The march of progress - Lokasenna (J) vs. HexHead (A), no HH please

[Lokasenna]

January 23

Subs
I-173 fails to penetrate Lihue harbor, and there is other light ASW/sub action outside of Hawaii. Almost all of my subs had 10/10 DL (and were set to remain on station rather than patrol zone...), so this was expected. I'm moving some with Glens NE of Hawaii to try and catch some convoys coming in.

China
Strat bombing in central China gets 1 hit at Liuchow, and appears to be 4 points of damage. Not a bad start.

Bombardment at Changsha reveals that I only have 2113 AV to his 3534. I would not be surprised if he attacks here next turn. I'm a little worried... I need my stack near Hangchow to clear out the Chuhsien area and then proceed here. But that will be some weeks, so I'm debating walking out of the city for the time being.

Outside Wuchow I have 308 to 242. I'll try to push him back, especially since movement dots are seen.

I am stalemated NE of Sinyang with 793 to 803 AV. Unfortunate...but I might have enough on the way from the NE to break it.

At Kukong, I'm going to need more. I'm stalemated with 685 to 891. Once I have the Allies on Luzon bottled up, I plan to bring the weight of my 2E bombers (all the IJAAF ones at least) to bear in this area with more strat bombing, and ground attacks if my bombardments don't cause any casualties. My goal overall is to starve him of supplies. Once I can buy some armored units out of Manchukuo, I plan to insert them on various roads. I already have a unit moving to cut off Kukong's supply route. I already sent the next turn back, but it occurs to me that I need to make sure the stack outside Hangchow doesn't have a supply route either.

Up north, my 1900 AV stack forces 300 AV of Chinese to retreat north across the river, towards Yenan. This stack will move towards Sian (a total of just over 2300 AV with the ID to the west of the combat zone). I'll do some air recon, but hopefully this will be enough to take Sian and move SE towards Nanyang and cutting off Loyang/Chengchow.

I plan to begin buying Arty units out of Manchukuo after the first couple of armor units, which will come after I buy out 53rd Div (in about 2 weeks).

Philippines
Cotobato is undefended, I'll have it next turn. Then I'll have to figure out what else I want to do here.

Bombardment at Clark reveals that I have 794 AV to his 301. I'll try a deliberate next turn and see what happens.

Movement dots are spotted at Clark Field, towards Manila. I don't care if they run towards Manila or Bataan if they retreat from my deliberate attack. Towards Bataan is easier for me int he short run, but towards Manila would mean that he's split and I can catch them in a classic hammer-and-anvil at Manila (am probably going to bring 16th Inf Rgt here from Truk once it recuperates, via Naga).

Malaya
My attack outside Johore Bahru doesn't do all that much except kill 1 of 6 disrupted Commonwealth/Malayan units, but my troops are still below 30 Fatigue and below 15 disruption so I'll try a Shock Attack and see if I can bag the rest.

A Sally strike on Singers meets a Blenheim CAP this time. I lost 6 of 15 and do little damage to the airfield, losing 3 more to flak. I'll have to sweep tomorrow, but the raids will continue.

Other SRA
An 18-Zero sweep of Batavia shoots down 13 Dutch Buffalos and 3 more are lost to ops, with no loss to the IJN aviators. Banzai!

Elsewhere
7 PBY-4's bomb Port Moresby from 10K and do nothing. Odd...

An Allied Shock Attack at Buna achieves only 1:3 odds against my 2 small SNLF units. I'll attack them back tomorrow to try to make them go back to starving in the jungle.



Next Turn
I've decided to send 33rd Division up towards Rangoon. Only 4 units are sighted there with recon this turn. There is 1500 AV marching down the Malayan Peninsula. 2 IDs plus support in Burma should be enough to mop up the Burmese rats and achieve some initial objectives, stopping short of Magwe for now until I can get some air power in position to move in right away.

The para-attack on Port Blair happens tomorrow.

I'm picking up the 2nd Raiding Rgt from Kagoshima with transport planes. They'll drop into Chuhsien from Shanghai as soon as they've all been picked up. I am reconning this base this turn, but I do not expect that it is currently defended.

