Rise of the Sheep! JocMeister(A) vs. Obvert(J)

[catwhoorg]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I don´t want to brag or anything...But guess how just got hold of a ticket to Iron Maiden next Saturday...!!! [&o]

Awesome. They always put on a great show. Enjoy yourself.

[JocMeister]

27th-28th August -44

This is a quick update to catch up with the game before leaving on a 6 days vacation! In the last week we actually only managed 2 turns. So not much to update but there has been some important events.

Mindanao
Oroquieta, a small base North of Cotabato was easily secured by some 20 NZ Shermans. This is good news as it adds a second base in Mindanao. The small base between the two will also soon be secured. They will be built up to 5-6 AF but probably not maxed out. Cotabato will reach 7 next turn. Once it reaches level 9 I can move the 4Es in. The 32nd ID is moving into the mountains to cut off the troops fleeing the south. A bombardment of Cagayan reveals the Japanese won´t be able to hold on to this base for long.

Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 18038 troops, 361 guns, 300 vehicles, Assault Value = 825

Defending force 26070 troops, 246 guns, 31 vehicles, Assault Value = 652

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
17 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
38th Infantry Division
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
110th Combat Engineer Battalion
1st USMC Tank Battalion
98th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment

Defending units:
6th Division <--Remember that this division was thrashed at Cotabato
20th Engineer Regiment
48th Ind.Mixed Brigade
28th Engineer Regiment
71st Engineer Regiment
4th Raiding Regiment
64th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th Garrison Unit /4
217th Naval Construction Battalion
1st Ind.AA Gun Co
244th JAAF AF Bn
61st Air Flotilla
248th JAAF AF Bn
89th Field AA Battalion
188th JAAF AF Bn
148th JAAF AF Bn
25th Ind. Engineer Regiment
74th JAAF AF Bn
34th Ind.AA Gun Co
216th Naval Construction Battalion
4th RF Gun Battalion
51st Air Flotilla
180th JAAF AF Bn

I don´t know if Erik will try to evacuate or leave them to his fate. I´m waiting for the 2nd Marines to arrive here before making the first deliberate attack.

Within a week I will have another Corps on Mindanao if things seem to bog down.

Celebes sea area
The failed assault on Jolo is a bit annoying but after I calmed down a bit I realised it doesn´t change or slow anything down. So in the end all it does for Erik is getting 20.000 men killed and cut off. As soon as Cotabato can house the 4Es the troops on Jolo with only level 1 forts will quickly be wiped out.

Sidate fell on the 28th dooming Manado! [&o]

Ground combat at Sidate (75,100)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12192 troops, 166 guns, 598 vehicles, Assault Value = 543

Defending force 4690 troops, 44 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 55

Allied adjusted assault: 288

Japanese adjusted defense: 25

Allied assault odds: 11 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Sidate !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2346 casualties reported
Squads: 108 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 59 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 32 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 28 (24 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
711th Tank Battalion
2nd USMC Amphb Tank Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division

Defending units:
74th Infantry Regiment
2nd South Seas Det.
56th Naval Guard Unit
3rd FF Const Unit

The units will quickly move towards Manado. Support troops will land on Sidate very shortly. I will build the base up enough to provide local CAP.

New Guinea
The troops at Sansapor are starting to crumble. This will mean 30.000 Japanese soldiers less and will free up the Allied troops for their next target.

Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12646 troops, 214 guns, 543 vehicles, Assault Value = 528

Defending force 12030 troops, 135 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 159

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 137

Japanese adjusted defense: 358

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
895 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 26 (4 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
92 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Assaulting units:
6th Infantry Division
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
3rd USMC Tank Battalion

Defending units:
5th Garrison Unit
45th Ind.Mixed Brigade
1st Mobile Brigade
2nd Amphibious Brigade
31st Engineer Regiment
44th Naval Guard Unit
8th Garrison Unit
16th Garrison Unit
3rd JNAF AF Unit
37th JAAF AF Bn
13th Air Fleet /1

To be continued...

[JocMeister]

Nobody had the decency to bump me up from second page while I was gone? Shame on you! [:D]

[Cpt Sherwood]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Nobody had the decency to bump me up from second page while I was gone? Shame on you! [:D]

You didn't offer to share your tickets to Iron Maiden. [:-]

[JocMeister]

Mine...all mine! [:D] Soon time to start the beer drinking! I´ll get some photos up tomorrow. [:)]

[JocMeister]

Planning for the rest of -44

While I was gone I actually brought a crappy laptop with the latest turn file. Not good enough to play on but good enough to go over the map, units, reinforcements, preparation and whatnot. I spent quite some time looking at what I should do. Or rather aim to do during the rest of 44. I came to a few conclusions that shaped the operational plan.

