Babes PI Scenario

[Symon]

Jeez louize Berto, you are gonna love this one. Finished the Japanese opening day TFs and they were a witch. There's 27 of the little rascals. You got invasion forces, cover forces, minesweeping, ASW, and gunboat divisions. Woof !!

Because the PI gets 'heavied up' as it were, the invasion forces get 'heavied up' as well. But absolutely nothing shows up that didn't, but maybe a skoosk early in specific places. And although I was nasty, I took Allied troop dispositions into account there's a counter move. Some of the invasions are 'surprises', but only because they happened a few days earlier and on a slightly more spread out basis in game 'base' terms.

Oh! I am liking this a lot. Both Japan and the Allies get naval units where and when they got them. The Philippines get the Q-boat TFs, Japanese get the actual SC, MS and PB divisions that went where they did. Woof !!

Ok, just have to dial in the 2nd phase Lingayan units and TFs, and I'm done.

Whew !! Know I said it would only be a week, but this needed to be done right. Hope you understand.

Ciao. John

[berto]

I check the Babes site daily to see if it's done.

It's done when it's done. I'd rather play a "finished", "correct" scenario than a rushed one (that I might want to start over after later corrections). Take your time to Get It Right. I can wait.

[Symon]

ORIGINAL: berto
I check the Babes site daily to see if it's done.

It's done when it's done. I'd rather play a "finished", "correct" scenario than a rushed one (that I might want to start over after later corrections). Take your time to Get It Right. I can wait.

Done Berto. Will be up by the 4th (maybe the 5th). Hope you like. put a lot of thought into it.

Ciao. JWE

[berto]

Perfect timing. I begin a 1-1/2 week vacation beginning July 4. Advance Happy Independence Day!

[Symon]

Okay, so done. Have to write the Readme-A, Readme-J and Readme-First docs that have the victory conditions and all that stuff. The Scenario is just a shibboleth unless one understands how to use it.

Coming to a theater near Berto this evening. Happy 4th Robert!!

Japan:
This one was a real Witch. Doing the Allies was hard, but it was just a matter of doing a “fast forward” on certain things. Okay then, what kind of response would one expect?

Since the PI defense has been ‘thickened up”, so too have the initial invasion TFs; RL Bns might well be Rgts. But Japan gets nothing beyond what she actually had, just some judicious reshuffling. The opening day J-TF moves are thoughtfully applied, so should not be tweaked. First turn Japan is done the best I know how, so just continue to the Allied turn and go from there. After turn-1, you are on your own.

Some Japanese reinforcements have been stepped up by 30 days, but since the 48th Div was supposed to be withdrawn to 16th Army for the DEI Op, and the Scen can’t support that, the other 16th Army units don’t even appear till the end-game portion of the Scen. It’s all in the J-errata Readme.

[Symon]

Ok. It's up. Will be dribbling in some errata doc files over the next few days. I'm really proud of this one for many reasons. There's a ReadMe with the victory conditions included. Them of you who play CPX will love it. Them of you who play real poker will understand.

As always, questions will be answered. Ciao. JWE

[Mac Linehan]

John and the Babes Team -

It is simply awesome.

Thank You for all of your careful attention to detail - it shows.

Mac

[berto]

Downloaded, installed, soon to played. Just the right size, complexity, and duration. Will have fun with this one. Thanks so much! [:)]

I dedicate my scenario play to Uncle Vic (soldier in the Philippine Army [correction], Bataan Death March survivor) and Lola Ela (teenager in Tuguegarao during the Japanese Occupation). [&o]



That's Uncle Vic in the center; and to his left: my sister-in-law; Lola [Grandma] Ela, Vic's sister, my mother-in-law; and to the far right my wife.

Uncle Vic & Lola Ela died just a few months after this picture was taken (Christmas 2010). Sumasalangit nawa ang kanilang kaluluwa [roughly equivalent to our RIP].

[Symon]

Whoops, had a brain fart and have the wrong arrival dates for a few J units. Am fixing it now. Will post up v-02 in a couple hours. Very sorry about that.

Berto, it's wonderful that you have those pictures and memories. Uncle Vic and Grandma Ela will never be gone so long as they live in the hearts and minds of those who remember them.

JWE

[desicat]

Any hope for an AI with this?

[Symon]

Ok, I was doing the errata, and noticed the unit data was from an earlier version. Here's the errata, and the unit data has been fixed and is being posted up as v-02.

In terms of division scale units, 14th Army begins with two first line units, 16th Division, and 48th Division, along with Army level support units.

The 65th (Garrison) Brigade was originally scheduled to arrive as an occupation force on Jan.22, but was released early and actually arrived at Lingayan Jan. 1, ’42. In the scenario, the 65th is available, 2 weeks earlier, at Amami Oshima on Dec. 17. Please follow the xAK-t useage rules for moving this unit up.

