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

[mind_messing]

December 2nd to December 8th, 1942

Some interesting turns as we mark one year of war!

North Pacific

Nothing. So far, the Americans aren't even moving to build up Attu.

Central Pacific

Everything is about as ready as I can make it here. Taibuteuea is a formidable frontline base, with CD, a strong garrison and a decent air detachment. On the 8th the Nells strike a errant Allied convoy of xAP's. One is sunk, another damaged.

Another Allied convoy is hanging off around Canton Island, in an effort to bait by Nells into a CAP trap. Thankfully, I've set enough CAP traps to know one when I see one, so we'll leave that convoy hanging for some IJN subs to take a few shots at.

South-West Pacific

Horn Island is the scene of a short, brutal battle between Japanese and Austrailian troopers. IJA paratroopers combine with a Naval Guard unit fast transported in to recapture the island. Evidently this angers the Allies, as the 4E and 2E hoards make an appearance, flying into a considerable A6M2 LRCAP, which sends them home to think again.

I'm overjoyed to keep giving the Allies these minor reverses with local forces. With 1943 a few weeks away, long may they continue.

Some much needed aviation support is making its way into Hasas Bay, at last turning it into the rear-area airbase I've been needed for New Guniea.

China-Burma-India

The Imperial Guards Division and company, after a frantic month or so, at last escapes from Warazup. They're heading west, to consolodate around Katha, while Panzerarmee Burma blasts a route northwards, through Bhamo, to Myitkyina. The infantry and artillery is following behind in case the Chinese are defending Myitkyina in numbers too great for the tanks to deal with on their own.

Several big supply convoys are en-route to Burma with big loads, to hopefully keep the bases well stocked. There's a wealth of ripe targets in India for the taking: I've spotted a couple of bases lacking CAP, but lack of supply prevents me from conducting big bomber raids. That should change for the better now.

Once the situation stabilizes in Burma, some of the units fresh from China will take up the garrison duties of the Thai units, who'll get a posting along the India-Burma border as picket units.

Question to the Gallery

I'd love some advice on defending the Burma-India frontier. Obviously, I want to fight in the jungle as much as possible, to minimize the Allied advantage in air power. However, it seems to me that it's a difficult thing to do. Any comments would be welcome.

[Bullwinkle58]

Just two comments:

NorPac is under winter rules right now. Landing is costly in disruption and building is slow. And he might want you to come back for Attu. I just took it in my game with him, and I'd like that.

Re India/Burma, watch the calendar. Indian 1943 squads start coming in pool 3/43 and they are a huge upgrade in anti-armor.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Just two comments:

NorPac is under winter rules right now. Landing is costly in disruption and building is slow. And he might want you to come back for Attu. I just took it in my game with him, and I'd like that.

Re India/Burma, watch the calendar. Indian 1943 squads start coming in pool 3/43 and they are a huge upgrade in anti-armor.

He's not going to get what he wants in regards to Attu then. I've had my holding action in the Aleutians, that's enough for me.

The time for Japanese offensives is over. If he'd taken big losses to his carrier and surface fleet I'd make a serious consideration of a move to snap off one of his spearheads.

As it stands, I've built a nice wall in the Kuriles for the Allies to bash against. It needs more bricks and mortar in the form of IJA units, but it's enough till winter ends.

As for Burma, this theater will be a pain. Untold thousands of Chinese providing the mass, backed up by British and Indian units providing the punch. I won't win the war here, but I could lose it.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Just two comments:

NorPac is under winter rules right now. Landing is costly in disruption and building is slow. And he might want you to come back for Attu. I just took it in my game with him, and I'd like that.

Re India/Burma, watch the calendar. Indian 1943 squads start coming in pool 3/43 and they are a huge upgrade in anti-armor.

He's not going to get what he wants in regards to Attu then. I've had my holding action in the Aleutians, that's enough for me.

The time for Japanese offensives is over. If he'd taken big losses to his carrier and surface fleet I'd make a serious consideration of a move to snap off one of his spearheads.

As it stands, I've built a nice wall in the Kuriles for the Allies to bash against. It needs more bricks and mortar in the form of IJA units, but it's enough till winter ends.

As for Burma, this theater will be a pain. Untold thousands of Chinese providing the mass, backed up by British and Indian units providing the punch. I won't win the war here, but I could lose it.

In my game with Mike I've had about 500,000 Chinese in Burma for a year at Rangoon, Pegu, and Moulmein. Have made some attacks into forts, with a lot of Brit and Indian help, and taken huge losses to Chinese. They can garrison, but they are not much help at all against cities. Burma in March 1943 is a supply game, end of story. It's interesting, but it's a slog. The jungle drives everything, and the rivers make going around through the jungle take months. Air power is useful, but so far not determinative. It's supply.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Just two comments:

NorPac is under winter rules right now. Landing is costly in disruption and building is slow. And he might want you to come back for Attu. I just took it in my game with him, and I'd like that.

Re India/Burma, watch the calendar. Indian 1943 squads start coming in pool 3/43 and they are a huge upgrade in anti-armor.

He's not going to get what he wants in regards to Attu then. I've had my holding action in the Aleutians, that's enough for me.

The time for Japanese offensives is over. If he'd taken big losses to his carrier and surface fleet I'd make a serious consideration of a move to snap off one of his spearheads.

As it stands, I've built a nice wall in the Kuriles for the Allies to bash against. It needs more bricks and mortar in the form of IJA units, but it's enough till winter ends.

As for Burma, this theater will be a pain. Untold thousands of Chinese providing the mass, backed up by British and Indian units providing the punch. I won't win the war here, but I could lose it.

In my game with Mike I've had about 500,000 Chinese in Burma for a year at Rangoon, Pegu, and Moulmein. Have made some attacks into forts, with a lot of Brit and Indian help, and taken huge losses to Chinese. They can garrison, but they are not much help at all against cities. Burma in March 1943 is a supply game, end of story. It's interesting, but it's a slog. The jungle drives everything, and the rivers make going around through the jungle take months. Air power is useful, but so far not determinative. It's supply.

That's encouraging. With China now under complete Japanese occupation, I've an extra 4.5k supply production per day that I can ship in towards Burma. That, and trying to keep the Allies as far away from their Indian bases as possible, should hopefully be enough to stem the Allied tide, for the time being, anyways.

[mind_messing]

December 9th to December 16th, 1942

1942 is fast drawing to a close.

North Pacific

Still nothing up here other than a few Allied subs having a go at the Hokkaido resource convoys. Other than some ASW air groups, everything is stood down for some rest and training. Winter in the Kuriles must be a fun experience.

