Hammer of the Gods Godochaos(A) vs Da Hammer(J) NO DA HAMMER PLS

[godochaos]

1-10
Jap subs do well and sink AKL, AKV loaded, TK
Ally subs do nada

Lots of bombing at changsha china, we bombard and kill about 100 japs

Bombing of johore bahru
Rangoon sweeps we lose 2 japs lose 1

Manilla and clark heavy bombing

ground atk at wuchow and we hold
Japs march down coast and take pontiniak

Lots of CMs sighted at rabaul, he seems to be mining it.

[godochaos]

1-11-42
NEWS FLASH
US Carriers Bombed Rabaul and Kavieng today. Reports indicates lots and lots of bombs were dropped but accuracy was mixed.
Here are the results of the Kavieng attack with 64 dauntlesses

[godochaos]

1-11
And the bombing of Rabaul with 45 torpedo bombers
additionally we did 1 small strike and probably sunk an AMC that was probably loaded as it was inbound.
We did only PM attacks and loitered during the AM

[godochaos]

1-11 cont
for the rest of the turn:
Ally subs shoot up an AK and torp and AKL
Rangoon sweeps japs lose 3 allies lose 2

Johore bahru, manilla, clark, singapore all bombed
bombing in china

We bomb changsha and kill 56 then we bombard and kill 172

Wuchow delib. atk reduces fort to 1. we hold but not for long....

[godochaos]

1-12
Rant time: So last turn 3 fully loaded allied carriers raided rabaul with mixed results. But don't worry all those juicy Japanese cruisers and transports are going to get bombed in the AM and the PM this turn aren't they as i remain on station? NOPE. 3 Carriers sit and watch as the Japanese transports and cruisers sit and wait to be bombed. the bombs don't come. We fly one mission with 16 planes to attack 3 DD at Kavieng and miss, We bomb the port a little and miss. But the bulk of the aircraft on the carriers sit and do nothing with the japanese 3 spaces away. I checked and I do have sorties, now imagine if it had been Japanese carriers and my planes just sat there and did nothing? This fatefull choice to not bomb today results in the Japanese waltzing away the next day.

But don't worry too much, not all of the Allied forces are pacifists, see screenshot below of my helpers that I sent to Rabaul.
But seriously how can i fight with confidence with my carriers when they won't fly sorties?
The only possibility I can see would be bad weather over rabaul, because we refused to fly 2 groups i put on airfield atk on Rabaul.

[godochaos]

1-12 continued

So if you look at the screenshot above it says poor visibility due to rain, so maybe that is why my carriers flew no strikes at rabaul, but did at Kavieng. That rainstorm saved the lives of a lot of japs

Jap subs torp 2xAK, Ally subs torp AK
Ally SAG bombards Singkawang, we bomb Singkawang, B-17s go in

Ally SAG above also killed 4xPBs in raid on rabaul
Rangoon air war japs lose 6 allies lose3

Japs bomb singapore 17 planes dmgd by flak, also they hit johore bahru

Allied CV group off Rabaul bombs Kavieng a little but not Rabaul, misses 3xDD's
Jap air at Rabaul bombs allied SAG and misses, 10 jap planes hit

Japs bomb Clark, Manilla, Changsha, Kahsien. Sustained ground attacks over manilla and clark are taking a toll

Jap SAG heads toward ambon and 13 banshees miss it

[godochaos]

1-13-42
Ally subs torp a TK, japs torp TK and PC
Brit MTBs raid kuantuan and get whuped by 1 DMS who sinks 2
Japs bomb clark, manilla, Changsha,kunkong,nanchang,singapore
Ally bomb singkawang and changsha

12 banshes miss jap SAG near ambon

Rangoon sweeps we each lose 1
Ground combat at nanchang disaster for chinese 2000 lost and we killed 68 - meh who cares?
"" at wuchow and we hold off a del. atk
we bombard changsha and kill 100 japs

Allied CVs remain on station at rabaul and jap CA's and AKs get away barely
Allied SAG bombards rabaul airfield

[BBfanboy]

Usually when none of your aircraft take off from carriers it is because the weather over the carrier TF is terrible. TBs need nearly prefect weather but the others will fly in thunderstorms or light rain or overcast but not in severe storms or heavy rain. You can find out what the weather was like in that hex AFTER the turn is over by mousing over the TF there.

