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

[DOCUP]

Are you glad you stayed witht he game now?

[DOCUP]

Are you glad you stayed witht he game now?

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: DOCUP

Are you glad you stayed witht he game now?

To sum it up. Yes I am. [:)] I´m still kicking myself for playing so passively in 43 but I have mostly let it go by now. The game also became hugely more fun when I stopped thinking of it as the "real deal". Its not. Once I stopped expecting things to behave like they are in the real world and realized this is exactly what it is I started enjoying it immensely. [:)] Its just a game with a Pacific map and historical units. But thats about it. Its all about learning how the game works and I´m learning a huge amount of stuff every turn and its going to make me a lot better player in the end.

[JocMeister]

23rd-24th September -44

Mindanao
As I wrote a short note about Erik jumped in some CAP to Cagayan. My sweeps of course decided this was the time to go in after the bombers. But the P38 and Hellcat escort intended for the "KB strike force" tagged along. I expected carnage but instead dished out some good damage on Eriks fighters and still cause some 1500 losses on the ground. This was the second of 3 really big strikes.

Morning Air attack on 6th Division, at 79,89 (Cagayan)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 15
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 52
Ki-84a Frank x 19

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 12
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 15
B-24J Liberator x 45
B-25G Mitchell x 12
F6F-3 Hellcat x 29
F6F-5 Hellcat x 38
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 3 destroyed
Ki-84a Frank: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 7 damaged
B-25G Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
F6F-5 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
566 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 51 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 95 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 23 disabled
Guns lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

When the dust settles after the day 122 Jap planes are lost for 51 allied. 14 Allied 4Es are lost but pools are holding steady. The attack goes very well.

Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47304 troops, 829 guns, 1974 vehicles, Assault Value = 1866

Defending force 24375 troops, 303 guns, 37 vehicles, Assault Value = 553

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 1365

Japanese adjusted defense: 1219

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
4758 casualties reported
Squads: 111 destroyed, 166 disabled
Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 98 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 16 disabled
Guns lost 92 (61 destroyed, 31 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (16 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
214 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 21 (1 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Assaulting units:
192nd Tank Battalion
1st USMC Tank Battalion
38th Infantry Division
37th Infantry Division
110th Combat Engineer Battalion
754th Tank Battalion
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
CenPac Amphib Tank Brigade
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
5th USMC Tank Battalion
XI US Corps
147th Field Artillery Regiment
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
15th NZ AA Bde
225th Field Artillery Battalion
XI Corps Artillery
X Corps Artillery
251st Field Artillery Battalion
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
XIV US Corps
2nd Australian Hvy AA Regiment
33rd Medium Regiment

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

The attack continues on the 24th!

Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47104 troops, 828 guns, 1973 vehicles, Assault Value = 1833

Defending force 14690 troops, 188 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 309

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 958

Japanese adjusted defense: 457

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1662 casualties reported
Squads: 71 destroyed, 208 disabled
Non Combat: 66 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 37 (25 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 11 (11 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Allied ground losses:
119 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 3 disabled

When looking at the replay the 6th ID just disappeared at the end of the attack. So by the looks of it it was one of the units destroyed! [&o] Even if he can buy it back it will come back empty and with 30 EXP. Huzzah! Another attack is ordered for tomorrow. Looks like Erik left the combat troops to hold for as long as possible while all the BFs hurried away. It won´t help though as I will close the AF at Maybalay tomorrow preventing him to fly out the troops. Cagayan will be in allied hands tomorrow and the armor will immediately give chase!

Looks like Mindanao is about to be wrapped up. I have the 14th US Corps landing shortly on Mindanao with 1600 AV. They will take over and do the mopping up while the SWPAC forces minus the armor returns to Cotabato to rest for the upcoming invasion of Luzon. Erik has about 100.000 troops on Luzon. If all goes well in the next month I will land 10.000 AV on Luzon in Mid November or early December. This is dependant on another operation though.

Burma
Reallocated the bomber command to Prome and Rangoon. With the shorter distances I will be able to up the tempo a lot. If will concentrate on attacking his supply for a while now. That massive, massive AA he has over his 250k stack must burn supply like crazy. So I´m going to high altitude bomb him while striking ports and airfields in the rear.

DEI
We secured Damar without much effort.

Ground combat at Damar (75,115)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 172 troops, 0 guns, 64 vehicles, Assault Value = 45

Defending force 378 troops, 0 guns, 19 vehicles, Assault Value = 6

Allied adjusted assault: 20

Japanese adjusted defense: 5

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Damar !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 14 (14 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
2/11th Armoured Car Battalion

Defending units:
5th Armored Car Co
52nd Const Co

YAP
Slowly grinding him down. Last attack wasn´t stellar though.

Ground combat at Yap (96,97)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10652 troops, 196 guns, 616 vehicles, Assault Value = 406

Defending force 3391 troops, 40 guns, 33 vehicles, Assault Value = 92

Allied adjusted assault: 115

Japanese adjusted defense: 257

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
284 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 34 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 10 (10 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)

I did the mistake here of attacking with everything including the BFs (they have some US44 squads in them). So the "actual" losses are actually only 2 disabled Shermans. Only armor will attack tomorrow.

