A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/24/41

Headline of the day is the fall of Kuala Lumpur with very low damage (12 ressources and 5 oil damaged, IIRC). All non-static units had left the city before the attack took place. All in all, it was a very quiet day and thus the AAR is fairly short.


There's not much to report from the seas I-158 sinks the damaged AP Basilan with another torpedo hit. In return, SS Salmon hits AP Daigen Maru near Palau. The AP has half of an construction batallion aboard. I'm optimistic, that it can unload at palau before it sinks.

Our Navy did many ASW attacks, but didn't score solid hits. But today the ASW aircraft did a great job: SS Dolphin was hit by a Val from the KB, a Mavis hits S-41, Marys hit S-39 and SS Trusty. Four hits after four days without any hits!

Kates from Manado damage the AK Forafric with a torpedo. an attack off CVL Ryuho sinks AK Sagoland with 3 hits. Betties from Cagayan hit TK Gertrude Kellog with 3 torpedoes near Palawan, but miss AV Langley. There were some TFs fleeing to that direction over the last days, I send my CVL/CVE force near Kuching to catch the survivors.

There were several small attacks by Martins and Blenheims against BBs and CA Nachi, but no hits.


On the ground I capture Kuala Lumpur as I wrote above. My troops were quite weak and got only 2:1 against the supply sink, but it was enough. unfortunally most of his troops managed to flee to Jahore Bharu or will probably make the escape very soon. Next step is to take Malakka, and then organize the attack against JB and finally Singapore.

Besides this, we capture Kavieng in the south and Adak Island in the north. The invasion force for Attu is still in Japan (now loading on transports), this will conclude my campaign in the Aleutians. I don't want to go further east. I hope Drew will not start his first counteroffensive in the north - I don't like that area at all.

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/25/41

The headline today are dominated by heavy air battles. Unfortunately the Allies won some of them...
Besides this, we see some surface combat again.


First I can report a success in my ASW campaign. After several unsuccessful sorties, a ASW group (5 DDs) finally manages to sink SS Permit with several direct DC hits. This sub camped in the port of Camranh Bay for several days.

In a surface fight near Palawan CL Natori and 3 DDs sank the heavily damaged TK Gertrude Kellogg.

I took some risk and detached CA Nachi and 2 DDs from the Ryoko task force and sent them out to raid Balikapan. I moved the CVL with it's remaining destroyers farther into the Makassar Straight as well.

The first part of the gambit worked quite well. First my raiders met a ASW group of 4 flush deck DDs. It was a short skirmish without many hits. DD Barker was set on fire by one shell hit. DD Parrot got a hit, too, but without serious damage. Then my ships met the lone TK P. J. Duinker and sank it. Then there was another short skirmish with those 4 DDs, but no hits were scored (actually only one American DD fired a single burst).

In the morning, the CVL sent out 12 Kates escorted by only 4 Claudes to attack the destroyers. They met a CAP of 14 Warhawks [X(]. I think it was a good thing that the escort was not larger - the Claudes don't have the slightest chance against Warhawks... I lost all Claudes and 2 Kates. But the remaining bombers sank the burning DD Barker, so it was probably worth the losses. A afternoon strike by 9 Kates went unescorted - I lost another Kate and damaged the TK Anastasia with one torpedo hit. Now I reunite the TF and send it to Indochina to upgrade the fighters and replace the lost bombers.

The other CVL and CVEs reached their new patrol area between Singapore and Kuching just in time to catch some ships which escaped from Manila to the west. The bombers sink the MSW pair Quail & Tanager, AK Princess of Negros and AS Otus. Another AS (Canopus) was set on fire by 2 bomb hits. I think they can sink it today. They missed the AK Palawan and Dos Hermanos - these might escape to Batavia.

Betties from Cagayan sink the damaged AK Forafric.


I did a first Zero sweep against the AVG group in Hengchow (China). It went quite well - 6:1 losses. Oscars sweeping Rangoon shot down 2 Buffalos for no loss. But the largest battle was over Jahore Bharu: 169 Army bombers (on airfield attack) escorted by 20 Oscars met a CAP of 31 Buffalos and 6 Wirraway. The escort put up a good resistance, but they were too few, so our losses were quite high:

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-I Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-32/30 Mary/Ann: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21-II Sally: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo/F2A: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
Wirraway CA-1: 4 destroyed

Overall, we lost 32 planes today vs. only 20 Allied losses:


There was no ground combat in Malaya today. I'm going to consolidate my position over the next 2-3 days - move troops in place to assault Jahore Bharu and then Singapore and (most important) move aviation support and air groups to the south. Most of it is still concentrated in Georgetown and Kota Bharu - that's too far away for the battle for Singapore.