Don't linger too long - looks like he flew in lots of naval aircraft to hit back and there are likely lots of subs trying to converge on your area of ops.

[godochaos]

1-14
KB unknown
MKB probably does not exist, i think they are in with KB
Ally CV bomb Rabaul with large raid, 5 planes dest. on ground, then CVs slip away

sweeps at rangoon ally lose 2 japs 1
Japs bomb Changsha,wuchow,Johore Bahru, Singapore, clark, and kill 240 ally troops at manilla
Allies bomb changsha
Ally bomb ternate, the jap SAG that fought at ambon is finally caught by the Banshees and we get 2 hits on CA-fires

Jap SAG bombards Ambon 1 plane dest 4 dmgd
SAG vs SAG ambon- inconclusive

[godochaos]

1-15
KB unknown
Possible CVL near miri

Japs subs torp an AK, ally subs miss
Temuloh falls above Singapore, japanese moving VERY slowly to Singapore. It seems my opponent wants to hit Clark, Manilla and Singapore AFTER they run out of supply. I'm not too sure about this strategy, because it gives me time...

Japs bomb Sing, Clark,Manilla, wuchow
Allies bomb Singkawang
Rangoon air war, 3 oscars dest, 1 zero we lose 4

Heroic Jap Sub torpedoes CV Enterprise scaring the crap out of me! thankfully it scratched the paint

[godochaos]

1-16

ASW hits jap sub, jap sub torps an AK
Japanese landings at Guam and San Jose

Rangoon sweeps japs lose 1 allies 3
Japs Bomb Sing, killing some wildebeasts

Japs bomb the crap out of clark, manilla, johore bahru. we bomb changsha and singkawang
deliberate atk at Changsha

[godochaos]

1-17 KB near balikpapan moving to soerbaja? EVERYONE FLEEEEE

Ally subs miss lots of AKs but hit a CM
Japs subs torp and AKL and an AP

Rangoon sweeps we lose 2 japs lose 1
Japs bomb singapore clark manilla pingsiang changsha
we bomb singkawang

Japanese ground units finally arrive at Manilla
Japs occupy mallacca and capture San Jose

[godochaos]

1-18
ally subs torpedo 2x AKs

Japs bomb Singapore, Johore Bahru, Clark, Manilla, Changsha, Pingsiang, Wuchow

Japanese capture Guam and Wewak
KB sinks small dutch TKs out of soerbaja then bombs my important utility ships as they attempt to flee... darn i almost made it out

[godochaos]

1-18 cont
KB bombs the port at Soerbaja and gets 2 SS who could not get out of repair docks in time, also misc ships i just left out of laziness. But all the good ships had fled. The loss of the SS is regretted!

[godochaos]

1-19-42
Ally subs torps an AK, Japs torp a PC at PH

Japs bomb singapore, Clark, Manilla kills 289, changsha, Johore bahru, wuchow
Sally raid on Rangoon japs lose 6 ally 0

KB bombs Batavia but does very little
KB bombs Soerbaja and kills some AMc 's that i was too lazy to move

[godochaos]

1-20
No sub hits for anyone

Hvy Bombing at the following Singapore, Clark, Manilla, Johore Bahru, Pingsiang

We bomb Changsha, moulmein which goes pooorly and we have 2 bombers dest 4 dmg'd
6xBetty atk rangoon shipping and 3 dest
Sally head in to rangoon 3 dest 4 dmg
1 sally hits an AK but it OK

KB bombs soerbaja finishing off the last of the AMc that i left, KB bombs Balkipapan for little effect

Langson del atk, we hold, but not for long
Changsha we bombard kill about 90

[godochaos]

Japs ships sunk (transports cut off at bottom)

[godochaos]

Confession time: I have been a little paranoid about OpSec and I think that that has had a negative effect on this AAR in that I am not communicating very much beyond the basics of what is happening in combat, I'm generally not talking about what I'm doing. Ive decided that I'm going to start "opening up" and "sharing".

