The First Team: Take Two!

[Q-Ball]

Hornblower, good thoughts. I personally think they drew a line right off the bat, and decided to commit defenses and troops on one side of the line, and let everything else get taken. Basically.

Canton seems to be the only point left to the West of that line. Canton airfield is still size-3, despite the Allies having months to build it. There are two units from Intel, no doubt one is the base force, the other does not appear very large. If they were serious about holding it, they would have built out the airstrip.

The other islands you mentioned have been built-up, and appear to have large garrisons from our limited intel. I think they fight for Palmyra or Johnston for sure, after Canton we can probably decide if we want that fight or not. Probably YES if it's outside range of Allied LBA, probably NO if we have to fight that close to an Allied base. We know Papete is a fortress, and Bora Bora very strong.

I think after John takes Canton, we probably stop. Remaining invasions would require too much force or effort for no actual gain. We should then deploy ground troops on the defensive, and await the inevitable Allied attack.

Given the total abandonment of the Aleutians, the Allied blow will not fall there. I think they will attack Wake or the Marshalls, and probably Wake. Wake needs some supply, but the AF is size-4, forts are 4 and building, and we have construction troops, 2 Nav Gd, and a CD regt on the island. Bettys and Zeros are within a day's fly.

[Hornblower]

Thanks…   the more I think about it the more confirmed I think my assumption is.  He’s not going to contest anything short of what he considers 100% vital, then hit right down the middle and split the theater of operations.  I Say wake as it’ll put a cramp into your shipping and put SS 1000 miles closer to you, and south into the Northern Marshals  

[ny59giants]

GAME QUESTION: I have had two days in a row of 4-1 Shock attacks on 5 Chinese units stuck between Lashio and Myiktinya. I would have thought they would have surrendered by now (I don't think there is a retreat path available). Why haven't they surrendered or retreated? What odds do you need to get that? Any ideas?

I don't know if there is a magic odds you have to reach, but keep your attacks up. Its like wiping out the guerrillas behind the Chinese front line in the beginning. I've gotten over 50:1 odds and still some of the units survive to die another day.

East Pacific: My only other goal would be to take Midway. This would serve as a trip wire that they are going on the offensive and give you warning that Wake/Marcus are on their immediate target list.

[Canoerebel]

Midway?  Kodiak?  Anchorage?
 
You guys have got to be kidding!  The Americans are untouched by the war, their MLR has to be fearsome at this late date, and they must be - they have to be - ready to strike.  No way the Japs could take Midway or Anchorage (nor, of course, Pearl Harbor) at this point in the game.
 
I doubt they want to take on the KB yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they have organized a massive invasion force ready to go once they know the KB is in action somewhere else.
 
Imagine this - huge amphibious fleet with divisions fully prepped, to be covered by the American carriers, ready to hit something remote or relatively remote but important - Kiska?  Attu?  Wake?  Then the final piece of the puzzle - the Japanese employ the KB at Canton Island - so it's time to pull the trigger.
 
Everyone knows that when the Japs head to India its time for the Americans to get active in the Pacific to take some of the pressure off and to take some territory while the Japs are focused elsewhere.  To this point, your opponents have been unusually sedate.
 
It can't last.  The volcano's gonna blow!
 

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Midway?  Kodiak?  Anchorage?

You guys have got to be kidding!  The Americans are untouched by the war, their MLR has to be fearsome at this late date, and they must be - they have to be - ready to strike.  No way the Japs could take Midway or Anchorage (nor, of course, Pearl Harbor) at this point in the game.

I doubt they want to take on the KB yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they have organized a massive invasion force ready to go once they know the KB is in action somewhere else.

Imagine this - huge amphibious fleet with divisions fully prepped, to be covered by the American carriers, ready to hit something remote or relatively remote but important - Kiska?  Attu?  Wake?  Then the final piece of the puzzle - the Japanese employ the KB at Canton Island - so it's time to pull the trigger.