- Its counter productive and too risky to operate the CV fleet around the PI.
- LBA will be enough to gain air superiority and cover invasions in the PI archipelago.
- The only place on map currently requiring CV support is the Marianas.
- I need to open the DEI front. This should have been done months ago.

CV Fleet
Will retire to OZ and get their 6/44 upgrades done. This will also allow CVE/CVLs damaged earlier to finish repairs. Next task is the 2nd phase of the Marianas invasion. This will probably happen in October or November. This will add another 3 heavy US CVs and countless CVEs to the job. At that time I should most likely be able to field almost 3000 CV aircraft. This is where I think Erik will commit the KB next time.

PI
This will continue to be the main push. If Eriks defenses continues to be understrength there is a good possibility I will have liberated Luzon before the year is up. I foresee Erik abandoning southern PI setting up the defenses around Manilla with its better terrain. I will let him do that and then land behind him with 2 full Corps. The first Corps has already started prepping. I will try and maintain the current high pace. Once Cotabato reaches level 9 the heavies will move in. I´m guessing Erik hasn´t had time to put up a proper MLR getting forts up. So I´m hoping the 300 4Es at Darwin can really start causing carnage once operational.

DEI
First landings to establish a CAP base will commence immediately. This advance will aim to land on Java before 44 is up. LBA only.

Burma
A lot of what I do here will depend on what Erik does. If he starts pulling out more troops I will launch an all out assault on the PI. I reckon he needs about 2 months to shift the troops. He has to be careful though. If he moves out too much one decisive allied victory here can mean I´ll reach Thailand very fast.

Reinforcements
The troops prepped and ready for Marianas will be tasked to clear out Mindanao while waiting for the CVs. Its about 4000 AV so it should be doable with minimum losses. I also have troops prepping for Balikpapan.

I actually have very little LCUs, planes and ships arriving before the year is up. Mostly ships but nothing spectacular. Landing ships, subs, DEs, DDs. Two fast BBs and 2 CVs in December.

I also spent some 2000 PPs buying out some more troops. 1 NZ BDE, some OZ tanks and some more USMC squadrons. All that convert to 24 planes have been bought out! Once October hits I´m going to have field day when most of the 18 plane squadrons resize to 24!

In general I´m very enthusiastic about the future. I think I´ve come up with something very cool for 45 in the process... [:)]

[Encircled]

Some sort of mega bomb by any chance?[:)]

[JocMeister]

Haha, there will probably be a bomb or two dropped...but not what I had in mind! [:)]

[JocMeister]

No turn from Erik today. Was kind of hoping to get it. Sent in the first DEI invasion and was curious to see how it went.

EDIT: Got the replay. Something seems to have gone bonkers with my landing. They didn´t start unloading until midday. Don´t know why. No auto bombardment which is odd.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

No turn from Erik today. Was kind of hoping to get it. Sent in the first DEI invasion and was curious to see how it went.

EDIT: Got the replay. Something seems to have gone bonkers with my landing. They didn´t start unloading until midday. Don´t know why. No auto bombardment which is odd.

Two thoughts about what could have happened:
- some ships had to refuel and used up half the ops points before the landing
- the Amphib TF was not set to ABSOLUTE threat tolerance, and the TF commander waffled about committing to the landing because of air or sea threats [including mines] in the area.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Two thoughts about what could have happened:
- some ships had to refuel and used up half the ops points before the landing
- the Amphib TF was not set to ABSOLUTE threat tolerance, and the TF commander waffled about committing to the landing because of air or sea threats [including mines] in the area.

I double checked both things prior to sending the turn. Hopefully I got enough on shore to not get wiped out. No "auto bombardment" was triggered. Thats a bit worrying and could mean I actually didn´t get anything on shore? Or Erik has left no combat troops capable of bombardment?

Hopefully I get the turn today so I can check it out. Erik lost another batch of navy bombers this turn! [:D]

[BBfanboy]

No bombardment often happens if you have the TF already in the hex you want to bombard when you switch the TF from Surface Combat to Bombardment. I always do the switch a few hexes away to avoid this and don't recall ever having a bombardment fail to take place. Even if there are no enemy troops left in the hex they will waste shells![:@]

[JocMeister]

29th-31st August -44

The tempo has slowed down considerably since both sides are licking wounds and preparing for the next clash.

