Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))

[tiemanjw]

Its been a while - a lot going on personally, so it is hard to keep up with the game, much less an AAR. I'll post a few updates on the current status starting in this post with Burma.
All units have arrived, and I began a strong push down the western road. At first everything went great. Prome was over run and the Imperial Guards smashed. 2 Chinese divisions I bought out came down from Kalemyo and took Shwebo. Paratroopers took Toungoo and Taung Gyi. Then the wheels fell off the bus - sort of. I'm not calling it a disaster, but progress has stalled.
First, I saw that he moved a large number of combat units out of Rangoon, leaving 1 division a Bde and some guns. So the force that took Prome swung through Bassein and into Rangoon. Several Attacks by what I thought was overwhelming force were consistently turned back. As he moved more forces back into Rangoon, I had to stop. So I moved the mobile forces back to Prome along with the US 41st ID (just arrived fresh at Prome, and tried to cut straight across to Toungoo. The jungle hex east of Prome though had what was left of the Imperial Guards and a fresh Bde. While I was making steady progress against these units he moved more fresh units in. In addition, I jumped the gun on the airborne assaults, and those units got pushed off leaving me with only Prome and Bassein. The Chinese also got chased out of Shwebo.

So what happened?
My 2 biggest mistakes were
1) Underestimating the strength of units defending in jungle and city. Especially in Rangoon, where he has sat for a year he probably has sizable field forts built up. It is also very difficult to bomb these units into submission as bombing into jungles has little effect. (for you JFBs who gripe about allied 4Es, move your units into defensible terrain. In the clear you get murdered, in the jungles, you can be in move mode and no suffer much).
2) Underestimating the effort required to keep his air force down. I had air superiority at the beginning, but no longer. At first he had about 150 fighters, all chased out to Bangkok. Now he has nearly 300 spread around. I can hit any place I want still, but not everywhere... and I'm taking losses. The British don't have the replacements to keep up, and I only have 3 overworked US units there. Their kill ratios are great, but they can't be everywhere.

In addition, he keeps bringing in cruisers to bombard Akyab and Cox's Bazar. This is especially frustrating as I can't do much about it. I see the cruisers a day out, but I can't attack them because they show up the same range from my bases as Moulmein. Since he'll usually have a few cruisers there as well, my A/C attack there - right into the teeth of his fighters. Mines have gotten at least 1, maybe 2 (soft kills). I also got a few DDs when they stayed a bit too long up north, and traded CA Frobisher for one of his CAs.

So where are we now?
As noted before, I hold the western road, Prome, Bassein on into Rangoon. He has his (reinforced) units stretched out from Rangoon to Magwe. All of my units are intact - the failed paratrooper units have been recovered and are taking replacements now. The rest of my ground forces are intact with just some disablement (except for 1 British Bde that was nearly wiped out in Rangoon, and the Chinese - which I'm struggling to care about). Ramree is held by 6 units - mostly base forces, but at least one partial division. No idea on size of forts though. A Marine Regiment is just outside Ramree to protect my supply lines. I have called a halt to the offensive. The new plan is now:
Build up Prome (and to a lesser degree Bassein). Prome can be quickly built to a size 7 AF with large forts. This will support fatigue recovery close to the front and provide a fighter / bomber base that can hit nearly everywhere in the theater. It can also build up a large supply stockpile for renewed offensives later.
Bring in additional forces. 3 USA fighter wings just arrived from SOPAC (transferred through Oz and the IO). These will fix up their A/C and join the fray. I don't think I have enough replacements to support the now 6 USA squadrons in the region, though, so 1 will sit dormant for the time being. I am also sending 2 USMC and 1 USN squadron over from the states through Cape Town. These will be in the region in about 3-4 weeks. They will have Corsairs. There should be enough coming off the lines to support these 3 squadrons and their combat losses. If not, they also have access to the F6 line that will start up in April. In addition to A/C, more units from the states are on the way - especially tanks. Arty is being bought out and brought down from India and the States.
Capture Ramree. This can act as a new supply base. Right now, most of my supplies are brought from Calcutta to Akyab by boat. Extending that down to Ramree will assist in building up a stockpile in Prome. It will also act as a nice base for...
Stopping those damn CAs. When he has gas, Lowpe will drown you in bombardments. The good news, he becomes predictable. Of course what good is that if you can't stop it? I've tried some things. Mines are modestly effective. They do seem to scare him away if nothing else. They also hit the occasional ship. I tried British MGBs in an attempt to slow him down so that he would be exposed to A/C away from fighter cover. They slowed him down just enough so that instead of bombarding at the end of the night phase, he bombard at the beginning of the day phase. He still gets clean away, and the bombardment is all the more effective. Doh! I did manage to trade CAs by jumping him just after a bombardment (damn long lance). I'm scared to do this though because of the long lance carrying DDs and the need for air cover. So here is my plan:
Capture Ramree with US forces. This will give me access to PT boat pools. Scatter a few single PTs in his approach path as recon. This will eat a few ops points, but also boost his DL (DL goes up with each naval combat). Behind them, a large PT boat force (12+) will lurk. This should a) provide many torpedoes to dodge, and eat up enough ops points that he can't escape. From here A/C can attack a hopefully exposed force. I also have a large SAG in the Bay of Bengal with Prince of Wales, a CA a few US CLs (these have been surprisingly effective for me) and some DDs. These will move in as well, hopefully catching him after a few other engagements.

