Amis vs Aussies - World Domination(no jrcar or Tony)

[jwilkerson]

25 April - 1 May 1942

Overall I must apologize for not posting for several days - but among other things I've been spending much of the time I have for AE in trying to help get patch 02 issues resolved - that and actually playing the turns - so less cycles for posting about the turns.

Java
The 25 Army is approached Madang, the final hold out of the Dutch. Nik is chipping away at them. He may take out the Dutch stack before I get there. But I'm rushing to help regardless.

Luzon
I'm trying to take Bataan and then start moving towards Manilla. Luzon is a mop up job - but the Allies have 40 or so units left on Luzon and most of them will wind up in Manilla so they will take some killin' - so much for the "Open City" !!!

Burma
Blenheims killed an IJA artillery unit stationary in the jungle in combat mode in 2 turns - a harbinger of things to come!

China
Need to do a screen shot - but nothing much has actually changed - just a bit of moving around.

But here is a screen shot of our "victory screen" at (almost) the end of April. Makes an interesting comparison to Cuttlefish's data from the same period.

[BigBadWolf]

That's a lot of sunk Japanese ships. Can you cope with such losses?

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

25 April - 1 May 1942

Luzon
I'm trying to take Bataan and then start moving towards Manilla. Luzon is a mop up job - but the Allies have 40 or so units left on Luzon and most of them will wind up in Manilla so they will take some killin' - so much for the "Open City" !!!

Curious. I've seen lots of rediculous JFB schemes proposed to make the Allies lose PP's for doing or not doing something---but here we have a legitimate area for a penalty and no-one seems to bother. MacArthur deliberately declared Manilla an "open city" to spare the Filipino population the horrors of a Stalingrad-like defense. It was a political decision if ever there was one..., yet nobody ever seems to suggest a PP penalty for doing so.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson


Burma
Blenheims killed an IJA artillery unit stationary in the jungle in combat mode in 2 turns - a harbinger of things to come!

have they really killed it or is it just in a very poor state? Is it possible to really kill a unit with bomber attacks?

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: castor troy
have they really killed it or is it just in a very poor state? Is it possible to really kill a unit with bomber attacks?

I use "kill" in the game sense. At the end of the first turn - the previously full strength unit was down to about 20% of its squads/devices and 100% of those were disrupted. At the end of the second turn, the unit was no longer on the map. So while in real world terms, I'm sure there are some stranglers somewhere, in game terms the unit is 100% gone.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: castor troy
have they really killed it or is it just in a very poor state? Is it possible to really kill a unit with bomber attacks?

I use "kill" in the game sense. At the end of the first turn - the previously full strength unit was down to about 20% of its squads/devices and 100% of those were disrupted. At the end of the second turn, the unit was no longer on the map. So while in real world terms, I'm sure there are some stranglers somewhere, in game terms the unit is 100% gone.

wow! I was thinking of game terms and am surprised it is 100% gone as this means you can´t rebuild it as units that are gone are gone forever. Save a squad and you can rebuild it. Sounds like a hard time for small units, if they are targetted by the routine then say good bye to them if they are hit hard.

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: castor troy
At what altitude is he using his Hurricanes? There were many posts already that the best thing you can do is using your fighters on max ceiling. The one that can go higher usually won with abnormal kill rates. Regarding those posts, AE created more or less stratosphere fighter clashes.

if this question is directed at me - it seems that my opponents (Tony I think) are flying their buzzsaws at about 10K as well - at least that is the altitude we are fighting at.

I've seen all the posts about high altitude effects - I just can't say our testing validates those ideas - hence I've shifted my thinking to range as the primary culprit for what I'm seeing in our game.

long Range trumps the sweep advantage though it will be less unsuccessful than long range escort.

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: BigBadWolf

That's a lot of sunk Japanese ships. Can you cope with such losses?

In the long run....no. Joe and I are trying to meet in order to discuss our remaining "options" which are largely defensive ones at this point. We are way behind the historical curve as well and our competant opponents have used the time earned by maximizing the delay power of their positions in Java/Timor and the PI's to stuff most of the forward bases that were historically points of contention in mid 42. (Darwin.....PM.....Suva....etc) Burma, as usual, is a pretty much a lost cause. We are spreading out defensively to try to slow the effects of mass airpower there.

Our only trump card outside of China is our intact KB vs. the two CV's lost (mainly by bad luck) to the other side. But it's primary effect at this point is as a deterrent to an immediate counter-offensive at sea. With the bulk of our troops still committed to Burma/SRA our initiative is largely a "paper tiger" at this point. I've already pretty much written off the Solomons and am thinking an interior defense line with a developed string of airbases preped to defend against a push back into the SRA.

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: castor troy
if they are targetted by the routine then say good bye to them if they are hit hard.

Well the unit in question - was the only unit in the hex - so I wouldn't blame "the routine". They had been sitting still "hunkered down" (in combat mode) in the Jungle for several turns - but apparently finally got spotted by recon assets - and then the Blenheim "uber bombers" [:D] rolled in and blew the unit off the map! We've seen similar results in play testing many months ago - but I thought we'd added in some things like terrain effects (which we were surprised to learn did not exist in the original game) - but apparently it is still quite possible to blow units off the map relatively easily. I'm sure it will get worse once the real uber bombers show up and greater numbers and start hitting ground units. Will see see whole brigades and divisions disappear in a turn or so? Hopefully not - but we might need to make further enhancements to the terrain effects to mitigate!

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: BigBadWolf

That's a lot of sunk Japanese ships. Can you cope with such losses?

Actually the vast majority of the "sunk ships" are tiny ones. We have lost a few CL and DD but nothing larger - oh except for one CA killed by the "uber PTs". But yes mostly a lot of AKL and PB otherwise. AE has a LOT more "ships" than WITP - so comparisons with WITP ship loss rates are probably not valid. Note the Allies have lost even more "ships" - but again - the vast majority of those are tiny ones as well. Their only significant losses are 1 CV we are sure about - and another possible CV.

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl
MacArthur deliberately declared Manilla an "open city" to spare the Filipino population the horrors of a Stalingrad-like defense.

We could have had a house rule to cover Manilla - but we did not and we do not - so - it is forward to Manilla-grad !!!
[:D]

[Nikademus]

Can't be any worse than the entire Dutch army abandoning all it's cities, resources and citizens to hole up in the mountains for the express purpose of delaying the Japanese as long as possible not for their own benie, but for that of distant Yanks and Australians. [:D]

someday in a future wargame there might be a better system that faces players with pros and cons of strategic decisions that touch political issues...but it won't be this game. [:D]

Into the jewel of the PI's.....prepare to be bulldozed. We should take it by Sept. [:D]

[jwilkerson]

1-2 May 1942

Burma
This was absolutely the most hilarious turn to date - when I looked and to my surprise saw ... [:D][:D][:D]

[Mike Solli]

So, did he drive them off? [:D]

[khyberbill]

Did Japan have radar in May of 42 at the front lines?

[Zacktar]

Oscar pilot's thought bubble:

If I get out of this some how, I swear I'm gonna kill the radar guy!

[:D]

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill
Did Japan have radar in May of 42 at the front lines?

At first I thought maybe "radar" was a generic name for "observer" (i.e. MK-I Eyeball Device) which is what the vast majority of the IJA Aviation Units have at this point - but lo and behold there is one unit - the 1st JAAF which actually seems to have "Ray-Dar". And this unit just happens to be at Magwe - the base in question!

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus

Can't be any worse than the entire Dutch army abandoning all it's cities, resources and citizens to hole up in the mountains for the express purpose of delaying the Japanese as long as possible not for their own benie, but for that of distant Yanks and Australians. [:D]

I hated to see this "strategy".

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

But here is a screen shot of our "victory screen" at (almost) the end of April. Makes an interesting comparison to Cuttlefish's data from the same period.

Hm, yes. Your game has been a bit bloodier on both sides, especially in aircraft lost. But both games are roughly in the same range, probably what is "average" for AE so far.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

1-2 May 1942

Burma
This was absolutely the most hilarious turn to date - when I looked and to my surprise saw ... [:D][:D][:D]

Reminds me of the ancient Cheech and Chong routine.

Oscar pilot: Honorable General, sir, are you out of your ******* mind?