Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[Spidery]

Current aircraft production and R&D

Fighters

Producing 110 A6M5c, 180 N1K1-J, 30 J2M2, 30 Ki-43-IIIa, 90 Ki-43-IV, 155 Ki-84a.

Large reserve pool of A6M5. Apart from the new Oscars all other pools are looking good and may cut down production if no major action this month.

A factory of 50 turned off for the Ki-45 KAIa. These have been relegated to protecting industry in China and the pool of 34 will be used up and then change them over to the night fighters.

5 factories on A7M2, 5 factories on J7W1, 2 factories on N1K2-J (will then work on N1K5-J), 7 factories on Ki-83, 5 factories on Ki-84r (3 will enter production, 2 will change to Ki-94-II), 6 factories on Ki-94-II.

Night Fighters

1 on J1N1-S (repaired), 2 on A6M5d-S (1 repaired), 4 on P1Y2-S, 2 on Ki-45 KAId, 2 on Ki-46-III KAI (both repaired), 3 on Ki-102c. Not sure how many will need to be in production, eventually probably need to be able to produce 120 night fighters a month for each of navy and army. For the navy I expect that will be the P1Y2-S but I may also keep some A6M5d-s around. For the army it will be the Ki-46-III mostly until the Ki-102c is available.

Bombers

Producing 198 D4Y4. Have a pool of 128 of these but need a deeper pool, excess can probably be used for Kamikaze. Have a large pool of 301 D3A1 that will probably go to waste and some 85 D4Y1 for which there may be some use.

Producing 20 Ki-48-IIb, have 3 Sentai using this but not yet seen if they are any use, a reserve pool of 22 needs to grow some more.

Producing 30 B6N2 (with a factory turned off), a pool of 75 is almost enough. Large reserve pools of 112 B5N2 and 164 B5N1.

Reserve pool of 121 G3M2, 83 G3M3 and have a factory for 45 G3M3 turned off. Producing 30 P1Y1 and have a reserve pool of 33, may stop producing this soon.

Reserve pool of 61 Ki-49-IIa and have turned off production of 100. The Ki-49-IIb becomes available in September and will probably keep production off until then.

4 on B7A2 (1 repaired), 2 on Toka (I think this was a mistake), 2 on P1Y2, 4 on Ki-74-I, 3 on Ki-115a. More factories will change to the Ki-115a when they are not needed for production, there are 5 factories that could be changed over.

Transports

Producing 30 Ki-49-II KAI. Pools for transports are low and not all groups fully equipped, the Ki-49-II KAI will, gradually, replace all other models in front-line use.

Producing 11 H8K2-L but with 14 factories repairing. Will replace the H6K2-L. The L3Y2 is used for training but all other navy transports will use the H8K2-L eventually.

Recon

The D4Y1-C will be the only navy recon plane but there aren't many groups so a factory of 20 is turned off at the moment.

A factory of 25 for the Ki-46-III still building up a pool and still using some of the older army models.

Other

A factory of 80 on the E13A1 has built a pool of 137. Expect I will use these.

Reserves of E14Y1 are low so may have to release some from a training group some time.

A factory of 15 producing the N1K1 Rex, not sure how much use I will get from this.

A factory of 30 for the H8K2 turned off as I have a pool of 32. Also have a pool of 40 H6K4 that are going to waste.

[Spidery]

July 12th 1943

Air Losses: 0 Japanese, 9 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP: 16520

Subs

Quiet

Marshalls

Quiet

Solomons

Flak does well over Rabaul as the Allies lose 3 B-24D1.

Repairs on the Hyuga are going well and now at 46/34/16. System damage seems to be going down at about 1 per day now. Will probably keep her at Satawal until the end of the month and then move to Guam and maybe try for the yards in Japan. Can make 8 knots now, would be better at 9 as that could move to Guam in 2 days.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Batavia airfield to 7.

Production


Reinforcements

Quiet

[Spidery]

July 13th 1943

Air Losses: 3 Japanese, 13 Allied, 2 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP: 16524

Subs

I-180 is badly damaged by air attack supplying Buka and is trying to get to safety.

Sub sunk sounds during the turn suggest an Allied sub sunk by air attack: intel claims it is the SS Plunger.

Marshalls

Quiet

Solomons

A few N1K1-J and Ki-84a (flying from Manus with drop tanks) ambush Allied 2E bombers over Gasmata. 6 B-25C, 5 B-26B downed for the loss of 2 N1K1-J.

