Greyjoy(J) vs. Obvert(A) - The air war in China- DBB, SLs, PDU OFF

[GreyJoy]

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[GreyJoy]

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[GreyJoy]

Near Hyderabad the flanking movement continues. He extracted a couple of tank brigades from Hyderabad stack and will surely try to outflank me with those. I hope to be able to stall him once again, waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.

[njp72]

That's interesting as I have found exactly the same thing occurring in my current and previous games and with roughly the same territory.

Not that I'm fixated on VPs, but it does highlight the significant achievement of others who can push through to 4:1 eg Mr Kane.

I think sinking Allied CVs in 42 is critical but of course Allied players know that as well

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

For those interested in VPs, Japan, despite having conquered half India and Northern and Western Oz, is barely at 2,7 to 1...[X(]

[GreyJoy]

Even if the attention is completely focused on India today, in China we had an important turn:

South of Chikkiang, the enemy's stack seems to be collapsing, despite the recent additions of fresh units Erik did....

Ground combat at 78,51 (near Chihkiang)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3699 troops, 212 guns, 325 vehicles, Assault Value = 758

Defending force 40743 troops, 156 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 932

Allied ground losses:
259 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
51st/A Division
3rd/B Division
19th Tank Regiment
3rd/A Division
51st/C Division
51st/B Division
3rd/C Division
13th Army
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
6th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
4th Mortar Battalion
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
9th Prov Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
84th Chinese Corps
86th Chinese Corps

The bombardments are really doing well lately and we'll try another DL tomorrow. 2 more IDs are ready to rotate in as soon as the one presents here today will get shattered.
A tank army is assembling south of Heyniang. Soon we'll march them there! Wanna get to Chikkiang by the end of the month!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: njp72

That's interesting as I have found exactly the same thing occurring in my current and previous games and with roughly the same territory.

Not that I'm fixated on VPs, but it does highlight the significant achievement of others who can push through to 4:1 eg Mr Kane.

I think sinking Allied CVs in 42 is critical but of course Allied players know that as well

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

For those interested in VPs, Japan, despite having conquered half India and Northern and Western Oz, is barely at 2,7 to 1...[X(]

Completely agree. Mr.Kane did something incredible, IMHO. 4-1 is really hard to achieve and I can't even think of a way to get there playing Japan...

[GreyJoy]

RnD: A6M5 should be in production within the next week or so.
This should really change the things. It's way superior than the A6M3 IMHO and should give me a better grip on the air war in India and on the seas.

KI-61a is also entering into production. Have 2 sentais upgrading from Nates to this frame. Not a great one, but decent for point defence CAP of big bases (like Calcutta for example).
The next one that needs to be produced is the KI-61c, but unfortunately it has a unique upgrade line, so it will arrive pretty late in 1943[:o]

[GreyJoy]

August 14, 1942

The Empire breaths. In the west the allies have moved back all their air assets. Hyderabad is safe for the moment.
Also a tank regiment of ours arrived on the hex west of the city before the allies could take control of it[:)]. Pretty good. Now in a couple of days i'll have there enough strength to be able to hold whatever he throws at me on the left flank of Hyderabad.

At Patna, the Empire moves back to Ranchi the air units that fought yesterday. No point in giving the allies another easy day. In fact the allies come back and attack Patna again with LRCAP+SWEEPs+Bombers. They took 5 planes downed by flak but the base remains operative. Tomorrow we'll be back in force.

In China things got bad again. Another attack repulsed with heavy losses on our side. Will now need to rotate the units back again. Need patience here.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

August 14, 1942

The Empire breaths. In the west the allies have moved back all their air assets. Hyderabad is safe for the moment.
Also a tank regiment of ours arrived on the hex west of the city before the allies could take control of it[:)]. Pretty good. Now in a couple of days i'll have there enough strength to be able to hold whatever he throws at me on the left flank of Hyderabad.

At Patna, the Empire moves back to Ranchi the air units that fought yesterday. No point in giving the allies another easy day. In fact the allies come back and attack Patna again with LRCAP+SWEEPs+Bombers. They took 5 planes downed by flak but the base remains operative. Tomorrow we'll be back in force.

In China things got bad again. Another attack repulsed with heavy losses on our side. Will now need to rotate the units back again. Need patience here.

Are your units in China actually suffering destroyed devices, or just disabled? If it's disabled, I think you can ditch the patience and simply have 2-3 attacks' worth of troops ready to go...attack once, move the hard-hit units out and fresh ones in, attack again in a couple of days. The longer you wait, the more time he has to recover from the supply burn. The less time you wait, the more it hurts for him.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
KI-61a is also entering into production. Have 2 sentais upgrading from Nates to this frame.

It is a great plane compared to a Nate![:D] Beautiful lines, armored, fast, well armed (for now). Full employment for the ground crew, however.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

August 14, 1942

The Empire breaths. In the west the allies have moved back all their air assets. Hyderabad is safe for the moment.
Also a tank regiment of ours arrived on the hex west of the city before the allies could take control of it[:)]. Pretty good. Now in a couple of days i'll have there enough strength to be able to hold whatever he throws at me on the left flank of Hyderabad.

