The Hive - Cruft PBEM (Japan, Scen 2 Beta + Stacking Limits)

[Captain Cruft]

Meanwhile, he has taken Makin, Nauru and Ocean Island. There have been no air attacks into the Marshalls yet though, just a bombardment at Mili by CA Chicago which received significant sys damage from the 15in guns there.

The subs sitting at Wotje, Maloelap and Majuro are 9kt midget subs with 500 endurance which I created at Kwajalein from supply.

[Captain Cruft]

Mar 31 1943

Operation Yak is on for next turn. I have had to change the venue since I didn't actually check to see if the Topsies and Thalias could reach Ansi from Paotow. They can't.

So instead all 4 IJA Raiding Regiments will be deposited at Lanchow using 150 transport aircraft.

I wonder who will be the April Fool?

[Captain Cruft]

Apr 1 1943
[font="Courier New"]
HI: 1.295m
Fuel: 6.395m
Ready aircraft: 4,000+
Ship losses: 1 x DD, 8 x E, 6 x APD, 5 x SS
[/font]
The IJA transport fleet did not carry quite as many of the troops over to Lanchow as I thought they would. However, the shock attack was not a complete disaster so I will simply finish dropping the troops next turn. Multiple Oscar groups will fly Sweep over the base in case he decides to put some fighters there.

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Ground combat at Lanchow (81,34)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1754 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 104

Defending force 3080 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 82

Japanese adjusted assault: 26

Allied adjusted defense: 77

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
431 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Raiding Rgt /1
3rd Raiding Rgt /1
1st Raiding Rgt /1
4th Raiding Rgt /1

Defending units:
303rd Brigade
8th War Area

[Captain Cruft]

8 April 1943

Today was the day he finally unleashed his bombers in Burma again, with seemingly his entire airforce attacking Pegu. The result - 48 Tojos lost for about 55 Allied aircraft, mostly fighters.

Pegu is now closed, but without further attack should recover within a few days.

Over in China the paras at Lanchow are waiting for enough supplies to arrive before attacking. There has been no Chinese counter-attack.

[Captain Cruft]

17 Apr 1943

Nothing major to report.

I tried a DA at Lanchow which really didn't work at all (he managed to reinforce it overland), so have despatched some cavalry from Paotow in order to open up the eastern hex-side so that the paras can escape. He has not counter-attacked. It is fair to say that Operation Yak has been a total failure, basically because I made a false assumption about transport aircraft ranges ...

Air superiority ops via Sweep continue in Burma. His P-38s shoot down my Tojos and the Tojos in turn shoot down P-40s. All a bit pointless, except that the IJA pilot reserve is now officially empty. This does not particularly worry me though, since my primary plan is not to use my airforce to fight in the air.

I am expecting that actual bomb delivery will occur soon at Rangoon/Pegu as a prelude to moving his LCUs in those directions. The 300 or so Oscars of the Swarm await patiently in Thailand for the moment when the British step into a clear hex or actually into one of those bases.

There is now an evacuation fleet ready at Georgetown for the units at Rangoon, comprising Es, APDs and AK-ts, with a minimum speed of 18kts. I have made a tentative decision now to not commit any of the actual fleet units of the IJN until such time as he approaches what I termed the "Inner Hive", i.e. 20 hexes or so from the Home Islands. It would be quite cool to get to 1944 or even 1945 while still having only lost a single DD

I think it is fair to say I am now rather bored with Burma and would really like him to get on with evicting me. The game will get much more interesting once this has happened. He continues to play very deliberately though.

[obvert]

Interesting to see how this is going. I'm curious how the Hive will perform against tough British and Indian AA units. My Helens seems to die at about a 5% rate at 12k feet. At 1k I would be afraid to see the results.

How far are you training your IJA pilots? Do you double train in low ground and air combat skills?

[Captain Cruft]

I have already attacked those tough AA units several times. Losses run at around 15% a go, so yes very expensive.

As for IJA pilot training, I was initially doing both Air and LowG but now have switched to just doing one per batch of pilots. This is purely down to a lack of airgroups available for training. Currently I have 2 of these for Air and 4 for LowG.

My thinking now is more about using the Swarm against shipping than against ground targets. Once Burma is over and done with.

[obvert]

I might do some experiments with my Ki-43 IIb and some naval bombing as well. I'm doing some low naval training of fighter groups while they wait for action. I liked your earlier test results with these, although it'll be better of course after they start doing some dives for the emperor in 44.

[Captain Cruft]

Even Zeros with their 60kg bombs can be effective in that role I have found in Downfall.

18 Apr 1943

I decided to move my "strategic" bombing force from China to Bangkok in order to have a go at Toungoo, which is the home of the evil P-38s. He has not been CAPing his bases in Burma because occasionally I Sweep over them with large numbers of Toscars which do well against the P-40s and Brit fighters. He has never used the P-38s on CAP.

