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

[Fishbed]

ORIGINAL: aztez


Fishbed: At the moment there are around 300av behind level 5 fortifications so it wohn't be walk in the park operation for the japanese.

Also, I have now sizeable lba support in this region which is building up as we speak so these will start hammering his forces soon.

Additional ground units will also be deployed but not sure whether it is worth the effort to send them into Dutch Harbour though.

The base is not the key here at least not to my opinion. I can retake it later on easily.

The good thing is that now that he has moved into Aleutians I have another "playground" where to train my bombers. I have been lacking this opportunity for an quite an while.

To summarize things. No, he is not getting foothold into Aleutians easily by no means.

Well basing LBs in Dutch Harbor allows you to bomb him into submission as far as Attu and Kiska with B-24 from my experience in the thousand miles war scenario. You can also pretty well outmanoeuver him out there when he's being busy elsewhere without the need of CV aircover. I'd develop Dutch Harbor into a real airbase as quickly as possible, I like it a lot [:)]

Then you'll have to invade quickly, or he'll evacuate as soon as he sees the uselessness of such an area, that is only giving you a good reason to develop bases to strike him afterwards up there in the north.

[aztez]

Fishbed: The Dutch Harbour is an good base as you stated. At the moment it has 0/0 in terms of airfield. I have left it intentionally at this state since if he lands there he can expect an overwhelming airstrikes by US bomber crews.

I have mutually supporting airbases a bit down in the rear with solid fighter and bomber core.

This doesn't mean that I wohn't build it up. No, I need lba training grounds and Aleutians will serve its purpose here.

I just want him to come a bit deeper towards Alaska itself.
?
Smeulders: Yeah, haven't seen much on this issue on statements how important it is to train. I have taken this into heart and my experience levels are building up very nicely all around the map.

Even with these carrier losses I still do have +65 experience levels to distribute. I have lost aircraft but that much in terms of pilots.

[aztez]

Burma (september 29th - 30th 1942)


As promised here is the picture from Burma. Not much has happened here either in past couple of months.

Recon shows heavy enemy fighter stacks at Magwe and most likely he has more in surrounding bases as well.

The oilfield still has some 120 operational points so I guess he deems that important enough to guard.

RAF is getting strong though and a lot of aircrews have arrived lately.

Same can be said about ground combat units as well.

[aztez]

Aleutians (september 29th - 30th 1942)


Quiet turn. The japanese invasion armada has vanished along with KB.

I have my heavy bombers on standby here ready to unleash their fury.

It seems that the only casualty will be CV Wasp. She is limping towards safety but has 93 in flooding points but no fires. I doubt she will make it.

The TF is set on cruise speed so that the damage would not accumulate as fast.

Other ships involved in this operation should be fine. Thus meaning that the only operational loss will be CV Wasp.

[Smeulders]

Are you sending it to Cold Bay to pump it out, or is it going somewhere further ? It might still be attacked by KB there or never get repaired, but it still seems better than a near certain sinking going somewhere else.

In Burma you might try some air attacks in the small units in Akyab, in the world defence/domination AAR some small units were completely eliminated by RAF air attacks.

[cfulbright]

I agree with Smeulders.  Send the CV Wasp to Cold Bay first to try to repair some damage before sending it on to next base for fuller repairs.
 
Good luck with this!

[yeknod]

Wow! What thoroughly enthralling and engrossing AAR to read. Thanks for sharing aztez.. and thanks to all the other contributors as well. As a Newb trying to learn the ropes there is so much info and advice shared, so many questions. I really enjoy how you gather a plan together and go for it! Your opponent seems very skilled.

I think what I have gained is "preserve those early war assets eg CVs at all costs" and do anything to split that KB into smaller bits. Hit and run, needle like strikes here and there to keep him running around and keep some semblance of initiative.. but what do I know?! I've hardly got past the "why is my unit only moving 2 miles a day" point of learning this game.

All the best with the future moves... can't wait to see what happens when the tide turns. I expect I might chuckle some more.

I bought some books on this Theatre and started the QC scenario on the strength of the shared enthusiasm of this thread.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Welcome to the community yeknod , aztez style of AAR's is an excellent learning tool for both sides as well as getting a feeling for the overall game. GC are daunting at first easpecially as Japan.. im tentativly learning that.

Aztez - and kick my butt ??? have you no faith ? [:D] We mutually agreed a draw to spare the last 14 days of tedium as japan rules the waves completely now [;)] BB mushai had a great duel with the BB idaho [;)].. only problem is i cant re arm her so shes in port for the duration now.

Back on topic , yes aleutian training ground sounds like a v v good plan also can you gather enough men to strike down the coast to get akyab ? useful base to hit rangoon when its built.

[Fishbed]

also Fishbed , nice too see a japanese player adding to the mix here, good to see some more old WitP players here

Thx Rob, although I am some sort of a wanderer (some call it a turncoat [:D]) when it comes to choose a side. I am always rallying for the side offering the most interesting challenge [;)]

[LoBaron]

Hehe, well Rob mutually calls it a draw but thats more because hes a nice guy than anything else. [:D]
The only reason why its not a total desaster is that the scenario limitations keep him from exploiting the
tactical situation too much.
 
Hows the major dmg on Wasp? I too think making intermediate repairs at Cold Bay is probably the only way to save her
although an Allied CV with 90+ floatation dmg IS possible. Does erstad already have any float planes up there?
If not, KB and the occasional CA/BB based floatplane is his only means of recon up there so theres a chance he doesnt even
know that shes there.
 
