Best Two Out of Three

[John B.]

Happy New Year!

as 1943 dawns here is hoping for some decent torpdoes. Below you can see the current VP total. Scott is winning, but I feel pretty good for getting through 1942 in this kind of shape. His margin currently rests on the huge disparity in land losses, but, even there I've made up about 1,500 points in the past two months or so. I've done ok plane wise with flak losses being much greater in this game

A quick round up of the theaters shows quiet in the Pacific. I keep think of reasons to delay my Wake adventure. The current one is that I have no idea at all where the KB is. I don't want to have a major carrier battle yet as he is still in good shape fleet carrier wise (I've whittled down the escorts but one one CV thus far).

In central Australia the Turtle has passed its first test. I pushed aside an IJA division and am advancing on Daly Waters. he tried bombing me this turn and lost 5 Helens to flak. I suspect he does not have too many troops in N. Australia so I'll have to see how far I can make it.

In China I've managed to stop the rush. We are still fighting each other in Hengyang and outside of Changsha. I've had a massive airlift going for a couple of months and that has made a real difference. The longer they can hold out the more I can hope that I distract Scott in other theaters.

In India/Burma I'm one hex outside of Akyab and I have four armor units in the hex. Recon shows 60,000 troops there and I hope they're all support troops but I think he has at least three divsiions. Akyab might be a tough bitter fight but it is only early 1943 and I do have two more US divisions on the ground and heading that way. In the Imphal region, I'm bashing on his Imperial Guards division. It should be able to retreat but he will take some heavy losses to it. Otherwise, I have three divisions across the Irrawady and the map shows a bunch of IJA units there as well. I may try an airdrop on Mytikayna in a month or so, before the Monsoon kicks in.

I'll post sub results next.

[John B.]

As for the sub war, I tried to upload my spreadsheet but it would not let me.

So, the gory details are that it was an ok year for the subs war against his merchant shipping. In 1942 my subs had torpedoes hit 63 AKs, 17 AKLs, 8 TKs, 21 PBs, 4 AOs, and 8 APs. Assuming that if it was hit it sank (not really true, I know but pretty close for the merchant ships I think) I figure about 350,000 tons of shipping went to the bottom. this was for two subs (one American and one Dutch) that were sunk. This is a decent bad torpedo number. My number one sub ace was the dutch captain P. Van Dyke who had a reported 14 torpedo explosions (duds don't count). He has decent ratings but a very high aggression clocking in at 78.

These numbers should vastly improve in 1943 with better torpedos and more capable subs but I'm sure I'll take higher losses as well.

One note on the shipping was is that Scott lost a much larger number of ships to my planes and surface actions. I may tally those up but when combined with the subs I think his merchant fleet took a big hit this year.

As for combat ships, the most notable achievements were taking down the ISE and mopping up four of his escort/light carriers after they were bombed off of Darwin in January 1942. The subs also put a torpedo into the Hyru twice. She did not sink, but I think it helped me hold onto India.

[BBfanboy]

witpqs frequently posts a text file with tracker type data arranged in neat columns. You should ask how he creates those. I suspect he uses a spreadsheet or word processer table and exports it to the text file format.

[John B.]

BBfanboy,

As always, thanks for the tip!!

FYI, the jury is still out on whether or not my subs needed to be in port to get new torpedoes on January 1, 1943. the Tunney shot two torpedoes at an AK last turn (1/2/43) and one exploded and one did not. So, no real data there.

Because I was curious and have way too much time on my hands I went into the ships sunk pool to tally up the IJN merchant losses for 1942 that were not sub relatted. Here are the happy totals.

1. Bombs (mainly carrier, but some landbased): AK: 22, AKL: 1, AMC: 4, AP: 4, AO: 5.

2. Ships: AK: 40, AKL: 22, AMC: 2, AP: 11, PB: 19,

3. Shore Batteries: AK: 13, AKL: 5, AP: 2, PB: 1.

4. Mines: AK:1.

With the exception of Mines I expect these numbers to fall as the war goes on and Scott is more on the defensive and less likely to stick his head in the noose. But, when added to the sub results for 1942 we get the following sinking totals: AK: 139, AKL: 45, AP: 25, AMC: 6, PB: 41, AO: 9, TK: 8. My rough guess would be about 750,000 tons of shipping. A good start, I suspect but much more needs to be done.

