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

[Spidery]

I think if you can have two to three full fighter sentais of good planes and one Sentai (one of your supersized ones) of Judies or whatever your fastest bombers are, you will get thru the Allied CAP. You will lose half your bombers, but you will get thru if everyone flies. Go in at 15K for divebombers.

So one naval attack with three escorts all from the same base and no other attacks.

It helps if all the planes are already in the base, and not just flown and ordered to attack.

Biggest DB group is 36 planes. Trouble is that even if 36 planes get through CAP over his carriers heavy flak will mean I am lucky if I can score 5 hits and that means, at best, one carrier sent back to the yard. It isn't worth the heavy losses and the risk of no result. Better is to force a defensive fight for 2 or 3 days where I can wear down his fighters and fatigue his pilots and only then try for a naval air attack (except for some night strikes).

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery
Biggest DB group is 36 planes. Trouble is that even if 36 planes get through CAP over his carriers heavy flak will mean I am lucky if I can score 5 hits and that means, at best, one carrier sent back to the yard. It isn't worth the heavy losses and the risk of no result. Better is to force a defensive fight for 2 or 3 days where I can wear down his fighters and fatigue his pilots and only then try for a naval air attack (except for some night strikes).

He will simply fly in replacement squadrons from CVEs or the Marshalls.

[Spidery]

He will simply fly in replacement squadrons from CVEs or the Marshalls.

Hadn't thought of that[8|]. Need a new plan[;)]

[Spidery]

Surprisingly no follow up strike against Tarakan.

Allies bomb Lashio and bomb and attack Taung Gyi. Good result:

Ground combat at Taung Gyi (59,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51224 troops, 903 guns, 446 vehicles, Assault Value = 1552

Defending force 24024 troops, 206 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 698

Allied adjusted assault: 426

Japanese adjusted defense: 1105

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
422 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2262 casualties reported
Squads: 40 destroyed, 231 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 39 (6 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Australian Division
25th Indian Division
6th Australian Division
17th Indian Division
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
115th Infantry Regiment
3rd Division
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade

For some reason, an Allied brigade had moved on Lashio by itself. I attacked and drove it back with a fair result. Interesting that the defender has a minus on supply.

Ground combat at 61,46 (near Lashio)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 32819 troops, 280 guns, 113 vehicles, Assault Value = 1134

Defending force 2976 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 151

Japanese adjusted assault: 717

Allied adjusted defense: 28

Japanese assault odds: 25 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(+), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
193 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1375 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 20 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
37th Division
31st Division
7th RTA Division
45th Ind.AA Gun Co
5th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
82nd JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
BFF Brigade

DD Hayashimo and E No 2 commissioned.

[Spidery]

The Allies start getting B-29-1 in April. However, we are playing +/-15 days for reinforcements so it looks like he can start getting reinforcement groups mid March so they could be in action in the last week or so of March. It looks like about 130 arrive as reinforcements in April and another 120 in July plus 18 a month so that is a fairly large threat. I'll need to spread out some fighters over important bases.

What do you all do about ports? Stop using those in possible range of the B-29 or just try and protect and avoid concentration at a port? The manual suggests that having less than 10 ships in port reduces the chance of the ships being attacked so could use ports like Hong Kong, Singapore for small amounts of ship upgrade and repair.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

He will simply fly in replacement squadrons from CVEs or the Marshalls.

Hadn't thought of that[8|]. Need a new plan[;)]

I didn't either.[:D]

[Lowpe]

In our Downfall game mind-messing has left a lot of ships in ports.

I haven't used the B29 other than strategically, but the ports are in range of other bombers, but in truth there are so many targets, are you better off going up against his ships first or the airfield or the factories or the manpower or the oil.

So, I haven't bombed the ports that many times.

B29s always get thru...but AA and fighters can slow em down some. Fighters need cannons, 360mph or better, and lots and lots of them. I actually think the Randy 102a and 102b aren't bad bomber fighters for Japan because of their low SR of 2 and high durability. Can't fight anything else however. Some of your fighters you want to fly below the B29s and make upward attacks, those with UP facing guns....I am not sure if this is modelled in the game, but it does seem to work from my observation.

