Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[Cribtop]

That is my initial thought. KB was moving to Babel anyway, and so will move there, but so far no further. Trying to hyper warp all over the map is no good. Still, my plans for the Kuriles were to have all in place by March 1. He came a little early, but really couldn't sustain a lodgment up here without naval superiority.

[obvert]

For the Kuriles I'd consider a move now a gift. You can isolate it and wipe it out over time. The LBA should be able to take some of the invasion out as well if he's only got CVE's for protection.

It seems to me a call for the KB so he can move/reinforce elsewhere without too much worry. I'd keep things in the shadows until you know the extent of what is happening.

A tad jealous of the 'beer on the porch' weather! It's socked in and chilly in London, as usual. [:(] I remember those perfect spring days in the South from my 6 years in NC. Such a great time of year there.

[Alfred]

The retreat order was premature.

Alfred

[Capt. Harlock]

What is he up to? Invasion is possible, but with the carrier inferiority he faces for some months yet, any troops landed in the Kuriles would be cut off and destroyed in detail. He may just be raiding, perhaps as a feint for a move elsewhere. Or, he could be planning a move in the Aleutians, using this CVE TF as distant cover to keep the IJN away. We will treat it like the real thing but watch for signs of a feint. KB is already planning to move out for Babel, and that move will be accelerated. Admiral Tanaka will leave Truk for Japan as well.

What do y'all think is going on?

Escort carriers in the Northern Pacific? My bet is that he is counting on bad weather to allow his ships to escape. (he certainly can't count on speed.)

[Cribtop]

February 25, 1943

All quiet in the Kuriles. Not so much in Burma.

Subs

I-180 torpedoes and sinks the kamikaze xAK trying to re-supply Broome. The appearance of this vessel proves that the Allied beachhead here is already suffering supply issues.

ASW harasses Seawolf near Singers.

5th Fleet

Despite a significant augmentation of already robust air search patterns, the Allied CVEs are nowhere to be seen. Surprisingly, the damaged AMC is still afloat, and the fact that she is neither attacked nor spotted by enemy CV air means the enemy TF made a big move back. Was this a feint? Is CF pulling back before a quick run in, hoping to catch us returning to normal? Cribtop Intel doesn't know for sure, but believes the fact the Allies didn't bull ahead once spotted significantly decreases the odds this was an invasion.

SE Fleet

Milne Bay goes to airfield 3. Tomorrow we begin loading up engineers from Gasmata to move out to the DEI. The SE Fleet AO's defenses are nearing completion.

Burma

Allied air flies in numbers and gets good hits on our divisions withdrawing from Chittagong. After the move phase, only two infantry divisions are still in the clear hex, and they should get into the jungle tomorrow. The whole army will march back to CB and then advance on Akyab. Intention is to use an armored regiment to cut off the base in hopes we can force a surrender. This would open up CF's right flank and leave a decent sized Indian force in danger of total isolation, which would in turn put 17th and 15th Armies on the edge of the central valley and put the Commonwealth right into disarray. Then the monsoon will come and curtail what CF is capable of in this AO.

The Allies, probably thinking they were facing a recon unit, try a DA in the road hex between Prome and Toungoo. I suspect CF was surprised to find the dug in 1st IJA Armored Division. Odds were 1:16, casualties 954(4) vs 69(1). The three LCUs committed to the attack (two Indian Divisions and a Brit recon unit), show tons of minuses from weeks of unopposed bombing by Helens. We imagine they are pretty roughed up.

A few more surprises. CF has finally gotten a base force to Meiktila as today's recon shows 20-some fighters. Two big Tojo groups will sweep tomorrow, followed up by all our Helens hitting the airfield. Also, a sub on picket duty south of Ceylon picks up a TF reported as 4 ships, including a CA. Could be an ASW TF, could be something more interesting.

[Cribtop]

Alfred,

I have enormous respect for your opinion and really wanted Chittagong, but I suffered from the lack of IJ airbases in range. I found myself unable to recover DIS from the initially successful ground attacks due to Allied bombing and unable to keep Cox's Bazaar open for LRCAP purposes. Finally and most importantly, I couldn't save my gains in reduction of fort levels because I can't reach Chittagong with bombers. Thus CF rebuilt to level three forts. I know I can bombard with the IJN to work over Chittagong, but that can't solve the air superiority issues, and the bombing plus damage from ground assaults threatens to hollow out my divisions.

I'm very open to trying for the base because of the strategic benefits, but from a tactical perspective I'm stymied. As far as additional assets I have one reasonably fresh infantry division and a small armored unit. How would you take the base in these circumstances?