[John B.]

I'm happy to report that it looks like I did not need to be in base on January 1. Thus far this month I've had 7 explosions and 2 duds. We'll see if we can keep it up but over the next two year we may be able to put some serious damage on his merchant fleet.

Right now, as you can see, the main action is in Burma. There were three major battles yesterday and Scott is outnumbered in each of them/ More importantly, I think, is that I have tanks and he does not. The main battle is by Akyab and you can see the numbers involved. he has a huge number of support units there and three weak divisions (plus a regiment or two). My divisions are tired but pressing on and I do have lots of artillery plus the tanks. With 3 forts I still managed a 1-1 and reduced the forts by a level and my boys were ready to go again, so they will. Near Imphal (up north) his imperial division was surrounded so he sent a new division in. He is still heavily outnumbered and at the end of a long supply chain (while I'm on the road) so I suspect he'll wind up taking more losses, but the units are now able to retreat. The last battle we're more evenly matched but he has no tanks and most of my troops are better quality.

You may not see it, but there is also an Indian brigade sneaking towards Mytikanya. I have the two Chindits and an Indian Para brigade ready to air assault Mytikanya while his attention is focused on the boarder. But, I've never done an air assault before so it will be interesting to see if I do it right. It won't be for a number of turns, but any advice would be helpful.

In Australia the turtle is performing as designed. He lost 18 planes bombing it last turn and I'm just about 5 days south of Daly Waters. The great danger to the turtle are the flanks since if I can't really peel off troops as then they lose the protective shell of the AA guns but so far there is no indication of anything coming up.

In China he is back to his old shelling ways.

[BBfanboy]

On the air assault, it takes a LOT of aircraft just to move a 40 AV USMC paratroop battalion, so the Chindit Brigades will require scads more!
Check the manual for the exact data, but transports carrying paratroops cannot take them to normal range and drop them - they are heavier with all their gear.
I think a range 13 C-47 can only take the troops about 8 or 9 hexes.
If your departure airfield is close enough to the DZ you might get in two drops a day.
Paratroops give an automatic X2 to the attack and I think it is an auto-shock attack.

[John B.]

BBFanboy,

Thanks yet again for the info! I actually did the airdrop and took a LOT of casualties but the Indian para brigade held on and an Indian Inf. brigade has just arrived (it marched through the jungle) and we'll see how my incoming attack goes. He has a regiment in defense that has attacked several times and looks to be a bit worn down.

As for the rest of Burma, I have to say that the British are the worst sweep squadrons I've seen. They almost always show up after the bombers have gone in no matter what altitude I fly them at and even when they're flying from the same base. [:-] But, no catastrophes in the air for awhile. I'm about to cross the river next to Akyab after resting for a week. I'm fortifying my ports and leaving a division in each in case Scott goes for the end run. I still can't kill the two divisions on the road near Imphal. They have been pulling out for a long time and even with daily bashing they don't give up. I suspect that he's flying in supplies (lots of topsy ops losses) but I can't seem to intercept them

The image is from China. The three circles are where Scott is concentrating his efforts. I don't mind so much since losing the Changsha industrial complex does not pose an existential threat to China and for him to push through to Changsha he needs to go through lots and lots of bad terrain. My main problem is that resupply does not really occur in the base hexes so I have to rotate units out to an adjacent hex, have them resupply and then rotate them back in.

My turtle made it to Daily Waters, shot down a number of bombers, saw that he was too strong and is now headed south. To the extent I made him do anything I was at least getting some use out of the troops in Oz. Nice fighter sweeps over Buna with very favorable kill ratios.

Still no sign of the KB so no go on Wake. But, lots of radio activity this turn at Truk. We shall see.

And the sub war is so much better with torpedoes that work!

[John B.]

February 1, 1943, the turn after Scott learns that American AT and tanks are much better than the Chinese models. [:D] I can't gloat too much as my butt is hanging out in mid-air. Three divisions made it through a the jungle to the clear terrain just northwest of Shwebo. I manhandled an IJA divison and wiped out an army HQ mainly because Scott was watching the Dolphins and did not notice I had advanced (yet another reason not to be a fins fan). But, he has reacted quickly and I face a pounding from the air unless I can get into the jungle. First question, if I'm advancing into a hex and he is advancing out of the same hex into my hex and he makes it into my hex first, can I still go into his hex?