STRAT Bombing
I took another good chunk out of Miri on the 24th and its now down to 89 oil. The B29s will hit Palembang for the first time on the 25th. I don´t expect much from this though as its close to max range (30) and only half the bombload. But if I can get some fires going it might be worth the effort. The plane fatigue will be so high from this raid though that I expect the B29s will be grounded for 10-15 days after this. But I hope this will be a nice blow to Eriks moral! He seems quite distraught over losing the oil at Miri so I hope the possibility of getting Palembang wrecked will really shake him.

Port Moresby
Erik has decided to show up in force here again. He stationed some 100 fighters here and is jumping in bombers from time to time. I´ve decided to deal with this properly and sent the USMC Corsairs in. You can always count on the USMC! This is the first of 4 sweeps [&o]

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 36
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 49

Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 7 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x F4U-1A Corsair sweeping at 31000 feet
5 x F4U-1A Corsair sweeping at 31000 feet

When the sun sets 46 Jack and Tojos are shot down for 6 Allied planes. 6 new aces and none lost!

No Turn
Don´t know what happened. I sent Erik a turn 24h ago and I told him I would be back in the evening. He replied saying he would have it for me by then. But none showed up during the evening and nothing this morning either. Since he has been online and didn´t email me I´m guessing dropbox failed us and he believes he uploaded it. Sent him another mail this morning.

The Fleet is on the move again! [&o]

[JocMeister]

Question about Kamis
Anything closer than 20 "sea hexes" will trigger them right? So 21 hexes from Takao is good but 20 are not?

[Bullwinkle58]

What is your planned entry point on Luzon?

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

What is your planned entry point on Luzon?

I have troops prepping for almost every base on Southern Luzon but the big hammer is on Naga (2600 AV). I´m just going to land where there is least opposition. I don´t think Erik will try and defend the clear hexes on Southern Luzon. His troops will just be bombed to pulp. He will most likely retire towards the more defensible terrain around Manilla.

After the southern landing I will land behind him in a quite historical fashion at Lingayen.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]26th-27th September -44[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

I´m trying out a new format in the AAR. I blatantly stole some stuff from Eriks AAR trying to make it look a bit more sexy!! [:D]

Mindanao

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

[font="Verdana"]26th-27th September -44[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

I´m trying out a new format in the AAR. I blatantly stole some stuff from Eriks AAR trying to make it look a bit more sexy!! [:D]

Mindanao

Sexy? It's not working so far Jocke! [:'(]

[Cpt Sherwood]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

[font="Verdana"]26th-27th September -44[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

I´m trying out a new format in the AAR. I blatantly stole some stuff from Eriks AAR trying to make it look a bit more sexy!! [:D]

Mindanao

It looks a bit barren right now. Kind of like my first wife.

[JocMeister]

I was about to write the update but ran out of time! [:D] Its coming tomorrow (I think!)

[JocMeister]

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Really short on time and Erik has started returning turns more routinely. We reached the last of September! Two major OPS are in motion. Update coming tonight. I hate lagging behind in the AAR as it easy to forget a lot of stuff.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]25th-29th September -44[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Lots of good news for the allies the last few turns! [&o] Its been really confusing though as we suffered some major sync problems. Luckily Erik has started uploading the CR lately so it was detected.

------------------------
Mindanao
------------------------
Erik has stationed around 100 fighters at Naga. I decided to test this out and sent in some fresh Hellcats on a sweep. Eriks air force still has some bite left and I achieved only a 1:1,5 advantage. Right now with the Navy pools low I can´t afford that. So I´ll let him be for a while.

The really good news came on the ground on the 25th.

Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 46986 troops, 829 guns, 1974 vehicles, Assault Value = 1821

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 971

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 971 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Cagayan !!! [&o]

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
Units destroyed 1

Erik pulled out with everything. This will turn out to be a mistake in the coming days. My armor immediately gave chase and caught up with him at Malaybalay three days after on the 28th.

Ground combat at Malaybalay (80,90)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9752 troops, 285 guns, 1163 vehicles, Assault Value = 1212

Defending force 17229 troops, 218 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 163 [X(]

Allied adjusted assault: 376

Japanese adjusted defense: 169

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Malaybalay !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
6952 casualties reported
Squads: 163 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 343 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 222 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 144 (133 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (16 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 11
Units destroyed 2

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
754th Tank Battalion
1st USMC Tank Battalion
38th Infantry Division
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
CenPac Amphib Tank Brigade
192nd Tank Battalion
5th USMC Tank Battalion
XIV US Corps
X Corps Artillery
251st Field Artillery Battalion
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment
XI Corps Artillery
147th Field Artillery Regiment
33rd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
28th Engineer Regiment
4th Raiding Regiment
6th Division
56th Ind.Mixed Brigade
20th Engr Rgt /1
217th Naval Construction Battalion
148th JAAF AF Bn
25th Ind. Engineer Regiment
248th JAAF AF Bn
89th Field AA Battalion
71st Engineer Regiment
244th JAAF AF Bn
1st Ind.AA Gun Co
48th Ind.Mixed Brigade
64th Ind.Mixed Brigade
216th Naval Construction Battalion
188th JAAF AF Bn
180th JAAF AF Bn

This force is pretty much spent. The retreated towards Davao and now sits there. It will take my forces a long time to catch up so for now I just closed the AF to prevent him from flying stuff in or out.

