Hairy Asian Experiences - GreyJoy (J) vs. Q-Ball (A)

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Lcp Purcell

Well if you try the Mersing gambit, that would be a taskforce with 2500 plus flak, all your CVE's loaded with just fighters on 100% CAP and long range cap from land. Maybe he will fall into the CAP trap... and you would get to recover some of the downed piloets.

Too late for a Mersing gambit. i won't risk it. Not now. It's too risky and he's too well dug in now

[Cap Mandrake]

To be fair..it isn't just bad rolls. He brought in most of the AVG (and maybe all) to Singapore, not to mention some P-40E's from the PI.

You can hit the airfields in Burma that the AVG might otherwise be guarding. You can literally take the airfields in Burma that the AVG would need to be ferried out (they dont have drop tanks). It becomes less attractive if they get stuck.

[Lcp Purcell]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

To be fair..it isn't just bad rolls. He brought in most of the AVG (and maybe all) to Singapore, not to mention some P-40E's from the PI.

hmm. when I played the original version of this game in the 90's in a hot seat game, I did the same thing, followed by the entire British navy coming down from India escorting half a million supply, sure I lost some ships; but Singapore would not starve. Don't let him do that.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

To be fair..it isn't just bad rolls. He brought in most of the AVG (and maybe all) to Singapore, not to mention some P-40E's from the PI.

You can hit the airfields in Burma that the AVG might otherwise be guarding. You can literally take the airfields in Burma that the AVG would need to be ferried out (they dont have drop tanks). It becomes less attractive if they get stuck.

Hmm. Did you read the manual or somethin'?

[ny59giants]

Notice in your A2A that you came out ahead in each of your air battles over Singapore when you had greater than 1:1 in fighters. You are facing 2/3 of AVG (2 x 25 planes) and at least one P-40E from Luzon (25 planes). Thus, you need to bring the two detachments of each of these three air groups to where the parent is and reattach. At least two of these groups should go to Malaya and be set on sweep missions without any set for CAP.

Tainan Ku S-1 (45 planes total)
3rd Ku S-1 (45 planes total)
12th Ku s-1 (36 planes total)

Send an Oscar group to Luzon or if you have chased the P-40s away, then just Nates.

[witpqs]

Great advice for maximizing impact of sweeps. I just want to add that sweeps are no longer magic - things like stacking CAP at different altitudes (as you noted he is doing) goes towards minimizing the impact of sweeps.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Notice in your A2A that you came out ahead in each of your air battles over Singapore when you had greater than 1:1 in fighters. You are facing 2/3 of AVG (2 x 25 planes) and at least one P-40E from Luzon (25 planes). Thus, you need to bring the two detachments of each of these three air groups to where the parent is and reattach. At least two of these groups should go to Malaya and be set on sweep missions without any set for CAP.

Tainan Ku S-1 (45 planes total)
3rd Ku S-1 (45 planes total)
12th Ku s-1 (36 planes total)

Send an Oscar group to Luzon or if you have chased the P-40s away, then just Nates.

That's right...plus if you base them with the same air HQ and attach them you may get a combined sweep.

[GreyJoy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 17, 41

It's embarassing. Once again he played with me and made me dance at his own rythm...once again i've been spanked.

I had moved the zeros towards Malaya, so to support the Singapore sweeps. In Luzon not a single enemy fighter was left.
Know what? he ambushed me over Clark with his P-40s came probably from Singapore itself... results? 10 crack oscars pilots KIA, 2 MIA and 2 crack sallies shot down.
I really feel like an idiot. No matter which side i play, i always get this damned tough start!
However several warships (CLs?) and transports are arriving from the south to Manila. I'd say these are blockade runners. Decided to conquer the island right in front of Bataan in order to close the door. Based 2 DD flottillas there and soon a float plane base.
However we're late...really too late now... In Mindanao my troops are moving soooooo slow....i'm giving him time to move as he wishes, and my movements, when finally they aarrive, are always clumsy, slow and never decisive.
Seems like i haven't learnt anything playing on the other side. everything seems easy when it was Rader doing it. I remember his pace....fast, extremely aggressive, always on the run. his ships were flooding the whole map. he was invading everysingle dot, every turn. My fighters were overwhelmed and my SCTFs got always slapped.
Now it's exactly the opposite
1/3 of the AVG is in Rangoon.
2/3 of the AVG is based at Singa along with another P-40 squadron.
2 more enemy P-40 squadrons are now based at Manila, popped up from nowehere...
I'm massing my fighters now...but i know that's what he wants me to do...dancing at his own rythm....

