Hairy Yankee Reports: Q-Ball (A) v Greyjoy (J)

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I have lots of experience defending India (as you know, drat you). A couple of pointers, though I realize you may be way, way ahead of me:

1. Landing bonus only means something when a beach is defended, so the expiration of the bonus may not mean very much if anything if GJ targets Ceylon or a lightly defended beach on the west coast (Cochin, Goa, etc.).

2. If he brings armor, prepare to retire quickly. You don't want to get the bulk of your army isolated in NE India, undable to withraw because the roads and rail lines to the rear have been severed.

Good point on the tanks Dan. Almost all his tanks are in China, though he does get a Tank Division soon under Scen 2.

I think the landing bonus still matters, even against undefended points. Any unit landed without prep, even with zero defenses, is going to suffer disruption.

Now, the counter to that of course is landing a SMALL unit, take the base, then land everyone else. Not everyone picks up on that.

But a single Bde is probably enough to make a landing somewhere very expensive for units that are not prepped, because at that point you have to unload 3 divisions or so, and they will end up pretty wrecked.

[JocMeister]

[Canoerebel]

Tanks and paratroops in India to sever your supply lines, and bombers to keep your troops moving in combat mode, is a good way to get troops beat up and cut off. If that happens to a couple of divisions, you suddenly become very weak at Bombay or Karachi. Ouch.

[Chickenboy]

Can we request a screenshot of the India map, Q-ball?

If you're convinced that Ceylon is safe, would you consider putting follow-on aerial forces there to make his return from ALDFKJDL:FKJD (that impossibly absurd town where he's landing) difficult. What's the destination of your naval-trained LBA?

[Q-Ball]

Dan, Chicken, good thoughts. A couple points.

On PARAS, they are all accounted for. 1st Yokosuka is stuck in the woods near Akyab, and in bad shape; it was mauled. 3rd Yokosuka dropped on Christmas Is (IO) a couple days ago; it will be available for operations in a week or so. 1st and 2nd Raiding Regt are getting kicked around in China by a Chinese Infantry Corps; he overreached on that. They have been defeated twice, going on three times. They are reduced in morale, and several hexes from an airfield where they could be extracted. IJA paras are about done.

Airpower could be a problem. I do have quite a few fighters in India, between the RAF and 3 USAAF Fighter Sqadrons. I am short on bombers, though. It wouldn't be easy for him to launch a campaign, particularly from Vizingapatam, until he can get it built.

I haven't had time to Naval Train any LBA, other than the 2 DB units. They are trained. I plan to hit the transports at Vizingapatam when they land, from Hyderabad, using these DBs escorted by P-40s and Hurris. Won't stop it, but should make a dent.

3/4/42: BURMA/INDIA

We re-took Akyab, but this is temporary, if he is going to land there. Some IJN transport shipping was spotted in Rangoon; he may be dropping troops there for Burma, probably is. I lost 3 B-17s when they were ambushed over Rangoon attempting to bomb it.

We paused at Mandalay just to show some force, but we are withdrawing to rougher terrain; no sense getting killed in the open.

3 Brigades are still attempting to escape Burma along the coastal road near Akyab

[Q-Ball]

3/4/42: SRA

Greyjoy is a little delayed here methinks; he has shot down some of my Dutch Bombers on Java, attempting to disrupt his advance.

Soerbaya is basically ungarrisoned, so it's "Last Call" for subs to fuel up and grab some torps. It will take him maybe a week to walk there.

I have a little surprise coming on the map; not sure if it will work, but CL DRAGON is headed for withdrawl anyway, so why not.

Further down the SRA, I still hold KOEPANG, where he has been frustrated; 2 SNLFs are there, but can't quite take it. I would bet some of those transports heading SE are going to drop more troops there and finish the job.

Darwin has 180 AV, but in days another Brigade should arrive. About 150 more AV are on the way; it's a long walk from Alice.