Yokohama should have the greatest concentration of AA and is a good place to base lots of your ships after the ENG unit there upgrades their TOE. There is some great radar there in the static units.

Once the Allies are within 28 hexes, and they are willing to pay the price, you are toast. Anything you can do to night bomb, bombard, or interdict the flow of supplies to those B29 bases try. SR5 means they need active management.

With your plane r&d you have a fighting chance to make it very painful for the Allies. Ki83 should do wonders... but you will need them to counter the Thunderbolts closer to the front. Some good low SR bomber killers would be Jack ver 2, Ki100, Randy 102a and b. Not much else out there with a 2 or less SR. Oscar IVs are just too flimsy, but better than nothing I guess. George and Frank Rs at SR3 if you can spare them from the front.

[Spidery]

February 25th 1944

I-21 strays close to Goa and encounters an Allied task force including BB Queen Elizabeth and is lost. Not sure if I should draw any conclusions from the presence of a battleship in the Indian Ocean.

An APD takes a torpedo near Groot Natoena (dot base) and is 43/82/7/2 damage. With 10, sub-filled, hexes to Saigon or Singapore I divert her to Groot Natoena (2 hexes) and will see if I can send some naval support int to help fix some of the damage but don't have much hope.

Allies strike at Lashio again, I am worried that this may be a precursor to an air assault.

The first evacuees from Samarinda arrive at Tarakan. Not a lot of use really as the base is shut and over-stacked. Will probably fly them somewhere useful.

9 hits claimed by aircraft on subs, mostly 500kg bombs off D4Y4. If some of these are real may have sunk something.

[Spidery]

Lowpe, thanks for the thoughts on the B-29.

I assume once he has bases in range to strike at Japan he will be doing that. It is in the interim that I wonder if he will hit ports. I expect not, if I don't leave a tempting target, because he seems, wisely, to like to conserve his forces. Night-bombing seems to have been abandoned since I have had night fighters.

I do need to review my defenses to check the speeds of fighters against the B-29.

Generally, I'll aim to leave anything valuable and not under repair/upgrade in a docked task force.

A big worry I have had the moment is, if he can start bombing the HI before June, he may be able to damage R&D factories and put back my R&D efforts a lot.

I have masses of N1K1-J in the pool (over 300). Newly arriving groups are being upgraded to this even though they are used for training. Aviation support and trained pilots are the main limit on the number of aircraft I can deploy in the field.

Army is not so well off with the roll out of the Ki-84r going quite slowly.

[Spidery]

February 26th 1944

Corsairs sweep Brunei, result seems pretty even. However, it distracts the CAP over various task forces in North Borneo and Mitchells strike and sink 2 1250 capacity TK, 2 of the weaker E and a 1 VP Tosu' class PB. Looks bad but it is only 12 VP of ships.

Allies sweep and bomb Tarakan. The airfield remains closed and some 43 oil wells are destroyed. Not sure this matters as don't think I can get the fuel out while the airfield is closed.

Allied forces spotted moving North in the Makassar strait in range to strike at Jolo. Two task forces, only cruisers and DD spotted but there could be amphibious forces.

Some LRCAP over Taung Gyi decides to stray 200 km North and tangle with some Spitfires and Beaufighters attacking troops near Lashio.

About even results. Some A6M5 are used (a group due to withdraw in a week and I was having difficulty finding fighters). They do okay against Spitfire Vc.

Allies launch an attack at Pegu that achieves a 3::1 result and nearly takes the base. The 65th Division is trashed with only 4 active squads left. Fortunately, I can vacate the base next turn and have a very good infantry division dug in behind the Sittaung river so may give time for troops to recover.

I had an AO moving out from Japan as part of a "secret" plan. It encounters a sub so I am not sure what he will make of that.

N1K5-J to 3/45.

Day air combat losses: 16 Ki-84a (did badly against the F4U-1A), 9 N1K1-J, 2 Ki-84r, 2 A6M5, versus 11 F4U-1A, 1 Spitfire Vc, 1 F4U-1, 2 Beaufighter Vc, 4 B-25D1.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

Lowpe, thanks for the thoughts on the B-29.