Regain Air superiority. With the additional US fighters coming into the area, I will be able to keep up a sustained offensive against his air forces. In addition to fighters, he has about 100 bombers in the area, mostly at Moulmein right now. First I will smash his bomber forces. Magwe and Moulmein are the largest air bases he has at size 7. Pegu is a 4 and nothing else is more than a 2. Magwe was smashed a few days ago. Moulmein will be smashed shortly - he has 30 fighters there (and 70 in Pegu, probably with LRCAP supporting Moulmein). I will fly fighter sweeps against his forces in the jungle to tire out his fighters, then send heavy sweeps and strikes against Moulmein.

Finally, prep the battlefield for a fall offensive. The monsoon will arrive before I can attack again in strength. Since the bulk of his forces are stretched out in the jungle, they will not recover fatigue... seemingly at all (at least for my forces). So harassing air bombardments, along with the occasional Cav / Armor strike against week points will be launched, and then withdrawn.

[tiemanjw]

Fuso, my old nemesis from NORPAC was popped by S34 yesterday! Today, when I loaded tracker I get:



Only 1 fish yesterday, but maybe she was found again? If so LCDR Lent will be a national hero.

[tiemanjw]

I'll post of the state of CENTPAC in a bit, but some [sort of] good news on the Burma front. He has become predictable with his bombardments. Whenever ship show up in the selected hex (9 hexes from Akyab), he is coming in to bombard Akyab. So I sent a force with 1 CA, 3 CLs, and some DDs to drive full speed to 2 hexes south of Akyab. They were spaced such that they should arrive on station at the end of the night phase. His (4CAs, 2CLs, 4DDs) force would come in and bombard Akyab, withdraw, and run into my fresh SAG. The plan worked like a champ, though the results were a bit lackluster. 1 of his DDs took a magazine hit and sunk with all hands, another is beat up and will probably sink. 2 more DDs and a CL may sink, but I'm not counting on it. The 4 CAs all left with some system damage, but my SAG refused to close the range in order to get good hits on them. Most hits just bounced off the armor. For my part damage was moderate on 2 DDs and 2 CLs. 1 CL, 2DDs, and the CA need to go get ammo, but are otherwise ready to fight again. I say it was disappointing because he started the fight with no ammo, it would have been nice if the attack was pressed home. As it is, his CAs will be back in action after a quick repair at Singapore... or even Moulmein (combined fleet is there, and I'm assuming, a lot of naval support squads).



The really frustrating part of this is that despite the action taking place during the day, he still gets 6 or so hexes to move after the fight. So 50 dive / torpedo bombers I had set up to take on the stragglers never flew, as he was out of range by then.


State of the Marshalls / Gilberts

This is still largely a stalemate. I did a sizable invasion of Mili to give me a base in fighter range over most of the Marshalls. I did something a little different here. I was tired of seeing my BBs go in to soften up a base, only to spend most of their shells on the airfield and port I hope to use shortly, rather than dump them on the troops and coastal guns. I also feared the Mili Fortress guns, and what they might do to my Amphibs. So rather than send a bombardment TF separate from the Amphibs, I put all my BBs into the amphib TF. I don't know how common this is from other players by the results were amazing (though I don't think he had more than level 2 forts). Over the course of the turn, the BBs used up all their ammo and left the place a smoking ruin. Most of his return fire was directed at the BBs, which just shrugged off the hits. The jarheads had UXO to worry about than Japanese, and took the base on the first turn. Naval damage was slight system for the BBs, a few CAs had a bit of system with one of them into the 20s. Astoria had a main turret destroyed. And that was it.

