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

[ny59giants]

Where have you placed your large BFs that can upgrade to include small to medium CD guns?? They may not be much, but every bit helps. [;)]

[Cribtop]

GJ, I concur that you have built a wall in the eastern DEI and Q will probably seek other avenues of approach. This is a strategic victory for you as those other avenues are longer trips to anything vital. Be aware, however, that Q, having mentally committed to a Darwin-Timor advance axis, may need a solid defeat on that axis to admit he has to re-direct. In other words, well done, but don't fall asleep in the Timor region for a while.

Also, be aware that Q may see a CENTPAC or SWPAC offensive as a strategic diversion before a return to the DEI. Again, I think you have him covered up for now, but knowing how he is thinking provides an edge.

Banzai!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Where have you placed your large BFs that can upgrade to include small to medium CD guns?? They may not be much, but every bit helps. [;)]

You mean the special base forces? One is at Etorofu (Kuriles), which is my main naval base for NOPAC theatre (while Shimushiri Jiima is my main air base), one is forming at Guam and another one is at Ambon.
CD guns are also present at Sebang and Ambon.

Provisional base forces are at Port Blair, Little Adaman and Rabaul.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

GJ, I concur that you have built a wall in the eastern DEI and Q will probably seek other avenues of approach. This is a strategic victory for you as those other avenues are longer trips to anything vital. Be aware, however, that Q, having mentally committed to a Darwin-Timor advance axis, may need a solid defeat on that axis to admit he has to re-direct. In other words, well done, but don't fall asleep in the Timor region for a while.

Also, be aware that Q may see a CENTPAC or SWPAC offensive as a strategic diversion before a return to the DEI. Again, I think you have him covered up for now, but knowing how he is thinking provides an edge.

Banzai!

Yes Crib, i'm very much aware that the pressure on southern DEI will keep on growing. So i will be very carefull not to understimate the threat here. I won't strip my assets from here. CENTPAC and SWPAC will have only the necessary assets. nothing more.

I'm prepared for an enemy invasion of the southern DEI, but i really do not see where he could invade right now without all his CVs available. He will need to start a carpet bombing campaign of my AFs first. I'm ready to meet him.

Mar 14 1943

Today the 4Es came again against Boela, sinking 7 more damaged ships (nothing too valuable to be honest). 20 A6M3a popped up and destroyed 4 Bukas, losing 5 fighters (1 KIA pilot) in the process. But i like these rates. If i can take with me a 4E for every fighter of mine, fine!

Yamaguchi's reaching Truk, along with a 100k tons replenishment TF from Tokyo. From Pago we keep on recieving heavy radio signals... something is getting ready down there. If i'm not miscalculating we should arrive there in time.

Another infantry garrison unit arrived today. Will be moved to Onnekotan Jiima, while the 61st Division is being formed at Tokyo. Will be sent to Pagan (Mariannas) as soon as we get enough PPs.

Once the Mariannas willbe secured with 3 divisions, i'll need to start building Luzon and Mindanao...

[GreyJoy]

This is the list of the ships sunk during the Boela raids... as u can see, a part from a damaged DD (which got badly damaged during the last naval battle against the Devonshire), nothing particularly valuable (well, the two big CMs hurts, but i can live without them)

[GreyJoy]

KI-84a R&D factories are finally getting repaired. I'm already producing 8 R&D points daily... in few weeks we'll be able to get 12 R&D points daily...which means in June 1943 i should get the Franks [8D]

[GreyJoy]

As you can see... Something's up at Pago Pago....look at the radio activity of the last 5 turns....[:-]

[GreyJoy]

Tomorrow (17th March) Yamaguchi will regroup and reorganize his carriers around the flagship CV Tahio. Tanaka will take command of the SAG TF, composed around Yamato, Kongo, Kirishima and Ise. All the modern CLs and CAs will be with them, along with the newly arrived Akitsuki Class DDs (with air radar).
Everybody will refuel at Truk tomorrow.
All my CVs are now equipped with Jills and Judys. We'll be able to launch torps at 8 hexes. That will be the key.
 
150 Netties arrived at Makin, along with 54 Zeros.
54 Judys are gathering to Tarawa, along with 27 Zekes and 27 Oscars.
 
15 subs are moving to Tarawa, preceded by 4 glens equipped I-boats.
 
