The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[Houtje]

Hi Greyjoy,

just caught up reading your AAR: it really gives hope to all WITPAE-amateurs (like myself) that somehow this beast of a game is manageable. I think
you're doing very well. And don't forget that Reek rhymes not just with weak, but also with sneak. [;)]

[jmalter]

GJ, i think you're doing rather well here, so "don't give up the ship!"

the 12/13 turn results gave you a bit better than 1:1 attrition vs. Rader's DDs, while you destroyed ~20 of his light escort-types.

this latest 14/15 turn, it's a crush in your favor. imo it was bulk risky to send that 2xFastBB TF into DeathStar water! i haven't counted the results, but in aggregate, you've done another ruination on his light-escort forces, additionally you've seriously dented the dunkirking LCUs in exchange for 1 PT-boat.

moving that BB TF into action was pert' ballsy, but it worked! your multiple PT & cruiser/DD TFs tactics are working well so far, and i think you're keeping the upper hand w/ your air attacks.

wrt to your post "he's succeeding, i'm daily bleeding" moan, let's remember that Rader's the guy who's doing the bleeding here. you've suffered no irreplaceable loss, but his DDs and escorts are carpeting the floor of Iron-Bottom Sound.

[GreyJoy]

No guys, don't get me wrong.
I'm happy with the general naval engagements outcome. The last turn has been a bit unlucky cause if i managed to catch that damned CA TF things could have turned really bad for Rader...but probably the "bad luck" is just the result of my cowardice of the previous turn...if i had my BBs in the right position the previous turn i would had arrived at Tulagi along with the CA Australia TF...really ruining its day...
But hey, the tide is finally changing. We can feel that. Japan has stopped everywhere his offensives and is now shifting on the defensive side. It's up to me know to be able to pick up what of good i have sowed (sp?!??!?!) in the last months!

Welcome aboard Houtje! [:)]


Anyway, the KB remains at Bouganville, while CVs,CVEs and CVLs are finally starting to arrive in good number...soon we'll have a decent CV force able to stand a fight against the dreaded KB Death Star!

We're planning our future advance in the Solomons...lot of thinking here... 15 Engeneers units are arriving at perth in these days, along with some good base force LCUs. Soon we'lls start to move on the NW Coast of Oz, while 600k supplies are ready to be shipped to Karachi, where 70 4es are already ready to be moved in order to start assembling the Indian Air offesive Army.

[princep01]

Reek the Meek.....there are only 18K LYB s left on Tulagi. I want their heads on pikes today. Do that and you sleep with the dogs. Don't, and we discuss a finger or toe.

Bolton

[witpqs]

Hey guys, are those Japanese LB ships the ones that re-spawn when sunk?

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Reek the Meek.....there are only 18K LYB s left on Tulagi. I want their heads on pikes today. Do that and you sleep with the dogs. Don't, and we discuss a finger or toe.

Bolton

Great GRR Martin references, princep! But I have to ask, where is the sweet guy calling for peace and Jimmy Buffet in my AAR? [:D]

[princep01]

Multi-faceted personality.[;)]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Reek the Meek.....there are only 18K LYB s left on Tulagi. I want their heads on pikes today. Do that and you sleep with the dogs. Don't, and we discuss a finger or toe.

Bolton

[&o] The dogs? you mean the Ramsey's girls?[:D]

Seriously i don't want to kill them. As said previously i wanna keep them there if i manage to as long as i can. Cause even if he brings away all the troops but leaves the heavy armaments there, those divisions won't be able to get replacements as long as their main "piece" is stuck at Tulagi...

For those who are not understanding the Princep01's joke, we're referring to GRR Martin's saga "A Song of Ice and Fire"...from where my nickname has been taken ( Greyjoy is one of the main characters).
For those of you who have not read it yet, i strongly suggest to spend a couple of bucks to buy the first book (The Iron Throne)...it may change your life!

