New Japanese FanBoy! MikeC(Jap) vs. RyanO(Allied)

[nashvillen]

I hope I have this setup right and it will create a new thread in the right place. Ryan needs to stay out as I will be sharing stuff that he should not be reading...

Ryan as the allies had challenged me to a WITP:AE game last year at Origins. I told him I had never done anything as the Japanese and had heard the economics for AE was going to be very intense and detailed. This intrigued me...

Well, here I am, now with v1097, learning the Japanese economy as we go. I will be sharing my "oh crap, I didn't think of that" moments along with my very well laid ambushes for the allies.

I will, over the next week or so, go back over my combat reports that I have and give details in a chronological order and recap the first 75 turns we have done.

[nashvillen]

Wheeeee... It worked...

[rjopel]

Good luck my friend. You may have started off well but we all know how the story is going to end.

[Mike Solli]

Good luck, Mike. Those "oh crap, I didn't think of that" moments just never seem to go away.

If I can offer a bit of advise, go slow, don't overextend and conserve your combat power as long as you can.

Oh yeah, and have a blast!

[Mynok]

They go away. They are replaced by 'Holy Crap!' moments......[:D]

[topeverest]

Yea, the "I can't believe I made that F...-n mistake again' moments definately happen to me.

Good hunting.

[nashvillen]

7 DEC 41 to 14 DEC 41:
We have started with the historical first turn so the usual attacks on PH happen. I had planned on loitering in the PH area at the fringes of Kate torpedo range to make a full shambles of the US surface fleet, since I went to all the trouble to be here anyways. Ships sunk during the first half of the week at PH according to my combat reports and later admitted to:

7 DEC: BB Nevada, BB Pennsylvania, BB Arizona, CL Detroit, CL Phoenix, several DDs and other misc shipping.
8 DEC: BB Colorado, BB Oklahoma, BB Tennessee, along with several DDs and other misc shipping.

The Maryland and West Virginia were hit numerous times according to my pilots with both torpedoes and bombs. But, we all know how accurate pilot reports can be while in combat. In the last 75 days there have been no further reports of Allied BBs in our operation areas. Overall, though, I am happy with the results.

It should be noted that orders to the KB to shift targets orders from Port to Naval was not done until we saw an allied carrier group sail right past us and no aircraft were launched. Queries to VADM Nagumo revealed that his orders to attack port targets only were never rescinded. One of many OCMs (Oh, crap moment) I have had during the game!

Also, the KB ran into the CA Indianapolis and minesweeper task force and it was promptly run off by my surface combatants with severe damage to them and with little effective damage to the carriers although I did have an increased pucker factor when a CA was firing on my CVs. Kaga is still running around with a (major) hit on her engine but is still turning mission speeds with the rest of her sisters. I just need to find time to detach her and send her to the shipyard for repair.

The Wake invasion force, again, another OCM, ran into the Enterprise CV group and was severely damaged with the CLs Yubari, Tenryu, and Tatsuta sunk along with some other ships. Wake was not taken until well into January and it will cost both sides more ships, but more on that later.

Tarawa, Ocean Island, and Nauru were all taken this first week in an Island hopping campaign. Some merchant ships were lost from a cruiser overrun of one of these forces. OCM. Need to remember to escort all invasion forces for those sneaky, very fast, allied cruisers.

The Malaysia campaign starts with the Repulse falling victim to the Nells and Bettys from Indochina, but the POW escaping to later succumbing to the ocean on her way to England two weeks later as I had no submarine units near Cocos Island. Advancement in Malaysia is slowed due to my mismanagement of my troops and not reading the hex boundary lines correctly. As such, by the middle of February I am still slogging my way towards Singapore, but expect it to fall before the end of the month.

In China I start by having a goal to clear all enemy forces out of the cultivated areas and beyond my Rail lines as they are necessary for strategic reinforcement of my forces. This is a short term goal with a long term goal of capturing major industrial and resource centers to starve the remaining Chinese forces left. Hopefully this will allow me to keep what I have and remove some of my forces for elsewhere as needed.

Initial landings in Luzon go well and my learning about moving troops and other support units from my mistakes in Malaysia is working well.
The end of this week also shows invasions of Kuching and Miri in Borneo occurring. Also, it should be noted that the Hibiki visited Kuching and picked up a certain Burmese Blood Python.

I am beginning to wonder if I have bitten off more than I can chew… We shall see!

[gladiatt]

Just popin'in to say you have a new reader [:)] !

[nashvillen]

15 DEC to 21 DEC 1941:

This week finds the air forces on Luzon being suppressed. A second landing at Legasoi is established and Naga falls. There are a lot of ASW and sub attacks around the landing zones in the north. I will give an overview of submarine and ASW operations at the end of the review as it is a whole campaign issue instead of a localized event.
In Malaysia my forces are just starting to get themselves straightened out and are attacking like they should have been the first week. We discover rail movement and have the 1st Guards Div return to Battanbang to board the trains for the trip to Bangkok.

