ALLIED ONLY: aztez (A) vs erstad (J) ...2nd ROUND

[aztez]

The Pacific "theatre"...

[aztez]

Aircraft losses. Keep in mind that these have FOW included...

[aztez]

Top aces of war...

[aztez]

Allied fighter replacement pools...

[aztez]

Allied bomber replacement pools...

[aztez]

Scheduled carrier reinforcements...

[aztez]

Scheduled infantry reinforcements...

[LoBaron]

aztez what i notice from your intel screen is that on the plus side you
have less aircraft lost points which is astounding since the really strong allied
fighters are yet to come (yes i know that a great deal of those losses are Japanese
2 engine planes that - but it still looks good)
so you dealt out quite ok there [:)]

one question: is see the CV´s Yorktown II and Lex II
i thought sunk carriers wont get replaced in game? would those carriers still arrive if you hadnt lost
those in the first place?

[jrlans]

One bright spot is the fact that you still have a P-40 pool im prety impresed. How much of the west coast did you have to strip to keep the pool viabable?

[Sardaukar]

Not too bad.

Note that those Marines are coming in few weeks. Then you can start to think where to use them. [8D]

Back to Burma a bit. MAYBE one could keep it, by moving all semi-decent Indian divisions there, in addition to 6th, 7th AUS and 18th UK div. But then one would have only absolutely bare-bones strategic reserve and in very vulnerable position. Problem there is, that Allied supply comes almost totally from Rangoon. If losing the blocking position in Pegu, it's curtains for Burma. Either you start to suck supply from China (not a good idea) or supply has to come through jungle. Not a good idea either.

[Yamato_Blitzer]

That carrier schedule is another glimmer of hope. Are you gonna wait for Essex to arrive before sailing out? Maybe im too cautious but I think it would be wise to wait for that at least. Maybe even wait for Bunker Hill and carrier respawns too. 7 Heavy carriers with new plane types, good chance of smashing him to the point of no return. not trying to be an adviser. I'm just curious when you plan to sail out your CV tf's. He hasn't lost any CV's yet has he? That's gonna be one intense carrier battle in 1943.

[aztez]

LoBaron: I take that as an compliment. I have tried to do the best job possible with the limited fighters available.

A lot of his losses are also operational ones since he has conducted very aggressive campaign so far.

Hmmm, to be honest I don't know. I'am aware that stock gc do not have the respawn option on so I guess these ships would become active even if not lost.

jrlans: Thanks. I take your word for it since I do not have anything to compare these numbers. Yet, they are very low to even think about strong offensives.

The P40E pool got a bit better when I did withdraw those ABDA fighters. I have also been doing a lot of switching in west coast area as you guessed.

Absolutely impossible to say the amount of changes in west coast area.

Sardaukar: Appreciated. Those marines are nice units but it is still too early to deploy them into any hazardous outposts.

The game has now entered into phase 2. Both sides are looking at the map and thinking diffrent options through. I will post more offensive plans next week. Eventhough I cannot estimate the date when these can be conducted it is good to have drawn early on.

As said those will be posted next week when the kids go back to the ex.

It is definately not practical to move those quality divisions out into Burma, Maybe those semi-divions are an go but I wonder how much good they will do there since the ground combat model is brutal.

Yamato_Blitzer: The RN carriers are about the enter Balboa. I checked and I have withdraw 2 of them in few months time and it seems they are not coming back either anytime soon.

I try to stay flexible but if things are not progressing and we do not any good chances to intervene it might be a good idea to wait for CV Lexington II and CV Yorktown II. I cannot afford to lose these battles for nothing.

We shall whether I can combine carriers with lba fighters/bombers and than maybe time to intervene. That call will be made case by case basis.

No. He hasn't lost any carriers yet and if things remain as it is than we shall see monster clash of titans in 1943 as you predicted.

What I said to Sardaukar. The game has entered now into phase 2 and I guess this was expected.

[aztez]

Pacific (may 2nd - 3rd 1942)


The turn itself was very peaceful. I don't see an point to go into sector by sector analysis so instead I will post an overview map describing the latest events.

[aztez]

India (may 2nd - 3rd 1942)


There has a lot of talk whether India is possible to invade and what the the defense looks likes after the burmese front collapsed.

Here is an pic describing the situation at Burma - India frontier/border. We are deploying units constantly and more are enroute.

This doesn't mean I have neglected either Ceylon nor Madras areas.

[jrlans]

Do you think Dave will realy be able to mount an invasion of India? My guess would be there is at least 3000 AV readly avalabile to throw any invasion back. I have not checked the experience of those groups in my game as I have already recaptured burma from the AI (the same tricks works in AE that existed in Witp) Even if they were in the low 40s (the lowest i can imagine them being) I would think there are enough troops to keep him bottled up in one base with a constant resuply effort just to keep it open.
 
