Sardaukar's Newbie Grand Campaign Tutorial (Community Effort)

[wfaherty]

I believe the key to holding Burma and Rangoon is fortifying Moulmien and not Pegu. If you base your combat troops in Moulmien (I have 3 Div there at present,46k or so)) and develop the 3 airbases(load up with Fighters,I have 150 or so) around Rangoon you can mount a effective defense. I use the British CV groups,a British SCTF and Port Blair as a unsinkable fighter base to protect against any invasions around Moulmien. It takes 4 turns for a unit(s) to jump across the wide river next to Moulmien,plenty of time to move blocking forces into position,and the Japs are not going to get Burma over the trail to the north which can be reinforced from Taung Gyi. But reinforcing the Upper Burma Border from Ledo to Chittagong with troops and bases serves as a fall back defense.

Your previous newbie AAR thread gave me lots of ideas,and even better the specific LCU,TF,Base actions to take and the reasons for those actions,so I give a lot of my defensive plan credit to you.

[BBfanboy]

What game date are you at Retlaw? A few more months makes a huge difference for the Allies, in terms of fighters available and development of the Indian units. In the initial 8-9 months of the game the issue isn't the number of Indian divisions available so much as their poor morale and light equipment, especially the lack of anti-tank weapons. And then there is the PPs required to buy Indian units to move into Burma.

Perhaps the AI gives the allied player a chance to dig in around Rangoon, but against a human opponent it is just not possible to hold them back there. Digging in along the historic defence line at Kohima-Imphal allows time to develop the Indian units, build supporting airfields and avoid paying PP until 1943.

[Encircled]

After a series of massive errors in Burma in my first game versus the AI, I thought I'd done better this time.

Not so, the 1st Burmese and the 17th Indian are in real trouble near Prome, after what looked like a textbook retreat from Pegu and Rangoon.

I can't see how you can hold at Moulmein with the airframes at your disposal in early '42 btw

[wfaherty]

First as to morale of the Troops I followed Sardaukar's advice in his very good previous AAR as to Chinese troops ,rest and train ,rest and train as much as possible to increase morale,I also applied the rest and train rule to every LCU I had on the map anywhere once I had them in place(the troops in Burma and India have been resting and training for over 60 days).

I setup my shipping lanes from SF and LA/SD to Pago Pago/Suva and Sydney/Noumea/Luganville with the shipping I saved from PI/Borneo/DEI,in the Indian Ocean the shipping I saved from Java/Sinapore went to setup my shipping lanes from Capetown/Aden/Abadan to Karachi/Bombay/Colombo and some to Perth.

Shipping setting in a port does nothing for you(like a truck idling,just burns gas,makes no money),if you have more than 5-6 ships sitting around put either fuel or supplies in them and ship them out if you do not have any unrestricted LCU's or Group's to ship. Even if you do not know exactly where you want to use a LCU/group but know which general area it will be in ,MOVE IT OUT, the trip is 2-3 weeks from Aden to Rangoon/Burma and SF/LA/SD to Australia/Noumea ,and by the time it gets into the general area of use you will have a better Idea of where you want to use it but will not have to wait 2-3 weeks for it to show up.

As of now March 18,1942 in and around Rangoon I have 10 very good fighter squadrons(14-16 each) and 6-7 medium bomber squadrons,at Port Blair I keep 3 fighter Squadrons to provide Cap for my British CV and SC tf's protecting against a seaborn end around Moulmien( wiped out 2 already).
Also before I disbanded them,I culled the best pilots from the Squadrons which defended Singapore(British,Australian and Canadian)and PI(US ARMY) into reserve then filled out the new arriving Squadrons with pilots trained above 60+. With all that said I am now in the process of moving Indian troops across the northern river in Burma and down the rail line to Rangoon to provide reinforcements and allow me to relieve low morale units in place.

Sardaukar's previous AAR is what really allowed me to GET the whole pilot training and replacement process down,and add to that the upping morale thru training,recombining units into large more powerful units and evacuating as many as possible base forces from PI and DEI to improve Ausralia,Noumea,Luganville bases, all that puts you in a much better position in early 1942.

And since this was a BigBabes Scenario 28 I moved the various ARDs(DEI and PI) to Australia at Perth and Brisbane to allow faster ship and sub repair(took forever with lots of luck,60days or so,must start move on turn 1).

