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

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]21th April -45[/font]
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Some good and some bad...

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Okinawa
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Erik strikes back with a fury over Amami Oshima. This is the first of six or seven sweeps.

Morning Air attack on Amami Oshima , at 98,64

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 23
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 32
Ki-84r Frank x 49

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 91
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 37
P-47N Thunderbolt x 61
F4U-1A Corsair x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IV Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire VIII: 2 destroyed

There sweeps by Ki83s, Sams and multiple Frank sweeps. But our CAP fights back furiously and shoot down 3 enemy planes for each own. The allied squadrons are pretty fatigued by now but moral is still high so I kept them in place. I doubt Erik will try again.

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China
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We continue to hit at whatever troops we can find in the open. The 17th ID is completely mauled today taking over 2000 casualties. We also start hitting bases further in the rear that are in clear hexes.

Still no intervention from Japanese fighters. Wonder if supply is so bad Erik can´t afford to keep them flying? Even the fighters at Canton/HK has disappeared.

The main army will reach Wuchow shortly. Not entirely sure what I will do with it yet but we will certainly split up in two or three smaller armies.

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Strat bombing
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A very dark day. Erik has NFs up over all targets and I pay a heavy price. I lose 15 B29 for a single hit on a Grace factory causing 2 points of damage.

Bad, bad day to be a B29. [:(]

[Lokasenna]

From Okinawa, you can even use 2E's on strat bombing! I mean yeah, they carry far fewer bombs, but the gun values on some of the B-25 models... Do you think they'd shoot down any night fighters? Heh.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

From Okinawa, you can even use 2E's on strat bombing! I mean yeah, they carry far fewer bombs, but the gun values on some of the B-25 models... Do you think they'd shoot down any night fighters? Heh.

Haha, You are evil!

[jeffk3510]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

Late ware Allied bomber pools make me nervous in 42 with some of my recent losses...[X(]

You have to watch them very carefully. Admittedly I have been using my 4Es almost daily for 3 years. But never careless and never outside fighter range.

Pilots are almost as problematic. I started using fighters to train GRND way too late. So now I have 2000 Fighter pilots and 20 bomber pilots in the pools... [:(]

I start training as much as I can day one.. it's a pain in the ass, but should pay off in late war...very tedious, but we'll see.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]22nd-23rd April -45[/font]
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Not much happening.

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Okinawa
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As expected no more Sweeps are flown by Erik. I now have BFs and adequate airfirelds on all islands. Next turn we will move in with force. In anticipation of this 800 Fighters have gathered at Manila. I already have 700 fighters in the Okinawa chain. I´ll try some offensive action here tomorrow rotating squadrons in and out from Manila. First 100 4Es have landed on Naha.

Erik usual relies on "supportive CAP" where he sets his CAP squadrons on a few hexes of range. This makes CAP overlap each other. This I intend to exploit by sweeping the fringes of the CAP where its at its weakest and have no radar.

One of Erik "E" TFs whack a sub of mine. These TFs are still impervious to air attack. Not sure why but Erik has shifted KB two hexes to the west and its now just outside Saisho To.

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China
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We get some good hit in on the 131st ID exposed in the open. This ID came up from the south. It looks like Erik is finally scrambling to get a MLR in place anchored at Kukong. I have no wish to become bogged down here and I´m working on getting the CMA out of Kukong to continue the race East. The main army reached Wuchow last turn and I´ll send a big portion of it to Kukong to blast the defenders there.

We found 50 Fighters stationed around Changsha and the RAF did short work of them shooting down 26 Franks for 10 own losses.

I´m actually really enjoying the war in China right now. Its has a little of everything and the vast spaces mean superstacks are ineffectual and I have lots of room to maneuver. Erik finally seems to have realized this too and his superstacks have thinned out and I now see the beginnings of a true MLR instead of the "Festungs" encountered earlier. A lot more fun. [:)]

I attached a screen of the situation. I´m going to try something new here tomorrow that I hope will rip the newly formed MRL.

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DEI
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We reached and secured the base just North of Kuala Lumpur on the 22nd. We made short work of the defenders.

Ground combat at Temuloh (50,78)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13084 troops, 252 guns, 141 vehicles, Assault Value = 467

Defending force 4981 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 163

Allied adjusted assault: 231

Japanese adjusted defense: 58

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Temuloh !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1654 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 23 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (4 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
20th Indian Division
X' Force
XXXIII Indian Corps

Defending units:
8th Ind.Infantry Brigade
86th JAAF AF Bn

At Palembang we continue to slowly ware down the defenders. Forts are down to 5 now but the troops need to rest for a couple of days.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Okinawa[/font]
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Here is how it looks. The situation is in a gridlock right now. Some sweeps back and forth and forays by smaller shipping. Eventually I will have to try and deal with this. It will probably cost me dearly but I don´t need to win. I only need a draw...

I´ll probably try with SCTFs and subs. With the slow BBs now in the area the Fast BBs are free to do what they are designed to do...sink other BBs.