Ceylon however is another matter have you reinfroced the garrison there at all?  I would think you proably have at least 2 weeks before his next major opp. Kb took some prety heavy losses and im sure he needs some time to rebuild the air groups before sending them in again. (not exactly sure how most japanesse players are going to do that now weather they are going to use the pools or the standard disband method)
 
As to potential targets, I only realy see 3 maximum, Cent pac (midway, jhonston), Inida/Ceylon (of the 2 inida would be suiside and even ceylon would be a pain for him to keep supply open to) and NZ, which gives little stratgic or tactical benifit. I cant see an invasion of southern Austriala as it opens up way to many reserve ground units for you and would actualy shorten your supply lines (you would no longer need to try to supply it)

[Swenslim]

India is too huge to conqure and has too good railway system wich gives allied side tremendoes mobility. But Ceylon and Diego Garcia are perfect spots to land for Japan ! If Japan player will take Noumea and this bases he can totally disrupt allied convoy system to Australia.

[Yamato_Blitzer]

yea it's hard to say whether you can wait or not, that was my thought also. It seems that maybe you don't have a choice with his successes considered....a successful carrier clash, a more "sure thing" you get with waiting for the lex and yorktown may be necessary.

[Yamato_Blitzer]

ORIGINAL: Swenslim

India is too huge to conqure and has too good railway system wich gives allied side tremendoes mobility. But Ceylon and Diego Garcia are perfect spots to land for Japan ! If Japan player will take Noumea and this bases he can totally disrupt allied convoy system to Australia.

If the Jap player captures eastern India it gives him a big resource/industry boost. I remember reading one WITP AAR where the Japanese player managed to capture OZ and East India, in the end it gave him such a huge boost that he was able to grant huge expansions to his naval ship yards, greatly accelerate his ship production and more than match the Allies in naval strength. He then engaged the Allies in 1943 in one big mother of all battles, the numbers were 1:1..and he won....

India being "to huge to conquer" doesnt really matter. The Eastern part of India is the decisive part and all the rest is not only pointless, but unnecessary for the Jap player to go after. Yes it means the Allied player can recieve british reinforcements and eventually counter-attack, but by then (if the Jap player left any reasonable defense behind) it's to late.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Yamato_Blitzer

ORIGINAL: Swenslim

India is too huge to conqure and has too good railway system wich gives allied side tremendoes mobility. But Ceylon and Diego Garcia are perfect spots to land for Japan ! If Japan player will take Noumea and this bases he can totally disrupt allied convoy system to Australia.

If the Jap player captures eastern India it gives him a big resource/industry boost. I remember reading one WITP AAR where the Japanese player managed to capture OZ and East India, in the end it gave him such a huge boost that he was able to grant huge expansions to his naval ship yards, greatly accelerate his ship production and more than match the Allies in naval strength. He then engaged the Allies in 1943 in one big mother of all battles, the numbers were 1:1..and he won....

India being "to huge to conquer" doesnt really matter. The Eastern part of India is the decisive part and all the rest is not only pointless, but unnecessary for the Jap player to go after. Yes it means the Allied player can recieve british reinforcements and eventually counter-attack, but by then (if the Jap player left any reasonable defense behind) it's to late.

My experience with WITP is limited but one of my good Japanese opponent tried to Invade India in May of 1942. My experience was that what was a good idea in March of 1942 was not such a good idea in May.

For these reasosn. Upon taking Burma and stopping, Japan assures that aside from air combat, India and the British are really out of the war for at least a year. They just don't have the carriers and transport for any sort of attack but a land attack and this really can not be done. Invading India in May of 1942 ensures that the Allied player gets to use his British forces and airforce to attrit Japan. If Japan invades India in May, then the Allies, (assuming they have their carriers) are strong enough to make major attacks in the Central and South Pacific.

To invade India calls for Japan to commit KB and major surface forces in support. By May or June of 1942, the American and Australians have plenty of troops and ships to make mischef in the Pacific. My opponent hit India in May and had plenty of initial sucess. However, with five American carriers and two British in the Pacific, I invaded and retook Guadacanal, Port Morsby and Tarawa. If the Americans hold those places in July 1942, they are not going to lose them again.

Once my opponent realized that India was his a fat "tar baby" that he had stuck his foot in, he gradually quit sending me turns and dissapeared.

One note, I almost always send American bomber and fighter cadres to India early in the game. It was hard to do in WITP but easy in AE due to Cape Town. I had three squadrons of P39s and three of mauraders en route from the East Coast on day one and they are just beginning to arrive in Cape Town in mid January of one of my games. Sometimes I send some heavy bombers or convert one of the maurader squadorns to LB 30s. This allows you to start a serious air campaign vs Japan at an early date and forces Japan to commit first line fighter units to Burma. The P39s are not great but they can handle any Japanese plane other than the zero and then convert to lightings. If you can hold or retake Aykab then you can slam Rangoon.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: crsutton
Once my opponent realized that India was his a fat "tar baby" that he had stuck his foot in, he gradually quit sending me turns and dissapeared.

imho the art of playing the Japanese side is to know when the point has arrived to quit your big offensives and defend what you have achieved until game ends.

ive seen this a couple of times that people confuse tactical offensive capabilities with strategic overall capability.
as Japanese its nearly always better to have the "gut" feeling when to stop and not stumble over it by beeing stopped by the first Great Allied Counter...


easier said than done though... [:D]