I suggested to Rader the same and he read them all in less than a month!!!! He's now become another Martin's follower![&o]

[GreyJoy]

This man - Reek - now has to decide what to do with India.

As far as i can tell my esteemed opponent moved the bulk of his indian army to Dehli waiting for me to make a move.
He has also moved away his bombers, leaving 300 fighters at Jodpur with 50 AA units and 100 more fighters at Multan.
Surat and Banghowhatever are guarded both by a division and other 5 LCUs each (we have identified the 6th Guard Division at Surat and the 39th Division and Bangowhatever).
He's clearly waiting for me. He won't attack anymore. Pretty sure of that.
I have to decide if a drive towards Multan is doable or if it becomes mandatory to try an amphib landing on the coast...tough decision....
I'm inclined to try the first way...The idea is to build back the Indian Air Army with at least 150 4Es and 200 Medium Bombers (wellingtons and Mitchells) and to try to break at Multan using the "hammer"...so moving in an army of more than 13000 AVs supported by 300 bombers...

[GreyJoy]

June 20, 21 1943

[>:][>:][>:][>:] nothing happened at all

[JohnDillworth]

To use or not use the fast battleships is a tough decision, especially for a newer player. To me, this is one of those areas where you have to defer to the player. He has a much better feel for the overall situation and whether the time and conditions were right to employ a strong but rare asset. An argument can be made that GreyJoy should have used them here, but I say he made a legit (i.e., well-reasoned and almost instinctual) call not to do so.

It's all good. Just the peanut gallery shouting for blood. It looked like he had an advantage there. The new BB's tend to perfrom well against the WW1 stuff. But the fortunes of ware a fickle and those damn Long Lances are scary

[GreyJoy]

Jun 22, 23 1943

While the KB disappears again and his CA/BB fleet is stationing at Rabaul, we remembered Rader that his first line front isn't a safe place.
Our Witchita TF bombed russell on the night of 22nd, while 130 4Es pounded for 2 days Thousands Ships Bay.
We hoped to catch some planes on the ground at Russell but, despite the extensive damages and the presence of more than 400 planes there, not a single a/c was torched...
At Thousands we found a stiff resistance but our spitfires managed to do a good job in defending the 4Es....unfortunately during the battles we lost F.Baker, our leading Aus ace with 19 kills...[:(]

So far so good. The pressure is still up.

Supply and fuel situation is very good in SWPAC, and those 17k men at Tulagi still need to be rescued. Let's see if Rader really wanna risk to get them back.

A CA TF is based at Shortland now. Probably they're coming down again.... We are ready to fight this time.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Russell Islands at 113,136 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

82 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
CA Wichita
CA Quincy
CL Santa Fe
CL Boise
DD Perkins
DD Conyngham
DD Case
DD Radford
DD Nicholas
DD LaVallette
DD Jenkins
DD Eaton
DD DeHaven, Shell hits 1
DD Fletcher



Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 16
Runway hits 72
Port hits 28
Port fuel hits 5
Port supply hits 16

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Thousand Ships Bay , at 114,136

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 1
N1K1-J George x 55
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 31
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 19



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIc x 16
Spitfire Vc Trop x 7
B-24D1 Liberator x 137


Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 5 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 13 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground
A6M3 Zero: 5 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIc: 6 destroyed
Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed
B-24D1 Liberator: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 64

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Thousand Ships Bay , at 114,136

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 2
A6M3 Zero x 1
A6M3a Zero x 4
A6M5 Zero x 1
N1K1-J George x 43
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 25
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 1
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 15



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIc x 1
Spitfire Vc Trop x 5
B-24D1 Liberator x 111


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed on ground
N1K1-J George: 37 damaged
N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 9 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 4 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 10 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled



Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 33

[GreyJoy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jun 24, 25 1943

He moved his CA/BBs to Shortland.
We moved 5 Fast BBs, 8 CAs, 8 CLs and 32 DDs to Tulagi.