I like the idea to retake Akyab with the prospect of threatening Rangoon. Only thing is that IIRC he made a naval invasion there
so theres probably still quite an ammount of forces nearby. Can you put a force together without weakening the area around Calcutta too much?
 
 

[aztez]

We managed to 4 turns yesterday so I will post an monthly update tonight.
 
So we are nearing mid October 1942 at the moment. More about when I get off from work.
 
Smeulders: CV Wasp is actually heading into Kodiak. There is an bigger port with better faciliaties there.
 
There is no sign of KB nor any of his battleships. Only report I got was statement that couple of my submarines were attacked by carrier aircraft near Tokyo.
 
Yeah, I will increase the pressure in Burma along with other areas. The ground bombing missions seem to be more effective with AE.
 
There is actually an single AK propably loading troops up at Akyab and I assume he is withdrawing out of there.
 
cfullbright: Thanks. I decieded to send it into Kodiak. The carrier is still floating so just maybe she can survive.
 
yeknod: Thank you & Welcome. He is definately skilled but than again I knew what I was up againts before I started. Even Dave said that he has improved quite a lot since the classic witp where he kicked me around too initially.
 
At the moment this are somewhat "quiet" allthough we will see operations but not in the scale that are planned for later on. Once the steamroller goes forward it will be full charge until 1946.
 
Carriers are very important early and intact fleet can slow him down. I know he would not have moved so far ahead had he not sunk those 2 early on. Even if we lose CV Wasp than we will have +10 carriers available in the summer of 1943.
 
Now it is time to start using LBA assets though.
 
Good to hear! [:)] ...the same actually happened to me in the classic witp. I bought Shattered Sword and couple other books after reading these forums. Maybe the biggest thing was that I continued playing when I was just about to give the game up.
 
After some AI games decieded to jump into PBEM and never looked back. I have been very fortunate to several nice and reliable opponents down the road. Learned a lot from all of them.
 
As for the read definately thanks to all the contributors. Just goes to show how many diffrent strategies and ideas you can have.
 
Rob: Eherm, you as japanese will be intresting! [:D] ..might give it whirl too once I get around to it. I did actually load up the AI game and did the first turn with the empire. It is diffrent and just haven't had the time to read about economy stuff yet. There are many threads about it.
 
As allied side I need "training grounds" and Aleutians will fit the bill. I have actually quite a few squadrons already up there and best thing about this hasn't reduced my power elsewhere.
 
Akyab will be seized when practical. Don't want to get too cocky though since it will only you burned. Humble is the key word here.
 
Fishbed: [:D][:D]
 
LoBaron: Don't feel too bad! Once the grand campaing get rolling there will fumbles all around and I think you guys will have an even clash.
 
The damage is still at 92% and she is limping towards safety. If CV Wasp survives she wohn't ready for action until 1944.
 
There are no float planes around nor haven't I seen the large scale invasion fleet anymore. Keeping my bombers ready though but no need to launch any strikes before we have big enough targets. I want to let him think that Aleutians are up for the taking.
 
Akyab can be build into level 6 airfield and will serve as an solid airbase. However, we need to wait a bit (I do have the ground troops ready) but first I want to take care few other of my ideas.
 
 

[yeknod]

Quiet is good? He's running out of puff, trying to reorganise, rebuild and restock? Hit him somewhere tender!

I don't want to get off topic too much but re: China. Although the losses are horrific and won't bring much solace but doesn't this reflect a country in almost civil war as well as facing an invader?

[Fishbed]

There is actually an single AK propably loading troops up at Akyab and I assume he is withdrawing out of there.

No possibility of nuisance raids along the coast with some British DDs? If you can come back under air umbrella at dawn betties won't like that.

[aztez]

yeknod: Quiet compared to what can be expected! [:D] . Patience + Humble = Those are the key words for now. No need to go into "Banzai" charges. Lets let him come to us.
 
The losses have been horrific but still some 15000av worth of infantry. As for the civil war I don't the game takes that into account.
 
Fishbed: Not before the heavy enemy fighter presence in Burma has been dealt with.
 
Royal Navy battleship fleet is resting at Bombay.
 
 

[aztez]

Pacific (October 1st - 6th 1942)

As said we have advanced few turns. Relatively quiet around the map.

Allied carriers are in ports going through refits and repairs.

The normal turn update cycle will continue but here are the usual monthly pics from the game.

[aztez]

Allied fighter pools...

[aztez]

Allied bomber pools...

[aztez]

Allied top aces...

[aztez]

Allied pilot replacement pools...

[Yamato_Blitzer]

Someone said it looked like you might be done for in this game. I really can't see how that's 100% possible. If Dave captures all of OZ, that does create a problem, but you're still in the game. You still hold India, if Dave had captured that THEN I would honestly say you've had it.

Looks like that naval battle about broke even. Considering that Japanese pilot skill is going to drop and you get more carriers anyways, that was actually quite surprising, in A2A battles you really seemed to waste him (I guess your flak would have wasted him too), those figures can be generally believed, "give or take". The fact that you more or less "Broke even" or if it was only a minor victory for him as someone else suggested, that tells me you're moving up from the string of major defeats you suffered constantly. Things are looking up. Good luck on finshing up 1942 Aztez.