Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[vettim89]

Situation in Burma. If Larry takes Rangoon soon, I will move some Chinese units to Mandalay. Otherwise I am moving units down from Dimapur to reinforce this base. My AV is climbing daily at Rangoon as 14th Indian Division is airlifted in. I am also moving units down from Dacca to reinforce Akyab

[vettim89]

China. Ah, yes. If things go as I hope, Larry is about to lose 93 K of troops including 2 full divisions. It is all dependendt on me getting my troops across the river. If this blocking force gets in, he is toast when I unleash all that AS on him at Changsha

[vettim89]

1 July 1942

Well today was attack everywhere day for the IJA. Here is a synopsis:

* Rangoon - 0 to 1 but Forts fall to 2
* Nanchang/Changsha HWY 0 to1 about 1200 casualties for each side (In error, I had been using Nanking vice Nanchang)
* Saraminda - 5 to 1 all Dutch forces surrender (at least they didn't retreat into the Jungle to become training targets
* Darwin - 0 to 1 and no damage to the Level 7 forts. Larry better hurry here because I will have airlift in range soon to move a Aussie brigade in to help)
Hengchow - IJA troops rush across the Yangtze and are met by 2200 AS of well dug in Chinese. I order a shock attack this turn as disruption has got to be through the roof. Image attached. Hopefully the Japanese will retreat across the river.

My damaged CV's are 1 hex shy of PH and will start their repair tomorrow. SS Soulpin torpedoed a TK near Victoria point. A strong US ASW TF sorties from Pago Pago and sinks I-169 who had been lurking a little too close for my taste

[Feinder]

It's interesting how many similar situations have in your game, compared to my own vs. Bilbow.  I think you've certainly done a better job stopping him cold.  Just keep your head on swivel and don't get careless like I did.  Good job thus far!
 
-F-

[vettim89]

Thanks for the comments and advice Feinder. There are times where I kick my self for not getting more units forward. I would be in so much better shape if I had especially at Rangoon. That said, I was determined not to lose any more than absolutely necessary. Two events have turned this game: the five month long siege of Manila and winning the Battle of the Phoenix Islands. Without thsoe two events, it would be a very different game. Right now, Larry still has the initiative, but I sure he knows his grip on the momentum is fleeting at best. Likewise, I know I cannot afford a mistake right now. SO, I continue to play it conservatively.

3 July 1942

A good day to be Chinese. The warlord in charge on Hengchow decided he didn't like the Japanese presence in his little fiefdom; so he kicked them out. Assualt came off at 9 to 1. The Japanese retreated back across the river and have to be disrupted beyond belief by now. To the NE, my units have made 25 mile worth of progress and their destination hex is empty today. Could just be FOW. Here's hoping.

Chittagong increases its AB to Level 5 today. Liberator III's now operate out of there. All but one of the Mandalay bound units is at Imphal. I will let them rest there for a few days before they start the two hex slog down the path toward their objective.

I placed Enterprise and New Orleans in a TF and they are headed for Seattle. The only unit their right now is BB Oklahoma which sits at SYST 3! Hopefully she will repair those last few units before they other units arrive. Once there, New Orleans will slide over to Victoria where there is a 40 Shipyard. The carrier is my priority right now.

On the sub warfare side, a S-Boat and 2 Dutch coastal subs departed Brrome today to join the blockade around Darwin. SS Trusty set sail yesterday with 0 Syst Damage. SS Truant is soon to follow as her SYST is 3. SS Shark departs Diamond Harbor to take Truant's place at Tric.

CA Houston is fully repaired and Boise sits at 17 SYST. Most of the Dutch CL's are also good to go. What I need are DD's!

I was looking at the ships availability screen to see what was coming soon. CV Wasp arrives in 7 days (Wahoo!) I was amazed though: I put the slide bar at about 25% down the list at it was at 484 days. That means 75% of Allied shipping arrives after the Fall of 1943. So still a long wait but when it starts coming, it will be an avalanche. I only hope this game gets that far

[vettim89]

4-5 July 1942

Slow two turns. No attacks in CBI. Larry is landing engineers and a Tank RGT at Darwin. CD took out 1000 troops as they landed. In addition CD and a S-Boat combined to sink an AK. Noumea expands its airfield to level 5. As soon as the Av RGT arrives, I will transfer my first B-17's to the frontlines. My TF's finally departed Pago Pago for PH - abouta 2 week trip. North of Pago pago, an ASW TF was hunting Japanese subs and the hunter became the hunted as DD Talbot is sunk. I-171 is reported sunk by FOW but she appears to still be there.

