May 16, 1942 – Did AuTiger "blink"? My air attacks in China went off like clockwork this turn. First there was a large attack on Changsha went in unopposed and caused a nice amount of damage to the air fields. Next, more second-line planes attacked Wuchow, again unopposed and again causing some nice damage. Then the main attack flew in from Wuhan against Chungking: 72 Zeros, 36 Sallys and a number of recon planes. To my big surprise the CAP consisted of 4 P-39s and a mix of 15 Chinese biplanes. My Zeros took care of the CAP and the bombers hit the field. The damage wasn't great, and only one B-17 was caught on the ground, along with a Chinese bomber, but it was still a satisfying result.
But what was even more surprising was that there wasn't any response from the Allied bombers in Chungking. My Intel insists that there are nearly 200 bombers there, but none flew against any of my bases. Maybe I'm in luck and those are a bunch of damaged planes. On the other hand, maybe weather or something else grounded those bombers and they are simply resting up before hitting one or more of my Chinese air bases. In any event, I moved more Sallys and Zeros up to another front line air base and have once again set the aircraft at both bases to bomb Chungking next turn. I also moved more second-line planes back to the front and ordered them to attack other Chinese bases too. This will make it harder for AuTiger to choose a single target for any massive retaliatory air strikes.
In Java my air attacks on Soerabaja continued and once again second-line Allied planes tried to fly CAP, but were easily overwhelmed. All of my forces continue to move forward and the invasion of Malang will commence next turn. I should be able to start assaults on Soerabaja within a few more turns too. I have already formed a big transport TF to sail to Tjilitjap and remove all of the small units that I collected there. I will send the regular units back to Singapore for R&R and the airborne units to Palau in preparation of future action in the Northeast.
Speaking of the Northeast, my sub-based Glens off of Dutch Harbor suddenly reported a number or TFs in and around the base again. It looks like AuTiger has some plans of his own in the region. This means that my incoming battle task force may well get an opportunity to cause some havoc. I have redirected it to go away from the minor Aleutian Islands so that it does not get reported on its way in. And since the weather report is calling for thunderstorms, the chances of the TF being discovered by the Allied air units at Dutch Harbor is reduced too. We'll see if my luck holds.
Hunting the AuTiger - an AAR (no Tigers please)
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
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Dive Bomber1
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A Not Very Good Day
May 17, 1942 – This time it was my turn to be ticked off at the weather. But beyond the weather, in general this was a turn where little worked out right for me. It appears that the Allied SIGINT is providing AuTiger with just enough information to allow him to prepare for most of my moves, and combined with the "weather luck" turning against me this turn, what looked to be promising ended up being frustrating.
Things started out mediocre in the night phase as my naval bombardment TF hit Noumea but didn't cause much in the way of damage despite my continuous air recon of the base from multiple locations for quite some time. I've yet to figure out how to achieve the sorts of "nuclear attack" results that are reported so often in other AARs.
Then in the day portion of the turn the weather suddenly turned "clear" for the first time in days and to make things much worse, it turned out that all of AuTiger's bombers at Noumea were set to "naval attack". This meant that his B-17s scored multiple low altitude bomb attacks on my ships. Fortunately, most of the attacks hit the armor of the BB that was in the TF, but this was still a frustrating bit of bad luck and I ended up with a number of damaged ships that will have to go back for repairs.
At the same time my naval bombardment of Malang informed me that AuTiger had finally pulled his remaining Dutch regiment out and back into Soerabaja. This meant that my invading division came in unopposed, but still suffered unexpectedly large casualties for no obvious reason. And my naval bombardment and subsequent air attack caused all sorts of unnecessary damage to the base.
The situation then quickly deteriorated even more. My remaining undamaged sub off of Dutch Harbor was attacked by Seagulls and then by Dauntlesses, meaning that AuTiger had brought some CVs into the region! A CV TF turned up a couple of hexes to the south of Dutch Harbor and in perfect position to catch any incoming attack. Obviously I would have to call off my incoming naval attack. So I reset my surface combat TF to head back to the Kuriles at flank speed. It's a good thing that I didn't put a slow BB into the TF or the US CV TF would be able to catch it.
So was that AC TF out there because AuTiger received INTEL regarding the destination of my TF, or is AuTiger planning a raid or invasion of his own into the Kuriles? I have been reinforcing the Kuriles regularly but unfortunately due to the nature of the terrain and bases there, I don't have any level 2 or larger airfields in the island chain yet. So if AuTiger sends in his CVs I can only counterattack with Bettys and Zeros at long distance, which is something I didn't want to do.
In any event, I moved more air units to the bases in Eastern Japan as well as moving more Zeros closer to the Home Islands. I also refuelled and reorganized the KB in Kwajalein and sent it at "mission" speed towards the north. I do have one undamaged CV and a number of surface ships in the Home Islands, but I don't want to commit them to battle with the USN before they are reinforced.
Next the air combat in China started, and thanks to whatever mechanisms control the flow of battle within the Game, AuTiger's 4Es from Chungking got to fly first and hammered the airfields at Wuhan. My second-line air units then all flew from other bases and were unopposed against their targets at Changsha, Homan and Wuchow, causing some nice, but not very significant damage, but that wasn't a good exchange for what came next.
When my air attacks against Chungking flew, NONE of my Sallys flew; the only planes that flew were my recon planes and my Zeros on "sweep". And this was from my airbase that wasn't attacked! Then to make things really frustrating, the Chinese biplanes flying CAP over Chungking shot down several Zeros, despite the Zeros flying at 30K feet. For whatever reason, the Biplanes continuously received the "bounce" in all of the encounters.
Then to finish off the turn in a manner that was consistent with all of the earlier frustrating results, more planes than ever took off from Soerabaja against my incoming air attacks, including torpedo planes that attacked my invasion fleet at Malang. Fortunately, I had put LR CAP over Malang in anticipation of this sort of thing happening. As usual, my planes eventually shot down most of the Allied planes and bombed the airfields repeatedly.
But this was probably still the most frustrating part of the turn – there is no way that the Allied air units should still be flying after weeks of overwhelming aerial attacks and daily artillery attacks. Sure, in addition to bombing the airfields I could have planes hit the resources and oil at Soerabaja to stop the flow of supplies and thus stop the repair of planes, but that only hurts me once I capture the base. In retrospect I should have thrown all of my forces against Soerabaja first and taken the rest of Java later. Oh well, such are the nuances and choices that the Game gives to the players.
I am learning a lot about the Game from the pbems that I am playing against AuTiger and my other opponents. In hindsight, the major changes to my "Standard Start" that I will make the next time that I start a fresh pbem will be:
1 – I will keep up my Chinese LCUs together rather than splitting them up
2 - I will manoeuvre my forces in China and wait until I can strike hard at one key point
3 – I will use my Chinese LCUs according to their experience and capabilities and leave the weak and inexperienced units in the rear to provide the necessary AV points to keep the bases under my control in the "green"
4 – I will use the Mongolian Cavalry units as "placeholders" to suppress "guerrilla" attacks in the bases that I hold as well as use them as blocking units to hold communication lines
5 – I will convert and move all of my Manchurian ART, ARM, AA, Aviation Base Forces, Construction Base Forces and other support troops into China, leaving only the Infantry units behind
6 – I will move my invasion forces by ship and use Fast Transports more often
7 – I will keep my main invasion forces together to overwhelm key bases even if it means that the enemy forces have an escape route.
8 – I will use my airborne LCUs en masse to attack a single key location
9 – I will fill up my air units with replacement aircraft and replacement pilots during the set-up turn when my pilot reserve pools are not depleted by the replacement
10 – I will preferentially use AOs for fuel transport and save TKs for oil transport as much as possible
11 – I will minimize the conversion of AKs to other types of ships, or maybe not convert any at all.
12 – I will play with "PDU ON"
13 – I will change my Nate factories to Oscar production so that I can phase out Nates more rapidly
14 – I will expand my Zero factories so that I can phase out Claudes more rapidly
15 – I will keep the KB together unless I sink most of the Allied CVs early
Now, all of that doesn't mean that I will do better against a good player like AuTiger, but at least I won't feel quite so stupid about my own moves…
Things started out mediocre in the night phase as my naval bombardment TF hit Noumea but didn't cause much in the way of damage despite my continuous air recon of the base from multiple locations for quite some time. I've yet to figure out how to achieve the sorts of "nuclear attack" results that are reported so often in other AARs.
Then in the day portion of the turn the weather suddenly turned "clear" for the first time in days and to make things much worse, it turned out that all of AuTiger's bombers at Noumea were set to "naval attack". This meant that his B-17s scored multiple low altitude bomb attacks on my ships. Fortunately, most of the attacks hit the armor of the BB that was in the TF, but this was still a frustrating bit of bad luck and I ended up with a number of damaged ships that will have to go back for repairs.
At the same time my naval bombardment of Malang informed me that AuTiger had finally pulled his remaining Dutch regiment out and back into Soerabaja. This meant that my invading division came in unopposed, but still suffered unexpectedly large casualties for no obvious reason. And my naval bombardment and subsequent air attack caused all sorts of unnecessary damage to the base.
