Guadalcanal AAR – A Beginner's Foray into MWiF

[markb50k]

Good stuff. Thanks

[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1942. Allied Impulse 4.

MWIF is a great teacher of the rules and the game! I’ve “discovered” the rule that won’t allow naval units to move from sea area to sea area without first docking in a port. And, I’ve discovered that since I used MacArthur and Nimitz to reorganize several of the USN units that raided the China Sea last impulse that these two HQ units are stuck in Pearl. And since they can’t move, I can’t bring any TRS to dock there. So the raid, though successful, has limited my moves and options in these later impulses. I’m sure that I’m still getting a lot of these rules wrong; but MWIF will patiently; but sternly keep me on track.

The US chooses a naval option and the CW chooses a combined. The USN moves to reinforce Dutch Harbor with the marines and two battleships (21.jpg) and dock the VII mot corps in San Francisco (22.jpg).

The main focus this impulse was on the destruction of the 2 lone TRS in the Central Pacific. The USN moves a task force consisting of 3 large carriers, 4 cruisers and 2 subs to deal with them (23.jpg). The cruiser Chicago takes the lead on search (i.e., is disorganized) and is successful in finding the Japanese. The Japanese search isn’t and so they are surprised by the US. The US forces a surface combat and ups the odds on the CRT so that the destruction of both TRS is the expected result (24.jpg). But alas, fate has a different expectation and produces a result that destroys only 1 of the 2 TRS but does damage the second one.

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1942. Japanese Impulse 5.

Japan chooses a naval option. I discovered that the naval forces I moved to Truk are disorganized, so they aren’t going anywhere this turn unless I can get a HQ unit there to reorganize them. And I really haven’t been focused on getting those units to where they’re needed most. More valuable teaching moments by MWIF, I’m afraid. It looks like this turn may end without any opportunity of any great clash between the USN and IJN. Though, there’s still potential for something in the Bay of Bengal. The only thing of worth noting this impulse was that the Japanese split the 20 point convoy in the Philippines in half and set 10 points to the China Sea and the other 10 points to the South China Sea. The victory conditions give the allied player 1 point for each convoy point less than 5 in both areas.

Well, there were two other things the Japanese decided to do this impulse. The first was to load the Yamato HQ onto a TRS moved from the home islands to the Bay of Bengal (25.jpg). Though unintentional this could serve as additional bait for the CW to move their fleet out of Calcutta and into an engagement where the Japanese might be able to get 1 or 2 of their carriers.

The second was that the Japanese moved their submarines (I-boats) to the Central Pacific in the hopes of picking off a US carrier. Well, that was a disaster for the I-boats (26.jpg). The Japanese search failed; but the US didn’t. The US in surprising the I-boats choose a naval air combat and to increase their naval combat column x3. 3 of the 4 Japanese I-boats were destroyed and the 4th was sent packing back to Truk.

MWiF (WiF) has so many complexities and subtleties! I have to say that I’m having a blast playing it, even though I’m playing it poorly. The only upside is that the Japanese and Allied players are both equally inexperienced.

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1942. Allied Impulse 6.

In a daring naval move the RN Pacific fleet is given the order to sortie out of port (Calcutta) and attack Japanese convoys in the South China Sea. This order spawned from a scathing communication from PM Churchill to RN commander Pacific Fleet. In no uncertain terms PM Churchill made it clear that that Britannica has ruled the seas since the 17th century and that cowering in port was not in that tradition.

The CW chooses a combined option and moves all combat ships based in Calcutta into the Bay of Bengal. The Japanese search, lead by the heavy cruise Tone, which had only a 30% chance of success, fails and the CW task force continues on to the South China Sea.

Round 1 in the South China Sea sees the CW finding and surprising the Japanese (i.e., the Japanese search fails). The CW forces a surface combat and destroys 3 convoy factors and forces 2 more to abort (27.jpg). So round 1 clearly goes to the CW. Both the CW and Japanese stay for round 2.

Round 2 sees the Japanese finding the CW and the CW failing to find the Japanese. The Japanese get to choose the combat type and chooses an air naval battle. All three CW CV air wings fly as fighters and pretty much achieve a draw against in the air to air phase of this round (28.jpg). Only 1 Japanese bomber gets through, which has its bombs reduced by 1 due to AA, and attacks the Illustrious forcing the carrier to abort (29.jpg). The CW decides to stay and continue fighting; but the Japanese abort (withdraw). This gives total control of the South China Sea to the CW (30.jpg) and hands the allies 5 victory points due to the complete absence of any Japanese convoy points in the area.