Not bad results I thought

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Morning Air attack on Toungoo , at 57,50

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 46
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 109
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 63

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 3 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed by flak
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 47 damaged
P-38G Lightning: 5 destroyed on ground
Spitfire PR.IV: 2 damaged
Beaufighter VIc: 15 damaged
Beaufighter VIc: 1 destroyed on ground
Beaufighter VIf: 7 damaged
Beaufighter VIf: 1 destroyed on ground

Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 36

Aircraft Attacking:
24 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
21 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
29 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
34 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb

[Captain Cruft]

In other news, I have now decided to crank Naval Shipyards up to 2,400. It seems like my current economy should be able to support this. Warships just don't come off the slipways quick enough. One day I may even be able to re-start the Yamatos ...

The KB in its entirety is re-fitting at Kure, and I am almost tempted to just leave it there after all the ugprades are complete.

Map-wise, I have decided that the Bonins are a key area, and as a result will be despatching some recently arrived engineers and flak to the two main islands of Iwo and Chichi shortly.

[Captain Cruft]

1 May 1943
[font="Courier New"]
Supply: 4.153m
HI: 1.354m
Fuel: 6.360m
Ready aircraft: 4,409
Ship losses: 1 x DD, 9 x E, 7 x APD, 5 x SS
[/font]
Another month has passed and nothing major has changed.

He continues to grind away at my airforce in Burma and Thailand. The bombers even show up once in a while alongside the fighter Sweeps.

In the Marshalls he is bombing Mili with B-25s on medium-level Ground Attack. This is slowly downgrading the capability of the Mili Naval Fortress but the CD guns are mostly unaffected. I have put a stupendous admiral in charge with high ratings including Admin. If looks like this island will be his first target when he eventually lands.

My paras were eliminated at Lanchow, however the remnants are marching along the trail to Ningsia alongside some av support and engineers. I still want to pose a threat on this axis, even if it's only fake.

[Captain Cruft]

I forgot to mention ...

Around 15 Glen-equipped subs with 14,000 endurance are headed out to the gap between PH and the West Coast. I want to see if there's any traffic worth sinking in the area. If there is then I may send out a carrier raid to coincide with when his CVs are committed to the Marshalls landings. I am moving fuel to Hakodate, Etorofu and Marcus Island in preparation.

[Captain Cruft]

Looking at the shipbuilding queue, it's not really that long before I get some more carriers. This despite the fact that I have not really accelerated anything, or at least not anything expensive.

[Captain Cruft]

Nick Swarm

There are now 497 Nicks on the map. This, I have decided, is absolutely my most important weapon. I would gladly expend thousands of these planes to remove Allied destroyers and the like from the map, and indeed that is the plan

[Captain Cruft]

3 May 1943

A Rufe unit stationed at Babo shoots down 9 unescorted B-25s. This is the sort of thing I play for

Unfortunately they didn't do too much to stop the 40 or so B-24s which also arrived, and the two AVs supporting the float fighters were duly sunk.

I will therefore abandon my attempt to suck the oil out of this silly little port. The loading rate is too slow anyway.

[Captain Cruft]

6 May 1943

BBs Idaho & Mississippi pay a visit to Mili.

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Night Naval bombardment of Mili at 136,121 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

76 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 7
BB Idaho, Shell hits 3

Japanese ground losses:
177 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (5 destroyed, 10 disabled)

OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for BB Mississippi
BB Mississippi firing at Mili Naval Fortress
Mili Naval Fortress firing at BB Mississippi
Mili Naval Fortress firing at BB Idaho
BB Idaho firing at Mili Naval Fortress
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The 15in CD guns took out 2 x 20mm AA guns and reduced the crew experience on the Mississippi, but obviously came off worse overall.

[obvert]

Interesting that while you've conceded territory he has not really filled it and pushed forward more. Your emphasis on the air must be having some effect to deter his plans. Such an interesting game ad I'm curious to see how it develops.

I see you're building the Shinano. With your emphasis on the air war this surprises me, as it's such an expensive CV for the benefit it gives. You could build a very large number of planes for the amount of HI it takes to build that CV. The late war CV/CVE also might cost more than they will benefit by the time you get them.

[Captain Cruft]

I think he's just very risk averse.

The Shinano is a Taiho class in Scen 2 ...

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I think he's just very risk averse.

The Shinano is a Taiho class in Scen 2 ...

My bad! I've been playing Scenario 1 for so long I forgot about that! Yes, but all means that is necessary.

[Captain Cruft]

16 May 1943

The careful Allied reduction of the perimeter continues. Pegu airfield is closed and I am losing a lot of Tojos to his massed fighters.

Over in the Marshalls the Mili Fortress is just about completely disabled. However, there is one bright spot. The first Type 91 torpedo was delivered at night into a worthy target. Moonlight was at 92%.

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Night Air attack on TF, near Mili at 136,121

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo