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

[Bullwinkle58]

Re 4E bases:

Wake can handle them (some) as can Eniwetok. If he takes Kwaj/Roi Namur they can as well, but maybe at reduced loads. Haven't looked at those numbers in months. Also a long time since I looked, but I think Ponape can as well. In my limited experience with holding Wake though they aren't that useful in mid-Pac. Ranges are long and they eat a LOT of supply that has to unload at primitive port levels. Far better to get land-based TBDs and DBs and hold off IJN surface forces from incursions while you prepare the next jump forward. CentPac is the one place on the map where carriers are not optional. You know when his arrive, so you know how much time you probably have.

Why do you think he cares that much about the southern islands? I'm asking for reasons I see in my games. If you draw a vector from Wake/Eniwetok at the Marianas you don't really even need Tarawa, or anything south of it, to invade the Marianas in early 1944. Canton, Baker, Tabiteuea, etc. are good to force long detours on Oz runs, but I don't see them as vital to a CentPac strategy.

I think you are wise to send the best you have to the Marianas. That is a battle royale for the end-game chips.

[mind_messing]

Can I put you on retainer?

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Re 4E bases:

Wake can handle them (some) as can Eniwetok. If he takes Kwaj/Roi Namur they can as well, but maybe at reduced loads. Haven't looked at those numbers in months. Also a long time since I looked, but I think Ponape can as well. In my limited experience with holding Wake though they aren't that useful in mid-Pac. Ranges are long and they eat a LOT of supply that has to unload at primitive port levels. Far better to get land-based TBDs and DBs and hold off IJN surface forces from incursions while you prepare the next jump forward. CentPac is the one place on the map where carriers are not optional. You know when his arrive, so you know how much time you probably have.

Eniwetok is only a size 1 (0), so no danger there. If he wants Kwaj/Roi Namur and Ponope, he's got a fight on his hands, all three are well garrisoned and defended.

I'll need to make a major effort into Kusaie and Ponope, however. Those two bases seem, to me anyways, as key to keeping your lines of communication open in CentPac.

Why do you think he cares that much about the southern islands? I'm asking for reasons I see in my games. If you draw a vector from Wake/Eniwetok at the Marianas you don't really even need Tarawa, or anything south of it, to invade the Marianas in early 1944. Canton, Baker, Tabiteuea, etc. are good to force long detours on Oz runs, but I don't see them as vital to a CentPac strategy.

I had written paragraphs and paragraphs in reply to this, but most of it was fluff. So I opened WitP, and spent a good hour switching between the map and your post.

I had myself convinced he was slowly working his way towards the Gilberts based soley on the premise that he'd taken three outlying islands and used important ships to do so. Big forecasts on a very narrow base of information.

It comes down to the following:

Lokasenna is methodical. He's deliberate. He keeps his spreadsheets and his notes. He has taken Canton, Funafunti and Baker in fairly quick succession, and he did it with a greater purpose in mind. Perhaps it was to shorten his convoy routes, or as a prelude to a campaign for the Gilberts.

Simply put, he cares about the Gilberts and the surrounding islands, but I don't know the extent to which he cares about them. It may be as a prelude to moving on the Gilberts, or he could transfer everything northwards and have another go at Wake. I'll need to keep my eyes open...

I think you are wise to send the best you have to the Marianas. That is a battle royale for the end-game chips.

I've kept the Marianas in mind from the very start. The southern islands are all well developed, and every month or so I try to buy something out for one of the islands. So far, we've engineers and AA for Guam and Saipan, and a bunch of engineers digging on Rota. They're nearly finished, at which point they'll start improving the northern islands.

The first Crack division (with a capital letter - 97 EXP) is marching to Canton for Tinian, and more will follow. The divisions will go to the four southern bases (with no stacking limits), while brigade and regiment sized units will go to the northern islands. I'm going to abandon Almagan (bar a token garrison) as with a SPS of 0(0) 0(1), it doesn't seem worth it. Guam, Tinian and Saipan are the bases that I feel are most valauble, so they'll get the best I can buy.

It's worth rementioning something I picked up from Obvert's Japan AAR. You need to keep the Allies behind schedual to take advantage of reinforcements. The IJA gets lots of unrestricted brigades in late 1943 and early 1944 - so it's a goal of mine to keep the Allies away from the Marianas till 1944 to try and take full advantage of those reinforcements.

Easier said than done, I suppose...

[Lowpe]

I think you are correct in thinking the Gilberts are the key to getting 4e into the central pacific. Especially Tabit. They are a pain, and will close your airfields making CVs important in this theater to prevent advances.

Atolls are very, very hard to defend against an experienced opponent. Most Allies get very experienced after one failed attack.[:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

You're right about Eniwetok. I've held it for about a year in my game with Mike and I flipped Port with AF in my mind. I don't have 4Es there, but I do on Wake. Ponape can take them. Roi Namur can, but Kwaj can't. Heck, Makin can take them if you're a gambler. Lots of Level 4 potential, reduced-load AFs if you have time and Seabees. (Seabee regiments, not the initial battalions, are fearsome engineers. Japan has nothing like them.)

If you think he wants the south for strategic reasons I won't try to dissuade you. He might. Or, he might just want some VPs to counter the whupping he got at Chungking. Or, he might want training opportunities. Or, he could be trying to pull you as far forward as possible to make you burn fuel. There could be lots of reasons.

In my game with Mike he has Tabit. and the surrounding, while I have Canton and Baker, plus a fighter base on Makin. There has been a lot of small-fry sniping in there. I run FT supply TFs into Makin, he counters with cruiser TFs from the west. I have enough Fletchers now to get 6-8 into a party, and have gone in several times. He has tried to hit them with torpedo Netties, but they're very nimble. You can come to rely on long-range bombers too much. They miss high maneuver combatants quite a bit, and 1943 AA packages are pretty good.

Up north though he's kicked me good a couple of times with real carriers. I lost three CVEs last week getting supplies into a fortress Eniwetok. I don't have CVs yet to do much but snipe. But in our game at least Japan's investment in Tabit. hasn't paid off.

I enjoy seeing Loka play "my" side as he slices me up from the other.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

You're right about Eniwetok. I've held it for about a year in my game with Mike and I flipped Port with AF in my mind. I don't have 4Es there, but I do on Wake. Ponape can take them. Roi Namur can, but Kwaj can't. Heck, Makin can take them if you're a gambler. Lots of Level 4 potential, reduced-load AFs if you have time and Seabees. (Seabee regiments, not the initial battalions, are fearsome engineers. Japan has nothing like them.)

If you think he wants the south for strategic reasons I won't try to dissuade you. He might. Or, he might just want some VPs to counter the whupping he got at Chungking. Or, he might want training opportunities. Or, he could be trying to pull you as far forward as possible to make you burn fuel. There could be lots of reasons.

In my game with Mike he has Tabit. and the surrounding, while I have Canton and Baker, plus a fighter base on Makin. There has been a lot of small-fry sniping in there. I run FT supply TFs into Makin, he counters with cruiser TFs from the west. I have enough Fletchers now to get 6-8 into a party, and have gone in several times. He has tried to hit them with torpedo Netties, but they're very nimble. You can come to rely on long-range bombers too much. They miss high maneuver combatants quite a bit, and 1943 AA packages are pretty good.

Up north though he's kicked me good a couple of times with real carriers. I lost three CVEs last week getting supplies into a fortress Eniwetok. I don't have CVs yet to do much but snipe. But in our game at least Japan's investment in Tabit. hasn't paid off.

Thankfully, Eniwetok is safe for the present. It could do with another garrison unit (one of the South Seas Garrison units are earmarked for Eni once they arrive), but it won't be taken until Wake or some other outlying island falls.

I've little idea what Lokasenna plans to do. You hut the nail on the head when you said about multiple angles. He's on the move in Burma, re-occupying Northern Austrailia and has his carriers skirting the fringes of the CentPac defences. I've no doubt that once winter ends we'll see some action in NorPac as well.

If he does come for CentPac, I'm well-equipped for the knife fight. Resized squadrons of Vals should do a nice job of putting bombs in Fletcher's, and I've resized Kate squadrons for the bigger ships. Backed up with Nicks trained on strafe and we should be well prepared for the petite guerre in CentPac. The focus is on air power here, as I'll be saving the IJN for the Marianas end-game clash.

The fustrating thing about being on the defensive as Japan is that more often than not, your investment of troops, engineers and supply will get you no return. I try to keep that in mind at all times, and cut my losses when I still have a chance. Once the main axis of Lokasenna's offensive becomes clear, I'll start withdrawing from areas that don't interest him. If he does go all out for CentPac, I will likely abandon the Guadalcanal complex, set up a blocking position around Rabual and send whatever I can get out to the Marianas.

I enjoy seeing Loka play "my" side as he slices me up from the other.

No doubt our roles will be reversed in six months: I'll be getting sliced while you do the slicing. Be sure to be on hand to offer comfort when that happens!

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I think you are correct in thinking the Gilberts are the key to getting 4e into the central pacific. Especially Tabit. They are a pain, and will close your airfields making CVs important in this theater to prevent advances.

Atolls are very, very hard to defend against an experienced opponent. Most Allies get very experienced after one failed attack.[:D]

Well, at present Tabit is pretty key to the Allies getting any airfields in CentPac - not unless Lokasenna fancies digging up some dot hexes under Japanese guns...

He's also had his failed atoll attack at Wake. That was a cheap attempt to get the island, so does it count?

[mind_messing]

November 11th to November 13th, 1942

Some monumental planning turns on my part.


North Pacific

The 79th Infantry Regiment is nearly at Onnekotan-jima, which will combine with the 80th Infantry Regiment to form the 40th Brigade - part of the 20th Division. Over time, I'll try to buy out the other components to form the 20th Division in order to slowly strengthen defences here so that once winter ends, there's a stronger Japanese garrison.

Good news comes from the tuna boat fleet - they caught the Pickerel in the afternoon phase and put some excellent hits on her, with an oil slick been seen on the surface and sinking sounds heard. Exceptionally impressive, not only for the tuna boats, but for ASW ships armed with the Type 95 depth charge attacking a ship in deep water.

Central Pacific

Engineers, aviation support and AA are all en-route to Truk. Most will be sent back to the Marianas, but some of the AA will be sent forward to the Marshalls and Gilberts. I've essentially stripped all the AA from China and Manchuria, as well as most of the aviation support from China.

The focus here is on getting the frontline bases ready for action. All the air-groups are going to be as ready as I can make them, and the garrisons as strong as I can reasonably make them. The northern Gilberts are very weak, with only 6k men on atolls with a 30k limit. However, these bases are between two cornerstones of my defence - Mili and Tabiteuea. Mili, however, needs another garrison unit, though thankfully I've been able to free up a unit on garrison duty in China for transportation to Mili. No PP's to buy it out, but it's a priority at present.

South-West Pacific

Interesting developments. Luganville is still a massive hive of Allied activity, but now we're seeing Allied movement on the north-eastern coast of Austrailia. Engineers seem to be building up Cooktown, Coen and Portland Roads. That's an axis pointed at Horn Island, perhaps as a precursor to a move on Port Moresby or to enable access to Darwin from the east, rather than the conventional western approach.

At any rate, this is a difficult move for the Allies, as any move on Horn Island is well within the range of my airbases at Buna and Lae.

The only concern I have is that Marauke is no more than a seaplane outpost, so if Lokasenna makes a determined effort for Horn Island, there's no major base on his western flank till he reaches Taberfane and Dobo.

[center]
Allied engineering work in Northern Austrailia. Nusiance raids on these bases will be conducted from Buna.[/center]

China-Burma-India

The 22nd Division is bought out from China with it's preliminary destination as Rota. While this isn't as crack a division as the 6th (only 78 EXP), it does have an excellent artillery park.

Things are starting to stablize in Burma. The escape of my troops in the north looks likely, though with the Chinese still wandering around in numbers I'm reluctant to say that they're out of the woods yet. With the British looking like they're moving across the border, re-organizing my defences around Katha is fast becoming a priority.

Some rare air-to-air combat in India, as a sweep of 30 Tojo's over Chittagong is met by 12 P-66 Vanguards of the exiled Chinese Air Force. 2 Tojo's are lost to 9 Vanguards.

Home Islands

As part of my monster planning session, I finally sort out what I'm doing for flak over the Home Islands.

My focus is on preserving Light and Heavy Industry, as supply seems to be the bottleneck for Japan in the late war.

Everything east of Tokyo is being abandoned - there's nothing worth defending.

Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto are obviously taking the cream of AA defences: most of the Air Defence Regiments and Battalions are heading for these two bases, as well as nearly all the Independant AA Companies with their 10cm guns.

Yokohama has no need of AA defences, in fact, you can strip Yokohama of all AA units. The Yokosuka Naval Base Force unit undergoes a TOE upgrade in early 1944 that gives it a monster 96 12.7cm dual purpose guns, and when combined with the dual purpose guns in the two naval fortress units, Yokohama has plenty of anti-air capability.

Hiroshima/Kure is the same case as Yokohama. The Kure Naval Base Force upgrades to 54 12.7cm DP guns.

That leaves the bulk of my AA split between Nagasaki, Nagoya and Kobe. In other words, my AA is concentrated on the top 12 HI and LI locations in the Home Islands.

Once the units are in position, I'll give a complete tally of what guns are where.

Obviously, you shouldn't let the Americans within 4E range of the Home Islands, and your first line of defence should be trying to kill them on the ground, followed by night fighters. If all else fails, your flak should keep attrition up over the most valuable bases.

Industry

A6M5 comes online, and I boost production to 150 planes/month. This may seem high, but the demand for Zero's is extreme, with my resized 81 plane fighter squadrons. There are still some carrier squadrons stuck with the A6M2! However, this should solve itself over the next few months, as IJA land-based fighters start to come online.

Oil is starting to consistantly climb in Japan, which is excellent. We also broke 2 million supply in Japan two dozen turns ago.

The DEI is almost drained of oil and fuel, which is fantastic.

[center]
12.7 cm DP gun. These guns will be the mainstay of the anti-aircraft defences of Yokohama and Kure, freeing up mobile guns for deployments to other cities.[/center]

[Bullwinkle58]

Re NE OZ and other places building. Not saying this is his game plan, but I would say that in the lull period you're in Allied-wise--have survived the first year, waiting on carriers and Hellcats and good torpedoes--there are dozens and dozens of VP-building opportunities in very safe bases such as NE Oz. Lots and lots of engineers are now available to him, even in many RAF and RAAF aviation BFs, and you can harvest 2-5 VPs from a nothing-base very quickly. Say from an AF 1 to an AF 4, not maxed but better, then move on up good roads and RRs. Supply infills and viola! a nice 10 VP bag at no risk and no fuss.

There are also dozens and dozens of these opportunities in India and Assam with Seabees and EABs safely snuck in to Bombay or Karachi via CT. Developing India also has the beneficial effect of making interim supply bases on the way to Burma auto-fill with more Bombay supply as their draws become stronger.

I guess my other point is not to assume he's aiming at NG just because he's building NE Oz. He might be. Or he might just be VP farming.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
I guess my other point is not to assume he's aiming at NG just because he's building NE Oz. He might be. Or he might just be VP farming.

I nailed a couple of RAAF recon planes on that strike on Portland Downs that were scoping out Horn Island, which is the plane icon you can see at that base.

He has a lot in NE-OZ. The DEI refugees plus the Austrailians, plus whatever he has brought in. Tennant Creek switched ownership a few turns ago, so he's re-occupying NW-Oz.

I think he might be wanting a 4E base closer to Rabual. IIRC all of those bases can host 4E's, and there's not much distance between Portland Downs and Horn Island/Port Moresby.

Either time, or my D4Y1-C recon planes will tell me.

[mind_messing]

Home Island AA Defences

Obviously, if a bombing attack is at the stage where AA has to fire, things are going bad. However, Japan in the late-game has to accept that the Allies will send bombers where they want: the goal then changes to make the Allies lose as many bombers as possible.

So, in a fit of mad planning, I've organized the placement of AA units within the Home Islands. My method focused on a concentration of defences at the top ten or so heavy and light industry centers in the Home Islands, essentially leading to the abandonment of almost every other base in Japan.

My reasons for this are two-fold. First, supply always seems to be the critical factor for end-game Japan rather than engines, airframes or HI/Armaments points. Secondly, manpower attacks (and the resulting firestorms) seem to do far more damage than pinpoint attacks against a specific factory - it is no conincidence that the top manpower bases are also top HI/LI bases: two birds with one stone.

The Statistics

Let's consider the weapons that Japan has to defend her skies come 1944-45. I'll disregard smaller weapons that likely won't be in play.

IJA Anti-Aircraft Weapons

The bulk of AA weapons can be found in the dedicated IJA AA units.

Gun - Range - Effect - Pen - Acc - Ceiling (Comments)

8cm/40 Type 88 AA gun - 4 - 26 - 28 - 34 - 23000 (most common IJ AA gun. Decent accuracy and good ceiling)
8cm T99 AA gun - 11 - 26 - 28 - 35 - 27500 (used in the Home Islands AA units, minor improvements over the Type 88)
10cm/40 Type 14 AA gun- 17 - 34 - 45 - 38 - 31000 (bigger, heavier, more accurate. Used by Independant Gun Coys)
12cm/56 Type 03 AA gun - 22 - 45 - 53 - 53 - 36500 (hits hard, hits often, hits high. The 10cm Type 14 upgrades to this monster in 9/43, and some "Air Defence" units in Japan undergo a TOE upgrade in mid 44 that gives them these monsters.)