[Cribtop]

PS - Regarding the Kuriles, I agree that an invasion would be a desperation move at this point. CF couldn't maintain control of the seas and anything he lands in the next 6 plus months would thus be doomed in the long run. Knowing he is defanged in terms of fleet carriers takes a lot of his options off the table, which is nice.

[Cribtop]

February 26, 1943

Subs

I-2 misses a UK DD near Koggala. Looks like yesterday's sighting was indeed an ASW TF rather than anything more aggressive.

Truant is chased off by convoy escorts near Groot Natoena.

5th Fleet

No sign of the Allied CVEs, or anything else for that matter.

SE Fleet

Buna goes to airfield 3.

Burma

We sweep Meiktila and find 24 P-40Es on CAP, rising in dribs and drabs throughout the combat sequence. By the end, 42 crack Tojos shoot down or cause the Ops loss of... 24 P-40Es! [X(] What a massacre. Two new aces are minted today. We lose one Tojo (pilot is WIA). Nice. Then over 100 Helens hit the airfield for good measure.

The Allies try a BA at Taung Gyi. Raw AS is 1433:814, and we have level 4 plus forts in x3 terrain. Cribtop HQ feels good here. Also, we posted a large number of arty units to the base, and they inflict 138(5) casualties in counter-bombardment. We hope those guns will hurt CF during the fire phase if he tries a DA.

Our AS at Taung Gyi is slightly diminished because we detached an IJA brigade and two arty units to join the RTA Cavalry Division one hex to the East. This move was made necessary by the imminent arrival of the UK 2nd Division, which marched down from Lashio. We will move reinforcements up to make sure the enemy can't break through here.

China

We try a night attack at Chengtu, which is very overcrowded after the enemy air force had to retire from its previous roost at Kweiyang. As we hoped, results are good, with several planes destroyed and damaged.

[obvert]

We sweep Meiktila and find 24 P-40Es on CAP, rising in dribs and drabs throughout the combat sequence. By the end, 42 crack Tojos shoot down or cause the Ops loss of... 24 P-40Es! What a massacre. Two new aces are minted today. We lose one Tojo (pilot is WIA). Nice. Then over 100 Helens hit the airfield for good measure.

Do you guys use a 2nd best maneuver band HR or anything like that? I've been wondering why the P-40 is so much worse than historical. In my games we have the 2nd best band rule and it just can't defend dives from Tojos or even Zeros.

I have a feeling if it could fly higher it would fare better.

[Cribtop]

We don't. We keep altitudes far closer to historical, though, based on a sliding scale over time. I think the Tojo dominance in this particular game is a result of early victories leading to an upward spiral of Japanese pilots and a corresponding downward spiral of Commonwealth pilots.

My guys are silly good, pushing 80 average quality on all Tojo units. There was a point a few months back where I could just "feel" that casualties had caused a drop off for CF in Burma. He even commented how often my planes live or even win in situations where he got the bounce.

[obvert]

I checked and didn't see an actual HR in the beginning on altitude. Have you developed a system since? I'm curious as I'd like to use something that doesn't allow the uber-sweeps at 40k but also makes sure each side has some ability to move things around and react to the other player and the equipment.

[ny59giants]

This is my HR in my current game vs Olorin. We are only in early '43, but it seems to be working well.

Fighter Altitude Rules:
Combat altitude from:
Dec 1941 - May 1942 20,000
June 1942 - Dec 1942 25,000
1943 30,000
1944--45 Whatever

[JocMeister]

Michael,

How are your P40s doing? Are they dying (1:10 or worse) in droves like mine do or can they be used in your game?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

This is my HR in my current game vs Olorin. We are only in early '43, but it seems to be working well.

Fighter Altitude Rules:
Combat altitude from:
Dec 1941 - May 1942 20,000
June 1942 - Dec 1942 25,000
1943 30,000
1944--45 Whatever

Even in 44-45 open doors seem to invite a lot of max altitude sweeps. Did the US planes ever fly up there at 40k? I think max altitude would still heavily favor the US planes getting the dive on even 3rd gen Japanese airframes with max in the 36-39k range.

The dive is the thing that changes everything, obviously, and although it was a valid and well used tactic in the war, it's tough when it produces the 10:1 results seen on both sides at different times in the war. 3:1 I could handle.

One thing Torsten and I are trying is using the 2nd best band thing for sweeps only. Thus Cap can get above them, favoring the defender but making the choice difficult at which bands to use as the spread gets wider later in the war. Maybe.

[ny59giants]

Michael,

How are your P40s doing? Are they dying (1:10 or worse) in droves like mine do or can they be used in your game?