The american CVs remain close to Chiji Jiima, apparently doing nothing....[&:]

More subs attacks....he sunk another xAk full of troops, while not less than 10 allied subs are sourrounding Truk, where my KB is based refuelling and rearming....i've placing all my efforts to dislodge them (air and naval ASW at max) but they simply cannot hit the damned allied subs...

on the other hand, my subs around PH, SF, Sand Diego or Sydney aren't finding a single ship...same goes for those in the DEI-SRA...my routes are predictable...his are not.



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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lubang at 78,78, Range 8,000 Yards *blocaked runners interceptions*

Japanese Ships
DD Umikaze
DD Suzukaze

Allied Ships
xAKL Benkalis, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
xAKL Benkoelen, Shell hits 20, and is sunk




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Night Time Surface Combat, near Wewak at 96,119, Range 2,000 Yards *and here's his revange*

Japanese Ships
xAKL Noshiro Maru #2, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Takunan Maru #10, Shell hits 10, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Leander
DD Le Triomphant



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Sub attack near Truk at 112,109

Japanese Ships
AO Ken'yo Maru
AO Kyokuto Maru
DD Ushio

Allied Ships
SS Pompano




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Amphibious Assault at Lubang (78,78) *in front of Bataan!*

TF 179 troops unloading over beach at Lubang, 78,78





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ASW attack near Truk at 112,107[:@]

Japanese Ships
DMS Taboko, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Turuga Maru
xAKL Heizan Maru
PB Sureboko Maru

Allied Ships
SS Trout



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Sub attack near Groot Natoena at 59,81

Japanese Ships
xAKL Saiko Maru, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Saury, hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
33 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled


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Morning Air attack on Clark Field , at 79,76 [:(]

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 31
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 25



Allied aircraft
P-40B Warhawk x 13
P-40E Warhawk x 22


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
31 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 8000 feet
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
24th PG/3rd PS with P-40E Warhawk (14 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
14 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Raid is overhead
24th PG/20th PS with P-40B Warhawk (13 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(13 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
13 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Raid is overhead
35th PG/21st PS with P-40E Warhawk (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Raid is overhead




Brunei is invaded today.

Ok, let's forget the second phase. Let's stick to a decent and fair historical path...i bet i'll be on the defensive even by mid 1942.... or am i already defending?[:D]

[koniu]

Clark Field is my nightmare too. I have sweep that AF fro weeks in my game. And when i was master of Air i send fighters to Malaya and unescorted bombers start bombing CF. It not last long when i lost 40 bombers in single raid when P-40 ambush me.

Sh**t happens.

[obvert]

Whatever he overstacks, go somewhere else. It takes him much more time to move those air groups around the it does Zeros and Oscars. There are plenty of places to concentrate forces. You want to get to Singapore and Clark, but you'll most likely have to take on one at a time if he's massing fighters there. If you mass in one spot to fight his fighters, he'll probably just sit them for a day or two, then bring them up when you decide to bomb the place, and massacre your bombers. Vary everything you do. No predictability.

I would like to reiterate that if you want to invade areas quickly, don't use standard transports. Put your SNLF and Naval Guard units on fast transport TFs, CL/DD with another CA/DD SCTF covering. You can cover a lot of ground quickly. Just make sure you have good long range naval search before you go deep in the E DEI.

PS - Never bomb anything in the first few months without a sweep going in unless it's too poor a base to merit hosting fighter groups.

[JocMeister]

Don´t worry about the losses you take! You can take it but he can´t! Grind him down. You can´t wage war without losses.

And as obvert says. Don´t get predictable or he is going to take advantage of that!

[TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum]

GJ, if I may make one small yet ego-crushing suggestion.