China is still holding and taking lots of causalities from bombardments but I'm not sure it makes too much sense to retreat as he'll just bombard me in the next hex.

Next question. I was doing an amphibious unload in the Alutians and I noticed that the create landing craft button was on. So, I hit it. And, wound up with a TF of empty landing craft. what good are they?

I've gone ahead and launched the Wake Island offensive. 5 fleet carriers and 6 escort carriers are escorting a whole lot of battleships. I have a marine regiment, a tank battalion, and a combat engineer regiment set to go ashore. Still no sign of the KB but also no sign of air searches out of Wake (I have a DD parked one hex off shore and so far it does not report any searches. I'm also creating noise down in the So Pac by bombarding Nadi so I hope I'm keeping his attention focused down there.

And, my first squadron is Corsairs has shown up. They are patiently going into Moresby where by P-40Ks have been winning the air war over Buna. If this keeps up, I may go over the Kodiak trail and try to take Buna from the landward side.

[BBfanboy]

Re: the hex race - if his troops leave your hex before yours (not on the same day), you end up with ownership of the original hex and can therefore go in any direction you want, but ... he will own the target hex and you can only leave there via the same hex side you entered - unless you defeat the IJA and retreat them, or you bring in another unit from a different hex side.

LCTs are like barges - short range and good for inter-island movement of small amounts of materials (no troops), but they can also speed the unload of ships that are not docked. Think of them as lighters, going alongside to receive something by crane and ferrying it to shore. You get the Create Landing Craft button in TFs that have enough cargo in them so they can be created as you start an amphib landing. Like PT Boats, there is a limit to how many you can have active, so if you find you are not using them where they are, disband them and after a few weeks you will be able to get them off a TF or other base with lots of supply. I think the supply cost was about 800 per each - or 9600 a dozen.

I hope you do not take the Kodiak track to Buna - it is rather far out of the way and there is a lot of water walking to do. The Kokoda Track might be a little shorter ...[;)]

[John B.]

BBFanboy,

Thanks yet again! I think that I may have my troops wear bear bells to scare away any of the Kokoda grizzly bears I hear so much about.

Regarding the landing craft, when I created them they were in a barge TF and empty. I was not sure how to load them up from the amphib TF that created them so eventually I just disbanded the landing craft. Is their effect automatically factored into the unloaded rate of the amphib TF or do I have to load the landcraft from the amphib ships after I create the landing craft?

As for Burma, my inf. divisions all reset to zero movement out of the hex this turn (ruh ro!) but the armored battalions are still heading out of dodge. So, I've set the inf. to follow them out (and try to get them to the safety of the jungle). Scott now has 890 vehicles in the hex. He is bombing me and I am bombing him and there are some vicious air battles taking place.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

BBFanboy,

Thanks yet again! I think that I may have my troops wear bear bells to scare away any of the Kokoda grizzly bears I hear so much about.

Regarding the landing craft, when I created them they were in a barge TF and empty. I was not sure how to load them up from the amphib TF that created them so eventually I just disbanded the landing craft. Is their effect automatically factored into the unloaded rate of the amphib TF or do I have to load the landcraft from the amphib ships after I create the landing craft?

As for Burma, my inf. divisions all reset to zero movement out of the hex this turn (ruh ro!) but the armored battalions are still heading out of dodge. So, I've set the inf. to follow them out (and try to get them to the safety of the jungle). Scott now has 890 vehicles in the hex. He is bombing me and I am bombing him and there are some vicious air battles taking place.

Sorry I did not elaborate on the LCTs - the assistance with unloading ships is automatic the unload rate just increases and you do not have to manage the LC TF. You CAN load them with supplies like any other cargo craft and sent them to another location to unload. With their short range you often need to send a mother ship to keep them refuelled, and they likely will suffer system damage quite easily. To load equipment from a unit on them you would need to include them in an amphibious TF with some type of AP vessel that can take the personnel - much the same as LSTs cannot load troops if they are in a Landing Craft TF but they can if they are part of an Amphibious TF.

