Wrangling Loki - Mind_Messing (J) vs Lokasenna (A)

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I hate DEI campaigns and never wanted to use Darwin for that anyway. But northern Oz is a lot of VPs. He forced this campaign on me. I need the VPs, so we fight. Similar to the Aleutians. I will have them, he's fought hard there, losing most of the MKB over them, but if he'd left them alone I wouldn't have come close to the Kuriles for years.

Darwin has a value all of its own as a threat to the DEI. Darwin built up to it's maximum and some 4E's based from it would make me concerned. Even better, I'm sure that the Eastern DEI oil centers can be smashed by B-17s from Darwin.

I'd have to count to Soerbaja. Not sure. B-17s lose range with about every model upgrade. The longest legs are the pre-war Ds I think. The Fs are only 18 hexes I believe. There are a couple of dog & cat oil sources (Baola sp?), but nothing big unless Soerbaja is in range. And Soerbaja is going to be crawling with fighters.

It's Boela and the other base (Babo?) that I mean. They're easily in B-17 range. They might not be much, but the Empire is greedy for oil.

Lokasenna caught be out early in the war, and all I had to defend them was some Jake's on CAP

Which reminds me that I've neglected to get any sort of protection sorted out for them in the near future. They're a bit "off the beaten track", but I like the look of them to back up the Sorong complex.

[mind_messing]

May 17th to May 23rd, 1942

North Pacific

The Aleutians lie abandoned, bar a single sound detector set on Attu that can't be flown off and isn't worth risking an xAKL to go and get it.

The Kuriles, however, are robustly defended. There's no naval assets to speak of, bar the KB sitting in Yokohama, but there is plenty of both ground and air assets defending these islands.

The KB itself probably will remain in Yokohama for a while. The Shokaku and Zuikaku both upgrade in a week or so. However, the KB is fully operational once again, with the destroyer AA upgrades being completed.

Central Pacific

Much needed troops start arriving here for garrisons. The Mixed Brigade for Tabuiteau still hasn't left China, but a host of Naval Guards are set up on islands needing garrisons. We're also due some SNLF units as reinforcements, and they'll be put to use garrisoning here.

One of the China divisions trashed in the fighting at Chungking finally gets a destination: Guam. The 60th Division will head out from Hong Kong to the island to recover and take replacements. It's being deployed far behind the frontlines for various reasons. It's at less than half-strength, and at 55 EXP is hardly a crack division, so it's not going to be a good fighting formation any time soon.

South-West Pacific

The only activity here is the steady progress of expansion to bases.

Shortlands is now a level 4 airbase, and Milne Bay is not far off. We'll build the forts of these bases up for another four days before sending the engineers off elsewhere.

Manus, Torokina and Kavieng are all progressing nicely.

As with the Central Pacific, more troops here would be nice. At present, it's just the Guards Mixed Brigade at Rabual. There's a Mixed Brigade at one-third strength destined for Guadalcanal from China, but it's not reached the coast yet.

Austrailia

Good progress here since the fall of Darwin.

The ABDA troops in Katherine are surrounded on all sides bar one, with a hexside to the direct east being occupied by 3 Austrailian units. The first IJA attack against Katherine is a massive success, getting 1:1 odds (nearly 2:1) and dropping the forts down to 2 as well as inflicting a great deal of damage to the ABDA units for few Japanese casualties.

Ground combat at Katherine (76,128)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 53997 troops, 523 guns, 263 vehicles, Assault Value = 2322

Defending force 61982 troops, 847 guns, 719 vehicles, Assault Value = 1539

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 2375

Allied adjusted defense: 1304

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender:
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
593 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2336 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 295 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 55 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 64 disabled
Guns lost 150 (3 destroyed, 147 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Seeing as the ABDA troops can't be pocketed, we'll need to defeat them in several battles rather than simply surround them. This will prolong the timetable for Northern Austrailian operations, but not to a significant degree.

Darwin itself will soon be operational as an airbase close to the frontline, allowing more strikes against the British to be flown.

The only bad news is that an SNLF acting as a picket to the south-west of Darwin will be destroyed by an Austrailian brigade. The IJA regiment marching to save the IJN infantrymen won't reach the Yokosuka 4th SNLF in time.

Burma

Battleships will join in the bombardment of Akyab next turn as the IJA Arakan offensive picks up.

Some 1.1k AV is six miles from shock attacking into 3 British divisions. The Allies commit B-17s to bombing the troops on the 23rd for little effect.

The reinforcements from the Philippines start to pour in. The 21st Division has already off-loaded, but this unit has suffered badly from trying to break through the Bataan defences, and will garrison Rangoon until it has time to recover some strength. The 48th Division has yet to unload at Rangoon, and the convoy carrying the 16th Division is just passing through Singapore. Two additional divisions from Manchuria are marching to Burma through China. One is at Siagon and the other at Nanning. They'll be joined by a third at some point in the near future.

