Balade of the Newbie : Third stop, The Thousand-Mile War

[BlitzimX]

[center]Balade of the Newbie
The Thousand-Mile War
[/center]

Good day once again everybody!

Now that we have beaten some boats in the Coral sea, let's get back to a pure invasion scenario. This one is interesting since it introduces the concepts of preparation before an assault with limited ressources. Contrary to Operation Buccaneer, we don't have any CVs , nor BBs. We don't even start with Landing crafts! This will bring us more in depth with the invasion and concept of preparation, as well as the use of Support ships. We got a bunch of these babies in this scenario.

Let's get started!

The Thousand-Mile War
Dates : 15th April 1942 - 15th June 1942
Troops Controled: US
Objective: Size Attu and Kiska islands and hold them!



First Analysis:


As said in the introduction, we have a long way before being able to do something here. Let's see what we have at our disposal at the begining of our scenario:

Naval:

- 2 CA
- 3 CL
- 13 DD
- 1 PG
- 6 SS
- 2 DM / 3 DMS
- 1 AM / 1 AS / 1 AD
- 4 AVD / 2 AVP
- 5 AO
- 1 AE
- 2 xAP / 2 xAK

And now for the reinforcements:

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As you can see, we can expect some Big Guns and a CVE in 15 days. he first Amphibious transports arrive in 20 days, with a second vague in 26 days. It gives us time to get ready. For the first turns, our fleet mission will only be reduced to patroling and supplying Addak Island while we upgrade it. This will be our forward base of operation.

Airforce:

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Quite a nice set of planes there:

You see we have a& nice bunch of Bombers and Fighters there. They will be usefull, but not for now. Until at least we get the BBs, the Bombers will stay in their hangars sleeping and training. Only the P-40s in Addak will have a CAP mission.


Land Forces:
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Ground forces are nicely getting ready for their Objectives, and by the time all the Landing crafts will be here, they will all be ready. We will also receive some reinforcements in 15 days with some INFs getting nice Assault values.


I also notice we have now access to a pool or Leaders. I will read the topic on the subject to see which Leaders i could change/Assign to my troops and HQs.

Here it is for the presentation. Next post, the First Turn!

[Cribtop]

Good luck!

[BlitzimX]

[center]First Turn actions[/center]

The first turn is quite short.

- I set SS patrols around Kiska, Attu and Paramushiro-Jima to scout the area and have infos on potential incoming transports. I also set a patrol between PJ and the other two islands.

- The P-40s in Adak Island are set to 30%CAP , 15 000 feet and 20% Rest. No threat are expected.

- A TF is created with 3 DD, 2 DM and 2 DMS, destination Adak. The objective is to mine the port and sweep any potential mines layed there by enemy subs. The DDs will stay there for ASW.

- A Cargo TF of 2 Cargos (no more because of Adak port size) are set to load supplies in Dutch Harbor

- Adak is set to expand Airfield and Port.


I have a question: I see AVDs and AVPs are defined as Aircraft Tenders, but i don't see how we use them. I know that AKE for examples are used in ports to ressuply ships, but AVDs and AVPs?

[BBfanboy]

Anything with a "V" in the ship type has something to do with aircraft. In this case the AVD and AVP support float planes and flying boats [Catalinas and such]. You can use them to extend your search. Since sea planes do not require air bases, all you have to do is put an AV/AVD/AVP at a forward base [even if there is no port] and send the seaplanes to that base to search from there. NOTE: you must ensure that the AVP/AVD are loaded with supplies and you must monitor every few days to see how fast they are being used up. To reload the AVD/AVP you must have supplies at the base. You can use either the "Reload Tenders" button for disbanded ships or form them into a TF and select "Load Supplies".

You should also consider using the long range B-24s on Naval Search if the pilots have some skills in this area. If weather keeps your sea planes grounded the bomber search could be all that you have.

Also make sure you Recon the Japanese bases you can reach. Knowing if there are ships or aircraft there will tell you what to do next.

[BlitzimX]

I will change a bit the reports since the duration of the mission gets longer. Especialy During the first weeks where not much thing shappen.

[center]20th April report ( Turn 5)[/center]

Nothing much to report. My Catalinas are taking pictures of the targets everyday, and they don't seem really populated for now. I have Catalinas unavailable so i suppose they are getting repaired.

I layed 420 mines in Adak and set ASW patrols in the area.