3 CA bombard Feni Islands:

Night Naval bombardment of Feni Islands at 108,126

Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Mikuma
DD Ushio
DD Sagiri
DD Shirakumo
DD Onami

Allied ground losses:
544 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 65 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 21 (3 destroyed, 18 disabled)

Port hits 20
Port supply hits 4

I had hoped to get some of the 40+ Catalinas based there.

Reports of lot more task forces at Torokina but no transport task forces detected.

Australia

Glens spot Allied carriers have left Perth and are passing Geraldton.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Aitape airfield to 4.

Production

Reinforcements

SC CHa-39

[Spidery]

July 14th 1943

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 3 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP: 16531

Subs

I-180 succumbs to damage and sinks. RO-67 tries to attack the Royal Sovereign off Western Australia but the British escorts sink her.

Marshalls

Quiet

Solomons

200 Liberators bomb Rabaul.

Australia

Still tracking 1 task force containing a BB but lost sight of Allied carriers.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Truk forts to 7 (I think I will stop). Anshan airfield to 4. Allies expand Canberra to 8, netting another 60 VP.

Production

P1Y2 to 6/44

Reinforcements

An 8150 capacity tanker.

[Spidery]

July 15th 1943

Air Losses: 30 Japanese, 6 Allied, 9 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP: 16532

Subs

I-173 takes a shot at CA Exeter near Exmouth but misses.

I-17 tries to attack a large task force with 3 BB, 2 CA, 4 CL, 8 DD at least. She is sunk but manages to get a single shell hit on DD Woodworth. I doubt that is more than a scratch. This near Port Hedland.

Marshalls

Quiet

Solomons

P-38G sweep Manus, Ki-84a on CAP perform badly, 27 Ki-84a for 5 P-38G for some reason I take a lot of write offs/ops losses. Plane fatigue was averaging about 10 or less beforehand.

Rabaul is bombed.

Australia

Betties from Soemba spot Allied task forces at range 15. Reports two task forces, 4 ships 1 DD and 2 CA, 9 ships, CV and other capital ships, 111 fighters, 122 bombers, 13 auxiliary. Subs have seen at least 4 BB, 6 CA, 4 CL and 16 DD in at least 4 task forces and have not engaged the CVs. No invasion forces spotted. At range 15 from search many task forces could be missed.

Not sure what he is up to.

Having rounded the North West Cape the task forces are more or less on a path for Koepang, or they could head due East for Darwin. Koepang is a level 9 airbase with 215 aviation support on hand so I should be able to put enough forces in there to threaten either of those moves.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Sorong airfield to 7.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

E Maeshima

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery
P-38G sweep Manus, Ki-84a on CAP perform badly, 27 Ki-84a for 5 P-38G for some reason I take a lot of write offs/ops losses. Plane fatigue was averaging about 10 or less beforehand.

What where the numbers involved on both sides? I had hoped for a better performance there...

It looks like you might have some exciting times coming up.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Spidery
P-38G sweep Manus, Ki-84a on CAP perform badly, 27 Ki-84a for 5 P-38G for some reason I take a lot of write offs/ops losses. Plane fatigue was averaging about 10 or less beforehand.

What where the numbers involved on both sides? I had hoped for a better performance there...

It looks like you might have some exciting times coming up.

Two sweeps of 25 P-38G. The first was met by 50 Ki-84a and by the second only 25 were left. On the first air-air losses were okay but the second seemed to be a disaster. However, I can't tell where all the ops losses came from.

Could do with some action, it has been a bit quiet around here. If he keeps coming I should have an accurate estimate of forces the next day, at least to tell me if he has all his carriers present.

[Spidery]

July 16th 1943

Air Losses: 23 Japanese, 10 Allied, 4 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at: Namatanai (but then rembark?)
Base VP: 16531

Subs

E W-7 is sunk by SS Scamp near Dadjangas.

Marshalls

Quiet

Solomons etc.

