RIDERS ON THE STORM-THANK YOU

[skrewball]

I must admit Gen, that this really is an exciting game. Too many times have we seen the historical pace to these AARs. Sure, some people here will point out the "gameiness" to some of the opening moves but it is a game and it's good to see someone doing something different! That being said, just don't let your opponent "whine" you to death. It is a game and you have to take the bad with the good.

You should look at striking fast in the Central and South Pacific. With a majority of his forces in India, it won't be well defended. Once he conquers India, he will relocate his forces to find that you've entrenched yourself. Don't forget to use those Aussie Divisions. You can reinforce Port Moresby and possibly even retake Lunga before he has a chance to entrench.

And one other thing I noticed, he has done a few "suicide" invasions. This can only be guessed to be recon missions. You have a HR about sub invasions for recon, does that cover suicide transport invasions?

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/22/42
 
Thanks guys, i agree with you Jim: my only hope is to exchange space with time and hope for something that can save me!
Skrewball: yes, i'm enjoying this game a lot, despite some problems we had at the beginning. It's a great game, very challenging and interesting. It's gonna be fun....[:D]
 
A very quiet turn today. Nothing happened. Very few air missions flown.
However i'm already moving some 72 (P-40s B and E)fighters and some 80 bombers (B-17s and B-25s)towards China. They will be moved to PI in the next 2 weeks. Soon we'll start to threaten his backlines...let's see if this will force him to move some air assets back from India...let's hope.
At the same time i keep on moving men and things to PH in order to be ready for the Marshalls operation. Let's say in a month i should be ready...i need to hold him in India till that time...
 

[Gen.Hoepner]

Oh, forgot to say that i've lost 2 more subs in the Colombo area. Both were ducth subs...as soon as he places his Vals on naval search my subs are toasted if they're around...now i only have 6 operative subs in Indian area...a very tiny force...the good news is that most of his subs moved back to port...it has become too dangerous for him to patrol the waters from Karachi to Colombo in the last turns due to the massive effort made by RAF in order to hunt those bastards down...

[Gen.Hoepner]

.

[Gen.Hoepner]

And this is the ship-sunk screen...as you can see a part from a BB sunk on turn 1 at Singapore, losses are very similar...both fleets are more or less intact and that's a victory, thus a minor one, for the allies

[cantona2]

Looking forward to Troll's reaction to your PI bombing missions. If at the least he diverts air resources from india, expecially fighters, you may have scored a strategic victory of sorts that may allow your bombers in India to start inflicting damage

[Gen.Hoepner]

Yes Jonathan, he will be forced to divert some fighters for sure, in order to provide some defences for his bases at Formosa...but, above all, if he wants to defend his supply-oil routes from DEI to Japan he will have to close my AFs in the PI...and to close them he needs to bring some hundreds of bombers to Formosa...that will surely make some problems for his bombing campaign in India...

[String]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

Yes Jonathan, he will be forced to divert some fighters for sure, in order to provide some defences for his bases at Formosa...but, above all, if he wants to defend his supply-oil routes from DEI to Japan he will have to close my AFs in the PI...and to close them he needs to bring some hundreds of bombers to Formosa...that will surely make some problems for his bombing campaign in India...

And when he does that it'll be just in time for you to open up a third front [;)]

[mlees]

He might not divert. He may be trying for a really really quick victory, thinking he can knock you out of India before your PI airforce can do any serious damage.
 
His economy can last for a few months without resources and oil shipments, or am I wrong?
 
He turtles up everywhere but India, and goes for the knockout there. Once India is secure, he brings enough firepower back to formosa too subdue PI.
 