The situation then quickly deteriorated even more. My remaining undamaged sub off of Dutch Harbor was attacked by Seagulls and then by Dauntlesses, meaning that AuTiger had brought some CVs into the region! A CV TF turned up a couple of hexes to the south of Dutch Harbor and in perfect position to catch any incoming attack. Obviously I would have to call off my incoming naval attack. So I reset my surface combat TF to head back to the Kuriles at flank speed. It's a good thing that I didn't put a slow BB into the TF or the US CV TF would be able to catch it.
So was that AC TF out there because AuTiger received INTEL regarding the destination of my TF, or is AuTiger planning a raid or invasion of his own into the Kuriles? I have been reinforcing the Kuriles regularly but unfortunately due to the nature of the terrain and bases there, I don't have any level 2 or larger airfields in the island chain yet. So if AuTiger sends in his CVs I can only counterattack with Bettys and Zeros at long distance, which is something I didn't want to do.
In any event, I moved more air units to the bases in Eastern Japan as well as moving more Zeros closer to the Home Islands. I also refuelled and reorganized the KB in Kwajalein and sent it at "mission" speed towards the north. I do have one undamaged CV and a number of surface ships in the Home Islands, but I don't want to commit them to battle with the USN before they are reinforced.
Next the air combat in China started, and thanks to whatever mechanisms control the flow of battle within the Game, AuTiger's 4Es from Chungking got to fly first and hammered the airfields at Wuhan. My second-line air units then all flew from other bases and were unopposed against their targets at Changsha, Homan and Wuchow, causing some nice, but not very significant damage, but that wasn't a good exchange for what came next.
When my air attacks against Chungking flew, NONE of my Sallys flew; the only planes that flew were my recon planes and my Zeros on "sweep". And this was from my airbase that wasn't attacked! Then to make things really frustrating, the Chinese biplanes flying CAP over Chungking shot down several Zeros, despite the Zeros flying at 30K feet. For whatever reason, the Biplanes continuously received the "bounce" in all of the encounters.
Then to finish off the turn in a manner that was consistent with all of the earlier frustrating results, more planes than ever took off from Soerabaja against my incoming air attacks, including torpedo planes that attacked my invasion fleet at Malang. Fortunately, I had put LR CAP over Malang in anticipation of this sort of thing happening. As usual, my planes eventually shot down most of the Allied planes and bombed the airfields repeatedly.
But this was probably still the most frustrating part of the turn – there is no way that the Allied air units should still be flying after weeks of overwhelming aerial attacks and daily artillery attacks. Sure, in addition to bombing the airfields I could have planes hit the resources and oil at Soerabaja to stop the flow of supplies and thus stop the repair of planes, but that only hurts me once I capture the base. In retrospect I should have thrown all of my forces against Soerabaja first and taken the rest of Java later. Oh well, such are the nuances and choices that the Game gives to the players.
I am learning a lot about the Game from the pbems that I am playing against AuTiger and my other opponents. In hindsight, the major changes to my "Standard Start" that I will make the next time that I start a fresh pbem will be:
1 – I will keep up my Chinese LCUs together rather than splitting them up
2 - I will manoeuvre my forces in China and wait until I can strike hard at one key point
3 – I will use my Chinese LCUs according to their experience and capabilities and leave the weak and inexperienced units in the rear to provide the necessary AV points to keep the bases under my control in the "green"
4 – I will use the Mongolian Cavalry units as "placeholders" to suppress "guerrilla" attacks in the bases that I hold as well as use them as blocking units to hold communication lines
5 – I will convert and move all of my Manchurian ART, ARM, AA, Aviation Base Forces, Construction Base Forces and other support troops into China, leaving only the Infantry units behind
6 – I will move my invasion forces by ship and use Fast Transports more often
7 – I will keep my main invasion forces together to overwhelm key bases even if it means that the enemy forces have an escape route.
8 – I will use my airborne LCUs en masse to attack a single key location
9 – I will fill up my air units with replacement aircraft and replacement pilots during the set-up turn when my pilot reserve pools are not depleted by the replacement
10 – I will preferentially use AOs for fuel transport and save TKs for oil transport as much as possible
11 – I will minimize the conversion of AKs to other types of ships, or maybe not convert any at all.
12 – I will play with "PDU ON"
13 – I will change my Nate factories to Oscar production so that I can phase out Nates more rapidly
14 – I will expand my Zero factories so that I can phase out Claudes more rapidly
15 – I will keep the KB together unless I sink most of the Allied CVs early
Now, all of that doesn't mean that I will do better against a good player like AuTiger, but at least I won't feel quite so stupid about my own moves…
RE: A Not Very Good Day
Dive, you are too hard on yourself. It is May 23 in my game (I'm Allies v. a much more experienced Japanese player) and things are about the same, except that he has captured New Caldonia, Baker Is and Efate and you have not. IJN ship losses have been 1 BB (Mutsu), 1 BC (Hiei), 1 CA, 5 CL, 25 DD, 7 subs, 65 AP/AK, and assorted PC/PG. Neither side has lost any CV, CVL or CVE. He has sunk 5BB and 1 BC, 7 or 8 CA and almost the entire Aussie navy. A total of 212 Allied ships litter the bottom and 112 Japanese ships have joined them.
In the air, he has lost 510 Zeros, and about 200 each of his front line bombers (Sally, Betty, Nell, Lily) and about 125 each Kates and Vals (mostly naval). He has fully captured the DEI, Phillipines, Burma and the usualy Pacific Is plus New Caledonia (a big loss for me).
You can compare to your game, but I think(?) your losses are lighter and you have captured roughly the same territory, except in China. My opponent is doing well there.
Your style is more cautious than my opponent's, but the result is nearly the same with lighter Japanese losses. Tactically, I do think splitting KB is a bad idea and an invitation to disaster for the IJN, but you have escaped catastrophic damage so far in the game and have levied a greater portion of damage to your opponent's CVs by doind so.
In the air, I think your overlooking something on Zero conversions as it seems you have far fewer Zeros than my opponent has (he just got the new model A3 Zero recently). As I have never played the Japs, I don't know what is involved in the conversation, but I'd get those Nates and Claudes OFF the front line and converted (along with all their factories) ASAP. I may be reading too much into your AAR in saying this and, if so, I apologize, but my IJA?IJN opponent has had no shortage of flying Zeros despite lossing over 500 of them so far.
Keep up the good work on your AAR. It is fun to read, and I admire the style.
In the air, he has lost 510 Zeros, and about 200 each of his front line bombers (Sally, Betty, Nell, Lily) and about 125 each Kates and Vals (mostly naval). He has fully captured the DEI, Phillipines, Burma and the usualy Pacific Is plus New Caledonia (a big loss for me).
You can compare to your game, but I think(?) your losses are lighter and you have captured roughly the same territory, except in China. My opponent is doing well there.
Your style is more cautious than my opponent's, but the result is nearly the same with lighter Japanese losses. Tactically, I do think splitting KB is a bad idea and an invitation to disaster for the IJN, but you have escaped catastrophic damage so far in the game and have levied a greater portion of damage to your opponent's CVs by doind so.
In the air, I think your overlooking something on Zero conversions as it seems you have far fewer Zeros than my opponent has (he just got the new model A3 Zero recently). As I have never played the Japs, I don't know what is involved in the conversation, but I'd get those Nates and Claudes OFF the front line and converted (along with all their factories) ASAP. I may be reading too much into your AAR in saying this and, if so, I apologize, but my IJA?IJN opponent has had no shortage of flying Zeros despite lossing over 500 of them so far.
Keep up the good work on your AAR. It is fun to read, and I admire the style.
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USSAmerica
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RE: A Not Very Good Day
Dive, you're learning a lot of lessons, gaining experience, and playing WitP. [8D]
It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.[;)]
I'm still enjoying your AAR very much. Keep your head up and keep Au's down. [:D]
It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.[;)]
I'm still enjoying your AAR very much. Keep your head up and keep Au's down. [:D]
Mike
"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett
"They need more rum punch" - Me
Artwork by The Amazing Dixie
"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett
"They need more rum punch" - Me
Artwork by The Amazing Dixie
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: A Not Very Good Day
Princep - I am playing with PDU "off" so there is no way for me to change those Nates to anything until I get Oscar IIs and maybe Tonys. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the game I didn't realize how many Zeros and Oscars I would use up, so I didn't increase production of Zeros, and I changed the Nate factories to R&D Tonys and Tojos. Only a little while ago did I realize that I was in trouble and increased production of Zeros, Oscars and their corresponding engines.
Your opponent has done a lot better than me against the Allied capital ships. I didn't sink anything at Pearl, and AuTiger has kept his good ships away from my forces except for the time that we stumbled upon each other in the South Pacific.
BTW - I do have Baker. I snuck out and captured it right off the bat, just like Gili-Gili.
Thanks for the comments -
Your opponent has done a lot better than me against the Allied capital ships. I didn't sink anything at Pearl, and AuTiger has kept his good ships away from my forces except for the time that we stumbled upon each other in the South Pacific.
BTW - I do have Baker. I snuck out and captured it right off the bat, just like Gili-Gili.
Thanks for the comments -
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Dive Bomber1
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RE: A Not Very Good Day
ORIGINAL: USS America
Dive, you're learning a lot of lessons, gaining experience, and playing WitP. [8D]
It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.[;)]
I'm still enjoying your AAR very much. Keep your head up and keep Au's down. [:D]
Thanks for the nice comments. I hope to keep on learning and doing better.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
More Painful Lessons Learned
May 18, 1942 - I learned a couple more painful lessons this turn. One of them was obvious, the other one not so obvious. The obvious lesson was a simple case of stupidity on my part; it never occurred to me that AuTiger could and would bring his Hurricanes out of India and into China. And he did in great numbers. So my incoming Zeros faced 90 Hurricanes along with sundry other fighters on CAP over Chungking, and the result wasn't pretty at all.
The other lesson was part and parcel of this: it never occurred to me that my best Zero pilots would be shot down so readily. But to a good extent, that was another case of stupidity on my part because I have been regularly losing good pilots in Zeros against all sorts of second line Allied fighters.
And "when it rains it pours" applied here too, because for the second turn in a row my bombers stayed home while the Zeros flew out. So I didn't even get a chance to destroy any of the Allied fighters on the ground in Chungking.
So I pulled back the fragments of my Zero Daitais, disbanded the majority of them and formed one decent Daitai back in the Home Islands. I also pulled back from the Front my bomber and second line fighters. For whatever reason, even though my second line planes have been flying regularly, the bad pilots in their ranks have not been gaining much experience, regardless of the number of missions they have flown. So I put most of the second line units on 50% training in rear bases.
So, what did I do fundamentally wrong in China? Well, it was actually a combination of two things. The first thing was what I "didn't" do in Burma and India. I didn't challenge AuTiger in the air in the SEA which allowed him to first pull out his P-40s and then pull out his Hurricanes. But even more fundamentally was that I overreacted to AuTiger's 4E bomber attacks. Those attacks caused me to pull my air units out of Burma and then to throw away my best Zero Daitais at long range against Chungking.
So in retrospect, the key lesson learned for me here, and the "will do" item for me to add to my "Will Do List" is that I have to be willing to challenge AuTiger in the air in interrelated Theaters such as the CBI. Thus I have to be willing to trade losses early on before the Allies receive too many reinforcements and without giving them too many opportunities to gain "free" experience.
Elsewhere, I appear to have received a little "weather luck" in the South Pacific as my ships that were retiring from their Noumea "adventure" were spotted by Allied air patrols but did not receive any air attacks.
And my infantry division captured the now-empty Malang without much fanfare. The base is badly damaged now, so I am leaving that division in place for a bit to fix things up and wait for more supplies to be dropped off. And as has been occurring like clockwork, the damaged planes at Soerabaja were "miraculously" repaired and flew again. So I flew out more tired bomber units and sent in fresh replacements. It will be good to finally put this farce to rest.
The other lesson was part and parcel of this: it never occurred to me that my best Zero pilots would be shot down so readily. But to a good extent, that was another case of stupidity on my part because I have been regularly losing good pilots in Zeros against all sorts of second line Allied fighters.
And "when it rains it pours" applied here too, because for the second turn in a row my bombers stayed home while the Zeros flew out. So I didn't even get a chance to destroy any of the Allied fighters on the ground in Chungking.
So I pulled back the fragments of my Zero Daitais, disbanded the majority of them and formed one decent Daitai back in the Home Islands. I also pulled back from the Front my bomber and second line fighters. For whatever reason, even though my second line planes have been flying regularly, the bad pilots in their ranks have not been gaining much experience, regardless of the number of missions they have flown. So I put most of the second line units on 50% training in rear bases.
So, what did I do fundamentally wrong in China? Well, it was actually a combination of two things. The first thing was what I "didn't" do in Burma and India. I didn't challenge AuTiger in the air in the SEA which allowed him to first pull out his P-40s and then pull out his Hurricanes. But even more fundamentally was that I overreacted to AuTiger's 4E bomber attacks. Those attacks caused me to pull my air units out of Burma and then to throw away my best Zero Daitais at long range against Chungking.
So in retrospect, the key lesson learned for me here, and the "will do" item for me to add to my "Will Do List" is that I have to be willing to challenge AuTiger in the air in interrelated Theaters such as the CBI. Thus I have to be willing to trade losses early on before the Allies receive too many reinforcements and without giving them too many opportunities to gain "free" experience.
Elsewhere, I appear to have received a little "weather luck" in the South Pacific as my ships that were retiring from their Noumea "adventure" were spotted by Allied air patrols but did not receive any air attacks.
And my infantry division captured the now-empty Malang without much fanfare. The base is badly damaged now, so I am leaving that division in place for a bit to fix things up and wait for more supplies to be dropped off. And as has been occurring like clockwork, the damaged planes at Soerabaja were "miraculously" repaired and flew again. So I flew out more tired bomber units and sent in fresh replacements. It will be good to finally put this farce to rest.
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Dive Bomber1
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More Painful Lessons Learned (cont.)
A thought struck me after I posted my last comments regarding my non-flying bombers in China - I may have "outsmarted myself" and caused the problem. For the past two turns I had all of my Zeros at my forward bases in China set to "sweep" Chungking and none were set to "escort" the bombers. Maybe the bombers didn't fly because the Game "detected" the CAP over Chungking, "decided" that there was too much opposition for the bombers to fly, and my Zeros, being set to "sweep", didn't count as escorts. Oh well, next time that I try a big aerial assault I'll have to make certain that I have some good air units on escort too.
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USSAmerica
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RE: More Painful Lessons Learned (cont.)
ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1
A thought struck me after I posted my last comments regarding my non-flying bombers in China - I may have "outsmarted myself" and caused the problem. For the past two turns I had all of my Zeros at my forward bases in China set to "sweep" Chungking and none were set to "escort" the bombers. Maybe the bombers didn't fly because the Game "detected" the CAP over Chungking, "decided" that there was too much opposition for the bombers to fly, and my Zeros, being set to "sweep", didn't count as escorts. Oh well, next time that I try a big aerial assault I'll have to make certain that I have some good air units on escort too.
This one's a bummer, but very likely the cause of your bombers not flying. Good catch.
Mike
"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett
"They need more rum punch" - Me
Artwork by The Amazing Dixie
"Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett
"They need more rum punch" - Me
Artwork by The Amazing Dixie
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Dive Bomber1
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- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Rain Delays
May 19, 1942 – Rain interfered with air operations in many locations this turn. So, for example, none of my air attacks in Java flew. This will give the Dutch more time to work on the air fields at Soerabaja and get more planes into the air, but it also gives my air units more time to rest and get ready for upcoming attacks. Never-the-less, the artillery bombardment from my besieging troops went very well, so it is just a matter of time anyway.
In China the "Changsha Air Express" flew again and caused some nice damage to the Changsha air fields. That was followed by a good artillery bombardment so things are somewhat back to normal. AuTiger is keeping his big CAP over Chungking for now, which is okay because it allows me to attack other targets while resting the bulk of my forces. I should be in a position to bring a strong Zero Daitai that is full of aces back to China in a turn or so and I intend to try my luck against some of the outer Chinese bases.
BTW – AuTiger had moved a Chinese infantry unit to the hex that is SW of Changsha to challenge the units that I had there, but I had too much for him and my units easily kicked his unit out of the hex. In the meanwhile my main forces at Changsha continue to recover strength and slowly get reinforced.
AuTiger's main air operations this turn were out of NE Australia where one B-17 unit flew against Port Moresby and another, equipped with B-17Cs flew against Rossel Island. My A6M3s at PM accounted for themselves quite nicely and AuTiger ended up losing 4 B-17s and having another 15 damaged out of the 30 that attacked, while I only lost one A6M3. The bomb attack caused some airfield damage but that will be easily repaired. I have no idea why AuTiger sent the B-17Cs against Rossel, but if he wants to accumulate operational losses I'm not going to get in his way.
For whatever reason, the Allied air units at Noumea were quiet again this turn and the Air Balance was actually down a bit. (I guess that AuTiger sent some of his B-17s back to Australia.) So my less damaged ships started to get back to port at Lunga, and the more damaged ships got further out of range of any LBA at Noumea. At the same time my additional invasion TFs got further into the New Hebrides under the cover of rain. I'm hoping to grab Efate and the remaining "dot" islands in the group before AuTiger realizes what I am doing.
In other news, the air base at Paramushiro Jima finally reached level 2 so I can finally base torpedo and dive bombers there. The first few of my returning combat units have now reached Tokyo and more are on the way. The KB is also slowly cruising to the north. And the surface combat TF that had its mission against Dutch Harbor aborted is also almost back to port at PJ, so I am slowly getting into position to start some serious "mischief" in the region. June ought to be interesting.
BTW – the Yamato finally showed up, so I will give its crew some practice in Northern waters soon.
In China the "Changsha Air Express" flew again and caused some nice damage to the Changsha air fields. That was followed by a good artillery bombardment so things are somewhat back to normal. AuTiger is keeping his big CAP over Chungking for now, which is okay because it allows me to attack other targets while resting the bulk of my forces. I should be in a position to bring a strong Zero Daitai that is full of aces back to China in a turn or so and I intend to try my luck against some of the outer Chinese bases.
BTW – AuTiger had moved a Chinese infantry unit to the hex that is SW of Changsha to challenge the units that I had there, but I had too much for him and my units easily kicked his unit out of the hex. In the meanwhile my main forces at Changsha continue to recover strength and slowly get reinforced.
AuTiger's main air operations this turn were out of NE Australia where one B-17 unit flew against Port Moresby and another, equipped with B-17Cs flew against Rossel Island. My A6M3s at PM accounted for themselves quite nicely and AuTiger ended up losing 4 B-17s and having another 15 damaged out of the 30 that attacked, while I only lost one A6M3. The bomb attack caused some airfield damage but that will be easily repaired. I have no idea why AuTiger sent the B-17Cs against Rossel, but if he wants to accumulate operational losses I'm not going to get in his way.
For whatever reason, the Allied air units at Noumea were quiet again this turn and the Air Balance was actually down a bit. (I guess that AuTiger sent some of his B-17s back to Australia.) So my less damaged ships started to get back to port at Lunga, and the more damaged ships got further out of range of any LBA at Noumea. At the same time my additional invasion TFs got further into the New Hebrides under the cover of rain. I'm hoping to grab Efate and the remaining "dot" islands in the group before AuTiger realizes what I am doing.
In other news, the air base at Paramushiro Jima finally reached level 2 so I can finally base torpedo and dive bombers there. The first few of my returning combat units have now reached Tokyo and more are on the way. The KB is also slowly cruising to the north. And the surface combat TF that had its mission against Dutch Harbor aborted is also almost back to port at PJ, so I am slowly getting into position to start some serious "mischief" in the region. June ought to be interesting.
BTW – the Yamato finally showed up, so I will give its crew some practice in Northern waters soon.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Rain falling, bombs falling
May 20, 1942 – This was a fairly quiet turn again as rain hampered many air operations. There were also no reports of action or enemy contact during the night phase.
Despite the rain there were some air attacks. Thus, while rain stopped most air operations in China my second-string air units made another nice raid on Changsha again. And there was a fairly intense air battle between second-stringers over Soerabaja. The follow-up artillery attack caused a good-sized number of casualties. BTW – I ought to be in a position to attempt my first Deliberate attack on Soerabaja the turn after next.
The weather did clear up in the South Pacific so AuTiger was able to send B-17Es against Port Moresby and B-17Cs against Rossel Island again. My A6M3s continue to hold their own in the air over PM, but enough B-17s continue to get through to destroy more on the ground than are lost in the air. I may have to move my planes back and revert to LR CAP again.
And AuTiger's 4E and 2E bombers flew out of Noumea this turn and hit my transport TFs in the New Hebrides. Enough of my troops got ashore so that they ought to be able to capture Banks Island and more importantly, Efate, but it has turned into a costly operation. However, checking regional Allied Air Balances, it appears that AuTiger has stripped his combat planes from the Canton Island to Suva region; therefore I am sending in some combat ships and invasion TFs to see if I can grab a few more empty bases.
In the meanwhile, the movement of forces to the Home Islands continues nicely. I should be in position to do a nice, massive and simultaneous attack on the Aleutians by mid-to-late June that ought to have AuTiger scrambling a bit.
Despite the rain there were some air attacks. Thus, while rain stopped most air operations in China my second-string air units made another nice raid on Changsha again. And there was a fairly intense air battle between second-stringers over Soerabaja. The follow-up artillery attack caused a good-sized number of casualties. BTW – I ought to be in a position to attempt my first Deliberate attack on Soerabaja the turn after next.
The weather did clear up in the South Pacific so AuTiger was able to send B-17Es against Port Moresby and B-17Cs against Rossel Island again. My A6M3s continue to hold their own in the air over PM, but enough B-17s continue to get through to destroy more on the ground than are lost in the air. I may have to move my planes back and revert to LR CAP again.
And AuTiger's 4E and 2E bombers flew out of Noumea this turn and hit my transport TFs in the New Hebrides. Enough of my troops got ashore so that they ought to be able to capture Banks Island and more importantly, Efate, but it has turned into a costly operation. However, checking regional Allied Air Balances, it appears that AuTiger has stripped his combat planes from the Canton Island to Suva region; therefore I am sending in some combat ships and invasion TFs to see if I can grab a few more empty bases.
In the meanwhile, the movement of forces to the Home Islands continues nicely. I should be in position to do a nice, massive and simultaneous attack on the Aleutians by mid-to-late June that ought to have AuTiger scrambling a bit.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Bombs falling, more rain needed
May 21, 1942 – The power of the US 4E bombers was demonstrated again in China this turn as AuTiger sent his "big boys" against Nanchang and hammered my airfields and the planes on them. Unfortunately, the 4Es got the "jump" on my bombers and caught them before they could take off. (I'm never sure why that happens sometimes and not other times – maybe it is local weather effects.) So I moved my remaining planes out of Nanchang to various backwaters bases for repair.
I also moved my other planes in China – pulling those in Canton out to other bases and moving fresh planes into different bases. I brought my one good Zero Daitai back to a frontline base and I will attempt to strike at Homan next turn in the hopes of catching some second-line Allied fighters. This cat-and-mouse approach to air combat is frustrating because I would prefer to be able to set up a consistent campaign, but I can't do that while the 4Es remain effectively invulnerable to my fighters.
So I am rather belatedly going to attempt to open up a "Second Air Front" in Asia – this time in Burma/India. I am moving most of my Betty/Nell units to the region along with my other reasonably good Zero Daitais. Right now it appears that AuTiger has stripped the region of good combat planes and only left British 2E bombers along with transport planes around. I'll test out my theory this turn with some Sally attacks to see if I can catch any planes on the ground. If AuTiger brings his 4Es and Hurricanes back to India I will send my Betty/Nell units to China. If he leaves his good units in China I will attempt to damage some of the air bases in India.
The big problem with this plan is that AuTiger has much bigger and better air bases in the region than I have. I expect that I will end up losing a lot of planes in this attempt, but it is better than just sitting back and being bombed into oblivion. And in the end if I can gain a bit more of a breather in China that will allow me to bring up more units to attack Changsha it will be worth the trouble. BTW – today's artillery attack on Changsha was okay, considering that there wasn't an aerial bombardment to soften up the defenders.
In the other main air battle AuTiger continues to put unbelievable numbers of Dutch and British second-line planes into the air over Soerabaja. My incoming attacks take care of them, but I keep on being bled little-by-little. Something has to be very wrong with the game model here to allow a totally isolated base to continue to function for so many weeks under siege. In any event, my artillery attack went off well again and the rest of my main force arrived, so I ordered everyone to do a deliberate attack next turn. Either I should get some reasonable results, or else something very unreasonable will happen – this game tends to give very quantized results.
Elsewhere, my remaining forces in the New Hebrides captured Banks Island and Efate. I will now attempt to land a base force at Efate and to extract that NLF from Banks, but since I don't have any Fast Transport TFs in the region I am totally at the mercy of the weather.
I also moved my other planes in China – pulling those in Canton out to other bases and moving fresh planes into different bases. I brought my one good Zero Daitai back to a frontline base and I will attempt to strike at Homan next turn in the hopes of catching some second-line Allied fighters. This cat-and-mouse approach to air combat is frustrating because I would prefer to be able to set up a consistent campaign, but I can't do that while the 4Es remain effectively invulnerable to my fighters.
So I am rather belatedly going to attempt to open up a "Second Air Front" in Asia – this time in Burma/India. I am moving most of my Betty/Nell units to the region along with my other reasonably good Zero Daitais. Right now it appears that AuTiger has stripped the region of good combat planes and only left British 2E bombers along with transport planes around. I'll test out my theory this turn with some Sally attacks to see if I can catch any planes on the ground. If AuTiger brings his 4Es and Hurricanes back to India I will send my Betty/Nell units to China. If he leaves his good units in China I will attempt to damage some of the air bases in India.
The big problem with this plan is that AuTiger has much bigger and better air bases in the region than I have. I expect that I will end up losing a lot of planes in this attempt, but it is better than just sitting back and being bombed into oblivion. And in the end if I can gain a bit more of a breather in China that will allow me to bring up more units to attack Changsha it will be worth the trouble. BTW – today's artillery attack on Changsha was okay, considering that there wasn't an aerial bombardment to soften up the defenders.
In the other main air battle AuTiger continues to put unbelievable numbers of Dutch and British second-line planes into the air over Soerabaja. My incoming attacks take care of them, but I keep on being bled little-by-little. Something has to be very wrong with the game model here to allow a totally isolated base to continue to function for so many weeks under siege. In any event, my artillery attack went off well again and the rest of my main force arrived, so I ordered everyone to do a deliberate attack next turn. Either I should get some reasonable results, or else something very unreasonable will happen – this game tends to give very quantized results.
Elsewhere, my remaining forces in the New Hebrides captured Banks Island and Efate. I will now attempt to land a base force at Efate and to extract that NLF from Banks, but since I don't have any Fast Transport TFs in the region I am totally at the mercy of the weather.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
The Mummy Walks...
May 22, 1942 – Weather was the big news again this turn as rain and storms covered most of the map. That's alright by me because I'm resting up a lot of my forces and also it means that it is harder for AuTiger to get his 4Es into the air. Never-the-less, some of my air units did fly.
First off, my Zero sweep of Homan went off, but to my surprise there was no CAP present. So those 15 or so fighters that my Intel and Recon report at Homan must be sitting out the weather or are flying LR CAP over somewhere else. In any event I pulled my Zeros back to rest them up and to repair the 5 planes that received operational damage during the flight. I also shuffled other planes all over China so that AuTiger gets yet another different view of where I have air units. A few other small bomber flights flew in China and caused some nuisance damage to various air fields. As this "shell game" continues I also moved more good unit closer to the Front, although deliberately not quite there yet.
My attack on the airfields at Myitkyina was almost equally futile because only a few bombers flew out of Mandalay. Those that did fly hit the airfields lightly and destroyed a few C-47s on the ground. I'm betting that it takes more than one turn for AuTiger to move CAP and bombers back to India, so I shifted out the bombers that flew this turn (they also took a fair amount of operational and flak damage) and flew in fresh Sallys and some fresh Zeros. We'll see if I get away with this or if the "Wrath of God" falls upon Mandalay next turn.
In Soerabaja even more Dutch and British second-line planes got into the air this turn, but since I had more of my own second-line fighters and bombers in place the Allied planes were all shot down or destroyed on the ground. However, although my bombers continued to pound the airfields at Soerabaja and caused plenty of damage, the airfields still aren't closed. I suspect that I would need to "borrow" the US 4Es to be able to close the airfields properly. ("Stop feeding tana leaves to the Mummy!")
The first Deliberate Attack on Soerabaja followed and it went reasonably well. My troops achieved a 3:1 attack ratio and lowered the fortifications from 9 to 8. What was particularly encouraging was that there were almost twice as many Allied casualties as Japanese casualties and the fatigue and disruption levels of my troops didn't go up. So I ordered my troops to continue with another deliberate attack next turn. Also, my "extra" division at Malang received its full allotment of supplies from some transport ships so I ordered it to join the rest at Soerabaja. Unless something very strange happens I ought to finally capture Soerabaja within another week.
Elsewhere my land efforts didn't go so well, as once again my troops east of Lashio along the Burma Road attempted another Deliberate Attack and received a 1:1 result, but suffered many more casualties than their Chinese opponent. So I've reset them to do artillery bombardments until the other troops that are crawling through the jungle finally make it to the contested location.
Actually, I would have to say that today's artillery attack on Changsha went reasonably well when you consider that there wasn't a preliminary air attack. My troops keep on building up at Changsha and I have several more divisions that should get there within a couple more weeks. It will still probably be nearly impossible to take the base, but I will continue to try anyway – if I don't AuTiger is sure to move his forces forward to harass me.
I've come to a decision on what to do about additional troops in China. Instead of sending my main combat troops from Java to China after taking Soerabaja I will start to send my secondary "Guard" units to the Chinese port bases where I have been keeping otherwise good Chinese Army combat units as garrison troops. This way I can increase my pressure on the Chinese Front while keeping the Chinese ports under control. So as part of this I loaded up all the remaining non-air-capable small units that were in Tjilitjap and sent them along to Singapore. I'll let them rest up a bit there and then send them along to selected port bases in China.
At the same time I collected all of my air-capable units from their various locations and they are now on their way to Tokyo to stage along with all of the other units that are getting ready for June's Operation "Kita-e". It will be interesting to see how AuTiger responds to a massive multi-base blitzkrieg in the Aleutians. This won't be a feint like my ill-fated Indian adventure.
BTW – it looks like AuTiger is getting serious about defending northern Australia – my recon planes are reporting more and more fighters and now bombers in the northern Oz bases. I'll have to continue to keep him edgy in that region for the next little while. But at the same time I have come up with a very interesting (at least to me) idea for an operation that will utilize the veterans of the Java campaign very well, and going against the defences of Northern Oz isn't part of it. [:D]
First off, my Zero sweep of Homan went off, but to my surprise there was no CAP present. So those 15 or so fighters that my Intel and Recon report at Homan must be sitting out the weather or are flying LR CAP over somewhere else. In any event I pulled my Zeros back to rest them up and to repair the 5 planes that received operational damage during the flight. I also shuffled other planes all over China so that AuTiger gets yet another different view of where I have air units. A few other small bomber flights flew in China and caused some nuisance damage to various air fields. As this "shell game" continues I also moved more good unit closer to the Front, although deliberately not quite there yet.
My attack on the airfields at Myitkyina was almost equally futile because only a few bombers flew out of Mandalay. Those that did fly hit the airfields lightly and destroyed a few C-47s on the ground. I'm betting that it takes more than one turn for AuTiger to move CAP and bombers back to India, so I shifted out the bombers that flew this turn (they also took a fair amount of operational and flak damage) and flew in fresh Sallys and some fresh Zeros. We'll see if I get away with this or if the "Wrath of God" falls upon Mandalay next turn.
In Soerabaja even more Dutch and British second-line planes got into the air this turn, but since I had more of my own second-line fighters and bombers in place the Allied planes were all shot down or destroyed on the ground. However, although my bombers continued to pound the airfields at Soerabaja and caused plenty of damage, the airfields still aren't closed. I suspect that I would need to "borrow" the US 4Es to be able to close the airfields properly. ("Stop feeding tana leaves to the Mummy!")
The first Deliberate Attack on Soerabaja followed and it went reasonably well. My troops achieved a 3:1 attack ratio and lowered the fortifications from 9 to 8. What was particularly encouraging was that there were almost twice as many Allied casualties as Japanese casualties and the fatigue and disruption levels of my troops didn't go up. So I ordered my troops to continue with another deliberate attack next turn. Also, my "extra" division at Malang received its full allotment of supplies from some transport ships so I ordered it to join the rest at Soerabaja. Unless something very strange happens I ought to finally capture Soerabaja within another week.
Elsewhere my land efforts didn't go so well, as once again my troops east of Lashio along the Burma Road attempted another Deliberate Attack and received a 1:1 result, but suffered many more casualties than their Chinese opponent. So I've reset them to do artillery bombardments until the other troops that are crawling through the jungle finally make it to the contested location.
Actually, I would have to say that today's artillery attack on Changsha went reasonably well when you consider that there wasn't a preliminary air attack. My troops keep on building up at Changsha and I have several more divisions that should get there within a couple more weeks. It will still probably be nearly impossible to take the base, but I will continue to try anyway – if I don't AuTiger is sure to move his forces forward to harass me.
I've come to a decision on what to do about additional troops in China. Instead of sending my main combat troops from Java to China after taking Soerabaja I will start to send my secondary "Guard" units to the Chinese port bases where I have been keeping otherwise good Chinese Army combat units as garrison troops. This way I can increase my pressure on the Chinese Front while keeping the Chinese ports under control. So as part of this I loaded up all the remaining non-air-capable small units that were in Tjilitjap and sent them along to Singapore. I'll let them rest up a bit there and then send them along to selected port bases in China.
At the same time I collected all of my air-capable units from their various locations and they are now on their way to Tokyo to stage along with all of the other units that are getting ready for June's Operation "Kita-e". It will be interesting to see how AuTiger responds to a massive multi-base blitzkrieg in the Aleutians. This won't be a feint like my ill-fated Indian adventure.
BTW – it looks like AuTiger is getting serious about defending northern Australia – my recon planes are reporting more and more fighters and now bombers in the northern Oz bases. I'll have to continue to keep him edgy in that region for the next little while. But at the same time I have come up with a very interesting (at least to me) idea for an operation that will utilize the veterans of the Java campaign very well, and going against the defences of Northern Oz isn't part of it. [:D]
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Java is Mine!!!
May 23, 1942 - The very, VERY Big News this turn is that Soerabaja fell! Not only did it fall, but the defense totally collapsed - the fortifications were reduced by 1 to level 7, and then my forces achieved a 9:1 combat result. What was even more astonishing to me, and very, very helpful, was that there was NO damage to the oil or resource production. And the air fields and port are in perfect condition too. To add to the fun, there is a lot of fuel and a good amount of supplies, resources and oil in stock. This is definitely the best break that I've had in a long, long time in this game! 
And all this happened without the division at Malang actually reaching Soerabaja! So I am now resting up my troops in Soerabaja since it is a non-malarial base and I will build up the fortification to level 1, and then build up the port from its current level 8 to level 9. I may very well build up the airfields too because I expect that AuTiger will start to send B-24s from Northern Australia against my resources and oil and I want to be able to keep plenty of Army fighters on CAP to wear down the 4Es.
