Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[hkbhsi]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Gents, the A6M3 discussion brings up another point. Is there any airframe factory I really don't want to have "Yes" selected for upgrade?

Regarding the A6M3, be aware that only a few groups can upgrade to this model even with PDU ON, as it is not carrier capable; I don't have the game in front of me right now but I think it is only 3 or 4. All groups can upgrade to the A6M3a version that come online at the end of 42.

[Cribtop]

June 1, 1942

We enter the summer quietly. Cribtop HQ is well aware that the period of Japanese dominance will end when fall arrives, if not before.

Subs

ASW aircraft report another hit on a sub near Sabang. If 20% of the reported hits are real Cribtop HQ is happy. We have several dedicated ASW air groups that are getting up in skill and will soon start doing real damage. For example, we have now cleared the Makassar Strait of subs.

4th Fleet

Japanese shipping returns to normal as the enemy carriers are confirmed on a course back to Pearl Harbor.

SE Fleet

Luganville is reported to have made a level 2 airfield. CF seems to be using the American forces in historical theaters rather than shifting them to Oz or the Indian Ocean. Cribtop Intel predicts a fairly historical counterattack vector, although a Darwin - Timor move is still on the table.

14th Army

No change.

16th Fleet

Kai-Eilanden invaded, Mangole falls. The Meruake reinforcement TF stops at Ambon to load up additional assets.

25th Army

Loading troops for China today. Lingga occupied by rowboat.

MKB screws up. For the second time, the daisy chain follow commands I use (ASW TF followed by Tanaka Force followed by CarDiv1 followed by CarDiv 2) doesn't work. This leaves CarDiv 2 separated. Nothing bad happens, in fact we are now unspotted and out of range of Ceylon, but I'm losing confidence in the follow command. Note that no TF re-fueled its DDs today and all had full Ops points. Would I be better off having everybody follow the ASW TF?

MKB will manually rally at a point well south of Ceylon and re-fuel from the Fleet Oilers tomorrow.

Tomorrow an IJAAF bomber wing flies the Helen and Lily II into action for the first time.

15th Army

Lots of AA arrives today at Magwe and Mandalay. I'm sure CF is terrified.

China

More evidence the KMT is either pulling back or gearing up for a southern offensive. This could get interesting as we land a big army in Southern China. If he goes for the Amoy area we would feign weakness, get him to commit, then go for isolation of his forces. We'll see what develops.

Other

Something Allied sinks today. Good money is on DD Parrot.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: hkbhsi

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Gents, the A6M3 discussion brings up another point. Is there any airframe factory I really don't want to have "Yes" selected for upgrade?

Regarding the A6M3, be aware that only a few groups can upgrade to this model even with PDU ON, as it is not carrier capable; I don't have the game in front of me right now but I think it is only 3 or 4. All groups can upgrade to the A6M3a version that come online at the end of 42.

Unrestricted land based Zero units Cribtop should by now have, Tainan, 6th, 3rd and Chitose groups are 45-strong. Then theres Genzan, Kanoya and 1st (27) and 2nd (12). So about 250 planes in all + at least 36+12 that are restricted.

Criptob, I've found that if I have more than 1 TF in the follow-line the game doesnt always do the fuel calculations right for the last TFs and keeps refueling them or they fall behind the others for some other odd reasons, always 1 hex. I've given up and instead use just lead TF followed by the others. Or 2 lead TFs making sure that they are faster than the followers, leading TFs set to mission, others to cruise.

[hkbhsi]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: hkbhsi

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Gents, the A6M3 discussion brings up another point. Is there any airframe factory I really don't want to have "Yes" selected for upgrade?

Regarding the A6M3, be aware that only a few groups can upgrade to this model even with PDU ON, as it is not carrier capable; I don't have the game in front of me right now but I think it is only 3 or 4. All groups can upgrade to the A6M3a version that come online at the end of 42.

Unrestricted land based Zero units Cribtop should by now have, Tainan, 6th, 3rd and Chitose groups are 45-strong. Then theres Genzan, Kanoya and 1st (27) and 2nd (12). So about 250 planes in all + at least 36+12 that are restricted.

Yes, I was wrong; with PDU ON all land based fighter groups can upgrade to the A6M3 model.

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: hkbhsi

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Gents, the A6M3 discussion brings up another point. Is there any airframe factory I really don't want to have "Yes" selected for upgrade?

Regarding the A6M3, be aware that only a few groups can upgrade to this model even with PDU ON, as it is not carrier capable; I don't have the game in front of me right now but I think it is only 3 or 4. All groups can upgrade to the A6M3a version that come online at the end of 42.