I also set a Supply/Fuel convoy for Adak, but the port is so small it can barely unload one ship at a time, and even this takes time.

Here are Adak infos:

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I know that you can use Support ships to speed up the onload, do i have such ships? And if yes do you only have to have them in the port for them to work?

[BBfanboy]

Do you have any USN Port Service units anywhere on the map that you can send to Adak? These units are really useful to help unload ships when the port is too small for docking.

I see you are trying to build port, airfield and forts at the same time at Adak. Since you do not get the benefit of this building until an entire level is completed, it will take a long time to see any benefits when you split your building three ways. Better to prioritize and build first what you need most.

Forts - this is late 1943 and the Japanese are not on the offensive - they are trying to withdraw stranded garrisons from Attu and Kiska. There is little need to be concerned with an invasion of Adak if you have ~ 120 AV there.

Airfield - if he has not yet stationed aircraft at his bases you should not be too concerned with air attacks just yet. At level 1 and 2 AF you can really only operate fighters effectively. At level 3, single engine DBs and TBs can carry a full load and MBs can carry a reduced load. However they may not have the range to interfere with much out at Attu and Kiska. You really need a level 4 AF to put pressure on the Japanese with HB [carrying a reduced load]. Level 5 gives the HB full loads and really threatens the Japanese approach to their bases. So not much of great benefit will occur immediately from concentrating on AF building.

Port - You desperately need a higher level port to move in supplies and support units. At Level 2, IJN subs will not be able to target ships docked in port. You can unload most things, but will NOT be able to unload radars and some engineer vehicles. Having Naval Support squads with a Port Service Detachment or base fore might allow you to unload these.

For these reasons, I usually build the port to level 2 first, then the airfield to level 4, port to level 3, airfield to five, and forts only if a threat appears. If the Japanese were strong in the area I would build the AF to 3 before the port. Other players may have different priorities, so build what you feel is most urgent.

[BlitzimX]

Thanks again for these advices BB. I have a question though: my port is level 2 as you can see, but the capacity is so reduced it can barely fit one ship at a time. Do support ships need special actions once in the port to help unloading, or being disbanded in the port is enough?

And yoyu are right, the recon on the two Jap island report very few plan activity so i guess no need to extend the airfield for now. And fortification seem to be a loss of time.

[BBfanboy]

Port size 2 can dock 12,000 tons, largest ship 9,000 tons or less. I see you have 6,520 tons docked. You should be able to find another ship of 5,480 tons or less to also dock and use the capacity. If you are still trying to unload troops, you should look at the size of your xAPs/APs and see if any are less than 9,000 tons. If you have one, undock whatever is now docked, form a new TF with the troop ship and dock it. Be sure to click on "Unload Cargo/Troops". Unloading at the dock will be much faster and may solve some of the messages about "TF unable to unload completely". Some equipment just cannot fit into the lighters [barges] that help unload ships that are not docked, but will unload to a dock if the ship's cranes can lift it.

I am not sure what you mean by unloading support ships in your question. Most of these ships should NOT be unloaded - they need supplies on board to do their job. Load them up and disband them in port so they can support your subs, aircraft and ships needing ammo. Remember to reload the supplies every once in a while as they are used up. This can happen in one turn on an AE or AKE supporting BBs doing bombardments.

If you transfer one of these support ships between ports, set the TF to "Do Not Unload". There is one exception - if you need to upgrade the support ship, you must unload all of the supplies first before it will go into upgrade.

[BlitzimX]

After seeing your advices and how things were going, i decided to restart the scenario. One of the first action i do is transfering the USN Base service from Dutch Harbor to Adak, and cancel all buildings on both islands but the Port on Adak. Dutch harbor doesn't need improovment and with an HQ, doesn't need any Engineers either.


The first runs went like the previous game (appart from one of my subs hitting two mines), and i continued until the 30th of May where the loom of the battle start to appear.


[center]30th of May (Turn 15)
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Our Big guns arrived at Dutch Harbor (3BB) with a CVE. She only carries 3 Sqdns of Hellcats, but i guess it's better than nothing. I think the Japs have pretty strong reinforcments during the game, including 2 or 3 CVs. That's gonna be tough.

Adak is now a 3 sized port, and continues expanding till port 4. Unloading is now much much easier, and it received the visit of a USN Bees Engineer Squad which arrived earlier at DH. It really speeds up construction. The only thing i need to do is bring fuel to the base.

