On September 4, 1941, the Japanese Cabinet met to consider the war plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters, and decided:
Our Empire, for the purpose of self-defense and self-preservation, will complete preparations for war ... [and is] ... resolved to go to war with the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands if necessary. Our Empire will concurrently take all possible diplomatic measures vis-a-vis the United States and Great Britain, and thereby endeavor to obtain our objectives ... In the event that there is no prospect of our demands being met by the first ten days of October through the diplomatic negotiations mentioned above, we will immediately decide to commence hostilities against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.
So this is going to be my first PBEM game and i decided on doing an attempt at doing an AAR also.
Also a first one in any game but i figured this would help in learning more about the game for me and hopefully to someone reading also.
Comments are more than welcome from the veteran players and other newbs.[:)]
This AAR will start in the planning phase, going to be a week or two before any action.
Settings and house rules.
FOW ON
advanced Weather OFF
Allied damage control ON
PDU ON
historical first turn OFF
Dec 7 surprise ON
reliable USN torps OFF
realistic R&D ON
no unit withdrawels OFF
combat reports ON
auto sub ops OFF
TF move radius ON
plane move radius ON
facilities expand OFF
auto upgrade ships and airgroups OFF
auto air and ground replacements OFF
turn cycle 1 TURN
No new Allied TFs on turn 1
Only one Japanese aerial port strike on turn 1
Paying pp for restricted units crossing Manchukuo
No civilian picket ships only navy ships
Invasions only in base/dot hexes
Garrison limits must be observed (no evacuating to allow partisans to destroy the infrastructure)
sorry, I just saw The Hunger Games Sunday. Good luck. Nice Cover Page.
WitP-AE -- US LCU & AI Stuff
Oddball: Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? Moriarty: Crap!
[font="Tahoma"]Our lives may be more boring than those who lived in apocalyptic times,
but being bored is greatly preferable to being prematurely dead because of some ideological fantasy.[/font] - Michael Burleigh
No in the Newbie HQs table is the Philippines invasions plans and input is more than welcome.[X(]
-----Philippines OOB and first week of operations.----
Luzon - 14th Army.
Landing at IBA D-day 7th Dec > from Pescadores
48th Div
Art Reg x1
AA Bn x1
Eng Reg x1
Const.Bn x1
2nd wave landing at IBA D+3 > from Pescadores
4th Arm Reg
7th Arm Reg
AA Bn x2
JNAF unit x1
2nd wave landing at IBA D+3 > from Takao
23th Air Flotilla HQ
Naval units supporting
DD sq x1
TB sq x1
+ Escorts
D+1 Arrive 4 BBs if needed to support the IBA and SAN FERNANDO landings.
Air units supporting
23rd Air Flotilla Takao
5th Air Div Takao
Landing at SAN FERNANDO D-day 7th Dec> from Takao
65th bde
JAAF BF x1
Field AFconst. Bn x1
2nd wave landing at SAN FERNANDO D+3 > from Takao
5th Air Div HQ
2nd wave landing at SAN FERNANDO D+3 > from Pescadores
AA Bn x1
Naval units supporting
DD sq x1
+ Escorts
D+1 Arrive 4 BBs if needed to support the IBA and SAN FERNANDO landings.
Air units supporting
23rd Air Flotilla Takao
5th Air Div Takao
Landing at VIGAN D-day 7th Dec> from Takao
1 Sasebo SNLF Coy
JAAF AF Bn x1
Naval units supporting
Escorts
Air units supporting
23rd Air Flotilla Takao
5th Air Div Takao
Landing at MAUBAN D+2> from Amami Oshima
16th div main body
Landing at MAUBAN D+5 > from Babeldaob
Inf Reg x1 (part of 16th Div)
Naval units supporting
DD sq x1
Escorts
CV Div 3 Soryu, Hiryu
Air units supporting
CV Div 3 Soryu, Hiryu
Mindanao - 16th Army
Landing at CAGAYAN D-day 7th Dec > from Babeldaob
146th Inf Reg
8th Tank Reg
Naval const. Bn x1
JNAF Coy x3
Naval units supporting
CA sq x1
Escorts
CV Ryujo
Air units supporting
21st Air Flotilla Babeldaob
CV Ryujo
Landing at CAGAYAN D+3 > from Babeldaob
SNLF Coy x3
Art Reg x1
Ind Eng Reg x1
JNAF unit x1
Naval units supporting
CA sq x1
Escorts
CV Ryujo
Air units supporting
21st Air Flotilla Babeldaob
CV Ryujo
As you can see the the KB is broken up allready.[:D]
I run some tests and i dont see any difference in the PH results, they are worse than historical if you stay only one day and then you start to loose planes.[8|]
Soryu and Hiryu will move within distance of Manila in the 7th, in the 8th they will go full speed to port attack.
