The river assault against Kienko went fantastic. No negative supply modifier was applied. I failed to notice if it looked like the HQ bonus was applied or not. I'll look more closely at the combat report later. Of the five defending Chinese units one was destroyed and the remainder retreated west. Another 300 Chinese infantry squads alone were destroyed while Japanese losses were only 227 casualties. These particular Chinese troops have been defeated three times now and their combat effectiveness is negligible.
A different story in the rough terrain southwest of Chungking. Two and 1/3 Japanese divisions attacked five Chinese Corps and were bloodied. Raw Chinese AV was 1288 and was only adjusted down to 850 AV after the modifiers. Japanese disablements were high, over 250 squads. I'll have to recover while sending up reinforcements including artillery.
Another deliberate attack against the encircled Chinese force at position 22 (see previous map) destroyed one HQ unit. The addition of an armoured regiment seems to have added the punch needed to finally reduce this enemy position. Another armoured regiment is on the way to reinforce further.
Sub Ops:
Well, this sucks. E Hato was torpedoed and sunk near Nauru Island. That's the third dedicated ASW ship lost in as many days. Can't results in this game be anything other than extremes? First Japanese naval ASW is overpowered in stock, now it's just plain non-existent.
I might have heard a submarine sinking sound but had my volume too low to verify. If so, that means my air ASW might have bagged a submarine. I will have to rely on air to counter the enemy submarines since the navy has been completely neutered. I will be moving my best anti-submarine bomber units around the map to counter enemy submarine concentrations.
Production:
The A6M3a enters production. I will convert an existing A6M3 factory to A6M3a production. I'd like to keep all the R&D factories. I have a choice of switching the existing A6M2 factory to the A6M3a or one of my Nick factories. I see no point in keeping the A6M2 factory going even though it upgrades to the Sen Baku later. Is this aircraft even worth producing? The current size is 100(0) and will change to 0(70) if I convert it. So 70k supply will be wasted if I make this change. I'm kicking myself for once again expanding the A6M2 factory too much, but I anticipated more combat. At least I didn't over expand it like I did in my first AAR to the tune of 280!
The D4Y1 Judy and Ki-43-IIb Oscar will enter production starting in December as will the Kawasaki 60 engine. So the option to produce some Tony's will be available if I choose to build any of the early models.
Thoughts:
With Kienko captured, it's time to turn my attention to Chengtu. There were last reported 30 enemy units there, but will they stay is the question. I fear they will run for the hills and I may be too late to cut them off. Jocke isn't one to stay in bases. A few more easy battles against Chinese forces in the Central Plains, but then it's going to be a grind after that. I'm happy with my position, but wish I'd moved troops from Burma to assault Paoshan months ago. Fun times.
[:D]