A fast transport TF is already unloading at Nauru Island a SNLF unit. Another one will arrive in 2 days, along with some engineers to build up forts.
 
So is it possible that he never moved his damaged CVs back to a shipyard? Is it possible that he did some emergency repairs and committed his damaged CVs to CENTPAC?.
 
Mavis and Emilies are doing their best from Makin and from Tarawa. i'm doing my best

[GreyJoy]

Mar 16 1943
 
A good day.
We've been watching QBall moving most of his air and naval assets out of Burma in the last months. Of the Royal Navy only a bunch of minor cruisers and old DDs remained anchored at Chittaong, seldom bombarding Akyab at night with no effect. More than a month ago we decided to strike and to punish Brad for his lazyness in this theatre.
We moved slowly from Japan all our TB training groups and massed some 400 Tojos. Everybody regrouped at Mandalay...a place he stopped reconning LONG time ago
We waited for a clear forecasted weather for weeks now...
Today was the day.
300 Tojos swept without mercy Chittaong skies from 25,000 and 31,000 feet. We found only minor interference by some 50 old RAF fighters (Hurricanes and P66s). We shot down 40 of them, for the loss of 4 tojos!
Then nearly 110 Kates arrived in 4 different waves. Results weren't exactly astonishing but we managed to sink the CA Hawkins, the CL Capetown and the DD Tenedos, badly damaging the CA Forbisher, for the loss of 6 Kates due to Flak. Not bad. The reduced accurancy of the 45cm Japanese Air Torpedo is really showing its effects here...out of 98 torpedoes released only 6 have reached their targets!!!
 
I love the idea of keep him honest even in theatres he decided not to give importance to.
 
KB spotted by long range 4Es recon planes at Truk[:@]

[GreyJoy]

My guess is that Brad's next 4E raids would be against Ambon. So we're moving accordingly, emptying it from any not usefull plane and packing it with fighters. I need to get those Tojos back from Burma asap now!
 
At Port Hedland all those bombers are still sitting there. Seems that he moved out most of the 4Es and SDB from Oz eastern coast to move them to Darwin and Port Hedland... is he trying to defend that port from a possible KB raid or is he massing 4Es to attack my bases in order to support a landing in the southwestern DEI (from Sosarbaja to Roti)???
We must keep on tracking his movements in order to predict his next operation...
 
Pago Pago was quiet today but we intercepted some radio messages from Canton Island... for sure something's up in CENTPAC

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Mar 16 1943

A good day.
We've been watching QBall moving most of his air and naval assets out of Burma in the last months. Of the Royal Navy only a bunch of minor cruisers and old DDs remained anchored at Chittaong, seldom bombarding Akyab at night with no effect. More than a month ago we decided to strike and to punish Brad for his lazyness in this theatre.
We moved slowly from Japan all our TB training groups and massed some 400 Tojos. Everybody regrouped at Mandalay...a place he stopped reconning LONG time ago
We waited for a clear forecasted weather for weeks now...
Today was the day.
300 Tojos swept without mercy Chittaong skies from 25,000 and 31,000 feet. We found only minor interference by some 50 old RAF fighters (Hurricanes and P66s). We shot down 40 of them, for the loss of 4 tojos!
Then nearly 110 Kates arrived in 4 different waves. Results weren't exactly astonishing but we managed to sink the CA Hawkins, the CL Capetown and the DD Tenedos, badly damaging the CA Forbisher, for the loss of 6 Kates due to Flak. Not bad. The reduced accurancy of the 45cm Japanese Air Torpedo is really showing its effects here...out of 98 torpedoes released only 6 have reached their targets!!!

I love the idea of keep him honest even in theatres he decided not to give importance to.

KB spotted by long range 4Es recon planes at Truk[:@]

Nice work in Burma on the British. Sucks your TT don't work very well, as that many Kates should really wipe the board there with no aerial resistance. Still, the more old less valuable ships you take out, the more modern ships he has to use in dangerous areas.

So after all of this build-up in the DEI, I keep wondering where you found the necessary troops and support, especially in your mod, at this point in the war. What is still weak? There must be some big holes somewhere, right?