Please let me know if you have any specific requests for information, questions

So here goes:
General Strategy
Use reinforcements and SAGs to Create "resistance nests" that cannot be overcome unless he brings in KB or Battleships. Every defensive buildup action is geared to this "you will not take this place unless you bring in KB". Now we know that he can take just about anything he want to if he really wants to. Great, that is a core part of this plan. Because KB can only be on one spot at a time. And when KB is away my carriers will play.
This Strategy is in effect at Rabaul, look at the casaulty list and see what has been sunk at Rabaul. The message is, you will not move beyond Rabaul unless you bring KB down here. I even want to take this a step further, i would like to make Rabaul "untenable".

Resistance nests should include: Fighters, Dive Bombers, SAGs with a few Cruisers, Mined Harbor, ground reinforcements, BUT NOT TOO MUCH. enough to stop a regiment, Enough to beat up some transports. Not over commiting and saying "no way you will take this" I dont want to be in a pissing contest in 42' I want to be monkey wrench thrown into the war machine.

SAGS should constantly be looking for opportunities for raids, if a SAG is destroyed it should not cost me more then 1-2 cruisers and a few destroyers. All SAGS are expendable but not used recklessly. Ultimately though they are expected to die.

List of actions
B-17s are starting to make there way to Australia from USA, I dont know yet what Im going to do with them. They cannot reach rabaul from townsville so they are just going to train for now.
Port Moresby, Lunga, Tulagi have all been reinforced to some degree. PM is fairly secure unless he mounts a large operation with KB in support.
Most Islands and critical locations should have fighters, dive bombers, PBY, SAG nearby or assigned to them. Canton is a good example. They have all those but in moderation.
Suva is a major base. It has a lot of troops
Nouemia is pretty solidly defended and has a lot of ENG
Darwin is pretty strong but i wish i had more AUS air support ENG.

LPs have been established at Luganville, milne bay and soon at Baker and Ndeni
Shortlands has a little security force so he cant take it for free

Kendari Koepang reinforced. The major issue is lack of Air support ENG to support defending aircraft
Ambon made into a resistance nest. Not toooo much but enough to stop a regimental invasion, maybe bog down a brigade even.
He recently had cruisers near ambon and they ate some dive bombs. Issue is i would like more air support ENG!

Philipines, Manilla and Clark contain most troops dugin fairly well but getting bombed like crazy. he has finally moved up to manilla.
Singapore - Most troops are at Johore Bahru and well dug in
China- just created resistance areas in cities mostly. i mostly ignore china.. sorry chinese
Dutch- Some reinforcement brought in to Batavia, SOerbaja. I want to make it slow and Laborious to take and requiring the prescence of KB. What if you need KB to take it? but you need KB to push beyond Rabaul?

Rangoon: I have ignored good advice I am going to defend PEGU. We are diging digging digging. The reason why I made this decision is that he is moving VERY slowly (i think) he likes to bomb bomb bomb and starve me out and then move in. This results in a slow advance. I think it is possible to hold pegu. But maybe not wise. we shall see...I may change my mind. He still doesnt have troops near Singapore.

USA CVs operating around Rabaul and gaining experience in combat.

[BBfanboy]

I don't blame you for being concerned about OpSec. There are sometimes spys passing info on to their buddies who happen to be your opponent, but these are quite rare. I think most breaches are inadvertent - as when someone mentions something from your AAR in another one, forgetting that your opponent may be reading it.

You strategy seems to have a good start - if Tracker is accurate and you really have sunk 9 of his 24 CLs so early! He only gets 5 more by 1945. Getting two CAs and seriously damaging Haguro is no mean feat either. I suggest you consider adding a couple of patrolling subs near each speed bump, if you have enough to spare. Sub torps are the best way to cripple or sink BBs in this game and most Japanese players like sending them on bombardment runs. Early in the game you do not need to fear Japanese ASW in shallow water - they completely lack experience and their depth charges only work down to 150 feet.

[godochaos]

thanks BB thats good info, I did not really know all about getting into shallow water, i was like:AVOID AVOID AVOID

I will start probing some ports more, and if I see him coming to a place like Ambon I will add a sub or 2 to the mix