Allied shovels are working furiously on terraforming the Aleutians. Shemya Island is being developed into a big airbase at an impressive rate, so no doubt we'll be seeing some Allied 4E's based out of it before long.

Central Pacific

I've decided to juggle my deployment of aviation support around. An Air HQ on Roi-Namur will be sent to Mili, so as to maximize the use we can get from the size 4 airbase there. Roi-Namur will get an Air HQ on the replacement list in about two months, so we'll be able to keep Roi-Namur as a rear-area airbase.

After a long spell of misses, the IJN submarine fleet strikes gold, after a wolfpack closes in on a sub floatplane report of carriers north-east of Suva:

Sub attack near Wallis Island at 141,155

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
CVE Copahee, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB South Dakota
CA Exeter
CL Leander
DD Barton
DD Downes
DD Reid
DD Frazier

Fuel storage explosion on CVE Copahee
SS I-22 launches 6 torpedoes at CVE Copahee
I-22 diving deep ....
DD Downes fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Reid fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frazier attacking submerged sub ....
DD Frazier fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

Sinking sounds are heard, and 15 Wildcats are reported lost on the ground! Banzai!

IJN submarines will do their best to chase down the task force, as I'd love nothing better than to put some torpedos into the South Dakota or other CVE's.

Away from the action, the first crack Japanese division leaves China for Tinian in the Marianas, with a second division destined for Rota before the end of December. 450 AV behind level 5 forts should be formidable, and I hope to supliment that with additional reinforcements over the course of 1943.

South-West Pacific

The action is focused firmly on Horn Island, where Allied bombers fly again and again into Japanese LRCAP in an effort to wipe out the Japanese units holding the island. Already a IJA paratrooper unit has been wiped out by bombing, and a Naval Guard unit is likely to go the same way. I'm moving some AA in by fast transport in an effort to attrition the Allied bomber pools, but I doubt it will make much of an impact.

The Tojo and Nick can't quite reach Horn Island from my New Guinea bases, so the bulk of bomber interception has fallen to Oscars, Zero's and Rufe's. Hardly ideal airframes, but they've made a respectable showing.

The Allies evidently want Horn Island, and I'm in no real position to stop them if they make a move on it, but I'll persist in making them pay as heavy a price for it as I can.

China-Burma-India

Another crack division is bought out for the Pacific from the forces in Burma, and is railing to Rangoon to be sent elsewhere.

Panzerarmee Burma blasts a path north and shock attacks into Myitkyina for good results while the infantry slogs behind the tankers. The British troops in Katha are surrounded, and their escape seems unlikely with more and more Japanese units concentrating around them. Considerable Chinese forces remain between Katha and Myitkyina, but they shouldn't be able to stand in the way of the overwhelming Japanese forces amassed against them.

Engineering efforts start work on improving the Andaman Islands. Port Blair is already a size 4 airbase, but work is starting now on Little Andaman to bring the airbase up to level 2, mainly to provide additional fighter support to Port Blair, as well as enable recon flights of Colombo. If I can gather a good enough garrison for Little Andaman and a decent Air HQ for Port Blair, I may develop Little Andaman to a level 4 base to make Allied moves in the Indian Ocean difficult.

[center]
Perhaps just a "jeep carrier", with plenty more to replace it, but with the Allied material advantage growing greater every month, every little helps.[/center]

[mind_messing]

December 17th to December 23rd, 1942

Lokasenna updates his AAR, which means there's something coming. My response is another monster planning turn: got to be ready - whatever it is!

Plus, I like to knock him off the top of the page.

North Pacific

No change.

Central Pacific

The above mentioned HQ swap in the Marshalls is underway.

Our subs have no luck in following up their sinking of the Copahee (reported in Intel as the Nassau), so it looks like it will be back to the usual run of disapointing results.

South-West Pacific

The action is firmly centered here.

My attempt to fast transport in some AA to Horn Island is sunk by an American SCTF comprising of the battleship Nevada and the crusiers Pensacola and Vincennes.

The Allies keep up the high tempo of air raids on Horn Island, destroying whatever fragments I couldn't evacuate and leaving the island without a garrison. In essence, the Allies have cleared Horn Island with air power alone. Alls that remains for them to do now is to land and tear down the Hinomaru.

There's not much I can do to prevent it. Any garrison flown into Horn Island will be bombed out of existance, and any bid to move a substantial garrison in by sea will have to run right through hoards of Allied aircraft. I have several excellent airbases on New Guinea, and planes flying from there have made a good job of inflicting losses on Allied bomber raids, and I hope to use these same airbases to keep inflicting losses.

Once Horn Island falls, I'm in a sore spot. The Allies can start working their way westwards towards Darwin or northwards, towards Merakue, or even strike east, towards Port Moresby.

[center]
Overview of the situation. The Allies are posied to take and hold Horn Island, but the question is where do they go from there?[/center]

I'm well positioned to punish an Allied move on Horn Island. Buna, Lae, Milne Bay and Hansa Bay are all formidable airbases within striking distance of Horn Island. The Allies can only count on support from Portland Roads (4 hexes away) and Coen (6 hexes away).

Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom. An IJA division and a Infantry group have been bought out from the Home Islands in a long-overdue PP splurge, and they'll be joining a bunch of aviation and base force units to beef up my forces in the area.

As is the norm at present, we're short on frontline troops, but there's the reserve division at Truk, plus the troops I'm secreting away for the fight for the Marianas that are at arms reach if needed.

China-Burma-India

Myitkyina is re-occupied without a fight as the Chinese flee towards the border. IJA tanks are in pursuit. Other than that, this theater is quiet.

[center]
The Allied buildup of air power in Northern Austrailia has made itself clear over Horn Island.[/center]

[mind_messing]

December 24th, 1942 to January 2nd, 1943

We enter 1943!

1942 has been a good year for Japan, here's hoping 1943 will be even better!

North Pacific

The only activity is on Allied controlled Attu and Shemya Islands. Our long-range recon Judy's are keeping a close watch on the latter, as I expect to see B-24's flying from it eventually.

Central Pacific

More units are starting to arrive as reinforcements, and this is allowing me to optimize my garrisons in the Central Pacific. Naval Guard units are being moved off of frontline islands and sent to garrison rear-area bases, and they're being replaced by IJA units that have a little more staying power.

A couple of IJA Garrison units have arrived, but their withdrawal dates makes them somewhat less useful, so they're being deployed to Tarawa and Makin in the hope that an Allied landing enables them to see some action before they disapear.

South-West Pacific

Horn Island still sits empty, but the Allies make no move to flip it's ownership. On the other side of the Torres Strait, the Japanese build-up continues. A big troop convoy carrying engineers, aviation support and combat troops lands in Rabual, where most of it will remain.

