Rumble in the Southwest witpqs-A vs Andav-J 2011-11-29 to 2017-02-08

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: princep01

The Guam horde looks ready. Guam should be yours on the morrow.

I have another question for you. In a recent CV battle, I lost two US CVs. A few of their AC managed to reach the surviving CVs safely. In all, I guess the 2 surviving CVs (victors) took on fragments of 8 squadrons with about 20 AC. The victorious CVs put into a large port following the battle. My question is : What does one do with the surviving squadrons from the lost CVs? I guess I could fill them out with replacement pilots and AC and use them from land bases, but I am more inclined to simply disband them if I can and allow the 20 surviving ACs to go into the pools. What have you done in this circumstance (if you ever faced it)?

Oh, I've faced it!!

If they are fragments then you can not add planes to them. You can use them until they have zero planes in them if you need to, which sometimes one does. Eventually you will want to disband them (to the pools as you say) so that you can buy back those air units, which is definitely a good idea.

[princep01]

Nice. Guam and Rota down. Soon enough, the rest of the Marianna Islands, and then.........the drone of B-29s.

Admiral Wa's head may be on a stick by the end of 44. Figuratively speaking, of course.

[witpqs]

1943 December 19

The Empire captured:
Urumchi

The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious operations at:


There were Allied amphibious operations at:


Our subs got a tanker.

Urumchi.

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Ground combat at Urumchi (79,11)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 9748 troops, 78 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 280

Defending force 2621 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 57

Japanese adjusted assault: 316

Allied adjusted defense: 99

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

Japanese forces CAPTURE Urumchi !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
126 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Units pursuing 1

Allied ground losses:
1018 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
104th/A Division
8th Mongol Cavalry Division
31st Tankette Co
110th/A Division
NCPC Army

Defending units:
259th Brigade
21st Chinese Base Force


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An Imperial armoured unit is pursuing the defenders toward Poland.

BB Valiant has arrived at Bombay and will go directly into the shipyard for her December '43 upgrade.

Allied bombardments in the Pacific.

Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Peleliu
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Yap
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam

Rota has maximized at port size 3. Guam is now down to 61,701 stacking on 35,000 capacity. The troops still need significant rest. It looks like there are no more mine fields at Guam, but the sweepers will continue looking (two fields were cleared today). The engineers with the troops at Guam - no dedicated units but they add up with so many divisions - repaired almost nothing today, proving the point that disruption does impact engineers' functioning. The artillery units have been set to bombard while the other units recover.

Lexington and Saratoga are heading back to Pearl Harbor to be there in time for their Jan '44 upgrades. Lexington will also finally get to repair battle damage to some 5 inch mounts and her surface search radar.

Here is Guam.

[cohimbra]

Hi, can you explain what are the 9 Shore Party (Naval Support) in the Guam screen? I've never seen this. Thanks.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: cohimbra

Hi, can you explain what are the 9 Shore Party (Naval Support) in the Guam screen? I've never seen this. Thanks.

I believe they are from the USMC Pioneer Bn there. Go to the Babes web site or various threads and you will see that they added more engineer types to get closer to historical capabilities. Essentially (as I remember it) Shore Party ability helps to speed loading and unloading but does not provide the other benefits that full-blown Naval Support would provide (such as ship repair).

[obvert]

An Imperial armoured unit is pursuing the defenders toward Poland.

[:D]

Why not let those guys just wander the Taklimakan and starve in peace!

[witpqs]

1943 December 20

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Babo

There were Imperial amphibious operations at:


There were Allied amphibious operations at:


Our subs got two xAK and an xAKL.

The tankettes attacked our brave brigades north of Urumchi but our valiant forces continue their journey to eastern Europe. Chungking was especially hard hit from the air today. 4,211 AV at Chungking.

Big air battles over Rangoon. Yesterday scouting showed no enemy aircraft present. Today are seen 100 - after the losses shown below! (A few of those Franks were lost over Guam, flying LRCAP from Pagan. They inflicted no casualties there.)

SigInt seems to indicate that the Japanese 4th Division is aboard ships heading for Tavoy. Valiant will not upgrade at Bombay so off to Cape Town. I had hoped to keep Cape Town working only on POW.

Allied bombardments in the Pacific.

Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding Peleliu
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Yap
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian

In addition to the Franks flying LRCAP over Guam (mentioned above), there was this cheeky opposition to our naval bombardments!

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Night Air attack on TF, near Tinian at 108,94

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
BB New Mexico

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 11000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb



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Night fighters being a luxury that air base space will not allow at the moment, Pagan will be bombarded.

Courtesy of the new and improved recon artillery shells, here is what is left of the Emperor's forces on Guam.