[neilm85uk_MatrixForum]

Hi Sardaukar,
Just wanted to say thanks for this effort and your previous guide / AAR. I've reached Jan 1942 in my first ever campaign. (I played the Battle of the Coral Sea as a taster). Manilla and Clark are about to fall but the Singapore advance from the AI seems very slow. I'm building up on the Burma India border and along the line of PM - Darwin. A very conservative strategy but I'd like a nice long game!!! On the plus side I caught a CVE with both my fleet carrier TF's and pulverised it and all its friends. On the downside my wife complained about my overexcited whooping. Apparently this is just a game!

I'm not sure I'll have any suggestions as I am the newest noob in all noobdom. But I may ask a few questions along the way.

[Lawless1]

(Tavoy, Mergui

first thank my thanks to everyone who has supported this AAR

For the LCU at (Tavoy, Mergui did you use move command, STRAT Move or left the units in combat mode?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lawless1

(Tavoy, Mergui

For the LCU at (Tavoy, Mergui did you use move command, STRAT Move or left the units in combat mode?

Lawless1 - Welcome to the wild world of WITP-AE! [:)]

Note that this AAR has been dormant with no postings since 2012 until yours, so the person you are asking the question of may not be reading this forum any more. Your quote does not say who was referring to "Tavoy, Mergui" and I could not find such a mention on the current page of the AAR, so I am not sure who you are questioning and what the circumstances are there. [&:]

What I can tell you is that only the British and US troops can use Strat Mode on the good road running down the coast from Moulmein to Tavoy and Mergui. All nation's troops can also march down of course, but that is a bit slower.

If you are referring to troops moving through the jungle between Thailand and those two bases, they cannot use strat mode without a good (gray) rood or rail line, and there is no reason to move in Combat Mode unless the enemy is in the same hex or is at Tavoy or Mergui and you are about to enter their hex. Moving in combat mode is half the speed of move mode.

Either way, if you are moving through the jungle or jungle/rough terrain with no roads it will take a looooooong time to get through a hex.

[Lawless1]

BBFanboy. Thank you for responding am playing GC against AI. Managed to get the British units at above bases to Burma.
Also would like to thank you for the many hints and some of your thoughts on strategy that I have read in various AAR. Especially about the need to train pilots at different tasks and altitudes.

What does IIRC mean have not found that on any anbreviation lists.

[Yaab]

IIRC = If I Remember Correctly

[BBfanboy]

Thanks Yaab!
There are lots of abbreviations/acronyms used in this forum that you need to know to understand what is going on. Things like D/L for detection level and SCTF for surface combat TF, which other forumites might call SAG (surface action group).

There is no shame in asking forum members for a translation![:)]

[Lawless1]

Thanks Yaab and BBFanboy for our response

[Sardaukar]

Bump!

[Major Shane]

Subscribed

[Sardaukar]

Hi,

I might not be able to update this as regularly, but there is latest save in one of my last posts, so if anyone wants to play it, be my guest [8D]

I decided to continue this old game, since I had the saves in Dropbox. [:D]

Feel free to ask questions!

[Sardaukar]

Situation Sept 2, 1942:

[Sardaukar]

Sept 2 1942:

- Enemy is mostly thrown out of Burma, surrounded IJA units in Rangoon are destroyed. British ground forces prepare for 1943 push towards Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia. IJA made rerious effort to capture Rangoon and made as far as Mandalay, but earlier British reinforcements and new units smashed the attacks finally

- one setback was losing about dozen TKs in Suva, that I have been using as fuel hub to OZ and NZ. I had next to none air cover and Kido Butai made a visit when there were 2x4 TK TFs unloading and 1x4 TK TF loading. Lost them all. This was caused by complacency, since I was totally unprepared to KB foray so far south. It is not not a mortal blow, even when TKs and AOs are in short supply in 1942, because I can use AKs to ship fuel in emergency...just not as efficiently. I still have just enough TKs to keep going and lot of fuel comes from Capetown too.

- Port Moresby is firmly in Allied hands. It is besieged by large IJA force though, and IJN BBs made some disturbing forays. I have blanketed PM area and Bismarck Sea with SS plus I have PT boats with AGP support in PM.