So for now we stair at each other.
He has his 2 power naval forces in the area. The KB, or a good portion of it, is nearby and appears to be based at Ponape. A 2 BB force (including Fuso) is also lurking around between Nauru, Kusaie and Ponape. He has tried moving in A/C from time to time, but is usually chased out. He has a scattering of 2 planes here / 5 planes there. I'm guessing mostly patrol / recon / scouting types. Kusaie looks like it has 2 fighter groups and 1 more at Ponape. Turk has triple digits in bombers (but no fighters).

I am prepping the 2nd Marine Div for Nauru, some raider and paratroopers for Ocean. A few regiments and assorted grab bag for Ailinglaplap. The first division is waiting an opportunity to go for Ponape. He keeps moving stuff into Kusaie, so I'm going to try to bypass it. I'm also looking at the idea of a sub / airborne invasion of Namorik or Ebon. Both bases don't appear to have any defenses. I can sub in engineers to build up an airbase for scouting and fighter projection, but I don't have any experience with that. I think both have an SPS of 0, so it will take a long time to build up an airbase unless I get lots of engineers there with surface forces. Not sure I want to risk that.
I have 3 BBs, 7 CVEs, and 13 cruisers (14, but Astoria needs to go get its turret fixed) in the area, and have filled up the islands with fighters and naval attack A/C. 3 CVs are at Pearl, but I think I'm going to wait until mid to late summer to use them. I'm not sure how to use that to strike at his CVs. He has been smart enough to avoid getting too close to my LBA. A few subs lurk around, but KB appears well protected by DDs and I haven't got a shot off at his CVs yet. Anyone have any ideas? If I can smash the KB (or at least the airwings), I can quickly roll up the rest of the Marshalls and begin preparing for somewhere that means something.

[BBfanboy]

Ships do not normally use up all their main gun ammo in a single bombardment. Most seem to keep 25% for self defence and
some keep even more. A larger size bombardment force (over 8 ships) will often have ships that never got a chance to bombard at all.
And, of course, the Japanese ships still had all their torpedoes ready if you got really close.
Hope you have some subs to hit those now-unescorted CAs!

[tiemanjw]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Ships do not normally use up all their main gun ammo in a single bombardment. Most seem to keep 25% for self defence and
some keep even more. A larger size bombardment force (over 8 ships) will often have ships that never got a chance to bombard at all.
And, of course, the Japanese ships still had all their torpedoes ready if you got really close.
Hope you have some subs to hit those now-unescorted CAs!

Ships do not normally use up all their main gun ammo in a single bombardment. Most seem to keep 25% for self defence and some keep even more. A larger size bombardment force (over 8 ships) will often have ships that never got a chance to bombard at all. And, of course, the Japanese ships still had all their torpedoes ready if you got really close. Hope you have some subs to hit those now-unescorted CAs!

Yea, I know they don't use all the ammo, but most of the main gun rounds. He even has been bombarding with the DDs. The long lance are still a threat, but I put 4 DDs in my TF. I seem to not see much trouble from them when I have a lot of DDs (though 4 is hardly a lot). Frobisher when t a month or 2 ago with less DD support, and got I think 4 fish for the effort (though that TF did sink a CA as well).
I sent a few subs in his expected retreat lanes, but I'm guessing he bent the throttles over the stops, because he is gone now.

This last turn, I jumped Kongo and Hiei. Hiei got a fish and engine damage, plus a 500 lbr. Kongo ate half a dozen 500 lbers (so no damage). Sunk ships lists Hiei as sunk, but that seems a bit much. Still, hopeful a few months in the yards. Cost was high though - most Vengence were wiped out. Hopefully though this (along with PoW on the way) can secure the Bay of Bengal sea lanes and keep supplies flowing south.

[ny59giants]

Sunk List - any ships that gets a torpedo hit will show up as sunk regardless if it actual was.

Ramree Island - this base is key to getting supplies to flow into Burma, IMO. It wasn't until I took it that my troops in the Irrawaddy River valley area and up to Shwebo got adequate supply.

Akyab - I would have a Command HQ here to draw in the extra 25k in supply. Place one of the three, at least of the mobile Indian CD guns here. They may not do any damage to Japanese BBs, but it can cause some trouble and hopefully lessen your damage here. Better yet, send a few American CD units here. They will help as you move into Burma in the future. Lay mines at or place multiple subs in hexes that his bombardment TFs take into here and Cox's Bazar.

