See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

24 Jan 42 --- Philippines

Japanese forces work on clearing Mindanao. They've halted at Manila and north of Clark, for now. A damaged ARD is hiding in Busuanga, with no hope of making it to safety.

[apbarog]

24 Jan 42 --- Singapore and Borneo

Singapore awaits attack. No recent activity on Borneo.

[apbarog]

24 Jan 42 --- Timor

Japanese have jumped from Manando and Ternate to Kendari, and now to Koepang on Timor. Ambon is temporarily bypassed. Carriers are lurking west of Ambon. At least one surface group near Koepang. Not much at Kendari at the moment.

[apbarog]

25 Jan 42

I have several xAKL task forces at Port Hedland in NW Australia, loading resources. They are all lit up with detection. I suspect a carrier task force nearby, and I doubt that any of my ships will escape. Too slow and too predictable where they have to flee.

I got SigInt on two regiments planning attacks at Soerbaja. This is new.

Blen IF's strafe Japanese ground units at Pegu as they try to move out. B-17's join in with bombing them. Results are good. No CAP, clear terrain. I won't try again. It's guaranteed that they'll have CAP next turn.

[Bullwinkle58]

FWIW you don't need to move these Resources. Not worth losing ships for sure. Oz has plenty of Resources elsewhere to keep industry working.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

FWIW you don't need to move these Resources. Not worth losing ships for sure. Oz has plenty of Resources elsewhere to keep industry working.

+1

Even as Japan I only move them if the TF has already gone there to drop something off. I've only thought about resources once in my Allied campaign so far. It was to move a few from the big island to Oahu. I don't even know why I bothered with that! I can just as easily move the endless supply to PH from the CONUS. [:)]

[apbarog]

I was using some xAKL's that escaped from Java, nothing big. I figured that I might as well move some resources on the way to Perth. I did send a few back for more, which I probably shouldn't have.

[Bullwinkle58]

The sooner to Perth the sooner to CT. The sooner to CT the sooner to EC. The sooner to EC the sooner they take Fuel. The sooner they take Fuel the sooner back to CT.

[apbarog]

26 Jan 42

Thanks Bullwinkle. I've prioritized shipping for fuel to Capetown now. I've had a bunch of new xAK's showing up at Balboa and Cristobal, so I've sent some of those out just for that.

My shipping fleeing Port Hedland is mostly spotted, but no air attacks take place. May be just a big surface group nearby.

On Mindanao, a Philippine unit is eliminated at an inland clear hex.

Singapore is bombed.

Most interestingly, Japanese paras drop onto Toungoo, north of Pegu. I left a small Burmese unit there just in case. They hold the base, but aren't big enough to win the battle. The shock attack goes at 1 to 1 and the forts drop to 1. I have another small unit just to the south, which is now moving into Toungoo to help. If it doesn't get caught by units moving from Pegu first.

I considered LR capping Toungoo, as there will undoubtedly be more paras this turn, but he'll also undoubtedly send Zeros, so I passed. I'll save my B-17's for when he breaks out onto the Burma plain to the north.

Several Chinese divisions are currently railing across northern Burma heading for India. And most of the Chinese air force has been bought out and flown to Ledo. They will rail to Delhi, most likely, and train there. (Is that a pun?)

2 battleships damaged at Pearl Harbor are now on the West Coast and beginning serious repairs which will take 3 to 4 months each.

[Bullwinkle58]

It would be a semi-odd place to use them, but he might have Glen I-boats on the coast there looking for coastal-hugging stragglers turning the corner for Perth.

The B-17s might be saved to use on Magwe if and when. If you destroy that Oil the Rangoon refineries become a lot less useful. Even without generating supplies in DBB. The next nearest fuel stop for his fleet is Sumatra.

[apbarog]

I do think he has at least one sub near the northwest corner of Australia, for at least the last few days. I think he is in deep water, so my coast hugging ships have avoided him so far.

As for the B-17's use in Burma, we do have a house rule for no strategic bombing through 6/43. I will use them there, though, on troops in the open or airfields.