At Patna, the Empire moves back to Ranchi the air units that fought yesterday. No point in giving the allies another easy day. In fact the allies come back and attack Patna again with LRCAP+SWEEPs+Bombers. They took 5 planes downed by flak but the base remains operative. Tomorrow we'll be back in force.

In China things got bad again. Another attack repulsed with heavy losses on our side. Will now need to rotate the units back again. Need patience here.

Are your units in China actually suffering destroyed devices, or just disabled? If it's disabled, I think you can ditch the patience and simply have 2-3 attacks' worth of troops ready to go...attack once, move the hard-hit units out and fresh ones in, attack again in a couple of days. The longer you wait, the more time he has to recover from the supply burn. The less time you wait, the more it hurts for him.

Mainly disabled. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing for the last 3 months, but he can do the same, and I always end up facing at least 1,000/1,200 AVs, while I can basically only have, at best, 900 AVs in that damned hex!
However yes, patience. Eventually i'll get a good dice and roll and will get a 1-1[:D]

Now the next formation that will attack will be formed like that:

1st Tank ID, the 39th Inf ID, TONS of artillery and 6 tank regiments. Hope with all those tanks things may be get better... but it's tough!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
KI-61a is also entering into production. Have 2 sentais upgrading from Nates to this frame.

It is a great plane compared to a Nate![:D] Beautiful lines, armored, fast, well armed (for now). Full employment for the ground crew, however.

Sure, it is a good plane IMHO.
Service 3 will mean it will have to be based only in big bases with lots of support, but can be used effectively I think.
Compared to the Oscar IIb I'm using now, it has better DUR, slightly better armament and is faster.
I will use those 2 sentais in India (one in Madras and the other one at Calcutta), right behind the first line.

[Cribtop]

Banzai! Great air result in India.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Banzai! Great air result in India.

Thanks Crib! Let's see for how long I can hold

[GreyJoy]

Aug 16, 42

A good day for the Empire.
INDIA: At Patna the allies come for the third day in a row, but, probably due to the fatigue accumulated in 3 days of constant air ops, they send only a small force of SWEEPS+LRCAP.
Japan was back in force over the skies of Patna after a day of break and regrouping at Ranchi.
Results are good. 10 allied planes shot down for only 4 of ours.
Patna isn't bombed and the strip is already 100% operative. More sentais are now rotated in and fresh ones are present now. The allies need to start from scratch once again.
Hyderabad remains uncontested also today. Our troops managed to conquer the hex west of it and now i am pretty sure it was a fake to lure me out of the town....he couldn't have taken so long to get there... Pretty well for me. Now my units are already marching NE..

In China, another good bombardment south of Chikkiang, while west of Kweyang the 16th ID managed to reach the Guards Tank ID. Now we're almost ready to attack...we just need few more supplies to arrive...


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Morning Air attack on Patna , at 54,30

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 40
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 32
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 19
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 53

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIa Trop x 7
Hurricane IIb Trop x 5
Mohawk IV x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed

CAP engaged:
Hosho-1 with A6M3a Zero (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 20 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 18000 and 26000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
5th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 24 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 13 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
13th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 29 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes
24th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 32 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes



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Ground combat at 78,51 (near Chihkiang)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3699 troops, 212 guns, 325 vehicles, Assault Value = 651

Defending force 43298 troops, 207 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1205

Allied ground losses:
309 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
19th Tank Regiment
51st/C Division
3rd/A Division
51st/B Division
3rd/B Division
51st/A Division
3rd/C Division
4th Mortar Battalion
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
13th Army
6th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
9th Prov Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
44th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese Corps
84th Chinese Corps
86th Chinese Corps


[img]https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfi ... 7009F2.jpg[/imag

You can see in the pic the double flanking movement being made by the allied new army

[GreyJoy]

Aug 17, 42

Erik sends sweeps+LRCAPs to Patna again. Again, not the whole lot. P-40s, Mohawks and Hurricanes. The Empire has reconquered completely the skies over Patna, with the base repaired fully once again. 80 Japanese fighters (fresh and with high morale) are ready to meet the enemies.
Again it's a good day for Japan.
Erik loses 17 Planes (6 P-40s, 6 Mohawks and 5 Hurricanes) for only 1 A6M3a. A very good ratio.
However he's massing his planes again. 200 fighters are spotted at Benares, with 50 more at Allahlabad and 50 more at Gorkapur... I know he's coming again, but we're as ready as we could be. More AA is arriving and one more KI-43 Ic sentai is upgraded to the IIb version at Calcutta.