SC TF - with so many of Japanese warships over here, I would try to form two TFs with 8 Fletcher DDs and 2 to 4 modern American CLs to counter. The Brooklyn and Cleveland can take on anything smaller than a BB and I've learned to love my Fletchers. It may take two months to get there, but its worth it.

P-38s - use them ONLY in sweeps. Their climb rate is too low to be effective CAP. Once the P-47s arrive they can take on anything of Japan right now as they have higher altitude and speed.

Indian Rifle '43 - I think these have just arriving in 2/43. Start to Stockpile "Yes" in the Intel Screen until you get enough to upgrade a section of a divided division (about 108 squads). The increase in Anti-Armor value makes them very, very tough troops (I'm in mid-May 44 in my PBEM). You will have to rotate troops into the front lines and hopefully just back to Akyab to do this.

Jungle/Rough - to win in combat here, you need to gain high disruption of enemy troops to overcome the terrain modifiers. Thus, massive bomber attacks or naval bombardments are need over a series of days. I'm at the gates of Tavoy and I had to do this to get Moulmein over a period of weeks.

Good luck, sir!!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Sunk List - any ships that gets a torpedo hit will show up as sunk regardless if it actual was.

Ramree Island - this base is key to getting supplies to flow into Burma, IMO. It wasn't until I took it that my troops in the Irrawaddy River valley area and up to Shwebo got adequate supply.

Akyab - I would have a Command HQ here to draw in the extra 25k in supply. Place one of the three, at least of the mobile Indian CD guns here. They may not do any damage to Japanese BBs, but it can cause some trouble and hopefully lessen your damage here. Better yet, send a few American CD units here. They will help as you move into Burma in the future. Lay mines at or place multiple subs in hexes that his bombardment TFs take into here and Cox's Bazar.

SC TF - with so many of Japanese warships over here, I would try to form two TFs with 8 Fletcher DDs and 2 to 4 modern American CLs to counter. The Brooklyn and Cleveland can take on anything smaller than a BB and I've learned to love my Fletchers. It may take two months to get there, but its worth it.

P-38s - use them ONLY in sweeps. Their climb rate is too low to be effective CAP. Once the P-47s arrive they can take on anything of Japan right now as they have higher altitude and speed.

Indian Rifle '43 - I think these have just arriving in 2/43. Start to Stockpile "Yes" in the Intel Screen until you get enough to upgrade a section of a divided division (about 108 squads). The increase in Anti-Armor value makes them very, very tough troops (I'm in mid-May 44 in my PBEM). You will have to rotate troops into the front lines and hopefully just back to Akyab to do this.

Jungle/Rough - to win in combat here, you need to gain high disruption of enemy troops to overcome the terrain modifiers. Thus, massive bomber attacks or naval bombardments are need over a series of days. I'm at the gates of Tavoy and I had to do this to get Moulmein over a period of weeks.

Good luck, sir!!

+1 on the sustained bombing/bombardment in jungle/wooded terrain. I am sandboxing a complete GC to learn how the game acts in its complexity.
One of the things that I saw was that the initial bombing of enemy in the jungle brought no reports of disablements in the combat report but when I checked the units from the other side, there was an increase in fatigue and disruption.
So I bombed some more, and after a week or so the disruption became disablements, and weeks later destruction of squads was taking place, along with the first disablements of guns and vehicles.
At this point the enemy unit would have been a pushover for a ground attack, but to see what was possible I continued bombing and in about six weeks of heavy bombing and strafing, wiped out an entire regiment.
Bombers were operating at 5000 feet and had pilot skills 55+ in GrdB. Fighters could all carry at least one bomb and operated at 1000 feet with training to 60+ in LowGrd.
Obviously very artificial - the defenders were not trying to move out of harms way and did not have any fighter cover. But in a real game, bombing troops in jungle does have some effect and will help a bit if you are about to do a ground battle.

Michael, re: Ramree Island - what kind of level did you build it to? Did you use the port to deliver supplies? I put an RN BF there with lots of supplies by amphib landing, and started building airfield first to
reduce the malaria effects. After AF 3, I started on the port (SPS 0) and it just dragged on for months with little progress. Eventually I gave up and ordered the unit to march off the island. It is making 2 miles a day in Move mode and one in Rest mode!
Must be feeling their way through the crocs! [X(]

[ny59giants]

Michael, re: Ramree Island - what kind of level did you build it to? Did you use the port to deliver supplies? I put an RN BF there with lots of supplies by amphib landing, and started building airfield first to
reduce the malaria effects. After AF 3, I started on the port (SPS 0) and it just dragged on for months with little progress. Eventually I gave up and ordered the unit to march off the island. It is making 2 miles a day in Move mode and one in Rest mode!
Must be feeling their way through the crocs![X(]