I havn´t fine tuned the plan yet but I´ll probably send in a bunch of Fletcher TFs followed by the Fast BBs. I´m reluctant to send in CAs/CLs as they will likely get chewed up by the Japanese BBs. Fletchers on the other hand are nimble and should dodge most of the heavy caliber BB shells. CL/CAs on the other hand are vulnerable. What do you guys think? My experience in this area is very limited. When I have put up even the best allied CAs against Japanese BBs I have lost every time despite optimal allied conditions (low moon night engagement).

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

From Okinawa, you can even use 2E's on strat bombing! I mean yeah, they carry far fewer bombs, but the gun values on some of the B-25 models... Do you think they'd shoot down any night fighters? Heh.

Haha, You are evil!

Does that mean you'll try it?!

[jeffk3510]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

[font="Verdana"]Okinawa[/font]
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Here is how it looks. The situation is in a gridlock right now. Some sweeps back and forth and forays by smaller shipping. Eventually I will have to try and deal with this. It will probably cost me dearly but I don´t need to win. I only need a draw...

I´ll probably try with SCTFs and subs. With the slow BBs now in the area the Fast BBs are free to do what they are designed to do...sink other BBs.

I havn´t fine tuned the plan yet but I´ll probably send in a bunch of Fletcher TFs followed by the Fast BBs. I´m reluctant to send in CAs/CLs as they will likely get chewed up by the Japanese BBs. Fletchers on the other hand are nimble and should dodge most of the heavy caliber BB shells. CL/CAs on the other hand are vulnerable. What do you guys think? My experience in this area is very limited. When I have put up even the best allied CAs against Japanese BBs I have lost every time despite optimal allied conditions (low moon night engagement).

I don't have experience this late in the game, but it seems folks have very good success with Fletchers against just about anything...

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
Does that mean you'll try it?!

I don´t think so. Its a very nice idea but it would piss Erik off something fierce! He hates how the forward facing guns on the attack planes are used in defensive fire calculations and often fume about it. No need to piss him off more then usual! [:D]

[ny59giants]

I'm just getting the B-25Hs to produce. Got to love that 75mm gun up front. I would use the Attack Bombers anyway you can and let him figure out a counter to it. Japan gets too much help from some of us Allied players and I would use those B-25s to cause chaos where ever possible.

Fletchers - Just LOVE those DDs. [&o] [&o] Able to do 38 knots and have armor to give them some protection. Put them in SC TF with or without warships and leave the older DDs with the CVs.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]24th April -45[/font]
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The usual good and bad. Today the bad outweighed the good...

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Okinawa
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We finally manage to connect with one of the pesky "E" TFs.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Tokara Retto at 99,62, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
E No.28, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
E No.35, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
E No.42, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
E No.54, Shell hits 12, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL St. Louis
CL Phoenix
CL Nashville
CL Honolulu, Shell hits 1
DD Hugh W. Hadley
DD Wallace Lind
DD Massey
DD Putnam
DD Waldron
DD Fletcher
DD Bell
DD Bennion

The sweeps go in as intended with very good result. Eriks CAP is down at 20k and pays the price for it.

Morning Air attack on Koshiki-jima Retto , at 101,60

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 36,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 19
J2M3 Jack x 1
J2M5 Jack x 3
N1K2-J George x 7
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 3
Ki-83 x 3
Ki-84a Frank x 3
Ki-84r Frank x 18
Ki-100-I Tony x 9
Ki-102b Randy x 3

Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 3 destroyed
J2M3 Jack: 1 destroyed
J2M5 Jack: 2 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 3 destroyed
Ki-83: 1 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 3 destroyed
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed

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Morning Air attack on Koshiki-jima Retto , at 101,60

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 6
N1K2-J George x 2
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 2
Ki-83 x 2
Ki-84a Frank x 1
Ki-84r Frank x 9
Ki-100-I Tony x 4
Ki-102b Randy x 1

Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IV Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-83: 1 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 5 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47N Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed

The rest of the sweeps hit thin air after that. I lose 6 P47s for almost 60 Japanese fighters. Sadly I lose 2 double aces in the fighting.

KB retires to its usual position 1 hex west of Thushima.

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China
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Here for the bad part. I tried to drop 44th Parachute division behind the lines in China. The base had only 1/3rd of a RGC(?) division in place and the 4Es have hit the troops from time to time. First of all the 4Es set to strike the troops didn´t fly. Second of all a BDE moved into the base the same turn. This turned the drop into a fiasco. I´m not sure why I got such an appalling adjusted AV though?