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Nice work in Burma on the British. Sucks your TT don't work very well, as that many Kates should really wipe the board there with no aerial resistance. Still, the more old less valuable ships you take out, the more modern ships he has to use in dangerous areas.

So after all of this build-up in the DEI, I keep wondering where you found the necessary troops and support, especially in your mod, at this point in the war. What is still weak? There must be some big holes somewhere, right?

What is weak? Well, pretty much everything!

Sumatra has so many weak spots i can't even count. Java is lightly defended (too many bases!), Luzon and Mindanao are empty and so is most of Borneo and Celebes. SOPAC is very lightly held and CENTPAC should need a lot way more forces.

However we managed to garrison and defend pretty well imho the most dangerous bases, meaning those which have the potential of becoming a big AF.

The Mariannas are yet to be garrisoned properly (the 8th Div who had to go there has been diverted to Kendari) but we're slowly moving the support troops needed (base forces, Flak units, engineers etc).

You know Erik, with stacking limits the whole defensive strategic philosophy changes. The allies cannot simply put togheder a LCU death star and land somehwere. Sure they can overstack against an atoll and hope to get it fast enough not to burn every single drop of supplies in a turn but to do that they must expose themself...and Brad isn't exactly a risk-taking guy as far as i can tell.

So my defensive strategy has been, since the beginning, building around the concept of a deep defence, where the forward bases just had the task to hold the allied landings long enough to buy to the air and naval forces the time needed to concentrate in the backwaters and counterattack...which means lots of expendable troops very forward in not-built up bases. I'm not building any base which is directly threatened of being invaded and conquered. A dot base with forts is the worst possible landing target for the allies cause they cannot bomb its facilities (AF or port) and thety can't stop the forts building process. Sure they can bomb the LCUs, but in jungle terrain, with a bit of forts, results shouldn't be that interesting for them.

Another important point of my strategy has been to buy out of China only the regiments and Bdes badly distrupted by the heavy fightings at very cheap PPs prices... The regiments tend to get wiped out pretty fast in land fightings, especially on the offensive. this is a PITA but it gives you the chance of buy them out faster...and while a regiment or a Bde can't achieve much in China wuith stacking limits, it can be decisive in a defensive posture in a pacific island... at least enough to prevent any easy landing.

Now my goal for the rest of 1943 is to deny the allies any easy advancing vector, forcing them to take their risks and a longer route. I'm stripping on pourpose the southern Solomons...i'd love them to take that route of advance. in the meanwhile i'm building my defences around Rabaul and the whole new britain...

If i manage to deny him the easiest vectors towards the DEI or the Mariannas i think i'll be in a good defensive position in 1944, when all those fat LCUs will start arriving

[obvert]

You know Erik, with stacking limits the whole defensive strategic philosophy changes. The allies cannot simply put togheder a LCU death star and land somehwere. Sure they can overstack against an atoll and hope to get it fast enough not to burn every single drop of supplies in a turn but to do that they must expose themself...and Brad isn't exactly a risk-taking guy as far as i can tell.

Yes, I certainly wish we had adopted the stacking limits in the first year, but it wasn't fair at the time because we hadn't begun in China with them, so Jocke had suffered there and then wouldn't be able to do the same in Burma and elsewhere if we had adopted them. Next time though, for sure, whether it's DBB or just the stacking with vanilla.

Now my goal for the rest of 1943 is to deny the allies any easy advancing vector, forcing them to take their risks and a longer route. I'm stripping on pourpose the southern Solomons...i'd love them to take that route of advance. in the meanwhile i'm building my defences around Rabaul and the whole new britain...

If i manage to deny him the easiest vectors towards the DEI or the Mariannas i think i'll be in a good defensive position in 1944, when all those fat LCUs will start arriving

Yes. This is the way to go. Deny what he wants, and give him what he doesn't for long enough to make him commit, then fight tooth and nail for it.

[GreyJoy]

From what i can tell, there may be enemy divisions at:
Port Hedland (60,000 troops).
Broome (30,000 troops).
Darwin (60,000 troops).
Townsville (55,000 troops).
 
A part from Darwin i don't see any good reasons for all those troops to be there. They cannot be simply support units so these may be all good starting points for an invasion.
 