Aviation support and engineering units have also arrived, and are spreading out to develop the air defence network in Burma. The artillery that arrived from Bataan is already marching up to the frontlines to join in the offensive.

The Imperial Guards Division pushes the Chinese refugees into the jungle, where they're certain to escape to Burma. This leaves us a good Japanese division free in Burma, as well as a handfull of divided Thai divisions. With three more divisions heading to support the push on Akyab, the Imperial Guards will become the regional reserve until we find something for it to do.

At present, I'm considering sending the IGD and whatever combat troops are free to mount a limited push into China aimed at capturing Paoshan.

China

The hell that is Chungking grinds on.

This deliberate attack is much the same as those that went before: bloody.

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 221956 troops, 2459 guns, 1588 vehicles, Assault Value = 7075

Defending force 244422 troops, 1125 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6587

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 4178

Allied adjusted defense: 9071

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
38081 casualties reported
Squads: 211 destroyed, 3385 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 368 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 281 disabled
Guns lost 143 (13 destroyed, 130 disabled)
Vehicles lost 222 (23 destroyed, 199 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6982 casualties reported
Squads: 52 destroyed, 703 disabled
Non Combat: 45 destroyed, 334 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 29 disabled
Guns lost 71 (7 destroyed, 64 disabled)

How the Chinese keep getting a leaders bonus is beyond me. Despite several HQ's in the hex and picked commanders for everything at the divisional level and above, the Chinese seem to be outdoing me in leadership.

The forts, however, are getting low, and it looks like the Chinese are running out of supply.

We'll rest up, rotate the battered units and see what we can buy out, all the while we bombard the Chinese with everything from 75mm field guns to 30cm howitzers.

[center]
Another push to break into the city center of Chungking met with bloody losses. The fighting for control of Chungking has already cost upwards of 100,000 lives.[/center]

[mind_messing]

May 24th to May 28th, 1942

North Pacific

All quiet here. We're focusing on getting the forts up across all the islands.

I-boats spot an CVE's east of Dutch Harbour, but we're unsure as to how accurate that is, seeing as pilots love reporting TK's as CVE's. We'll see if we can confirm via torpedo attack.

The Yamato arrives, and will be based at Ominato. We've a naval HQ and the port nearly at size 7, so the monster battleship should be able to reload fairly close to the action. Once we get some destroyers to escort her, we'll have a strong surface combat group and plenty of LBA for it to operate under.

Central Pacific

Sub surge!

After months of fairly limited Allied sub operations, we get a half-dozen or so Allied subs pouring into the Marshalls. After the bungled Allied sub raid, we've got some good ASW assets in place, both in terms of ships and planes, and feel quite comfortable.

The last big Air HQ for the Marshalls is two or three days out, and once that arrives, we should be set in terms of aviation support.

Engineers are begining to move back to the second-line bases in this theater, mainly Kusaie and Ponape. I like the look of Ponape as it has a nice organic CD unit, and both Kusaie and Ponape give the Central Pacific defences some depth. I'm short on aviation support and garrison units for these bases, but there's some units in the reinforcement que that should fit nicely.

South-West Pacific

For the first time, recon spots Allied bombers on Luganville. I've been considering an air campaign against Luganville, but chances are between Allied flak and Allied engineers, I'll achive nothing, so I'll husband my strength

Other than that, no real change here.

Austrailia

The ABDA troops are running, and the IJA is doing it's utmost to cut them off. Every bomber that can fly is being rammed into Darwin in an effort to keep the Allied progress as slow as possible while the IJA race after the British. The hope is that we can catch them fairly close to Darwin, as the last thing we want is to be drawn into a battle in the vast depths of Austrailia.

Burma

Massive reinforcements arrive, and our bid for Akyab is looking good.

We cross the Kaladan, and our shock attack into two Indian divisions goes well. We're hampered by disruption, however, and we can't capitalize on our AV advantage in the hex. More Allied units are on the way from Cox's Bazaar, and we'll have our two crusier divisions bombard them.

We're getting ready to capitalize on our beachhead over the Kaladan with two divisions, plus armour and plenty of artillery moving up the road from Prome to Akyab. They'll take two weeks or so to arrive at the battlefield.

In northern Burma, we've plugged up the passes into China with a mixed bag of units. Some Thai's, some armour, a garrison unit and the Imperial Guards division will do it's best to prevent any Chinese escaping into Burma.

China

Our reinforcements for the Central Pacific are nearly at Hong Kong, and not a moment too soon.