Ive run tests where third of the subs have been sunk or damaged, and also some of those auxliaries.
Two subs and two minelayers will mine the harbor entrance 7th Dec, im willing to loose them if they keep them in for a day more.
Now is the time to tell me if you dont think this will fly.[:D]
The 48th div in IBA will move for Clark Field with artillery and engineers.
4th and 7th Arm Reg will move for Lingayen to link up with 65th Bde then turn for Clark Field.
16th Div in Mauban will move for Manila and then Clark Field.
The Zeros of 23rd Air Flotilla will rebase to Iba as soon as possible.
All 5th Air Div AC will rebase to San Fernando and Vigan as soon as possible.
As reserve there are 2 Division, 21 Division and 1 Arm reg, comitted when needed.
+ The 38th div and artillery from Hong Kong
I want to bottle them soon somwhere so i can move most of my units away from Philippines.
I also want to take as much warships and merchants as i can.
If I am playing the Allies, there would be ZERO ships in port at Manilla on 8 Dec. By making the first TF at Manilla a minesweeper with all 6 minesweepers all ships can leave on the 8th of Dec with little or no problems. Sometimes a ship hits a mine, but most of the time they all leave with no mine hits.
You are going to have a 4 CV TF in the Pacific with 72 fighters on board. He can if he wants put 18 Marine fighters on each of his 3 CVs and have about 120 fighters aboard. Be careful or plan on putting more fighters on your CVs.
I think that the two obligations you have are to be good at what you do and then to pass on your knowledge to a younger person
If I am playing the Allies, there would be ZERO ships in port at Manilla on 8 Dec. By making the first TF at Manilla a minesweeper with all 6 minesweepers all ships can leave on the 8th of Dec with little or no problems. Sometimes a ship hits a mine, but most of the time they all leave with no mine hits.
You are going to have a 4 CV TF in the Pacific with 60 fighters on board. He can if he wants put 18 Marine fighters on each of his 3 CVs and have about 120 fighters aboard. Be careful or plan on putting more fighters on your CVs.
Thank you for your advice, this is the type of info i need to consider.
The carriers where a bonus to the plan when i noticed even missing two didnt make a big difference at PH.
And they would help in getting those fleeing ships.
This part can be axed easily out though they would be nice to have around Mindanao with the CVL to cover the landings. The 21 Air Flotilla will move to Mindanao to close the Philippine traffic tough.
Can he get those fighters on and still play catch up with KB that stays only one day?
Im little tired, i think you ment that i would keep them separated. [:)]
Im too chicken for that, they wont move much after the initial phases.
Next time they will move to head for Rabaul.
what a great opponent you would have been and what a chance I’ve missed. I like your plan and I’ve always been a fan of KB breaking… ever finishing with a couple of CV sunk the first week of war!
IMHO the threat of US CVs is not so strong because they always require some day to meet together and if you plan to leave Hawaiian waters on 8th you should be quite safe. On the other hand you’re tied to your oilers and they’re in trouble on their own.
But the worst thing about splitting KB, IMHO is the loss of “fleet in being” power. With 6 Japan CVs around as an Allied you must ponder every single move. But if CVs are only 4 things change a lot… remember Midway!
They can't do it on the first few turns, but just sending 2 CVs to bomb Manilla port on day 2 and return to Truk is probably going to be a waste of resources. I don't expect there to be any ships in port, and your PH attack will be weaker. If you were going to use the 2 CVs to help cover landings in the DEI then it might make some more sense. In that case you would need to be careful about meeting his 3 CVs with possibly 120 or so fighters and lots of SBDs. A trade of a 2 or 3 CVs is not in your best interest early in the game.
BTW, I edited my first post to reflect that my math seemed to be off. You have 72 fighters on 4 CVs.
I think that the two obligations you have are to be good at what you do and then to pass on your knowledge to a younger person
They can't do it on the first few turns, but just sending 2 CVs to bomb Manilla port on day 2 and return to Truk is probably going to be a waste of resources. I don't expect there to be any ships in port, and your PH attack will be weaker. If you were going to use the 2 CVs to help cover landings in the DEI then it might make some more sense. In that case you would need to be careful about meeting his 3 CVs with possibly 120 or so fighters and lots of SBDs. A trade of a 2 or 3 CVs is not in your best interest early in the game.