Unrestricted land based Zero units Cribtop should by now have, Tainan, 6th, 3rd and Chitose groups are 45-strong. Then theres Genzan, Kanoya and 1st (27) and 2nd (12). So about 250 planes in all + at least 36+12 that are restricted.

Criptob, I've found that if I have more than 1 TF in the follow-line the game doesnt always do the fuel calculations right for the last TFs and keeps refueling them or they fall behind the others for some other odd reasons, always 1 hex. I've given up and instead use just lead TF followed by the others. Or 2 lead TFs making sure that they are faster than the followers, leading TFs set to mission, others to cruise.

Thanks, Erkki. That seems to be happening to me. I'll set everyone to follow the ASW TF.

[Cribtop]

June 2, 1942

Subs

Pike misses a DMS in an FT TF bound for Christmas Island (IO).

4th Fleet

No change except that a former Alf group upgrades to Jakes at Rabaul. This is part of the ongoing "Jakeification" program throughout the Empire.

SE Fleet

No change.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

We destroy 6 vehicles and 4 squads in the daily bombing of the enemy's armor heavy stack near Daly Waters. Perhaps this means CF cannot supply his LCUs?

Kai-eilanden occupied.

25th Army

A DMS TF sweeps mines at Batavia. Sinkep invaded and bombed by Helens and Lily IIs with great results.

MKB re-fuels today except for CarDiv 2. They will watch over the fleet and gas up tomorrow.

China

340+ casualties inflicted on the big enemy stack retreating from Wuchang.

[princep01]

"Jakeification". Somehow this just sounds like an obscene word. Nice. Straight out of the new Cribtop dictionary.

[Cribtop]

We lawyers love our terminology. The Cribtop dictionary has some great entries, but I can't hold a candle to GreyJoy. [:D]

[princep01]

Indeed. And I got called out for "tarry" in one of the other AARs today. What the heck? Don't young people still do the vocabulary quiz in the Reader's Digest anymore?

[Cribtop]

Hahahahaha. Young people can't spell or type. I forgive GreyJoy b/c he isn't a native English speaker, but seriously. Loose is the opposite of tight, not the opposite of win. And it isn't for "all intensive purposes." Don't even get me started on texting or "could of" instead of could've. [:D]

[Cribtop]

June 3, 1942

Subs

AM Toowoomba (that's just fun to say) DCs I-157 to little effect near Colombo. Surprised CF hasn't sent every DD in the port out to hunt. As of today he's probably guessed MKB has departed. Perhaps tomorrow we'll see the Eastern Fleet make a break for it.

4th Fleet

Kusaie makes level 3 forts.

SE Fleet

Pushing reinforcements to Tulagi and Milne Bay.

14th Army

BayBay invaded.

16th Army

Today's bombing of the enemy armor stack near Daly results in casualties of 202(3). Ouch. Tomorrow a base force arrives at Katherine. Then we'll try for a CAP trap against the B-17s.

25th Army

Disappointing DA at Sinkep fails to take the base. Our Nav Guard unit has too many disabled squads for now. The Helens and Lily IIs will keep pounding the enemy to soften them up.

MKB has re-fueled and will head for the Sunda Strait. Pike is there but we'd rather risk 1 USN sub rather than 2 UK subs.

15th Army

No change.

China

Today's bombing of the former Wuchang stack nets 411 reported casualties. CF cannot afford to stay in clear hexes here, which is a nice state of affairs. Another quiet impact of the loss of AVG.

Other

Today will be graduation day for another crop of trained pilots. Many of this second class of fighter pilots spent time on both Escort and Strafe missions to pump up the defense skill. Our pilot reserve is very large now.

[Cribtop]

June 4, 1942

Subs

I-11 duds on a KV near Colombo. The same KV TF then moves to the other Colombo exit hex and DCs I-157.

MKB spotted the AM Eland Dubois limping toward Ceylon yesterday. In order to avoid giving away MKB's position by its own search planes, we vectored a sub in transit toward the stricken ship. I-165 obliges and sinks the AM.

A Wirraway attacks I-26 near Sydney.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

We begin flying a small LCU into Milne Bay today. A much needed TK convoy arrives at Truk to solve the fuel crunch in this AO.

14th Army

BayBay occupied.

16th Army

We are ready to spring a CAP trap on the B-17s, but they haven't tried an attack for several days. We are reconning Port Hedland in preparation for invasion.

25th Army

Our divisions earmarked for Southern China finish loading at Semarang and will head for their destination tomorrow.

MKB is overflown by what is reported as a level bomber. It looks like CF has finally put up long range patrols on Ceylon.

15th Army

We bomb Akyab's airfield today. There is no CAP and we get decent hits (4 supply and 40 runway), but this is just a harassing action to keep up the appearance of aggressive action.

China

We have confirmation that CF has pulled one stack back to Kanshien. We will keep an eye open to see what he is up to. We were able to buy out another Manchukuo Division for service in China as well.