As you can see, the bigger the gun, the better it is. Japanese flak isn't anywhere as good as the Allied devices, so it's important to make the most of what you have. Sadly, the bulk AA units will be stuck with the Type 88 or 99 for most of the war, with only some units upgrading to the 12cm weapons.

IJN Dual-Purpose Weapons

Interestingly, the IJA doesn't have a monopoly on air defences in the Home Islands. Quite a few bases in Japan have dedicated IJN base forces, and these bases have some dual-purpose weapons that can supliment the IJA's AA weapons.

8cm/40 Type 88 DP gun - 4 - 26 - 28 - 34 - 23000 (exact same stats as AA version above, most common DP gun)
8cm/40 Type 41 DP gun - 12 -13 - 28 - 33 -19000 (much poorer version of the Type 88)
10cm/65 Type 98 DP gun - 21 - 29 - 45 - 58 - 41000 (great gun, but only 20 guns in 5 static fortress units)
12cm/45 10YT DP gun - 17 - 45 - 52 - 45 - 32800 (good gun, mostly used in fortress units)
12.7cm 3YT DP gun - 18 - 51 - 58 - 55 - 38900 (fantastic gun, accurate, packs a punch and can hit just about anything. Best gun that Japan has for bomber killing!)

However, all of these weapons are used in small numbers by dispersed base forces, so it's impossible to effectively concentrate them.

Thanks to the wonder of TOE upgrades, however, they can be concentrated. Various other Japanese units undergo TOE upgrades, giving them small numbers of these weapons. The only TOE upgrades that give large numbers of DP guns are as follows:

Kure Naval Base Force - Has a TOE upgrade in Jan '44 giving it 54 (!) 12.7cm guns.
Yokosuka Naval Base Force - Has a TOE upgrade in Jan '44 giving it 96 (!!!) 12.7cm guns.

The Plan

My AA defence is centered around the following cities, in order of importance:

- Tokyo
- Osaka/Kyoto
- Yokohama/Yokosuka (come Jan 44, the Naval Base Force can defend this city alone)
- Nagoya
- Kobe
- Hiroshima/Kure (come Jan 44, the Naval Base Force can defend this city with the help of a few IJA AA units)
- Nagasaki/Sasebo

Tokyo
4 AA Regiments
3 AA Battalions
4 Independant Gun Co's
Total: 88 8cm Type 99 guns, 16 10cm Type 14 guns.

Osaka/Kyoto
2 AA Regiments
1 Feild AA Gun Co
3 Independant Gun Co's
Total: 36 8cm Type 99 guns, 12 10cm Type 14 guns.

As AA units arrive as reinforcements in the Home Islands, they'll be centered on Osaka/Kyoto till there's about 100 guns.

Yokohama/Yokosuka
Nothing at present. If Allied bombers are in range before the Base Force TOE upgrades come into effect, defences will be stripped from Nagasaki/Sasebo to cover this base.

Nagoya
3 AA Regiments
1 Independant Gun Co.
Total: 46 8cm Type 99 guns, 4 10cm Type 14 guns.

Kobe
3 AA battalions
2 Indepdnant Gun Co's
Total: 24 8cm Type 99 guns, 8 10cm Type 14 guns.

Later reinforcements will be sent here to bring the total number of guns to about 60.

Hiroshima/Kure
1 AA Regiment
1 Independant Gun Co.
Total: 16 8cm Type 99 guns, 4 10cm Type 14 guns.

This will be suplemented by the TOE upgrade to the Kure Naval Base Force.

Nagasaki/Sasebo
2 AA Regiments
1 Independant Gun Co.
Total: 32 8cm Type 99 guns, 4 10cm Type 14 guns.

[center]
Crew of a Type 88 Gun in a training exercise.[/center]

[mind_messing]

November 14th to November 16th, 1942

North Pacific

Another Allied sub seems to be heading to stalk out the Hokkaido-Honshu convoys. I've got the tuna boat fleet after the sub, so she shouldn't last long!

Fort construction up here is starting to wind down as the supply cost is increasing. Paramushiro-jima and Onnekotan-jima will stop at level 5 forts, and Shimushiri-jima has had building work stopped after reaching level 5 forts.

Shemya Island (adjacent to Attu) becomes a level 1 airbase. At present, it's a 1(4) airbase, but I can see it becoming a size 7 base in due time.