Max out the Port to 3. I start off by sending almost all my Aviation Engineer Battalions (AEBs) that are non-Marine to India from the very beginning and leave SeaBees in Pacific. I get the AF to 2 or 3 before switching and then use those small xAKLs and later LST to deliver supplies. I go back to AFs after port is done, but I may try to quickly get forts to 3 to reduce any negative affect on the base from possible bombardment TFs. Remember to have plenty of Naval Support there to speed up the unloading rate. Once this base is yours and you clear out the hexes next to it, all my supplies go there vs Aykab. two miles per day across a jungle/rough or river type hexside is about right.

Some of those American CD units are good to go over in this area as they upgrade the 90mm AA to dual purpose 90mm AA guns that can act as CD guns. [;)]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Michael, re: Ramree Island - what kind of level did you build it to? Did you use the port to deliver supplies? I put an RN BF there with lots of supplies by amphib landing, and started building airfield first to
reduce the malaria effects. After AF 3, I started on the port (SPS 0) and it just dragged on for months with little progress. Eventually I gave up and ordered the unit to march off the island. It is making 2 miles a day in Move mode and one in Rest mode!
Must be feeling their way through the crocs![X(]

Max out the Port to 3. I start off by sending almost all my Aviation Engineer Battalions (AEBs) that are non-Marine to India from the very beginning and leave SeaBees in Pacific. I get the AF to 2 or 3 before switching and then use those small xAKLs and later LST to deliver supplies. I go back to AFs after port is done, but I may try to quickly get forts to 3 to reduce any negative affect on the base from possible bombardment TFs. Remember to have plenty of Naval Support there to speed up the unloading rate. Once this base is yours and you clear out the hexes next to it, all my supplies go there vs Aykab. two miles per day across a jungle/rough or river type hexside is about right.

Some of those American CD units are good to go over in this area as they upgrade the 90mm AA to dual purpose 90mm AA guns that can act as CD guns. [;)]

Thanks for the details Michael! [&o]
I guess Ramree just wasn't important enough in my game situation to warrant sending that many Engs., but I will know what to do next time!

[tiemanjw]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Sunk List - any ships that gets a torpedo hit will show up as sunk regardless if it actual was.

Ramree Island - this base is key to getting supplies to flow into Burma, IMO. It wasn't until I took it that my troops in the Irrawaddy River valley area and up to Shwebo got adequate supply.

Akyab - I would have a Command HQ here to draw in the extra 25k in supply. Place one of the three, at least of the mobile Indian CD guns here. They may not do any damage to Japanese BBs, but it can cause some trouble and hopefully lessen your damage here. Better yet, send a few American CD units here. They will help as you move into Burma in the future. Lay mines at or place multiple subs in hexes that his bombardment TFs take into here and Cox's Bazar.

SC TF - with so many of Japanese warships over here, I would try to form two TFs with 8 Fletcher DDs and 2 to 4 modern American CLs to counter. The Brooklyn and Cleveland can take on anything smaller than a BB and I've learned to love my Fletchers. It may take two months to get there, but its worth it.

P-38s - use them ONLY in sweeps. Their climb rate is too low to be effective CAP. Once the P-47s arrive they can take on anything of Japan right now as they have higher altitude and speed.

Indian Rifle '43 - I think these have just arriving in 2/43. Start to Stockpile "Yes" in the Intel Screen until you get enough to upgrade a section of a divided division (about 108 squads). The increase in Anti-Armor value makes them very, very tough troops (I'm in mid-May 44 in my PBEM). You will have to rotate troops into the front lines and hopefully just back to Akyab to do this.

Jungle/Rough - to win in combat here, you need to gain high disruption of enemy troops to overcome the terrain modifiers. Thus, massive bomber attacks or naval bombardments are need over a series of days. I'm at the gates of Tavoy and I had to do this to get Moulmein over a period of weeks.

Good luck, sir!!