[Cribtop]

June 5, 1942

Subs

I-174 misses a UK DD off Colombo instead of shooting at least one merchant. Tarpon sinks a PB in a convoy carrying base forces from Singers to Kendari for eventual deployment to NW Oz. Our PBs are primarily useful to soak up torpedoes that would instead hit transports. [8|] Sailfish duds on an xAK in a now empty convoy returning to Truk after dropping troops at Rabaul.

4th Fleet

We are re-shuffling a few small base forces to optimize search patterns as more and more 20 Jake search units move to the front. We'll also move a base force to Nauru Island to plug a hole in our search pattern as soon as we can scrape up a new Mavis/Emily unit.

SE Fleet

Reinforcements offload at Tulagi. Now we have two Naval Guards and a small SNLF Coy there. Not enough, but we're heading in the right direction and also nearing level 5 forts. Similar reinforcements are being flown into Milne Bay, and 3 construction units are moving from Lae to MB to build forts. Buna makes level 1 airfield. Truk's fuel crisis is abated at last. We should see regular deliveries from here on.

14th Army

Marching on the last Leyte Island base.

16th Army

CF bombs our troops at Daly, which allows us to set a CAP trap there tomorrow. The 2 ATG units will arrive in 2 days. Our Sallys really pound CF's armor stack for 145(11) casualties. Almost all squads hit are now destroyed rather than disabled, which is a good sign. Cribtop Intel estimates he will have to withdraw here.

Saumlaki invaded. Sounds like Greek food.

25th Army

MKB sets course for the Sunda Strait, with all TFs ordered to follow the ASW TF now. Another convoy is approaching Semarang to pick up arty units destined for China.

15th Army

Two Royal Thai Army Divisions are about to assume some garrison duties, freeing up combat power and potentially giving us 3 crack Divisions to play with. 15th Army HQ is ordered to study possible attacks on either Akyab or Kalemyo. For various reasons, Akyab is probably more favorable. Mandalay makes level 3 forts, Rangoon level 4.

China

Recon confirms that CF is trying to use his former Wuchang stack to move to the rescue of his 2 surrounded corps SE of Wuchang. This move triggers a response in which we will appear to withdraw to get him moving forward while our bombers slow down his stack. Then several units will reinforce the enemy's target hex while another IJA stack uses the good road to try to isolate the enemy's main force. We could also demonstrate against a rather depleted Changsha. This in turn plays into our larger plans for Operation Red Dragon, which we will detail in a few screenshots shortly.

5th Fleet

CVE Unyo and a Val group are moving to RV at Ominato. It is about time to send out the Raiders again.

[Cribtop]

North China

Cribtop HQ has left China quiet for some time, trying to give CF the impression that our earlier victories have left us short of combat power. In fact, we have been quietly buying divisions out of Manchuria while awaiting arrival of the 4 elite Southern Army divisions earmarked for Operation Red Dragon.

In North China, we have the 32 LCU stack at Tienshui bottled up, and have stopped the KMT relief probes in the mountains. At the appropriate time, 5 Divisions will cross the river and shock attack a 2 LCU stack just west (map) of the mountains. We will then use a small unit to move into the mountains, seizing the last hexside there and cutting off 5 LCUs. Then we push for Kienko, which is held by a single LCU.

Intention here is to time the offensive so as to present Cuttlefish with an existential threat in China just as the southern pincer of Red Dragon moves out of Canton. This will force CF to choose between 2 destabilizing thrusts with his strategic reserve at Chungking. We are betting he is more worried about Kienko than south China, but either way the IJA benefits.

[Cribtop]

Central and Southern China

In the center, our operations have been designed to convey weakness, encouraging the enemy to probe forward, deeper into the intended kessel for Operation Red Dragon. He is currently moving a 15 LCU stack (yellow) toward two isolated corps SE of Wuchang marked "I." We had local reserves at Sinyang and will now move some forward to Wuchang. They are marching in both directions to shore up the hex containing the 2 enemy LCUs while swinging additional forces along the good road between Wuchang and Changsha. The main goal here is to keep CF's principal operational reserves in Central China occupied, but the dream goal would be to isolate the former Wuchang stack and possibly even threaten Changsha just as all hell breaks loose in Southern China.

The moves marked "II" represent the 3 Divisions of 13th Army which have disengaged from the Central front as CF pulled 5 LCUs back to Kanshien, giving him a total of 12 there. Intention is for 2 Divisions, the HQ and some arty, 100% prepped for Kanshien, to pin this force, which recon shows is the only operational reserve CF has in the South.

