Last Stand at San Diego (no Richard please)

[ADB123]

December 24, 1942 -

There was no Night Action, and there was no Day Action, until the end of the turn when a Japanese Raider Regiment paradropped onto and captured the empty Celebes base Loewoek. My opponent has been using his Raiders to pick up the odds-and-ends empty bases in the DEI and PI so that he doesn't have his troops wasted on amphibious landings.

The first of two Troop Convoys reached Oz this turn. It took 51 days from the time I set the troops to “Strategic” mode on the West Coast until they arrived. And that was with using the fastest large Transport Ships that I have.

And I sent two more large, empty Troop Transport TFs out from the West Coast this turn. They will pick up two Marine Divisions and move them to their jumping off points for their Summer Assaults.

BTW – I also set orders for more 4E attacks next turn; I can't let my opponent get too complacent.

[ADB123]

December 25, 1942 -

Once again there was no Night Action, and also no Day Action. Rain washed out planned Allied bomber attacks all across the Pacific – in the Western Aleutians, in Australia, in India, and in the Indian Ocean.

When the Game Engine doesn't want you to fly, it REALLY doesn't want you to fly.

Otherwise, it was just a case of unloading troops in many locations.

BTW – my Fleet Subs are starting to reach their Patrol Positions, and the amount of Japanese Air Search in the various locations is quite amazing. My subs can't seem to sail anywhere around PNG, the Solomons, Malaya, or the DEI without being scouted daily. It's a good thing that I'm not planning any Surface Naval moves in those regions.

[ADB123]

December 26, 1942 -

There was no Night Action again this turn, but Daylight did see Allied Bomber Attacks fly.

First off were the USAAF Liberators and Fortresses from India that hammered the undefended Air Fields at Myitkyina.

Then 25 B-24Ds flew to Onnekotan-jima and attacked the island's Air Field. They were met by 6 Ki-43-II Oscars. Unlike the Wildcats, the Liberators made short work of the Japanese fighters and blasted past to hit the Airfield where an Oscar was destroyed on the Ground.

Finally, British Liberator IIs flew to Port Blair where they were met by a handful of A6M2s. The Zeros blasted the Brit-Libs, shooting down 3 of them and causing the Brits to miss their target. I've now set down the Lib IIs and intend to use them for Long Range Search from now on.

In other news, Japanese troops are marching towards Noumea, so my opponent is obviously calling my bluff down there in the South Pacific. I pulled out the Catalinas, but the small USA BF and the French defenders will have to stand alone. There also happens to be a non-trivial portion of the KB nearby, so I am not considering any sort of counter-attack.

Oh well, those Japanese troops in New Caledonia won't be in the Kuriles when they are needed there.

[ADB123]

December 27, 1942 -

There was no Night Action again, and no Day Action until the end of the day when USS S-44 attempted to sneak up on a small Japanese Transport TF at Onnekotan-jima. The US sub was spotted by a couple of the PB and SC escorts in the Japanese TF and chased away, although the Japanese ASW ships didn't catch the US sub.

Otherwise, more Troops arrived in Oz and various Allied forces continued to move into position along the Indo-Burmese border, in the Western Aleutions, and along the Fronts in Australia. It will still be several weeks before any serious advances begin, so for now I am continuing to send out 4E nuisance raids just to keep my opponent on his toes.

BTW – more Japanese Fighters showed up in Paramushiro-jima and Onnekotan-jima, so my opponent is taking my Bombing raids a bit more seriously now.

[ADB123]

December 28, 1942 -

The Night Phase saw S-44 hit an SC with some dud torpedoes at Onnekotan-jima. The SC replied with non-dud depth charges and sent S-44 back to Port with non-trivial damage. The SC was defending a Transport TF, so it is too bad that S-44 couldn't get to at least one of the xAKs in the TF. Oh well, another US sub is on its way to take the place of S-44.

Daylight brought a change of pace – a large Japanese Army Air Force Bombing attack on a Chinese Infantry unit that has been sitting in the woods one hex east of Changsha. The initial bombing attack consisted of 27 Sally IIas, 8 Lily Ibs, 19 Lily IIas, and an escort of 8 Oscar Ics. The attack caused a few disablements, but no significant damage. This was followed by a few more Sally IIas, but they didn't hit their target.

However, this is likely a harbinger of things to come, because it appears that there are some Japanese troops on the march towards that Chinese unit and onwards to Changsha. Changsha is pretty well defended, but I am moving a few more rested-up big Chinese Infantry units to the region, just in case this turns into a serious attempt by my opponent to open things up in China.

