Operation Cartwheel-New Georgia Scenario

[CGGrognard]

As the allies(Capt difficulty), this has been the toughest scenario for me. Three attempts to achieve victory, all them resulting in defeat. Only once did I capture 2 of the 3 victory locations, with the last within grasp until time ran out. I've followed the historical battle, only to be overwhelmed by the Japanes in the last few turns, leaving me with one defeat after another. The question is, has this scenario been designed for the allies to lose?
Not so much an AAR but rather a look for suggestions on how to achieve victory in this scenario.

[Lukas]

What does your core force consist of?

[kverdon]

I struggled a lot with this scenario my first 2 times at it and thought that the 45 Turns Airfield Capture secondary objective was just plain impossible. I then changed my tactics and not only completed the scenario but got the airfield in 45 turns. This is what Idid.

1. Landed a small force of I believe 2 marines, 1 heavy inf, M4A2 Sherman, 155 mm arty. to invade the main island. I sent 2 TBF to the airfield once it opened up.

2. Sent a secondary force of 1 or 2 Marines, 1 Heavy Inf and a M7 accompanied by an escort carrier and DD, Pt Boat to and OS2U Kingfisher capture the secondary Island. This is important as once you capture the Island, 2 AI Heavy Arty units sail to the island, setup on the north coast and will plaster any units spotted by the Kingfisher near the airfield or along the south coast. The escort carrier sustained a CAP of a F4U and F4F.

3 This was the other big change I made in that I gave up trying to do the campaign overland. I used my reinforcements that showed up along with the remainder of my core units along with another M7 and inf purchased with accumulated resource points to conduct a second amphib landing closer to the objectives. This force was joined by the units from the SW Island once that was secured.

4 The original force continued overland to mop up pockets of resistance and keep supply lines open. The TBFs flew up to provide air support and damaged the IJA reinforcements prior to their landing. The CVE can support all 4 air units if you are carefull.

[CGGrognard]

Thanks for your suggestions. Lukas, I've tried a number of forces, but my most successful was with a DD, PT Boats, Marines, Heavy Infantry and fighter aircraft. Using this force I was just one turn away from capturing the last victory location. Since then I've tried mixing it up with a BB, Artillery and more infantry, only to get caught up in the "swarm" that seems to occur as you approach the last victory location.
I've yet to try the force suggested by Kverdon, but that may work, provided I don't get over confident in my attack.
Kverdon, do the enemy planes offer much resistance, as they seem to know when I launch my offensive and target the supply ships, denying my force of much needed supplies.

[CGGrognard]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I finally successfully completed the scenario with two turns remaing. Focussing on the objectives, I avoided any unnecessary battles. Using carrier bombers really helped out a lot since they sunk a marine transport, and suppressed any forces along the front.
My forces contained Marines, Heavy Infantry, Armor, Artillery, a Carrier with a fighter and bomber wing.

[kverdon]

The Enemy planes were a problem the first few times around but upgrading one of the fighters to a F4U allowed it and the other F4F to make short work of them. The 2 TBF's I had were great air support when armed with bombs.

[freeboy]

I too found the time a limiting factor... I was thinking about attacking the sw island then the airfield.. using a carrier ,, and use reinforcements to get the easiest lower location...
man its tough watching your troops get ganged up on and eliminated, I am the one who is supposed to do that.. this game is a pleasant surprise in the level of challenge with such a simple rock paper scissors approach
Bravo