The usual shuffle of battered and brusied units from Chungking continues, with the units fresh from R&R in Chengtu heading back to the meatgrinder. We're building Chengtu up to a level 8 or 9 airbase, and we've a host of aviation support moving into it. It should be operational as a big bomber base within a week or so.

[center]
Crude, but effective. Japanese troops crossing the Kaladan River in the face of opposition from Indian troops.[/center]

[mind_messing]

May 29th to June 2nd, 1942

We've fallen to the second page, can't have that!

North Pacific

Nothing brewing, bar ASW aircraft seeing if any Allied subs are in the offing.

I'm going to let the engineer units build forts until the end of the month, before they're moved to dig more airstrips on Hokkaido.

Central Pacific

The Allied sub-surge comes to nothing. No signs of any Allied forces on the fringes of air search, nor any Allied sub invasions. Nevertheless, we've still got more troops on the way here, with garrisons for Narru and Kusaie Islands already on the way.

South-West Pacific

Vanua Lava and Noumea (both Allied bases) expand their airbase to levels 1 and 7 respectively. Naval search hasn't spotted any significant movement of Allied shipping, but with the airbases being built up so dilligently, operations with the KB here are probably out of the picture, a bid for Ndeni is probably in the offing.

Austrailia

The chase of the ABDA troops continues. We might be able to catch two Austrailian brigades and a Motor Brigade north-east of Daly Waters. We've a division marching on Daly Waters itself while the rest of the IJA strength in Austrailia is racing down the trail towards Normanton - the only feasable escape route for the ABDA troops.

In the (unlikely) event that the Allies make a successful break for it, we'll chase for three or so hexes before giving up the chase and starting our withdrawal.

Burma

Troops to support the bid for Akyab are making their way up the trail at a decent pace. They should be more than enough to overwhelm the already outnumbered British and Indian units north of Akyab and isolate the base.

Naval bombardments of Akyab are continuing, and Rangoon's port is being built up to level 5 to better support naval operations as well as making the transport of fuel and oil out of Burma easier.

China

Maximum effort is being applied to the expansion of Chengtu airbase. I'm hoping for it to reach level 8 and enable me to base much of the Chinese Expeditionary Army's air power out of that base and allowing me to transfer the bulk of the aviation support units in China to areas in Java, Sumatra and the Philippines.

The buildup for further assaults on Chungking continues, with more supply en-route to China.

[mind_messing]

June 3rd to June 15th, 1942

North Pacific

The Yamato arrives on-station at Ominato along with four modern destroyers, forming the naval component of the 5th Fleet. She's got the Japanese version of Cochrane in command, and I expect great things of her.

For now, she's sitting in port at Ominato. The last thing I want is another fuel-hogging battleship, and having an submarine scratch her nice new paint would be an absolute shame.

Elsewhere, the engineers are still digging.

Central Pacific


Two convoys of American minesweeping vessels are spotted heading south-west from Pearl Harbour. It's DMS's, and no other major ship was spotted. These ships have two functions - offensive minesweeping or ASW. The latter is of little concern, the former more so, seeing as it would suggest offensive action by the Allies. Dodgy reporting from my sub-floatplane pilots is always, so we'll send what subs are nearby in the hope of a better look.

Taibuitea's garrison arrives from China. They're at about 50% strength, and will enjoy the sun and sea as they take replacements.

Garrison units are flown out to Chichi-jima and Haha-jima from the Home Islands. An infantry group for each should keep any deep raids away.

The strategic reserve for the Central Pacific theater arrives in Truk. It's a battered division from China that needs some rest and replacements. The term "division" is a bit grand, considering it is at best a reinforced infantry brigade with hardly any organic artillery. Still, it was cheap, and I'll supliment the artillery with some stuff arriving as reinforcements.

Building up of the second line of defences continues. Ponape and Kusaie Island now give us a bit more strategic depth.

South-West Pacific

Calm and sedate.

We're working to developing the Guadalcanal-Rabual axis, with the bases near Shortlands being built up. Ideally, I want an interlocking line of airbases from Rabual to Guadalcanal - right now it's about 70% complete.

The Gudalcanal cluster of bases are also getting some more reinforcements in the form of a mixed brigade, again from China and needing rest and replacements, as well as additional aviation and some naval support for Tulagi.

With the Allied build-up on Noumea and the big airbase operating at Luganville, Ndeni is looking very, very exposed, and the capture of Ndeni would put Guadalcanal on the frontlines. To that end, this region will have priority for any reinforcements and PP expenditure.

I'm already considering sending some AA, but what we lack is boots on the ground. The 4th Division (destroyed on transports at Horn Island) is at about 60% TOE, and may shortly be boarding a ship for Guadalcanal or one of the islands nearby.