In China the bombardment of Hong Kong begins. I will use the pattern of bombarding a location for about a week then do an assault, then bombard for a about a week, then assault, rinse and repeat as necessary to capture large targets. I have more artillery ammo than I have men. Kweiteh and other non-base locations in the cultivated areas fall and the Chinese forces are in retreat. One rail link opened several more to go.

My KB, Jr, as I am calling the CVE’s and CVL’s not in the KB, is escorting a second attempt on Wake Island and has several air battles with the Wake defenders with mixed results. Wake is also bombarded by Hyuga, Fuso, and Nagato. There is an invasion force approaching the Island.

KB is moving to the area between Wake and Truk to position itself where it can support expansions in the south of Truk and operations around Wake.

[nashvillen]

22 DEC – 28 DEC 41 (Very busy week!)

Mindanao:
The invasion of Mindanao begins with the capture of Davao.

Luzon:
Ground troops advance towards San Fernando and capture it by the end of the week. Surface engagement near Vigan results in the CA Ashigara taking one torpedo from a PT Q-113 and promptly sinking even though my formation crossed the ‘T’ and should have creamed every last one of the pesky PT boats. By the end of the week Zeros on naval attack at 100 feet have virtually eliminated this from being an issue again. I have a feeling I will be seeing more of these as the game goes on and will remember the “Zero Solution”. Air superiority is obtained and the allies abandon Luzon with their air forces from what I can see. Catbalogan on Samar is captured.

China:
Hong Kong defenses are reduced to 0 and then captured by the end of the week. Various combats towards goals in China proper are victorious.

Malaysia:
Alor Star and Brunei are captured. This was where I first tried to do maneuvering of ground forces and screwed things up pretty badly, but I am straightening things out here. It may delay the capture of Singapore by two weeks or more. I am going to try to step up the tempo elsewhere to make up for it and make sure I have forces in place to take Samatra and Java shortly after Singapore falls to make up for lost time.

Wake Is.:
Air strikes are minimally effective and my invasion from the previous week was too little to dislodge the USMC. There is some naval bombardment also here that is somewhat effective, but not enough for the ground forces here as they are very disorganized and lost too many getting to the Island. While the below naval engagements at Borneo are happening on Christmas Day there is a major Air/Naval engagement around Wake Is.

KB has been positioned to the East of Wake Is., expecting a response by the US Navy with their carriers and they were not disappointed. Even with Severe Storms in the area, 92 Japanese aircraft find the CV Saratoga and 7 escorting DDs. The Saratoga takes 3 torpedo hits and is reported to have heavy fires and damage. Six of the seven DDs are reported hit and severely damaged. Later that day nine Kates find the Saratoga limping home with three DDs. The Saratoga and two DDs are sunk. Also, later that day 56 aircraft find the other three DDs left over and in light rain cause no visible damage to these ships.

Borneo:
Surface combat action near Singkawang, DD Hatsuharu and two PBs protect some transports from some marauding allied naval units (CLs Danae, Dragon, and Durban, along with 6xDDs). No transports are lost, but the covering force is lost. Later that day, my covering task force formed around the Kongo and Haruna and including the DD Hibiki (and a python) finds the same task force. The Dragon and Durban are reported sunk along with the DD Express. Later that same day the Kongo and Haruna task force is engaged by another Allied TF formed around the Exter, no extensive damage is done to either side. It should be noted, during this series of naval engagements that the Hibiki did launch torpedoes but there were no reported hits by them.

On the other side of the island near Tarakan an invasion force is ambushed by CA Houston, CL Marblehead, and CL Bosie along with 9xDDs. Two PBs and two xAKs are lost. It should be noted that the invasion forces from this TF do get ashore and start the capture of Tarakan.

[Mike Solli]

If you need to send another invasion force for Wake, I recommend the SNLF and a Naval Guard.  Combined, they should take it with no problem.
 
That's great news snagging the Sara this early!

[Mike Solli]

If you need to send another invasion force for Wake, I recommend the SNLF and a Naval Guard.  Combined, they should take it with no problem.
 
That's great news snagging the Sara this early!

[Frandoxxx]

This is a great AAR so far. I would have been willing to give up body parts if I had been given the opportunity to take out one of the US carriers in December 41 in either of my PBEM games [:D]

[nashvillen]

Actually, I sunk two in that exchange as I find out later. I am currenlty on a crunch in development on another game right now and am limited on what I can do, but I have all the reports and will catch up and then give more details later.

Thanks for reading!