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

[Gridley380]

I'm reading both AARs, but I'm rooting for the Allies (as always).

[House Stark]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

3/17/42
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.

Did you allow upgrades for it (if it's currently using the initial Indian squads)? Seems to be the only thing that you didn't mention.

[Schlemiel]

There's a limit to how quickly a unit can replenish as well, only a squad or two a day under ideal conditions (under any 1 category, if you were stripped down, you could replenish each of the different categories of devices daily. There's differing opinions on the subject, but I"m 95% sure based on my play that splitting the division will nearly (but not quite) triple the replenishment rate for a single device, provided you have the pool for it.

[Q-Ball]

3/21/42

Thanks for all the comments!

Not sure what the deal is with 7th Indian; I have it on "Replacements On" and "Upgrades on", and I wish it would take replacements. oh well.

Back to the war, the IJN has been VERY busy....

Cocos Islands:

The IJN visited Cocos Islands, sinking a transport that had finished unloading some CD guns. Intel reports 2 IJN DDs hit mines and sank; not sure if they sank, but I spot one moving 1 hex per turn, which means she is probably doomed. I've had good luck with mines!

This little incursion toward Cocos was supported by CVs. Not sure how many, they didn't fly much. I know HARUNA was there, as she was spotted by a sub, which sank a Jap transport off Merak.

Darwin:

The real action has been around Darwin. Not sure what GJ has posted, but it's been 3 turns of action.

First, my DBs sortied, and sank a transport, while damaging another. I lost about 15 DBs on that attack, so we withdrew afterward.

Next turn, they hit the beach; he has lost at least 2 transports to CD guns, with 2 more set on fire. 3 DMSs were sunk by CD guns trying to sweep mines, and a KAGERO-class DD was sunk by a Dutch sub. My PT boats sortied from Darwin, causing chaos, and I think forcing some mine hits. I'm not sure how many, but a couple more transports had fires that were not caused by CD guns.

He finally brought the HAMMER though, and put an end to the nonsense:


Night Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

92 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
CA Kako
CA Furutaka, Shell hits 1
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Kumano
CA Myoko
CA Chokai, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Maya
CA Atago
CA Chikuma
CA Tone
DD Asashio
DD Hagikaze
DD Arashi
DD Nowaki
DD Amatsukaze
DD Oyashio


Allied ground losses:
1274 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 42 destroyed, 62 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 36 (12 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Resources hits 1
Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 61
Port hits 16
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 3


That is a good chunk of the IJN; we identified a total of 7 BBs, plus most of the cruisers, plus KB....pretty much everyone.

This means that I don't expect any more landings before April 1...this is the main event.


He brought enough to take the base. I have 360 AV there, but between the bombardment, and KB bombing, and the 3 divisions landed, plenty to take the place. First attack dropped the forts to 2, and was 2-1. The first attacks completely trashed a whole Brigade, and one of the CD units is gone; it's annihilated! It's only a matter of days, and then a long retreat to Alice...

Ndeni:

Japanese transports are now unloading at Lunga and Tulagi, but without aircover, nothing I can do about it. Our own construction continues. Luganville is almost to lvl 2 airbase.

China:

A picture is worth a thousand characters as they say

[Chickenboy]

Re: China-

You've got a significant open spot in your lines to the SE centered around Patung (dot hex). From here, the Japs can move into the Chungking plains behind your existing lines and push your troops in the open back. Big open sore, Q-ball. Some traditional Chinese medicine is in order.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
This means that I don't expect any more landings before April 1...this is the main event.

That's great news for the Allies, Q-ball. If he's shooting his bolt at Darwin (and exhausting his unload bonus), that's a small price to pay for holding the line in India and Australia. Perhaps not his ultimate high water mark, but close enough to count. Good on you.

[JocMeister]

Can you get your Chinese units to India when you loose the Chunking plains? If you can get most of them there they will be big trouble for GJ once they healed and rested!

[Olorin]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball


Not sure what the deal is with 7th Indian; I have it on "Replacements On" and "Upgrades on", and I wish it would take replacements. oh well.

Back to the war, the IJN has been VERY busy....

What is the admin rating of its leader? I noticed that if it's too low, replacements and upgrades are slowed down significantly.