In Burma I capture Victoria Point and Ye - both without resistance and undamaged. These are probably the last easy captures there: Moulmein is defended by 4 units, I have only one division in the theatre (soon reinforced by a small Thai "division"). My division will enter Moulmein to stop the Allied supply production there, but then this front will probably become static until Singapore falls. It's a similiar situation on Luzon: I entered Lingayen and will enter Clark Field soon, but there's no way to advance until substantial reinforcements are available.

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/26/41

Today the HMS Prince of Wales sank SW of Ceylon! This is great news - the best Allied BB is gone.
Besides this, today was a very quiet turn. I didn't lose a single aircraft - I think that never happened before.


The night started with a successful ASW attack - S-39 is hit by one DC N off Luzon and got "heavy damage". Another small sub (S-41) was hit by an Ida search plane in the afternoon.

Then were was a very "unfair" surface action: The name "Fortuna" didn't provide any luck. Two hexes west of Kuching the small AK and 2 of it's sister ships (Governor Taft and Governor Wood) were attacked by a huge TF of 3 BBs, 2 CA, 1 CS and 5 DD. Of course they were all sunk (loaded with some troops from Luzon). For some reason this battlegroup moved into the hex of Kuching in the morning. I have no idea why... At least they didn'f find mines there [&o].

In the afternoon, PG Oahu was sunk by I-154 (2 torpedo hits against the tiny ship - great aiming [;)])


The planes of my CVE force didn't find AS Canopus again. They only launched a largely oversized strike (26 planes) against the small, already damaged (by searchplane) AK Lipis at Jahore Bharu. The ships are almost out of sorties now, but I let them stay for another day.

Nells from Tavoy sink 2 river AK (CW Bassein and CW Hinzada) at Hinzada, Burma. No other naval attacks were flown. A Mavis hits a ship with the name "Luzon". I don't know what it is (PG?). One of my subs was spotted by SDBs at 126,76, so there is at least one CV southeast of Hawaii. Will he try to oppose me in the South Pacific? Time will show... The KB passed Kwajalein in the north and will reach Truk within a few days.

The Allied planes try a few very small high altitude attacks (2-6 planes, always above 10'000 feet) every day now. Again they didn't hit anything.

Many aviation support units are marching in Malaya, thus it was a very quiet day there, too. A small strike by Thai biplanes revealed, that the unit on the trail between Kuching and Mersing is only a Fwd Air Stn EAB, so I won't need much garrison at these bases.

In ground combat, one brigade and a small support unit were forced to retreat to Jahore Bharu. I didn't order movement into JB today. Tomorrow more troops will arrive and most of my planes will have AV support again. Then I'm going to advance.

I capture Udan Thani [Thai] without resistance, only 1 ressource center damaged. The last DDs of the Thai Navy arrived today. They are all very small and useful as convoy escorts only. One of the 2 "organizing" Thai fighter units arrived today - with one Axis Hawk and 1 pilot (max 27). Very annoying it is!

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/27/41

Today there's not much to report. At Midway the AK Regulus sank, thus the bombing run by the KB on 12/18 did actually achieve something.


At sea, almost nothing happened today. RO-33 missed both PG Soemba and ML Krakatau near Kendari - I'll need some MSWs when I invade there [:-].

The CVE force finds AS Canopus again - to my surprise it went further to the east. Kates hit with 2 torpedoes, so the ship will most probably not survive. Kates from Menado hit DD Parrott and DD Balmer with one bomb each (Balmer is at "heavy damage").


In China, another sweep against the AVG in Hengchow does very well (8:0 losses). After airstrikes by 87 bombers we throw the ROCA 25th Field Army and a guerilla battalion out of the important road hex 50,37 west of Nanking. The supply situation in central China should improve now. The weather forecast predicts thunderstorms all over China, so I down most airgroups today to avoid unnecessary op losses.

That's it for today. My troops didn't capture any new places, but I got Mamburao (SW of Manila) for free.

[bigbaba]

nice read and nice start in the game, bogo. keep em coming.[;)]

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/28/41

Another quiet turn without decisive action. But my subs were very busy all over the map.

The Allies are getting serious with their ASW campaign. There were lots of ASW attacks against my subs today. Most were unsuccessful, but 1-160 was moderately damaged by DD Paul Jones in the Makassar straight. And they scored their first searchplane hit today: I-153 was hit by a Catalina near Balikapan. Damage is quite heavy (53/66/0), I hope the boat survives.