Stop comparing this game to your game versus Rader. You were completely unprepared for everything Rader threw at you in the beginning. Q-Ball knows exactly where he wants to defend, and what he's willing to give up, and he has a good idea of the areas you're most likely to concentrate on.

What you need to do now is seize the initiative again. Hit him somewhere he's not prepared, divert his attention. If Singapore holds out for an extra week, it's not going to set you back that much. What will set you back is if you let certain objectives that will inevitably fall keep you from making further advances.

[nashvillen]

TheLoneGunman is right. If he is strong one place he has sacrificed someplace else. I had a player one time fortify Rabaul. So, I just went around him, took the Solomans, Milne Bay, and PM without any major loss. I then had Rabaul surrounded and then took my time bombing the fire out of it and with a minimal invation, took it. Just be flexible and do what you do best, think outside the box!

[Cap Mandrake]

There remain two possibilities extant:

1) He is the spawn of Rasputin

2) He is reading your AAR

[;)]

[pompack]

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman

GJ, if I may make one small yet ego-crushing suggestion.

Stop comparing this game to your game versus Rader. You were completely unprepared for everything Rader threw at you in the beginning. Q-Ball knows exactly where he wants to defend, and what he's willing to give up, and he has a good idea of the areas you're most likely to concentrate on.

What you need to do now is seize the initiative again. Hit him somewhere he's not prepared, divert his attention. If Singapore holds out for an extra week, it's not going to set you back that much. What will set you back is if you let certain objectives that will inevitably fall keep you from making further advances.

+1

As an extreme example, if Manila/Clark/Bataan are still waving an American flag in your face in January 1943, it really don't make a rat's a$$ as long as you have suppressed the airfields and advanced your perimeter everywhere else. Some places are important to you and you need to take them early; others are important to the Allies but are only useful if they can be supplied. The PI are the best example of the latter case.

[ny59giants]

The Zero is the best early war fighter, but the P-40s (which include the AVGs H81-A3) can hold their own in A2A battles that are relatively equal in numbers as long as the pilot quality is close (less than 20 difference in pilot Air Skill). Hurricanes start appearing at Cape Town and Aden in 1/42 and are produced 2/42. Like the P-40s, they need to get their pilot Air Skills up into 60s to have a chance. By 2/42 you will be like any other player who has played Japan, you cannot wait until the Tojo comes out as the Oscar is not very effective and has steadily become a liability in A2A combat against the two Allied aircraft I just identified.

Right now you are facing AVG (3 x 27 plane groups), but have destroyed their limited replacements of 18 airframes. From Luzon, there are 4 x 25 plane groups of P-40s. The main killer of these groups will be your Zeros with the Oscars getting some, but not many unless they fight with about 1.5:1 odds. There are multiple P-40 groups at Pearl, but they are short of airframes and will take time for any of them to get over to the SRA. Attrition is your friend and you have to look at A2A combat in this manner even when you have bad results like you just did over Luzon.

Speaking of Luzon, you should be sending Recon aircraft over Bataan, Clark, Manila, and Batangas. The last base is important to recon as it is just SW of Manila and on the RR line. I like to RR my damaged airframes here as it has limited Aviation Support and many Japanese players overlook it. Out in the Philippine Archipelago both Cebu and San Jose have small Aviation Support.

ASW - A hit to your pysche is the adjustment from Allied ASW to Japanese ASW. [X(] The Japanese Depth Charges (DC) are mainly Type 95 which often explode 'above' Allied subs in deep ocean hexes. Not until some ships get an upgrade to the Type 95-2 or Type 2 DC will you have better luck. At times, you mindset will need to be that not getting any ships hit is a victory, especially your transports. Getting a hit on a sub in return is a bonus.

Kaga - If she is still at CamRahn Bay, was she used to re-size some of those air groups I mentioned before?? If not, I would recommend doing so (if you don't know how, let me know and I'll explain). Don't worry about filling out the air groups with airframes right now, that can steadily happen as you ramp up production.

You are playing a quality opponent in Brad so the learning curve will be steeper in the beginning. You have not had any major ships lost or a major battle go against you yet. Go get him!!