Wuchang needs a garrison. I don't know where I'm going to get it, unless I pull back from Changsha. Ichang is untouched and he has a 9-stack heading NW towards Patung. He has a 9-stack sitting at Changteh, so unfortunately I can't send the 34th Div in to play with supply routes and stomp on some smaller Chinese units.

Sent out all the subs I forgot last turn, as well as sent some more surface forces from Hiroshima towards Truk and Balikpapan, where they will be based in the interim. Yesterday 2 BBs, 4 CLs, 4 CAs, and various DDs left for the SRA in 3 TFs. Unsure how I'm going to use them, but at the very least I'll need them for invasion counterbattery when it comes time to take Java.

The subs at Kwajalein have been sent to search out likely SLOCs between Hawaii/Suva-Australia and Australia/Noumea-Luganville-Suva. 6 subs from Hiroshima are sent to be based out of Hakodate (probably...) for operations in the Aleutians. I'm undecided on whether I will wait to invade up there, but am thinking that if I do so there's a good chance I'll never take them. I just don't know yet where those LCUs are going to come from. I may be able to spare some small AF Coys and Bns for now, which at least have AV and can take the islands until I come up with garrison forces.

I'm cycling FP units on/off Chitosa in Hiroshima harbor. It'll be a while, but the process has begun.

KB and associates will replenish at sea tomorrow and head for Truk the day after that, where much reorganizing will be done. 11 Shiratsuyu- and Hatsuharu-class DDs have been sent from Hiroshima to join the escort pool here.

[Cpt Sherwood]

I think you are worrying too much about Av in China. His units have morale in the 30s, experience in the 30s, and little gun support. His Inf have low firepower and many of his leaders are not very good. Try some deliberate attacks and see what happens.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

I think you are worrying too much about Av in China. His units have morale in the 30s, experience in the 30s, and little gun support. His Inf have low firepower and many of his leaders are not very good. Try some deliberate attacks and see what happens.

I will soon, except for at Changsha, after I do some more bombarding. My supply levels are low, and in some cases units don't have enough. Once I have some more supply (and have cut off his resupply) I'll give it a shot. I can afford attrition while the Chinese can't.

[obvert]

China
Strat bombing in central China gets 1 hit at Liuchow, and appears to be 4 points of damage. Not a bad start.

Bombardment at Changsha reveals that I only have 2113 AV to his 3534. I would not be surprised if he attacks here next turn. I'm a little worried... I need my stack near Hangchow to clear out the Chuhsien area and then proceed here. But that will be some weeks, so I'm debating walking out of the city for the time being.

You also get the urban defensive bonus there in Changsha, so if he attacks you're ecstatic! He will get a 1:4 and destroy 20k Chinese. He would need a 3 to 1 AV advantage to even consider it, and that would be if he has good supply.

Outside Wuchow I have 308 to 242. I'll try to push him back, especially since movement dots are seen.

I am stalemated NE of Sinyang with 793 to 803 AV. Unfortunate...but I might have enough on the way from the NE to break it.

At Kukong, I'm going to need more. I'm stalemated with 685 to 891. Once I have the Allies on Luzon bottled up, I plan to bring the weight of my 2E bombers (all the IJAAF ones at least) to bear in this area with more strat bombing, and ground attacks if my bombardments don't cause any casualties. My goal overall is to starve him of supplies. Once I can buy some armored units out of Manchukuo, I plan to insert them on various roads. I already have a unit moving to cut off Kukong's supply route. I already sent the next turn back, but it occurs to me that I need to make sure the stack outside Hangchow doesn't have a supply route either.

Buy ALL armored units out of Manchuria. Also, make sure you've turned off replacements for any of those, or engineers or garrison units out of Manchuria as they're then cheaper to purchase. Buy any 2E IJAAF bomber groups you can from the 2nd Air and send those to China also. Hit anything in the clear now before they have a chance to get to the trees. The best thing you can do in China is give the Allies a sense they can go on the offensive though, so if he's leaning that way, encourage it and then be ready to snuff it out.

Up north, my 1900 AV stack forces 300 AV of Chinese to retreat north across the river, towards Yenan. This stack will move towards Sian (a total of just over 2300 AV with the ID to the west of the combat zone). I'll do some air recon, but hopefully this will be enough to take Sian and move SE towards Nanyang and cutting off Loyang/Chengchow.