Finally, "III" represents the main event. 4 Southern Army divisions and 2 or 3 bought out Manchuria Divisions (put into Southern Army so we can ship them to Canton and later move them to the Pacific) will land at Canton and push hard on Wuchang and the key base at Kweilin, held by only 1 LCU. We will evaluate at that time but prefer to push on toward Kweiyang if possible rather than taking the short hook to Changsha. Thus, a massive pincer move threatens the enemy's entire central position.

Ultimate desired end state is: 1) Capture of a buffer for Canton in South China and depriving the enemy of industry there; 2) flanking and capture of the Kukong/Kanshien positions; 3) Capture of the knot of bases near Changsha; 4) Capture of Kwieyang, isoalating all of Central China; and 5) Capture of the 3 bases on the road from Kweiyang to Burma, thus shutting down the Burma Road for good and opening a new Japanese LoC into Burma that is far more defensible than the LoC originating at Rangoon. These goals are listed in ascending order of difficulty.

Frankly, depending on the enemy's actions, we probably cannot achieve all the objectives listed above. However, if we even get to item 3) we will have put China into supply-less deep freeze, probably for the duration (recall that Chungking is cut off from the ChiCom armies near Yenan and all of far Western [true] China). If we can establish the alternate LoC into Burma, admittedly a longshot, it will be game-changing for the defense of Burma. Finally, after this offensive culminates we will have a large number of divisions ready to finish Luzon and then move to the Pacific.

Timing is the issue. Surely CF will figure out that some of the forces committed are from Southern Army, and respond with offensives in Burma and the Pacific. The issue will be a race between our gains in China and what we can afford to lose elsewhere.

Banzai! [&o]

[Capt. Harlock]

Timing is the issue. Surely CF will figure out that some of the forces committed are from Southern Army, and respond with offensives in Burma and the Pacific. The issue will be a race between our gains in China and what we can afford to lose elsewhere.

I like to see a man who understands the risks and chooses the high-stakes gamble anyway. Good luck!

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Timing is the issue. Surely CF will figure out that some of the forces committed are from Southern Army, and respond with offensives in Burma and the Pacific. The issue will be a race between our gains in China and what we can afford to lose elsewhere.

I like to see a man who understands the risks and chooses the high-stakes gamble anyway. Good luck!

True that. However, when you think about it, the entire Japanese position, especially in Scenario 1, is a high stakes gamble. We've got to knock the enemy out somewhere in order to hope to hold out long enough. Given the rather unpalatable alternatives, China seems like the easiest choice. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

True that. However, when you think about it, the entire Japanese position, especially in Scenario 1, is a high stakes gamble. We've got to knock the enemy out somewhere in order to hope to hold out long enough. Given the rather unpalatable alternatives, China seems like the easiest choice. [;)]

I agree with you Cribtop, but I wouldn't exactly call China easy. I think it's the most possible of the alternatives though.

[DivePac88]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

True that. However, when you think about it, the entire Japanese position, especially in Scenario 1, is a high stakes gamble. We've got to knock the enemy out somewhere in order to hope to hold out long enough. Given the rather unpalatable alternatives, China seems like the easiest choice. [;)]

I agree with you Cribtop, but I wouldn't exactly call China easy. I think it's the most possible of the alternatives though.

I also think that China; because of it's geographical position, is the easiest place for Japan to project it's forces, and the least easiest place for the Allies to project their build-up of forces.

[Cribtop]

June 6, 1942

D-Day minus 2 years is very quiet.

Subs

K XI, lurking at the top of the Malacca Strait along with every other UK & Dutch sub, torpedoes and sinks an xAK transporting two small ATG units to Rangoon. We forgot to put a lifeboat in this TF, but get a bit lucky as two of the escorts are APDs that perform the lifeboat function. About 25% of the unit is lost.

4th Fleet

We are getting near the end of the build up of TB and shift a construction unit to get started on Tarawa. Just about all the other Marshalls bases have organic engineers at work. Ichiki Detachment begins to unload at Kwaj.

SE Fleet

We finish unloading reinforcements and supplies at Tulagi and the TF is on its way back to Truk and out of danger. We unload an Air HQ, a base force, an AA unit and a construction unit at Meruake to join a Nav Guard already in place. Lots of supply will also be offloaded and we will build the airfield up.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

We try a CAP trap at Daly Waters but only get 8 Zeros over the target and those few fail to intercept. We do manage to cause an Ops loss at least.

Bara invaded; Saumlaki occupied. Recon confirms only one enemy LCU at Port Hedland, so we will proceed with what Canoerebel refers to as a "snap invasion."

Dili makes level 4 airfield.

25th Army

MKB continues to make for Singers; our 25th Army Divisions continue to make for China.

15th Army

Tomorrow we will re-form the 55th Division.

China

We are bombing the enemy stack near Wuchang while continuing to manuever.