PzB vs Wobbly - Clash of Steel

[PzB74]

Philippines

Andy considered invading northern Japan but in the end decided for Luzon.
I did not have enough troops to hold it against the hoards of men and ships that arrived.
By early 46 Amami Gp was captured after one of the most bloody campaigns of the war.
Just before the Armistice Formosa was also invaded, no doubt it would fall - the question was how much efforts Japan should put into holding it. By this time I needed to rebuild and strengthen the Air Force in the Home Islands to prevent enemy heavy bombers from ruining our cities and industries.

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: PzB

That's great Joe, only thing I miss then is a summary of how many ships of each class that has been lost!

True.

[PzB74]

China

By agreement China became an stalemated front from mid 42 after the Chinese Army was pushed back into the interior. The fall of India further starved it completely and when Andy tried sending US planes there he found that mice had eaten all his air support [:D]

[PzB74]

Home Islands and Manchukuo

For some time we feared an invasion of the Home Islands, but Andy decided against it.
There may have been time for an all out effort in the last months of the war towards spring 46 if the war had not come to an end.

Andy used only 1 atomic bomb, effects were rather dissappointing from a military point of view.
He could have used one more without affecting final victory levels.

Manchukuo was a failrue: Because of some strange bugs Japanese aircraft were never allowed to attack Soviet units or air bases. When Soviet Armies attacked they could also cross zones of control and everything became very chaotic. Almost felt like beta testing while playing this campaign, so by agreement the theater was closed. Undoubtedly the Allies didn't win as many victories in this area as they could have. On the other hand I committed all Japans armor and made Mukden into a formidable fortress with hundreds of Shindens. These efforts would have weakened our defenses in the Home Islands though.

Hopefully Manchukuo is revamped and tested in Admirals Edition.

[PzB74]

Japan never advanced beyond historical limits in the Southern Pacific, most efforts went into capturing India and this completely shaped the remainder of the game.

4 Allied commanders with different strategies saw many strange turns, like when David took over from Wobbly and completely stopped the ground offensive on Java which would have wiped out our remaining ground units there. This is the kind of confusion that usually only takes place in a real war and added much flavor to the game [:)]

I can't remember exactly, but this is the rule of the 4 different Allied commanders:

Wobbly: 12/41-10/42
ADavidB: 10/42-06/43
Nomad: 06/43-07/43
AndyMac: 07/43-01/46

Please correct me if anyone can remember more accurately, not 100% certain about these dates anymore [:)]

Since we agreed on an armistice a draw would be the obvious result.
Remember that I missed only a few points for an autovictory at the end of 1942, in a way I'm glad this never happened because the game may not have been continued then.

If we look at the final score Allies had some 143000 points vs 98000 Japanese points in 01/46.
In order to win a draw on points Andy would have had to win by a 2-1 margin. This would mean earning an aditional 40-50000 points in 3-4 months. I don't think this would have been possible, but you never know...

Not sure a Japanese victory would have had any meaning, the Empire had been collapsed and as in real life it was only a matter of time before the Emperor would have to accept defeat.

This saga stretches back to 5th of August 2004, which means that the war has been going on for 4 full years, even longer than the real war in the Pacific! [8D]

We have had more than 300000 hits and 5000 replies which averages 60 views per post.
In adition there are the threads written by the Allied commanders, in total we have probably had more than half a million hits!

I think this is AMAZINGLY KEWL and one of the main reasons why I have enjoyed this AAR so much [&o]

A great thank you to all readers and contributers and an even bigger thanx to Matrix for hosting this AAR and creating such wonderful wargames.

If you have any questions, please ask now.
I will leave the AAR "open" for the remaining days of 2008 and then officially close it from2009.
All good things should have a clearly defined start and end [:)]

[Nomad]

My term went from about 1/6/43 to about 7/23/43

I agree that a draw is about as close as you can call it. It was too bad that some late war bugs interferred.

[PzB74]

Thanks for the update [:)]
Then I just have to find the exact time when ADavidB had his rule!

[Nomad]

Looks like 7/8/42 is when David took over from Wobbly

[Andy Mac]

I am assuming I am ok to post here now !!!! - Havent even read far enough to get to my part of the game yet

I had a lot of fun in this game so thank you for the hours of entertainment

To add a few comments of my own on the game

My favourite part was the Hydra operations that I converted into an expanded attack in New Guinea after the 1st carrier battle.

In terms of planning it was the best planned and most successfull operation I launched - albeit Noemfoor was a sign of things to come

1st Marianas I made a mistake of going in with Carriers before my Landing force was ready and I severely underestimated how tough they were going to be.

I was very lucky with CV's most of whom seemed to lead a charmed life (the same could not be said of the CVE's - I believe they will be calling me Butcher McPhie for a few years after my losses in that class !!!)

My observations.

