War of the SCs - SireChaos vs SubCaptain

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

No, it´s still going. I was kind of discouraged by the lack of feedback, though; if there is any interest, I will continue the AAR.

Every AAR is welcomed even though its not always explicitly expressed. So please keep it coming. [:)]

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: Mistmatz

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

No, it´s still going. I was kind of discouraged by the lack of feedback, though; if there is any interest, I will continue the AAR.

Every AAR is welcomed even though its not always explicitly expressed. So please keep it coming. [:)]

Aww... thanks.

[SireChaos]

It is now the 23rd of January. This is what the Phillipines look like - everything north and sourth of the part shown has been conquered. Clark Field fell the day before yesterday, the same day that the bulk of the ground troops on Mindanao (all except the ones at Zamboanga) surrendered. On that day, I got about 250 VP just from enemy ground losses! The defeated US troops are now isolated at Bataan, but three Phillipine divisions plus some small change are still holding out in Manila. Or rather, they are being held up by the Tanaka Detachment, a tank regiment and some artillery.

[SireChaos]

In Malaya, I´ve cut the enemy troops into three parts:
- 5 units, reported to be 7,500 men, in and near Kuantan
- 6 units, strength unknown, in and near Malacca
- all the rest, at Singapore and Johore Bahru

These troops are isolated from one another, and I am fairly sure I can destroy them in detail. At Johore Bahru, I have an infantry division and a tank regiment facing two devastated Australian brigades and two relatively fresh Indian brigades; this is probably stalemate until the rest of my forces arrive.

Further north, which you can´t see here, my forces captured Moulmein three days ago, and one tank regiment is 40 miles from Pegu, driving the remnants of the Moulmein garrison before it.

I´m not talking about that unit on the road between Malacca and Johore Bahru, or about what those ships are doing at Mersing, because my opponent doesn´t know that (yet). He knows about them, but the what and the why (hopefully) escape him. Not that I think he has the means to do anything about it, but you never know...

[SireChaos]

Other than that, things are fairly quiet right now, since the bulk of my ground forces are committed at the moment - or were comitted until Mindanao fell. Hiryu is repairing well at an undisclosed location. My opponent seems to finally have evacuated Batavia´s port once it was repeated hit by land-based bombers from Borneo - I was almost starting to feel guilty hitting such easy targets.
 
The only pothole I´ve hit in January so far was two Australian cruisers showing up at Rabaul and sinking a small transport TF bringing supplies for the forces there - 2 old DDs and 3 xAK. So far the tally stands at 1 LSD, 2 DD, 1 APD, 4 PB/PC and 27 xAK/xAKL. The Allies have reportedly lost 2 CA, 2 CL, 11 DD, 17 SS and 130 others. Most of the ships damaged in the initial attacks on Manila evacuated when my ground troops entered Manila, and then ran into the bombardment TF en route to Davao - with predictable results.
 
The Americans have so far been quiet, except in the Phillipines. The only place I´ve been able to find US shipping was off the West Coast and between there and Hawaii.

[khyberbill]

The Americans have nothing to be loud with until the middle of 1943. Their air assets are greatly toned down compared to WITP. In my two PBEM's, I keep my carriers east of Pearl and west of Diego Garcia! F2F's just don't cut it.

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

And while we are at it, this is from today´s combat reports. My opponent has the disturbing tendency not to provide CAP for important ports.

In January, the British have virtually no CAP to provide! Colombo and India are just as barren of fighters as Australia is. About the only CAP you can really get to India is by evacuating aircraft from Singapore. Plus, of course, the AVG. But only one squadron of the AVG can "be released" to India.

Since the first turns are over...could you elaborate your strategy on why you chose Manila instead of Pearl Harbor for the first port strike?

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: jimh009

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

And while we are at it, this is from today´s combat reports. My opponent has the disturbing tendency not to provide CAP for important ports.

In January, the British have virtually no CAP to provide! Colombo and India are just as barren of fighters as Australia is. About the only CAP you can really get to India is by evacuating aircraft from Singapore. Plus, of course, the AVG. But only one squadron of the AVG can "be released" to India.