[Q-Ball]

OK, trying to answer some questions

RE: Getting units to India.....I can't. We have a HR against moving restricted units over National Borders. I did pay to move 3 Chinese Divisions to India, in case China collapses. They will be well-fed anyway.

RE: Leader for 7th Ind...I will check that

RE: Next Steps....I do think this Darwin adventure is a good thing overall for me, even though it fell; he can't really do another invasion in the last 9 days of March, so that's pretty much it for the invasion bonus, save some clean-up landings in the SRA.

So, I don't think there is a big plan brewing for India or Australia. I discounted Australia awhile ago, but I kept getting intel on Karachi...but it must have been false.

So, that will greatly simplify things, and at least in the short-term slow down operational tempo. But he has plenty of time and troops to launch a couple major efforts. Where?

I think Cocos and Ndeni are inviting targets for him. Cocos he can take, though I have CD guns and mines there (which he knows), so it figures to be a little nasty. Ndeni, I have mines, no CD guns though. I have about 300 AV there.

We'll see what happens

3/21/42:

Darwin Falls:

Darwin fell, which I expected; now the long retreat to Alice. The troops there are fried.

WEST VIRGINIA SUNK!

WEST VIRGINIA, in transit to the West Coast, was SUNK! In the middle of the ocean about equadistant from San Fran to Pearl. OUCH! 4 torps and gone. She didn't have a ton of damage, so this is a blow.

Pearl Harbor attack was light; I only lost 1 BB, but since then I have lost 2 BBs to submarines.

Burma:

See below on Burma; pretty map. We have air control right now, after shooting down a pile of Zeros.

P-39: Decent, or Crap?

As a side note, I find the P-39 is really not that bad a fighter. It did pretty solid job on sweeps, taking low altitudes while my Hurris took high altitudes. Certainly, you don't want to get in front of that 37mm cannon......

Bit of a change from older versions of WITP, where it was pretty useless as a fighter

[Alfred]

Your 7th Ind Div issue does not sound like it is an upgrade problem but simply a case of taking on replacements. IOW the div has already upgraded to the TOE template which has the 42 Ind inf sqd and the div already has some of the 42 Ind inf sqds. That being so, if you only have Bombay well stocked with supplies and other nearby bases short of supplies, then Bombay will be the only source of supply expenditure and you will probably only get a single 42 Inf sqd added daily to the unit (if certain unspecified checks are passed Bombay could provide a second sqd daily).

Alfred

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball


P-39: Decent, or Crap?

As a side note, I find the P-39 is really not that bad a fighter. It did pretty solid job on sweeps, taking low altitudes while my Hurris took high altitudes. Certainly, you don't want to get in front of that 37mm cannon......

Bit of a change from older versions of WITP, where it was pretty useless as a fighter

I had better success with the P39 then the P40. Atleast vs Zeroes. Never tried sweeping with them though! [X(]

[Q-Ball]

3/26/42

7th Indian: Figured out the problem. I had the Indian '42 squads set to "Stockpile". When I took them off, the division immediately started to fill-out; it's picking up 3 squads a turn.

China:

Things are brightening up a little bit. A Shock attack near Changteh came off at 1-9, and the Japanese had 576 squads disabled. Those units are wrecked for awhile!

We also jumped a group of unescorted bombers, shooting down 45 of them, with P-40s and P-39s. We have a Chinese Ace as a result.

Ndeni:

IJN is gathering, though, around Ndeni.

Take a look at this; he might get a landing before April 1; I spoke too soon. IJN DDs toasted most of a TF with 30th Australian Bde on it heading for Ndeni, which is unfortunate; it would have doubled the garrison. It was a risk sending them in, and I lost.

If he brings KB, I'll lose Ndeni

[Chickenboy]

Seems as though the area between Lunga and Ndeni should be a fine hunting ground for Allied submarines now, Q-ball. Got anything en route? I only see one Allied sub north of Munda now-probably off the mark for the amphibious assault troops headed south.

I wouldn't worry too much about Ndeni. Yes it sucks that your reinforcement troops got nailed en route. Making him fight you like heck for an undeveloped malarial rock off of the strategic path is playing into your strength though.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

We also jumped a group of unescorted bombers, shooting down 45 of them, with P-40s and P-39s. We have a Chinese Ace as a result.