More is still to come. One IJA division sits in Tokyo awaiting shipment out, while the 4th Division at Truk is awaiting the arrival of a brigade from China to free it from garrison duty and allow it to act as the strategic reserve for the Pacific.

I suspect Lokasenna is trying to force open a sea-lane to Darwin via Horn Island, so I hope to send one division to Port Moresby and a brigade to Milne Bay before the end of January to keep these bases well-defended - if the Allies want to try to send convoys through the Torres Straits, they'll need to knock out these two bases first or be forced to accept losses to their convoys.

DEI

Preparations are being cranked up in a big way. I'm planning for the worst, and assuming that the Allies get Darwin operational as a major airbase by March 1943. There's a good line of bases running both eastwards and westwards from Timor, though we're short on combat aircraft as well as on troops.

Thankfully, I scrounged up some IJN air units that converted to fighters, and they're being resized and redeployed here to boost our strength in the air. To solve the lack of troops on the ground, I'm debating redeploying a division destined for the Marianas to the Eastern DEI - the Marianas is pretty removed from the frontline, while only a few hexes of water seperates Austrailia from Timor at present.

I'm quite satisfied with Java and Sumatra at present. The only real reinforcements needed is an extra unit to garrison Oosthaven to ensure that all the Southern Sumatran coastal hexes have decent defences.

The Mini-KB is at Singapore while it's destroyers undergo their 1/43 upgrades, along with the slow battleships, and they'll likely remain here till I find a suitable use for them.

China-Burma-India

I've transfered two training units from Manchuria to China. The intention is for them to fly into Chungking and Chengtu and fly CAP as part of their training program to boost their EXP as well as to provide some protection against Allied raids against Chinese industry from Ledo.

Warazup is re-captured, but the Chinese have managed to escape. This marks the last hex in Burma, bar Akyab, that the Allies own. With the Chinese running back to the border, most of the Japanese units will be re-located to Rangoon, to keep logistics as simple as possible. Three divisions will be sent to dig in at the Moulmein-Tavoy-Mergui axis, with a fourth possibly being sent to Victoria Point. The bulk, however, will remain ready to respond to an Allied thrust from India.

Overall, the situation in Burma has went from critical to stable very quickly - I'm hoping it stays that way.

[mind_messing]

January 2nd to January 17th, 1943

Things get interesting just into the start of 1943.

North Pacific

Cold and quiet.

Plenty of avaition units arrive as reinforcements on Hokkaido, including an Air HQ. We've got this theater covered, so the Air HQ will be redeployed, probably to the SWPAC area.

Central Pacific

The Allies have build Baker Island to a size 1 airbase, which I only found out after my Betties dediced to sortie into the CAP provided by it.

I've bought out a division from the Home Islands to use as a garrison in this region, but I'm unsure exactly where it would do the most good. Currently Mili is the prime candidate, as it allows me to move the 210 AV 13th Ind. Mixed Brigade (IMB) to another island, probably Tarawa. This would leave the island with about 550 AV behind level 5 forts.

Overkill? Possibly, but it's one of the best (if not the best) bit of real-estate in the Marshalls.

As an added bonus, the 13th Brigade can combine with another brigade to form a division in about 130 days.

[center]
Rough overview of the Marshalls redoubts.[/center]

Red - bases with air HQ's
Purple - Bases that have good defences but no CD guns
White - Bases that have good defences and CD guns.

Tarawa is looking like a strong position, with three naval guards (one with CD guns) behind level four forts for a total of 200 AV. The 13th IMB would bump this up to about 410 AV, and when the 13th Brigade forms the 65th Division that will be well over 500 AV on Tarawa, at which point I'll move some Naval Guards around to keep some depth to the defence.

Makin is the weak link at present, with no CD guns and only about 250 AV behind level 3 forts. I intend to scrounge a Naval Guard or an IJA brigade from somewhere over the next few months to bring this base to over 300 AV.

Wotje is as capable as it's 6k stacking limit enables me to make it, as it has an Air HQ, CD guns and 100 AV behind level 4 (halfway to 5) forts.

[center]
The Gilberts.[/center]

Taibutieua has two IMBs, the Wake CD gun unit, some AA and some arty, as well as an Air HQ unit. In total, 450 AV behind level 5 forts. I'm debating scrounging a division from somewhere to replace those two IMB's, just for more flexibility, but there's more pressing concerns elsewhere.

In the air, I've 3 Sentai's of Netties and a Sentai of Kate's, as well as two Sentai's of Zero's, plus another four or five a transfer flight away.

Events elsewhere are causing me some concern for this theater.

South-West Pacific

As is usual, all the action is reserved for SWPAC.

Horn Island is still in Japanese hands, despite the absence of any defenders. I've been moving reinforcements into this theater slowly since the Allies started building up NE Oz, but in recent weeks I've made this theater a priority for reinforcements.

The Allies have made a big effort to shut down Milne Bay, with a crusier bombardment being followed by several bomber attacks from North-Eastern OZ. In response, I try to move the 9th IMB into Milne Bay to boost the rather disapointing garrison. The Allies, however, have a different plan, sending a big crusier force.

They run right into the covering force:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 11, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 101,133, Range 7,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 31, and is sunk
DD Onami, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Oshio
DD Michishio

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola, Shell hits 1
CA Minneapolis, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA San Francisco
CA Quincy, Shell hits 3, on fire
CA Vincennes, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Perth
CL Nashville
DD Grayson, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Benham, Shell hits 1
DD Sterett
DD Norman, Shell hits 2

Reduced sighting due to 25% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 25% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 23,000 yards...
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
Range closes to 7,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 7,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 7,000 yards
Sawa, Masao crosses the 'T'
Range closes to 3,000 yards

...and then get through to the transports:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 101,133, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DMS W-22, Shell hits 30, and is sunk
xAP Brazil Maru, Shell hits 4
xAP Kokuryu Maru, Shell hits 8, on fire
xAP Huso Maru, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
xAP Teikyo Maru, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Teika Maru
xAP Teison Maru

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 6
CA Quincy, on fire
CL Perth
CL Nashville
DD Benham
DD Sterett
DD Norman, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
1840 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 66 disabled
Non Combat: 49 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 14 (10 destroyed, 4 disabled)

To be fair, I can't actually complain. To avoid the Allied radar advantage, cross their T and get within 3000 yards is no mean feat for the IJN in 1943.

In spite of this, I manage to salvage the situation to a decent degree. Thankfully, the Kinugasa and her destroyers took some American ships with them, and the 9th IMB managed to off-load at Buna, where it will march over-land to join in the defence of Port Moresby.