[Q-Ball]

3/5/42: China

China and Stacking Limits

We are playing with Stacking Limits, and that makes China even tougher for the Allies, IMO. It's nearly impossible to withdraw without overstacks, and burn supplies. It's a constant problem. If you are moving from clear to rough terrain, you have to either a) leave half the troops behind to get slaughtered, or b) move everyone and burn supplies. Not complaining, I like the mod, but if China is tough in regular, just try it with stacking limits...

Situation:

Anyway, here is the map. The Japanese have tons and tons of bombers, aside from the Phillipines, I only see IJA bombers in China. This is part of the "all-in" on China I am sure. I will also lose it, for sure.

But we'll see if we can stretch this out more.

The only good news is those 2 Para Regts are stuck now in open terrain, no airfield around to fly-out, and getting smacked around by Chinese Infantry.

[Q-Ball]

3/5/42: Pacific

Out in the Pacific, there is a real lack of Japanese Activity that I plan to take advantage of.

In order to take some pressure off China, we are going to attack something in 1942. I am already starting preps with a couple US Infantry Divisions on the West Coast, that are still restricted. It's early, but why not.

Southwest Pacific:

We are not really "Invading" yet, but moving forward.

Lunga and Tulagi are still size-1, and KB is in the Bay of Bengal. While that's going on, I am dropping garissons at Ndeni and Luganville. Noumea is pretty secure, with 700 AV pretty dug-in.

I don't really like the Solomons, it's not very strategic, but early-on, at least you can get to the Japanese with LBA.

Aleutians:

See below; we plan counterattacks here, since Japanese construction is going VERY slow.

[Chickenboy]

Q-ball,

Is that an American unit you have at Kunming?

Nice job on the Attu invasion. Make 'em pay! Re: the Attu strike though-pictures or it didn't happen. [;)]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

We are playing with Stacking Limits, and that makes China even tougher for the Allies, IMO.

I think it is also going to make it almost impossible to take those Mtn hexes you are in now. When he comes in, he will be overstacked and his supply lines are long and fragile. I don't think he will be able to mount an attack. If you can get into rough terrain and get those lvl 3 forts built, I think you can save China and stalemate him. This amounts to a huge victory if you do. As you say, he is "all in" here. If he fails to take china, all those units he committed will be wasted and his whole strategy will unravel.

[JocMeister]

Nice work at Attu. Thats going to dispirit him!

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Nice work at Attu. Thats going to dispirit him!

Not really....he has plenty to be up about right now!

Mar 8, 1942, UPDATE:

6 Days ago, we called Vizingapatam as the India destination. Now, I wonder if that was an intel juke. If so, nice one..... fooled me.

2 Divisions landed at Akyab, clearing the base easily. Another convoy landed at Rangoon, contents unknown. At least 1 division was on Java. So, either he is landing on Viz with around 3 divisions, or it's a mis-direction.

3 Divisions isn't enough IMO to do anything more than get stranded. I am keeping some units there to make sure.

The other reason I wonder if it's a juke is because KB is moving into the Indian Ocean. KB toasted about 6 UK Tankers shipping gas to Australia, so I paid for that information, but it's moving SW toward Cocos Is. Not sure where they are going, as I don't have much else in the IO other than a handful of ships around Cocos.

We'll see what happens, but I think any big invasion of India is off.

Elsewhere:

The big news elsewhere includes the sinking of NEW MEXICO off Sydney. By sub, no less....she took 2 torps, no serious damage off Noumea, but another RO boat put 4 torps in her off Sydney. OUCH! At least that's only BB #2 lost, with ARIZONA sinking at Pearl.

Speaking of Pearl BBs, MARYLAND is repaired and back with the fleet, and NEVADA is pretty close.

In Australia, I am standing down all deep defenses; I don't expect a major invasion in South Australia.

[Q-Ball]

Mar 10,1942

Game is slow right now due to Greyjoy's vacation and my work, but interesting developments happening.

KB in Indian Ocean:

KB is now 15 hexes or so north of Cocos Islands. I have two small APs unloading a MG Bn; they will probably unload the troops, and get smacked tomorrow by KB. Oh well. Running will just potentially kill those men at sea.