My P-40Ks are holding their own vs Mr Tojo. One of the keys of A2A combat are numbers. Losses are near even when the numbers are even in the skies. If I can get near 1.5 to 1 odds, then his Tojo take some serious losses. Which of course he can replace. [;)]

I see Damian's thread in Tech Support as a good thing and feel that there are issues with A2A. One of the things I would like to see modeled would be for the Allies to have the three groups of 25 fighters be able to combine into a 75 plane FG starting sometime in '43 and continue throughout the end of the game. I already know I'll be doing some mod stuff for my next game.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Michael,

How are your P40s doing? Are they dying (1:10 or worse) in droves like mine do or can they be used in your game?

My P-40Ks are holding their own vs Mr Tojo. One of the keys of A2A combat are numbers. Losses are near even when the numbers are even in the skies. If I can get near 1.5 to 1 odds, then his Tojo take some serious losses. Which of course he can replace. [;)]

I see Damian's thread in Tech Support as a good thing and feel that there are issues with A2A. One of the things I would like to see modeled would be for the Allies to have the three groups of 25 fighters be able to combine into a 75 plane FG starting sometime in '43 and continue throughout the end of the game. I already know I'll be doing some mod stuff for my next game.

Can we switch P40s? I think mine are broken! [:D]

[ny59giants]

Even in 44-45 open doors seem to invite a lot of max altitude sweeps. Did the US planes ever fly up there at 40k? I think max altitude would still heavily favor the US planes getting the dive on even 3rd gen Japanese airframes with max in the 36-39k range.

The dive is the thing that changes everything, obviously, and although it was a valid and well used tactic in the war, it's tough when it produces the 10:1 results seen on both sides at different times in the war. 3:1 I could handle.

There is already a penalty for use of your fighters above 30k in increased fatigue and op losses. So, from your point of view here, the Allies would be denied a technological advantage of being able to fly higher than Japanese planes. Why?? Japan has the advantage of producing huge number of fighters, so this may allow the Allies a way to balance the equation to some degree. Remember, I play both sides so I'm not coming at this as a AFB.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Even in 44-45 open doors seem to invite a lot of max altitude sweeps. Did the US planes ever fly up there at 40k? I think max altitude would still heavily favor the US planes getting the dive on even 3rd gen Japanese airframes with max in the 36-39k range.

The dive is the thing that changes everything, obviously, and although it was a valid and well used tactic in the war, it's tough when it produces the 10:1 results seen on both sides at different times in the war. 3:1 I could handle.

There is already a penalty for use of your fighters above 30k in increased fatigue and op losses. So, from your point of view here, the Allies would be denied a technological advantage of being able to fly higher than Japanese planes. Why?? Japan has the advantage of producing huge number of fighters, so this may allow the Allies a way to balance the equation to some degree. Remember, I play both sides so I'm not coming at this as a AFB.

The penalty for using planes above 30k seems negligible in my experience. At least compared to what I've read about fatigue and altitude sickness, etc. caused by flying over 30k. I can keep planes on CAP daily and not lose moral or get too high a fatigue level for quite a while, up to a week until I have to switch them out.

The Allies get on average between 5-10:1 for 31k+ sweeps against the best IJ planes in my game. Doesn't even seem to matter if there are numbers present if it's P-47/Corsair/Spit VIII. That kind of ratio is cost prohibitive for the IJ economy and pilot training. Which means I wouldn't even try to match those numbers using production.

When the altitude is the same, the ratio goes down. Most of this seems to be the dive. The Allies should win these battles, just maybe not at the numbers I see here. Maybe more like 3-5:1I would think.

On the other end, in the beginning the ratio should also be closer and the Tojo should not get 10:1 against the P-40. It should be closer to 2-3:1 at best I would say.

[Crackaces]

The penalty for using planes above 30k seems negligible in my experience

Not to confuise this game and reality [8D] but, 30K in a non pressurized aircraft with simple O2 mask is not a critical altitude. Things do not start to really get to be a problem where a O2 mask and a suit to keep warm is about 45K feet. Then after that pressurized O2 is required. At 63,000 feet blood boils .. so a pressurized suit is needed.

Beyond these factors flying a turbocharged aircraft at 40,000 feet has a different problem. Heat .. rather the inability to shed heat and engine wear ..

[Cribtop]

We are informally using something pretty close to Michael's chart, but I would be surprised if either one of us goes much above 25K for quite a while.

Michael is right about numbers, too. I consistently use the 42 plane Sentai as my crack units and fight the Allies in dribs and drabs on sweeps. A series of 42:9 battles with you on sweep is a recipe for lopsided kill counts. Conversely, the smaller Allied units face a united Tojo CAP that does well against his sweeps. Not as lopsided, of course, but still well in my favor and with minimal pilot losses to boot as I'm over my base. Also, CF hasn't been able to put pressure on me on other fronts due to the naval situation, so I can cluster just about all my Tojos in Burma. Spare Sentai wait in Bangkok and rotate in and out of the frontline as needed.