What do i intend to do now? Well, i will wait for the APA to arrive in a few days. Once done, i will decide which island to attack, probably Kiska because it's the closest and I have less troops to moove.

2 or 3 days prior the invasion i will start pounding the airfield with my Bombers, and BOmbarding the shores with my new BBs.I think A few days of these treatments should reduced greatly their fighting hability. However, it may awaken them and have them starting reacting by sending planes and ships in the area.

I'm worried though about their CVs. Once they arrive, it's not my CVE who'll make any challenge. I have to act quick so that i can have some LBA to defend myself.

[BBfanboy]

Are you sure the Japanese get CVs? I thought the most they would bring is a CVL but I admit I cannot remember what they have in this scenario. If there is the threat of air attack you should build your airfield now to level 2 be able to have fighters defending the base. Also check your ship reinforcement queue [in the Intel Report screen] to see if you get any more carriers.

If I recall correctly [IIRC] a CVE can only have 2 air units and still operate aircraft, and of course it cannot have too many aircraft in total. Check the screen for the ship and look at the aircraft numbers. If you are exceeding the capacity it will be in RED. You can exceed capacity by 10% without penalty but after that your CAP and strike launches will have gaps because you have to move some aircraft to launch others. Land one of the Hellcat squadrons immediately on the nearest airfield to the front. Check the ship screen again for capacity issues. If you want to use the CVE to attack Japanese ships, see if there are any Dive Bomber or TB squadrons on nearby bases that you can swap out for a Hellcat squadron.

Your CVE was likely intended to provide air cover for your surface forces bombarding and landing troops. If you can do these tasks with land-based aircraft your CVE can be freed up to ferry in more aircraft or go hunting for the IJN.

[BBfanboy]

OK - I started up the scenario to re-acquaint myself with it. Because the Allies would have had good intel on the Japanese plans and intentions from decrypting their signals, I looked at the Japanese OOB too.

Firstly, the scenario notes say the Japanese are not going to evacuate, they are going to stay and fight. This means you must invade before they can get supplies and reinforcements to the two islands. I can tell you that the islands do not have strong units yet, but could get some help in future. (The allies would know this from recon and Signals Intel).

The Japanese do get support from a couple of CVs, a CVL and lots of surface combat ships. Most of these are not coming for a few weeks, so you must move quickly with your invasions. The threat of massive Japanese air strikes from their CVs means you must rely on land based aircraft to defend your bases and your invasions. That means building up the Adak airfield as well as the port. I would stop the port building at level 3 and build the airfield until it gets to level 5.

Subs should patrol around PJ and around the route to Attu and Kiska. You can likely do some bombarding and cruiser raiding early on before his naval reinforcements arrive. Above all, get a lot of Naval Search out there. Weather will make aircraft operations very haphazard.

Also keep in mind that bombing the enemy bases every day will hold up construction of forts and airfields.

Good luck!

[BlitzimX]

Thanks a lot for taking time to do this. It's very helpfull. I also checked the Japanese side, and if i remember the CVs arrive 30 days after the begining, so around the 15th of May. It means 10 days from now.


[center]5th of May (Turn 20)[/center]


Now for the big fun to start. The first set of Amphibious transports arrived in Dutch Harbor, and form the first AMphibious TF (5 APA, 1 XAP, 2 CA, 5 DD). The bombardment TF will be 3BB, 2CA, 2 CL and 5DD. I don't use the CVE for now since i'm pretty sure no planes will hurt me in our first target, in Kiska.

I don't have enough ships to do both landings at the same time, so timing will be short. I will start my bombing campaign this turn, from sea and air, while my Land troops get ready and boarded.

I will set the Bombers to Airfield Bombing at 15000 feet and see the results. In a month, i got pretty nice training results.

Following BB's advices, i also set my Subs to patrol more nearby JB and build up Adak airport.

The fun is gonna start soon :p

[BlitzimX]

Howdy everyone!

After a few infructious restarts, i managed to win the scenario. A change, because my Surface TF got stuck in the map border after the Bombardment retreat. As a result, unusable for one month.

The reason why i had to restart was because i couldn't acheive the Japanese ground troops. I had to really outnumber them to finnaly kick them out.

That's why i come to you today for some advises on ground attacking of islands.