Allies hit a number of mines at Namatanai, some sinking sounds (only a few VP - maybe the DD):

TF 154 encounters mine field at Namatanai (107,125)

Allied Ships
CA Chester, Mine hits 1

TF 160 encounters mine field at Namatanai (107,125)

Allied Ships
DD Stack, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

TF 107 encounters mine field at Namatanai (107,125)

Allied Ships
SC-637, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
xAP Chilka, Mine hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

TF 107 encounters mine field at Namatanai (107,125)

Allied Ships
xAP Khandalla, Mine hits 1

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

They unload at Namatanai suffering heavy disablements

Amphibious Assault at Namatanai (107,125)

TF 107 troops unloading over beach at Namatanai, 107,125

Allied ground losses:
187 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (0 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled)

12 troops of a M1917 MMG Section accidentally lost during unload of 2nd Marine Div /4
14 troops of a USMC 43 Rifle Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 2nd Marine Div /14

The bombardment shows only a few forces ashore and at the end of turn there is no Allied LCU marker present, as though they re-embarked.

P-38H sweep Manus and I again get a bad result: 8 Ki-84a, 7 A6M5c, 5 Ki-44-IIc, 1 N1K1-J lost for 5 P-38H.

Fortunately, he loses 4 Liberators to ops losses on the turn so the air loss ratio is still okay.

Rabaul is bombed.

Australia

Now seeing 3 task forces with 200+ naval aircraft have moved NW from last position and are now some 560 nautical miles SW from Soerabaja. He could be just running a diversion to draw the KB out of position, but an expensive one if I took the bait, or he may be planning to dash in and hit either industry or ports on Java.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Allies build a level 1 airfield on Feni Islands.

Production

Mitsubishi Ha-43 to 9/43

Reinforcements

E W-27

[Spidery]

July 17th 1943

Air Losses: 294 Japanese, 186 Allied, 224 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at: Namatanai
Base VP: 16537

Why play a game where everything depends upon a few die rolls...

Allies have brought more than I expected to the table. They move forward at flank speed to just off Sumbawa. KB has moved to just the other side of the island. In the morning there are no strikes but in the afternoon massive strikes occur. Allied task forces are in a severe storms hex, mine are under clear sky. The results reflect the weather.

LBA from Koepang put a torpedo into a CVE and a single 100kg bomb into CV Enterprise. Not sure how much damage they do to CAP but it doesn't look good. LBA from Soerabaja fails to fly. Best damage on Allied ships, CVE Breton (heavy fires) 3 800kg bomb hits, CV Saratoga 3 800kg bomb hits, CVE Barnes (heavy damage) 1 torpedo hit.

Allied strikes sink CVL Shoho, E Hishu, AO Toho Maru. No confirmed sinkings of Allied ships.

CVL Ryujo (83/27/18/99) and CV Hiyo (85/60/15/89) have out of control fires and are doomed.

CV JUnyo is at risk (58/76/4/20) and unlikely to survive.

CV Shokaku (53/16/7/5) is at some risk.

BB Fuso (30/3/17/1) needs some yard time.

9 more Aces and one Ace WIA.

If the Allies pursue they need to swing around Sumbawa and may hit mines. Also LBA may be able to strike but my ships are withdrawing.

Solomons etc.

Allies continue to land at Namatanai; they find another 9 mines. These are Allied laid mines and not mine!

DD Ralph Talbot, BB West Virginia, PT-253, DD Dunlap, BB Maryland (x2), DD Stuart, DD Henley, DD Blue find mines.

Engineering

Quiet.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

CV Amagi

[Spidery]

July 18th 1943

Air Losses: 15 Japanese, 0 Allied, 4 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Allies swarm forward with subs but their surface forces seem to be withdrawing.

CV Junyo takes two torpedoes and sinks. CV Shokaku takes 1 torpedo but the extra damage is minor, she diverts to Soerabaja.

Solomons etc.

I-123 drops a minefield and is damaged and returning for repairs.

Rabaul is bombed. Allied attack Namatanai but the Navy hold the Allies off but lose some of the forts. This does not look good but I didn't expect an SNLF unit to hold off a Marine division even for a day. He has stopped landing forces or bombarding not willing to risk his own minefield.

Ground combat at Namatanai (107,125)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 7192 troops, 127 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 309

Defending force 2952 troops, 22 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 62

Allied adjusted assault: 236

Japanese adjusted defense: 175

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
142 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Marine Division

Defending units:
Yokosuka 5th SNLF
7th Naval Construction Battalion

Engineering

Quiet.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

Quiet

[Lowpe]

A straight up carrier clash west of the Banda Sea?

So you lost 2 CV and 2 CVL...argh.[:(] In return you got 1 CVE, and damaged one CV and another CVE.

I don't like the way Mr. Kane does CV battles...he does them too well. I really looked hard at his hit on Jocke, and it really was a masterpiece of orchestration and force concentration given their house rules.