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Ground combat at Guam (106,95)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 768 troops, 87 guns, 65 vehicles, Assault Value = 1390

Defending force 15868 troops, 107 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 59

Japanese ground losses:
94 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st (Spec) Cavalry Division
7th Infantry Division
762nd Tank Battalion
24th Infantry Division
763rd Tank Battalion
33rd Infantry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
35th Port Maint Engineer Battalion
198th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Pioneer Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
249th Field Artillery Battalion
XI US Corps
33rd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
12th Division
15th Base Force
13th Air Flotilla
19th Army
25th Special Base Force


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Recon says 24,560 Imperial troops remaining on the island, a dose of always wonderful FOW. Our troops need more time before a general attack. No point in smashing the divisions as that will lose us more time in the long run.

Here are today's air losses.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: obvert

An Imperial armoured unit is pursuing the defenders toward Poland.

[:D]

Why not let those guys just wander the Taklimakan and starve in peace!

I suppose they could be like that group that escaped and walked from Siberia to India! [X(]

[Chickenboy]

Hello my Argletonian colleague,

Forgive me for not poking in here more often-I should have kept up with this better. I am interested in reading up on your assault and capture of Truk-can you please point me to the game date where that occured? I'd like to start there...

Cheers!

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Hello my Argletonian colleague,

Forgive me for not poking in here more often-I should have kept up with this better. I am interested in reading up on your assault and capture of Truk-can you please point me to the game date where that occured? I'd like to start there...

Cheers!

Had to double check, just in case I remembered the date wrong. August 1st, 1943. I found that I had forgotten to mark it as an Allied amphib op that turn, so I just edited the entry!

Capture date: September 28th, 1943. The lessons learned from Truk vis a vis dealing with the stacking limits played a significant role in the conduct of the Guam ground operations.

[witpqs]

Here are some additional tips on invading Truk atoll:

http://safeshare.tv/w/GnFzeOCVZF

[:D]

[JocMeister]

Learning by doing. Best way to do it IMO. [:)]

[princep01]

That was quite a bashing the Thunderbolts and Spitfires laid on the IJA air force. Admiral Wa was reputed to wail, "OUCH"!!

Will you be landing in the Home Islands while the vast bulk of the IJ Army wiles away the days in the jungles of Burma and the mountains of China? I forget, do you have B-29s yet or are they a new toy to behold at a later date?

[witpqs]

Oh, B-29s. In the spring of '44 a bunch come in - for Asia. The Pacific doesn't get them until the fall of '44 IIRC. [:(]

But I figure the Marianas are easier to take now than if he kept building forts and then swapped out the engineers for combat troops. I have my eye on Iwo Jima and Daito Shoto. Plus of course is the salient toward the Philippines and northern DEI.

[princep01]

Oh yes, grabbing the Marianna Islands now was most wise. Iwo and the northern Philippines might make getting the DEI oil to the HI very difficult. Squeeze them, admiral, squeeze them into a tiny little box and toss Wa's tribe into the bug zapper. Beware though the Ides of March, aka the KB. I am surprised Wa hasn't unleashed it already. Relatively speaking, you will only get stronger. Really good job on Guam/Rota.

[witpqs]

The KB! Not a whiff of them since their last foray into the Indian Ocean. I figure the Philippines are a trigger for their intervention. Not sure about Iwo Jima.

[witpqs]

1943 December 21

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious operations at:


There were Allied amphibious operations at:


Our subs got a tanker, amid many attacks across the seas.

The Imperials have shown up at Tsuyung again, one unit scouting 4,500 troops. They will be attacked at once, so I hope the scouting is accurate. 4,226 AV at Chungking. The unit SW of Kunming received intense focus from Imperial air forces today and suffered accordingly.

An incursion by the IJN off of Ramree Island, but the RN was on guard.

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Oyodo, Shell hits 3
DD Shimakaze, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Niizuki

Allied Ships
CL Kenya, Shell hits 6, on fire
CL Newcastle
DD Redoubt
DD Relentless

Poor visibility due to Rain with 28% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Rain and 28% moonlight: 2,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 18,000 yards...
Range closes to 12,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 4,000 yards
Range closes to 2,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 2,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 2,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages CL Newcastle at 2,000 yards
CL Kenya engages CL Oyodo at 2,000 yards
DD Shimakaze sunk by DD Redoubt at 2,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages CL Newcastle at 2,000 yards
CL Kenya engages DD Niizuki at 2,000 yards
Range increases to 7,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages CL Newcastle at 7,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages CL Kenya at 7,000 yards
Task forces break off...


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Kenya has 9 sys and 5 major flotation damage. The attacking force was, I think, seen two turns ago, but vanished from search last turn. This turn, when they clearly must still be well within search range, they are again cloaked.

Allied bombardments in the Pacific.

Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding Peleliu
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding Yap
Allied Ships Bombarding Pagan
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding Pagan
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian

More LRCAP of Guam by Franks, and more nighttime torpedo attacks by Betties. Neither counted coup. The bombardments of Pagan tried to make tomorrow night better.