Everyone knows that when the Japs head to India its time for the Americans to get active in the Pacific to take some of the pressure off and to take some territory while the Japs are focused elsewhere.  To this point, your opponents have been unusually sedate.

It can't last.  The volcano's gonna blow!

I share the paranoia, and I am puzzled as to why they haven't tried something already. It wouldn't surprise me to see a massive fleet any day.

If by some miracle they sit in port throughout the Canton operation, I would think about building mobile forces to respond to what we know is coming, including:
*KB
*Bettys and Zeros
*800 AV at a central port, with enough transport capacity present to lift them quickly

We can get Bettys and Zeros anywhere in 1-2 days, KB in 10 days, and those ground troops in 10-20 days

[Hornblower]

Its the Rocky Balboa defense... 

[Mobeer]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
GAME QUESTION: I have had two days in a row of 4-1 Shock attacks on 5 Chinese units stuck between Lashio and Myiktinya. I would have thought they would have surrendered by now (I don't think there is a retreat path available). Why haven't they surrendered or retreated? What odds do you need to get that? Any ideas?

You need to repeatedly get huge odds in your favour - units do not surrender easily unless within a city. Against the AI I have actually tried forcing units to retreat into cities by leaving a path open before then taking the city. Against a human opponent that might be a bad idea however.

[John 3rd]

Wow. On a day that I actually have a life and spend it over with my dad we have a great discussion going here. Crapola!

Took this screenshot of Bombay's troops and thought you might like to see it.

Need to do my 'Fleet the Gods Forgot' turn and will then jump in with my thoughts.

[John 3rd]

While I was with my Father today (presented Operation market-Garden to the Vets at Good Samaritan--VERY FUN!)  I kept mulling over Shimakaze and began to doubt my thoughts regarding the Allies certainly not choosing to fight.  While I feel that way, it doesn't mean I should take a risk in any sort of major fashion. 

Recalled CarDiv2 to Pago Pago and will wait for the second CTF to arrive.  Will then move due north and attack any shipping around Canton.  This will announce the KB's presense but I do most certainly doubt if the Allies will start any sort of Operation keyed on knowing where the KB ISN'T!  The Invasion Force is nearly to Tarawa where it will meet up with its Escort and then move due east.  My other CarDiv is two days from pago Pago so this should time out pretty well.

I do not intend to attack anywhere else after this Island.  Think doing some serious Emily recon of the Line Islands and Midway is in order but past that don't really have any major thoughts as of yet.  The Allied passivity drives me nuts and makes me itchy.  I will fight scratching that itch and sit for a while after Canton falls...

[John 3rd]

Hmmm....

[Panther Bait]

"24in Type 93 torpedo hits AK bridge"??
 
Well, either that was a gratuitus hit since the AK must have been sinking anyway to get the bridge at or below water level, or that was one hell of a porpoising torpedo!!  [:D]
 
Mike

[John 3rd]

You have heard of skip-bombing...this is skip-torpedoing! 

Hadn't noticed it saying that!  Nice work on the catch.  Made me laugh pretty good.

[Coach Z]

Come on though who names a ship the Bridge?
What are her sister ships the Crowsnest...the Fantail...the Forecastle?????
 
I mean imagine this..."Hello I'm the new skipper of the S.S.Fantail."
 
   
 
 
 

[Q-Ball]

Combat Report
June 16, 1942

John posted a screenshot of one event that happened today; more AK's sunk at Canton. They have sent several AK's to Canton, and as far as we can tell, the garrison isn't getting bigger. Maybe they are pulling out. Either way, they are losing several unescorted ships to pretty easy pickings. If I were the Allies, I would have figured this out, and teed up a large cruiser force to sink some Jap raiders, but that's just me.

India
The air battle over Bombay has sort of begun.....our 150 fighter sweep over Bombay from Poona encountered...AIR. Clearly they saw all those fighters gather there and grounded everyone. Tommorrow we play a kind of rock-paper-scissors game with airwar over India.

