses-----------------Allied ground losses:
1410 casualties reported----------------370 casualties reported
Guns lost 52------------------------------Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 10

Japanese Shock attack Ground combat at Kuala Lumpur--31 Dec.

Attacking force 48679 troops, 486 guns, 307 vehicles, Assault Value = 908
Defending force 14873 troops, 100 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 311
Japanese max assault: 1406 - adjusted assault: 639
Allied max defense: 296 - adjusted defense: 489

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Japanese ground losses-----------------Allied ground losses:
745 casualties reported-----------------793 casualties reported
Guns lost 15------------------------------Guns lost 17


I begin my retreat today toward Johore Bharu where I will have all my Bde's intact and hopefully in good shape for a prolonged stand.

Burma: He finally moved his Nells and zero's up to Burma and hit 8 or 9 of my AK's as they departed Rangoon. Too late; I have over 50,000 sp in Rangoon and if I can hold the river line for the next couple days I may hold for all of January. Those two units on the rail north of Rangoon are the BDE's that start the war in the woods. Once they arrive in position my front should be very solid.

His 33rd Division and a host of smaller units are at Rahaeng. Near Moulmein there is only one Japanese Bde. His 55th went off road into the woods near Tavoy and I assume it will be another week or two before it can return to the fight.

[John 3rd]

Moses:
 
WISH I had a snow day!  Wish I was teaching HS so we could still be playing...
 
Where are your American and British CVs?  Is he using the whole of the KB?  Do you, perhaps, have an opportunity here to damage or sink one of the vaunted KB?
 
Just Thoughts...
John
 

[moses]

My American CV's are south of Rabaul waiting for an attack that never came. I'm considering a raid in the area of Rabaul but think it might be best to keep them out of sight a bit longer so he has to worry about them popping up somewhere unexpected. The Saratogo is being used to ferry aircraft west for the moment. Boring and non-aggressive I know---but safe.

He is keeping KB intact and there is no way I will come close to it with my carriers. Right now its too strong. I sent 6 B17's up against it a couple days ago, and 101 zero's showed up as CAP!!! All 6 B17's went down. I accidentally sent 6 Hudson's as well. (They were based in Timor and had had not reset their default range as KB got near) That was about as effective as the 12 Wirraways that tried to contest KB's bombing of Darwin.[&:]

[John 3rd]

Ooopppsss.  He must have his CAP set at 70% or higher...
 
Are you still on the stock game?  In one of my remaining campaigns, we just re-started and have chosen to use BigB's 3.1 Mod.  Less bloody Air-to-Air and a host of smaller changes...
 
If his KB is in the DEI, why not do some raiding?  In our first campaign, you did that to great effect against me early on. 
 
Has he not taken Rabaul yet?  I see you have reached Jan 1942... 

[moses]

He plays very methodically and supports his operations with everything he has. As a result he doesn't run multiple operations at the same time. In addition we used an historical start (stock) which gets things started at a slower pace then is the case when Japan can custumize his first turn.

I played a player a year or so ago who had a very similar style. For a time I wondered if he even knew what he was doing because he moved so slow. (Like does he even understand that he is supposed to take the DEI??) But eventually I found that I could not do anything against him because he had everything defended and he only attacked when he had every possible advantage.

Eventually I got frustrated and started playing too aggressively. I took a couple chances and lost every single one. Carriers gone, numerous BB's CA's sunk for nothing in return. I think he wondered if I even knew what I was doing.[&:]

Trying not to make the same mistakes.[;)]

[moses]

NEWSFLASH:


2nd and 4th Japanese Divisions land in DARWIN!!!!!!.

TF 110 encounters mine field at Darwin (36,84) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
TF 110 troops unloading over beach at Darwin, 36,84
135 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
MSW W.16, Shell hits 14, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.15, Shell hits 17, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.12, Shell hits 19, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.11, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
MSW W.10, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
PG Yachiyo Maru
PG Tamo Maru #7
PG Takunan Maru #8
PC Ch 23
PC Ch 22
PG Hong Kong Maru
PG Tamo Maru #6

Coastal Guns at Darwin, 36,84, firing at TF 110
636 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AP Nichiryo Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
CL Tama, Shell hits 6, on fire
PG Takunan Maru #8, Shell hits 5, on fire
PC Ch 23, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yawata Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yamura Maru, Shell hits 1
PC Ch 22, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yasukuni Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
AP Suwa Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
PG Hong Kong Maru, Shell hits 2
PG Yachiyo Maru, Shell hits 10, on fire
AP Kirishima Maru
AP Anyo Maru, Shell hits 1
AP Aikoku Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:----------------------Allied ground losses:
1239 casualties reported----------------------42 casualties reported
Guns lost 20------------------------------------Guns lost 1



This changes everthing.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: moses

I'm assuming that any increases won't take effect for the first month. You double a factory but then it has to build one factory per day. Then its only producing for part of the month etc. I'd be curious though to what extent 1st month production can be increased.[:)]

Anyway it's just a planning goal. If I can kill 90 with the zero bonus in effect and mostly inferior aircraft I'll consider it a plus. Jwilkerson seems fairly conservative with his planes so I doubt I'll get 90.