On top of some aggressive moves by the Allies in the air and at sea, patrol planes catch sight of what I assume to be escort carriers operating in the Coral Sea. Something's afoot, that much is clear.

[center]
The focus of the action at present is on Papua in general and Milne Bay in particular.[/center]

The 53rd Division is currently waiting in Tokyo for a convoy to assemble. Once the ships are in place, I intend to land it at Milne Bay, with the IJN out in force to provide cover. Following that, the 4th Division at Truk will be sent to Buna and march to Port Moresby overland, replacing the Guards Mixed Brigade, which will probably be sent to Rabual in anticipation of the compments arriving to allow the formation of the 1st Guards Division.

The 4th IMB has been bought out from China and is destined to garrison Truk. It's another unit that can form a division in a couple of months, but it's TOE is fairly typical of a "China Division" - lots of infantry, but hardly any artillery and no tanks. In other words, a unit that won't be missed if it spends the war manning pillboxes and bunkers on Truk.

In short, current plans involve a big dance of LCU's to put divisions on frontline bases and smaller units in rear-area bases.

When I stare at the map, it looks like the old Portland Roads - Port Moresby - Milne Bay line of advance. If that's the case, excellent - I've the AV, the aircraft and the divisions to turn it into a meat-grinder.

What is causing me to doubt my judgement is that there's been little action over in the Eastern Solomons. Bar the odd night raid from the Allies, there's been no action at all.

As old Albert once said - sooner or later, time will tell...

China-Burma-India

Currently counting down the days till some of the collaborationist units expand their TOE's. With the added AV, I hope to be able to free up a few more IJA units, mostly for the DEI.

Burma is firmly in Japanese hands, with the only combat between straggling British and Chinese units.

To keep things interesting, I'm mounting a recon-in-force into India with a half-dozen divisions. The border bases are very weakly held, so hopefully I can trash a few units and get a chance to earn some cheap VP's at little expense.

Submarine Warfare

Lokasenna's subs have had a good 1943! In 18 days, they've sunk two tankers and an oiler, as well as another four merchantmen of various types. My response is pretty drastic - every convoy running the Singers-HI route is now on a coastal routing. What idle ASW-capable ships I have dotted around the map are being sent out as hunter-killer groups, and the IJA ASW squadrons are at last being put to use.

I take part of the blame. Lokasenna used his USN submarines almost exclusively in the fleet role for 1942, and that's led me to become complacent regarding convoy defence. Now that his torpedos work, he's out for the lifeblood of the economy!

[Lowpe]

In the Marshalls, don't forget the dot base Ailinglaplap where you have something. 30K sl. Makes for a good supporting base smack in the middle.

Mili is nice because the CD can pack a punch if not bombed into oblivion.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

In the Marshalls, don't forget the dot base Ailinglaplap where you have something. 30K sl. Makes for a good supporting base smack in the middle.

Mili is nice because the CD can pack a punch if not bombed into oblivion.

Building up Ailinglaplap would be a bit excessive, as far as I see it. I've Mili, Maleolap, Wotje and Roi-Namur all as size 4 airbases. Adding Ailinglaplap to the mix would be nice, but the cost of developing it and garrisoning it wouldn't be balanced with what it would add to the defence. In my view, for what that's worth.

I think if I'm going to throw a division into the balance in the Marshalls, it needs to be on Mili. It's coastal guns are only just behind Truk and Saipan. A division, with AA, mines and an abudance of aviation support could make it very thorny.

My worry is that I put a division on Mili only to have it cut off. I keep arguing myself in circles over it - I'd love some easily expendable brigades to put on Mili instead. Currently, I'm trending towards buying out a Infantry Group from Japan for use on Mili instead and sending the division elsewhere - probably SWPAC or the DEI. The Infantry Group gets reinforced up to divisional strength within a few months, so it's a case of six and half-a-dozen.

EDIT: What I've actually did solved a nice little problem. One of the Infantry Groups in Japan has reinforcement components set to arrive in Korea in Dec '43. The Infantry Group itself will go to Mili.

If it dies, I'll have the artillery, engineer and armour components of a division arrive in Dec '43 to fill out with infantry squads on the cheap.

If, by some miracle, Mili is still holding in Dec '43, I can get the components in to add a division to it's strength.

That leaves me happy.

[Bullwinkle58]

Playing the AI I never took Mili after the first game. That's when I found out about the naval fortress. Same with Wotje.

You might be asking the wrong question when you ask how much defense to provide any of those "front range" islands in the chain. A better question is "why?"

Once the Allies are air-hairy enough to take Kwaj and Roi-Namur why do they need any of them enough to make dealing with the forts worth it? Supply to run your air forces can be interdicted to their west once Kwaj is taken. Kwaj also makes a good Allied sub fuel base.

Nemo, long, long ago, ran a mini-game with an AAR where he took down the whole chain almost all with Marine paratroops. Some light bombing to determine the garrison, then a full load of paras to take the naval fortresses from behind as it were. They are paper tigers against LCUs. The trick is to get their feet dry and paras come that way.

IDs to me ought to be maneuver elements, except on big, gotta-keep islands like Saipan or Iwo Jima. That ID would be far better used in the PI or Sumatra/Borneo to hold the oil. All you do if you put it someplace like Mili is provide Ground Bombing practice to a new generation of B-24 pilots. Mili is no more necessary to the Allies than taking Truk, which he won't do either. Both are go-arounds and watch-starves.

[ny59giants]

Building up Ailinglaplap would be a bit excessive, as far as I see it. I've Mili, Maleolap, Wotje and Roi-Namur all as size 4 airbases. Adding Ailinglaplap to the mix would be nice, but the cost of developing it and garrisoning it wouldn't be balanced with what it would add to the defence. In my view, for what that's worth.

You need to try to look at bases that need to be defended from the viewpoint of an Allied player. Ailinglaplap is important to an Allied player since it can built up to size 5 AF. That is the magic number needed to base B-17/24s from without a reduction in bomb load. Lots of bases in the Gilbert and Marshalls can only go to size 4 which limits their effectiveness for 4e bombers. The SL there is 10k like Mili in Marhsalls. If your going after Kusaie and Ponape, you want that extra AF level and the 4k in SL.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Playing the AI I never took Mili after the first game. That's when I found out about the naval fortress. Same with Wotje.

You might be asking the wrong question when you ask how much defense to provide any of those "front range" islands in the chain. A better question is "why?"

Because I'm flush with divisions (or units that will shortly be reinforced to divisions) and I'm getting reckless with my deployment.

You are quite right, though. The war won't be decided over who owns Mili or Maleolap. I've had some dreamy vision of an Allied amphib force turning up off Mili, losing a bunch of ships to the CD guns while landing Marines and only to have a crack Japanese division wipe them out on the beach.