I am sweeping again, and also have 150 Bombers with Oscar escort hitting tommorow.

There is a 50-50 chance that the Allies will bomb Poona with everything they have. If that happens, they won't find many planes on the ground, but will crater the airstrip there pretty good. I thought of keeping all of them on CAP, but you can't guess right all the time. We'll see what happens. On the other hand, they may have to CAP bombay tommorow, because they just docked a transport TF probably bringing in more supplies.

More AKs dock in Bombay harbor, and a DD TF will hit it tommorow night. I have Bettys at Ahmadebad that won't fly, I am guessing because supply levels are too low (about 5K). Would REALLY like them to hit those transports though.
Burma
For the 4th day in a row, we get a 4 -1 Shock attack result on the Chinese units stuck on the trail between Lashio and Myiktinya, who just won't freakin die. Even worse, I am suffering more casualties each round. We are bombing the Chinese every day (granted, just bombers in training). Want to kill them, because once that happens it will free up 400AV or so for operations in India.

Phillipines
A PA Division on Mindanao came down from Cagayan and Shock attacked our garrison at Davao two different times before their AV went to zero and were forced to retreat. They must be trying to kill them off and re-grow elsewhere. We have alot of starving Allied troops cut off in the Phillipines

[John 3rd]

I post this screenshot hoping my partner in crime can detail the events. They are all his for credit!

[Q-Ball]

COmbat Report
June 17, 1942

India
As John's picture shows above, today was a good day over Bombay. I had been tempted to open the battle sooner, but felt we really needed at least 2 size-4 airbases within range, to get the critical mass of fighters and bombers to really nuke the airbase. It worked, we destroyed over 100 aircraft over and on Bombay, including almost 90 fighters, 50 of those in A2A. We lost 27 Oscars which hurts, but only 2 Zeros.

They docked the transport TF that is about 10 AKs or so, so tommorrow we will Sweep from Poona, Port Attack with 100 bombers from Ahmadebad (to nail the transports in port), and airbase attack with 150 bombers from Hyderabad.

If I were the Allies, I would be evacuating the airbase. We have swept with over 140 fighters two days in a row, I don't see how they can counter that. I hope they stay, because we figure to shoot down or torch alot more planes if they try to hold the base. We'll find out more tommorow.

Burma
The epic battle of 35,30 continues. This time we acheive 10-1, so I think they are about to break and hopefully surrender. This would be good, because we need those troops in India.

Allied AKs
As John alluded to, they have exposed alot of AKs to pretty easy kills by IJN surface forces. I suppose one of these days an Allied Cruiser TF will be there to greet us, but so far, alot of AKs have gone down pretty easily, particularly in the Pacific. It's not like they will run out though, Allies have unlimited shipping.

Elsewhere
We haven't even mentioned a couple other theaters, because not much is happening.

At Northern Oz, we see no signs of Allied activity; no recon flights, nothing, the only planes we see are Catalinas at Darwin, and a collection of 3rd rate fighters over Perth. Darwin is still a size 3 airbase, with a high unit count, probably refugees. The base north of Perth (can't remember name), is still size 1. We are digging forts at Exmouth and Wyndham and all other occupied points.

John is bombing Thursday Island pretty much daily, and we have 3 SNLF units on the way to invade; they are prepped for the base for at least a month. This is just to tidy up the perimeter. No signs of any Allied activity from Northeast Australia; not much base building, and no planes, not even recon flights.

John has pretty much occupied the Aleuts up to Kodiak, which seems heavily occupied. The rest of the chain was completely abandoned.

The garrison at Canton is consistently reported as 2 units, with size in the 4000K range; Japanese intel is suspect, but I would wager it's nothing more than a base force, and a Marine Def Btn or Seabee or something else relatively small. John will take it, and that's it for the perimeter.

KB is at Pago Pago, but without any fuel, which makes me nervous. I would rather have KB closer to Tarawa or Truk, because I think the Allies are going to attack in the Central and North Pacific first, and maybe soon.