I plan to begin buying Arty units out of Manchukuo after the first couple of armor units, which will come after I buy out 53rd Div (in about 2 weeks).

Forget about full divisions for now. Go for a lot of armor, engineers, garrison units to free up other units in China sitting in cities. There is a lot you can tweak with garrisons. Go through the entire Chinese map and figure out how to release your Brigades there. You can split some Chinese units and the 120 AV garrisons from Manchuria are cheap for their AV value.

2300 AV will NOT be enough to get close to taking Sian. You might be better served to put a small blocking force near Yenan and send all of your divisions to the area on the good gray road and try for Nanyang. If you can get the gray road to Sian before there is a big blockade on it then that is the best option. If he's already got 2000k AV there digging in then you will have to flank.

[Lokasenna]

Got a bit to say, so this will be in separate posts...

ORIGINAL: obvert

China
Strat bombing in central China gets 1 hit at Liuchow, and appears to be 4 points of damage. Not a bad start.

Bombardment at Changsha reveals that I only have 2113 AV to his 3534. I would not be surprised if he attacks here next turn. I'm a little worried... I need my stack near Hangchow to clear out the Chuhsien area and then proceed here. But that will be some weeks, so I'm debating walking out of the city for the time being.

You also get the urban defensive bonus there in Changsha, so if he attacks you're ecstatic! He will get a 1:4 and destroy 20k Chinese. He would need a 3 to 1 AV advantage to even consider it, and that would be if he has good supply.

I feel the situation is best described by a screenshot [:)]. Thankfully, I have plenty of time to do aerial recon of the Sian area with my recon units at Hankow, but given what I know of the Allied OOB here and the sheer number of troops on the rail line between Sinyang-Chengchow as well as what's at Chengchow/Loyang, I would be surprised if Sian had all that much defending it at the moment. Even if it does, going west along the yellow road from the combat zone is the best route for this stack, IMO. My predecessor did at least one thing well - he cleared the area NE of Yenan of Chinese and already had troops on the way to Yenan. I can send some of this stack to finish mopping up, I suppose...



edit: ugh, I swear the green was easily readable on my screen. Must've been the JPG compression when I saved it. Will have to find a better color. In order left-right/top-bottom, those say:
210 AV, 2.5 hexes
116th ID, 480 AV
1900 AV at 100%, currently 1869
13 units, 74k troops (Loyang)
10 units, 41k troops (Chengchow)
9 units (Chinese at Ichang)
8 units, 60k (Chinese outside Sinyang)
9 units, 106520 troops



The stack of units just west of where "Chengting" is on the map is 3 independent regiments, prepping for Yenan. They'll continue in that direction and cut off the now-trashed formerly-300 AV that's sitting in the woods. The stack NE-then-E of the combat hex is 3 brigades of 210 AV each, all prepping for Sian. This brings the total moving that direction to almost 3000, but I think I may use these 3 units to destroy the Chinese in the woods.

That is the 32nd Division SW of Chengchow, moving in combat mode across the river. He appears to be trying to move at least one unit in that direction from the other stalemate by Sinyang. The 32nd Div will trigger a shock attack in 2 days. I think I should be hoping that his unit(s) arrive there on the turn I shock, especially if they are in Move mode. If he moves more than 150 AV out of that hex bordering Sinyang, I will beat him there. I still have time to move the 32nd ID elsewhere, especially since no movement dots are sighting at Loyang or Chengchow. It didn't occur to me until just now, but it might be better to rush on Nanyang with them (I think I ordered a Babs unit to recon it as well, at least I hope I did), as if the shock attack is successful then the units will retreat west - making it harder to cut them off and destroy them. However, they'd be little more than empty shells...

Overall in the area NE of Chengchow, I am barely at garrison levels. This concerns me if he makes a move across the river, but I'm hoping to lull him into thinking he can hold here and by the time I'm on the nice gray road, it should be too late. I bought out the armored component of the 26th Division this turn and am sending it by rail to Kaifeng, where I plan to use it to cut off the retreat towards Nanyang for the units on the rail line. Timing on this will be tough. If he sees me coming around the back, he may pull out of Loyang and Chengchow. I need to get bombers here ASAP (which means Av Supp from the HI, I think) to pound on the units on the rail line as well as help slow any retreat he tries to make. Taiyuan and Kaifeng already have 24 AvSupp, but that's all there is in the area for now.