We put two torpedos into the Mississipi, giving us valuable intel as well as dealing some damage. Only a few uses for those slow battleships, and all the sums are adding up to a move on Ndeni in the near future. Hopefully, Lokasenna will hold off for another week or so, allowing the Shokaku and Zuikaku to rejoin the KB with their fancy new Type 21 radar sets.


Austrailia

We're reaching the point where I start feeling as if I've overstayed my welcome in Northern Austrailia. The ABDA troops may yet escape, I give them 30% odds of making a decent getaway with the bulk of their forces.

I intend to keep up my pursuit till June 25th, before turning tail and running back to Darwin. Already we've withdrawn all our engineers, who've went right to work on bases in the Lower DEI. Some battered units will shortly follow. We'll be pulling everything out, leaving our bastion at Broome till last, and re-establish most of the units in the Lower DEI to deny SLOC to Darwin.

B-17s attempt to slow down our troops, while we do the same with a hoard of Sally's, Lily's and Helen's. We've a dozen Nicks doing their best to down a B-17 or two, but no real luck so far.

Burma

Our bid for Akyab has stalled, and we're waiting for further troops before making another attempt.

We've the Imperial Guards Division as strategic reserve here, with the 21st Division joining the push on Paoshan, and another division from Manchuria marching into Burma from Thailand.

There has been little air combat, and I'm reluctant to sent my bombers into the Allied flak-traps, so both sides here are enjoying the lull.

China

Chengtu makes level 8 airbase, and I optimize my air force in China. A plethora of planes bomb Chungking every turn, as well as a massive IJA artillery bombardment.

Despite this, the KMT have recovered AV quicker than us! Part of this must be due to respawning LCU's, but we've got some units moving back into the frontlines, as well as reinforcements from elsewhere in China that should give us the edge in AV.

[center]
The Allied base at Noumea, New Caledonia. A possible jumping off point for the first major Allied offensive of the war?[/center]

[mind_messing]

June 16th to June 26th, 1942

It appears the tide of Japanese conquests has reached the high water mark.

North Pacific

Bar the occasional submarine contact in the Gulf of Alaska, this theater is quiet. The Americans are building Adak up into a formidable port and airbase, and I suspect it will be the base for USN submarine operations.

On the Japanese side of this theater, we've engineers digging hard at work on Hokkaido. I'm looking for at least two size 8 airbases (probably Bihoro and Sapporo) as a long term investment.

On Honshu, we're still developing the port at Ominato. Ideally so that we can dock the Yamato and Musashi as well as re-arm them.

Central Pacific

Quiet.

Engineers are still hard at work on the secondary bases. Kusaie Island and Ponope are operational, and should make nice secondary airbases for the defence of the Marshalls.

The problem, as always, is garrisons. I feel that only Wake Island is properly defended, with the CD unit, and about 100 AV worth of IJN and IJA infantry. There's a battered division resting at Truk, as well as the 4th Division taking replacements in the Home Islands, but I'm loath to disperse them over several islands.

I get several of the "garrison units" in a few weeks, most of which can combine to form brigades or divisions, but will the Allies wait that long?

South-West Pacific

British crusiers bombard Ndeni in what I assumed to be a pre-invasion bombardment, but nothing materializes. Nevertheless, I make the theater combat ready. The KB is still sitting idle at Truk, but a heavy and light crusier force has moved forward to Lugna to sit within easy strike distance of Ndeni in case the oppertunity presents itself.

As for Ndeni itself, we're already starting to fly units out of the base - no reason to give the Allies extra VP's, and the troops will be put to far better use defending Tulagi.

The Guadalcanal region is developing into a impressive fortress. Lugna is a level four airbase, Tulagi level two, and Tassarafonga level three (to be built to four). I also intend to build the Russel Islands hex up to size four as well, so that a Air HQ in Tassarafonga can enable torpedos from all bases. All in all, a formidable LBA bastion.

As is common with the Pacific theater, garrisons are a problem, but hopefully the Allied offensive will wait till my garrison units arrive.

Austrailia

The ABDA troops escape by a single mile. A tank regiment had the ABDA units held down, but the IJA infantry missed the boat by a single mile, and now the Allied troops have a clear run to Normanton. Disapointing, but not exactly unexpected.

We won't get the VP's from utterly destroying those units, but they've been subjected to some very rough treatment, and a host of Austrailian brigades and smaller units have been very roughly handled.

Preparations for the withdrawal from Austrailia are already underway, with units already falling back on Darwin. We'll likely wait until August or September before withdrawing the bulk of our troops so as to entince the Allies to keep in range of the size 7 airbase in Darwin that they so kindly let us borrow.