Elsewhere, B-17s and B-24s hit the undefended Air Base at Magwe and hammered the Air Field and Runways quite nicely. I am departing from my usual pattern and have ordered the same bombers to hit the Japanese Infantry unit to the southeast of Akyab next turn, instead of standing-down the 4Es. I need to start to soften up those Japanese troops in a regular manner because I expect to begin the move on Akyab in a couple of weeks.

[ADB123]

December 29, 1942 -

There was no Night Action, then the Japanese Air Force came out in force.

First off 41 Tojo IIas swept into the skies over Cox's Bazaar. They were faced by the 16 Hurricanes in the British fighter squadron that I had assigned to patrol over the base. Despite being outnumbered the British fought very well and each side saw a plane shot down. There were no Japanese follow-up air attacks on Cox's Bazaar.

At the end of the day the story was quite encouraging. In total the following losses were reported for the battle:

Tojos – 6 lost, 4 A-to-A, 2 Ops

Hurricanes – 5 lost, 2 A-to-A, 3 Ops

Best of all, no British pilots were lost.

Japanese Air Attacks then returned to China where Lilies and Sallys attacked the Air Base at Changsha, but caused little damage. Then some Sonias hit Hengyang, but also did little.

But the Allies weren't going to let the Japanese have all of the Air Action as 4Es rumbled into the skies over Burma and northern Australia.

First off, Forts and Liberators hit the Japanese Infantry Regiment that is sitting south-east of Akyab. There was no Enemy CAP and so the Big Bombers hit their target quite hard.

Then in Oz, Forts and Liberators hit the Air Base at Katherine again, re-closing it. Once again, despite the presence of a hundred or so Enemy Fighters at Darwin, there was no CAP over Katherine.

Finally, at the end of the day there was a bit of Naval Action as USS Grenadier found a Japanese TF full of xAKLs to the north-west of Ponape. Grenadier hit one of the PB escorts in the TF with a dud. The Japanese escorts couldn't find Grenadier in return.

And in New Caledonia Japanese troops finally reached Noumea. I flew out the last Catalina that had been there and ordered a small Cruiser/Destroyer TF to race up to see if it can sneak in and bombard the Japanese attackers. The Japanese CV TF that had been hanging around is now moving north of Suva so I might get away with this move.

[ADB123]

December 30, 1942

The Night Phase saw S-39 hit a mine while it was attempting to sneak into the harbor at Rangoon. The damage was overwhelming and the sub sank before day’s end.

Daylight saw Japanese CVs hit the Air Base at Noumea with Naval Bombers. This wasn’t the Full KB, but some smaller subset. The attack didn’t accomplish much.

Japanese Bombers also flew in China and again hit the Chinese Infantry Corps that is sitting to the East of Changsha. As with the previous Air Attacks the damage was minor.

In an interesting report, USS Gurnard reported being attacked by a Betty in the Marshalls, and hitting the Betty with the sub’s newly acquired upgraded AA guns. Sure enough, afterwards I checked and one unit of AA ammo was used up on the sub.

At the end of the day the Japanese troops at Noumea attacked. There are two Raiding Regiments and one Naval Guard unit in the attack. The Japanese lowered the Fortifications by 1 to Level 3, but they only achieved a 1:2 result.

The situation is now interesting in a minor way. The subset of the KB is sitting a half-dozen hexes due East of Noumea, while the two Kiwi CLs and a couple of US DDs are sitting due South and well within Bombardment range of Noumea. My opponent doesn’t have any Naval Air Searches going on in the region, so my small Bombardment TF was able to get in to range without being spotted.

So, what to do? On one hand, I haven’t done much of anything to attempt to make a “stand” at Noumea, and a hit-and-run Naval Bombardment won’t do much to change that. But it is still interesting to see if I can shake up my opponent a bit, particularly since he hasn’t bothered to send in a Surface Combat TF to cover his attack. So I’m letting the Bombardment TF go in at “surf range” and we’ll see what happens.

BTW – I’ve got a 2-CV US TF heading northwards, so if my opponent makes a mistake I might be able to get a sneak attack in behind his offensive.

In other news, Japanese troops have reached the Chinese Infantry Corps that is sitting to the East of Changsha. I’ve moved up the Chinese Fighter Squadrons to the surrounding bases and set them to try to ambush any Japanese Bomber attacks next turn.

And Chinese troops are also moving towards Luichow from the East. I’ve got a Chinese Infantry Corps in a blocking position one hex to the East of Luichow, so we’ll see what happens there. I’ve also moved all of the Chinese Bombers into position to attack this Japanese column; it will be interesting to see if my opponent had CAP over it or not.