Unfortunately, the 2nd Air in Manchukuo isn't too strong at the moment. In the pools: 98 Sonia, 28 Sally IIa, 44 Sally Ic, 51 Ann, and 3 Lily, so basically 72 useful planes there. Bomber units in 2nd Air: 54 Mary, 94 Ann, 71 Ida, 27 Sonia, 27 Sally. I could upgrade the Ida units, obviously not all on the same day, but over the next week or so. Buy them out along with the Sally unit and send them to NE China... However, it will cost me 1.25 days of PPs to upgrade the Idas to Sallys per unit (except the unit at Tsitsihar which has Sally in its upgrade path). So I will get those 2 units shipped over tomorrow...

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Outside Wuchow I have 308 to 242. I'll try to push him back, especially since movement dots are seen.

I am stalemated NE of Sinyang with 793 to 803 AV. Unfortunate...but I might have enough on the way from the NE to break it.

At Kukong, I'm going to need more. I'm stalemated with 685 to 891. Once I have the Allies on Luzon bottled up, I plan to bring the weight of my 2E bombers (all the IJAAF ones at least) to bear in this area with more strat bombing, and ground attacks if my bombardments don't cause any casualties. My goal overall is to starve him of supplies. Once I can buy some armored units out of Manchukuo, I plan to insert them on various roads. I already have a unit moving to cut off Kukong's supply route. I already sent the next turn back, but it occurs to me that I need to make sure the stack outside Hangchow doesn't have a supply route either.

Buy ALL armored units out of Manchuria. Also, make sure you've turned off replacements for any of those, or engineers or garrison units out of Manchuria as they're then cheaper to purchase. Buy any 2E IJAAF bomber groups you can from the 2nd Air and send those to China also. Hit anything in the clear now before they have a chance to get to the trees. The best thing you can do in China is give the Allies a sense they can go on the offensive though, so if he's leaning that way, encourage it and then be ready to snuff it out.

Up north, my 1900 AV stack forces 300 AV of Chinese to retreat north across the river, towards Yenan. This stack will move towards Sian (a total of just over 2300 AV with the ID to the west of the combat zone). I'll do some air recon, but hopefully this will be enough to take Sian and move SE towards Nanyang and cutting off Loyang/Chengchow.

I plan to begin buying Arty units out of Manchukuo after the first couple of armor units, which will come after I buy out 53rd Div (in about 2 weeks).

Forget about full divisions for now. Go for a lot of armor, engineers, garrison units to free up other units in China sitting in cities. There is a lot you can tweak with garrisons. Go through the entire Chinese map and figure out how to release your Brigades there. You can split some Chinese units and the 120 AV garrisons from Manchuria are cheap for their AV value.

2300 AV will NOT be enough to get close to taking Sian. You might be better served to put a small blocking force near Yenan and send all of your divisions to the area on the good gray road and try for Nanyang. If you can get the gray road to Sian before there is a big blockade on it then that is the best option. If he's already got 2000k AV there digging in then you will have to flank.

I'm wary of Changsha turning into a disaster. Against the AI, I can just sit there with a stack and bomb/bombard for weeks if I need to. Against a human, I'm going to need to protect it as well. So, learning experience...

The reason I want to buy out that full division is that I'm going to need it to conquer the SRA. I'm 12 days from affording it, which is probably about the timeline for when I'll be knocking on Singapore's door (slower really, with transit time from Osaka). Thankfully, replacements are off by default on everything. Unfortunately, this means I'll have to remember to turn them on...but I think I can handle that.

Playing with China garrison levels is something I got very comfortable with against the AI. Squeezing out every drop of AV and putting properly sized units at places is almost a fun task, if it didn't take so long. I'm OK with leaving garrisons just under the level required as well, especially if I have engineers present to repair the occasional (and usually minor) damage that occurs when the garrison is a few points under required.

[Lokasenna]

January 24

Subs
I-8 sinks an xAK outside Suva.
A Dutch sub enters Port Moresby and misses one of my xAKs unloading Av Supp.

China
No strat bombing strikes...bad weather, or something.