I have set all of my planes in the region to "naval attack" in the hopes of hitting a few of the many Allied subs that are in the region, particularly those that were removing troops from Soerabaja. (My forces even caught and destroyed an Allied sub in port in Soerabaja.) As my air units rest up I will start to move my air support units to Soerabaja. I will leave a base force in Tjilitjap because that is my one good port on the west side of Java, and I have a base force and a construction engineering unit in Batavia that are still struggling to try to fix all the damage there. In contrast to Soerabaja, when I captured Batavia the airfields and port were maxed-out with damage as were the oil and resource facilities. There is still some damage to the port and both the oil and resource facilities are still 99% damaged. I may move my combat engineering regiments to Batavia to give a hand in the reconstruction.
Okay, what else happened this turn? Well, before the capture of Soerabaja there was another big air battle over the base with the Dutch and British fighting viciously but hopelessly. It was very gratifying to see the remaining Allied air units get destroyed on the ground during the capture of Soerabaja! [&o]
Also in the DEI, one of the Dutch straggler LCUs from Balikpapan finally reached the base to the east of Balikpapan, after having been stuck in the jungle to the west for weeks and weeks. I have been using those isolated units for target practice for my bombers, but for whatever reason they haven't been fading away. I don't currently have any units in that base to the east of Balikpapan, but I do have some combat units already on board a TF that has left Java, so I redirected them to go to that base. If I am lucky the Dutch unit that just got there is a base force and won't be able to capture the base. If AuTiger is lucky it is a combat unit and he will temporarily re-capture that base, but there is nothing there but some supplies, so I don't really care. In any event, I'll bring more of my bombers and fighters out of Java and let them get practice on those remaining Dutch troops.
In China AuTiger got his 4Es to fly this turn, with some B-17s hitting the resources at Nanchang (for whatever reason) and more B-17s along with B-24s hitting the airfields at Wuhan. My "shell game" worked this turn and the only planes in Wuhan were some recon planes. Some of my Sonias hit the undefended airfields at Ichang nicely, and then I pulled those Sonias back for R&O.
This turn I have brought a number of air units back into position to hit Changsha again from multiple locations. I have also moved in some Zeros to Canton to add some escort firepower. My artillery attack at Changsha did okay again this turn considering that there wasn't a preliminary air bombardment, but I want to cause more damage next turn.
BTW - AuTiger is once again using his "Rebel" tactics and has moved multiple units out of Ichang to the southwest where they threaten my communication lines and Wuhan. But I have a number of big, strong and well rested divisions just down the railroad from Wuhan and I should be able to quell this threat easily. I've also ordered a unit to approach Ichang from the eastern road again, just to remind AuTiger that two can play at the flanking game.
The fact that the 4Es flew in China was good news for my efforts in Burma, because my air attack on Myitkyina from Mandalay went off well and more Allied transport planes were destroyed on the ground. The flak at Myitkyina is pretty strong, and about half of my Sallys were damaged in the raid, so I set them all to "rest" and shipped them back to Bangkok on the railroad. I also moved out my small Zero unit that flew escort and left only a recon unit in Mandalay.
(I'm still wondering why AuTiger has been leaving LOTS of transports on the ground in Myitkyina. I suspect that he is flying forces out of the base into China in order to support his defenses there. I ought to test the defenses at Myitkyina again, just in case. [;)] )
Even without any ground attacks or air attacks from Mandalay, Myitkyina isn't getting off easy next turn, because I moved a Betty unit and a Nell unit into Rangoon, along with a good Zero Daitai and they are all set to attack the airfields at Myitkyina again next turn. I am also moving more base forces into the region so AuTiger will be faced with the same sort of "whack a mole" choices that he faces in China.
So, will AuTiger leave his 4Es and Hurricanes in China? Will he move them back to India? Will he split them and try to defend both? Stay tuned.
Oh, BTW - I saw something in Burma this turn for the first time in a long, long time - some Blenheim IFs flew at night against Mandalay. As usual, those rather "iffy" fighter-bombers did nothing other than to catch plenty of flak.
That reminds me, speaking of plenty of flak; I am currently moving all of the AA units out of Manchuria and into various Chinese bases. Sure, AA units don't do a long against air raids, but every little bit helps.
Elsewhere, things are still very quiet in the South Pacific and my forces continue to advance without interference. I wonder if AuTiger has moved his main US forces up to Alaska and is planning a sneak attack on Japan? That will be quite funny if he does, particularly as my own forces continue their build-up in the Home Islands.
It also appears that AuTiger has some "holes" in his defenses in Northern Australia. I'll have to do more scouting and make him a bit more nervous in that region. [;)]
And all this happened without the division at Malang actually reaching Soerabaja! So I am now resting up my troops in Soerabaja since it is a non-malarial base and I will build up the fortification to level 1, and then build up the port from its current level 8 to level 9. I may very well build up the airfields too because I expect that AuTiger will start to send B-24s from Northern Australia against my resources and oil and I want to be able to keep plenty of Army fighters on CAP to wear down the 4Es.
I have set all of my planes in the region to "naval attack" in the hopes of hitting a few of the many Allied subs that are in the region, particularly those that were removing troops from Soerabaja. (My forces even caught and destroyed an Allied sub in port in Soerabaja.) As my air units rest up I will start to move my air support units to Soerabaja. I will leave a base force in Tjilitjap because that is my one good port on the west side of Java, and I have a base force and a construction engineering unit in Batavia that are still struggling to try to fix all the damage there. In contrast to Soerabaja, when I captured Batavia the airfields and port were maxed-out with damage as were the oil and resource facilities. There is still some damage to the port and both the oil and resource facilities are still 99% damaged. I may move my combat engineering regiments to Batavia to give a hand in the reconstruction.
Okay, what else happened this turn? Well, before the capture of Soerabaja there was another big air battle over the base with the Dutch and British fighting viciously but hopelessly. It was very gratifying to see the remaining Allied air units get destroyed on the ground during the capture of Soerabaja! [&o]
Also in the DEI, one of the Dutch straggler LCUs from Balikpapan finally reached the base to the east of Balikpapan, after having been stuck in the jungle to the west for weeks and weeks. I have been using those isolated units for target practice for my bombers, but for whatever reason they haven't been fading away. I don't currently have any units in that base to the east of Balikpapan, but I do have some combat units already on board a TF that has left Java, so I redirected them to go to that base. If I am lucky the Dutch unit that just got there is a base force and won't be able to capture the base. If AuTiger is lucky it is a combat unit and he will temporarily re-capture that base, but there is nothing there but some supplies, so I don't really care. In any event, I'll bring more of my bombers and fighters out of Java and let them get practice on those remaining Dutch troops.
In China AuTiger got his 4Es to fly this turn, with some B-17s hitting the resources at Nanchang (for whatever reason) and more B-17s along with B-24s hitting the airfields at Wuhan. My "shell game" worked this turn and the only planes in Wuhan were some recon planes. Some of my Sonias hit the undefended airfields at Ichang nicely, and then I pulled those Sonias back for R&O.
This turn I have brought a number of air units back into position to hit Changsha again from multiple locations. I have also moved in some Zeros to Canton to add some escort firepower. My artillery attack at Changsha did okay again this turn considering that there wasn't a preliminary air bombardment, but I want to cause more damage next turn.
BTW - AuTiger is once again using his "Rebel" tactics and has moved multiple units out of Ichang to the southwest where they threaten my communication lines and Wuhan. But I have a number of big, strong and well rested divisions just down the railroad from Wuhan and I should be able to quell this threat easily. I've also ordered a unit to approach Ichang from the eastern road again, just to remind AuTiger that two can play at the flanking game.
The fact that the 4Es flew in China was good news for my efforts in Burma, because my air attack on Myitkyina from Mandalay went off well and more Allied transport planes were destroyed on the ground. The flak at Myitkyina is pretty strong, and about half of my Sallys were damaged in the raid, so I set them all to "rest" and shipped them back to Bangkok on the railroad. I also moved out my small Zero unit that flew escort and left only a recon unit in Mandalay.
(I'm still wondering why AuTiger has been leaving LOTS of transports on the ground in Myitkyina. I suspect that he is flying forces out of the base into China in order to support his defenses there. I ought to test the defenses at Myitkyina again, just in case. [;)] )
Even without any ground attacks or air attacks from Mandalay, Myitkyina isn't getting off easy next turn, because I moved a Betty unit and a Nell unit into Rangoon, along with a good Zero Daitai and they are all set to attack the airfields at Myitkyina again next turn. I am also moving more base forces into the region so AuTiger will be faced with the same sort of "whack a mole" choices that he faces in China.
So, will AuTiger leave his 4Es and Hurricanes in China? Will he move them back to India? Will he split them and try to defend both? Stay tuned.
Oh, BTW - I saw something in Burma this turn for the first time in a long, long time - some Blenheim IFs flew at night against Mandalay. As usual, those rather "iffy" fighter-bombers did nothing other than to catch plenty of flak.
That reminds me, speaking of plenty of flak; I am currently moving all of the AA units out of Manchuria and into various Chinese bases. Sure, AA units don't do a long against air raids, but every little bit helps.
Elsewhere, things are still very quiet in the South Pacific and my forces continue to advance without interference. I wonder if AuTiger has moved his main US forces up to Alaska and is planning a sneak attack on Japan? That will be quite funny if he does, particularly as my own forces continue their build-up in the Home Islands.