[Alfred]

Just a point to check up.  In some of the mods, allied units are able to retreat from Rangoon whereas in other mods, all allied units in Rangoon surrender when the base is captured by the enemy.  I can't recall which one applies in this case.
 
Alfred

[vettim89]

6 July 1942

Ok Alfred, you are scaring me. Rangoon fell today. You have some sort of prophetic gift? The units are trudging their way up the rail line toward Mandalay; so, it appears Big B 1.4 is a retreat mod. I sent two Chinese corps from Lashio to Mandaly to bolster its defense. In addition, an Indian HQ, 18th UK Div, and two artillery rgts departed Imphal today. They will have to travel by trail the the first two hexes of the route so it will take a while. Hopefully, they will arrive in time to make a difference. THe HQ is the unit I want there the most as it will pull supplies. Hm, maybe I should airlift it in instead of making them walk. DOH! Burma is an interesting theatre to me because I know historically it was the one theatre where Japan held the upper hand unitl well into 1944.

Larry's recently landed engineers immediately made a difference as Darwin's forts fell from 7 to 6 in the first attack with them present. I have a Aust ID at Conclury and a Inf BGD and tank RGT at Tenant Creek. Do I rush forward to try to force the situation at Darwin or do I hold my ground. He has two divisons here and five in Burma. That only leaves a reserve of 3 divisions to split between the two theatres. I still hold a lot of bases on Borneo, Sumatra, the Celebes, most of the NEI Island bases plus a good portion of New Guinea. Plus Larry has three major groups attacking in China. He has to be holding some units in reserve because of Larry's cautious nature. At this point he has to know I almost have enough force gathered to start a limited offensive. I am leaning towards a defensive stance in OZ until I get US 32nd ID and a couple of Av Rgts in Oz. That is probably still six weeks away. Perhaps it will be best to let him wander a little deeper into the Outback where he can be isolated and destroyed.

All in all this game has become a lot more interesting in the last few weeks. I have to admit, enduring six months of getting pounded was numbing my enthusiasm. There was a point in April game time where I think I didn't post in this AAR for almost 20 turns. Once I get all my AP's back to PH, I will assess how much lift I have available and go from there. My priorites are in order: get SWPAc units to Oz including A/C, get remaining SoPac units to Noumea and/or Lunganville, get CentPac units to Canton/Baker Island area for a move toward the Gilberts, and move NoPac Units to the Aleutians to firm up defenses there.

[vettim89]

7 July 1942

The Japanese launch a shock attack along the Nanchang-Changsha HWY and force my units back one hex. I was surprised this was pulled off by Larry. You see from the image it cost him though. One unit is across the Yangtze in a blocking position. So for now the Japanese are trapped. I am going to bombard him for a while and let his supplies dwindle.

The area between Pago Pago and Canton Island is flooded with Japanese subs. I counted no fewer than 6 of them. ASW has been pounding them but I have a lot of valuable ships in the area including 3 CV's. Hopefully my patrol A/C and DD's will be able to pick off a few more. I know at least two of Larry's subs have got to be hurting bad: I-10 and I-171.

Darwins forts fell one more level and Larry has been getting 2 to or 3 to 1 on his attacks. I supposed it will just be a matter of time now. Moving units towards Central Oz including an additional BF and two HQ's. Hopefully this will at least help me prevent him from penetrating beyond the north coast.

In Burma, Larry is moving up the RR towards Mandalay. There is a small blocking force at the base between Rangoon and Mandalay whose name eludes me. One chinese corps is halfway to Mandalay but for some reason the second one is a hex behind. My tank regiment made one whole hex on the first day's journey from Imphal to Mandalay. Dakotas are now in Madalay lifting II Indian corps into the base. Liberators and Blenheims hit Rangoon hard and her AB is at 27 damage. I intend to keep the pressure on here to make sure a fort never gets built.

[vettim89]

8-9 July 1942

Larry landed and took Dili on Timor. My remaining Duthch units were heading there. THey will continute to die a glorious death. Larry already has enough training targets. B-25's out of Darwin hit an outbound AP.

Larry sent a SCTF into Akyab to bombard. Unfortunately, the small TF I sent there to deliever fule so I could operate PT's arrived simultaneously. I lost the TK and 3 PG. I definitely need to get some fuel up there for PT ops. I moved a Catalina SQ in to keep an eye out on the Bay of Bengal. Also I am moving my three remaining Dutch ML to Diamond Harbor (Level 9 port). From there they will mine Akyab. Larry will pay the next time he tries that stunt. Larry engaged my retreating units from Rangoon two hexes NNE from ther. Two of the three units hopped up a hex but 14th Indian Division held their ground. My AS at Mandaly is now 513 with an addition 800 two hexes out. Half of Indian III Corps (previously identified as II Corps) has airlifted in. Supplies have jumped about 4000 in one day.


Larry is surrounded ant Changsha and he knows it. A deliberate attack was attempted today with diasterous results for the Japanese. Screenie in follow on post.

[vettim89]

The attack at Changsha. I will continue to hammer him with bombardments and just discovered I have Chinese bombers in range (IL-4c's at Chunking)

[vettim89]

10-11 July 1942

Larry snuck a SCTF into Canton Island and sunk four DD's for no loss. As we have a HR regarding bombardments, I need to prepare for an invasion. The other possibility is that Larry has conveniently forgotten the HR. I won't say anything to him yet as I certainly want to accuse him of anything if he really is going to invade. Nonetheless I have lost 6 DD's in the last two weeks in exchange for two SS. I need to figure a way to reverse this.

There is a TRANS TF 2 hexes west of Rangoon heading west. This may just be a circuitous route back to Singapore or he is heading for Port Blair. I am sortieing the RN just in case.

[vettim89]

14 July 1942

I have lost a few turns as I have been getting ready to take my kids for a long weekend. Going to the State Fair and gonna see the Butter Cow (if you are not from Ohio, you won't get that). Darwin fell two days ago. My troops are retreating to Katherine and Larry is not pursueing at this time. I have a full ID plus a HQ now at Conclury. I have an Inf BGD and a Tank Btn at Tenant Creek. A HQ is several days off but on its way. I have an addition BF going to Alice Springs to increase fort and AB expansions to hopefully get some bombers in there soon. I am moving a tank Btn and AT Rgt up to Tenant Creek also. Larry has four choices right now: 1. Stand pat at Darwin until more units arrive after NEI is cleared out, 2. Move west and clear Wyndham, Derby and Broome, 3. Move south towards Melbourne or 4. Move SE towards the Aussie east Coast and all those AB's. I would be more than happy to accept option 1 for now, can't really do anything about option 2 and am preparing for options 3 and 4.

Larry is aggressively pursueing my units retreating from Rangoon toward Magwe. There is 40 Oil resorce at Magwe. My units are beat up and have little hope of holding Magwe for more than a day once they arrive. I need probably 10 days to get the rest of my defense in place at Mandalay. Larry has not brought any HQ units to either Burma or Oz, shouldn't that really hamper his supply situation soon? One hopes. I set my bombers on Port attack and chewed up a bunch of AK's at Rangoon. I know being in a port they will likely not sink, but some of these units have got to be almost permanently lost. Going through what I went through with Repulse, I know having a damaged ship in a port under air assault is a bad thing. My bombers are going back tomorrow then will stand down as fatigue/morale are getting low.

At Changsha, Larry's AS is slowly failing. Does the AV listed on the combat report for a bombardment attack show real unit status or is the value for bombardment different than the one for Attacks. My attack came off at something like 7700 AS to 1300 for Larry. This is a considerable fall from his max of about 2200 when he arrived. At what point do I start deliberate/shock attacks. The Japanese AS is approaching 50% of full strenght. Should I wait unit it is abysmally low before attacking or will attacking now speed the disruption. Larry has 9 units here including 3 full ID's. Losing all that striking power permanently will likely hurt his offensive capabilty in China for some time

Elsewhere, my CV's are hovering near Canton Island in case an invasion is forthcoming. I have a modest AS of about 150 behind level five forts (almost level six) The airfield is almost to level four and I plan to rush more Av support in along with F4F's and SBD's from PH. Larry has only about a week to pull this invasion off if he is indeed coming. If he isn't coming then he is going to get an earful. I tolerated the Akyab bombardment because it is within 360 nm of Rangoon. Canton island is almost 2000 nm from Larry's nearest base. If that was a "drive by" bombardment, I am not a happy camper. Many of our AGREED UPON HR's limited me early in the war as far as defense go and Larry benefitted. Now that the situation is approaching parity, it would really bother me to see him start "drive by's" because he feels it is his best weapon.

My AP's should be in PH in 2 days. From there they will redistribute to the 5:1 AP:AK ratio so nicely detailed in the War Room transport post. I will have a lot of units to work with and think I can accomplish at least two of my goals simulataneously. Those being getting SWPac units to OZ and SoPac units to NC/New Hibrides. Then I move Centpac units forward to Canton/Baker Islands to prepare for assulting the Gilberts in September.

[vettim89]

18 July 1942

Well back from vacation and Larry and I am churning out turns again.

The UK CV force intercepted a SCTF off Port Blair and has confirmed kills on CA Aoba and Maya. To my surprise, this force is not yet withdrawing. I think the Japanese units in the Burma Jungle have indeed run out of supply as they pursuit of my units has ceased. I have a lot of severely disrupted units at Magwe with an AS of 73 behind level 2 forts. So this is barely a blocking force. Mandalay has 500+ behind almost level 7 forts. ANother 800+ SA is just two hexes away.

In China, Larry forced the Nanchang-Chansha Road back open and can now get supplies into his troop. I am trying another encircling move to the hex just west of Nanchang which only has one unit in it.

AP/AK's are loading up and outbound to OZ. I have 32nd ID, an Av RGT, two BF, and three engineers as well as 9 A/C groups of various sizes and types. Should have a lot more offensive capability in Oz within the month. I am sending a small TF to Aukland to pick up the one Kiwi BGD now released to SoPac.

[Capt. Harlock]

The UK CV force intercepted a SCTF off Port Blair and has confirmed kills on CA Aoba and Maya. To my surprise, this force is not yet withdrawing.

Nice work! Perhaps Larry is assuming you've shot your bolt, since so many Albacores were damaged. How many more ships are there in the Japanese TF?

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Nice work! Perhaps Larry is assuming you've shot your bolt, since so many Albacores were damaged. How many more ships are there in the Japanese TF?

Gave me a ship count of six after Aoba and Maya went down, but with FOW on who really knows. Unfortunately they slipped away in the night back east towards Rangoon. Cursor intel showed the TF with AP's in it, but again FOW. If it really did have AP's then I may have thwarted an invasion of Port Blair. Larry is still stinging from this one as he has mentioned it in both of the e-mails with the follow on turns. I think it may be time to pull the UK fleet back towards Ceylon as I have not seen the Japanese carriers in a month. I am assuming they are refitting probably at Singapore. I don't want to lose my Brit CV's to a KB retalitory raid

[vettim89]

19 July 1942

A very slow turn. Larry is undergoing intensive training ops in NEI and Phillipines. Every time I move a unit into an occupied base to die, they retreat instead of surrendering - damn plucky Dutch and Filipinos. I wish there was a way to just convert them to commandos and let them run amok. Maybe in WiTP II.

No action at all in Burma. ML are departing Akyab after depositing their second load of mines there. If Larry tries another bombardment run, he won't find the waters so accomadating this time. My units between Imphal and Mandalay are all in the 35 to 40 nm distance traveled range; so hopefully they will break out of the jungle into the hex with the RR and be in Mandalay in 7 to 10 days. An Indian Div (18th I think should arrive at Akyab in the next day or two. Forts are rising there nicely and considering how long it would take the Japanese to slog through the jungle, I am sure they will be at level 9 before any Japanese units arrive. At Mandalay, forts are now 7 and growing. I moved three Hurricane squadrons in to be a backstop against any renewed air offensive. Included in this group is the elite 605 Squadron with avg exp 80. I have 78 Av Support at Mandaly so I could support a couple of more squadrons if necessary, but I think from my experience at Rangoon, it is best to rotate them in and out as fatigue builds and morale degrades. I think 48 fresh fighters is better than 72 half fatigued ones. Hurricanes are also present at Akyab.

China is just a quagmire. There are over a half a million troops total for both sides in the Nanchang-Changsha corridor. Kweilen upgraded to level 4 AB today and I am basing Chinese bombers out of there now. Now its just a stalemate. At Changsha, I have 7700 AS vs 1367 for Larry but I know I can't budge him.

No movement in the Darwin area. Japanese units must be resting and refitting after the prolonged siege.

Only action at sea was I-121 hitting an AK in the hex directly south of Colombo. ASW forces are swarming to meet this threat.

[vettim89]

20-21 July 1942

What a horrible couple of turns. First on the 20th, a wayward tanker TF strayed too close to Tarawa and I lost 5 out of 6 tankers. This TF was homeported at LA and had delivered fuel to Brisbane. I failed to notice it was on the return trip and thus needed routed to Pago Pago and then to WC. Then on the 21st Larry sneaked a SCTF into Pago Pago and killed 2 DD's, 6 AK, and 3 more TK. This is the second time in the last 10 days that he has been able to sneak a TF completely undetected into one of my forward bases. There are dozens of PBY's in the area on NavSearch; I don't understand how he is able to do this. I did send a note to Larry telling him I am amazed he is planning simultaneous invasions of Akyab, Canton Island, and Pago Pago within the next 14 days. Hope he gets the subtle hint to review the HR's. I have US CV's lurking near Canton Island but unfortunately they do not have the fuel to sprint west to try to intercept Larry's SCTF retiring towards Kwajalein. It may be a trap anyway.