Attack outside of Wuchow gets 1:2 odds and I suffer a lot of disruption, with 1 squad destroyed. He suffered disruption only. At least I didn't lose any of the 256 guns in the hex.

Movement dots are sighted at Loyang, heading due east. Well, let him try and push me around a little here. Although this does get him out of the clear hexes... but I should be able to bring enough AV to stall him quickly, if this is anything more ambitious than simply some scouts/pickets.

Luzon
Strikes on Clark do nothing due to thunderstorm.

Attack at Clark just misses 1:1 odds - 574:601. If I had Shocked, I might have got them. Forts are at 0, which is a big plus. I'll wait a day and attack again.

Malaya
Shoot down 6 Blenheims IF-version over Singapore for the loss of 1 Zero.

Para-attack on Port Blair gets 2:1 odds and reduces forts to 0, but does not take the base. I have no supplies in unit. More transport-capable planes brought in, and I'll bomb the defenders with 30-some Sallys next turn.

Elsewhere
All 73 ships ([8|]) making up KB, KB2, and replenishment TF will head back to Truk.

Rangoon is empty with a 9/10 DL. There's no way I'm missing troops, is there? I last saw 4 units with a dot pointing east. I thought he was coming for a forward defense, but it looks like he instead retreated up the rail line towards Myitkyina. I'm moving into Pegu in a couple of turns, Rangoon after that. Hopefully it's not too damaged.


For next turn, more emergency xAKs head to Hokkaido to transfer the stockpile of resources to Honshu. I'm getting 2 Oil Warnings for Taihoku and Shikuka. A small tanker TF at Taihoku will begin loading this turn, but it'll be another day to load at Shikuka at least... I hate wasting Oil because it's at max.

Forgot to set extra supplies at bases that need to repair industry. Oops. Done that now.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

Threatening and taking Sian early on would be huge. You can cut off all northern China.

By the way, my biggest regrets in my game as Japan are:

Not taking Noumea, Luganville early on, before he can reinforce in strength.

Not taking more Aleutian islands.

I highly recommend quick landings there if possible...

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: leehunt27@bloomberg.net

Threatening and taking Sian early on would be huge. You can cut off all northern China.

By the way, my biggest regrets in my game as Japan are:

Not taking Noumea, Luganville early on, before he can reinforce in strength.

Not taking more Aleutian islands.

I highly recommend quick landings there if possible...

I'm a bit wary of the winter penalties, but there's no reason I can't do it if I account for that and take sufficient forces. Emperor knows I have enough ships in the Home Islands to do it...finding the LCUs is going to be the tricky part. I should be able to find some 8-9 AV AF Coys at least, maybe some Nav Guards also. I'll send engineers a bit later. I hope to get Amchitka/Attu/Adak.

I don't yet have a plan for Luganville (and possibly Noumea). Maybe I'll buy out the parts of a division not yet fully arrived (regiments of the 20th or 30th, forget which), currently sitting in Keijo.

I have the next turn done and have sent the 26th to HH, just waiting for it back. Some RL things came up for both of us this week. He wants to do 3-5 turns a week, but I'm going to try and turn the day around as quickly as possible on my end because I'd like to get as far into the war as possible. Once I get out of the initial hectic phase, I plan to look for another game (probably also as Japan).


Edit: forgot to mention that the results of the recon in China are in. There are 6 units at Sian, so I won't be taking it before I hit the Chinese at Loyang/Chengchow.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

I think the Allied player can be late to reinforcing the Aleutians- you could take them unopposed. Dutch Harbor maybe not, but the islands further west would be nice. I only took 2 Aleutian islands in my Caledonia game and I lost one quickly and the other is strong but cut off.

A huge advantage to taking Noumea early is frankly that you can almost forget about it and focus on other invasion plans. Sure the Allied player will eventually take it back but that distant outpost slows him down quite a bit. While I may have delayed my opponent some in my game, its been quite costly and I would never not take Noumea in the future.

That'll be good work in China too taking Sian.

[Lokasenna]

January 25

Subs
The Dutch sub remains at Moresby, and misses again (twice). Need my escorts to arrive...

Some of my subs are located near Hawaii by an ASW TF. I will pull back for now, make him think I've given up, and come back in a couple of weeks. I did run a DD out of ASW ammo for no gain...

