Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
ORIGINAL: Major Ball
ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger
Looks like the bulk of the Japanese "mobile" forces. You can do what you want everywhere else. I would suggest an invasion of Java.
With whose army?
ORIGINAL: Major Ball
Jap Invasion
ORIGINAL: John Lansford
I'm wondering if all those subs and light forces you are spotting heading for Chandapur aren't supply, but evacuation TF's. He's already lost this assault; no way can he bring enough supply in by sub and light warship to keep so many men able to fight, and against your defending force anything less will be insufficient. He was probably hoping Chandapur wasn't heavily defended and his massive assault would swamp the defenders, but now there's no way he can supply them without big AK/AP TF's so they're trapped on the beach, a logisticians' nightmare.
If it were me I'd be trying to get men OUT of Chandapur, not resupply the ones already there. He's risking a Stalingrad-sized defeat, with a Guadalcanal-sized loss in shipping thrown in on top of it. In fact, he's probably already there in both situations.
ORIGINAL: John Lansford
By taking Akyab he also removes a land route supply roadblock, if he can advance those troops to break the cordon you've set up around the Chandapur force. If he can open up a land supply route, they'll get small amounts of supply each turn without him risking planes/ships, plus they can evacuate overland instead of via sea.
and attrit his zeros and pilots (4 hexes from base a lot of kills will be pilot losses)ORIGINAL: erstad
ORIGINAL: John Lansford
By taking Akyab he also removes a land route supply roadblock, if he can advance those troops to break the cordon you've set up around the Chandapur force. If he can open up a land supply route, they'll get small amounts of supply each turn without him risking planes/ships, plus they can evacuate overland instead of via sea.
It'll take months to clear a supply route from Akyab to Chandpur, and even if it were cleared supply at the end of a bunch of jungle/trail hexes won't be a lot. So I wouldn't be too worried about that. Plus you'll see that coming with lots of time to spare so you can always react later if that's his plan. If he uses that as an overland retreat route, it will take even longer for the chandpur troops to get to akyab. Who cares if they get there and it's early 43? By then trying to run transports into Akyab would be as bad as trying to run transports to Chandpur today. I'd just keep the pressure up in Chandpur (either rest or bombard, wouldn't suggest assault as it will tend to disable your AV) and put as much air in India as you can to grind him down. If he is really going to LRCAP chandpur from akyab, that's only good - you can actually use all those hurricanes/spits that don't seem particularly useful otherwise
Oh, and I assume you are rebuilding the fort levels in Chandpur, right?
Seems to me like dumping another 1.5 divisions worth into Akyab is making a bad situation worse. All you need to do is hold Chandpur at all costs... (Your units are prepped for there, and SE asia is prepped and in range, right?)
Do you have a house rule against non-base-hex invasions? I can think of a thing or two I might try in desperation if I were him.
ORIGINAL: gladiatt
on the contrary, why not trying an offensive in CHINA ? With 60 units sticked in india/burma, hiw much come from china??? May be you can make him panic with a drive toward Hanoi or another china city. Remenber: he have to keep garrison in chinese city, and he can't gather what he wants...and there no threat of the KB in china...
Just my thought (not sure it's the best)
ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
Does he have a land supply line? From the map on the screenie, it looks like the supply line has to pass through Dacca, that you own.[&:]
ORIGINAL: John Lansford
Jeez that's a lot of the Japanese player's ground forces in that theater. ISTM that he's reinforcing failure, though. You've got the rail lines, the internal communication lines, and the base (Chandapur), while he will at best have to rely on an overland supply route that is really, really long, running through Akyab. Given the difficulty I've had in retaking Akyab in 1944 using the overland route, by the time any more troops get to Chandapur from Akyab all they'll accomplish is to serve as an additional drain on too few supplies.
Your biggest concern needs to be sea transport reaching those units on the beach. The airbase at Akyab will provide LRCAP and ASW patrols for any approaching TF's, as well as anti-shipping forces vs any of your bombardment/surface warfare TF's. If you've got the bombers to spare you need to make sure that airbase at Akyab stays as damaged as possible, or he may try and run a megasized supply TF in to feed/rearm those men trying to take Chandapur.
ORIGINAL: heenanc
I must say this is a very interesting situation and I reckon it would be good if this thread became a AAR at least until the battle is resolved. Your opponent has jumped in with both feet and at the moment I think you are favourite to win the battle but with a sneaky move the odds could change quickly.
(edit)
Not in the sense that you can't discuss moves just in the sense that I would be good if you kept us informed as thing progress....