The composition of the repair and destroyed pools (31.jpg) indicate that the allies are overall doing slightly better than the Japanese; especially considering that the Nevada and Tennessee are in the repair pool due to the surprise attack against Pearl Harbor, which happened before this scenario started!

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

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[rkr1958]

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[WIF_Killzone]

looks like you having fun. Good AAR. Ballsy action sailing into the teeth of Jap air and concentrating on convoys. You may need to protect them better by rotating some cruisers with them, 1 cruiser in the zero, one in the one (to later move into the zero at rtb), and one in the 3 or 4 box. that will deter the allies from fn with them in the future especially with air power as well.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

looks like you having fun. Good AAR. Ballsy action sailing into the teeth of Jap air and concentrating on convoys. You may need to protect them better by rotating some cruisers with them, 1 cruiser in the zero, one in the one (to later move into the zero at rtb), and one in the 3 or 4 box. that will deter the allies from fn with them in the future especially with air power as well.

Thanks. I will definitely follow that advice. I suspect that if I knew what I was doing I wouldn't be so aggressive. I'm by nature a conservative and cautious player. Definitely more like a Montgomery than Patton.

I'm having a blast playing MWiF and this scenario. I've only played this scenario and Barbarossa. These two scenarios alone are worth the price of the game. I can't image what fun I have in store when I play the full War in Europe or full War in the Pacific, much less the full WW2 combined, scenarios. I can tell that MWiF will be the game that keeps on giving for many years to come.

[WIF_Killzone]

Glad your enjoying the game, it is pretty awesome. Naval play is challenging, knowing when to commit... losses can be game changing and unpredictable, one minute you indestructible and then, what happened to my carriers. Its the most intense part of the game I think. Safety first.

Ya, there is a lot of game for 99 bucks, takes a while to master, Enjoy!

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

Glad your enjoying the game, it is pretty awesome. Naval play is challenging, knowing when to commit... losses can be game changing and unpredictable, one minute you indestructible and then, what happened to my carriers. Its the most intense part of the game I think. Safety first.

Ya, there is a lot of game for 99 bucks, takes a while to master, Enjoy!

Safety first? Forget it. Once you are committed and the die roll is against you, you lose. Period. You can't do anything about it.

Before and after this, you can influence things. But after the die rolls, you are either toast or not.

Now, that's historically right, since naval battles were usually won by the luckier admiral...

Why did Midway end up in a disaster for the Japanese? Because they were caught in the unluckiest moment you can have as an admiral. With your planes being re-armed and refueled on deck, you are toast. Imagine what would have happened if the Japanese did find the US carriers in the same way. The world could have been different (or the war could have taken an extra year to end...). Luck, that's it and that's all there is about naval combat itself.

So, I consider myself to be a lousy admiral. That's it.

[WIF_Killzone]

Luck, yes, but only once you are committed as you say. The safety part (and the good admiral part) is knowing when to commit. Can my enemy counter attack or is he totally committed elsewhere, have I stacked the odds in my favor, am I in a higher sea box, Are his forces split between sea boxes etc.

To me when I think of Midway, in game terms, I think of surprise, the Americans had that. I also think the Japanese as having their forces split between sea boxes (too complex a plan), the landing force in a one box, bb's in two box, and carriers in 3 box for example. The americans...surprise, we are in the four box and rolled a 1...you rolled an 8, lets pick the 3 box to attack first and use our surprise multipliers, and pick on the carriers first, your AA is crap because you have the carriers with just a few cruisers, the majority of your AA in not even in the battle. You get the picture, so yes, its both, but you need to stack the deck in your favor first. What if the japs had all been in the four box, different outcome, and the second round of battle could have swung differently for sure, as luck would have it As it was the bb's were never engaged, and aborted after the carriers were decimated first.

[WIF_Killzone]

oh and talking complex, what the hell was the diversionary attack in the Aleutians, would have been nice to have couple of extra carriers performing searches, perhaps a screening force in the 4 box Bad plan, big fist, not.

[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1942. Japanese Impulse 7.

The Japanese really only have one last move they can make this turn and that’s to port attack the UK TRS and convoy left behind in Calcutta (32.jpg) by the CW. Loss of control of the South China Sea, while not of the magnitude of the loss suffered by the Japanese at Battle of Midway (historically), is still a humiliating defeat and will cost the Japanese 5 VPs. The Japanese hope to regain some of this loss honor by attacking, and hopefully destroying the CW TRS. Better than half of the 4 CVL air groups get through the allied AA fire but were only manage to damage and disorganize the the TRS (33.jpg). Not exactly the result the IJN was hoping for.

The Yamato HQ is only able to make it Singapore, instead of Truk, because of the presence of the CW naval task force boldly patrolling the South China Sea (34.jpg).

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[rkr1958]

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