I'm also considering capturing Exmouth, just to give a bit more depth to the western flank of the Austrailian front.

The Mini-KB has sortied from Soerabaja, looking to hit convoys west of Perth. My subs have been getting regular contacts outside Perth, and I hope that an Allied convoy blunders into the IJN's strike aircraft. This will be a one-shot thing, just to make Lokasenna worry, as the Mini-KB won't live through a well-organized ambush by the USN and British fleet carriers.

Burma

We abandon our bid on Akyab. As tempting as those 20 odd units were, our units stood little chance of breaking through a heavy concentration of British and Indian units, backed up by good armour. We're going to transition to the defence here, while pulling units back from the frontline to support a move into south-western China.

China

The only front where Japan is still on the offensive, even if it is combined to a single city. We're building up for another attack, as I want one more attack to go in before the IJA tank divisions start to arrive.

The absurd air and artillery bombardments of Chungking continue.

[center]
The Japanese tankers did their job, but the infantry just couldn't arrive in time to prevent the escape of the Allied troops in Northern Austrailia.[/center]

[ny59giants]

The Guadalcanal region is developing into a impressive fortress. Lugna is a level four airbase, Tulagi level two, and Tassarafonga level three (to be built to four). I also intend to build the Russel Islands hex up to size four as well, so that a Air HQ in Tassarafonga can enable torpedos from all bases. All in all, a formidable LBA bastion.

Those are fine, but I would send a Nick FB group or two down here for when "Mr B-17" comes to visit. Its still early enough in the war that the Allied player needs to mass what B-17 and soon B-24 strength to be the spearhead of an advance.

OT - What size AF does he have at Cooktown?? At extended range he can hit Rabaul and if you have anything in port.....

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

The Guadalcanal region is developing into a impressive fortress. Lugna is a level four airbase, Tulagi level two, and Tassarafonga level three (to be built to four). I also intend to build the Russel Islands hex up to size four as well, so that a Air HQ in Tassarafonga can enable torpedos from all bases. All in all, a formidable LBA bastion.

Those are fine, but I would send a Nick FB group or two down here for when "Mr B-17" comes to visit. Its still early enough in the war that the Allied player needs to mass what B-17 and soon B-24 strength to be the spearhead of an advance.

OT - What size AF does he have at Cooktown?? At extended range he can hit Rabaul and if you have anything in port.....

There's a size 30 Nick group currently in the Kuriles that's just repaired all their planes, and one their half-trained pilots are swapped out for trained ones, they'll start hopping down to the Solomons.

Cooktown is still a size 1 airbase, but Chartes Towers has been built to a size five. I'll need to have a look at that. Even though I do my best to keep Rabual's port fairly empty, there's some regional transport shipping that is exposed.

[mind_messing]

June 27th to July 5th, 1942

Something's in the works...

North Pacific

Nothing to report.

Central Pacific

Some adjustment of garrisons and aviation support. Some engineers return to Miri to improve the forts as I hadn't realized it was a potential size 5 airbase with a 30k stacking limit. This makes the island very valuable indeed, and I'll make sure the forts are high and the garrison strong.

An Allied fleet manages to sneak into a crack in the naval search net around Canton, thanks to expert timing and the Emily's deciding to call the boss to say their sick and can't work this month. This fleet turns into a invasion of Canton on the 5th.

Lokasenna gets right up close, unseen, and takes the base with no effective Japanese opposition. I take the blame for poor set up of search arcs, as well as not having planes on random search as well.

Irritating, but I had no intention of defending so far forward, and I'd rather make my mistakes as far away from Tokyo as possible.

South-West Pacific

P-38 Lightnings play whack-a-mole with IJN CAP over Guadalcanal and Ndeni, while Allied 4 engine bombers go for Japanese airbases in the region. We get lucky when the Allied bombers decide to sortie against shipping offloading reinforcements and supply for Guadalcanal, downing seven Liberators and 3 B-17s while the Lightnings pounce on a token CAP of Rufe's over Ndeni.

We'll keep our CAP up over Guadalcanal in the hope that the Lightnings accept battle. I've no doubt that the Allied pilots will be the best Lokasenna has to offer, so I've concentrated well over a hundred Zeros and some thirty Oscars. Even 25 hotshot Lightning pilots will be hard pressed to deal with that, let alone the 30 Nick fighter-bombers that are one day away.

The P-38 is the most versatile Allied fighter at this point in the war, and I want to kill as many of them as I can. Night-time spoiling raids are in the works (a night port attack on Luganville netted an Allied sub), and the Maya and escorts are sitting off-shore of Lugna to pose a surface threat.

Air evacuation from Ndeni is progressing well. I'm annoyed to leave a size 2 airbase to the Allies, but it is a mistake that I won't make again.