I've been considering whether to defend Ceylon heavily or not. At first I thought yes, but having played as the Japanese (not in DBB though), I know that the Japanese can bring enough to take Ceylon no matter what I put there, at this point. If he comes heavy for India, he can divert lots to Ceylon and kill off what few good units I have now. So no, I'm not reinforcing Ceylon. I would like to keep Diego Garcia, but should I lose Ceylon, Diego Garcia is not really defensible.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I do think he has at least one sub near the northwest corner of Australia, for at least the last few days. I think he is in deep water, so my coast hugging ships have avoided him so far.

As for the B-17's use in Burma, we do have a house rule for no strategic bombing through 6/43. I will use them there, though, on troops in the open or airfields.

I've been considering whether to defend Ceylon heavily or not. At first I thought yes, but having played as the Japanese (not in DBB though), I know that the Japanese can bring enough to take Ceylon no matter what I put there, at this point. If he comes heavy for India, he can divert lots to Ceylon and kill off what few good units I have now. So no, I'm not reinforcing Ceylon. I would like to keep Diego Garcia, but should I lose Ceylon, Diego Garcia is not really defensible.

Get the big arty unit out of Ceylon to India. It may seem counter productive to remove it from your best forward port, but to lose it means you won't be able to rebuild it completely until late 43! The replacement rate is really slow for Brit AA guns.

[apbarog]

27 Jan 42

Thanks obvert, good advice on that unit in Ceylon.


Rangoon is lost. The unfortunate RM Viper Force is eliminated there. It had unluckily just appeared as reinforcements at Rangoon yesterday.

At Toungoo more paras drop, get a 2 to 1, and drop the forts to 0. Bettys contributed bombing the defenders, and there were no fighter escorts. Time for part of the AVG to appear. Also, B-17's will bomb the paratroopers to try to buy one more day of defense. A small unit needs a couple of days to move in and help the defenders.

Near Exmouth, NW Australia, I-18 sinks xAKL Tatung. I'd sent the xAKL's around this direction to Perth, expecting carriers to appear and sink the lot. Instead, carriers appear NW of Darwin and sink DD Banckert, which had fled east toward Darwin and ran out of fuel. Carrier aircraft also sink a small minesweeper at Darwin. There are no other targets for him here.

Bettys bomb troops at Zamboanga.

Sallys bomb Singapore.

[apbarog]

28 Jan 42

More activity off the NW coast of Australia. I-16 fires on PG Soerbaja, which is fleeing toward Perth. Torpedoes miss. But a surface group of 3 crusiers and 4 destroyers finds Soerbaja, and sinks her. She put up a valiant fight, though, getting 2 hits on DD Nowaki, causing heavy fires and heavy damage.

xAKL's made it to Carnarvon but are spotted. I disband them into port this turn, having no chance of escape right now.

On the other side of Australia, south of Sydney, AVP Merel is torpedoed and sunk by I-15. The AVP was headed to one of the islands between Sydney and Noumea, for future use supporting sea planes.

Tabiteuea is invaded by a small landing force, and taken.

Something strange happened at Toungoo, where the Japanese had dropped paras. The paras attacked again, but only got a 1 to 3 odds, since a small Burma unit moved in this turn. The results show 38 Allied casualties, but no losses for the Japanese. However, the map shows no Japanese unit there any longer. I don't know what really happened here. Possibly a synch bug, maybe his unit was automatically forced out of the hex, maybe they surrendered and I just wasn't notified.

At Koepang, on Timor, I'm seeing lots of ships disbanded in port. I wonder what that is about. I pose no threat to the area right now.

[BBfanboy]

Occasionally the display seems to lose the land units that are in the hex and it looks like nothing is there, even for friendly units. This just happened to me a couple of minutes ago at Pago-Pago after I used ALT-Tab to switch into the game. The only way I could see my units there was to click on the flag at the bottom left of the screen (rollover did not work). Once I selected one unit from the list the icons appeared normally.
To see if the Japanese unit is still there, just try to set a land unit attack. It will work if one is there, not work if there is no enemy present.