It will be interesting to read about, that's for sure.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/24/42

Colombo is going to fall. Tomorrow probably. Today they achieved a 2-1,using 2 full divisions, eng and some Naval infantry units.
His Air force started to pound my undefended units on the southern coast of India. Target is Mannargudi, which is i think the next landing point in India...in order to avoid the CD guns and Madras...
At the same time my units are slowly falling back on the first defensive line (Bombay-Delhi) where i massed and divided my Air force.
Have to play smartly now. the main goal will be to gain time and keep my forces alive...at least untill i can start the two upcoming campaigns in the PI and Marshalls...
My subs in the Bengal Bay are not scoring anymore hits...probably it's time to redeploy them in order to be ready to defend the waters between Aden and Bombay....


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 44th Indian Brigade, at 15,22 (MANNARGUDI)
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 6
Ki-21-II Sally x 184[X(]
 
No Japanese losses
 
 
Allied ground losses:
195 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Colombo
 
Japanese Shock attack
 
Attacking force 46070 troops, 208 guns, 86 vehicles, Assault Value = 1048
 
Defending force 15490 troops, 182 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 121
 
Japanese max assault: 2010 - adjusted assault: 520
 
Allied max defense: 125 - adjusted defense: 255
 
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 5)
 
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3
 
 
Japanese ground losses:
2172 casualties reported
Guns lost 26
Vehicles lost 5
 
Allied ground losses:
684 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
 
 

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: mlees

He might not divert. He may be trying for a really really quick victory, thinking he can knock you out of India before your PI airforce can do any serious damage.

His economy can last for a few months without resources and oil shipments, or am I wrong?

He turtles up everywhere but India, and goes for the knockout there. Once India is secure, he brings enough firepower back to formosa too subdue PI.

It will be interesting to read about, that's for sure.

If he doesn't manage to take Aden he could not move back many units to PI, cause he will need to defend his new gained territories in India...quite a risky tactic imho...

[Gen.Hoepner]

Retreat plan

[Gen.Hoepner]

As you can see my guess is that he will land either at Trivandum or at Mannargudi, because these are the only two bases that aren't provided with 9.2 CD guns. If he lands here i should have the time to move back in order and estabilish myself on safer positions.
The other option is for a double-landing: one in the SW corner (mannargudi or Trivandum) and the second one at Calcutta-DH area. With this option he'd close the door to Burma and at the same time will conquer some important bases. Problem is that he won't have any nearby base in support so for his landings he will have to rely only on his KB, which is still mighty but nonetheless it's always risky to put your KB very close to 4 mutual supporting enemy's AFs.
The third option, the most un-probable, is a fake landing in the south and a major landing, few days after, on the western coast of India. Bombay is well defended and he won't arrive here unseen. Plus there's always the same problem that without any supporting land base in the nearby he will have to rely only on his KB...but if he comes up here i'll move, in support of land based RAF the RN which is stationed at Karachi and his landings may become really really dangerous...
 
So what's your guess? What would you do if you were Trollelite now?

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
So what's your guess? What would you do if you were Trollelite now?

Have you calculated how many divisions he has available? Assuming he has the forces available, were I him, I'd land in force in the south to draw your strength to me, and then I’d do an end run on Bombay or Karachi to isolate India from Aden's supply fleets. Then I'd destroy the Indian forces in detail by isolating them into small pockets.

But this would take a minimum of 6 divisions plus a lot of other troops, 8-10 divisions would be better. Try to imagine 3 divisions attacking Madras, then 3 divisions land at Bombay. Later 3 more land at Karachi, you get the picture.

Jim

[mlees]

Trollelite has already shown a willingness to launch deep thrust offensives, even when outside of LB air.

I rate his chances of doing landings on the west coast of India a little higher than I would your average IJN opponent.

Put a couple high experience Betty groups in Karachi, and they'll sink a crap-ton of stuff coming out of the pipe from Aden. That shipping pipeline makes a nice choke point.

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
So what's your guess? What would you do if you were Trollelite now?

Have you calculated how many divisions he has available? Assuming he has the forces available, were I him, I'd land in force in the south to draw your strength to me, and then I’d do an end run on Bombay or Karachi to isolate India from Aden's supply fleets. Then I'd destroy the Indian forces in detail by isolating them into small pockets.

