Downfall Revisited - Cruft vs. Acepylut (no Acepylut)

[Captain Cruft]

Turn 7

Full court press ...

Virtually none of my FT missions to reinforce the Shimas are getting through [:(]

[Captain Cruft]

Turn has been sent ...

There look to be numerous transports amongst those clusters of green TFs just west of Kyushu. So he's going to land somewhere, the only question is where? I am guessing Fukue-jima, or maybe even Kumamoto which is the clear hex on the mainland.

We have taken what counter-measures we can, but it's pretty desperate. The kami fleets are nowhere near ready for action yet, and neither is anything else really.

[Captain Cruft]

Turn 8

What an absolute massacre. The enemy has indeed landed at Fukue-jima in force, and has also sunk countless ships and shot down innumerable planes.

When the Allies throw the kitchen sink at an area the Japanese defence is, it seems, easily over-whelmed.

One bright spot though ...

[Captain Cruft]

Another glimmer in the darkness, which made me chuckle


We have a large stock of these fearsome machines.

They shot down two unescorted Avengers ...

[Captain Cruft]

Here's the intel screen.

[Captain Cruft]

The full combat report for anyone interested.

[JohnDillworth]

Keep em coming. You can post the combat reports in-line. Seems everybody else does, and they are a bit easier to read. Good luck

[Captain Cruft]

I have an aversion to that, however I will try and remember to post it as a download for each turn.

[Captain Cruft]

Turn 9

Fukue-jima falls at the first attempt. Two divisions and three base forces plus a fighter HQ were the perpetrators, along with about 5,000 US bombers.

Some minor compensation was taken by our air in the form of CL Vincennes and a DD via a combination of 250kg kamikaze bombs and torpedos.

So, as of next turn I will have US fighters 1 hex from the homeland. Nice.

Here's the combat report:

[Captain Cruft]

Forgot to mention ...

Mini subs put another torp into the Antietam, which looks to be withdrawing. Rather frustratingly, they also managed to hit another CV (Lake Champlain) and a CA, but these were all duds.

[Captain Cruft]

Turn sent ...

I just plotted more of the same, various pinprick operations. There is a lot of airpower which is just not ready for commitment yet. Kamis and TBs. In the meantime my fighter pilots are training up nicely under live fire, albeit at a terrible cost in planes.

[Captain Cruft]

Next turn sent ...

Most of the Allied TFs seem to be moving away from the Home Islands now. I guess the main objective i.e. Fukue-Jima has been taken so it's time to let the LBA take over for a bit. Nowhere is safe now from the evil P-47s and P-51s.

Game on [8D]

[Captain Cruft]

A US Army infantry division has landed on Aogashima, which like Fukue-jima is a potential size 7 airbase with unlimited stacking. The landing was rather disorderly though so I am going to try and repulse the invaders. The Garrison SNLF there is currently in good shape. It really depends on whether he bombs them into smithereens next turn or not.

Other than that just more hanging on by the skin of our teeth, as usual.

[Captain Cruft]

Well some B-25s did a low-level ground attack at Tanegashima (not Aogashima) which prevented the garrison from achieving success in their deliberate attack, getting only 1-2 odds against the partially landed US army division. The SNLF unit is not dead yet though, just very disrupted.

Other than that it was just the usual round of PT boats and mini-subs getting sunk by US DDs ...

I really don't have any initiative at this point. Mostly I'm just waiting for my air to train up until they stand any chance of being able to hit something and then attempting to drive the US Navy away. It's frustrating but I can see no other options. Acepylut's close surface blockade has really scuppered any other ideas. I can't reinforce any islands and can move nothing over from China.

The one bright spot is that he's not really bombing either my industry or airfields. So we are not currently short of either aircraft or places to put them.

[Captain Cruft]

Sep 16 1945

Tanegashima falls. Osaka gets bombed, HI steadily decreasing ...

Overall situation unchanged.