Ground combat at Kanhsien (81,57)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 7259 troops, 121 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 298

Defending force 9952 troops, 95 guns, 60 vehicles, Assault Value = 274

Allied adjusted assault: 0 [X(]

Japanese adjusted defense: 250

Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2861 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 339 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 58 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 48 (5 destroyed, 43 disabled)

Assaulting units:
44th Parachute Div /1

Defending units:
67th Ind.Infantry Battalion
69th Infantry Brigade
14th RGC Temp./A Division
2nd JAAF Base Force
35th JAAF AF Bn

The paras have 96 disruption and only 7 AV with over 200 disabled squads. Rescue is at best 4 days out. Most likely they will be wiped out before I can save them. If the 4Es fly tomorrow they might have a chance depending on how well they can recover. Grrr! [:@]

The recce force opened the hexside for the CMA to move forward again. I´ll leave the 2 motorized divisions to lock down Kukong while the armor races towards the paras. The main army is still some 12-15 days away but once they arrive the artillery and combat engineers should make short work of the defenders. I´ll send about 4000 AV towards Kukong with most of the support troops. With Kukong in allied hands Eriks position becomes impossible. I´ll post a map of this and explain the situation during the day.

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Strat bombing
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The first B24 night strikes go in over the HI. Only a small number and no hits but its still an important event. With the lower SR compared to the B29s and rotating squadrons we should be able to strike every night from now on! [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]China[/font]
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Here is the promised screen. As mentioned I will send most of the main army to secure Kukong. With trice the AV and a huge amount of arty and combat engineers it will be quick work. With Kukong in allied hands Eriks situation in China becomes even more a nightmare. Using the gray roads I can move very quickly both towards Changsha and Shanghai.

Going by recon its just empty space with smaller units here and there east of Kukong. I won´t say its a complete collapse just yet as Erik may still pull something off. But my gut tells me Erik lost China when he failed to stop the advance to Wuchow. He has 200.000 men at Canton/HK doing absolutely nothing. Had he used some of them to set up a MLR west of Wuchow things might have looked very differently. He might have been fearful of a landing around HK. Or he is still stuck in the Superstack mentality. Will be very interesting to read his POV. [:)]

That being said I know just how frustrating and futile trying to do something without supply in China is...might be that there isn´t something Erik can do.

[Lokasenna]

My guess on the adjusted AV 0 for the drop is that you got bad rolls for disruption and fatigue. How much supply is there? I wouldn't be surprised if your supply was low also, even if you didn't have the "supply (-)" text.

[EHansen]

A problem I see with the para drop is that the whole unit did not drop ( 44th Parachute Div /1 ) and probably you got a really bad leader.

[JocMeister]

Supply might be it together with some horrendous roll. Unit had 0 supply after the drop. Not sure about leaders. The one in the unit after the drop had a 65 land reading.

I used 850 C-46s and still couldn´t lift the entire unit in one go. [X(]

[Lokasenna]

Inspiration is actually the attribute that affects adjusted AV, per Grafin Zeppelin's post a while back (at least I think it was her...)

I bet it's that you had no supply, combined with the disruption and such. In my experience, paradrops frequently end up with little to no supply due to the troops being transported first. I'm unsure of how to plan for this, as I don't think you can set up a separate supply transport to go at the same time unless you already have a unit in the hex?

[JocMeister]

Inspiration wasn´t stellar but not abysmal (48). One idea would perhaps be to split the ID and then have an unproportional number of transport for one part which should leave some room for those to lift supply. But that would lose the "divisional bonus".

[FeurerKrieg]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Inspiration is actually the attribute that affects adjusted AV, per Grafin Zeppelin's post a while back (at least I think it was her...)

I bet it's that you had no supply, combined with the disruption and such. In my experience, paradrops frequently end up with little to no supply due to the troops being transported first. I'm unsure of how to plan for this, as I don't think you can set up a separate supply transport to go at the same time unless you already have a unit in the hex?

I could just be dreaming, but I thought that I had put an airgroup (or two) on supply along with the initial drop and it did end up dropping supply even though the LCU wasn't fully dropped. Maybe it matters what order the air units are processed. If the LCU airgroups have a lower (or higher?) ID than the supply airgroups maybe it will work.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Inspiration is actually the attribute that affects adjusted AV, per Grafin Zeppelin's post a while back (at least I think it was her...)

I bet it's that you had no supply, combined with the disruption and such. In my experience, paradrops frequently end up with little to no supply due to the troops being transported first. I'm unsure of how to plan for this, as I don't think you can set up a separate supply transport to go at the same time unless you already have a unit in the hex?

I could just be dreaming, but I thought that I had put an airgroup (or two) on supply along with the initial drop and it did end up dropping supply even though the LCU wasn't fully dropped. Maybe it matters what order the air units are processed. If the LCU airgroups have a lower (or higher?) ID than the supply airgroups maybe it will work.

Hmm, I´m not sure. When you change it to supply it resets the destination and I doubt there is some hidden mechanism that automatically use squadrons set to supplydrop without a target to drop extra supply for paradrops in the vicinity. But then again I have heard stranger things in AE! [:D]

[FeurerKrieg]

Ah, if it won't even let you do it, I'm sure I'm just remembering incorrectly.