[apbarog]

My opponent confirms that he still has paras at Toungoo. I received his copy of the combat report file, and it matches mine, so we don't have a synch bug. So it must be as you say BBfanboy. I had already sent my turn, but I'm not concerned. I may have won the hex temporarily, but he has units headed up the road from Pegu, and there's no stopping those guys.

Thanks for the info. I've not run into this kind of a display issue before. But I was always running the stock game, so it may be Beta related.

[apbarog]

29 Jan 42

Japanese surface group storms into Carnavon port, and finds a tiny MMS, and sinks it. The xAKL's are hiding in the "port". He must know that. He saw them go in, and not come out.

Over 50 Sally's bomb a Chinese corp in the mountains in NE China. They do decent damage, over 100 casualties. And I see some movement heading this way from the south. He'd like to open up a backdoor to Yenan. I'm moving the one Chinese fighter unit still in China to the area. (flying H-75's, but only 5 of them)

Bombers hit Bataan for the first time. Pretty much the end of fort building.

[apbarog]

30 Jan 42

Betty's based on Timor bomb Darwin for the first time. Minor airfield damage. An AO task force is spotted just south of Timor. Hudsons attack a CL and a DD nearby, but get no hits.

At Toungoo, Burmese forces try to kick out the Japanese paras, and fail, getting a 1 to 2 attack, and taking all of the casualties. It's irrelevant anyhow, as forces from Pegu are about to move into the town and rout the defenders. At least the paras didn't accomplish anything.

The Chinese air force has assembled in Dehli, India, and begins training.

US carriers are near Melbourne. Christmas Island is building nicely. Queen Elizabeth is at San Francisco and loads another infantry regiment for Auckland. Much fuel and supply is en route to New Zealand also. I am going to fortify New Zealand before reinforcing Noumea and Suva. I will start sending stuff to Pago Pago next month.

In China, I spot a buildup of enemy troops south of Yenan. It looks like he will attack north across the river and head towar Yenan, then swing west toward Sian from the back door. I'm moving a few units to eventual blocking positions. He did just build Paotow's airfield to size 1. Paotow is the far northeastern Japanese-held town in China, and is on the road to the long winding trail to the far north of China. The terrain here is more favorable for attack than the woods south of Sian, but the supply network is very poor.

[apbarog]

31 Jan 42

Lots of naval activity around Koepand, Timor.

The attack at Singapore finally occurs. The Japanese, knowing that Singapore doesn't have a very strong defense, bring 3 infantry divisions and support. The attack goes at 3 to 1, lowering the forts from 3 to 0. I'm happy with how things have gone here. I evacuated between 20 and 30 units. Many base forces and many Indian units were pulled out. He took over 250 squads disabled. Probably one division needs serious rest. Singapore will fall tomorrow, but making it to February with a much reduced defense is fine by me.

Toungoo falls, as the Japanese reinforces from Pegu. I will continue to place tiny weak Burma units as speed bumps, at least saving one day making him attack.

A regiment of the Americal Division appears at Melbourne. I already have another regiment at Auckland. It will now proceed to Melbourne to eventually combine. Queen Elizabeth has an independent regiment loaded and is proceeding to Auckland.

[apbarog]

1 Feb 42

After yesterday's shock attack crossing at Singapore, the Japanese try another shock attack. The attack goes at 1 to 1, with no forts built. I'm very happy now. The Japanese losses have become a little more significant, and now it looks like a rest may be needed, or reinforcements. I don't usually post the combat report, but this one merits a listing:

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 42781 troops, 407 guns, 201 vehicles, Assault Value = 1255

Defending force 22595 troops, 339 guns, 189 vehicles, Assault Value = 180

Japanese adjusted assault: 556

Allied adjusted defense: 363

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
1398 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 120 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1334 casualties reported
Squads: 71 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 97 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 30 (18 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Assaulting units:
5th Division
Imperial Guards Division
23rd Ind Engineer Regiment
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
18th Division
6th Tank Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
22nd Australian Brigade
2nd Gordons Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
AHQ Far East
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
112th RAF Adv Base Force /1
III Indian Corps
113th RAF Adv Base Force
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
2nd Loyal Battalion
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
Singapore Base Force
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Fortress
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
111th RAF Adv Base Force /1
Malaya Army /2