Ouch! Nice shootin' Tex. [&o]

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Seems as though the area between Lunga and Ndeni should be a fine hunting ground for Allied submarines now, Q-ball. Got anything en route? I only see one Allied sub north of Munda now-probably off the mark for the amphibious assault troops headed south.

I wouldn't worry too much about Ndeni. Yes it sucks that your reinforcement troops got nailed en route. Making him fight you like heck for an undeveloped malarial rock off of the strategic path is playing into your strength though.

RE: Subs, I am in process of shifting alot over there. There wasn't much traffic until just recently, so most of my subs were in the SRA, particularly around Darwin. Now that that's done, we are redistributing. I am basing some of the Dutch Fleet boats at Brisbane; nice to have torps that actually work!

In general, my sub kills have way dropped-off. Part of that is a turn in luck on duds; the USN boats were getting alot of hits early, way more than 10%; now, they are all duds, so luck is evening out. Greyjoy is also concentrating his shipping more I think. Not sure how much radar helps, but the 4/42 upgrades maybe will give me more chances.

RE: Ndeni, I am comfortable writing them off. You can't base units forward as Allies, without being resigned to their possible deaths early. Cocos is doomed for sure, but with 300 AV there behind lvl-4 forts, with 300 mines and 40 CD guns, I hope to make it a real mess in the meantime.

3/28/42:

OK, so there are exactly 3 days left of invasion bonus (the 29th, 30th, and 31st)....either Greyjoy plans to land right on the 31st, or he isn't invading Ndeni yet. Most of his ships are around Lunga, and it's 3 days sail by slower transport to Ndeni. He's got to move very soon, or I am in the clear....because I think it's a safe bet none of his guys are prepped more than 20 or 30 days for Ndeni, if that.

China:

Greyjoy forced me out of hex near Sian, but there are mountains and fresh troops behind them, so I am not worried. I think we are stabilized, for now, which probably means a big bombing campaign is in the works, to starve me out.

I can still move fuel from Lanchow to Chungking, so keeping that path open is a priority. I am also flying in supplies from Ledo. Other than that, Chinese are on their own.

Supply problems are not extreme yet; most cities are in the white, but that can change under a rain of IJA bombs

Burma/India:

I control the air over the border, for now.....the "Calcutta Express" bombardment runs on Akyab have kept the airbase burning and useless. I probably need to stop this for two reasons though.

First, the cruisers all have close to 10 ops damage, and are fried. Second, an IJN TF including BBs was observed transiting the Malacca Straits. He also attempted to mine Akyab. So, if he brings the IJN hammer, I need to park in Calcutta and wait. At least we forced him to send some ships into the Bay of Bengal.

Anyway, he'll try to re-assert air control at some point, hopefully we'll be ready for that.

SRA:

See below; Greyjoy has been a little tardy in cleaning-up the SRA. Batavia is a tough nut, but the rest just needs a landing, and with the bonus gone, makes things a bit more complicated.

I suppose it doesn't matter a ton, since I can't really hurt him; the KNIL airpower is long disbanded, except for flying boats. But I'll be able to keep airsearch over the DEI for awhile, which means I can sustain a sub campaign. I can't get torps once Soerbaya falls, but fuel and airsearch makes things easier. Also, Balikpapan needs to be cleared for Fuel purposes pretty soon.

Soerbaya should fall as soon as he clicks "Deliberate Attack" on that stack.....there is hardly anyone there, just CD guns and typists.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Greyjoy has been a little tardy in cleaning-up the SRA. Batavia is a tough nut, but the rest just needs a landing, and with the bonus gone, makes things a bit more complicated.

A little? Wow-he's way behind here...

If he doesn't clear most of this in the next three months, what do you think about an early REFORJAVA campaign?

In the short term, isn't Malang (1 hex from Soerbaja) heavy cover and mountainous? That should make a nice redoubt to slow his capture of the Southern peninsula.

Re: Cocos island: he'd be foolish to wreck a couple divisions for that fly speck. If you can goad him into such a strike, you've done well.

Lastly, what's going on with Timor and surrounds?

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Greyjoy has been a little tardy in cleaning-up the SRA. Batavia is a tough nut, but the rest just needs a landing, and with the bonus gone, makes things a bit more complicated.