Since the first turns are over...could you elaborate your strategy on why you chose Manila instead of Pearl Harbor for the first port strike?

Sure... submarines. It will be many months before eight old BBs become a problem for me; however, 27 US submarines loose in the SRA are a problem right now. Considering how difficult it is for the Japanese to sink Allied subs while they´re out at sea, this was an opportunity I could not miss. The attack also hit an awful lot of other ships present in Manila, including all three sub tenders. Overall I´m not sure I scored that much fewer VPs than I would have at PH.

Besides, after an attack Manila, KB is right where I need it, in the DEI, rather than having to spend ten days or so slowly making its way back from Hawaii. Within those ten days, Ive staged a very successful raid against Java, which cost my opponent another considerable number of ships... including sinking every single Dutch PT-boat while in port.

Right now there is very little my opponent could do to oppose me, even if KB were no longer in the area. The US have lost CA Houston, CL Marblehead and lots of DDs, every British warship larger than a DD is damaged... he has the Dutch warships, plus CL Boise and maybe 2-3 US DDs, plus maybe 2-3 British DDs. Plus maybe a dozen Dutch subs and 1-2 US subs in the area.

[SireChaos]

The date is Feb 2nd, 1942.

There was not very much action at sea lately. Those §$%&§$& seaplanes at Bataan sank another of my freighters, drowning part on an engineer regiment (down to strength 57/77).

My ground troops are entering Bataan, while others are bombarding the Phillipine troops at Manila; I cannot see this ending in any short amount of time.

Malacca and Kuantan fell just yesterday, and only a single artillery unit caught in the open is left outside Singapore; at the same time, two divisions entered Singapore itself. Their shock attack was beaten back, of course, but seems to have inflicted more damage than they took. Once my other troops are assembled, they will attack Singapore en masse, with the equivalent of 6 infantry divisions plus two tank regiments.

Currently I am gathering troops for the next operation. I am torn between reinforcing my troops on Luzon to get that theater done, and starting the next big amphibious operation while the amphibious bonus lasts.
Any advice there?

[Kaletsch2007]

Use your free forces at MINDANAO (16.Army ?) and take DARWIN (via AMBON and TIMOR)
That is at least, what I plan in my game.

[Streptokok]

Btw Im reading this AAR too, so keep it coming [:'(]

[sval062]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

Currently I am gathering troops for the next operation. I am torn between reinforcing my troops on Luzon to get that theater done, and starting the next big amphibious operation while the amphibious bonus lasts.
Any advice there?

Amphibious as:
- You still have bonus but not for long
- You need all ressources as early as possible (working for you rather than for the allies
- Allies will have big problems to reinforce PI if you own all the ground around. On the other hand, it can more easily resupply/ reinforce his bases let's say in DEI for example if you cannot interfere --> You will have more time to obtain a surrender in the PI after the DEI

[traskott]

Very interesting !!

Suscribed. [:)]

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: sval

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

Currently I am gathering troops for the next operation. I am torn between reinforcing my troops on Luzon to get that theater done, and starting the next big amphibious operation while the amphibious bonus lasts.
Any advice there?

Amphibious as:
- You still have bonus but not for long
- You need all ressources as early as possible (working for you rather than for the allies
- Allies will have big problems to reinforce PI if you own all the ground around. On the other hand, it can more easily resupply/ reinforce his bases let's say in DEI for example if you cannot interfere --> You will have more time to obtain a surrender in the PI after the DEI

Agreed. More invasions, then.

Since opponent reads this now and then, I´m sure you understand why I won´t reveal how many troops I have available, or what target I pick. Not that he has much with which to intervene. A bunch of CLs and DDs, at best. His air forces seem pretty depleted; he hasn´t used his British bombers for a while, - hasn´t used the Swordfish and Vildebeest for a month, in fact - and the Dutch didn´t get more than 10 planes airborne at any one time during the last month. He lost a lot of planes in December, attacking my various landing forces, but I wouldn´t have thought I had wiped him out that thoroughly. I´ll just have to be prepared for a surprise, then.