I assume once he has bases in range to strike at Japan he will be doing that. It is in the interim that I wonder if he will hit ports. I expect not, if I don't leave a tempting target, because he seems, wisely, to like to conserve his forces. Night-bombing seems to have been abandoned since I have had night fighters.

I do need to review my defenses to check the speeds of fighters against the B-29.

Generally, I'll aim to leave anything valuable and not under repair/upgrade in a docked task force.

A big worry I have had the moment is, if he can start bombing the HI before June, he may be able to damage R&D factories and put back my R&D efforts a lot.

I have masses of N1K1-J in the pool (over 300). Newly arriving groups are being upgraded to this even though they are used for training. Aviation support and trained pilots are the main limit on the number of aircraft I can deploy in the field.

Army is not so well off with the roll out of the Ki-84r going quite slowly.

There is a lot of industry he can bomb in China....I would be doing things like that to stretch your fighters, and to hurt your economy. And I agree, unless he saw a very juicy unprotected target at a port, the ships can kind of wait.

[Spidery]

February 27th 1944

A bloody day of battles.

E W-25 sinks SS Crevalle in the shallow water near Wakkanai[8D]. Other ASW forces get some good hits on subs.

I-26 takes a shot at an xAP near Wakkanai, misses[:(], and is 29/49/0 damage and heading back to the barn.

Allies take an abandoned Pegu.

I set up an attack against Allied task force at Woleai. N1K1-J from Yap sweep the base and slaughter the Wildcats and Hellcats on CAP[:)]. Army dive bombers and escorts strike from Guam. Unfortunately, the sweep arrives in the afternoon and the bombers in the morning[:D]. For the first strike package there are 100 escorting planes versus 99 on CAP and for the second package 153 escorts versus 92 CAP. Just 3 bombers from the second strike manage to get through CAP[&:] and plant 2 100kg bombs on CVE Chassanau. A total flop[:@].

Allies sweep Babeldoab. The number of N1K1-J on defense has reduced because a group transferred to Yap but still do well and down 25 P-38J[:)].

In Borneo, Allies sweep and bomb Tarakan, sweep Brunei with Thunderbolts, and strike out with Liberators and Mitchells on naval strike.

Luckily, the Thunderbolts arrive after the naval strikes[:D]. At Miri a large bomber force is escorted by Lightnings and mostly gets through to do a lot of damage. At Brunei and Zamboanga, unescorted strikes are chewed up[:)], a small group of Mitchells hit an undefended group of PB at Balabac and sink them.

Loss for the day: 1 8150 capacity TK with oil on board. 3 PB, 2 xAK, 1 DMS. 51 VP total, the DMS and the TK being the only ships that matter.

In the air: Japan 104 fighters 53 bombers, Allies 96 fighters 28 bombers (7 of them 4E).

End result of the battles: Japan lost 199 VP with 17 VP of damaged ships that may sink and Allies lost 131 VP so keeping just above the acceptable 2::1 loss.

A7M2 to 4/45. Ki-83 to 5/45.

Heavy radio traffic at Soerabaja, probably an invasion force loading.

[Spidery]

February 28th 1944

Allies sweep and bomb Lashio and Tarakan against no CAP.

Allies sweep Brunei with Corsairs and Hellcats. The defense is being worn down. 17 Hellcats and 6 Corsairs downed for 28 Ki-84a, 7 Ki-84r, 4 N1K1-J. The Ki-84a is really obsolete by now[:(].

I made a mistake near Palembang. A fast transport force was sent to send some supplies to Billiton but I left it set at "Do Not Unload". It returned to Palembang where 16 SBD-3 attacked without escort and some Ki-84r pounced and none of the dive bombers made it home[:)].

I-168 is lost near Truk. Lots of attacks against Allied subs but no big success.

An xAK damaged yesterday succumbs to fires.

Lots of Allied task forces seen around the Pacific. Looks like a DD group planning on bombarding Babeldoab and some carrier forces. Allied battleships spotted at Columbo.