CV Wasp will leave the Panama Canal Shipping Channel on the next turn bound for PH. On the good news front: CV Enterprise is down to 29 Syst, CV Hornet is down to 17 Syst, and CL Boise turns green and is down to 10 Syst. Looking at my ships screen I only have the 4 PH BB's, the two US CV's, CA Cornwall, and 3 Dutch DD's in red or orange as far as damage goes. That is not counting various merchants and other small craft nor all the dinged up subs. Of the ships damaged in the PH attacks, CA San Fransisco and BB Oklahoma are fully repaired. Two of the remaining BB's are around 27 Syst and the other two are around 55 syst. I have 6 fully repaired old BB's at SF; perhaps it is time to move them forward.

[Q-Ball]

vettim89, good AAR, I am enjoying it!  I much prefer non-Combat TXT AARs. 

You are in excellent shape, BTW.  Your opponent has moved too slowly, and made the mistake of splitting KB.  That's OK the first couple months, when the US CVs are not at full strength and equipped with TBDs and F2As, but asking for trouble later on.  I haven't seen a screen shot of the Solomons, but IIRC you still hold PM, which will allow you to really attrite his airpower. 

[vettim89]

22-23 July 1942

Q-Ball: no screenies of Solomons because the Japanese have not advanced beyond Shortlands. I have been pondering this theatre as a possible avenue for offensive operations. That said, I am still leaning towards a two prong approach through the Gilberts and Nauru Island which is still Allied held. I have to contemplate this over the next week or so of RL time. Larry and I are doing 15 to 18 turns a week, so that puts me in early August 1942. I know historically I should be in offensive mode but my early war caution about no moving units to far flung bases only to be overwhelmed has me behind. So many Japanese players would hold Noumea, Samoa, and Fiji by now. I hold all of those and have not been threatened yet. I don't think Larry is a bad player but where I think he does fall short is in the "Plan B" department. If he suffers a set back, he doesn't react well.

After numerous e-mails back and forth regarding what is now affectionately known as HR #14, Larry has agreed to cease the "drive-by" bombardments. He also told me that he has one more in bound for Pago Pago and chooses to not withdraw. Well two turns ago I sent the three ACTF to Pago Pago for refueling. They are now 3 hexes due north of the island. My hope is to catch his SCTF on the way out if not on the way in. If sucessful, I think Larry will have an understanding on why sending surface forces 1000 nm outside fighter coverage is a bad idea. I have sunk 3 CA's in the last month and a half. Adding two or three more here will put a serious dent in his CA pool.

CV Wasp will arrive PH in two days. CV Hornet down to 16 syst. CV Enterprise down to 28. These ships are falling a point almost every day. If this continues, I will have 7 CV's at sea in a month. I sent a sub minelaying TF out of PH towards Kwajalein today with 8 "modern" SS that all just finished repairing. After weeks of boring patrols, S-31 put a torpedo into an AP just south of Kwajalein.

No movement from Darwin yet. Alice Springs is now a level 2 AB. I have an Aussie HQ in place there now to draw supplies. Forts are coming up fast at Conclury and very slowly at Tenant Creek. Need more engineers (help is on the way as the TF's with SWPac units are now 3 hexes south of HI). I decided to split these units with the bulk going to Cairns. Some of the engineers will head to Adelaide as this is the closest port to Alice Springs. I have two squadrons and one full group of B-17's sitting at SF waiting for the Av Support to make it to Oz. They will start moving in a about 10 to 14 days to allow them to Island hop their way down to Oz. No point in getting them there until they have support. I already have tow B-17 squadrons in OZ - unfortunately one of those is still flying -D's. AS this is the last unit due for upgrade not counting B-18's, I should be able to get this unit into -E's by the time the Av Support arrives. Two canadian brigades are enjoying the scenerey of the southern Cascades as they make their way to SF for embarkation to The Land Down Under.

In Burma, most of the Japanese units have halted. I assuming they are waiting for supplies to come forward. I have yet to see an HQ units in Burma, this has got to be hampering Larry's efforts. Units between Imphal and Mandalya are all at 47-55 nm distance traveled. A couple more days should do it. Once there I will probably move one of both Chinese units back to Lashio