But this would take a minimum of 6 divisions plus a lot of other troops, 8-10 divisions would be better. Try to imagine 3 divisions attacking Madras, then 3 divisions land at Bombay. Later 3 more land at Karachi, you get the picture.

Jim

Jim, i immagine he has everything he can master in India right now. Let's say 8 divisions. But the picture you have put under my attention isn't that realistic imho. With 3 divisions, for example, he cannot hope to conquer Karachi, defended by 500 AVs, 5 forts, urban hex, lots of bombers and A/Cs plus the RN, counting only on his KB as for aerial support...it will be a suicide! Same goes for Bombay, where 500 AVs are already on position. His only hope, imho, is to conquer Bombay by land, using a HUGE ammount of troops....
Well, i can be wrong, obviously, but i really think that if he goes directly for Bombay or Karachi i would have more chances of inflicting him some serious damages...

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: mlees


Trollelite has already shown a willingness to launch deep thrust offensives, even when outside of LB air.

I rate his chances of doing landings on the west coast of India a little higher than I would your average IJN opponent.

Put a couple high experience Betty groups in Karachi, and they'll sink a crap-ton of stuff coming out of the pipe from Aden. That shipping pipeline makes a nice choke point.

mmm...Karachi is a very risky target...i donot know guys...it really sounds crazy to me to for it directly...consider that the whole RN is there (with 2 CVs, 3 BBs, 10 CA/CLs and some 13 DDs), plus 200 LB planes...then a landing will face a stiff resistance, in a urban hex, with 5 forts, thousands of supplies...maybe i'm too confident,do not know[&:]

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
Well, i can be wrong, obviously,

The strategy I came up with was based on the premise that you first reacted to his southern landings. In other words it's a bait to pull your forces down from Northern India. Your opponent is an adventurous player and I tried to come up with an adventurous plan.

Piling up everything into a death star would work of course, but where's the fun in that.

Jim

Edit: 3 divisions would almost exceed 2,000 AV, combined with a lot of engineers and other troops, they can easily take Karachi, Bombay, etc with only 500AV defending. There would be a siege of course, but it can be done. Remember your units are very low experience, do not count on them standing up like Japanese troops.

[mlees]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

mmm...Karachi is a very risky target...i donot know guys...it really sounds crazy to me to for it directly...consider that the whole RN is there (with 2 CVs, 3 BBs, 10 CA/CLs and some 13 DDs), plus 200 LB planes...then a landing will face a stiff resistance, in a urban hex, with 5 forts, thousands of supplies...maybe i'm too confident,do not know[&:]

It sounds crazy to you. But is it too crazy for him?

He has already departed from the standard mold with an invasion of India in January of '42.

Naval assets aside, he has already faced that kind of opposition in Singapore or Java, right? And he trounced them.

I do not know what his plans are. But don't assume that he won't do something because it is something you wouldn't do.

[Gen.Hoepner]

No Guys, i neither understimate him nor i suppose he won't do something simply because i wouldn't do it.
I'm just sayin' that a direct invasion at Bombay or Karachi would be a total different scenario from what he faced at Singapore, Java or Cylon. In the first two places he had the support of a lot of friendly airfields that could smash my AFs and defend the mighty KB. Plus the air force on which i counted on during these two operations were badly shaped and without any real supplies stock.
At Tricomale, when he landed, he faced only a base force and so he wasn't stopped on the beach, so that he could estabilish early on an operative AF to protect the flow of men and supplies.
While if he goes directly for Bombay or Karachi he will have to use only his KB to protect his landings, while his men will face a stiff resistance and will be surely stopped on the beaches, at least for the first days. This will mean lot of destruption to his units and a deadly risky situation for his Navy.
I can use the RN to threaten his positions and if he doesn't manage to conquer the hex fast, his combined fleet will be in a dangerous position the more every day.
I'm not saying it is not possible. I'm just saying that it will be incredibly risky.