Groundhog Day! - No NJP

[Mike McCreery]

India - Late August 1942

NJP just took Cochin fortress with a couple of brigades. I moved into Calicut last turn with 1300AV of Canadian troops. He has not detected my troops yet and I hope the base will just convert this next turn to hide the size of my forces.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Leandros

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

On turn 2 I start prepping for the exodus of the short legged Dutch auxiliaries by using the small (1825 capacity) tankers to distribute fuel to the small island bases between Java and Timor.

Once the fueling stations are set up the exodus begins.

Against the AI the entire Dutch navy, air force and most of the army can be transferred to Timor to create a bastion the AI can't deal with.

Obviously, against a human opponent this isn't viable and to get them to a relatively safer location you would need to facilitate a longer "jump" to OZ.

This can be facilitated by coupling the short legged craft with a long legged ship to refuel them every couple of hexes.

Granted, this will be an inexorably slow move, fraught with peril all the way, but I would rather take a shot at getting them to a place they can survive and serve longer than simply leaving them in place to be lost
when the Japanese arrive.

At one occason I tried to evacuate Dutch ground forces on Sumatra when Java was invaded but they wouldn't board the ships....even if my intention was to move them
to another DEI island. The many small freighters, however, operated nicely as you have recommended here. I'm assembling the Dutch remnants in Wyndham.

Fred

Dutch LCUs can only be moved by airlift. Their flying boats are great for this. Supplement them with a few PBY squads and you can move their entire army minus the heavy equipment. Once the fragments with the heavy equip die the relocated parent can draw new HE from pool.

[BBfanboy]

If you schedule a Deliberate Attack by only one unit at Calicut, the base will flip at the beginning of the turn (provided there are no other unoccupied Japanese bases being attacked - only one per turn). The flip happens right after the steps "Calculate Air Superiority" and "Assign Computer Controlled Units" and gives a brief, transient on-screen message. After the turn you can find it at the top of the Ops Report.

[Lowpe]

I sure don't understand NJP!

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If you schedule a Deliberate Attack by only one unit at Calicut, the base will flip at the beginning of the turn (provided there are no other unoccupied Japanese bases being attacked - only one per turn). The flip happens right after the steps "Calculate Air Superiority" and "Assign Computer Controlled Units" and gives a brief, transient on-screen message. After the turn you can find it at the top of the Ops Report.

BB,

I didnt need to it simply changed over due to the overwhelming presence of my troops and none of his. He may think that it just flipped over due to normal game change so I get a few more days surprise ;]

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I sure don't understand NJP!

Lowpe,

You have the advantage of reading his AAR. I am still wondering if a hammer is going to hit somewhere near the end of the year to give him AV and have me with egg on my face but most areas are still covered.

The outcome of Adelaide will tell me a lot about what is coming next.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If you schedule a Deliberate Attack by only one unit at Calicut, the base will flip at the beginning of the turn (provided there are no other unoccupied Japanese bases being attacked - only one per turn). The flip happens right after the steps "Calculate Air Superiority" and "Assign Computer Controlled Units" and gives a brief, transient on-screen message. After the turn you can find it at the top of the Ops Report.

BB,

I didnt need to it simply changed over due to the overwhelming presence of my troops and none of his. He may think that it just flipped over due to normal game change so I get a few more days surprise ;]

Yes, the flip can take place without the DA, but it is a die roll thing. When a DA is scheduled the flip takes place for certain, but there is no actual DA to tip off the opposition - it looks like a regular flip. The certainty is the advantage I was trying to describe.

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If you schedule a Deliberate Attack by only one unit at Calicut, the base will flip at the beginning of the turn (provided there are no other unoccupied Japanese bases being attacked - only one per turn). The flip happens right after the steps "Calculate Air Superiority" and "Assign Computer Controlled Units" and gives a brief, transient on-screen message. After the turn you can find it at the top of the Ops Report.

BB,

I didnt need to it simply changed over due to the overwhelming presence of my troops and none of his. He may think that it just flipped over due to normal game change so I get a few more days surprise ;]

Yes, the flip can take place without the DA, but it is a die roll thing. When a DA is scheduled the flip takes place for certain, but there is no actual DA to tip off the opposition - it looks like a regular flip. The certainty is the advantage I was trying to describe.

thanks for the pro tip !! ;]

[Mike McCreery]

Southwest Pacific - Late August 1942

An amphibious transport fleet just took a beating at Hoorne Island while dropping off an advanced air base. The Southwest pacific is rotten with allied bases building air fields.

NJP is reluctant to send ships into areas that are controlled by the allies and he is going to have a tough time holding ground in this area..