[Rainer79]

What are the Allies doing? There should be a division behind lvl. 9 forts at Canton by now...

[Q-Ball]

Combat Report
June 18, 1942

Bombay
Another good air round for us over Bombay. I wondered if the Allies would give up control of the air; they haven't yet, but I bet they will after today. We had three rounds again of fighting and bombing:
*SWEEP from Poona, with 88 Zero and 64 Oscar meeting a CAP of 28 planes. For the second day in a row, 100% of the CAP was shot down. I have to believe that's the last fighter we'll see, because that can't be good for morale! We lost 10 Oscar and 2 Zero, I'm only using Zeros from here on out, those Oscar losses are too high.
*BOMBING from Hyderbad hit the airbase; another 80 bomb hits, with 18 fighters and 24 Bombers destroyed on the ground.
*PORT RAID from Ahmadebad, that hit the ships in port; 1 DD and 7 AK took bombs. The DD was a leftover from an earlier fight, and is probably close to 99 sys. Most of the AKs caught fire. Not sure how many we will sink; ships in port are easy to hit, hard to sink.
We will repeat all of this tommorow, though I expect there to be less fighter opposition, and any undamaged transports will probably leave. I expect them to fly out any undamaged bombers. They must be running low on decent fighters, because they flew in a Sqd of Mohawks yesterday (13 of which were immediately lost).

Ceylon
Beauforts from Ceylon sortied and sank CL Nagara. THAT is irritating, shame on us for sailing anything within 4 hexes of Ceylon. At any rate, we have troops prepping for a landing at Trincomalee, will take it at some point, probably in about a month. We may be able to strand those planes, because they can only stage through Bombay, which is under some stress right now.

Burma
The Glorious Battle of 35,29 continues; this time we acheive 9-1 Shock. I'm going to try a Deliberate attack tommorow, maybe that will produce a different result? Would really like to kill those Chinese, especially since they are probably 99 experience by now. (our guys are)

Day Air attack on Bombay , at 18,11

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 88
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 64

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 12
Kittyhawk IA x 10
Hurricane IIb x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 11 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 12 destroyed
Kittyhawk IA: 10 destroyed
Hurricane IIb: 6 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Bombay , at 18,11

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 20
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 44
Ki-21 Sally x 52
Ki-49 Helen x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 13 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Loch Ranza, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Decoy, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Johanne Justesen, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kiangsu, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Elk, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Mabella, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Herleik, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Empire Resistance, Bomb hits 1, on fire


Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Port hits 2
Port supply hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
17 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
10 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 9000 feet
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
13 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 9000 feet
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
2 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 9000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 9000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 9000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Bombay , at 18,11

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 2
Ki-21 Sally x 57
Ki-49 Helen x 26

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 6 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed
Wellington III: 6 destroyed
Hurricane IIb: 4 destroyed
Curtis H81-3A PR: 1 destroyed
LB-30 Liberator: 3 destroyed
IL-4c: 3 destroyed
Mohawk IV: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 80

[ny59giants]

I would focus totally on closing down the AF at Bombay and not hit the port until the AF is closed. It is more important to close the AF than hit his AKs.  

[John 3rd]

I totally concur with my former Japanese Economics Minister and current Allied Deployment Advisor!  Those ships hits were nice but lets CRUSH that AF.  We've got them on the run and can really exert some power right now.

I also noticed that Karachi is only Lvl 4 AF!  That means only 200 planes.  They flew 140 Bombers (mostly B-17) out of there on the current turn.  Once Bombay is around 80-90% what about doing a quick attack on Karachi with a Zero Sweep out of Mailr (AF-2) and then throw 200 bombers at the AF from Ahmadabad.

Am basically proposing that we "SWING FOR THE FENCES" and take complete control of the Air over India.  It is bold, crazy, stupid, and TOTALLY POSSIBLE!!!

Banzai Baby!  BANZAI!!!