[center]
The situation in the Aleutians. Attu is un-occupied, but the Allies show no interest in recapturing the base. [/center]

Central Pacific

Our nuisiance raids on Baker Island have kept the airbase damaged and prevent the Allies from flying in air units. So far, there's still the USA regiment that captured the island, so the Allies aren't exploiting it as a forward search station any time soon.

Units are being shifted around. With a strong IJA presence on Tabiteuea, I can afford to move a Naval Guard unit to Makin. I also send a Naval Guard on Ponope to Eniwetok, leaving a IJA Mixed Brigade on Ponope and bring the strength on Eniwetok to 2 Naval Guard units behind level 4 forts.

As with the North Pacific, fort construction here is winding down. Tabiteuea will soon have level 5 forts, and the Marshalls are all developed to level 4 forts, bar Mili, which has level 5 forts.

30k worth of fuel is a day out from Kwajalein. The crusier force I deployed to the Marshalls to contest the Allied landing at Baker used it all up, and I want a good stockpile if I need to base more ships from this base.

The Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu reached Tokyo safely and will be back in action for the start of September.

[center]
The Strategic Map. I'm getting around to mopping up those dot hexes![/center]

South-West Pacific

The Allies respond to our pinprick raid on Portland Roads by hitting us with a sledgehammer. Over thirty B-17's blast Buna airbase into the stone-age, destroying ten Helen's on the ground. Recon reveals that Portland Roads now hosts 38 fighters, while Cairns has 58 fighters, 44 bombers and over 80 auxillary aircraft.

IJA recon is going to keep a close eye on this sector for the present, and once some more supply is off-loaded, I intend to mount some aggressive sweeps to keep the Allies on their toes.

As usual, the Noumea-Luganville region is a hive of Allied activity.

China-Burma-India

A big chunk of aviation support, including two base forces, from China is bought out on the cheap. It's being distributed between the South-West Pacific and the Central Pacific, with most of it going to Truk.

The IJA have very nearly blown a path from China into Burma, being only one hex away from Paoshan. It's a race against the clock here, as the situation in Burma requires a healthy dose of IJA divisions to stablize the situation.

[center]
The situation in Burma. Hopefully we can fight the Allies in the jungles of Northern Burma, rather than the open territory of the central plains.[/center]

Lashio is recaptured from the Chinese by the 21st Division, with a garrison unit in support. The garrison unit is heading back to Rangoon, to be replaced by a RTA unit, while the 21st Division will move northwards to keep engaging the fleeing Chinese.


[center]
Japanese troops marching into Lashio following its recapture from the Chinese.[/center]

[mind_messing]

November 17th to November 23rd, 1942

North Pacific

The Allies have some A-24 Banshee's bombing away happily at Attu, despite the fact there's nothing there. Why Lokasenna has been so tardy in taking this base is beyond me.

The Allied terraforming machine is hard at work on Shemya Island, with the island already hosting a level 3 airbase. I suspect that Lokasenna will/has switch the command of the base so he can base perma-restricted air groups here to field them against the Kuriles.

Central Pacific

Quiet, bar the elaborate dance of reinforcement and resupply task forces darting around.


The 13th Independant Mixed Brigade is boarding ship at Fusan to suppliment the garrison unit at Mili, while a big shipment has dropped off AA and aviation support at Truk to be parceled out to other islands.

Most of the AA is destined to the Marianas, though the first of the combat troops are still trying to walk to a railway station.

South-West Pacific

I respond aggressively to reports that the Allies are basing fighters out of Ndeni. Two groups of A6M2's sweep the base. We lose on over-all loses about 1.5:1, but considering the outdated nature of the A6M2 and the average quality of the pilots, I'm quite happy with it.

Nevertheless, we're firmly on the defensive here now.

Low-altitude night-time bombing continues to be the bane of this theater. B-17's and B-24s flying at 2000ft have breezed through the Nicks on NF duty, dodged the AA fire, put some good hits on the airfield and destroyed aircraft on the ground on several occasions. Not much I can do, other than be glad the raids are small and only kill 3-5 Japanese aircraft.

Australia

The Allies re-enter an empty Darwin. The IJAAF is redeploying some units to Timor to get some practice in on the undefended bases and units. Thankfully, our defences in Timor and the Eastern DEI are almost complete. More troops and aviation support are needed, but that's at a premium right now all over the empire.

China-Burma-India

Panzerarmee China captured Paoshan, killed 7000 of the Chinese rearguard and is now one hex away from the border with Burma. The infantry and the extensive artillery train is one hex behind.

With the Chinese Expeditionary Army that close to Burma, the 21st Division is re-locating from Lashio to the Katha sector, and Panzerarmee Burma will drive north for Myitkyina.

