Strategy Q

[pjavete]

Hello all,
I've been playing a historical difficulty game against the AI.
As the allies, I retook Burma by the end of October 1942 and have now completely cleaned out Thailand (currently its May of 1943)
I followed the assumption (proved by other WPAE games I've played) that Early-on, the Brits in Burma are VERY weak and get destroyed if they don't retreat and regroup, I retreated from Burma to Akyab where I made a stand and trained/rebuilt.
In the meantime, I chose to completely evacuate Mandalay and DEI to Madras, strengthening the allies in India.
I was able to get almost everything out of both places... not exactly easy with betty strikes.
The Pacific remained fairly quiet after I ambushed the japanese at Canton Island and they lost the Zuikaku and shoho.
- String of island bases is now supplying fuel to australia.
- no loss of carriers for the US yet.

My big question at this point is where to go from Thailand?
Do I take Canton and Hong Kong. (and Hainan island, by air drop) or go down tha malay peninsula with the idea of taking Singapore and Palembang.
The biggest problem I see with the Hong-Kong route is that I have no naval presence. However, Should I get the Big Ports along the Chinese Coast working, smashing through with the US Navy would be an option. Supply would be the concern, however.

as an aside, I've noticed one odd thing about the AI near Darwin:
I changed ownership of Darwin to ABDA and parked all the DEI air assets there. The level bomber groups are very small, but with a little practice, they're sinking AKs all over the place. The Japanese seemingly HAVE to take and hold Timor and the bases near there. I've sent ALOT of their AKs to the bottom there with land-based naval air-strikes.

It's a fun game, but somewhat time-consuming =0) (I play daily turns)

Anyway, just looking for pros and cons of the various strategies from here on out.

Paul

[rms1pa]

"brave" sir robin, against the AI seems very effective for me.

i have never used the PP:s to get everything out of DEI/Malaysia
but i have been happy with holding Ambon /Timor. i generaly have CL/DD surface action groups operating from Darwin. lots of fun unless KB or a BB group comes by.
you don't have the amphib lift to do opposed invasions but some sneaky beaky taking of left behind ports in fighter transfer range can be interesting.
taking an island or two off Sumatra then bombing a port on
Sumatra to invade is an option, it is a long war and it is not over til it is over.

rms/pa

[CaptBeefheart]

How's your supply in Thailand? If Port Blair is under your control, then you should be able to send supply TFs to Tavoy or thereabouts without too much loss. If supply is good, I'd use about 30% of my force to take Vietnam and go all the way to link up with Chinese units. I would use the other 70% to take the Malay Peninsula. Once Singapore is cleared, use about 3 divs or so to clear Sumatra and northern Borneo in series, and rail the rest back over to Vietnam or China (wherever the front line is). At least that worked for me. You should be able to get Shanghai by March 44, which serves as a great B-29 platform. Hopefully your PI campaign will also be done by then so you can send supplies direct to HK or Amoy.

Next time try Ironman in Hard for a better challenge. Also, you can ramp it to Hard now if you think it's too easy.

Cheers,
CC