On Guadalcanal, preparations are well underway for that island becoming the frontline. Minelaying subs (to use the excessive pool of sub-laid mines) are en-route, as are minefeild tenders. Some heavy artillery has just been off-loaded, and some AA is en-route from Truk as well.

The Kido Butai is recombined and sitting at Truk; the new radar sets on the Shokaku and Zuikaku seem to have been installed in just the nick of time.

Austrailia

Combat operations in this theater have died off as both sides break off contact. I'm going to withdraw the bulk of my forces to Katherine and see what develops over July. If Lokasenna appears content to sit in defence, I'll simply withdraw everything behind a screening force for use elsewhere.

The Mini-KB raid off Perth is a dismal failure. Four Allied xAK's are sunk, the element of suprise is lost, and the IJN carriers turn for home. I won't make any further raids off Perth, but possibly try to insert a light crusier force into the SLOC west of Ceylon.

Burma

I'm developing a liking for night-time raids for their nusiance value. In Burma, it's a big strike planned against Calcutta, where there's plenty of ships in port.

On the ground, the failed Akyab offensive disengages while some Chinese exiles wanders out of the jungle to attack Myitkyina. The successful Japanese defence was a close run thing, with the Japanese troops nearly being caught disembarking their transport trains.

The drive on Paoshan makes good headway, but a garrison unit (with it's infantry-heavy TOE) takes heavy losses. They'll be replaced by the Imperial Guards Division (in Rangoon as a garrison and to recover morale), and the drive to close up the mountain passes to Burma will carry on.

China

A deliberate attack goes in at Chungking and drops the forts to level 1!


Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 281344 troops, 2912 guns, 1945 vehicles, Assault Value = 9778

Defending force 288678 troops, 1006 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 7824

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 4044

Allied adjusted defense: 4115

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

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

Japanese ground losses:
39380 casualties reported
Squads: 130 destroyed, 3064 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 339 disabled
Engineers: 15 destroyed, 445 disabled
Guns lost 248 (10 destroyed, 238 disabled)
Vehicles lost 205 (4 destroyed, 201 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
13953 casualties reported
Squads: 263 destroyed, 1264 disabled
Non Combat: 89 destroyed, 510 disabled
Engineers: 22 destroyed, 69 disabled
Guns lost 91 (31 destroyed, 60 disabled)
Units destroyed 3

We came close to 1:1 odds, and Allied units destroyed is a excellent sign, as is the (-) supply mark. Only two or three units are in need of serious R&R, the rest of the disablements being fairly evenly spread throughout the attacking units.

Even better is the fact that the IJA tank divisions will be forming up within the next few weeks, and should arrive at Chungking itself by mid-August. Japanese tanks in large numbers against unsupplied Chinese troops behind low forts is a winning proposition for the Japanese.

Hopefully China being knocked out of the war in 1942 remains a possibility!


[center]
The Japanese airstrip at Lugna Point, Guadalcanal. This airbase is critical to opposing American landings at Ndeni, as well as defending against any possible push against the Solomons from Luganville.[/center]

[mind_messing]

July 5th, 1942

Only action worthy of note...

Central Pacific

The Allies capture Canton Island!

While I knew the Allies were up for a move in the Pacific, the actual execution remained a mystery until July 4th, where a Betty spotted an Allied task force 1 hex from Canton Island.

The Allies were able to slip in a gap in my naval search beacuse the Emily squadron on Ndeni wasn't interlocking arcs with the Betties on Canton Island (mainly due to the high SR's of the Emily), essentially allowing the Allies to sneak up behind Canton Island and hit it with a big stick. Carriers, battleships, crusiers, amphibious vessals, the whole works.

After bombardment and bombing, the Japanese defenders stood no chance and the island now waves the stars and stripes. The only material loss is a squadron of Betties that I forgot to withdraw (as I suspected the TF was a sneaky bombardment force), but the only damage suffered by the Allies is a single mine hit on a destroyer.

It's irritating to think that I might have been able to set a nice ambush had I only the vision to place a AV and some Jakes somewhere in the Ellice Islands, but the past is the past.

Despite my suprise, I will not react to the invasion beyond reloacting what subs I have naerby. I'll fix my search arcs in the region and shuffle some forces around, but I am not going to risk Japanese carriers over Canton Island.

Lessons:

- check search arcs.
- check search arcs again, considering what they look like if you've 75% or 50% of the planes operational.
- use random search
- don't leave big empty areas inside your perimiter devoid of nav-search.

Due credit has to go to Lokasenna for taking the time to figure out the break in my naval search. By my guess, it was about a four hex wide dead-zone just east of Fiji.