Another deliberate attack at Katha fails to get a 1:1 by five AV points, and one of the garrison units is pretty beat up. However, a full IJA division is en-route to shore up the defences and give a little depth to our operations around Katha.

The Imperial Guards and company are about half-way out from Warazup. There's ten Allied units in the hex with them, and I've no idea what sort of AV they'll have. Supplies are low for the Japanese units, but not critcally so.

On the whole, things have remained much the same. Hopefully, the hoards of tanks and infantry arriving from China can stem the tide.

Thing's don't bode well for the future. Large numbers of Chinese units have escaped, and the Chinese squad replacement rate is 350 squads/month. In India, they'll be able to take replacements and recover disablements. By my "back of an envelope" calculations, Allied AV in Burma will increase by about 400-500 AV/month from Chinese replacements/recovered disablements alone.

In other words, I'll need to reinforce Burma with a division each month just stay level with the AV increase in the Chinese units alone - that's not to mention the British/Indian reinforcements that will arrive in the theater.

Scary stuff.

[center]
The KMT units that have made it into India will no doubt return, well-equipped, well-train, well-supplied and in large numbers.[/center]

Industry

After much pondering, I turn off merchant shipyards. I've large numbers of ships sitting idle, and plenty of points in the pool to run a small deficit for the tankers I want to build. At this stage, I'd rather save the HI. When the USN sub campaign really gets going (Lokasenna has remained almost exclusively dedicated his subs to fleet operations rather than comerce raiding), I can turn the shipyards back on to replace losses.

Industry totals:

HI - 661,000
Armament - 169000
Vehicle - 14000
Naval - 12300
Merchant - 6300

Japan resource totals:

Supply: 2,166,000
Fuel: 2,499,000
Resources: 10,901,000
Oil: 1,181,000


Question to the Gallery

How do my HI/Resource numbers look?

This is new territory for me, so I'll be asking for a great deal of advice, especially on the economic side of things.

[Bullwinkle58]

One note regarding Myitkyina; you may already have analyzed this.

It is in easy bomber range of Ledo. Ledo is at the end of the tracks and is an absolute supply vacuum cleaner. It is easy to build to AF 9 in the autumn of 1942. Certainly by the end of 1942. The bases west of it along the tracks (I don't recall all the names) can be built to AF 7 I believe, and are equally easy to supply. Ledo is behind a terrible belt of jungle (terrible for you.) It is normally pretty big early as it is the Hump airhead. Loka may have backed off that given China is gone, or he might not have. My point is Myitkyina is pretty easy for you to take, but expensive to hold. He can snipe and eat up your fighters pretty easily. Also do night work.

If you under-garrison it he gets two very good Chindit para-capable units in late 1942 that can drop on it and be supplied from massive transport assets at Ledo again. He may not go that way if you don't point an arrow at it.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

One note regarding Myitkyina; you may already have analyzed this.

It is in easy bomber range of Ledo. Ledo is at the end of the tracks and is an absolute supply vacuum cleaner. It is easy to build to AF 9 in the autumn of 1942. Certainly by the end of 1942. The bases west of it along the tracks (I don't recall all the names) can be built to AF 7 I believe, and are equally easy to supply. Ledo is behind a terrible belt of jungle (terrible for you.) It is normally pretty big early as it is the Hump airhead. Loka may have backed off that given China is gone, or he might not have. My point is Myitkyina is pretty easy for you to take, but expensive to hold. He can snipe and eat up your fighters pretty easily. Also do night work.

If you under-garrison it he gets two very good Chindit para-capable units in late 1942 that can drop on it and be supplied from massive transport assets at Ledo again. He may not go that way if you don't point an arrow at it.

You're spot on regarding Myitkyina. I'm only going to take it so as to enable redeployment of troops quickly to other parts of Burma. The crux of my defence will be Katha and Bhamo (the dot base south of Myitkyina), bases that are will within support range. I think keeping the combat in the jungle of Northern Burma is vital for me, especially with the large numbers of Chinese refugees that made Ledo, let alone Allied bombers.

I've already felt the power of the Chindits - they seized the northern Burmese bases and caused the whole mess in Burma in the first place - once bitten, twice shy. The A/B/C components of Thai divisions are a bit weak to be dependable anti-paratrooper garrisons, so I'll probably divide up a IJA division for the most exposed bases (Katha, Lashio, Shwebo) and have the Thai's garrison the southern bases. Once Panzerarmee Burma has taken Myitkyina, I'll have two or three tank regiments posted to Mandalay to act as a fire-fighting force just in case.