The first thing i did is two runs of Bombardment to loosen a bit the defenses. I managed to destroy and damage some planes and kill some troops. Then, i started the Amphibious assault on the island, reinforced with fresh troops a few days later when the landing crafts were free once again. All that helped with Ground Bombing by my Medium bombers at 5000k. Why 5000? Because i found out it's the altitude where they started to be effective, and quite untouched by the AA.

Though my main difficulty was in the gestion of the ground troops, with the different attitudes (Shock, Bombardment, etc..). I had a tendency to set everyone to "Shock", and as a result their Fatigue grew quite high, and their AV droped almost by 50%.

I wanted to know how to manage the assaults and the different attitudes, when to use Shock or Deliberate, etc. That would be very helpfull


Also , on an other domain, i wanted to know if the base level affected the training efficiency of Pilots? I set all my P-40 to training 100% Escort at 1000ft on the level 2 airport, but they barely gained any skills in 15 days. I transfered them to the level 7 airport, and they gained 4 or 5 points in just 4 days.

Thanks!

[BBfanboy]

Island attacks
I am not sure if there are stacking limits on Attu and Kiska. I think Kiska may be quite small and not able to support a large number of troops. If you exceed the stacking limit by much, it causes rapid use of supply and may affect the ability to recover from fatigue. Check your combat reports for whether you have a "supply - " indication. The way to deal with this is to have lots of supply on an amphib "supply only" TF to keep pumping it in. When you take the island, remove the unnecessary troops ASAP.

Landings on islands always cause some fatigue among the landing troops and usually the defenders will automatically bombard at the end of the turn. The bombardment gives intel on the units there and the AV involved, but not perfect intel. If a unit is not involved in the bombardment [because it has no artillery] it may not be shown or counted in the AV. You need to look at the fatigue/disruption of your troops and the AV shown for both sides. Also consider the number of guns [not counted in the AV] and vehicles [most will be trucks, but if there is an armoured unit expect some tanks or armoured cars]. This should help you decide if you have more firepower than the enemy.

If the fort levels are high, your troops have over 25 fatigue, and you do not have 3X the firepower, do not shock attack. You need to use deliberate attack to give your engineers a chance to reduce the forts. Watch for signs the enemy is in trouble, like a fatigue or supply - modifier to the combat calculations.

Assess the fatigue/disruption levels and fort levels after each attack. When you think the enemy is weak enough and forts are below 4, you can try a shock attack. Don't be afraid to rest your troops a day or so to improve your chances.

The other way to improve your attack is to have your HQs well prepared for the target and landed with the troops.
Note that only "Amphibious Force" HQs on an AGC ship type can assist the landing. LCU HQs must be on the ground and within their command range to do their work.

Other players may have better advice than the above, but I think the things I suggest looking at before making a decision are valid.

[TigerTC]

This is an awesome start for me. I've found it very helpful as I struggle to complete my first scenario.

However, I'm a bit stuck and wonder if I'm terminally stuck. Right now I've got about 7K infantry on Kiska Island fighting about 8K Japanese troops (mostly support troops). It's 20 MAY and I've been on Kiska about a week. Based on the attrition rate (deliberate assault daily, some level bomber raids), I don't see anything decisive happening on Kiska for quite a while.

I have enough supplies on Kiska but insufficient support for my troops there.

Am I just stuck, having let too many Japanese get on the island?

[BBfanboy]

Numbers do not matter so much as their ability to resist your attacks. Here are some of the factors in this:

- raw AV - the number of combat squads that they can field. If it is much lower than yours, it is not the big problem

- firepower - guns and tanks. You need to have more guns than he does and anti-armour strength. Marine infantry units have
good anti-armour ratings but many other units do not in 1943. Anti-tank guns are good to have if he has armour.

- forts - these are key. Anything 4 and above will protect his troops well from bombing and bombardment, and make assaults
costly. I NEVER shock-attack a level 4 or higher fort - it costs too many casualties. Make sure you have combat engineers
available to reduce the forts during DAs.

- supply - if he has good supply his disabled troops can recover. If his supply is low or out, they recover very slowly. You can
reduce his supply by bombing the airfield and port to get supply hits. Once you start to get a "supply -" on his side in the combat
report he will start to crumble pretty fast.