At Hyderabad it's now confirmed that the encircling movement was a fake (at least for the left wing of the pincher), in order to attract part of my forces out of the city. Now 2 more enemy divisions are spotted at Hyderabaad,where the enemy has now massed nearly 90,000 men (not less than 5 IDs with 3 armoured Brigades). Now the base is in danger. I'll throw my dice here and won't order the divisions that moved out to get back. Instead they will move NE and threaten his LOCs. I am confident that even a single experienced divisions, with plenty of support troops, +2 terrain and 4 forts can handle the attack in 1942...at least for some days (until the reinforcements can arrive from overseas - we have now 2 divisions arriving at Madras in one week).
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Morning Air attack on Patna , at 54,30

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 26
A6M3a Zero x 21
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 33

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIa Trop x 3
Hurricane IIb Trop x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed

CAP engaged:
2nd Ku S-1 with A6M3 Zero (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 24000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
6th Ku S-1 with A6M3 Zero (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 19000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes
Hosho-1 with A6M3a Zero (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 19000 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 19000 and 22000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 27000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 14 minutes

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: castor troy

your game pretty much shows why I don't play with stacking limits other than those on islands. I've tried it but the game just doesn't handle it well. The way stacking limits work is just creating a WWI style war with no chance to break the line if the player in charge of the defense is somewhat skilled.

I disagree here, respectfully. Stacking Limits make the land combat much more "real" IMHO. Battles aren't won in single day. Not only in Atolls, but especially on continental battles. In stock it's just who mass the bigger army, no matter the quality or the manouver. Here you are forced to think and to manouver, which makes the game, especially in China, much more interesting... my 0,2 cents obviously

Really? All the AARs I`ve read so far (including yours) show exactly the opposite of what you say in that post. With stacking limits any halve decent player knows exactly that he doesn't have to maneuver as it's perfectly easy to know what you need in a hex so nothing could ever dislodge you and the stacking limit is exactly what is giving you that advantage, which goes for both sides of course. As the attacker you might have to "maneuver", means bringing in one division after the other to have it butchered.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: castor troy

your game pretty much shows why I don't play with stacking limits other than those on islands. I've tried it but the game just doesn't handle it well. The way stacking limits work is just creating a WWI style war with no chance to break the line if the player in charge of the defense is somewhat skilled.

I disagree here, respectfully. Stacking Limits make the land combat much more "real" IMHO. Battles aren't won in single day. Not only in Atolls, but especially on continental battles. In stock it's just who mass the bigger army, no matter the quality or the manouver. Here you are forced to think and to manouver, which makes the game, especially in China, much more interesting... my 0,2 cents obviously

Really? All the AARs I`ve read so far (including yours) show exactly the opposite of what you say in that post. With stacking limits any halve decent player knows exactly that he doesn't have to maneuver as it's perfectly easy to know what you need in a hex so nothing could ever dislodge you and the stacking limit is exactly what is giving you that advantage, which goes for both sides of course. As the attacker you might have to "maneuver", means bringing in one division after the other to have it butchered.

Then you haven't read mine.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: castor troy
Really? All the AARs I`ve read so far (including yours) show exactly the opposite of what you say in that post. With stacking limits any halve decent player knows exactly that he doesn't have to maneuver as it's perfectly easy to know what you need in a hex so nothing could ever dislodge you and the stacking limit is exactly what is giving you that advantage, which goes for both sides of course. As the attacker you might have to "maneuver", means bringing in one division after the other to have it butchered.

I agree that stacking does give the advantage to the defender but there are not enough units to really saturate the entire line. There are always going to be weak spots and effective players will hit those spots decisively before the defense can react. If your games are really playing out like you suggest then the Japanese player isn't fully utilizing his advantages over China.

[GreyJoy]

August 18, 1942

Our reading of the Hyderabad "faint" was correct.
He faked a flanking movement and sent the whole lot to Hyerabad.
Today he made a recon bombardment. 2338 AVs, with more than double of guns and tanks... but a division of mine arrived just in time to reinforce the base and i think we can hold an attack if he choses so. The rest of my army keeps on marching to threaten his LOCs... i like the overall plan here.


Ground combat at Hyderabad (39,32)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 69298 troops, 1193 guns, 1208 vehicles, Assault Value = 2338

Defending force 56651 troops, 639 guns, 597 vehicles, Assault Value = 1302

Japanese ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
436 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 11 (6 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (6 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Indian Division
762nd Tank Battalion
7th Armoured Brigade
7th Australian Division
6th Australian Division
70th British Division
2nd British Division
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
Waziristan Division
85th British AT Gun Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
III Indian Corps
134th Field Artillery Battalion
6th Medium Regiment
77th Coast AA Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
65th Coast AA Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment

Defending units:
24th Ind Engineer Regiment
36th Division
41st Division
5th Division
26th JAAF AF Bn
15th Army
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
30th Fld AA Gun Co
8th JAAF Base Force
1st Art.Mortar Regiment
Southern Army
13th Ind.AA Gun Co
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
40th Field AA Battalion
22nd Air Defense AA Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
20th AA Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
21st Air Defense AA Regiment
11th Air Fleet
32nd Ind.AA Gun Co
11th Ind.AA Gun Co
106th JAAF AF Bn


Quiet everywhere else. Allied fighters keep on massing in front of Patna. A sentai of KI-44 IIa Tojo just arrived at Patna today. My CAP there is as good as it could be.

The A6M5 enters into production today!!! For the next couple of months we're gonna produce more than 12 A6M5 each day[8D]. This plane should give me the upper hand on almost everything the allies can field in India, execpt for the P38s. Think i should be able to hold here.

Japanese CVs are in scouting mission south of Truk...planning an attack in the lower Solomons for the next week