A couple of naval guards will do the job nearly as well for a fraction of the cost.

IDs to me ought to be maneuver elements, except on big, gotta-keep islands like Saipan or Iwo Jima. That ID would be far better used in the PI or Sumatra/Borneo to hold the oil. All you do if you put it someplace like Mili is provide Ground Bombing practice to a new generation of B-24 pilots. Mili is no more necessary to the Allies than taking Truk, which he won't do either. Both are go-arounds and watch-starves.

I've not decided on my PI defence, but I think it's going to be a simple case of "stand or die at Manila". It's impossible to hold the PI, and I think the best anyone can hope for is to cling on to Manila and Clark to deny the Allies a big airbase, the repair shipyards and access to Northern Luzon for as long as possible.

You're right regarding the divisions. Two or three naval guards can protect against paratroopers just as well as a full division. I'll keep the prep though, it might be picked up and I'd love Lokasenna to think I'm defending islands with divisions.

For the divisions, I'll probably assign enough to SWPAC to protect Hansa Bay and Rabual and I'll divide the rest between the DEI and the Marianas - which, I might add, are looking very formidable already...

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Building up Ailinglaplap would be a bit excessive, as far as I see it. I've Mili, Maleolap, Wotje and Roi-Namur all as size 4 airbases. Adding Ailinglaplap to the mix would be nice, but the cost of developing it and garrisoning it wouldn't be balanced with what it would add to the defence. In my view, for what that's worth.

You need to try to look at bases that need to be defended from the viewpoint of an Allied player. Ailinglaplap is important to an Allied player since it can built up to size 5 AF. That is the magic number needed to base B-17/24s from without a reduction in bomb load. Lots of bases in the Gilbert and Marshalls can only go to size 4 which limits their effectiveness for 4e bombers. The SL there is 10k like Mili in Marhsalls. If your going after Kusaie and Ponape, you want that extra AF level and the 4k in SL.

The problem is that any investment into Ailinglaplap could just be building it up for the Allies to take or the Allies to bypass. In both cases, it's wasted supply. To be quite honest, I think Ailinglaplap is quite secure as it is. There's a naval guard to protect it against paratrooper or sub attacks, and though it's still a dot base, it's sheilded by Wotje, Roi-Namur, Mili and Maleolap - all big airbases with an abundance of avaiation support.

This is a vannila Scen 1 game, so Kusaie and Ponape are both 1(1) 3(3) bases with no stacking limits. Potential size 6 airbases that close to Truk (and behind the Gilberts/Marshalls) makes me nervous, so they'll be getting CD equipped SNLF's and a good chunk of AV.

Looking at the map just now, I'm wondering the worth of digging Ponape up to a size 6 airbase as a way to keep a good bit of depth to the Japanese defence Central Pacific as well as keeping a base within LRCAP distance of Truk. Building up both Kusaie and Ponape would be excessive, but Ponape might be a good investment.

Would a 6 AF Ponape be worth a division though?



Any advice is good advice at this point; dragging Japan to 1943 is breaking new ground for me...

[Bullwinkle58]

Advice? Free by the bushel. [:)]

As an AFB I can say that, to me, Manila is a sapphire welded to a diamond and a ruby. The repair yards are absolutely golden, especially once kamis activate. Soerbaja is nice, but small and far away from the China coast, Formosa, Hong Kong, etc. where a lot of late 1944-eqrly 1945 action will happen. Fuel, supply, and repair all in one. There's a reason the USN held on to Subic Bay as a base until the late 1980s. Without it, look at the trip to any repair yards. ARDs are nice, but sending one to the Marianas it might arrive before VJ Day. Or maybe not.

Ponape I'm more "eh" about. It's nice to have to be sure. It makes life at Truk miserable. But so does holding Rabaul for an AFB. If I saw a division there I'd keep going. Eniwetok is almost as good for a supply dump (not AF), and the Gilberts offer lots of logistic help for the Marianas too. I believe in RL the Saipan fleet loaded out at Kwajalein. (Memory?)

That's the trouble with the bigger, meatier islands. If you put enough there to hold them the Allies go around them. If you don't they take them cheap. By the time true amphibs and Hellcat CVs are plentiful the Allies are thinking time more than real estate. I don't play Japan, but if I had a spare division I'd put it on Guam or Saipan before Ponape. Saipan is HI rain-of-fire time. Ponape is some VPs.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Advice? Free by the bushel. [:)]

As an AFB I can say that, to me, Manila is a sapphire welded to a diamond and a ruby. The repair yards are absolutely golden, especially once kamis activate. Soerbaja is nice, but small and far away from the China coast, Formosa, Hong Kong, etc. where a lot of late 1944-eqrly 1945 action will happen. Fuel, supply, and repair all in one. There's a reason the USN held on to Subic Bay as a base until the late 1980s. Without it, look at the trip to any repair yards. ARDs are nice, but sending one to the Marianas it might arrive before VJ Day. Or maybe not.

By a handy coincidence, the engineers that have just finished expanding Chengtu and Chungking's airbases are destined for Manilia to build forts up to level 9. It will join Guam and Saipan as being the only bases I'll throw enough supply at to get forts up beyond level 6.

Ponape I'm more "eh" about. It's nice to have to be sure. It makes life at Truk miserable. But so does holding Rabaul for an AFB. If I saw a division there I'd keep going. Eniwetok is almost as good for a supply dump (not AF), and the Gilberts offer lots of logistic help for the Marianas too. I believe in RL the Saipan fleet loaded out at Kwajalein. (Memory?)

That's the trouble with the bigger, meatier islands. If you put enough there to hold them the Allies go around them. If you don't they take them cheap. By the time true amphibs and Hellcat CVs are plentiful the Allies are thinking time more than real estate. I don't play Japan, but if I had a spare division I'd put it on Guam or Saipan before Ponape. Saipan is HI rain-of-fire time. Ponape is some VPs.

Ponape will get a reinforced brigade I think. 300 or so AV - weak enough to be tempting but strong enough (with it's CD guns and some forts) to be a nasty little barb if Lokasenna decides to take it.

I'm doing a good job of building up strength in the Marianas. Saipan has a division already, as does Rota while Pagan has an infantry group that upgrades to a division. Guam still needs a division, so it's first on the list before anything goes to SWPAC or elsewhere. There's an infantry group from the Home Islands that I was sending to Iwo Jima that I'll send to Guam instead and scrounge some Naval Guards or SNLF's to cover Iwo against sub raids.