He moved 500 fighters on his front line bases (Russell, Thousands, Auki).
We moved 500 fighters to TLT (Tassa, Lunga, Tulagi).

He moved his subs to mine Karaikira
We moved 17 subs to the TLT area.

Everything is ready for a big battle...if he wants to save those 17k men he will have to open his way to Tulagi by fighting.


A DD of his raided the Aleutinas, sinking an AK
16 Mitchells from Cooktown attacked an xAK near Wewak, sinking it.

We keep on moving troops to NW Oz... and more troops and planes are arriving at Aden...

[GreyJoy]

...and finally in India arrived from Aden 20 recon planes (F5 lightinings)...now we'll be able to see and to understand better his moves and his disposition

[GreyJoy]

However i still fear a trap...
I'll move 2 BB TFs to Thousands Ships Bay and they should get back to Lunga, while another BBTF and a CL TF will remain at Tulagi in a typical defensive posture...
i don't really think he'll come to Tulagi...not now...it's too risky imho...

But i wanna close the exit door for those 17k....he won't have them back.

[GreyJoy]

if i don't lose any major naval battle in the next days, July is at the gates and with this month i'll start getting tons of new toys (P40Ns, P-47s, P39Ns, a series of upgrades for my DDs etc etc). I need to keep the pressure up in the Solomons so to suck as much japanese assets as i can before i can open another front and start to advance in India again.

i was also considering the Solomons as a naval theatre...it's simply perfect for me. I have 3 shipyard very usefull nearby (Brisbane, Syndey and Aukland) that can repair and upgrade my ships without being forced to send them back to PH. he, on the contrary, doesn't have this option. Any damaged ship must be sent all the way back to Japan...
Ships like CA Australia, CL Releigh, Detroit, Richmond, Boise, Cleveland and a number of DDs have faced several battles and several damages during the last 7 months and they all have been able to repair and get back into action in no time...this has given me a lot of flexibility in terms of ships present on the front line and ready to fight. A chance that Rader didn't have

[crsutton]

Well, not the wonderful results in the last naval battle but once again the loss of his small escort shipping is going to have an effect later. Especially for your sub game. The light escorts don't sink Allied subs but they do prevent subs from attacking merchants. You have been concentrating your subs in support of your navy but perhaps it is time to place some in his sea lanes. I am willing to bet he is moving merchant ships with few escorts.

[Cribtop]

Sounds like you are getting out the pikes for the Tulagi garrison after all. [:D] Will be interesting to see what if anything he tries to do to push your BBs out of the way at Tulagi. This is a situation where he will give up the troops or accept battle on ground (err, waves) of your choosing. Consider how to make a potential battle as painful as possible for Rader.

[GreyJoy]

Jun 24, 25 1943

Nothing happened. Rader saw my big ships and didn't engage them. His CAs are back to Rabaul...
A japanese CV Division (kind of a baby KB) is raiding the Aleutinas...don't care cause i don't have anything there that is worth to be defended (i have a couple of xAKs and nothing more)...i'm sending 7 subs to hunt them down...let's see if i can get some luck

My BBs in the Solomons will bomb Russell Island and Thousands Ships, while my 4Es will hit Auki....let's see if this time i can get some planes on the ground

Crsutton, my subs are still looking for his sealanes (i have lots of subs), especially between Menado and Truk...i have been pretty lucky in that zone, sinking 10 between xAKs and TKs in the last 4 months. However i still need my subs in support to my combat fleet in the solomons.

Crib, the potential battle will be as painfull as possible for Rader if i manage to keep Russell/Thousands/Auki closed so he will not be able to provide a close-support-CAP...and i'll be able to move in my 300 bombers/torpedo bombers....untill that moment i'll have to rely only on naval forces

[Crackaces]

In reading AAR's and in my game this seems to be the last report of ideas for the JFB's .. go raid someting .. I am not sure that leads to surviving until 1946 . but it makes a big splash ...