Luzon
The 3 old CAs and 4 DDs I sent from Hiroshima to hold station off Singkawang react on the way to 2 AMs outside of Bataan. Bittern and Finch are sunk quickly, and thankfully my fears that the IJN TF will react further towards the TF sighted in Manila Harbor (on the other side of the sizeable Bataan minefield) are not realized.

My Netties and Sallies strike ground forces again instead of bombing airfields. Oops.

Malaya
76 Sallies punch through a meager Blenheim CAP of 3 and get 61 hits on the Singers airfield, destroying a Blenheim IF on the ground [:)].

Oscars bomb/strafe the HDMLs at Medan but come up with nothing. I've sent a small DD force this way, they'll arrive in a couple of days.

The Commonwealth units outside of Johore Bahro are wiped this turn, including one Indian and one Gurkha Brigade. They aren't Aussies, but that's still ~200 AV that didn't make it to Singers.

The deliberate at Port Blair gets 4:3 adjusted AV and only disables a couple of engineer squads. I had the dreaded supply(-). Will have to hold off next turn and fly in more supply, which will be a bit easier as the entire unit is there except for 8 engineer squads, which are not para-capable (....in a stinkin' INFp unit, too. [:@]).

China
5 not-insignificant units are sighted at Chuhsien. The para-attack here won't be happening, so I think I'll drop at Pucheng instead.

Some light but respectable casualties inflicted from bombing troops on open ground in China.

No shock from the 32nd ID - the unit got away. No more movement dots at Loyang, but still movement dots outside of Sinyang. Hrm.

Other stuff
Catalinas bomb the port at Moresby again and actually get a hit this time. Whatever!

Shoho arrives. She'll get a couple of DDs from Hiroshima and then set sail for Truk to join whatever air TFs I set up out of the bloated KB1 and KB2.

The Ha-45 is accelerated by a month already. So soon!




Next day
Disruption at Clark is down to acceptable levels; we will shock this turn and hope for the best. With no forts there, I might succeed...although my fatigue levels are in the mid-high 20s.

6 units and nearly 60k troops sighted at Sian. Clearly can't move on this yet, but oh well - I'll just cut SW with my stack and aim to cut off Loyang/Chengchow first, before moving on Sian.

[Lokasenna]

January 26

Subs
Dutch sub is still in the Moresby harbor, clearly hoping her bad luck will run out, but she misses with what must be the last of her torpedoes as she attacks my unloaded xAKs on the surface (escorts won't arrive until tomorrow). At least 6 torpedoes were fired, which brings this sub up to 0-for-14 or "better". I wonder what her captain's stats are.

Luzon
Despite bombing raids all day, the shock attack at Clark just misses 1:1 odds again and it hurts. 2733 casualties for me, only 366 for him. Mine are about 20% destroyed, 80% disabled.

I have plenty of supply on the island, but I guess we'll start playing the waiting game now. I'll bring in the 16th Inf Rgt via Truk in just over a week or so - land them at Legaspi or Naga and march up to Manila again, where my forces are recuperating just to the south of the city.

China
The cross-river shock attack outside Hangchow gets 1:1 odds and casualty numbers are roughly even, but mine are only about 5% destroyed while his are 40%. I'll let my troops rest up a bit, then attack again.

Kukong has been abandoned. Great! I'll take it next turn, though I would have liked to have trapped those units.

I'm moving a beat-up brigade back from Changsha to Wuchang to deal with the lack of garrison. I may split up one of the smaller IDs here as well to send back to the SE, first to cut off supply to, and then trying to trap, the units near Chuhsien over the next month or so. I may also send some armor units from Manchukuo here instead of the open country of the north as well, if he looks to be trying to escape with them.