Re: the hex situation - I am not sure I have the whole picture on the situation - if the IJA still has a unit in the hex they own it and your unit can only leave via the hex side it arrived or when the IJA are totally out of the hex.

If the reset happened when your unit tried to leave the hex on the same turn as the last of the Japanese, it would be because the hex side control is not updated until the end of the turn and the IJA as original hex owners that turn, still controlled that side until the turn ends. Your remaining units trying to leave via that side should now be able to continue their movement. This is a case where it might have been better to slow the exit movement of your units that reset so that they would not have moved far enough to exit the hex and would have kept their progress, rather than reset.

Another thought on the movement issue - if you set troops to march multiple hexes, they will often start out along the most efficient path but if an enemy unit blocks one of the hexes along the path the AI does not change their movement until they are about to exit the hex and encounter the blocking force - then you get a reset because their orders are not to go and engage the enemy but to get to the target hex for their movement. Only at the reset will the AI calculate a new path. For this reason I never use multi-hex movement when there are enemy units nearby that might block it.

To see hex side control use the F6 key. If the hex your troops are in has a green inner border, your troops can go that direction.

[John B.]

Ugly turn in the air. It looks as if Hurricane IICs are just not cutting it in the skies over Burma! Of course, he did have 150 or so planes on CAP so that did not help matters. Unfortunately, i'm going to have to take the turn off to retool and get some planes repaired. but, it may work to my advantage of wearing out his planes if he keeps the CAP level high while I stand down.

It's shaping up to be a real nail biter on whether or not I can get my divisions out. They have had their movement reset to zero three times now so it's giving scott time to both bring in reinforcements (which alas I can't really bomb given the fighter losses) and to bomb my guys down. Getting back into the jungle is likely to take 10 or more turns assuming I don't get reset yet again.

[John B.]

ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. REPORT OF ENEMY CARRIERS N NE APPROXIMATELY 13 HEXES AND CLOSING FAST.

As you can see, the KB has been spotted (thought I saved the report but it shows 157 Fighters and 205 bombers but I guess not) North East of Wake. And, as you can see, I have two carrier TFs and two Amphib TFs that are in the process of leaving. My plan is to head due east. It let's Scott use the hypotenuse to get closer than he otherwise could but if I headed south and he sprints he still gets within bomber range of me and I'm putting myself closer to his land based air.

So, everyone heads east my two carrier TFs will join in the same hex and the amphip TF that is on Wake. That will give me 5 fleet carriers and 6 escort carriers in the same hex and, Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise, I could get the best of him in a carrier duel. If he does not sprint, then I may be able to put enough distance between him and me to not have to fight. I'm not looking for a battle right now. Halsey is not in charge of the carriers and I'm glad, I dno't want to be too agressive, I want to have a nice big fur ball of planes to protect my ships and to get my own planes through to his CVs. The fact that I have BBs and APs may work to my advantage in a carrier duel in that some of his flights may be diverted to other less valuable ships.

In other news, Scott did force my divisions out of the clear hex in Burma. But, the losses in the divisions appeared to be much less than were reported in the combat report. So, with more divisions closing in, I'll be back. He bombed Ledo and AA losses were about the same as ground losses.

In China, he took Hengyang and will take Changsha soon. He's had to divide his forces someone so has taken losses on his flanks. Now we're retreating to the rough terrain and will make him slog his way north to Changsha. Hopefully it will take him a long long time.

I seem to have the air edge over Buna. He is losing more planes than me and there has been some slight sub/ air attrition of his resupply convoys. He is doing better than me in the skies over Burma and has been pretty good at outguessing my moves.

Stay tuned.

[BBfanboy]

waiting for action ....

[John B.]

No carrier battle today. Scott basically headed East. I'm not sure if he plans to do a port strike on Midway (the sub support ships left in a big hurry this morning) or shepperd me away. I noticed in intel that he has a unit preparing for Wake. So, maybe he's moving me away to cover for an invasion fleet of his own? Don't know but the boys on Wake are digging in fast. Level two fort and about 25% of the way to level 3. I'm at about 100% overstack there (11,550 troops on a 6,000 troop atoll). I did not unload as many supplies as I would have liked by there are 23,000 on the island.