I also managed to secure the easternmost base that I really wanted for the future advance. I have to be really careful though as I´m very close to activating Kamis right now. I don´t want that just yet. With two other major OPS going on right now Mindanao winds down to mopping up and expanding for a week or two.

------------------------
KB
------------------------
Was last seen refueling at Miri and then withdrew west. I know Erik is going to try and repeat his success at the Celebes sea. He can´t get in there without being detected though. He made real good care that I should see him head west which probably mean he is going east. I´m guessing he will try and come around the PI on the eastern side. It might work but I don´t really have much moving in the area though. I posted a few subs so that I might get a warning.

Another possibility is that he will try and raid the IO. Whatever burns his fuel makes me happy. I want him to move around with the KB. I think his fuel will become scarce soon!

------------------------
Strategic Bombing
------------------------
After the fires died down at Palembang almost 100 oil has burned down. Another 100 is also bombed at Miri. But to be really effective I need a level 9 AF within normal B29 range. Erik has kindly provided this at Balikpapan. But that will have to wait.

------------------------
Yap
------------------------
Finally fell after two more attacks!

Ground combat at Yap (96,97)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6318 troops, 92 guns, 513 vehicles, Assault Value = 395

Defending force 2315 troops, 27 guns, 23 vehicles, Assault Value = 32

Allied adjusted assault: 138

Japanese adjusted defense: 21

Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Yap !!! [&o]

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

Japanese ground losses:
796 casualties reported
Squads: 33 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 15 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 13 (12 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (18 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
763rd Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
44th Tank Battalion
37th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
6th Marine AA Battalion
17th Marine AA Battalion
190th USAAF Base Force
55th Coastal Artillery Battalion
5th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
110th USA Base Force /1

Defending units:
4th Bde /1
30th Recon Regiment
64th JNAF AF Unit
6th Guards Inf. Rgt /1
4th South Seas Gsn
61st Naval Guard Unit
46th Nav Gd /1

As I said I have two major operations in the works right now. I´ll do an update on it later tonight and hopefully get some screens up!

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Strategic bombing campaign[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Since coming into range of major Japanese oilfields of Medan, Palembang, Soerabaja, Miri, Tarakan and Balikpapan I have knocked out circa 550 oil points. Earlier I have knocked out all the oil in China.

At what point will this start to become a problem for him? Or is it already?

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Allied fleet movements[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

During the last week the allied fleet set sail to take advantage of having the KB out of position in the South China sea. After assembling at Sarmi and replenishing after supporting the Jap landings the fleet set sail with 200.000 troops onboard. Target: Marianas

------------------------
Marianas
------------------------
This operation will be threefold. First we will land supply, engineers and BFs on Tinian. I expect the base to be operational after 2-3 days. In the same time we will invade Saipan. Erik has invested heavily in both Saipan and Guam but intel reveals no IDs so far. Thirdly, with Tinian operational and troops on Saipan the fleet will lift the combat troops on Tinian and land them on Guam together with 2 additional IDs and more tanks.

The fleet is also being reinforced by Ticonderoga, Hancock and Yggdrasil together with 14 CVEs.

Despite having 21 units and 45.000 troops on Saipan I have high hopes we can wrap it up fairly quickly. I have 120.000 men landing including 3 US army IDs and 2 USMC IDs. I also have a 6th ID as reserve if needed. Guam may be a bit tougher as I have less troops for it But if I can get Saipan quickly that would give me two operational airfields in the Marianas and that would mean game over for Erik in the area. I have 300 fighters at Wake ready to jump in a soon as an airfield gets operational.

I have to watch my strikes though as Erik has shown no reluctance to exploit the automated strike routines. So he will probably keep some small ships at each base under a massive CAP. I will have to be wary of that. In fact he did this just a week ago at Truk costing me 100 planes for no Jap losses when a lone xAK suddenly appeared in the harbour from thin air. [8|]

[DOCUP]

Good luck.

[BBfanboy]

He can still fly troops out of Davao by Mavis/Emily, which don't need an AF.

Good luck with the Saipan invasion. I hope you have enough BBs/CAs to reduce/soak up the coastal defences!

[Speedysteve]

Ditto. Best of luck with the Mariana's follow up!

[JocMeister]

Thanks guys! [&o][:)]

Question
I have 8 BBs with me. 2 is embedded in each Amphib TF (2 of them) and 4 is in a separate Bombardment TF. Would I be better off embedding 4 in each Amphib instead and skip the naval bombardment? I´m leaning towards the latter to give the troops and assault ships the best possible survivability.

[Speedysteve]

I'd personally have some in bombardment TF's as, with spotters, they'll disrupt the enemy and assist with the landings and survivability that way.