If I had the throw-away LCU's to man the frontline in SWPAC and CentPac, every division I could free would be winning a all-expenses paid trip to the Marianas. Sadly, the next big batch of easily expendable IJA units don't arrive for 250 to 350 odd days. When these reinforcements do arrive, they'll be sent to the Bonin's - letting the two infantry groups I've got covering them go to the Marianas.

If I can hold on till the IJA starts turning the taps on in terms of infantry units arriving as reinforcements, then I think I'll be in good shape - at least in the Pacific.

[mind_messing]

January 17th to Febuary 1st, 1943

Things get busy, then turn quiet.

North Pacific

All quiet up here.

Central Pacific

Not much is stirring here, either. We had a shot at a couple of big AO's moving around the Ellice Islands, but only a half-dozen Japanese planes sortied but failed to get any hits and by the next turn they were gone. The spotted oilers were the AO's Platte and Cache, both big, fast fleet oilers.

The real question is what was Lokasenna doing with big oilers that close to the frontline anyway? Funafuti is a size 2 port, so they weren't making a delivery. It looks like they were being parked there to assist in refueling as part of a bigger operation.

At present I'm considering it as a Psy Ops move on Lokasenna part: where there's fleet oilers, chances are there's a fleet, and the Allies aren't hamstrung if they lose a few AO's.

The Marianas continues to be reinforced. I've freed up two of the IJN Base Force units from elsewhere (1 from Burma, 1 from Formosa) to be sent to the Marianas. They're due a TOE upgrade on Feb 15th which gives them a host of aviation and naval support, as well as CD guns and engineers, making them exceptionally handy. There's a bunch of big LCU's en-route as well.

The 4th IMB (soon to be the 62nd Division) departs Fusan for Truk. Once it arrives, the present garrison, the 4th Division, will be sent to Saipan.

South-West Pacific

Papua New Guinea

The Allied carrier force makes an appearence!

On January 21st, American carrier aircraft struck Buna as part of a wider battle to shut Buna airbase. The Dauntless and Avenger squadrons are preceeded by US Army 2E and 4E bombers during the night in an effort to close the base in the face of stiff Japanese opposition.

Afternoon Air attack on Buna , at 99,129

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 40
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 26
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 16
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 72
SBD-3 Dauntless x 90
TBF-1 Avenger x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 11 destroyed, 19 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 6 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 16
Port hits 5

The base remained open with moderate damage. I assumed that this was the precursor to some sort of Allied amphibious action in the region, I suspected Horn Island, so the torpedo and dive bombers that I've been keeping in the rear were moved forward in anticipation of a strike at the Allied ships the following turn.

That never materialized, the USN was gone from sight by the 22nd and things have remained quiet since. The Allied carriers have since retired to Noumea, where they've stayed.

I've since fed some more aviation support and engineers into Buna in order to expand it. Engineers are also at work expanding the airbase at Hansa Bay.

Horn Island remains Japanese despite no garrison being present.

On the ground, the 9th IMB has completed it's trek to Port Moresby. The 52nd and 53rd Divisions are en-route to Rabual. The 53rd is destined for Buna.

Guadalcanal

Events elsewhere on the 22nd, however, was very bad for Japan. Allied 4E bombers trashed the airbase at Lunga. Despite fighters on Night CAP and AA units in the hex, the Allied bombers flying at 2000ft were able to trash the base. The fighters on Night CAP suffered badly to the Allied gunners with little to show, as did the Japanese AA. I can see why some people insist on night bombing HR's.

Japanese losses, in short, were pretty bad, but not terrible. 4 air groups were badly mauled, and some still haven't gotten back to full capacity, but my overall air strength in the area is still very robust.

Rabual

The 52nd Division was intended to be a garrison for Rabual and free up the 64th Infantry Group (soon to be the 61st Division), but inspection of the TOE's of these two units has found that the 61st Division is more suited to garrison Rabual than the 52nd Division, so the ships that bring the 61st Division will bring the 52nd Division to Guam.

China-Burma-India

A lone Chinese corps is hunted down in Western China and destroyed. Elements of the 3rd Tank Division are waiting for the last few fragments to combine on the Burma-China border.

The Allies start bombing the port at Rangoon by night, to little effect. There's very little in port anyways, bar a AKE and some small ASW ships.

The Allies spot the 1st Tank Division in a clear hex north of Shwebo and make efforts to bomb it. They inflict fair losses over repeated attacks, but several Japanese fighter bases are in range, and the bombers pay a heavy price.

The "recon in force" into India turns back after meeting an Indian Brigade and an Armoured Brigade. The bulk of the IJA strength remains in Central Burma.

General Strategy

All the troop movements are an elaborate, confusing dance towards two ends:

1. Ensure that all important frontline bases are held with suitable strength.
2. Ensure that the Marianas are defended with the best units availible.

In short, the small brigades and divisions with crap TOE's are being sent to hold the frontline bases while the high EXP divisions with tanks and artillery are being sent to defend the Marianas.

The gap between the Marianas and the frontline will be filled with what expendable units I can find and a host of brigades that are ariving in late 43.

[center]
The strong Japanese forces around Buna have seen off an Allied carrier raid with little damage to show for it, but there will be more raids...[/center]

[mind_messing]

Febuary 2nd to Febuary 18th, 1943

The calm spell in this game continues. It appears that we're both quite content to sit back, build up and wait for the opposing side to make the next move.

This passive stance on my part is probably more benifical for Lokasenna than for me, but I'm commited to maximizing my advantages in fighting on my home turf.

North Pacific

All is good and well on the Kuriles.

The 26th Division, a crack unit (90 EXP!!!) from China is bought out, and it's destined for Paramushiro-jima. This will free up a regiment to send to one of the other islands.

Ideally, I want three divisions in the Kuriles for mid-1944: one each on Onnekotan-jima, Paramushiro-jima and Shimushiri-jima, with the rest of the islands being held by whatever smaller units I can buy out cheaply or arrives as reinforcements. As of Feb 18th, I've 1 division and 1/3rd of another destined for the Kuriles, so we're well on track here.

Central Pacific

The sight of the Allied oilers doesn't materialize into anything. There's a lot of activity around Canton Island, but nothing that would merit the deployment of Allied oilers. Between naval search from the Gilberts and the Marshalls, we should have at least two days warning of any Allied sorties into this region.

The IJN Base Force units get their TOE upgrade, giving them some nice DP guns and doubles the number of engineers and aviation support that they have. A welcome upgrade!

IJA divisions start arriving on the Marianas. Guam as two plus an infantry group that becomes a division in 100 days. Tinian, Saipan and Rota all have a division each while Pagan has another infantry group that becomes a division in three months time.

There are a couple of other weakspots in the Central Pacific that need reinforcement. Ulithi needs a couple of Naval Guards, and Yap needs a division and some forts. Babeldoab probably needs two divisions, and Peleliu needs at least a division's worth of AV.