[SireChaos]

The hammer has fallen... I´ve landed a brigade and two regiments at Palembang, and they chased the garrison out in no time.
 
At the same time, my carriers attacked Java, and the port at Darwin. They caught CL Sumatra at sea; it took 13 250kg bomb, so I think I can safely assume it is sunk. The strikes against Darwin hit two destroyers, an S-boat and a freighter. The sub and one of the destroyers were reported sunk, but the sub has been removed from the sunk list already.
On the other hand, the whole area was crawling with submarines - at least seven seperate attacks by at least four different subs, three Dutch and one US. One attack put a torpedo into CV Soryu, which was seriously damaged as the fuel storage exploded; I expect it to survive, however judging from the repair time for the previously damaged CV Hiryu, it should be out for some time.

[CuriousWordsmith]

There are not any visuals, just a note to share about a few things. I just started a game as the Japanese (my only game as the Japanese) and now I can see why the current game presented here is so challenging. At this time, the Japanese have so many more resources. Furthermore, my esteemed opponent sent all of his carriers to one broad geographical area rather than a PH attack, which overwhelmed my meager forces. It was a clever strategic move to insure high victory points and the assurance of invasion at significant bases with important resources for the Japanese. He certainly is dominating the areas and I did use fighters as bombers since I knew that they were no match for the massive carrier attacks to come. I do feel good about the two separate sub attacks on his carriers and the delay in their being available anytime soon. They don't call me SubCaptain for nothing [:)]. As for my esteemed opponent's overall long-term strategy, it shall be interesting to see what happens when reinforcements arrive and I add more carriers to the ones that I currently have along with the great majority of surface warships. He has great forces but can't have his carriers be patrolling everywhere and now he needs to protect his vast acquisitions which was my only recourse up to now. Still, I am impressed with his strategy that is proving to be very effective in his areas of influence.

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: SubCaptain

There are not any visuals, just a note to share about a few things. I just started a game as the Japanese (my only game as the Japanese) and now I can see why the current game presented here is so challenging. At this time, the Japanese have so many more resources. Furthermore, my esteemed opponent sent all of his carriers to one broad geographical area rather than a PH attack, which overwhelmed my meager forces. It was a clever strategic move to insure high victory points and the assurance of invasion at significant bases with important resources for the Japanese. He certainly is dominating the areas and I did use fighters as bombers since I knew that they were no match for the massive carrier attacks to come. I do feel good about the two separate sub attacks on his carriers and the delay in their being available anytime soon. They don't call me SubCaptain for nothing [:)]. As for my esteemed opponent's overall long-term strategy, it shall be interesting to see what happens when reinforcements arrive and I add more carriers to the ones that I currently have along with the great majority of surface warships. He has great forces but can't have his carriers be patrolling everywhere and now he needs to protect his vast acquisitions which was my only recourse up to now. Still, I am impressed with his strategy that is proving to be very effective in his areas of influence.

Thank you. However, to avoid confusion, "esteemed opponent" should be reserved for referring to you. I, on the other hand, am the "honorable opponent", although "unstoppable Japanese steamroller" is acceptable, too.


In the meantime, Manila fell several days ago, and Singapore just yesterday. Capturing Singapore, in particular, provided a spectactular boost to my VP score - the VP ratio, as presented in WitpStaff, was 70% before Manila fell, 78% the day before Singapore fell, and is 120% now. The troops surrendering in Singapore alone were worth 1200 VP.

I have several plans up my sleeve right now, and once the troops that captured Singapore have had a few days to rest and recover casualties, I should be able to implement most of them at once.

[sval062]

Just to check my game, what was the date of these great victories? [;)]

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: sval

Just to check my game, what was the date of these great victories? [;)]

Palembang fell 2/8/42, Manila fell 2/12/42, and Singapore 2/17/42.

[SireChaos]

It is now the 25th of February. Japanese troops landed at Semarang, on Java. It was very lightly defended, with no chance to push back a reinforced division. I now have an intact, decent-sized port on Java, with base forces and fighter cover already in place, to land reinforcements, so that the end of the amphibious bonus will not be problem for the conquest of Java.