Koepang is a huge air base for you, right? Soerabaja probably isn't too shabby either I am guessing, but it might lack a HQa?

I guess Mr. Kane dangled 200 planes for two days and then struck with a much stronger force?

[Spidery]

July 19th 1943

Air Losses: 34 Japanese, 65 Allied, 20 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

DEI

Carriers and surface fleets return back towards the DEI. A group of P1Y1 commit suicide against them. The Allies launch some strikes against ASW teams and suffer badly from N1K1-J providing CAP. One bomb hits a DD but damage is minor.

Two Allied subs are damaged enough to need to retire but probably won't sink.

Allied amphibious forces are no longer seen, damaged Allied CVE seem to be heading for Port Hedland. Next turn will be the last chance to get a sub attack in.

Solomons etc.

Allies bomb the troops at Namatanai with everything they can. Some LRCAP downs many escorting fighters but cannot get through to the bombers. A few troops are flown in to help at Namatanai and the Allied attack again fails. I'm hoping that he won't have enough supply and will have to risk the mines again before he can take this but I expect he will just bomb my troops to dust.

Engineering

Quiet.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

CV Unryu

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

A straight up carrier clash west of the Banda Sea?

So you lost 2 CV and 2 CVL...argh.[:(] In return you got 1 CVE, and damaged one CV and another CVE.

I don't like the way Mr. Kane does CV battles...he does them too well. I really looked hard at his hit on Jocke, and it really was a masterpiece of orchestration and force concentration given their house rules.

Koepang is a huge air base for you, right? Soerabaja probably isn't too shabby either I am guessing, but it might lack a HQa?

I guess Mr. Kane dangled 200 planes for two days and then struck with a much stronger force?

CV clash with us on either side of Sumbawa.

No Allied CV/CVE sunk yet and they will probably get to yards okay. Lost the smallest 4 CV/CVL just in time to replace them with the first 2 Unryus. However, Shokaku is still in danger at 60/34/39 she is in port at Soerabaja but there is the risk he will launch a port strike against there. Or even send some BB to bombard.

It is going to cost 800+ PP to buy back the lost air groups.

Soerabaja is level 8 and has an HQa and 240 aviation support. Bad weather messed up the attacks from there. Koepang is level 9 with 240 support. Looks like I should have built up somewhere between the two.

Not sure he "dangled" or that was just chance, I don't think he expected my carriers. What he seems to have done is rush everything at full speed to the one hex. The "dangling" force seems to have been an AO task force covered by carriers so that he could rush that forward to the same place.

[JocMeister]

Ouch, I feel your pain!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

It is going to cost 800+ PP to buy back the lost air groups.

No so...you can transfer restricted units to Carriers, and fly off your air groups that are Independent from the remaining carriers avoiding the PP.

But then you have dead named air groups flying from living carriers which might be distasteful depending upon your level of OCDness.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Spidery

It is going to cost 800+ PP to buy back the lost air groups.

No so...you can transfer restricted units to Carriers, and fly off your air groups that are Independent from the remaining carriers avoiding the PP.

But then you have dead named air groups flying from living carriers which might be distasteful depending upon your level of OCDness.

Don't understand. That is the cost to get the air groups off the destroyed air groups list. Even where a fragment of the group remains that fragment doesn't seem inclined to become the group itself and it can't be resized.

[Spidery]

July 20th 1943

Air Losses: 7 Japanese, 5 Allied, 2 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy: Namatanai, Green Island (auto)
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

DEI

Allied Carriers are moving North, they are now in a position to move forward and launch a city strike against Palembang next turn. Lose 6 Jakes on naval search to CAP. He has naval search out, and CAP downs some planes, but does not launch any strikes.

Lots of small task forces spotted at Roti - are they mine layers or subs?

Retreating forces look like they will soon reach Port Hedland.

A sub engages a transport task force near Carnarvon, is it retreating to Perth or heading North?

Solomons etc.

After heavy sweeps and bombing the defenders of Namatanai retreat.

Engineering

Quiet.

Production

Ki-84r now 12/44 (will be available 1/9/44).

Reinforcements

SS RO-108, E W-33

[Lowpe]

Oops, so sorry, I thought the cost was destroyed plus removing restricted status. My mistake....

[Spidery]

Situation

[JocMeister]

Thats a pretty bold move this early! [X(]

I don´t think I have to tell you that you need to keep him out of the DEI for at least another year...if he lands you will have to kick him out.