South-West Pacific

A squadron of Ki-46 III Dinah's moves up to Guadalcanal, enabling us to get a peek at what the Allies have in Noumea. They've 180 ships in port, including fleet oilers and heavy crusiers. What's better is that it's protected by only 15 fighters! Once some more supply gets on to Guadalcanal, I intend to mount a big night raid on Noumea with G3M3's in an effort to damage some of these ships.

Speaking of Guadalcanal, the Allies send a formidable destroyer force under Burke on a marauding mission to intercept IJN ships off-loading supply and engineers to the island. They run smack into the IJN covering force:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Auki at 114,135, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Suzuya
DD Yamakaze
DD Kawakaze
DD Umikaze, Shell hits 3, on fire 33 sys damage, minor flood and engine damage
DD Suzukaze, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Bagley
DD Blue
DD Helm, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 2
DD Henley
DD Jarvis
DD Craven, Shell hits 2
DD McCall
DD Maury, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Benham
DD Ellet
DD Lang, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Sterett
DD Wilson

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 92% moonlight: 12,000 yards
Range closes to 23,000 yards...
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 17,000 yards
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 11,000 yards
Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 11,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards
...
Range closes to 2,000 yards
...
Range increases to 4,000 yards
...
Range increases to 7,000 yards
...
Range increases to 10,000 yards
...
Task forces break off...

Despite the IJN crusiers geting the better of them, the Allied destroyers push past the covering force and run smack into some small IJN minelayers that were en-route to Guadalcanal:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Auki at 114,135, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
E Yaeyama, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Takashima, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CM Saishu, Shell hits 5, heavy fires The only survivor, with 44 sys damage and 11 flood damage.
CM Niizaki, Shell hits 23, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Bagley
DD Blue
DD Helm, heavy fires
DD Ralph Talbot
DD Henley
DD Jarvis
DD Craven, on fire
DD McCall
DD Benham, Shell hits 1
DD Ellet
DD Sterett
DD Wilson

As if the loss of some potential E-class escorts wasn't enough, the Allied destroyers run smack into a PB fast transport convoy bringing supply to Guadalcanal.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Auki at 114,135, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Edo Maru, Shell hits 1
PB Fukui Maru, Shell hits 2
PB Nikkai Maru, Shell hits 2 Limpted to Tulagi, where it will probably burn to the waterline in port.
PB Shinkyo Maru, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage Sinks afterwards.
PB Toyotu Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire

Allied Ships
DD Bagley
DD Blue
DD Helm, heavy fires RO-65 puts a torpedo in the Helm right after this battle and takes some heavy damage in return.
DD Ralph Talbot
DD Henley
DD Jarvis
DD Craven, on fire
DD McCall, Shell hits 1, on fire The McCall splits in to a seperate TF, which runs into the PB fast transports again. Both sides exchange a few shots and disengage.
DD Benham
DD Ellet
DD Sterett
DD Wilson

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 92% moonlight: 12,000 yards
Range closes to 27,000 yards...
Range closes to 25,000 yards...
Range closes to 23,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 23,000 yards
Range closes to 21,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 21,000 yards
Range closes to 19,000 yards...
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 17,000 yards
Range closes to 15,000 yards...
Range closes to 13,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 11,000 yards
Burke, Arleigh A. crosses the 'T'
...
Japanese Task Force Manages to Escape
Task forces break off...

Thankfully, three of the five ships stand a good chance of making Guadalcanal, which is starting to dip below that x2 required supply threshold.

Daylight, however, provides some retribution for the damage caused by Burke's destroyers, as IJN dive bombers sortie against the USN DD's, who haven't had the time to make good their escape before dawn finds them.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 116,137

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 26
D3A1 Val x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 6 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DD Wilson
DD Sterett, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Ralph Talbot
DD Blue
DD Jarvis, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ellet
DD Benham
DD Bagley
DD Henley, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Craven, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 116,137

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 26
D3A1 Val x 41

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Wilson, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Blue
DD Ralph Talbot, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Henley
DD Craven, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Ellet
DD Bagley
DD Benham, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

6 USN destroyers are reported lost on the Ships Sunk screen. The loss of a single IJN DD, 1 (almost certainly 2) PB's, two 1 VP CM's and a small escort is worth 6 USN DD's. The performance of the IJN crusiers was excellent, despite being suprised, they still managed to sink two USN DD's outright - if they had forced the USN to retire, this would have been a nice victory. I'm more annoyed about the supply lost on the PB's than anything else, which is a great sign!

The IJN crusiers will retire to Rabual to re-arm while the fast transport PB's have a go at unloading thier cargo. On Guadalcanal, the airbases will batten down the hatches for the retalation from the night-time 4E bomber raid at 2000ft (it's 100% moonlight) that should come in like clockwork.

Philippines

Engineers from China are being shipped from Hong Kong to Manila to start work on Fortress Luzon. My plan is quite simple:

[center]
The defence of Luzon.[/center]

Red - the frontline - the "Manila meatgrinder" . Manila is an urban light hex (x2 terrain bonus), while the hex directly east is jungle rough, (x3 bonus). I intend to dig Manila up to size 9 forts, if the Allies and my supply stockpiles co-operate.

Blue - All the CD guns, mines, PT boats and mini-subs I can get my hands on, plus some IJA units to prevent a landing to spike the guns. If the Allies want to bombard Manila, they're going to need to blast a path through Bataan, and it will cost them.

Green - Main airbases. Lingayen and Manila will be size 9 airbases. Clark is already maxed out at size 8 AF.

White - support airbases. Laoag is current a ASW airbase while San Fernando was built to size 4 in early 1942, and I'll beef up both to become a rear-area fighter base for the defence of Luzon.

Black - the weakspots. These bases are all likely targets for Allied landings in the rear of the defence, so I'll need to make sure there's a hefty garrison and good forts. Aparri in particular worries me, being a clear terrain hex, but hopefully the risk of LBA from Formosa is too high for the Allies to risk.

Obviously this will take some time, but if I start now, I should have the best part of a year to start making some serious progress.


China-Burma-India

After some recon of Celyon, I start considering the idea of a early 1943 offensive to take the island and grab some VP's. Looking at what I could assemble for a landing, it's very possible, but a little too risky for my tastes. A bolder and better player could pull it off, but I keep reminding myself that Japan doesn't need to win, it just has to avoid losing.

Burma is quiet, bar the occasional in-effective night raid on the oil at Magwe. The oil is still at 149 (151), which is great considering it's been in range of Allied bombers for quite some time now!

Industry

So far, so good.