And finally, the Allies received a huge number of fresh units this turn, with most of them showing up in Australia and India, where I need them the most. So the Railroads in both countries will be rolling full blast for the next little while as I move the troops forward.

[ADB123]

December 31, 1942 –

New Years Eve brought out fireworks in the South Pacific and China.

First off USS Guardfish put a couple of active torpedoes into an xAK in the Gilberts. It was even more satisfying because Japanese troops were reported to be lost in the sinking. Guardfish got away clean afterwards.

Then the New Zeeland CL TF hit the besieging Japanese troops at Noumea. The two CLs and 2 DDs went right up into the surf to fire at the Japanese troops, but they missed altogether. It’s too bad that those Kiwi CLs didn’t have any float planes to act as spotters.

As the Allied TF sailed off into the West it ran over a Japanese submarine I-1. The DDs hit the sub once. But immediately afterwards the TF sailed into the sights of another Japanese sub, I-15, which put two torpedoes into RNZN Achilles. The DD escorts hit the sub afterwards. Surprisingly, Achilles didn’t sink and instead continued along with severe damage.

Finally, USS S-35 hit an xAK in a TF at Onnekotan-jima. The Japanese escorts hit S-35 a couple of times and so the sub is now on the way back to Port for repairs, but the freighter likely went down.

Daylight brought a renewal of the Japanese Air Attacks on the Chinese 72nd Infantry Corps that was sitting just east of Changsha. But this time the CAF was waiting and ready, and the Japanese Army Air Force was at the losing end of a number of Aerial Battles.

First off 25 Sallys and 10 Oscars flew in. They were jumped by 17 Lancers, 17 H81s and 19 P-66s. The Chinese fighters blasted the Japanese fighters but didn’t reach the bombers which hit their target. Never-the-less the Japanese lost 3 Oscars while the Chinese lost none.

Next in were 24 Sallys and 9 Oscars. They were jumped by 12 H81s, 15 P-43As and 17 P-66s. This time 3 Sallys were shot down along with 3 Oscars. Some of the bombers were still able to get through and hit their target. Again there were no Chinese Air losses.

Finally, 18 Lilies flew in unescorted and were jumped by 12 H81s, 4 P-43As and 13 P-66s. The Lilies missed their target and 5 were shot down. Once again, there were no Chinese Air losses.

The action wasn’t limited to the Changsha region as Sallys and Oscars attacked the Chinese troops at Kweilin, but caused little damage.

And in futile contrast to the success of the Chinese Fighters, Chinese bombers attempted to attack the Japanese column that is advancing on Luichow, but couldn’t find the target despite the lack of Japanese CAP.

Finally, the mini-KB off of New Caledonia sent its Naval bombers in to attack the Allied troops, but they did little damage. More importantly, Japanese Search Aircraft didn’t locate the retiring Allied Bombardment TF. The Japanese CV TF appears to be heading southwest towards New Zeeland instead west towards Australia where the Allied ships are actually headed. Just in case, I set a squadron of P-38s on LR CAP over the heavily damaged Achilles, which has miraculously survived so far. I’d love to see some Kates get jumped by the Lightnings. [:D]

BTW – if that Japanese CV TF goes too far south it may well receive a nicely nasty surprise. [;)]

When it was time for Land Combat the Japanese in China showed their superiority as 2 big Japanese Infantry Divisions, along with an armoured unit and an artillery unit, roughed up the Chinese 72nd Corps and forced it to retreat to Changsha. I will now send the 72nd back behind the Lines to rebuild. Never-the-less, the Japanese troops won’t find things so easy at Changsha proper.

And at Noumea the Japanese troops attacked again, but once again suffered a 1:2 result, with Fatigue apparently affecting them badly. I’ve ordered some Catalinas to attempt to fly in supplies to the Allied troops at Noumea.

So all-in-all it wasn’t too bad a day, despite the bad luck of the New Zeeland Bombardment TF. The End-of-Day Air Losses were spectacularly in favour of the Chinese, as you can see below in the Air Loss Screen below. I’ve now pulled back the Chinese Fighters in anticipation of the appearance of massive Japanese High Altitude Fighter Sweeps in the immediate future.

And just to keep my opponent busy I’ve ordered the 4Es into the Air again next turn in Burma, Oz and the Kuriles.

[ADB123]

Here's the Intel Screen for January 1, 1943:

[ADB123]

Here's the January 1, 1943 situation in Northwestern Australia:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation map for Northern Oz:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation map for the South Pacific:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in the Indo-Burma region:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in China:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in the Far North:

[ADB123]

January 1, 1943

The New Year started out well as USS Peto attacked an unescorted xAKL on the surface near Shimonoseke. The crew of Peto put a live torpedo and four 3” shells into the little freighter, sinking it easily.