For sure more units are by now stacked at Pago and maybe some more at Exmouth...so i need to keep my "lizard sense" very well awake

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Mar 16 1943

A good day.
We've been watching QBall moving most of his air and naval assets out of Burma in the last months. Of the Royal Navy only a bunch of minor cruisers and old DDs remained anchored at Chittaong, seldom bombarding Akyab at night with no effect. More than a month ago we decided to strike and to punish Brad for his lazyness in this theatre.
We moved slowly from Japan all our TB training groups and massed some 400 Tojos. Everybody regrouped at Mandalay...a place he stopped reconning LONG time ago
We waited for a clear forecasted weather for weeks now...
Today was the day.
300 Tojos swept without mercy Chittaong skies from 25,000 and 31,000 feet. We found only minor interference by some 50 old RAF fighters (Hurricanes and P66s). We shot down 40 of them, for the loss of 4 tojos!
Then nearly 110 Kates arrived in 4 different waves. Results weren't exactly astonishing but we managed to sink the CA Hawkins, the CL Capetown and the DD Tenedos, badly damaging the CA Forbisher, for the loss of 6 Kates due to Flak. Not bad. The reduced accurancy of the 45cm Japanese Air Torpedo is really showing its effects here...out of 98 torpedoes released only 6 have reached their targets!!!

I love the idea of keep him honest even in theatres he decided not to give importance to.

KB spotted by long range 4Es recon planes at Truk[:@]

You did well with that raid for using trainee pilots, so I am not sure why you are blaming the torpedos for lack of accuracy? Has there been some discussion suggesting those torps are not good?

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You did well with that raid for using trainee pilots, so I am not sure why you are blaming the torpedos for lack of accuracy? Has there been some discussion suggesting those torps are not good?

Those trainee pilots had all their Naval T skill in their 70s... they lack in naval bombing skill and they are still training...
however the 45cm aerial japanese torpedoes have been reduced in their accurancy in DBB.... no more laser guided japanese torpedoes unfortunately

[GreyJoy]

As far as i can tell, it's not the best idea to only use torpedo bombers against anything smaller than a CV/BB. without the dive bombers that can slow them down, Cruisers and DDs are simply too fast and too nimble for this modified version of the japanese torpedoes. If you need nearly 100 torps in clear weather with 70 NavT pilots to score 6 hits (which is a horrible 6%!!!), chances of really harming the enemy are really low... DBs seem to me very important to act in coordination and combination with the TBs... even if they do not inflict that much damage, they seem to slow down the hit ships enough to make them easy prey for the TBs

[veji1]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

As far as i can tell, it's not the best idea to only use torpedo bombers against anything smaller than a CV/BB. without the dive bombers that can slow them down, Cruisers and DDs are simply too fast and too nimble for this modified version of the japanese torpedoes. If you need nearly 100 torps in clear weather with 70 NavT pilots to score 6 hits (which is a horrible 6%!!!), chances of really harming the enemy are really low... DBs seem to me very important to act in coordination and combination with the TBs... even if they do not inflict that much damage, they seem to slow down the hit ships enough to make them easy prey for the TBs

As it should be ! they were supposed to work together, with the Torps killing the boats slowed down by the DBs, if the mod allows to emulate that well another good point for this mod.

[GreyJoy]

Yes, DBB seems to do really a good job.
The reduced effect of the GP bombs really makes harder for both sides to achieve those atomic airfield bombardments (for Japan is almost impossible to even close an airstrip in China).
At the same time the reduced effect of AP bombs (not the penetration value, just the effect) makes the naval battles much more "real".
The reduced japanese torp accurancy allows to a better gameplay cause the laser-guided torps were really too much deadly (think they were modelled in stock based more on an exception (Nells against Force Z) rather than long term statistical records).
 
 
Mar 17, 1943
 
While the KB refuels and regroup at Truk, my Mavis spotted a cruiser TF (7 ships, with at least 2 CLs) at Canton Isl... seems that we were right!!! [8D]
 
We're getting ready to meet them

[witpqs]

When you know before the turn about the situation (which many times you do not know ahead of time, of course) then you can set the TB to use bombs and have them glide bomb.