But my subs are not only victims yet. Close to the NW coast of Australia, I-155 heavily damages AK Siantar with 1 torpedo and 2 shell hits (but misses AK Van der Bosh later). RO-33 made up for it's failure yesterday and sinks ML Krakatau on it's way back.

A small strike by only 7 Betties hits the oil loaded tankers Seirstad and P. P. Buisman with 2 torpedoes each south (well, on the left side of the map...) of Sumatra. nice hit ratio!

Tomorrow the KB will complete it's journey and arrive at Truk. CVL Ryoko will reach saigon as well. There will be a heavy hit on my pools of navy planes and pilots. [;)]


On Luzon, Aparri expands the airfield to size 3. I need size 4, so level bombers can attack with full bomb load from there.

In the Malaya campaign, a sweep over Singapore meets only 6 Buffalos (and downs 5 of them). I think all the fighters do LRCAP over Jahore Bharu. The spearhead of my troops will enter this place tomorrow. I order sweeps and airstrikes. With a size 4 airfield that close to Singapore, I can start to soften the fortress.

A construction batallion captures Fakfak in SW New Guinea. I'm going to build a strong base there to protect the flank of Timor and to defend northern NG. Paras from Truk capture Admirality Islands.

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/29/41

Today was probably the last of a series of quiet turns - first troops entered Jahore Bharu and will attack tomorrow. If everything works as planned, I will capture Mersing and Kuantan on New Year's Day and start the first assault against Singapore less than one week later.


The Thai navy had it's first combat today: SS RTN Blajunbol SSC attacked AK Matang near Riouw and set her fuel load on fire with 4 MG hits. The torpedo missed, though. Then there was a surface combat. Think small:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Johore Bahru [MLA] at 22,50

Japanese Ships
PT Gyoraitei Division 1

Allied Ships
LCVP RN Singapore LCP Grp, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire

Only "on fire" after 2 torpedo hits - quite sturdy barges...

Today was the first day of the war without any Japanese naval attacks. The Allies attacked a transport TF at Fakfak with 6 Hudsons, but didn't hit.

AP Daigen Maru sinks in Palau - my 4th ship lost to enemy action (SS Salmon, 5 days ago).

The first air attacks against Jahore Bharu met a CAP of only 8 Buffalos (5 destroyed) and 2 Wirraways (1 shot down). Not much - I think he evacuated some of his fighter units already.

118 army bombers attacked in 2 waves. Both waves hit the AA 27th (++) AIF Brigade, it is probably by far the largest of the 4 defending units. They lost 166 men, 11 guns and 4 vehicles.

A small landing force captures Morotai in the south. Other troops throw a guerilla unit out of the road crossing east of Hanoi (38,37). There is another unit north of this crossing, I have to find out what it is.


A big welcome party took place at Truk - the KB returned from it's great voyage. I filled out all the squadrons without looking at the pools first - I needed 99 pilots for carrier planes and 10 for float planes. Then I checked the pilot pool - 1 (in words: one) navy pilot left. Schwein gehabt - no rookies in the KB [:)]. The Ryuho wll have to wait in Saigon for 2-3 days, she need 6 pilots to upgrade the Claudes to a full strength Zero unit. The Val pool is down to 8, Zeroes ca. 30 (I'll need many Zeros to upgrade obsolete Claudes all over the map). The Kates have a comfortable pool (ca. 60). Maybe I produce to many of them...

I'm still not sure what to do with the KB now. It will be needed when I start my campaign against Port Moresby, but this will not start before late February or even later (How long will Singapore hold?).
Maybe I should do a raid to Fidji or Sydney? I don't think I need the KB in the SRA now, and I'm not planning a huge India campaign.

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/30/41

Last turn I messed something up. I did half the turn and then quit the game without saving, then I had to do everything again. Unfortunally I forgot to do something... So the troops in Jahore Bharu didn't attack and it became another quiet turn. Good news: CL Durban sank from old damage.

A turn can hardly be more quiet on the seas. There was not a single naval combat, ASW or sub attack today. The only attacks by aircraft were two small strikes (3 Martins, 6 Hudsons), which didn't hit anything. In Burma, some Nells sank a river transport (CW Mandalay) - but that's not "at sea", is it?

At Jahore Bharu, sweeps destroy another 10 British fighters. The bombers stayed at home, there is terrible weather all over Malaya and China again. Now I really ordered the attack (yes, I double checked it [;)]). It will be quite huge, since most of my army is in the hex already...
Next turn there will be the first landings on Borneo (Kuching and Jesselton). I'm still reluctant to take the big production centers, because I don't want to divert fighters to defend them, yet. But I think I will take most of Borneo in the second half of January.