Home Island Totals:
Supply - 2,701,089 (Excellent! We should break 3M in mid-43!)
Fuel - 2,568,483
Resources - 10,980,999
Oil - 1,471,857

Heavy Industry points - 1,234,955 (Back on track towards the goal of banking 1M HI per year)
Armaments - 175k
Vehicles - 14.6k

R&D

Everything seems to be progressing well.

I've five factories pushing the A6M5b along quite quickly that I think I'm going to convert some to the A7M2 Sam - the late A6M planes don't seem much of an improvement to me.

The Ki-100-I Tony is being brought along quickly by three factories (soon to be four), while two factories are working on bringing the Ki-43IIIa Oscar forward.

The Jack and George (4 factories each) have some factories researching with the rest being a few points away from researching, so we'll start having serious progress down that line soon.

The focus of R&D now is switching to late-war fighters. My main planes that I'm focusing on are the A7M2 Sam (3 factories, I'll probably switch two A6M5b factories to this shortly), the J7W1 Shinden (2 factories, plus a probably 2 from the A6M5b), the Ki-84a (4 factories) and the Ki-83 (3 factories).

For the late-late war, I'm working on the Ki-201 and the Ki-94-II.

The bombers I'm working on are the Peggy (T) and the P1Y1.

For night-fighters, there's two factories working on the Ki-46 KAI Dinah, three factories on the Ki-102c Randy and two factories working on the J1N1-S Irving. There's also a factory working on the D4Y2-S Judy and the A6M5d-S Zero to provide cheap and cheerful single engine night fighters.

Questions to the Gallery

I've never really considered the defence of Luzon from the Japanese perspective. My plan is formed around the principle that the most valuable thing the Philippines has to offer the Allies is a repair yard close to the frontline and big airbases from which to bomb Japan. Am I making a mistake in abandoning Luzon south of Manilia? Should I be trying a different approach?

Now's the time to speak up, before I start throwing engineers and supply into turning Manila into a fortress!

[center]
Val dive bomber attacking USN destroyers following their night-time raid on the Eastern Solomons. Despite not being being as experianced as their carrier counter-parts, the land-based Vals were able to deal serious damage to the fleeing American ships.[/center]

[mind_messing]

Febuary 19th to March 2nd, 1943

Sometimes the waiting is worse than the actual combat, and there's been a lot of waiting over the past few weeks of the war. We've had a few turns where there's been no combat, and plenty of turns with only two or three sub engagements in the replay.

North Pacific

I'm bulking up my naval presence here, doubling my destroyer force here from 4 Yugumo-class destroyers to 8, bringing my frontline naval strength to the 2 Yamato-class battleships and 8 Yugumo-class destroyers, plus a whole host of second-line ASW ships and a few submarines.

The 26th Division has nearly reached the end of it's march to Canton, where ships are waiting to send it to Paramushiro-jima.

Central Pacific

We lose a submarine in exchange for some valuable intel:

Sub attack near Sydney Island at 154,149

Japanese Ships
SS I-15, hits 18, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Columbia, Torpedo hits 1
BB Prince of Wales
BB Pennsylvania
BB West Virginia
BB Colorado
BB Maryland
CA Salt Lake City
CA Louisville
CA Chester
CA Northampton
CA Indianapolis
CL Cleveland
CL Honolulu
CL Boise
CL St. Louis
DD Chevalier
DD Fletcher
DD Cassin
DD Smith
DD Waller
DD O'Bannon

Later sightings suggest that the Allied ships have moved to Pago Pago, so I'll be staying on the lookout for any Allied moves from there and see if I can't put an Allied battleship or two out of the war for a few months.

Apart from that, things have been quiet here, and I'm using the time to train, train and train my air units some more. I've converted three IJA bomber unit to the Ki-48-IIb dive bomber, so they're taking the time to train up on their NavBomb skills.

I'm also using the time to cross-train some Ki-49 Helen squadrons to NavBomb as well, just so that the IJNAF isn't carrying all the weight of anti-shipping strikes in the Pacific theater. I've 4x30 R&D factories working on the torpedo-armed Ki-67 Peggy so that the IJA can have a anti-shipping aircraft that can use torpedos.

South-West Pacific

Bar the occasional night bombing raid by Allied 4E's and a rare daylight raid or Merakue, things are quiet here too. I've gotten some more engineers onto Guadalcanal, so that base should be difficult to keep closed in future.

There's been a major re-organization of IJN surface ships in the last few turns. Nearly every modern IJN destroyer is being deployed to Truk (with the exeption of the Yugumo's deployed to the Kuriles), along with the modern light crusiers and those heavy crusiers that have radar. The older destroyers are being concentrated at Singapore, along with the slow battleships and the Mini-KB and those heavy crusiers that don't have radar as of yet.

DEI

The Allies seem to be slowly building their way around the North-West Cape at Exmouth, though they've yet to start developing Port Hedland. Japanese units on Timor and Soemba are keeping a close watch on developments in this area. There's also an Ind. Mixed Brigade waiting at Canton for shipment to Taberfane to bulk up the defences against any thrust from Darwin.

The 54th Division has nearly arrived at it's destination of Oosthaven. When it arrives, IJA strength on Sumatra will be three divisions and three regiments. The three regiments will be reinforced by engineer, artillery and armour assets to form the 31st Division in three months.

Two garrison units are being removed from Burma to be deployed to Northern Sumatra. Burma is flush with units right now, and the two garrison units will be reinforced to divisional strength in October '44 - right when an Allied invasion is most likely.

My plan to defend Sumatra involes having one division at each of the five mainland bases facing the Indian Ocean. So far, we've two bases garrisoned with divisions, and another one to shortly be garrisoned. Within a month, we'll have four bases covered, and two garrison units as a stop-gap in the last.


China-Burma-India

I'm further optimizing garrisons following the TOE expansion of some collaborationist units. Through the wonder of the "Divide Unit" button, I'll be able to redeploy the 15th Division from Shanghai to Saipan. The 15th isn't a "crack" division (only 60 EXP), nor does it have much heavy weaponary (it's biggest guns are 75mm field guns!) but it has a nice mix of tanks, cavarly and motorized squads that should be quite formidable behind forts.

Burma is very, very quiet - no action at all! Again, I'm taking advantage of the lull to train up as many pilots as I can.

[center]
I think this is the first time I've seen the new light crusiers the Allies get. I am quite pleased that the combat debut of the Colombia was taking a torpedo from an IJN submarine![/center]

[Lowpe]

That is a big investment in the Peggy T! I am not so sure I agree with it...as you have to wait to get the Peggy T to actually start training torpedo skills up, and for the end game I am not sure that Torpedo planes are the way to go...

Will be interesting to see how it works out for you.