+1 on the sustained bombing/bombardment in jungle/wooded terrain. I am sandboxing a complete GC to learn how the game acts in its complexity.
One of the things that I saw was that the initial bombing of enemy in the jungle brought no reports of disablements in the combat report but when I checked the units from the other side, there was an increase in fatigue and disruption.
So I bombed some more, and after a week or so the disruption became disablements, and weeks later destruction of squads was taking place, along with the first disablements of guns and vehicles.
At this point the enemy unit would have been a pushover for a ground attack, but to see what was possible I continued bombing and in about six weeks of heavy bombing and strafing, wiped out an entire regiment.
Bombers were operating at 5000 feet and had pilot skills 55+ in GrdB. Fighters could all carry at least one bomb and operated at 1000 feet with training to 60+ in LowGrd.
Obviously very artificial - the defenders were not trying to move out of harms way and did not have any fighter cover. But in a real game, bombing troops in jungle does have some effect and will help a bit if you are about to do a ground battle.

Michael, re: Ramree Island - what kind of level did you build it to? Did you use the port to deliver supplies? I put an RN BF there with lots of supplies by amphib landing, and started building airfield first to
reduce the malaria effects. After AF 3, I started on the port (SPS 0) and it just dragged on for months with little progress. Eventually I gave up and ordered the unit to march off the island. It is making 2 miles a day in Move mode and one in Rest mode!
Must be feeling their way through the crocs! [X(]

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I have been using disablements as a proxy for how much disruption my air bombardments were causing. I guess I'll have to send the heavies in next time. Until now, I've been hitting units in the open (especially moving ones) as I can basically mission kill an unprotected unit.

I have had some success with p38s in CAP, but it requires high CAP level (like 100%), and a high starting altitude. I never put much though into why, but a slow climb rate makes sense. They mostly do sweeping now, and given this information, they will remain doing so. Biggest problem I have with the P38 though is there are not enough to go around. I need them here and CENTPAC, and I've only got enough for 3 squadrons.

My plan for Ramree is basically as you suggest. I've been using Akyab that way now with success, but Ramree is that much closer. Plus he was nice enough to build up to a size 1 port already. Problem is time here. At 2 nm/day, it will take a month and a half to just march in and out again. Plus I need to capture it (2 weeks?). Given I don't know his fort size, and he has 6 units there (1 of which is a frontline combat unit), I'm guessing I'll need 2 divisions plus armor support. That is why it is on the back burner now. He has brought up more combat power and is working toward Prome, so Ramree will have to wait.

[ny59giants]

LBA on ground attack should be at 10k. Anything lower will get them hit by medium AA guns.

Side note - Have you started some LowN training for your Attack Bombers (A-20s, but mainly B-25s)?? They can reach out over 11 hexes and besides the armor of BBs and some CAs, they can be very effective. Sunk Hiyo and Junyo south of Rangoon with them coming in at 1000' [8D] I train up my B-25s in just Gnd and LowN skills. This will force your opponent to have CAP down below 10k, too. [;)]

[tiemanjw]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

LBA on ground attack should be at 10k. Anything lower will get them hit by medium AA guns.

Side note - Have you started some LowN training for your Attack Bombers (A-20s, but mainly B-25s)?? They can reach out over 11 hexes and besides the armor of BBs and some CAs, they can be very effective. Sunk Hiyo and Junyo south of Rangoon with them coming in at 1000' [8D] I train up my B-25s in just Gnd and LowN skills. This will force your opponent to have CAP down below 10k, too. [;)]

I have a small pool of USA pilots trained in lowN... Several fighters, and a few bomber. I have been debating where to send my A20s... I think you just made my decision for me. As for B25s, they are doing great work on ground bombing. I don't think I want to divert them off that - especially to chase BBs. I have the vengeance doing nav training, but a large portion of them just got wiped out shooting bbs at the BBs (an accompying TB did get a fish in to Hiei engine room though).

I have been ground bombing at 6k mostly (8k where he has guns). Losses have been ok - and when I send bombers it is because I want to destroy the target, not just harass him (though I do high altitude harassment bombing from time to time too). The weather in Burma is awful, and it seems that 6k gets under the layer or something, as it is far more effective in bad weather than 10k. Plus it makes his CAP vulnerable to a high sweep.

[DanSez]