- enemy tried to land on Canton I., but I had reinforced it and enemy had to retreat. They managed to get ashore firmly in Tahiti, but not to capture it. Japanese are besieged there, since i have CL there to stop supply and reinforcements (unless Japanese come with force).

- Main SS bases are Darwin, Brisbane and Pearl Harbor. Massive construction program is going on in Adak I. up north and Midway I. to make these bases as forward bases for submarine campaign.

Future plans are to invade Thailand and Solomon Islands.

[Sardaukar]

Latest save available here (save slot 24, if you have that in use, rename the slot number):

September 2, 1942

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/501 ... pae024.pws

[Sardaukar]

1st and 2nd Marine Divisions are moving to Sydney to prepare recapturing New Hebrides (Tanna & Luganville) and assault on Solomon Islands (as in map). 3rd Mar Div will be used in CentPac area. These operations will consume most of decent amphibious capacity in late 1942 (AP/AK classes).

Suva is now having decent fighter cover of P-40Es and P-39Ds.

[Sardaukar]

CentPac and SWPac will prepare for operations marked in red, when suitable resources can be mustered. CV Yorktown and CV Enterprise will relocate to Sydney, to stop IJN forays to Port Moresby area. 4 CV ACTF is returning to PH after futile search for IJN CVs that made surprise appearance NE of PH.

[Sardaukar]

Lack of AP/xAPs is really hampering Allied deployments. After shipping 2 Marine Div the "Supreme Allied Commander, Pacific" aka SACPAC cannot even afford to relocate SoPac HQ to SoPac without stripping essential ships from troop deployments. Lack of AP/AKs is also seriously limiting Allied offensive operations, so it might be there will only be one divisional size invasion in 1942.

IJN CVs are operating aggressively against Port Moresby, but our elite USAAF/Australian pilots are holding on. Constant rotation of naval attack capable bombers is needed. Usually there is one DB/TB/MedBomber squadron in training and refitting in Townsville and Charter Towers both while 2 DB/TB are in action. Same is true with fighters, though ratio is 3 to 2 in favour of action vs rest. Losses to ANZAC patrol units have been atrocious, but that was unavoidable. SACPAC is even thinking of transferring Liberators and B-17s to PM for that role. B-26s have been assigned to normal naval bombing at 6000ft after suffering punishing losses when attacking at 1000ft.

Our brave PT boat units in PM have been able to fight off few IJN bombardment attacks. Problem is, our AGP in PM is getting hit now and then by IJN carrier attack planes, which will slowly eradicate it's ability to resupply torpedoes.

Following CV reshuffle will see 2 CV USN TF operating from Sydney, most likely Yorktown and Enterprise, most experienced CVs in fleet. They will be used defensively and protectively southwest of PM and aircover for future operations in New Hebrides. SACPAC doesn't see it ideal to have major CV clash until early 1943. Unfortunately shipyard size in Sydney will somewhat prohibit use of CV Lexington and Saratoga, so they will continue operating in CentPac. Possible reinforcement for So/SWPac is CV Hornet, if deemed necessary in early 1943.

Air and naval war around Rangoon is still intense, Japanese are trying to relieve/resupply their surrounded and doomed units in Rangoon. As discussion between SACPAC and RN commanders, there are plans to use RN CVs more aggressively near Rangoon. This will be weighted against enemy aggression and acceptable risk. So far, RN has have decently good time with gin & tonic, combined with rum, lash and sodomy, in Colombo, following the best traditions of esteemed service. [:D]

Major land offence to Cambodia/Thailand will commence only when enough air base forces are accumulated and when experienced 2nd UK Div finishes it's march from Imphal to Pegu. So it is predicted that Burma front will remain reasonably static in near future.

Lack of tankers (TK) is also forcing hand of Allied logistics. Main supply for fuel to Australia is now coming from Capetown to Perth, unlike previously, when majority came from Suva fuel hub. SACPAC was even forced to ship fuel from Panama in xAK fuel drums. This logistical issue will not go away soon, though fuel situation in Australia is good. This will change to worse when couple fuel-hungry BB and CV TFs descent on Sydney like vultures on day-old corpse.

Supply situation in Australia is good. Especially the foreign troops have been delighted to receive excess rations of bully beef and Vegemite. Similarly, British and Indian troops in Rangoon have expressed their gratitude to shipments of Marmite. Unfortunately supply route to China has not been able to comply with Marmite demand in China.