48th Div was scheduled for withdrawal and 14th Army received the order to immediately release it on Jan. 2, ’42. It is undoubted that retention of this veteran unit would have significantly impacted the course and timing of the campaign. In the scenario, IJGHQ accedes to Homma’s pleas and 14th Army is allowed to retain 48th Division for an additional 30 days till the VC-1 cut-off date of Feb. 7.

4th Division was deployed to the PI as a result of the Feb. 2 Conference. Kitano received a warning order Feb. 2, and firm orders Feb. 11. HQ elements and 37th IR landed Lingayan Feb. 27; remaining elements by Mar. 7. In the scenario, 4th Division is available early, at Mako, Pescadores, on Feb. 6. Please follow the xAK-t useage rules for moving this unit up. (ps, 4th Div was at ¾ strength, and its inf units did not have their AT gun allocations. It is shorted, therefore, as it was)

21st Division (elements) was deployed to the PI as a result of the Feb. 2 Conference. The unit was scheduled for DEI ops from SE Asia, but the 62nd IR combat team convoy was diverted to Luzon Feb. 26. In the scenario, the entire division is available at Taihoku on Feb. 26. Please follow the xAK-t useage rules for moving this unit up.

16th Army had some units tasked for Mindanao, and they are available as they were. 16th Army had other units tasked for DEI ops, that are in the scenario and so “technically” available, but they should not be used for PI ops, rather keep them for Java.

2nd Division – Tasked for Java. Available, but use is discouraged, wish there was some way to force it to be bought out, but 16th Army is operational for the So Philippines, so … rule of reason.

38th Division and a bunch of Arty is in Hong Kong. They are part of 23rd Army, but some of them can be bought out. Please don’t get gamey with this and please pay full price for every unit.

[ed] Ok, hootz gazootz. Figured it out. 2nd Div is assigned to GHQ. It, and its subordinate units are "Temp Restricted", so can be bought out. Okey dokey then.

[Symon]

ORIGINAL: desicat
Any hope for an AI with this?

Sorry, but no.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Symon

ORIGINAL: desicat
Any hope for an AI with this?

Sorry, but no.

What John meant to say was:"Heck yeah. Just fire this baby up in HotSeat Mode and flip a coin for which side will be the AI and which side is you!"

[:D][:D][:D]

[desicat]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Symon

ORIGINAL: desicat
Any hope for an AI with this?

Sorry, but no.

What John meant to say was:"Heck yeah. Just fire this baby up in HotSeat Mode and flip a coin for which side will be the AI and which side is you!"

If I were to do that neither side would have any "intelligence", artificial or otherwise on its side.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: desicat

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Symon



Sorry, but no.

What John meant to say was:"Heck yeah. Just fire this baby up in HotSeat Mode and flip a coin for which side will be the AI and which side is you!"

If I were to do that neither side would have any "intelligence", artificial or otherwise on its side.

I suffer from a similar affliction, so I completely commiserate with you. [8D]

[Symon]

Ok, here's the rest of the J-errata.

Japanese Naval Units:

For the period of the concentric offensive, the IJA and IJN requisitioned over 1M tons of commercial shipping to serve as Naval auxiliaries and to function as transports for the various amphibious operations in the Philippines, Malaya, Borneo and the East Indies. The great majority of these ships were large, fast, modern, high-capacity vessels, i.e., the cream of the Japanese merchant fleet.

In the scenario, these vessels have been made into “Temp-APs” by setting them as xAK-t. This converts 1/3 of cargo capacity into troop space and, when taken in conjunction with the J load/unload bonus in the first few game months, lets them function as “quasi APs” and makes them quite suitable for amphib operations. The caveat is that so designated vessels are the only ones that should be used for actual landing and large scale troop transport missions. The remaining xAKs (without the –t) are simply cargo vessels used for supply transport. There are a few xAPs in the scenario and using them for landing and troop transport missions is acceptable.

Staging bases for Philippine operations are Taiwan/Pescadores and Amami Oshima. Staging bases for Mindanao, Celebes and Borneo operations are Babeldaob and Peleliu. Check these frequently for arriving LCUs and ships. Samah, Cam Ranh and Saigon are staging bases for Malaya operations. While Malaya is not represented in the scenario, some transport and war ships will return to their home ports at the end of their “off map” operations, so check these as well.

Realize that First Air Fleet operated in the Banda Sea from mid February. Also recognize that Sumatra, Java, Timor, were hit February/March. These operations happen on a “virtual map” and are not represented in the scenario. This is the major reason for VC-1, i.e., all other ops completed by February 7. Also the major reason for restricting VC-2 (PI clean-up) to only the original 14th Army units; as all others were tasked elsewhere.

Happy trails ! Magkatuwaan !!