It also appears that AuTiger has some "holes" in his defenses in Northern Australia. I'll have to do more scouting and make him a bit more nervous in that region. [;)]
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Blen-dumb IFs
May 24, 1942 - This was another relatively quiet turn. Nothing happened in the night phase except for the "Iffers" damaging themselves again. The day turn was also fairly quiet in most regions, probably thanks as usual, to rain.
A couple of my smaller air attacks hit Changsha this turn, with no opposition. They caused some nice damage and helped the subsequent artillery bombardment to do more damage. My main air attacks didn't fly - maybe they will launch next turn. But in any event it was good that the secondary attacks flew because this way it is more difficult for AuTiger to focus on any single air base.
The "shell game" worked in Burma again too. Some Brit 2Es hit the airfields at Mandalay, but "no one was home" except for AA, so the Brits suffered a fair amount of damage for no serious return. As a bonus my naval 2Es took off from Rangoon and hit Myitkyina hard, which will keep AuTiger honest. There was no CAP at Myitkyina but Bettys and Nells ran into a lot of flak, even flying at 15K feet, and the bombers suffered a fair amount of damage.
There were no longer any planes on the ground in Myitkyina, so even though my bombers caused a fair amount of damage to the airfields I'm not bothering to send them back next turn. In fact, I've moved them back to Bangkok for R&O. It appears that AuTiger moved his transports and some fighters to Yunan, so I am scouting that base a bit more next turn and have moved fighters and bombers into position to hit it the turn after next if it appears to be a good target. In any event, if AuTiger moves his good air units back to India there won't be much for him to go after this turn, never-the-less some of the "moles" are still around and looking for opportunities to "pop up" again.
The main Allied air effort this turn was out of Noumea where B-17s hammered more of my transports that were offloading at Efate. I only wish that my Bettys and Nells were as good at bombing Allied ships as the B-17s are at hitting Japanese ships. I have to believe that it has to do with the programmed relative "accuracy" of bomb-carrying bombers such as B-17s compared to nominal torpedo bombers such as Bettys and Nells. I keep on hoping to see similar results from my 2Es that I see from the Japanese AI against me when I'm not playing PBEM, but for now since AuTiger is keeping his ships far away from my air bases anti-shipping is his "playground".
AuTiger's B-17s did miss on one attack and my troops landed at Malakula this turn, so that will be the last "dot" in the New Hebrides that will be taken by me. BTW - I have a small invasion force that is on its way to Wallis Island, so that ought to get AuTiger a bit more interested in the central south Pacific.
AuTiger and I are both now wondering what I will do with the victors of Java. AuTiger is trying to prepare for either India or Northern Australia, so my increased Recon over Oz and my increased bombing of the Indian border bases ought to keep him a bit edgy. Add to that my upcoming "grab" of Wallis Island and he will have a lot to think about.
Interestingly enough, when one of my subs dropped off some mines at Dutch Harbor this turn I found out that AuTiger still has a fair number of ships up there. So he may still be considering some action in the North. I am modifying my plans a bit now to attempt to give him the impression that my upcoming moves to the Aleutians are just "nuisance" base-grabs like I've been doing in the South Pacific. As such I'll first send several NLFs to take the outer most bases and judge his response. But I intend to have most of the Combined Fleet sitting back waiting for that response.
Things ought to be interesting in June 1942.
A couple of my smaller air attacks hit Changsha this turn, with no opposition. They caused some nice damage and helped the subsequent artillery bombardment to do more damage. My main air attacks didn't fly - maybe they will launch next turn. But in any event it was good that the secondary attacks flew because this way it is more difficult for AuTiger to focus on any single air base.
The "shell game" worked in Burma again too. Some Brit 2Es hit the airfields at Mandalay, but "no one was home" except for AA, so the Brits suffered a fair amount of damage for no serious return. As a bonus my naval 2Es took off from Rangoon and hit Myitkyina hard, which will keep AuTiger honest. There was no CAP at Myitkyina but Bettys and Nells ran into a lot of flak, even flying at 15K feet, and the bombers suffered a fair amount of damage.
There were no longer any planes on the ground in Myitkyina, so even though my bombers caused a fair amount of damage to the airfields I'm not bothering to send them back next turn. In fact, I've moved them back to Bangkok for R&O. It appears that AuTiger moved his transports and some fighters to Yunan, so I am scouting that base a bit more next turn and have moved fighters and bombers into position to hit it the turn after next if it appears to be a good target. In any event, if AuTiger moves his good air units back to India there won't be much for him to go after this turn, never-the-less some of the "moles" are still around and looking for opportunities to "pop up" again.
The main Allied air effort this turn was out of Noumea where B-17s hammered more of my transports that were offloading at Efate. I only wish that my Bettys and Nells were as good at bombing Allied ships as the B-17s are at hitting Japanese ships. I have to believe that it has to do with the programmed relative "accuracy" of bomb-carrying bombers such as B-17s compared to nominal torpedo bombers such as Bettys and Nells. I keep on hoping to see similar results from my 2Es that I see from the Japanese AI against me when I'm not playing PBEM, but for now since AuTiger is keeping his ships far away from my air bases anti-shipping is his "playground".
AuTiger's B-17s did miss on one attack and my troops landed at Malakula this turn, so that will be the last "dot" in the New Hebrides that will be taken by me. BTW - I have a small invasion force that is on its way to Wallis Island, so that ought to get AuTiger a bit more interested in the central south Pacific.
AuTiger and I are both now wondering what I will do with the victors of Java. AuTiger is trying to prepare for either India or Northern Australia, so my increased Recon over Oz and my increased bombing of the Indian border bases ought to keep him a bit edgy. Add to that my upcoming "grab" of Wallis Island and he will have a lot to think about.
Interestingly enough, when one of my subs dropped off some mines at Dutch Harbor this turn I found out that AuTiger still has a fair number of ships up there. So he may still be considering some action in the North. I am modifying my plans a bit now to attempt to give him the impression that my upcoming moves to the Aleutians are just "nuisance" base-grabs like I've been doing in the South Pacific. As such I'll first send several NLFs to take the outer most bases and judge his response. But I intend to have most of the Combined Fleet sitting back waiting for that response.
Things ought to be interesting in June 1942.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Database goofiness
May 25, 1942 - We are starting to see an increasing frequency of "bad" database reports. I have a British Squadron Leader in charge of a transport TF, and at the beginning of this turn, when a bunch of Allied MSWs swept Japanese mines at Dutch Harbor, the Game reported "73 Japanese casualties". So we are starting to pay the "price" for having lots of fragments in the game. Unfortunately, AuTiger moved countless numbers of fragments from the Philippines and from the DEI by subs to Australia, as well as creating fragments by the ton in China via air transport, so the poor old WitP Database is having troubles keeping track of what is going on. That's why I work very, very hard not to create fragments if I can avoid it, and to recombine them as soon as I can, but it appears that AuTiger hasn't learned this lesson yet. It's only too bad that the Game Database isn't a bit more robust.
Anyway, Database headaches aside, this was another relatively quiet turn. The Blenheim IFs flew uselessly against Mandalay again at night, and rain cancelled most air missions elsewhere during the day. Only one secondary bombing mission flew against Changsha this turn and found that there is still no CAP over the base. If my main air missions ever fly they ought to do well, considering the amount of rest that they have received.
BTW - my ground attack air missions all flew against the Dutch unit at Samarinda, but oddly enough there were no Dutch casualties. AuTiger also hasn't tried to capture the base even though it is still empty and his unit is a Dutch garrison unit, which ought to have some infantry. I wonder if the unit is a "ghost" unit?
In India, AuTiger moved about half of his good fighters back into Myitkyina, and also his transports, so whatever those transports are doing in that base, it must be very important to AuTiger. No "mole" was scheduled to "pop up" over Myitkyina this turn, so that wear-and-tear on AuTiger's Hurricanes was for naught. I will leave India relatively quiet next turn as I have set a fairly strong air attack for Yenen instead, along with a multi-base attack on Changsha.
My troops keep on getting stronger at Changsha, and in particular, my main combat divisions have been receiving engineering replacements, which is particularly important. The land combat design in the game causes the "first" combat unit on the left of the LCU row at the bottom of the screen to take the brunt of any attacks, and the engineers in that unit suffer the brunt of the engineering losses in any failed attack. Even if other units have plenty of engineers and even if there are multiple combat engineering units in the "stack", if that first unit is depleted in combat engineers then the entire attack is weakened and there is no reduction in the fortification level. The only answer is to either pull back the "first" unit for R&R or to let them all sit around and rebuild engineering strength in situ, which is what I have been doing. I think that this is a very poor design, but it is what we have, so I have to live with it.
Nearby, AuTiger has added yet another unit to the stack that is SW of Ichang. I still don't know where he will cross the river with that stack, but it doesn't really matter. I now have another good division in Wuhan, so in combination with the level 9 fortifications a river crossing against Wuhan ought to result in some very poor results for AuTiger (assuming that the same game mechanics apply to the Allies as have been applying to my Japanese units). It's more likely that AuTiger will attempt to cut my supply lines, but if he does I will simply send units into Ichang and cut his supply lines in turn.