Burma situation showing planned defensive points. Moulmein and the hex between it and Pegu are only temporary spots as I can't stop him working around them through the jungle. After Uttardit or Raheng falls the next defensive point is all the way to Hanoi.

[Spidery]

Some thoughts on air models.

I'm really liking the Ki-43-IV.

Flying low, teamed the N1K1-J, it seems to have the advantage that its high rate of climb means it can scramble quickly. Coupled with the excellent manoeuvre low and with pilots picked for defense skill it seems to be able to bring the enemy fighters down to its level while surviving well. The N1K1-J can then dive in and rip the enemy to shreds.

It also has enough guns that it can shoot down 2E bombers. Against 4E bombers it only damages them and has difficulty getting past defensive fire.

The Ki-84a seems pretty poor and I wish I had gone straight for the Ki-84r.

The N1K1-J has been king. Historically, about 1000 were produced, so far I have produced about 2,500 and lost 1,460. I'll probably produce another 3,000 of all N1K models.

[Spidery]

February 29th 1944

DD Mochizuki puts two solid hits into SS O24 resulting in heavy damage. This is near Singapore so probably no difficulty for O24 to make it back to port.

SS Ch 36 uses all its depth charges and scores 9 damaging near misses on SS Puffer near Saigon. One of these knocks out torpedo tubes so will, probably, send her back for repairs.

I-25 fails on an attack on an xAK convoy near San Francisco and with 16/0/0 damage I elect to send her back for repairs.

8 Fletchers bombard Babeldoab; Nells and Emillies make night attacks first and I lose 4 Emillies and 1 Nell to flak for no hits (not too surprising). The bombardment does little damage: destroying a single Oscar on the ground. They manage to move far enough South by daybreak to avoid attack from B7A2 based at Peleliu. (This does seem one of the silliest things that ships can steam in for 12 hours, bombard, and make a full 12 hour move back again all during one night.)

Allied carriers are moving around Marianas again.

Lashio is bombed again, but I have some engineers here and they are beginning to make progress in fixing the air field. Keeping the base supplied may become a problem.

The fighters at Brunei get a rest day.

Allies have expanded Samarinda to level 8.

The 8th Tank Regiment has completed the long trek through jungle and mangrove swamp from Samarinda to Tarakan and will have rest and add to the defenses. Tarakan is over-stacked so excess aviation support has been flying out.

Vast numbers of air groups are resized so I am going to have to revisit all my forces. Looks like a lot of IJA Sentai changed from 36 to 49, nice! Turns out I have run out of Ki-84r in the pool to cope with all this expansion.

B6N2a available, I am going to build these. N1K2-J available I will upgrade one size 75 N1K1-J factory to this as it will work well for middle altitudes. Allies get the P-47D25, as though they need more and better Thunderbolts!

"45cm T91 Mod3 Strng" device available but I don't think this gets used.

[Spidery]

February Overview

The centre of Burma was abandoned, including the oil at Magwe, with only a few defensive battles at Rangoon and Pegu. These were abandoned as soon as the forts started collapsing and disablements increased thus preserving the forces to make a defense in the jungle and behind rivers.

Allies took Truk at the beginning of the month but haven't advanced in the Pacific.

They smashed the air field at Tarakan and are making life difficult for shipping in and out of Miri and Brunei. The supply path between Tarakan and Miri is about 100 points so I am hoping to be able to move some supply into Tarakan and extract some of the fuel from Tarakan. Air battles over Brunei have favoured the defense. No Allied night strikes during the month.

In the sub war I am ahead of the game having sunk 5 Allied subs during the month.

Air still showing good results and, again, if I avoid offensive actions I would do much better. Land results okay since they include the losses when the Allies mopped up Truk. All shipping losses have been from sub or air action, no clash of fleets. I lost more than I should of when he raided the Marianas.

Allied losses: 5 SS, 5 YMS, 3 AM, 1 KV, 4 xAKL, 4 xAK
My losses: 2 xAKL, 19 xAK, 1 AMc, 11 ACM, 4 TK, 1 AKE, 2 AG, 1 ARD, 1 AV, 2 DMS, 4 CMc, 1 CM, 4 SS, 8 SC, 5 PB, 1 Pc, 2 E.