[GreyJoy]

Ok guys, as usual lots of usefull tips, informations and suggestions. I will never be able to thank you enough...
 
Attrition is my friend as Japan. I know. i've experimented the terrible allied early war replacements rate. Let's go on and let's stick to the plan.
 
Kaga has done all the refitting to the groups Micheal mentioned.
Now the Kaga group, along with BBs, CAs and several ASW TFs will leave Camra Bay and escort the 21st Division (reinforced by 3 artillery regiments and 1 Eng regiment). We will meet with the Palembang invasion TF (4 SNLF units + 1 tank rgt). The whole group will move first to Kuantan, then will sail south and reach Palembang.During this second phase we're gonna be supported by 100 Nells from Singawang. In the meanwhile 80 zeros will keep on sweeping Singapore, no matter the cost. I wanna give my Nells a chance to interdict the sealines around Palembang without fearing a CAP trap at Singa.
 
In Luzon he's resuppling Manila sending several TFs composed by 2 xAKLs...now that we're conquering the base in front of Manila (placing there a Bn and a base force with Jakes armed with bombs and a DD flottilla) those blokade runners attempts should be over.
 
KB will sail tomorrow from a Truk sieged by not less than 12 allied Subs.... she will leand an invasion force composed around the 144th Infantry Rgt, supported by a Guards Bde. We'll land at Rabaul, where we'll estabilish immediately a naval base force and an Air HQ. Engineers are following. We'll then move towards PM, while smaller units will conquer Lae, Shortlands and Munda.
 
He's sending several AKs to Rangoon...clearly trying to resupply Burma and so China. Our recon forces are almost ready to cross the border and approach Mulaim, while tomorrow we'll attack Tavoy.
 
We're also planning operations against Port Blair with 2 Para units.
 
resources are being collected from Shangai, Fusan and Hakodate, while oil is being sucked from Toyara.
Supplies are also flowing with big TFs to China, Malaya, Luzon and Truk.
 
Gotta pay attention to his CVs that are still lingering south of Tokyo...what is he doing there!?!?
 
In China we're studying a plan while we try to estabilish an offensive perimeter
 
Fast transports are being used for Locations in the CENTPAC and New Guinea...
 
 

[rader]

Hey Greyjoy - Good luck my friend!

It will be nice to actually be able to follow your AAR this time around!

Too bad I don't have time to play WITP these days, but I will follow your game with interest and wish you the best of luck. You've drawn a very tough opponent this time.

[US87891]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok guys, as usual lots of usefull tips, informations and suggestions. I will never be able to thank you enough...

Attrition is my friend as Japan. I know. i've experimented the terrible allied early war replacements rate. Let's go on and let's stick to the plan.

You are thinking clearly, GreyJoy. That was the Japanese plan, after all. Take what you need, hunker down and atrit, atrit, atrit, and then hit the survivors with the decisive engagement. Alright, it didn't work out like they wanted, but that doesn't make it a bad idea, at least early on.

Attrition is a classical tactic by a side that has a superiority. 1:1 attrition only works if you have more of something. Early war, attrition works great for Japan because they have lots of toys to lose compared the Allies, but as the years go, so does the Allied superiority - in 42, it's 2:1, in 43, 3:1, in 44, 4:1. Attrition in the later war period is like trying to cut down a 5 foot oak tree with a 5 HP chainsaw.

Lots of people will tell you how to do things. They may be right, they may be wrong. They are telling you how they would have fought their last game, not how to fight yours. The only advice worth giving is what Nimitz said to Fletcher; You are governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of your force to attack by superior enemy forces without good prospect of inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage on the enemy.

There's some tricks in Babes that let you do that, to some extent. Be glad to help you figger them little things out.

Matt

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: rader

Hey Greyjoy - Good luck my friend!

It will be nice to actually be able to follow your AAR this time around!

Too bad I don't have time to play WITP these days, but I will follow your game with interest and wish you the best of luck. You've drawn a very tough opponent this time.

What a pleasure to have you here Andrew!!!!!!!!! Really nice to see you back!!!!!!

Well...this time i'm on the other side as you see...but the problems are always the same [:D][:D][:D]

Please, drop a line sometimes[&o]