My carriers may return once they get the invasion force home safely. I have an info. advantage over him right now as he is in my land based air search range and by the end of this turn I won't be. Stay tuned, he could head south at any time!

Meanwhile, as you can see there was a tremendous air battle over chittagong and Scott came off on the losing side of it. I still have two badly damaged brit BBs holed up there and he was trying to port strike them again. He telegraphed his move last turn by sweeping but not bombing so this turn I had about 100 fighters on CAP.

[BBfanboy]

Nice CAP trap at Chittagong. Sea Hurris? Martlets? You really were throwing everything into that one!

[John B.]

It's just payback for the all the CAP traps Scott has sprung on me. [:D]

Well, Winston does not send as many Spitfires (as in none so far) or Hurricane IIIcs as he should and the sea hurricanes were sitting around in a warehouse so, on the theory that some fighters are better than no fighters, I converted two depleted Hurrican squadrons to Sea Hurricanes. [:)] I'm actually impressed at how good a fighter the P-40K is compared to the P-40E. It seems to have an edge over a lot of IJA fighters at this point in the war.

[Capt. Harlock]

the sea hurricanes were sitting around in a warehouse so, on the theory that some fighters are better than no fighters, I converted two depleted Hurrican squadrons to Sea Hurricanes. I'm actually impressed at how good a fighter the P-40K is compared to the P-40E.

Sound logic. Ideally, the P-40K's should handle the Tojo's while the Sea Hurricanes go after the bombers. Mind you, according to the fortunes of war, occasionally the reverse will happen . . .

[John B.]

Well, for reasons I don't quite understand Scott continues to lurk north of Wake about 13 hexes or so. He has sub float planes searching near Pearl so perhaps he's waiting to spot me heading into port there before swooping down on Wake. We shall see.

In other more immediate news, you can see that he is sending a surface TF into the Indian Ocean. In the Escort TF I have a crippled British BB. It has 62 flotation damage 23 engine damage and 0 systems damage. The sad thing is that it's max speed is 1/1. Scott's surface TF appears to have CLs and DDs and I'm sure he's trying to find me to get in a shot on the BB. I put a line of patrol boats out to sea between the BB and the IJN to at least slow them down a little (I hope). If he gets into a surface action I may be a sitting duck. The guns still work so at long range I have the huge firepower edge and I do have several brit DDs with very good captains. If it's a close in night action it may be grim with long lances swirling about.

If he does not find me and stays too close to shore I have SBDs on standbye in Madras and B-17s took a crack at him this turn. Lots of iron being thrown about.

The BB needs to move as it will have to be withdrawn sooner or later. I have two more that need to come out of Chittagong but one at a time.

[John B.]

Hello all, sorry for the delay but I kept messing up the pictures. Lots to report.

First, as you can see below, the fight around Wake has not let up. After a vicious bombardment that included the Mushashi Scott landed part of a division that got wiped out in the first turn (my marine regiment and TD battalion helped with that). but, he has lots and lots of carriers handing around. My carrier TF is outnumbered so this turn it will patrol near Midway as I don't think that he knows where I am. In the meantime, I plan to fly the carrier planes from the escort carriers to Wake to perhaps catch him by surprise in a few turns. Supply will be the big issue. Wake is overstacked and down to 12,00 supply points. I'll put some PBY Liberators in Midway to fly in some supplies but that is unlikely to be enough. Resupply convoys are on the way but they will have to wait until the IJN clears out, if it ever does. One sad note was that I lost a lot of PT boats for no gain this time.

Alas, Scott did get the BB that was trying to make it out. I would have left it in Chittagong for the rest of the war but it would start to cost PP this year. It could only move 1 hex per turn and I could not repair any more damage. He got within one hex of Trincomelee when a sub put two more torpedoes into it and since it was starting out at 62% flotation it went down with all hands. I did get the sub and two others that were hunting it, but that is a small consolation. There are two more BBs in Chitagong that need to get out this year, but, they can move much faster so they may not be such obvious sitting ducks.

In China it's a swirling battle in the CHangsha triangle. he is bashing me and I'm getting in some good licks on him. It's really the endless divisions that he has that keep pushing me back.

Not much in Burma. I got in raid on his oil and the Hurricane IICs proved once again that they're really not good for much any more.