Turn sequence is very slow at the moment. First I had some stress (see first paragraph...), now Drew has vacations. Well, we expected this it to be a slow game, I'm actually more surprised that we are at the end of '41 already. I'm going to post some summaries on in the first week of the new year.

[Bogo Mil]

The game goes very very slow at the moment. There are vacations, and we lost another week because one mail didn't arrive for some unknown reason. Well, Drew is away again and I have some time to catch up the 2 (in words: two) turns we did over almost a month.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/31/41

Headline of the day is a hopefully decisive battle at Jahore Bharu. Our troops advanced very fast and managed to cut the retreat path to Singapore. Thus 3 brigades (AA 27th, IA 44th and 45th) and a small EAB were forced to retreat to Mersing, where they are trapped.

The naval action focused on 2 Japanese subs: I-5 was attacked by an ASW group close to the American west coast. It got only 5 near misses (inlcuding one fuel leak), but sys damage 12, so I sent her home. Farther south, I-26 did much better and damaged the troop loaded APD Gregory heavily with a torpedo.

The CVL TF launched several strikes against the crippled AS Canopus, of course it is sunk now. Besides this, there were not many airstrikes - mostly because of bad weather., but also because I had to rest some airgoups.

As mentioned above, I captured Jahore Bharu. I immediately pushed our stacking limit of 55*AF size and placed 203 level bombers and 14 Oscars there. Tomorrow we'll see the first attack against Singapore since the initial strike on 12/7!

Besides this, I captured Aitape (NG) without troops. Yesterday I got New Hannover Island that way, but forgot to mention it in the AAR.

I promised some summaries. First the intel screen. Unfortunally I missed a 1:1 point ratio:



Allied warships sunk (plus 12 DD, 2 AVD and several patrol and mine vessels):



Japanese warships lost: 1 APD, 1 SS.

Finally a summary of the air losses in Dec 41:

[Bogo Mil]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/01/42

Headline of the day is a naval battle near Balkapan. I sent CL Natori and 3 DDs there to catch some loading merchants. Maybe they were spotted, maybe it was pure coincidence: They met two CL and and an old DD instead, and a series of fierce firefights started:

First we achieved surpise. Our DDs aimed their torpedoes very well and hit all enemy vessels:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 12, on fire
DD Murakumo
DD Sazanami
DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Boise, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Stewart, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Then the Boise struck back:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Sazanami, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Boise, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Stewart, Shell hits 6, and is sunk

Finally we find a merchant ship. But prolonged firefights are not good for heavily damaged ships - float damage increases each round. I had to scuttle CL Natori at 87/97/27 damage. The enemy TK will probably survive.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, on fire, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, on fire
DD Sazanami, on fire
DD Satsuki, on fire

Allied Ships
TK Benakat, Shell hits 10, on fire

Later another Allied DD showed up and sank DD Sazanami, which didn't retreat from Balikapan for some unknown reason:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sazanami, Shell hits 12, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Paul Jones

Well, let's summarize: I lose CL Natori and 1-3 DDs (DD Murakumo is at 68/36/43, DD Satsuki 55/45/20 -- both may sink). The Allies lose CL Marblehead and a flush deck destroyer, CL Boise and a small tanker are damaged. Doesn't look very well - equal losses are good for the Allies. On the other hand, this battle crippled the ABDA fleet. Two Dutch CL were already sunk, now Marblehead is gone and Boise has severe damage - at least in the short run the result is good for me. I send my CVL force south again - maybe I can catch the burning Boise. This would turn the draw into a Japanese victory, I think.


A Dutch sub scored against one of my ASW groups, but got hurt in the process, too:

Sub attack at 29,47

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 37, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PC Shirataka
APD Patrol Boat No. 39
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 33

Allied Ships
SS KXIV, hits 5, on fire


Because of the naval battle, the prefigured event didn't make the headline of the day. But I can announce that the air raid against Singapore went very well. Our fighters score 8:1 against the defending Buffalos, we destroy 9 bombers on the ground. 7 Sallys and 2 Dinahs were lost to the flak, but they had to pay a lot of blood for this achievement:
Allied ground losses:
1203 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 21

Tomorrow our first troops enter Mersing, so Kuantan won't have a retreat path any more. I order an attack with good air support, this will give me another size 4 airbase in striking range to Singapore tomorrow if everything goes well.

Today Japanese troops capture Kuching (fortress surrendered, more troops retreated west), Jesselton and Taytay. Now I passed 1:1 VP ratio (11631:11579).