Daylight brought out Japanese bombers in China again, but this time the bombers attacked the Luichow area troops instead of near Changsha. I hope to have a small surprise for the Japanese again next turn in this region if my opponent repeats himself.

New Year's Day brought 4Es out against Japanese positions in Burma, Australia and the Kuriles. Liberators and Fortresses hit the two Japanese Infantry Regiments that are sitting southeast and east of Akyab, causing significant casualties. Forts and Libs also hammered the Air Base at Katherine again, keeping it heavily damaged. In both cases no Japanese CAP was present.

But in the Kuriles there was CAP, this time 9 A6M2 Zeros intercepted 23 B-24Ds over Paramushiro-jima. The Zeros shot down two Liberators but the bombers still hit their target. Never-the-less, I'm not happy about the current situation there because my 4Es are operating at extreme range, and I don't like to do that. I am going to continue regular Air Ops in the region, but not as frequently as I do in Burma and Oz, because I don't want to rack up too many 4E losses at this time.

In other news, for the first time in a long time some Bettys were spotted over Cairns. The long range Japanese pests were checking out the PT TF that I have there. It's too bad that CAP does so poorly against Recon Flights.

Some Good News came this turn as the first Marine Corsair came off of the Production Line. Now I have to consider which Marine fighter unit will get Corsairs first. Right now I am leaning towards the Squadron in India.

As I somewhat expected, there was no Japanese attack in Noumea this turn as my opponent considers his options. RNZN Achilles continued to limp towards Brisbane, although the Flooding increased in the ship. I still have the ship under P-38 LR CAP.

And the Japanese CV TF that was ESE of Noumea disappeared from sight this turn. That's a bit of a bother, but I won't let that stop my current plans in the region.

[ADB123]

January 2, 1943 -

Night saw USS Gudgeon chased unsuccessfully by three SCs near Wakkanai. My opponent is now starting to try to do something about the return of my subs to the waters surrounding the Home Islands.

Daylight saw Japanese bombers hitting Chinese troops in the field south of Liuchow. Unfortunately, these troops were a bit out of range of the Air Trap that I set, but the damage wasn't bad so I'm not totally unhappy.

That big Japanese column continues to move towards Liuchow. If the column does besiege the city I am going to try to cut off the Japanese.

Late in the Day Liberators and Flying Fortresses hit the Japanese troops near Akyab again. My bomber crews aren't getting tired from these short-hop bombing raids so I am keeping them going for yet another turn. My plans to advance have been delayed because of the difficulties in getting Supply to Cox's Bazaar. The Game Engine insists on keeping multiple millions of tons of Supply in Madras instead of sending some of it to where I ask for it. But I've got a Transport TF on the way and once it unloads in Cox's Bazaar I should be able to move my troops forward.

Also late in the Day I received word that there was yet another Floatation Failure on HNZS Achilles. The badly damaged cruiser continues to limp towards Brisbane and is now 8 hexes away. Achilles was spotted by a Japanese Search Plane this turn. The plane was reported to be a “torpedo bomber”, but it could be almost anything. The Japanese CV TF is still in Stealth Mode, so I suppose that the report could have been of a Kate, but I can't really tell.

In any event, I've got a US CV TF heading north to see if it can either catch a Japanese TF unawares, or in the absence of any Japanese TFs, bomb the Japanese troops at Noumea.

Speaking of Japanese troops at Noumea – they tried another deliberate attack this turn and once again only achieved a 1:2 result. I am flying Supplies into Noumea via Catalina so the French are still able to fight.

[DanielAnsell]

This remains one of the best AARs for this game.

Where do you see your forces pushing hard, if anywhere, in the next six months to a year? It looks like you clearly have the advantage in the Aleutians, and his invasion of northern Oz isn't going to do anything other then potentially tie up some of his troops too far from the main event to matter.

Do you have a target in mind, assuming you are willing to share your thoughts on the matter?

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: Carny

This remains one of the best AARs for this game.

Where do you see your forces pushing hard, if anywhere, in the next six months to a year? It looks like you clearly have the advantage in the Aleutians, and his invasion of northern Oz isn't going to do anything other then potentially tie up some of his troops too far from the main event to matter.

Do you have a target in mind, assuming you are willing to share your thoughts on the matter?

Thanks for the kind words!