The attack below was fun though. I actually won this turn in the air.

[Captain Cruft]

Musings ...

The naval battle is already lost.
The defensive air battle can be won, at some point. I am almost certain of this.
Landings in the Home Islands cannot be prevented.

The only question then is can I somehow "win" by retaining the important cities until the game ends and forcing some kind of stalemate? I am not sure of this at all, but the key factor may be whether I can transport the huge relatively high quality army that is currently in China back home. The shipping capacity to do this still exists, but how to get past the blockade?

One thing about playing this scenario, it's very intense. So, I feel like I've been playing for several years when it's actually only been half a month and there are still 15+ months to go.

I must try and get some perspective and come up with a long-term plan ...

[Captain Cruft]

Sep 17 1945

Quite a good turn for a change. A US DD was sunk by mixed air off Ominato, while Nells out of Indochina dinged two CVEs at Manila in a night attack.

The below amused me. E W-30 was originally in a Fast Transport TF and has some AA guns loaded, but I can't get it to unload. So I have been sending it on suicide missions to Fukue-jima. It just keeps coming back though.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Fukue-jima at 101,58, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
E W-30

Allied Ships
PT-61, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT-76, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
PT-78, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
PT-80, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT-81, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PT-112, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 92% moonlight: 11,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 18,000 yards...
Range closes to 12,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards
PT-81 engages E W-30 at 8,000 yards
E W-30 engages PT-78 at 8,000 yards
Range closes to 5,000 yards
E W-30 engages PT-112 at 5,000 yards
Range closes to 3,000 yards
PT-81 sunk by E W-30 at 3,000 yards
Range increases to 5,000 yards
PT-112 sunk by E W-30 at 5,000 yards
Range increases to 6,000 yards
E W-30 engages PT-80 at 6,000 yards
Range increases to 8,000 yards
Range increases to 9,000 yards
Range closes to 6,000 yards
PT-76 engages E W-30 at 6,000 yards
E W-30 engages PT-76 at 6,000 yards
Range closes to 3,000 yards
PT-78 sunk by E W-30 at 3,000 yards
PT-76 sunk by E W-30 at 3,000 yards
Range increases to 5,000 yards
PT-80 sunk by E W-30 at 5,000 yards
Massive explosion on PT-61
PT-61 sunk by E W-30 at 5,000 yards
Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk...

[Captain Cruft]

The Air War

I currently have around 9,200 ready aircraft, having started with 12,000 or so. About 75% of these are on Training, mostly for Air skill or LowN. The only airgroups flying CAP are those with useful planes and pilots. Since he is not bombing my airfields, I have this luxury. At least for the moment.

The pools are looking good for everything except legacy Zero types. I am not really going all out with production yet, since I would prefer to preserve HI for when the uber-planes are available and perhaps more importantly for when I can see what his plan is.

Ramping up to 12,000 ready planes again is possible, but will take a while.

Despite putting huge efforts into Kamikaze, I do not regard this is as the key thing. There is no way I can stop him landing somewhere and absolutely no chance of destroying all his ships. The main aim is to be able to gain air superiority over any single contested hex in the Home Islands.

I am not training GrdB or LowG anywhere, but a few thousand planes depositing ordnance on either Airfield Attack or Ground Attack with low skill may still be quite effective.

[Captain Cruft]

Sep 19 1945

Midget subs sink a DD. I cheered ... [:)]

Kamis sink a couple of transports at Fukue-jima.

Samah airfield gets destroyed. This base is thankfully now nearly emptied out though.

Otherwise quiet. He is clearly consolidating before the next big move.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I am not training GrdB or LowG anywhere, but a few thousand planes depositing ordnance on either Airfield Attack or Ground Attack with low skill may still be quite effective.

Nemo mentioned that he often used this in the late war, both during the day and at night. Low attacks by 2E with virtually no training but used en masse, and that it worked well to shut down Allied air bases.