[Mike McCreery]

The Battle for Adelaide Late August 1942

I have a large stack of units moving west toward Adelaide. I am showing 60,000+ troops at Adelaide with a movement arrow north. There is also a small blocking unit moving west from Broken Hill.

There is no advantage to me directly attacking Adelaide over a river so the plan is to cross the river one hex west of my current position and move on Adelaide from the other side. This has several advantages beyond the obvious. It gives me the flexibility of cutting his rail line and/or moving on Port Augusta before taking down Adelaide.

This move will force NJP to choose where to decide to defend. He has no real air defence besides Adelaide so he may try to stick it out. However, without the KB for support his troops will be in danger of being cut off and lost.

My guess is he abandons Adelaide and moves the bulk of his forces to port augusta or all the way to Perth for loading and moving elsewhere.

If he chooses not to then I will cut off Adelaide from western Australia and take back Tasmania while harassing him from Melbourne. He cannot keep an embargo going at this point, I just took back Lord Howe Island so I can transit ships from New Zealand to Sydney without significant air danger.

Supply in Australia has never really dipped and still remains over 1/2 million tonnes.

[BBfanboy]

I see you have reconstituted the Australian Divisions. How are they doing on filling out their TOE?

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I see you have reconstituted the Australian Divisions. How are they doing on filling out their TOE?

You can see their relative strengths. I am guessing it would take 4 more months to fill out the TOE of just the 3 divisions marching on Adelaide and of course there is 0 in the pools for re-supply. 55 squads of AMF 1942 per month.

It doesnt look so bad on paper.

[Mike McCreery]

Australia September 9, 1942

NJP retreated all of his forces from Adelaide. He moved the bulk north to attack a small group of units east of Port Augusta.

His unadjusted strenght was 9 times what the stack was at over 1400. however, his adjusted strength came out to 47. I am guessing the full stack didnt attack last turn.

[Mike McCreery]

In my opinion this puts him in a difficult situation. Adelaide fell with no opposition and he does not have an airfield above level 1 anywhere in range. The KB is off the east coast of Australia so cannot provide any naval air bombing so he is limited to CAP.

My armor is now released to jump forward toward Adelaide and if he doesnt start moving toward Port Augusta this turn he could get caught and cutoff from being able to strat move to Perth. That would leave him vunerable and/or force the KB to cover an amphibious retreat if possible.

In about 3 days many BF's will arrive at Adelaide to repair the airfield damage. I hope to have the base operational within a week.

[Mike McCreery]

September - 1942

Canton Falls to the Allies. I have been having synch bug issues and battles that I supposedly won were lost. This turn a combat replay showed that I lost the battle at Canton and an engineer unit was destroyed. However, about an hour into planning my turn I see an allied flag over Canton. I am going to have to rely on the combat reports more often apparently.

The KB is northeast of Norfolk island challenging my amphibious assault of the island. I have 278 AV strength on the ground in 2 NZ divisions plus a tank regiment.

I am not sure why he is attempting to challenge me here, it seems pretty far forward and a base that can be hit by 4EB bombing and therefore it seems that it would be better to consolidate at Noumea but I am not playing his side of it.

I will build up the north point of NZ and bomb him into submission. Strategically this island is not really that important until I really want to take Noumea. It does not block shipping to Australia.

[Mike McCreery]

I managed to land a few advanced air force units in the reef islands when NJP sent a cruiser force through and killed both TF's. It was 6 or so ships and their value was 2VP each so point wise it was not very effective but he did take out some of my sealift capability.

The plan is to reinforce the Reef islands and build a wedge between the islands south and east of here. Naru Island fell to another advanced air base and the plan is the same, to build a wedge in the western direction.

[Mike McCreery]

NJP's enthusiasm to kill anything allied may have gotten him in trouble near Adelaide. He attacked the small stack again and got a great odds and caused the stack to retreat Southeast. He also had his 3 armor units set to pursuit.

However, he may not get to the rail line in time to get to Port Augusta before being blocked by my army. His attack on my small group disabled 110 Japanese squads or a little above a regiment. He does not have any tanks with his main army so it probably would not be a good idea to attack my tanks in the open without backup.

The results of tomorrow's movement should be really interesting!!

[Mike McCreery]

Arrgh!!!

We get into a back and forth with a sub and he is forced to surface and get pounded into oblivion but not before putting a torpedo into one of my cruisers!!

[Mike McCreery]

NJP has doubled down on defending Norfolk Island and moved in a few units and is dirt bombing with the KB and mini-KB plus bombarding with cruisers and possibly battleships. If he wants to haul ordinance this far south on the map to defend a base within 4EB range from New Zealand, he can be my guest!!

[Mike McCreery]

I throw every bomber I have at the tanks now southeast of Port Augusta. The fragments did better than the initial strike.