Burma
The Imperial Guards ID hits units on the rail line between Pegu and Toungoo, completely trashing them while they run:

Ground combat at 56,51 (near Toungoo)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12867 troops, 106 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 465

Defending force 10085 troops, 69 guns, 28 vehicles, Assault Value = 355

Japanese adjusted assault: 433

Allied adjusted defense: 121

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2390 casualties reported
Squads: 132 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 166 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 11 (7 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (10 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 6


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
15th Army

Defending units:
4th Burma Rifles Battalion
6th Burma Rifles Battalion
Tenasserim BAF Battalion
1st Burma Division
1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment
108th RAF Base Force

Elsewhere
New Ireland is cleaned up. Now, do I want to start building this island up at all, or not? I think probably, what with the fetish for Manus around here... I'm unsure what my opponent plans for the area, but I know he finds my possession of Moresby to be daunting, calling it a "dead ox in the door". In my view it isn't yet, but eventually... In any case, I'm unsure if his thrust will come from this direction. If it does, and he follows the conventional wisdom of going for Manus, anything I can do to make taking it harder (or force him to deal with other strongholds nearby first, instead of skipping them) would be good, I think.

And I'm proud of this bit:

Afternoon Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 36



Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 4 damaged
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
SS Snapper, Bomb hits 3
AS Canopus, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AVP Merel, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AG Gemma, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AR Castor, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AG Deneb, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Pillsbury, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Peary, Bomb hits 2
DD John D. Ford, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
SS S-36, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS S-38, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage



Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
36 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 2000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Flying out of Ambon, this was in torpedo range, but they don't carry them. I wish they had; still, I'm happy with the results. Sunk ship sound heard at dusk, hopefully (probably) it's some of the above.

[Chickenboy]

Sweet attack on Darwin.  He *may* wanna put up some CAP there.  [;)]

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

Wow that was a nice surprise attack on Darwin

[Lokasenna]

January 27

Subs
An "oops" on my part. When setting up some new sub PZs, I had them on Direct/High routing out of habit. Realizing that this would take them through Singapore's minefield, I changed them. I forgot about the I-164 though, and she helps "clear the minefield", as it were:

Naval Gun Fire at Singapore - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Japanese Ships
SS I-164, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage





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TF 53 encounters mine field at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Ships
SS I-164, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

That's one fine IJN I-boat lost to command incompetence/hastiness.

SRA
My 5-DD TF sent to Medan sinks the 4 HDMLs based there. Unsure if I will land here or at Sabang, but just in case. No damage to the DDs, and never hurts to clear out harbor defenses for free...plus they may have gotten some night fighting experience.

Forgot to change my Netty settings at Singkawang and they attacked Batavia ground forces again, losing a half dozen to a surprisingly toothless 11x B-339 CAP. Maybe it was all a subconscious ploy to sweep there next turn with my Zeroes...

Tweaks of my Mavis search patterns from Ambon result in sightings this time, so the Nells fly with torpedoes against Koepang. They sink 2 AMc's. I would've rather they flew against Darwin again (no a/c sighted there yet), but no losses to the Nells so I guess I can't complain.

Boela falls. It was undefended.

My surface forces (both at Medan and NW of Singkawang) remain undetected. Debating trying a run into Batavia harbor to see what's up and bombard, after I do some recon to determine if there's a minefield.

China
Kukong falls, also undefended.

Paratroops land at Pucheng, taking the base. They will move NW to the intersection of roads that, in conjunction with my new ownership of Kukong, should cut off supplies to the Chinese stacks at Chuhsien and in the country near Hangchow, the neutralization of which is phase 1 of the southern China operations.

Burma
Pegu falls, defenseless. The Inf Rgt will move into Rangoon and stop the partisan bleeding there, while the Imperial Guards ID is attempting to hit the units that appear to have been caught on the rails in the hex NE of Pegu before they move off through the jungle to the NW.

Elsewhere & notes
Harbin expands AF to size 7. I'll stop it here; I just wanted it for convenient upgrades later.

Discovered that the 90th Inf Rgt is sitting, already purchased, at Fusan. It's a nice 88 XP unit and already half-prepped for Soerabaja. I'll have to remember this, but the invasion of Java is some time off. I'll stage it closer to the target sometime soon.

Loading up AF units with 9 AV for Lunga, Tulagi, and Luganville (the last of which has 60 Nav Supp also). They should depart Tokyo next day with supplies as well, staging through Rabaul. I'll reinforce this area with 24-strong FP units (Jakes) as well as AV ships soon after, and will send Engi/combat forces there as they are freed up from elsewhere or arrive from reinforcements.

48 Av Supp is already at Rabaul. I'm transferring Jakes and Zeroes there next turn, though the Zeroes will probably be split 30 Rabaul/15 Moresby for now until I can beef up the area some more.

