ORIGINAL: Alfred
I wouldn't dismiss so easily the value of defending Bangkok to the death.
There are only two approaches into Bangkok.
1. Indirectly via Ayuthia which entails a preliminary river crossing into Ayuthia, or
2. A direct river crossing into Bangkok.
The Ayuthia approach is the safer albeit slightly slower approach. It is the approach the Allies should take and if they do, Japanese resistance in Bangkok itself will be much shorter. The direct approach superficially might seem to be better but it isn't and is in fact Japan's best chance to hold the enemy for quite some time away from the Vinh line.
The deficiencies with the direct river crossing are as follows.
1. A mandatory shock attack ensues.
2. The Bangkok hex is a Heavy Urban terrain hex which is a 4x defence modifier, the absolute best possible
3. The evidence to date is that the Allied army closest to Bangkok is worn out and in need of R&R
4. A large component of the adjacent Allied army is provided by the Chinese 6th Corps. Do not be fooled by its 660 AV. It's firepower is quite low and is not an asset in a river crossing.
This means that prompt direct crossing commits a worn out army to a shock attack where its firepower will be quartered (compared to what it can bring to bear in the clear terrain hex of death against the worn out 14th div rear guard plus the attacker will get additional disruption just from the act of crossing the river. Without knowing just how fresh the Japanese defenders in Bangkok are, the Allies have to factor in the high potential of a disastrous river crossing which may be successfully counterattacked.
If the Allies wait to recover before the direct crossing, so do you and because of the terrain benefit and auto disruption gained from the river crossing, your recovery is effectively at a faster rate.
But even a non disastrous Allied river crossing is very dangerous for the Allies whilst you retain an uninvested Ayuthia for you can quickly move a single unit due west and then cross the river into Bangkok trapping the Allied army in Bangkok. There is no limit to the number of times you can do this trap door closing. To guard against this part of the Allied army would need to not cross into Bangkok and this in turn reduces the weight of the enemy inside Bangkok itself. All the time you can railroad fresh units into Bangkok.
Alfred
Thanks, great advice.[&o][&o]
Now the caveats for this particular case. I thought Bangkok is urban light? My map says UL.
I never planned on holding Ayuthia or Bangkok, just to make them seem tough to get the Allies to go offroad perhaps buying me time. Most of the Allied armor is still up around Pisanuloke.
I never really built the forts.[X(]
I can't see how to retreat as the Allied armor will chase me down and kill everything (I think).
I have to admit, that Pax Mondo really influenced my thinking here, plus reading many AARs where once the Allies are into the plains it doesn't go well for Japan (ObvertvsJoc; Crackaces; a current AAR; WargamervsNJP and others). I want to hold at the Vinh Line, the terrain is good, the retreat paths are good.
I am not sure I could do both, defend Bangkok and also prepare the Vinh line.
I suspect the Allies will start a heavy bombing campaign of Ayuthia, but they can cross the river into the open and from there go off road and surround Bangkok & Ayuthia (of course this takes time). They can also shock into Ayuthia after very heavy bombing.
I am going to stick with my plan and develop the Vinh line and try to show a good defense buying whatever time I can.
Perhaps, if I had forts 5 I could hold longer here. But it is too late for me in this game (in more ways than one![:D])