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Night Naval bombardment of Pagan at 110,89

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Cleveland
DD Sterett
DD Boyd
DD Charles Ausburne

Japanese ground losses:
133 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 20

SOC-1 Seagull acting as spotter for CL Cleveland
CL Cleveland firing at 15th Division
DD Sterett firing at 15th Division
DD Boyd firing at 15th Division
DD Charles Ausburne firing at Pagan


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Pagan at 110,89

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84a Frank: 3 damaged
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed on ground
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
CA Salt Lake City
CA Portland

Japanese ground losses:
95 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 15
Port hits 1

CA Salt Lake City firing at 15th Division
CA Portland firing at Pagan


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Meanwhile the troops at Guam are in good enough shape - one division still at 19% disruption - and they will attack tomorrow. Even if enemy forces are not completely wiped out we will still be able to pull off a couple of more divisions and begin landing the heavy engineering units.

Here is a look at the Intel screen. DAW keeps adding to his VP total by grinding away at Chinese ground forces, in addition to the resistance the Empire gives to our advances.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Just want to say "Thanks!" for this AAR!

I was looking for a "Babes-C stacking limits Beta" AAR and got hooked to yours - I like the style, your comments made me chuckle numerous times and I learned a thing or two about the game.

Actually I never found the time to follow any AAR - playing time is limited enough already - until two months ago when I finally became a modern man (Homo Sapiens Smartphonens).

Being old school, I made do with a classic cell phone until recently when it was time to renew the phone contract and the company offered me a smartphone for a symbolic sum - so I said why not.

After I figured out how to operate the damned thing, the best use I found for it is reading the forum when away from the computers and games during the hour-long bus/subway drive between one dark pit of hell and the other dark pit of hell (some people call them "family/home" and "work" [;)]).

Took me more than a month to catch up from page one to current on your AAR - and being a "witpqs AAR fanboy", I can't wait for the next update!

[witpqs]

Thanks! [:)]

Devious Admiral Wa has been pretty busy lately, but I figure a turn will likely arrive later today or tonight. Until then I have to be content with merely planning his destruction. And mapping out a route to Poland.

Even though I'm still learning the ins and outs of them, I see stacking limits as a 'must' for the dimension that they add to the game.

[witpqs]

1943 December 22

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious operations at:


There were Allied amphibious operations at:


Our subs got three xAK.

4,201 AV at Chungking. The pursuit in the north is ugly. The good news is that our forces punished an Imperial regiment at Tsuyung.

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Ground combat at 80,10 (near Urumchi)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8840 troops, 74 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 274

Defending force 2031 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 33

Japanese adjusted assault: 237

Allied adjusted defense: 5

Japanese assault odds: 47 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
838 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 27 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
104th/A Division
31st Tankette Co
110th/A Division
NCPC Army

Defending units:
259th Brigade
21st Chinese Base Force


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Ground combat at Tsuyung (68,46)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 28469 troops, 406 guns, 213 vehicles, Assault Value = 816

Defending force 3482 troops, 29 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Allied adjusted assault: 464

Japanese adjusted defense: 127

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1533 casualties reported
Squads: 32 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
207 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
7th Australian Division
27th Infantry Division
200th Chinese Division
NCAC
2nd Group Army
X' Force
22nd Artillery Regiment
Tenth USAAF
102nd RAF Base Force
16th Chinese Base Force

Defending units:
110th/C Division


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Some of our air groups re-targeted from the battle hex near Toungoo and the total unnecessary losses amounted to upward of a dozen airframes. Heads are gonna roll!

Two IJN cruisers are spotted 160nm east of Port Blair, but no data on what direction they are headed.

Allied bombardments in the Pacific.

Allied Ships Bombarding Saipan
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding Peleliu
Allied Ships Bombarding Pagan
Allied Ships Bombarding Yap
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Guam
Allied Ships Bombarding Tinian

The resisters at Guam hold on.

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Ground combat at Guam (106,95)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 48140 troops, 835 guns, 967 vehicles, Assault Value = 1431

Defending force 15771 troops, 104 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 57

Allied adjusted assault: 2944

Japanese adjusted defense: 103

Allied assault odds: 28 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1599 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 65 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 19 (5 destroyed, 14 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
240 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
763rd Tank Battalion
1st (Spec) Cavalry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
33rd Infantry Division
24th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
762nd Tank Battalion
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
249th Field Artillery Battalion
198th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Pioneer Battalion
XI US Corps
35th Port Maint Engineer Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
12th Division
19th Army
15th Base Force
13th Air Flotilla
25th Special Base Force


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The 1st (Spec) Cav Div, with 28% disruption, will stand down while the remaining units continue attacking tomorrow. After that, two divisions come out no matter what and engineers take their place on the well-trodden island.

A convoy is seen at Iwo Jima, so a 4x DD TF is sent on their way. And another.

Here is a look at that sighting near Port Blair. There are also two groups of destroyers in the Strait of Malacca moving northward.