ORIGINAL: tiemanj

Lexington was surprised by the KB (at 8 hexes range). She sustained moderate damage. I figured that the extra damage sustained by going to "full" speed was worth the risk compared to eating a full KB sized strike package, and sent orders to get out of dodge to the north. What I did not do was set the threat tolerance. So the Lex did a full speed circle and ended up a couple of hexes SOUTHeast of where she started. She still would have probably survived, but ran smack into Ise.
More recently, I sent Enterprise and Saratoga up. I had been watching the KB for over a month, and found that when he went to refuel, he was out of the area for 4 days. So after he was gone for 2, I darted in, hoping to catch the CAs doing nightly bombardments. I figured they were operating out of Paramushiro-jima. Nope. He did have a SAG there, but it was all DDs. I think I may have got 1. That was day 3 of the KB away from the area. I figured he would come in the next day from the south, so I ran north planning to strike the airfield / port at Paramushiro from long range before retiring east. I should have just ran full speed east, as the KB and my CVs get into a night surface action (both sides evaded), but 6 vs 2 is not where you want to be. I got Hiyo, and one hit on Akagi (no real fires though), but lost Enterprise and Saratoga (and a handful of cruisers). Hornet, Wasp, and Yorktown are in San Diego - and will probably stay there for some time while I rebuild my airwings, and wait for the Essex. This will at least maintain the illusion of a fleet in being that he has to account for without putting them at risk. I will be able to hunt down KB a few months earlier in '43 with those boats and pilots. In the meantime, I have offensives and Burma and the Marshall Islands that shouldn't require CV support to keep him on his toes. I may move them forward to Pearl (or the Line Islands) to be able to raid Turk if he goes to the Indian Ocean with the KB, but I doubt he will. More likely he goes to the Marshalls, where I hope to set a trap for if not the decks, at least the pilots.

A few words to encourage you in your AAR efforts. Usually people long onto one side or the other to follow closely and not try to "contaminate" with cross thread knowledge. I have been following Lowpe's account pretty closely so I have only read the first 5 or 6 post of your side and will refrain from anything within the about a 3 month window. This greatly limits my ability to comment on your side of the conflict but with renewed effort on your side, you will gather AFBs to the cause.

The main reason for this post is to also suggest you break up and highlight important parts of your narrative.

The above clip was just a small part of a huge data-dump that you should have cut up into 5 or 6 separate post on their own. With specific, focused information in its own post, you will encourage readers to click/respond. I can't speak for others but to me, the mass wall of text is hard to digest.

And if we take post above, even if you put it in its own message, break it up a little, add a few emoticons, give it a little beat and flow to read like this:

/* *****************************************************
Lexington was surprised by the KB.

From a 8 hexes range strike, she sustained moderate damage.
I figured that the extra damage sustained by going to "full" speed was worth the risk compared to eating a full KB sized strike package, and sent orders to get out of dodge to the north.

What I did not do was set the threat tolerance. [:(]
So the Lex did a full speed circle and ended up a couple of hexes SOUTHeast of where she started. She still would have probably survived, but ran smack into Ise.

(This next part should be a new post as the above tells It's Own Story)
/* *****************************************************
More recently, I sent Enterprise and Saratoga up.
I had been watching the KB for over a month, and found that when he went to refuel, he was out of the area for 4 days.

So after he was gone for 2, I darted in, hoping to catch the CAs doing nightly bombardments. I figured they were operating out of Paramushiro-jima. Nope. He did have a SAG there, but it was all DDs.

I think I may have got 1. That was day 3 of the KB away from the area. I figured he would come in the next day from the south, so I ran north planning to strike the airfield / port at Paramushiro from long range before retiring east.

I should have just ran full speed east, as the KB and my CVs get into a night surface action (both sides evaded), but 6 vs 2 is not where you want to be.

I got Hiyo, and one hit on Akagi (no real fires though),
but lost Enterprise and Saratoga (and a handful of cruisers).

(This again might be its own post as you are changing focus onto another subject)
/* *****************************************************
Hornet, Wasp, and Yorktown are in San Diego - and will probably stay there for some time while I rebuild my airwings, and wait for the Essex.

This will at least maintain the illusion of a fleet in being that he has to account for without putting them at risk. I will be able to hunt down KB a few months earlier in '43 with those boats and pilots.


In the meantime, I have offensives and Burma and the Marshall Islands that shouldn't require CV support to keep him on his toes. I may move them forward to Pearl (or the Line Islands) to be able to raid Turk if he goes to the Indian Ocean with the KB, but I doubt he will. More likely he goes to the Marshalls, where I hope to set a trap for if not the decks, at least the pilots.

/* ******************************************
/* ******** End Of Critique *****************
/* ******************************************
Please take this as good general writing advice and keep up the AAR. Unfortunately I won't be reading any reply from you until much later (I plan on staying at least 3 months behind in game time).

You can email or pm me if you would like to discuss outside the game/aar.

and good luck

[tiemanjw]

Thanks DanSez (even though you won't see this for a while). I got a late start on the AAR and dumped way too much data with too little white space. I've avoided combat reports so for for just that reason (i find them difficult to sort through when jumpled togeather in an AAR... But the wall of text is probably just as bad.