A little? Wow-he's way behind here...

If he doesn't clear most of this in the next three months, what do you think about an early REFORJAVA campaign?

In the short term, isn't Malang (1 hex from Soerbaja) heavy cover and mountainous? That should make a nice redoubt to slow his capture of the Southern peninsula.

Re: Cocos island: he'd be foolish to wreck a couple divisions for that fly speck. If you can goad him into such a strike, you've done well.

Lastly, what's going on with Timor and surrounds?

RE: Timor, it's cleared.....Koepang just fell.

RE: Malang, I have no troops on the East end of Java, other than base forces, air hq, etc. All the troops are in Batavia, where I have something like 500 AV behind forts. So, I am stuck now with Batavia.

At this point, though, Batavia is going to take at least 2 divisions; the troops are rested and prepped, and I have plenty of supplies.

RE: A Java Campaign? I think he'll clear it, save for Batavia. But he has the ground troops to make that happen.

None of this is really a problem for him, except Balikpapan; that should have been cleared, just to secure the Oil/Fuel

As far as the COCOS ISLANDS, there are probably different schools of thought on it's value. It's too distant to really bomb anything, and too small to use as a major base. Mostly it's a unsinkable airsearch platform, and safe haven for shipping in that area of the IO. It's a useful base for a move on Sumatra, particularly those islands off Sumatra, which are very tempting......

Speaking of Sumatra, it's also cleared, except for PADANG....where I have flying boats keeping an eye on Singapore and shipping moving around the Malacca Strait. That's how I know he is moving warships into the Bay of Bengal.

[Q-Ball]

3/30/42:

Cruiser Wipeout: The big news is that Greyjoy wiped out my cruisers bombarding Akyab; I obviously went one mission too long. I saw warships entering the Bay of Bengal, but thought I had a little more time. Ouch!

I lost GLASGOW, EMERALD, MARBLEHEAD, and 2 old DDs. These losses aren't that bad, because Glasgow and Emerald have withdrawl dates. I really only lost Marblehead in the long-run. That is why these ships were doing the bombarding, and the good ones left over a week ago.....

The ships ambushing included at least 1 CV, judging from the # of Vals.

Still, not fun.

Subs: At least we sank 4 ships with Subs in this turn, including a Yusen-class AK, which is nice.

Ndeni: I don't think there will be a pre-April landing on Ndeni; too far at this point.

CV Locations: I think he has 1-2 CVs in the Bay of Bengal. The rest of KB was sighted in the Coral Sea about 4 days ago, but no idea where they are now......repairing ops damage maybe, or something more sinister?

All 6 of my CVs are at Pearl Harbor (6 includes HMS INDOMITABLE). ENTERPRISE is repairing that torp hit, and should be done in 26 days, while everyone else upgrades radar/flak on the big 4/42 USN upgrade. We are going to spend the next 30 days in port while that happens.

[zuluhour]

Where is the Chinese 11th Group Army divisions? Did you get lucky and get them back to AG HQ in China? Rebuilding in the interior? Seems like the 300av plus could be of use in northern Burma. I bet you have an IJA division on the jungle road from Lashio. I don't know if you can right now, but I like that jungle/rough hex NNE of Schwebo for even a Bn to cut off supplies if you lose the road into the jungle to Myitkyina. One last question if you get a chance, what do you have in the jungle west of Schwebo?

ps Wow I just came back to catch up and reread my post, thats the same way my wife hits me with questions! I need a bloody mary.

[crsutton]

RE: Restricted Chinese units.

I think that it is pretty much a given that China will go down to an experienced Japanese players and for this reason think that any rule restricing Chinese units from leaving China is a bad deal for the Allies to make.. GJ is pretty fair. I suggest you ask him to reconsder the restriction on moving into India and ammended it to allow restricted Chinese units to leave China once Chunking is lost or surrounded. Otherwise this rule is crippling and just frees up so many Japanese units for action elsewhere. This really does not give the Allies a big advantange but at least allows the remaning Chinese units a chance to rebuild and keep some pressure on the Japanese player in China. You might also add that restricted units in India and Burma are there to rebuild and cannot take part in the campaign to take Rangoon but can take part in the fight to reopen the road from North Burma into Paoshan.

Ask him.