Pushing on into Sulawesi was possibly a mistake as was the landing in Borneo but finding an unguarded port in Malaya was a godsend.

My biggest issue was always being short of LCU's in this game - losing thew 20+ CW Division and China being a disaster zone basically meant the Aussies and US were facing the entire Japanese Army alone and that was tough

The mountain campaign in PI was especially rough on the US forces it was nasty slow business and the only reason it worked was because I sank the best part of two Divisions from the garrison at sea - had those two Divs remained in PI I would have been screwed.

I tried to see saw between objectives but it never really worked as well as I had hoped

The Australians and SWPAC forces drove on Singapore hoping for a good forward air base and repair port - with a fair chunk of opportunism. When PZB responded to that I got lucky and sank his relief force at sea which left Luzon vulnerable after I bottled the Marianas for the second time.

I wish I could claim it was planning but it was mostly luck.

My constant achilles heel was supply B29's and other heavies eat supply I pulled heavies out of forward bases many times in both Malaya and PI because I was running low on supply.

At the end

Bombay would have falled reasonably soon the old BB's and constant air attack would eventually have cause it to fall but the 6 or 7 CW divs I recieve at that point are almost a hinderence because I would need to supply them

Karachi would never fall I was probably going to turn on Calcutta with the British Forces next

De facto this had stopped being a land battle so I was probably going to transfer LCU's on a points grab in Java and Burma simply because the HI was invulnerable.

Formosa was attacked purely to provide B24 airbases in range of the HI to avoid all the losses hitting my 29 pool that was struggling.

Even with the 6,000 ish points for the second Atomic bomb and points for Bombay, Calcutta and a few other places I suspect I would have failed to get the 1.8x for the draw

I would guess I could have levelled Western Japan with 29's and 24's but going deeper by daylight was suicide - would I have risked the weather gods and used carrier sweeps to cover strategic strikes - maybe but my CAG's all needed to train for a month or more to even get them to 50xp.

It was a hell of a game. The number of heartattacks I suffered at the apparently insane surface TF risks thagt chewed up my forces was incredible.

My impression was that it almost go easier defensively after you lost KB ?

My single biggest worry that didnt materialise was an extended commerce raid by KB - KB wasnt a threat to my Carriers except for its ability to make my carriers react - but given the supply burn rate I had at places like PI and Malaya I was always scared stiff for my LOC.

Great fun, great game

[Grotius]

Major congratulations to both of you (and all the previous commanders) on an outstanding contest. A tremendous achievement.

[PzB74]

Thanx for the update Andy - and thanx for reading Grotius [:)]

The reason for the very offensive manouvering of the KB before it's first shattering was the simple fact that if I could inflict a serious defeat on Allied carriers I would win many months and supremacy of the seas well into 1944.

The effect of LBA was terrifying and decisive....

Somehow I never really felt "lucky" after mid 1943, pretty sure Tojo and Adolf felt the same way from that point [8|]

Highlights were definetly Operation Hangover and the surface naval actions in the Solomons and the last sortie of the Imperial Fleet in 1945. Was delighted to see that the fleet went down with a might boom [:)]

Otherwise you made certain that not much could go wrong for the Allies Andy, all cudos to you for that!

[buzzz123]

Well. I guess this is my final read of what has been an absolute epic. Thanks for the memories once again to all involved (i'll miss my weekly dose of alternate history). I hope AE is able to produce some equally entertaining AARs.
 
Sadly my memory of 'real' history is now so confused i'm getting nervous to write about it anymore!! Was that reality? Or was that just PzB v Wobbly?? Doh!! Thanks also for the premature dementia!!
 
And happy new year.
 
Stu

[bigred]

You played(post comments) this game 4 years and four months.  What a monster.

[skrewball]

You know we only need 7 more posts to get this classic over 5000 replies. Not that I am one to pad a thread. I think that would definately secure this epic battle's place in Matrix Game History!

[FeurerKrieg]

That's something I'm happy to contribute to.

[bigred]

This game lasted 4 years and 4 months. Again, what a monster, and what a prediction.

ORIGINAL: PzB

Hope you're right Herb, but if you're not - this great game will last for another 4 years. How bad can that be [;)]

ORIGINAL: herbieh

I think you just won the war

By refusing to redirect 21 division in India and continuing to concentrate there, his whole rationale for deflecting defeat- stopping you in India - just went down the drain

INDIA, INDIA. FINISH him there!

[PzB74]

Last goal to accomplish, 5000 posts eh, well always liked going out in style! [;)]

Always been glad I missed those 100 points that would have ensured auto victory on 01/43 [:)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

What the hey , I'm proud to add one more post to this (probably) never to be repeated AAR.

[Rysyonok]

This AAR is one of the main reasons I got involved in WitP Awesome job, PzB!

[drizzt73]

me too. I have to admit that I did skip throgh some of this epic but have repeatedly gone back to it.

Thank you to all involved[&o]