Where do you send.......

[HansBolter]

Where do you send the British/Comonwealth troops that start the game shipboard enroute to Singapore and Rangoon?

Is it good strategy to send them to Batavia to prolong the conflict there and tie up the Japanese war machine? Or, will they just get steamrollered there?

Where can they be of the most use?

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter
Is it good strategy to send them to Batavia to prolong the conflict there and tie up the Japanese war machine? Or, will they just get steamrollered there?

Bad idea, they'll just end up in a POW camp.

Where can they be of the most use?

Well, I figure Darwin, Ceylon, India, or maybe Burma.

From what I see of trying to defend Burma the issue isn't just ground troops, but the crushing air superiority the Japanese have at the time. Also Ceylon is very bare if you look. So I'd send em there, personally.

[DivePac88]

Ceylon, Madras, or Calcutta, any further forward than that, they will be ineffectual.

[vlcz]

In PBEM I´agree with Divepac, , If your play against the AI , Java for sure.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: vlcz

In PBEM I´agree with Divepac, , If your play against the AI , Java for sure.

Forgot to mention it's an AI game. Probably going to be quite a while before I make the leap to a PBEM game.

Was thinking I could tie up the AI at Java for a while with a full division of British troops in Batavia.

[Kriegsspieler]

In my opinion, Java is not a great idea even against the AI, because it's going to be difficult to evacuate those units to anywhere useful. And eventually the Japanese WILL take Java. Australia is adequately defended already, once you put the Aussie divisions together and the Americans start showing up, but the UK needs those units to keep the Japanese from pushing through burma too easily. So my vote would be definitively for re-routing those reinforcements toward Rangoon or Calcutta.

[John Lansford]

I've got the Aussie division dug in at Burma along with a lot of British and Indian units, but I did send a later brigade to Darwin and Timor to try and hold onto a base there.  Didn't help; the AI eventually isolated the western port on Timor to where I couldn't get supplies there regularly, and then moved two full divisions across country to the base and took it after a 2 week siege.  It did slow them down and cost them a lot of men and ships (ABDA cruisers sortied from Darwin sank several TF's worth of transports there) but eventually they got the base.

[rockmedic109]

Send the smaller unit to Port Blair.  Gateway to the Indian Ocean.

[canuck64]

just curious, not to hijack the thread-has anyone ever tried to stubbornly defend Java/Indonesia before?

I'm just wondering whether or not it can be practically attempted. I see ways the Allies can tie up most of the Japanese navy enough to allow India-sponsored supplies in still -to buttress a stand.

2-3 full strength adequate (not talking the uniformed cooks at 10/20/30 experience)... divisions should be able to frustrate the japanese for some time-I should think you can scrape that up.

much depends on how much the allies got stung on Dec 7 I should think. But I'd be willing it'd be neat struggle. Lotsa navy unpredictables, but as allies I think you should be able to interdict, quite a lot-even if with subs....

anyone tried? Or is it just assumed the Japanese steamroll is inevitable? until the japanese player builds up additional airfields/or substantially protect fallen Singapore with AA assets, I think I could make things interesting.....

Of course it's ABDA reinforcing KNIL, but the fact you cannot move the blasted KNIL's off anyway suggests supporting them in a stand....just as much as it does cut/rut. Or am I wrong?

I'd think it merits an effort to try sometime. Anyone done it?

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: vlcz

In PBEM I´agree with Divepac, , If your play against the AI , Java for sure.

Forgot to mention it's an AI game. Probably going to be quite a while before I make the leap to a PBEM game.

Was thinking I could tie up the AI at Java for a while with a full division of British troops in Batavia.

As a concerted Java defense, these troops can be pivotal. They are necessary, but insufficient for the defense of Java against the AI. You ALSO need airpower, maybe some carrier support, other dutch LCUs, supply aplenty and backup / fallback bases. IF you get these in order, then a Java defense can be effective against the AI. Without all together, Java will likely not stand.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: canuck64

just curious, not to hijack the thread-has anyone ever tried to stubbornly defend Java/Indonesia before?

I'm just wondering whether or not it can be practically attempted. I see ways the Allies can tie up most of the Japanese navy enough to allow India-sponsored supplies in still -to buttress a stand.

2-3 full strength adequate (not talking the uniformed cooks at 10/20/30 experience)... divisions should be able to frustrate the japanese for some time-I should think you can scrape that up.

much depends on how much the allies got stung on Dec 7 I should think. But I'd be willing it'd be neat struggle. Lotsa navy unpredictables, but as allies I think you should be able to interdict, quite a lot-even if with subs....

anyone tried? Or is it just assumed the Japanese steamroll is inevitable? until the japanese player builds up additional airfields/or substantially protect fallen Singapore with AA assets, I think I could make things interesting.....

Of course it's ABDA reinforcing KNIL, but the fact you cannot move the blasted KNIL's off anyway suggests supporting them in a stand....just as much as it does cut/rut. Or am I wrong?

I'd think it merits an effort to try sometime. Anyone done it?

Canuck64,

I effectively stopped the IJN / IJA (versus the AI) at Java in April 1942. I stopped playing against the AI when it became clear that it was doing increasingly boneheaded moves to keep trying to take Java. By the time I destroyed 4 IJA divisions at sea (or on land) and sank 440+ ships, the shooting gallery had lost its luster. When I quit the game, Java was still quite secure. It can be done, but you do need to commit to an active and deep defense on the island.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Kriegsspieler
And eventually the Japanese WILL take Java.

Against the AI this is not a certainty. I disagree.