Going to take the Port Attack secondary off the Nells at Ambon and try to get some shipping at sea. Some has been sighted south of Timor.

Industry
The big news: the resource bleeding at Honshu has been staunched. 6 days in and I'm only 4 days down on the Resource Death Count. 2 days' worth of deficit is under "Shipping" in Tracker, the lion's share of it from Hokkaido, so I should see the Death Count start to at least hold even and maybe rise within a few days.

Shipyards: I have 18000 MerSY points and just over 6000 NavSY points in the pool. Tracker says my adjusted optimum for each is 882 and 1269 respectively, while I'm producing 807 and 1401 respectively. I'm running a deficit of 29 each turn, but am going to stay the course on NavSY for now other than swapping 7-8 subs to turn Musashi back on. When upcoming major ships (Junyo, some DDs, etc.) arrive I'll turn some or all of them back on. Of course, if my naval strength (namely CVs relative to USN CVs) gets messed up before Musashi arrives, I'll want to rethink. Or if I don't even see his CVs in '42 at all - a 6-month window from when she arrives until she's much more vulnerable with the arrival of the first of the Essexes doesn't sound worth it at all. My opponent seems afraid of surface actions in general, so I figure I can use them as a fleet in being if nothing else, though I'm anxious to put the big guns to use as much as possible/economical.

But MerSY: Any recommendations on how many to store for Scen 1?

[PaxMondo]

MERSY: I never build any. They are just VP's for the allies to harvest.


Seriously, you need to look at your overall fleet. You may need some replacements depending upon how effective the allied SS's are, or if you get some convoys ambushed. Otherwise, you likely have all the merchant fleet you will ever need at the start.

IRL, the IJ paid no attention to the allied SS campaign until '44 and had to expend a lot of resources that they shouldn't have.

[Lokasenna]

I'm a little concerned about losses from 43 going forward, because I've never had to be careful with my convoys. Not really, anyway. Trying to get a good Nav Search umbrella set up well in advance.

Pax, do you know offhand if there is a difference in merchant fleet size between Scens 1 & 2? I do know that in Scen 2 against the AI I feel constrained by my TKs, in getting Oil back to Honshu. Mike Solli likes the Std- classes that come later and I think I do as well, but 18000 MerSY and +319/day seems like overkill.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

I like the moves to the south.

Are you using Death Star stacks in China?

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I'm a little concerned about losses from 43 going forward, because I've never had to be careful with my convoys. Not really, anyway. Trying to get a good Nav Search umbrella set up well in advance.

Pax, do you know offhand if there is a difference in merchant fleet size between Scens 1 & 2? I do know that in Scen 2 against the AI I feel constrained by my TKs, in getting Oil back to Honshu. Mike Solli likes the Std- classes that come later and I think I do as well, but 18000 MerSY and +319/day seems like overkill.

I don't beleive there is. You might need some STD-A's ... but that still doesn't present much of a MSY demand. Toho's don't convert to TK's ...

I get a few xAK's down to just a few days to finish and then halt them. If I need them, they are there. Ditto the STD-A's. I simply do not finish any merchant until I prove that I need it. Remember, by end of game every single ship you build and launch will be converted to allied VP's. I choose not to give them any more VP's than are required.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: leehunt27@bloomberg.net

I like the moves to the south.

Are you using Death Star stacks in China?

I'm not really itching for what you had going on down there, at least not without ensuring my CV superiority until 5/43 or later...

I'm using what I was left, pretty much. I have about 2k AV in Changsha and about 2K outside of Hangchow, so not really Death Star-y. Another 2K up north of Loyang that will circle around behind Loyang/Chengchow.

About 800 NE of Sinyang, and about 300 outside of Wuchow with another 800 at Kukong. These latter will head for Nanning/Kweilin.

Nanyang is rather heavily defended (50-60k troops, 14-16 units). It may be part of his perimeter, in which case I hope to show him the error of this decision. Once Luzon falls, I plan to shift a LOT of IJAAF 2E power to this area to completely pound him in these 3 open bases while maneuvering to surround him and destroy these units in place. I have no designs on conquering China, but the more pain I inflict before he manages to blow Burma wide open later, the better. I figure that if I can neuter China in '42, I won't really have to worry much about it as an LBA base later in the war.