Not sure where he is going after that? It seems a bit of a waste to enter the IO, unless he is heading toward the Solomons. He might be, considering the activity there.

Burma:

Akyab falls easily to 3 divisions; I think Vizingapatam now was a ruse, and a good one.

We have alot of ground troops around Chittagong; he is going to need more than 3 divisions to invade India by this route. I think he might just secure Burma and call it an offensive. Not sure; I am still digging at Calcutta and on Ceylon, just in case.

China:

I'll provide more of an update later; we are abandoning Sian, and I should be able to circle the wagons around the Chungking plain. This is only a delay; we are screwed in China, and I don't wan to talk about it.[:'(]

SRA:

The Dutch airforce is out of bad planes, and I would rather save the DB-7s and other nice aircraft for Allied units. So, we are disbanding most of the remaining Dutch air units. They are just getting shot down now.

We did send some P-40s to ambush the IJA over Manila; that was a couple days ago, and there is no bombing in Luzon since then. At the moment, we have about 27K total supplies on Luzon; we'll probably run out in April or May.

There are alot of ships around Kendari, the fleet that sailed from Singapore. There are alot of land units heading for something; Koepang for sure, and then maybe Darwin or Northern Oz. I am not defending most of Northern Oz, though I have a decent garrison at Darwin that should cause some problem.

Solomons/New Hebrides:

While KB is in the IO, and before Tulagi or Lunga are build to lvl-2 and can support torpedo planes, we are occupying Luganville and Ndeni. I actually think this area is very non-strategic, and kind of a bad place to attack. But, I can come to grips with the Japanese using LBA, so we'll go ahead and occupy it, and hold on. I might be throwing these units away, but I want to change the tempo and fight somewhere I choose.

Noumea is very secure, with 2 divisions, big forts, etc. It would take a major effort to take it.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

While KB is in the IO, and before Tulagi or Lunga are build to lvl-2 and can support torpedo planes, we are occupying Luganville and Ndeni.

Good call. If you can reinforce on the cheap, why not?

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

[I'll provide more of an update later; we are abandoning Sian, and I should be able to circle the wagons around the Chungking plain. This is only a delay; we are screwed in China, and I don't wan to talk about it.[:'(]

Sorry to hear. I thought with that mountain hex secured, you might have salvaged the Chungking plain ....

[Q-Ball]

3/14/42

While China continues to deteriorate (I will post a screenie of this slow-moving disaster shortly, but we are about to lose Sian), we are putting some dents in the armor elsewhere.

India/Burma:

After the 3 Divisions landed at Akyab, not sure what they are up to; is this defensive? They don't have the strength to get very far overland into India; we have 2 Australian Divisions and more around Cox's Bazaar, and 500 AV at Chittagong in case he tries to cut them off. Not sure, but he maybe on the defensive now.

I am bombing Akyab; it's a mixed bag, I'm damaging the place, and trading 1 for 1 in fighters. We'll see if I want to keep that up. I think I can close the airfield though.

New Hebrides:

I am still unloading at Ndeni; this long unload is making me nervous, the longer I wait, the longer I can expect IJN intervention.

KB is still far away, an d Lunga/Tulagi are lvl 1, so I don't anticipate air opposition. One of my subs spotted some warships around Shortlands, so he may be sending cruisers down the Slot. I have a TF of 2 BBs plus other ships at Ndeni, so it would have to be alot of ships to cause trouble.

CV Locations:

KB is about 8 hexes East of Cocos; this is a major break observing KB for several turns, I would have had to bug out of Ndeni without that.

I have 2 CVs around Ndeni, and YORKTOWN is up in the Aleutians. Yes, I am a carrier splitter! I realize this is violating a prime directive, but I don't think so; not if you know where most of the IJN CVs are. The only problem is that by now, he has enough other CVLs to defeat a single CV, so I am moving YORKTOWN to Pearl. The 2 CVs around Ndeni, I am getting nervous, because I think he was surprised by their presence, but the clock is running out on them. I am about to withdraw.