BTW, I edited my first post to reflect that my math seemed to be off. You have 72 fighters on 4 CVs.
And you could lose a few over PH as well. I concur with Dan. If you do anything different, use 5 CVs and bring Kaga to the DEI to support landings and kill ships. There's a lot of info about this early in Mike Solli's AAR added by ny59giants. That would ensure you have an advantage anyway. You most likely would only meet 2 US CVs unless you sat in Cent Pac doing nothing for 2 weeks. You will most likely move those back to the Gilberts and Solomons to support landings there and then possibly to the DEI.
Your Nells and Bettys from Takao will hit Manila pretty hard. You may choose to go for the fields, but my experience is that you won't hit enough to justify missing all of those subs and other ships in port. Plus, you want to take down many of the fighters with your Zeros to get the kills and resulting experience gains. Also, once you have a base on the PI you can LR CAP spots to catch PBYs moving things around as well as support bombing.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
They can't do it on the first few turns, but just sending 2 CVs to bomb Manilla port on day 2 and return to Truk is probably going to be a waste of resources. I don't expect there to be any ships in port, and your PH attack will be weaker. If you were going to use the 2 CVs to help cover landings in the DEI then it might make some more sense. In that case you would need to be careful about meeting his 3 CVs with possibly 120 or so fighters and lots of SBDs. A trade of a 2 or 3 CVs is not in your best interest early in the game.
BTW, I edited my first post to reflect that my math seemed to be off. You have 72 fighters on 4 CVs.
Well the main reason was to get control of the area around Philippines from day one and destroy as much air an naval assets as possible. My wish would be to get those cruisers, B17s and PBYs.
The second stage was to move fast for Sumatra and isolating Singapore, getting the 23rd Air Flotilla to Singkawan and Kuching also to support. Im new and maybe too fixed in having air cover for every move but 2 real CVs would be helpfull.
I just want to make zones where the opponent will get hammered, total superiority where i want, other thing if i can make it happen.[8|]
But in the long run i will not brake the KB easily, i will post my draft for my fleets also, good commentary here, thank you. [:)]
They can't do it on the first few turns, but just sending 2 CVs to bomb Manilla port on day 2 and return to Truk is probably going to be a waste of resources. I don't expect there to be any ships in port, and your PH attack will be weaker. If you were going to use the 2 CVs to help cover landings in the DEI then it might make some more sense. In that case you would need to be careful about meeting his 3 CVs with possibly 120 or so fighters and lots of SBDs. A trade of a 2 or 3 CVs is not in your best interest early in the game.
BTW, I edited my first post to reflect that my math seemed to be off. You have 72 fighters on 4 CVs.
And you could lose a few over PH as well. I concur with Dan. If you do anything different, use 5 CVs and bring Kaga to the DEI to support landings and kill ships. There's a lot of info about this early in Mike Solli's AAR added by ny59giants. That would ensure you have an advantage anyway. You most likely would only meet 2 US CVs unless you sat in Cent Pac doing nothing for 2 weeks. You will most likely move those back to the Gilberts and Solomons to support landings there and then possibly to the DEI.
Your Nells and Bettys from Takao will hit Manila pretty hard. You may choose to go for the fields, but my experience is that you won't hit enough to justify missing all of those subs and other ships in port. Plus, you want to take down many of the fighters with your Zeros to get the kills and resulting experience gains. Also, once you have a base on the PI you can LR CAP spots to catch PBYs moving things around as well as support bombing.
I read that and started experimenting with taking two carriers out.[:)]
I probably still would hit Clark Field and Cagayan the first and second day with LBA, i just want the skies badly, the CVs would bring some reserve power that can hit fast in any targets.
Remember 21st Air Flotilla starts from day one in Babeldaob, thats 1 Nettie sq and 1 Betty sq away from Takao but closing the door to Philippines in Mindanao and hitting the B17s in Cagayan. BTW they have torps from D+1.[;)]
Thank you also for your comments and please keep them coming and keep me honest.[;)]
Here is the work in progress fleet composition, the idea is to put forward two strong area fleets from where to build task forces depending on situation.
I have still small fleets like the 5th under consideration but i have some 2nd line ships still available.
I might give the Minekaze DDs also to the area fleets along with the Subs and auxliaries they will get.
Comments again welcome, if you spot a mistake thats only helpfull for me.[:)]
---COMBINED FLEET---
-KIDO BUTAI-
CVdiv
2xCV (Akagi class CV) AKAGI, (45F, 18DB, 18TB) (Kaga class CV) KAGA (36F, 18DB, 18TB)
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