[tiemanjw]

February 20th, 1943

Wow - at least a dozen sweeps at Prome! He wants to level the place. Sweep after sweep hits the few A/C I leave behind for CAP. They perform well though, going 15-4 in my favor. [:)]

Over a hundred bombers than come in - no CAP left. A little surprise though - who knew 40mm Bofers could be airlifted (most of you I'm sure, but now I do too!). So he hits a wall of flak. The forts go to 4, the airfield goes 19% of the way to 4 and disruption is about 1-2 points higher today in a few units (some of the hit units even went down).

So what for next turn? He has been smart about anticipating my moves. The obvious one here is to stack the CAP and wait until he comes again. It is also the safe move. He is moving forces into Prome, but they are not there yet (plus I have over 1000 AV and now size 4 forts). But if he doesn't come again, this does nothing. I could try bombing those fellows marching in, but if he CAPs them, I'll get slaughtered.
I think with my fighters, I'll try the safe move. I'll also move some into Bassin and Rangoon and LRCAP Prome. If he comes again the skies will be messy. I also see that he has about 40 bombers at Rahang with no fighters. I'll hit that airfield so they crash on return next turn. I'll also try a large night raid on Moulmein. Weather is forecast to be thunderstorms (again [:(]), but if I get lucky I might just smash a lot of fighters and bombers on the ground.

A CL and a DD from our little engagement a few days ago show up at Ramree. Each eats another 500 lbr. The DD is probably done, but the CL should live[:(]

Elsewhere, KB has been floating at Ponape for a few days. I'm setting up to drop a baseforce and an EAB into Ebon. In the mean time, I'll send a few DD TFs out to see if he stirs. Mayby bombard Allinglaplap (or Kasaie if I'm really feeling lucky).

Nauru now shows a few fighters. I'll try to chase them away too.

[ny59giants]

How many of the APs that convert to APAs have you lost to this point?? They are almost as valuable at this time as your CVs. Remember, I said 'almost.' [:D]

Things should shift you way more and more as you start to see better stuff everywhere. About every 15 days when you get a massive influx of stuff is ALWAYS a morale boaster!!

[tiemanjw]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

How many of the APs that convert to APAs have you lost to this point?? They are almost as valuable at this time as your CVs. Remember, I said 'almost.' [:D]

Things should shift you way more and more as you start to see better stuff everywhere. About every 15 days when you get a massive influx of stuff is ALWAYS a morale boaster!!

That is one of the few ship types I've been good with. Only 5 US APs (no idea if they all convert or not). Plus I grabbed Tabiteuea in force in (I think it was) February of '42. Take a good hard look at this base. It has a SPS of 1 port and 3 AF (meaning it can grow to 4/6), has 60k stacking, and is 1 hex away from 3 other bases with 0 port, 2 AF (read 3/5) and 30k stacking. If your opponent ignores CENTPAC, an early grab here can be a great kick start to a Gilbert / Marshal invasion. Now if only those darn CVs will die an unhappy death (or at least his pilots ).

[tiemanjw]

USS Nashville was one of the 2 US CLs in the recent fight in the Bay of Bengal. After the battle, she took ate a fish. Excellent work by the crew and dock workers at Chittagong! At this rate, I can ship her off to Ceylon as soon as I get a few DDs to escort her.

[ny59giants]

IMO, to defend the Marshalls, you have to defend the Gilberts as Japan.

[tiemanjw]

February 21, 1943

Well that went badly - my B25s staged at Rangoon don't fly on Moulmein and get pounded by a second night of bombardment. Few total losses, but over half are damaged. I really want to level Moulmein. I guess I'll wait to reassemble my bombers up north, and until Prome has a size 5 airfield (63% to level 4 today).

Speaking of Prome, a huge stack of bad guys just arrived... a stack of 21. I have 1200 AV and size 4 forts. My guess is he comes in hard this turn with the AF to level the place. I'll keep my fighters on CAP. The question is should I bring in my bombers (plenty of B24s untouched in Rangoon)? If he LRCAPs them, it could be trouble. If he doesn't, he has exposed ground units in the open. Could be messy.

In the Marshall's, the KB is not observed at Ponape. 2 DDs are spotted 3 hexes east of Kusaie - 11 hexes from Ponape. A routine sweep on Kwajalein sees 3 Zeros (none of the islands there show any fighters despite high DLs. I'll stay diligent - hold off on transports, and send a small, LRCAPed TF out to try to draw him into a dogfight.