The "big" news in Burma is that the third brigade has finally extricated itself from Akyab, leaving only one in place. So I now have three units making the ridiculously slow trek back to Rangoon. What is good is that the closer they get to Rangoon, the more supplies they receive, and then their progress will average closer to 2 miles per day rather than 1 mile per day (along a road where several hundred thousand troops have traveled over the past 4 months, yet which still hasn't improved a bit due to the very unfortunate ground movement design in the Game).
AuTiger got some more "freebies" this turn as his B-17s from Noumea wiped out some more transports in the New Hebrides. I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck. Never-the-less, my troops did capture Malakula, so the New Hebrides are mine, within the limits of what AuTiger wants to do with his 4Es. I guess that I will be limited to bringing supplies and troops in and out via DD Fast Transport from now on. This has certainly changed my outlook on Noumea - from now on it will be a primary target right from the beginning of any new pbem games.
Anyway, Database headaches aside, this was another relatively quiet turn. The Blenheim IFs flew uselessly against Mandalay again at night, and rain cancelled most air missions elsewhere during the day. Only one secondary bombing mission flew against Changsha this turn and found that there is still no CAP over the base. If my main air missions ever fly they ought to do well, considering the amount of rest that they have received.
BTW - my ground attack air missions all flew against the Dutch unit at Samarinda, but oddly enough there were no Dutch casualties. AuTiger also hasn't tried to capture the base even though it is still empty and his unit is a Dutch garrison unit, which ought to have some infantry. I wonder if the unit is a "ghost" unit?
In India, AuTiger moved about half of his good fighters back into Myitkyina, and also his transports, so whatever those transports are doing in that base, it must be very important to AuTiger. No "mole" was scheduled to "pop up" over Myitkyina this turn, so that wear-and-tear on AuTiger's Hurricanes was for naught. I will leave India relatively quiet next turn as I have set a fairly strong air attack for Yenen instead, along with a multi-base attack on Changsha.
My troops keep on getting stronger at Changsha, and in particular, my main combat divisions have been receiving engineering replacements, which is particularly important. The land combat design in the game causes the "first" combat unit on the left of the LCU row at the bottom of the screen to take the brunt of any attacks, and the engineers in that unit suffer the brunt of the engineering losses in any failed attack. Even if other units have plenty of engineers and even if there are multiple combat engineering units in the "stack", if that first unit is depleted in combat engineers then the entire attack is weakened and there is no reduction in the fortification level. The only answer is to either pull back the "first" unit for R&R or to let them all sit around and rebuild engineering strength in situ, which is what I have been doing. I think that this is a very poor design, but it is what we have, so I have to live with it.
Nearby, AuTiger has added yet another unit to the stack that is SW of Ichang. I still don't know where he will cross the river with that stack, but it doesn't really matter. I now have another good division in Wuhan, so in combination with the level 9 fortifications a river crossing against Wuhan ought to result in some very poor results for AuTiger (assuming that the same game mechanics apply to the Allies as have been applying to my Japanese units). It's more likely that AuTiger will attempt to cut my supply lines, but if he does I will simply send units into Ichang and cut his supply lines in turn.
The "big" news in Burma is that the third brigade has finally extricated itself from Akyab, leaving only one in place. So I now have three units making the ridiculously slow trek back to Rangoon. What is good is that the closer they get to Rangoon, the more supplies they receive, and then their progress will average closer to 2 miles per day rather than 1 mile per day (along a road where several hundred thousand troops have traveled over the past 4 months, yet which still hasn't improved a bit due to the very unfortunate ground movement design in the Game).
AuTiger got some more "freebies" this turn as his B-17s from Noumea wiped out some more transports in the New Hebrides. I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck. Never-the-less, my troops did capture Malakula, so the New Hebrides are mine, within the limits of what AuTiger wants to do with his 4Es. I guess that I will be limited to bringing supplies and troops in and out via DD Fast Transport from now on. This has certainly changed my outlook on Noumea - from now on it will be a primary target right from the beginning of any new pbem games.
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DuckofTindalos
- Posts: 39781
- Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:53 pm
- Location: Denmark
RE: Database goofiness
ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1
I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck.
You have Betties and Nells to do that...
We are all dreams of the Giant Space Butterfly.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Database goofiness
ORIGINAL: Terminus
ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1
I keep on scratching my head trying to figure out what units I have that can totally command a region in a manner similar to the Allied 4Es, but as far as I can tell I am just out-of-luck.
You have Betties and Nells to do that...
In theory, but in practice Bettys and Nells just don't hold up as well against P-40s as B-17s and B-24s do against Zeros...Oh well, I'm hoping that when I get Tojos and Tonys that I can balance things out a bit.
RE: Database goofiness
Dive, in my humble and relatively inexperienced view, Noumea is one of the truly strategic objectives for the Japanese to take, but it needs to be taken early. The Allies have a hard time getting fighters to it, as only the P40B and a few of the really obsolete Brewsters and whatnot have a chance to reach it via flight. The rest have to be shipped in. Additionally, getting adequate engineers to expand the AF and aviation support to Noumea is another difficult thing for the Allies.
All this means that the Japanese have a great opportunity to grab it early (say before Feburary) as there cannot be much effective opposition before then. In my game ( currently at May 23, 1942), the Japanese did wrest Noumea from me. It was a month long battle begainning in early March. In the end though, the Allies could not retain control of the sea and the Japanese got 4 Inf Div, 4 Tk regiments and 2 Enginneering regiments into the fracas against 2 US Inf Div, 1 US Inf Regiment, 1 Inf Aussie Brigade, an Aussie Tk regiment and various support groups, including an HQ. I thought 15K supply would be adequate to keep the Japanese at bay with 200 land based AC on the island. But, I was very wrong. The supply melted away FAST with that many planes operating from the base. Two major reinforcing efforts were made. The first was largely successful and over 14K supplies and fresh fighters got to the island along with some land reinforcements. The second was largely a bloody, costly failure and only a few thousand supplies made it.
After about 5 weeks of heavy fighting and numerous loses on each side, Noumea surrendered and something like 29K Allied troops were captured. The Japanese paid a dear price (Mutsu, Hiei, Chikuma, 2 CL, a dozen DD, a sub and about 8 AP/AK, along with something like 80 naval AC), but they got the island and a rich haul of victory points.
Now, the life line to Aussieland is severly crimped. Not broken, but really quite dangerous and long.
Morale of the story is two fold (at least). As the IJN, taking Noumea very early is advisable, or you are going to have to pay dearly for it. Secondly, if you take it, it is a great way to mess up Allied supply lines to Aussieland and a wonderful spring board to a lot of different high point alternatives like Suva, Auckalnd or Aussie bases.
All this means that the Japanese have a great opportunity to grab it early (say before Feburary) as there cannot be much effective opposition before then. In my game ( currently at May 23, 1942), the Japanese did wrest Noumea from me. It was a month long battle begainning in early March. In the end though, the Allies could not retain control of the sea and the Japanese got 4 Inf Div, 4 Tk regiments and 2 Enginneering regiments into the fracas against 2 US Inf Div, 1 US Inf Regiment, 1 Inf Aussie Brigade, an Aussie Tk regiment and various support groups, including an HQ. I thought 15K supply would be adequate to keep the Japanese at bay with 200 land based AC on the island. But, I was very wrong. The supply melted away FAST with that many planes operating from the base. Two major reinforcing efforts were made. The first was largely successful and over 14K supplies and fresh fighters got to the island along with some land reinforcements. The second was largely a bloody, costly failure and only a few thousand supplies made it.
After about 5 weeks of heavy fighting and numerous loses on each side, Noumea surrendered and something like 29K Allied troops were captured. The Japanese paid a dear price (Mutsu, Hiei, Chikuma, 2 CL, a dozen DD, a sub and about 8 AP/AK, along with something like 80 naval AC), but they got the island and a rich haul of victory points.
Now, the life line to Aussieland is severly crimped. Not broken, but really quite dangerous and long.
Morale of the story is two fold (at least). As the IJN, taking Noumea very early is advisable, or you are going to have to pay dearly for it. Secondly, if you take it, it is a great way to mess up Allied supply lines to Aussieland and a wonderful spring board to a lot of different high point alternatives like Suva, Auckalnd or Aussie bases.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Database goofiness
Morale of the story is two fold (at least). As the IJN, taking Noumea very early is advisable, or you are going to have to pay dearly for it. Secondly, if you take it, it is a great way to mess up Allied supply lines to Aussieland and a wonderful spring board to a lot of different high point alternatives like Suva, Auckalnd or Aussie bases
Princep - Yes, I see that now. It's too bad that I didn't think of that when I made that silly dash into India - those units might have been enough at the time to grab Noumea before it was reinforced.
But I'm trying to be optimistic about the situation - AuTiger has over 50K of troops sitting in Noumea, which means that they aren't causing trouble for me elsewhere, and also with my forward bases I will know if he sends enough ships there to make use of them.
Thanks for the comments! [:)]