[mind_messing]

July 6th to July 14th, 1942

A flurry of action, then a return to the calm.

North Pacific

Nothing stirring, bar a Dutch and an American submarine at Sahkilin and Paramushiro-jima respectively. I've juggled ASW air assets to drive them away.

Central Pacific

Suitably educated by Canton Island being snatched from me, I've completely overhauled my air search program in the Central Pacific. Token seaplane bases are being set up in the Ellice Islands and in the Santa Cruz Islands, with what AF Coys and AV's I can scrounge up.

Tabituea and the rest of the Gilberts are now consider as on the frontline. Only Tabituea has a really considerable garrison, with the other main islands (Tarawa, Makin, and Abemama) only having naval guard units. Kuria (a potential size 5 airbase, is ungarrisoned). I hope to remedy the garrison problem with the arrival of IJA garrison units, most of which can combine to larger units.

I've started looking at heavier assets for those islands that are already well-garrisoned. Some 15cm guns are en-route to Tabituea, and they'll be joined by some AA and whatever artillery tubes I can buy out on the cheap. 15cm guns won't sink battleships, but they're miles better than the anemic 70 and 75mm guns common is most IJA units. Most will be earmarked for the South-West Pacific, as most Central Pacific bases have organic CD units about a regiments worth of dual purpose guns.

Excepting the Gilberts, the rest of the Central Pacific is fairly well defended. Wake Island is a redoubt, with 120 AV behind level 3 (soon to be 4) forts. Marcus Island probably needs another naval guard unit before I'll feel quite comfortable, and the same is true for Eniwetok.

Nell's, Betties and Zeros are in-theater in good numbers, and more are just a few turns transfer away.

South-West Pacific

A IJN submarine misses the Enterprise with torpedos, but the inteligence is even more valuable: furthering my impression of an Allied move in this theater occuring in the next few weeks. Both the Guadalcanal complex and New Guinea are ready for any Allied move.

As with the Central Pacific, the focus is on getting more infantry rifles, as well as heavy assets, into play. We've landed some AA and 32cm mortars at Lugna, and we'll be adding more.

In case Lokasenna is planning a deception, we'll keep an eye out on the opposite side of Austrailia. In his place, I'd consider feinting with my carriers to create a focus on the eastern side of Oz, then transfer my carriers to Perth and mount an offensive from there.

Austrailia

Combat has just about wrapped up as the IJA withdraws from its pursuit. We'll start the withdrawal shortly, as the Allies make no appearance of mounting an overland counter-attack, and the Japanese troops are needed elsewhere.

Burma

Our night-time raids on Calcutta have a good nuisance impact. When the moonlight improves, I might consider trying a firebombing campaign against Calcutta, Dacca and Chittagong, just to give the IJA bombers something to do as they've nothing that's a "soft" enough target to hit other than the Chinese.

On the subject of the Chinese, their bid to retake Myitkyina has failed miserably, and the Imperial Guards Division will shortly rail in to help the 10th Division drive the Chinese back into the jungle.

On the banks of the Kaladan, the two Thai Divisions are pulling back. I intend to use them to garrison the Burma pan-handle and allow them time to rest, train up and recover disablements. I've some faith that the Thai divisions will perform well in good terrain behind decent forts, provided they're backed up by IJA armour and artillery.

The 48th Division will soon join the 21st Division and a tank regiment for the drive on Paoshan. The prospect of shock attacking over a river into a mountain hex holding 100k Chinese troops is a bit too much of a risk for me, so the two divisions will adopt a defensive posture and release the armour for duties elsewhere.

China

With Chungking down to level 1 forts, the end is in sight. Already, the IJA is out-stripping the KMT in recovery of AV and an attack is schedualed for the end of the month.

Even better, the IJA 1st Tank Division has arrived, which will add a great many tanks to the Japanese push to knock China out of the war. Hopefully, the tanks, along with the lack of supply for the Chinese, will prove enough to break the back of the admirable Chinese defence.

[center]
Long-range Japanese floatplanes, combined with shore based bombers flying patrols and shorter-ranged single engine floatplanes will hopefully prevent a repeat of the Canton debacle.[/center]

[Bullwinkle58]

RE fire-bombing Calcutta, while it looks "easy" the gains seem pretty thin for the costs. You get no strat VPs. He has plenty of supply generation to the west at Bombay, etc., plus lots at CT that can be brought in with mega-TFs at little risk. The rails do the rest. Hurting Calcutta's shipyard might hurt a little, but it's small and not essential. And if he wants to rebuild HI/LI at Calcutta he has the resources right at hand with no sweat.