In future months I have to kill more to keep up with production like you say.

I increase production on Zeros by changing several obsolete factories rather than just doubling the existing factories. This way you can increase production by ~5 or so per day.

[ny59giants]

2nd and 4th Japanese Divisions land in DARWIN!!!!!!.

When playing stock, taking northern Australia to create a buffer from Allied bombers getting a chance to destroy those Resource/Oil centers is smart. [&o] Plus, as the Allies, I usually start sending those divisions from southern Australia to various points on the northern coast. He's done a good job eliminating that!![:D]

If you have any thoughts of taking some of your troops out of DEI to either India or Australia, I would start now!![:-]

[moses]

I'm looking at it differentely. Thats two divisions that are needed in the PI and Malaysia that are instead now tied to Austrailia. Plus KB is now tethered there as well to protect the beachead from my carriers and surface bombardments.

He will never take the PI with the force he has there currently. In Malaysia my entire force is pulling into Jahore Bhuru in good order and should be able to hold forever against the force he has there now.

I understand the value of taking north Austrailia in the stock game but this is too soon, I think, to tie two divisions to this task.

I intend to fight to the death in the DEI and I believe I will still hold Java, Malaya, and the PI (all in good supply) at the end of March. My bomber and fighter squadrens are rebuilding, air reinforcements are arriving, and he is now two divisions short. I have to be able to take advantage of that.

[moses]

ORIGINAL: Mike Soli

I increase production on Zeros by changing several obsolete factories rather than just doubling the existing factories. This way you can increase production by ~5 or so per day.

I'm sure you're correct and Jwilkerson would know how to maximize his production. I only want to kill zero's to the maximum extent to kept his force from growing too quickly. I'm sure in the end he will have plenty of zero's to go around.

I'm not doing too bad I think. Not counting the first day of the war I have lost 287 planes to his 257.

[moses]

1-3 Jan:

Darwin has fallen although it did extract a price. BB Mutsu hit 5 mines and was listed as heavy damage. BB Nagato also took 5 hits but I have no idea of its condition. 31 other ships were damaged with at least 12 listed as heavily damaged. Japan lost 4156 men, 31 guns and 2 vehicles over the beach.

Malaysia: My entire force retreats to Johore Bharu in good order. Those forts will soon be up to level six and I have plenty of supply. 3 Divisions will not drive me out.

Burma: I expect he may take Moulmain on the 4th which would drive me back to the river line. I have two bde's headed there but I think it will take them two turns. If they get there the position will hold but I think the next day will decide.

PI: I have a stable position as he has 2 divisions in Manila which will accomplish nothing in the urban terrain. Up North he has one division and some smaller units. If they enter Clark from across the river the shock attack will hurt them and then my shock attack the next day will drive them back across. You can't take PI with 3 divisions.

Air War: My air force has been hiding and rebuilding for the last week while the Darwin adventure plays out. My P-40 groups took a lot of losses but AVG is now near to matching 41 airframes to 41 pilots. My other P-40 groups have about 30 planes between them. On the plus side the Hurricans are coming with 3 groups active in the combat zone and my group of F2A Buffalo's are in Darby and ready to go.

I Have tons of lessor fighters as the dutch airforce has been carefully preserved. I thought it would be better for these guys to fight in January with one notch less zero bonus and Japan having at least a few rookies flying.

I made a mistake with my bombers when I upgraded a B17E to LB30 Liberators and a B17C to B17E. I did this in bases with limited aviation support and so now its taking a very long time to rebuild these units. So it will take a week to 10 days for my bomber offensive to get going. When it does I think it will make an impact as I also have medium bombers reaching Austrailia and still have all my dutch bombers.

General interest: In Kendari I had 27,000 sp. The next day I had 17,000sp. I checked into it and all I could find was that I now have a 150MM CD!!!!!! in one of my base force units. Anyone who understands the editor might check for me what the supply cost of those baby's are. Anyway I hope he tries to bombard me here in the near future. I want to get my 10,000 supply points worth!!!!

[anarchyintheuk]

Sure that some of the supply didn't go walkies to Makale?

[moses]

I looked at all the nearby islands and no big change anywhere. I know that replacement cost is based on transport cost. Those 150mm Guns have are untransportable. So it make sence to give them a transport cost of over 7000 which is size of largest transport.

[treespider]

General interest: In Kendari I had 27,000 sp. The next day I had 17,000sp. I checked into it and all I could find was that I now have a 150MM CD!!!!!! in one of my base force units. Anyone who understands the editor might check for me what the supply cost of those baby's are. Anyway I hope he tries to bombard me here in the near future. I want to get my 10,000 supply points worth!!!!

Load cost is 9999 ...so you spent 9999 in supply to get one of these...The 120mm CD gun upgrades to the 150mm...of course the 120 has a load cost of 20.

[anarchyintheuk]

As you were saying, I hope it does 10k worth of supply damage for you. [:)]