- morale - the will to fight on. This is affected by constant bombardment/bombing, supply levels, casualties and leaders. Check that
you are not getting a "leaders -" on your side of the combat report. If so, buy some good ones with high land and aggression, and leadership
and inspiration in the 55+ range. If your troop morale is low, rest them a couple of turns while bombarding.

The terrain on these islands is mountainous which gives the enemy automatic level 2 or 3 forts, on top of whatever they build. Grind them down
well before you attack. Ten days is not a long period of time when you do not have overwhelming strength on your side.

[TigerTC]

Thanks. I brought some engineers in, starting attacking his port, doubled my infantry strength, and started using shock attacks.

As soon as his fort was reduced and he started getting the Supply(-) penalty, my guys took the island.



As to the whole scenario, there doesn't seem to be a lot to it other than capturing the islands. I've got sub patrols, naval patrols, ASW patrols, etc., but other than a few sightings, and one attempt to reinforce Kiska that I fought off, there hasn't been any real "action."

Is that all there really is to the scenario?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: BROJD

Thanks. I brought some engineers in, starting attacking his port, doubled my infantry strength, and started using shock attacks.

As soon as his fort was reduced and he started getting the Supply(-) penalty, my guys took the island.



As to the whole scenario, there doesn't seem to be a lot to it other than capturing the islands. I've got sub patrols, naval patrols, ASW patrols, etc., but other than a few sightings, and one attempt to reinforce Kiska that I fought off, there hasn't been any real "action."

Is that all there really is to the scenario?

Neither side gets enough toys to play with to force a big battle, but you can get one if the Japanese are willing to risk their carriers to contest the islands.
I guess you took Kiska but not Attu? I think the idea is for the Allied player to try take both by the end of the scenario while the Japanese player tries to keep at least one.
Smart move for the Japanese would be to evacuate troops from Kiska and drop them at Attu, along with the reinforcements they get. The extra distance makes it hard for the Allies
to use LBA unless they can get Kiska early and build it enough to base HB. Time is an issue in this scenario. You can't wait for all preparations to be 100% complete, so you get
practice putting together less-than-ideal assaults.

If you have not done the Marianas scenario, try that next. There are a lot more toys for the Allied player but the timeline to take all three major islands is tight. You also have to be
careful of stacking limits on the islands from which you launch the invasion, and supply is short at your major forward base of Eniwetok.

If you want a mind-blowing challenge, try the Downfall scenario. Best if you are experienced in setting up air ops, ASW ops and amphib landings for that one!

[TigerTC]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: BROJD

Thanks. I brought some engineers in, starting attacking his port, doubled my infantry strength, and started using shock attacks.

As soon as his fort was reduced and he started getting the Supply(-) penalty, my guys took the island.



As to the whole scenario, there doesn't seem to be a lot to it other than capturing the islands. I've got sub patrols, naval patrols, ASW patrols, etc., but other than a few sightings, and one attempt to reinforce Kiska that I fought off, there hasn't been any real "action."

Is that all there really is to the scenario?

Neither side gets enough toys to play with to force a big battle, but you can get one if the Japanese are willing to risk their carriers to contest the islands.
I guess you took Kiska but not Attu? I think the idea is for the Allied player to try take both by the end of the scenario while the Japanese player tries to keep at least one.
Smart move for the Japanese would be to evacuate troops from Kiska and drop them at Attu, along with the reinforcements they get. The extra distance makes it hard for the Allies
to use LBA unless they can get Kiska early and build it enough to base HB. Time is an issue in this scenario. You can't wait for all preparations to be 100% complete, so you get
practice putting together less-than-ideal assaults.

If you have not done the Marianas scenario, try that next. There are a lot more toys for the Allied player but the timeline to take all three major islands is tight. You also have to be
careful of stacking limits on the islands from which you launch the invasion, and supply is short at your major forward base of Eniwetok.

If you want a mind-blowing challenge, try the Downfall scenario. Best if you are experienced in setting up air ops, ASW ops and amphib landings for that one!

I'm up to June 2 and haven't taken Attu yet. I suspect that I don't have enough time to take it, but I want to learn other parts of the game and not refight this battle.

I was planning to try Coral Sea next and follow BlitzX's walkthrough on that one:

tm.asp?m=3363812&mpage=1&key=&#3363812

[BBfanboy]

Forgot about that one - a good intro to CV vs CV combat. Remember to take out the Seaplane base at Tulagi at the
start so he cannot get good naval search up on your carriers. Also, the flyboys need the experience.