You OTOH will lose bombers. Perhaps a lot if he has AA there. Most importantly, the bases you would have to fly from are not that easy for you to supply a major air offensive. A lot of supply for not much. I'd resist the urge to do something with your bombers "just because." If they don't have a target worth the supply and ops losses, let them sit and rest.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

RE fire-bombing Calcutta, while it looks "easy" the gains seem pretty thin for the costs. You get no strat VPs. He has plenty of supply generation to the west at Bombay, etc., plus lots at CT that can be brought in with mega-TFs at little risk. The rails do the rest. Hurting Calcutta's shipyard might hurt a little, but it's small and not essential. And if he wants to rebuild HI/LI at Calcutta he has the resources right at hand with no sweat.

You OTOH will lose bombers. Perhaps a lot if he has AA there. Most importantly, the bases you would have to fly from are not that easy for you to supply a major air offensive. A lot of supply for not much. I'd resist the urge to do something with your bombers "just because." If they don't have a target worth the supply and ops losses, let them sit and rest.

Ah, I was under the impression I got VP's from it. If I don't get VP's, it's not worth it.

It just goes to show that doing something just for the sake of doing something can be a bad idea.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Ah, I was under the impression I got VP's from it. If I don't get VP's, it's not worth it.

It just goes to show that doing something just for the sake of doing something can be a bad idea.

There was a major AAR about 2-3 years ago where the author was rubbing his hands in glee at all the strat VPs he was going to get out of India. After he had landed half the IJA there he was told by the peanut gallery that VPs don't accrue in India. I don't think that game went the distance.

Section 17.0

Industry damage – Two VPs per point damaged, 20 VPs per point destroyed (an item destroyed
when damaged will yield 18 more VPs). Industry can only be destroyed by firestorms and
A-bombs, but can be damaged by any type of attack (including firestorms and A-bombs). VPs
scored by damaging industry is cumulative; if an industry hex is bombed, damaged, repaired,
then bombed again, the player keeps earning VPs as long as the industry hex keeps generating
value by repairing itself.

This is true for all industry types including manpower.

Points will only be scored by the Allies for bombing industry in mainland Japan, and by the
Japanese for bombing industry in North America, Australia, and/or Hawaii.

[JocMeister]

Hehe, Was that the game with Hortlund as the Jap?

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Ah, I was under the impression I got VP's from it. If I don't get VP's, it's not worth it.

It just goes to show that doing something just for the sake of doing something can be a bad idea.

There was a major AAR about 2-3 years ago where the author was rubbing his hands in glee at all the strat VPs he was going to get out of India. After he had landed half the IJA there he was told by the peanut gallery that VPs don't accrue in India. I don't think that game went the distance.

Section 17.0

Industry damage – Two VPs per point damaged, 20 VPs per point destroyed (an item destroyed
when damaged will yield 18 more VPs). Industry can only be destroyed by firestorms and
A-bombs, but can be damaged by any type of attack (including firestorms and A-bombs). VPs
scored by damaging industry is cumulative; if an industry hex is bombed, damaged, repaired,
then bombed again, the player keeps earning VPs as long as the industry hex keeps generating
value by repairing itself.

This is true for all industry types including manpower.

Points will only be scored by the Allies for bombing industry in mainland Japan, and by the
Japanese for bombing industry in North America, Australia, and/or Hawaii.

That, boys and girls, is why it pays to read the manual!

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Hehe, Was that the game with Hortlund as the Jap?

I think it was. Against Canoerebel maybe?

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Hehe, Was that the game with Hortlund as the Jap?

I think it was. Against Canoerebel maybe?

Yeah, and Hortlund promptly disappeared after someone informed him in his AAR he wouldn´t get any VPs for strat bombing in India. [:D]

[ny59giants]

IMO, there is a small window from late June (CV Wasp arrives at Panama in mid-June) to about late Augusta or early Sept when the Allied can combine ALL Allied CVs into a "Death Star" that can do something vs a KB that is often down a pair of CVs as they go back to Japan for upgrades. Once the British CVs start to withdraw in second half of 42, this goes away until CV Essex arrives in early 43. The Allies need to land someplace that allows steady expansion under LBA at this time.

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

IMO, there is a small window from late June (CV Wasp arrives at Panama in mid-June) to about late Augusta or early Sept when the Allied can combine ALL Allied CVs into a "Death Star" that can do something vs a KB that is often down a pair of CVs as they go back to Japan for upgrades. Once the British CVs start to withdraw in second half of 42, this goes away until CV Essex arrives in early 43. The Allies need to land someplace that allows steady expansion under LBA at this time.

I am in total agreement with this. Especially if you combine this with an effective training program, the arrival of the F4F-4s and the Avengers ---- you can meet and defeat the KB during this window. Don't neglect to carefully select your target and ensure proper scouting with air and submarine forces.