The big USN 4/42 upgrade is in 2 weeks; most of the USN is going to stand-down to complete that, including all CVs. I might as well wait until I start getting TBFs.

Darwin:

See below; Greyjoy made a vacation haze mistake, and didn't aircover the Darwin invasion. I expected some aircover from Dili, which is why I packed over 100 fighters in the hex, but didn't need them; my DBs wrecked some havoc on the invaders. We burned 4 transports or so, frying the troops on them, which is nice. I prefer my IJA army to be "Extra Crispy!".

KB is heading back toward the Java Sea, so there is an easy fix to this problem in a few days for him......I probably won't resist the 2nd time.

[Q-Ball]

3/17/42

One war I am losing is the AAR count; Greyjoy is demolishing me, and his AAR is always toward the top. I had to find mine on 2nd page! I remember from the Rader AAR, he is a good writer.

Party Over:

It looks like the party is over in a couple spots.

At DARWIN, KB is headed toward that area, and the transports and other ships are coming back. I haven't decided yet if I am going to provide air resistance; methinks no, since he knows what I have and will be ready for it. He will probably stand his CVs off, and LRCAP the invasion TFs; there should be 50-60 crack Zeros vs. my 70-ish P-40s and 36 SBD-2s. I think I would not get alot of hits, and suffer high losses. We'll see. (The A-24s I had before had to be withdrawn).

At NDENI, the IJN is suddenly more active, and causing me problems.

First, a SUB put a torp into ENTERPRISE! She'll be fine, but with 25 major flt damage, that's going to mean some yard time. She is headed back to the West Coast. This is unfortunate.

Then, to my surprise, Betties sortied from Shortlands, putting a torp each into WARSPITE and COLORADO, who were covering the unloading at Ndeni. Both ships suffered some major damage which will require repair.[:@] I was surprised the Betties went unescorted, but I don't have an airstrip yet at Ndeni, something we are working to fix...

So, the bad news is I need to withdraw now from the area. The good news is that we were done unloading at Ndeni, and they have enough supplies to go it alone for awhile. They are building forts, and an airstrip should be available soon.

At LUGANVILLE, we have more engineers; this place should build up fast.

We did get a little revenge when 2 IJN subs struck mines at Ndeni; not sure if they sank, but my experience is that subs rarely survive mine hits.

Replacements:

OK, the replacement system mystifies me.

At Bombay, I have the 7th Indian Division. It's filled-out, except for '42 Indian Squads. I have 110 of those in the pool, and 7th Indian needs about 100 to fill out. I have replacements on, and a Command HQ is in the hex at Bombay. There are nearly half a million supplies! I have no other units in the Indian Army attempting to draw replacements, that are equipped with the '42 squad.

Any idea why this unit isn't filling out? I am now splitting it in 3, to see if that helps. I already "Purchased" this unit into SE Asia, so I want to send it over the border into Burma when it's ready.

[Canoerebel]

Q-Ball, face it. You are thoroughly outdone in the AAR department. In order to compete, you would have to forget how to spell on a global scale, forsake your wife and children, retire on a yacht to wander the Carribean with nubile vixens, and become fixated with shrubs. That's not going to happen, is it?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Q-Ball, face it. You are thoroughly outdone in the AAR department. In order to compete, you would have to forget how to spell on a global scale, forsake your wife and children, retire on a yacht to wander the Carribean with nubile vixens, and become fixated with shrubs. That's not going to happen, is it?

Dan,

At least let him dream about the nubile vixens being possible!

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
One war I am losing is the AAR count; Greyjoy is demolishing me, and his AAR is always toward the top. I had to find mine on 2nd page! I remember from the Rader AAR, he is a good writer.

Well, yours is the only one I'm following, Q-ball, in spite of the fact that you're clearly playing for the wrong side in this game.

Thanks for updating your AAR-I find your writing and approach to be very reader-friendly. Plus, I can read and understand all your location names. ([;)])