Mindanao
First deliberate attack ordered on Cangyuan tomorrow. I have roughly 1200 AV against 800. Tomorrow will decide how I do this. If its stubborn resistance I´ll bring in the Saipan army of 2600 AV to deal with it. AF at Cotabato is at 7.74. Erik has finally starting to interfere with the countless convoys moving between Morotai and Mindanao. I lose half a ART unit and 7 LCTs. No enemy losses. Two MTB TFs popped into view this turn. Sent out some stuff to deal with it.

Sarmi
The reinforcement convoy finally arrived! 4500 AV and countless BFs and engineers. Will take a while to sort everything out.

CV Fleet
I did a quick count and its looking a bit better than expected. I can field roughly 1400 AC. Not too bad... Probably double what Erik can put in the air right now and only 400 less than the original setup. This is probably a lot more than Erik expects me to have. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to lure him to battle and finally destroy the KB. A fake invasion of Badelbaob/Marcus Island/Marianas or something?

I contemplated going directly for Saipan but ruled it out as two of the IDs have very low prepp. By waiting I will also increase my strength by almost 600 AC. And that is not counting whatever gets repaired. I also need the assault shipping elsewhere right now.

DEI
Well, the foot is in the door and Erik won´t be able to fly in enough for this one to stop me. Once Babar is secured and I can put a CAP up the ball will start rolling. Good to have another front open! By the looks of it Erik has abandoned the area. Thank you! Java by Christmas? [:D]

Burma
Still no idea what Erik is doing. His stacks are showing movement but not moving. So it looks fake. His "left stack" south of Prome is finally starting to show signs of deterioration as we are now inflicting equal amount of damage as we receive when bombarding. The 4Es will start to bomb again next turn and another 1200 AV is moving from Prome.

Strat bombing
Switched to Manpower attacks again after reading up a bit on the forum. Not convinced yet but I´ll try it for a month.

I´m sorry the updates have started becoming less detailed. But I´m basically just moving troops right now. Not much action at all.

[BBfanboy]

Nice update - tells us what is going on all over your map. It is easy to lose track of what is happening in an AAR after it has gone to page 2 purgatory. [:D]

[JocMeister]

Thanks BB! [:)] Its hard to describe in text exactly whats going on. There is so much stuff in the Mindanao area I´ve lost track of where everything is. Basically I´m just dumping everything on Mindanao right now.

[JocMeister]

Philippine Islands

Here is a screen of the situation. The expected MLR is based on the fact that I´ve broken through and past Eriks defenses after the Moluccas invasion. I´m scrambling to get intel from the bases in the archipelago. From what I have gathered so far its basically empty and non developed. Erik is not going to try and defend in open terrain and certainly not without forts. The rough plan here is to jump under LBA up to Luzon. Tie up his forces around Manila and then land north of it cutting them off.

I´m not sure I´ll have enough to clear out Luzon without the Mariana forces (5500 AV). I havn´t counted but I have roughly the same ready for Luzon. Manilla is going to be a tough cookie for sure. Eriks air force has again reappeared and I will start sweeping them away soon. The reinforcement convoy brought with it some more 300 planes and 3000 AS and I can strip some of the rear bases of CAP. Again I´m waiting on Cotabato AF to reach level 9.

[JocMeister]

CV Fleet

This is the new disposition:

TF1
3 US CVs
3 Brit CVs
1 CVL

400 AC

TF2
3 US CVs
3 CVLs

380 AC

CVE TF1
11 CVEs

330 AC

CVE TF2
10 CVEs

300 AC

Total strength:
1380 AC

Repairing:
1 US CV (Bunker Hill will be out for 6 months), 3 CVLs (ETA about 1 month), 12 CVEs (ETA 1-2 Months). All ships except Bunker Hill will be repaired locally. The low endurance of the CVEs make them repair really quick. Some of the more damaged ones may go back to the West Coast including CVL Princeton.

Arriving in NG within 2 months
3 US CVs and 14 CVEs

[JocMeister]

1st-2nd September -44

A little more action this time around.

Mindanao
The first deliberate attack at Cagayan fail to deliver. I´m going to have to start bombing here soon to prevent forts. Or leave them to rot. Oh wait. Can´t do that as he will just fly them out.

Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30922 troops, 513 guns, 569 vehicles, Assault Value = 1311

Defending force 32112 troops, 296 guns, 33 vehicles, Assault Value = 877

Allied adjusted assault: 586

Japanese adjusted defense: 1283

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
864 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 63 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1466 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 105 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Guns lost 53 (3 destroyed, 50 disabled)
Vehicles lost 39 (4 destroyed, 35 disabled)

Assaulting units:
38th Infantry Division
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
2nd Marine Division
110th Combat Engineer Battalion
1st USMC Tank Battalion
XI US Corps
98th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment

Defending units:
28th Engineer Regiment
56th Ind.Mixed Brigade
4th Raiding Regiment
20th Engineer Regiment
48th Ind.Mixed Brigade
64th Ind.Mixed Brigade
71st Engineer Regiment
6th Division
6th Garrison Unit /4
74th JAAF AF Bn
25th Ind. Engineer Regiment
34th Ind.AA Gun Co
1st Ind.AA Gun Co
216th Naval Construction Battalion
188th JAAF AF Bn
148th JAAF AF Bn
51st Air Flotilla
89th Field AA Battalion
217th Naval Construction Battalion
61st Air Flotilla
4th RF Gun Battalion
244th JAAF AF Bn
248th JAAF AF Bn
180th JAAF AF Bn

I´m going to exchange some of the ID as they are up for invasions pretty soon. I´m also moving in a crapload of Arty and some tanks. 6th ID is also freed up as Sansapor is finally captured.

Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12513 troops, 214 guns, 543 vehicles, Assault Value = 504

Defending force 9150 troops, 116 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 29

Allied adjusted assault: 209

Japanese adjusted defense: 103

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Sansapor !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1893 casualties reported
Squads: 95 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 122 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 29 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 48 (47 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (9 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Erik also put some 200 Jacks forward at Cayguan. Possible to stop me from bombing. With quickly put an end to that by shooting down 80 Jacks for 11 P47s. No aces lost but 2 new double and 4 new triple aces! [&o]

He also tried a Frank sweep over Cotabato. Probably to test the CAP (which was week as the P47 where on Sweep). Erik lost 12 Franks for 8 Hellcats.

Erik also has a bunch of MTBs running amok in the Celebes sea. This guys are really slippery and even when I connect with them they usually get away without losses. As usual naval 2Es, DBs and TBs refuse to fly against these pests. Grrr! [:@]

DEI
We crash through the door at Barbar as Erik has abandoned the place. Not sure yet whether this is a mistake or not. But now I can advance under LBA up the DEI. Goal here is to land on Java. This is the smallest allied front with only 6 divisions working the route. It will take a while for the shipping to get to Darwin to start hauling the forces forward.

Burma
Now here something is really going on! [X(] Eriks Eastern stack has withdrawn?! I have no clue why but I´ll take it. He left 3 units at Toungoo that will either leave next turn or get wiped out. I will of course immediately give chase. If I can catch his stack at the next hex I might be able to inflict some losses. He will still have a x2 terrain modifier but almost no forts will have time to be built. I set the 2Es to start bombing to slow him down. Could this be the first sign of withdrawal from Burma? If so, why?

The Western stack continues to show small signs of deterioration.

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 120123 troops, 1610 guns, 710 vehicles, Assault Value = 5096

Defending force 92232 troops, 1083 guns, 1166 vehicles, Assault Value = 3123

Japanese ground losses:
354 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
166 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
23rd Indian Division
Lushai Brigade
26th Indian Division
81st (West African) Division
16th Chindit Brigade
11th PAVO Regiment
45th Indian Brigade
5th Chinese Corps
Guides Cavalry Regiment
22nd (East African) Brigade
150th RAC Regiment
14th Indian Division
Gardner's Horse Regiment
18th Cavalry Regiment
3rd New Chinese Corps
9th Indian Division
6th Chinese Corps
8th Belfast Heavy Regiment
X' Force
20th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
16th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
XXXIII Indian Corps
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
Provisional GMC Grp

Defending units:
33rd Division
2nd Division
21st Division
16th Division
55th Division
39th Division
2nd Tank Division
28th Army
68th Field AA Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
56th Field AA Battalion
10th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Field AA Battalion
25th Army
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
3rd Medium Mortar Battalion

My losses are about 90% chinese. So I bomb away. Here is a screen of Burma. Anyone with an idea of why Erik withdrew from Toungoo?

[HansBolter]

Strafers will often go after the little boats that the level, torp and dive bombers ignore.

Twin engine fighters, B25s with strafing skill and the little Aussie FBs (can't think of the name right now) are all good choices for this duty.

[JocMeister]

This is what happens when you go outside instead of playing AE. Why do I never learn! [:D]