Decline & Fall AAR v2

[composer99]

The NRD for the South China Sea.

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A picket of light cruisers in the Timor Sea. This force is in place to keep fast Japanese fleet elements from approaching the Coral Sea from this direction with ease. It may also be the springboard for future Allied operations directed at the NEI.

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The Bay of Bengal, showing typical convoy protection. Pretty much all Allied convoy defences are set up in this manner, though some sea zones will have more ships than this one.

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The European Theatre

The Eastern Med convoy defences. There is a CW submarine squadron here that is being transferred to the Pacific for duty there.

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In the areas of the Med where there is still "action", the Allied fleets are in place to support the campaigns in Italy and, possibly, southern France.

[composer99]

The NRD for the Allied forces in the Italian Coast sea zone.

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The NRD for the Allied fleets in the Western Med sea zone.

[composer99]

The Allied forces amassed in the seas around the UK and France.

[composer99]

Here is the NRD for the fleet in the Bay of Biscay. The US is ready to invade. While the US knows where it wants to invade, all the Germans know is that any hex along the French Atlantic coast is vulnerable.

(It is worth noting that, to stand against the Allied airpower in the UK and at sea, the Germans have but two single-engine fighters (FTR2 - the 2 is for their build point cost) and one twin-engine fighter (FTR3).)

[composer99]

The Royal Navy, on station in the North Sea.

Here again, while the CW knows its target for the invasion of France, all Germany knows is that any hex adjacent to the North Sea sea zone, which includes the English Channel, from Brest to Trondheim, is vulnerable.

The Allies are going to land somewhere... but where?

[composer99]

Naval Combat

The Allies have some opportunities to initiate naval combat. This form shows the areas where they are eligible to do so.

(I forgot to mention upthread that the CW flew its long-range naval bomber to the Baltic.)

Suffice to say, the Allies will initiate combat in all three areas.

[composer99]

The US initiates combat in the China Sea.

The Japanese fly a naval bomber to the 0 box to support the convoys. This is a standard technique for defending convoy boxes, especially from submarines. Naval bombers are treated as being in a higher sea box in fine weather, so it's harder to surprise the 0 box where the convoys are located, and in order to actually fight the convoys the US needs to get enough surprise points to call the combat - otherwise it's a naval air combat and the Japanese bomber will bomb the submarines, instead.

[composer99]

The US has to decide now to commit its subs or not.

Since success here would cut all Japanese forces outside of Japan out of supply, and force Japan to sail out more convoys during its impulses (thus potentially allowing the US to sink those, too), the US will commit its subs.

[composer99]

... and first blood goes to the Japanese, it seems. As the submarines close in on Japanese merchant shipping, they are set upon, without warning, by naval bombers flying out of the sun.

The Japanese rolled a '1' on the search roll, and the Allies a '9'.

The Japanese get to decide which sea boxes are included in the combat. Because they can bomb with impunity (subs have no AA factors), they will pick them all.

[composer99]

The Japanese can choose to fight whatever combat they want, or even avoid combat, by spending surprise points (of which they have 8).

But if they spend none at all, by default, because they have naval air in the combat, the naval combat will be an air combat. Which means the Japanese NAV will attack the subs.

[composer99]

With no air combat to fight, no Allied bombers, and no Allied anti-aircraft fire, the Japanese can spend all their surprise points to boost the damage their NAV inflicts on the subs... indeed, that is literally the only thing they can spend surprise points on: as you can see, all the other options are unavailable (depicted on the form by the buttons being "greyed out" and recessed, compared to the available option).

Before proceeding, I should explain that in a naval air bombing, the two sides alternate picking casualties, starting with the bombing side (in this case, the Japanese). If the Japanese want, they can spend surprise later to pick a target when it would normally be the US' turn to do so. This is usually done to sink valuable targets like CVs or sealift.

Since we're just talking subs, the Japanese probably won't bother.

[composer99]

And here is the Japanese allocation of surprise points. If all goes well they will sink two US sub units and damage one.

[composer99]

The Japanese end up sinking one sub in the 3 box (although it takes two hits to get the job done) and one in the 1 box.

[composer99]

At the end of the round, both sides have the option of staying at sea.

The US will elect to stay at sea to get another shot at sinking the convoys (although it may decline to commit its subs, ending the combat by default).

The Japanese pretty much need to stay at sea to keep their sea lines of supply open.

[composer99]

Because the US has the advantage unless the Japanese roll a '1', it will commit its subs again