[Lowpe]

What is your resource/supply growth per day average?

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

What is your resource/supply growth per day average?

According to the WitP flow chart:

Supply: 31k per day (~20k in Japan, 5.6k in China/Manchuria, the rest elsewhere)
Resources: 21140 per day
Oil: -2580 per day
Fuel: 13274 per day


We're also banking just under 5k HI points.

[Lowpe]

I think fuel is low especially will declining oil levels. I would be concerned about it, imho.

I can't remember whether you get supply when refining oil in your game....

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I think fuel is low especially will declining oil levels. I would be concerned about it, imho.

I can't remember whether you get supply when refining oil in your game....

Scenario 1, so refineries produce supplies as well.

Globally, the oil/fuel numbers seem to be staying roughly level. However, with over 11 million supplies in the Home Islands (203 days worth), I'm going to start shutting off resource convoys from the DEI, and ship in resources from China, Manchuria and Hokkaido, which should be more than enough to cover costs and continue to build a stockpile.

With the long-range convoys stopped, as well as my dormant fleet, we should be able to save plenty of fuel.

[Richard III]

Interesting Game against one of the best players around.

Has his Subs Ops accomplished anything significant against your supply/oil convoys so far ?

I know it`s still early, but any thoughts about the "No Rules" rule[:)]

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Richard III

Interesting Game against one of the best players around.

Has his Subs Ops accomplished anything significant against your supply/oil convoys so far ?

I know it`s still early, but any thoughts about the "No Rules" rule[:)]

Loka's kept his subs strictly tied to the fleet role - the Central Pacific is crawling with Allied subs. The only commerce attacking he's doing is a few subs off the Kuriles and less than a half-dozen through the DEI. I've lost one big oiler, one big tanker and three small capacity tankers - all of which were amply covered by Std-C and D conversions.

On the whole, the "No Rules" has been quite good - and very educational. The air war is much more interesting without any rules: altitude and airframes are no longer paramount. The ground war is going to be very borked; the Kwantung Army in Burma, and the Chinese Army in India...

[mind_messing]

November 24th to December 1st, 1942

A quick update, as there's not much happening.

North Pacific

The Allies, at length, land at Attu. The Japanese response is thunderous in it's silence.

Musahsi arrives, and will steam to join the Yamato as dockside attractions in Ominato.

Central Pacific

A hive of Allied activity, as is usual, but no action. A SNLF equipped with CD guns is en-route to Tarawa, and various smaller reinforcement packages are headed to other islands in the Central Pacific.

South-West Pacific

The usual night-bombing drill over the Lower Solomons keeps a low attrition rate on Japanese airframes, but there's no daylight fighting. The Allies are being allowed to move into Ndeni unharmed: that base now hosts a formidable fighter defence and several units.

The Allies bomb the Naval Guard fragment on Horn Island to destruction, then capture the base with troops landed via submarine. Japan responds with a counter-invasion of paratroopers, and a bombing campaign of their own. An Naval Guard unit is to be fast-transported onto the island to assist in it's recapture.

Austrailia

With Allied tanks having re-occupied most of Northern Austrailia, the last Japanese outpost at Broome is closing down, and the seaplane station will be heading to somewhere in the Lower DEI. The Mini-KB is to provide cover for the operation.

China-Burma-India

China is going to start becoming an exporter of supplies to the Home Islands now that military operations are at an end. The supply is needed in Japan to help build up that stockpile for the end-game - I'm aiming for 3 million supply in the Home Islands by the end of 1943.

That also means I'll draw supply from China rather than the Home Islands, if it's pratical.

Panzerarmee China crosses into Burma, and becomes Panzerarmee Burma! The last major Chinese force left in China is thrown into Burma with heavy losses, and the IJA is right behind them. They'll keep up the pursuit of the Chinese troops as they flee to India.

Long-range IJN Nell bombers raid Madras, and sink a few small merchantmen. Nothing major, but a nice collection of VP's that the Allies will need to regain.

The supply situation in Burma has been poor overall, so I'm moving to change this by sending supply from Sumatra to fund operations in Burma - with the IJA forces from China moving in, the supply situation in Burma will grow worse before it gets better, but there are some big supply convoys on the way to throw tonnes of supply at the problem to make it go away.

[center]
Japanese tanks in China. Instrumental in bringing about the defeat of the KMT, they were now being sent to chase them to the Indian border.[/center]