Of my losses, 2 of the tankers were the best ones, the loss of the ACM may be an issue and the AV, DMS, SS, SC are valuable the rest of the ships are of little value other than for their VP loss. The only Allied losses that count are the 5 Gato class SS sunk.

The Allied total doesn't add up, the total has gone up by 12 more than the individual parts.

Code: Select all

        Japan    Allies
 Total:  +713    +1956
 Base:    -95     +610
 Air:    +598     +762
 Land:   +118     +232
 Sea:     +97     +340
 

[Spidery]

February Industry

314 oil wells lost (Magwe and some of Tarakan).

The supply situation still looks okay and on schedule for the crunch happening about the same time as the Soviets activate (all depending when the Allies can start attacking the Home Isles). Production does not look like being an issue (but I could have done with a few more Naval Yards as I have turned off some SS).

Total Equivalent Supply: -110,728

Code: Select all

 Oil:      -183,970
 Fuel:      -91,048
 Supply:   +145,893
 HI:       +117,485
 Vehicles:   +2,261
 Arms:       -2,969
 

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

February Overview

The centre of Burma was abandoned, including the oil at Magwe, with only a few defensive battles at Rangoon and Pegu. These were abandoned as soon as the forts started collapsing and disablements increased thus preserving the forces to make a defense in the jungle and behind rivers.

Allies took Truk at the beginning of the month but haven't advanced in the Pacific.

They smashed the air field at Tarakan and are making life difficult for shipping in and out of Miri and Brunei. The supply path between Tarakan and Miri is about 100 points so I am hoping to be able to move some supply into Tarakan and extract some of the fuel from Tarakan. Air battles over Brunei have favoured the defense. No Allied night strikes during the month.

In the sub war I am ahead of the game having sunk 5 Allied subs during the month.

Air still showing good results and, again, if I avoid offensive actions I would do much better. Land results okay since they include the losses when the Allies mopped up Truk. All shipping losses have been from sub or air action, no clash of fleets. I lost more than I should of when he raided the Marianas.

Allied losses: 5 SS, 5 YMS, 3 AM, 1 KV, 4 xAKL, 4 xAK
My losses: 2 xAKL, 19 xAK, 1 AMc, 11 ACM, 4 TK, 1 AKE, 2 AG, 1 ARD, 1 AV, 2 DMS, 4 CMc, 1 CM, 4 SS, 8 SC, 5 PB, 1 Pc, 2 E.

Of my losses, 2 of the tankers were the best ones, the loss of the ACM may be an issue and the AV, DMS, SS, SC are valuable the rest of the ships are of little value other than for their VP loss. The only Allied losses that count are the 5 Gato class SS sunk.

The Allied total doesn't add up, the total has gone up by 12 more than the individual parts.

Code: Select all

        Japan    Allies
 Total:  +713    +1956
 Base:    -95     +610
 Air:    +598     +762
 Land:   +118     +232
 Sea:     +97     +340
 

I believe the only number that is accurate is the total. FOW controls the other numbers. You cant have FOW controlling them all or you would never know when you had won.

Ships sometimes dont go into the total until later, it may be the same with planes and/or the plane totals may never be accurate due to FOW.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

Some thoughts on air models.

I'm really liking the Ki-43-IV.

Flying low, teamed the N1K1-J, it seems to have the advantage that its high rate of climb means it can scramble quickly. Coupled with the excellent manoeuvre low and with pilots picked for defense skill it seems to be able to bring the enemy fighters down to its level while surviving well. The N1K1-J can then dive in and rip the enemy to shreds.

It also has enough guns that it can shoot down 2E bombers. Against 4E bombers it only damages them and has difficulty getting past defensive fire.

+1[:)]

[Spidery]

March 1st 1944

Sub sinking sounds heard. Not sure whether it was from something damaged previously or from the claimed 500kg bomb hit by a D4Y4.

Otherwise, no action of note.

Allied carriers seen heading back towards Truk at night.

Allies destroy another 13 oil wells at Tarakan - Fuel didn't flow from there so I don't think I am going to be able to use these wells anyway.