As far as my plans go, it really is “What You See Is What You Will Get”... [;)]

I intend to push simultaneously in Burma, Northern Oz/DEI and The Far North. I'm building up all three areas so that I can have serious pushes in all three.

Originally I had intended to move into Burma and Northern Oz in Q1-1943, and the Kuriles/Sakhalin in Q2-1943, but now that I've seen how poorly my Naval Wildcats perform against current IJA Fighters I've decided to put off the move in the North until Q3-1943 when I have Hellcats available.

My opponent has moved massive forces into Burma, but they are spread across the jungle and are suffering from Malaria, Supply issues, Jungle Movement issues, and of course, my 4Es.

I intend to take Akyab, and then move along the coast towards Prome, Bassein and of course, Rangoon. Moving across the jungle from Central Burma towards the Coast is a slow process, so my opponent won't have any fast means to move troops against my assault. Also, if he pulls troops out of his foreward bases I'll just move forward with my troops over a broad front. I haven't lost any troops of the British/Indian/Burmese forces so I have a lot of firepower available to move where I want, while still maintaining my reserves in India proper. I also have the RN sitting in position to intervene if my opponent attempts any Naval end-arounds.

In Northern Oz my opponent has one of the Manchurian Tank Divisions at Katherine, and a number of support troops in Darwin, but not much else. I've built Meekatharra to a Level 7 Air Base (and it's still growing) so I was able to drive the Japanese out of Broome and Derby with 4Es. I'm building up Carnarvon and Exmouth and I already have Paratroops in Corunna Downs. (I currently have 400 Engineers and 76 Engineering vehicles in Geraldton, along with lots of Engineers elsewhere in the Northwest, so I will be building bases very quickly. [:D] )

I've got a lot of Armoured Units in Daly Waters, and a good Australian Infantry Division on its way, so if my opponent moves back from Katherine I can move forward relatively quickly, and with strength.

I haven't bothered to drop paratroops into Port Hedland yet because I am waiting to build up Exmouth and Carnarvon first so that I can support TF movement with LR CAP. Once I get Port Hedland I'll move more Engineers into Corunna Downs and build it into a naval bombardment-proof mega Air Base that will be able to threaten not only Broome and Derby but also Wyndham. I expect that by the end of Q1-1943 I will either be bombing Darwin back into the Stone Age, or if my opponent pulls out, start the long range hammering of Timor.

My opponent is building up Paramushiro-jima and Onnekotan-jima, which is fine with me because they are both within range of the Western Aleutian bases. Shemya, for example, is already at Level 4 and can be built to a Level 8 Air Base. Sure, base building is slower during the Winter, but it is still going ahead, and I am still flooding the Aleutians with Engineers.

I also have a number of good Infantry Divisions in the Aleutians, and I've started to send the Marine Divisions to the Aleutians too. The Marines will be my main hammer. Since I will wait until Q3-1943 to start invasions the Marines will be fully prepped, and I will have proper invasion ships at that time.

My intention is to continue to harass Paramushiro-jima and Onnekotan-jima for the next half year, then bypass them. I will do initial minor “distraction” landings in the empty Central Kuriles, while my main invasion hits Shikuka. Shikuka is currently a Level 6 Port (to facilitate the removal of Resources, of course) but only a Level 1 Air Base. I intend to land in massive-overkill mode, with three Marine Divisions, armour, engineers, Invasion HQ and artillery, followed by and Air HQ, a Naval HQ, and Assault HQs. Plus of course, a several hundred K of supplies.

Sure, my opponent will get emergency troops and kamakazes, but he will also be faced me holding an Air Base that can be built to Level 9, and troops heading towards Toyohara.

What will the KB be doing at this point? Well, it can support counter-attacks in Burma, or counter-attacks in the DEI, or counter-attacks in the Kuriles. But it tries all three I'll crush it piecemeal. And by Q3-1943 I'll have some Essex Cvs.

BTW – My opponent has spread most of his Southern Army Divisions out around key locations such as Java, Sumatra, the Marianas and so on. If he moves them out I'll move in the voids that they leave. If he doesn't, I'll head to Hokkaido.

So I'm taking the Long View, but I expect that in one Game Year's time I will be bombing the Resources Centers of Mandalay and the DEI, and bombing Hokkaido.

And the more “adventures” that my opponent goes on in the South Pacific, or China, the better.

[DanielAnsell]

Any idea what his garrison in Rangoon is like? It would be awesome to get some good use out of those otherwise useless RN battleships in supporting a British Empire invasion of Rangoon in conjunction with your coastal offensive in Burma, thus really cutting of those hordes of troops playing about in Burma.