Empire strikes back- NJP vs Wargmr Game over :-)

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: njp72

Any small win is good for morale as I am getting smashed!

Say no more![:D]

I like the Jill too, great range for a single engine...

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: njp72

Thanks Guys [:)]

Any small win is good for morale as I am getting smashed!

My other 2 favourite airframes I have found for kamikaze effectiveness have been:

- the G3 Nell and

- Jill

When the Nell hits it really can hurt especially CLs, CAs and CVEs. I have found the Jill very good at hitting harder targets such as DDs.

Just my experience for what it is worth.[;)]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Banzai[&o]

Nice!

I'l have to think about the Nick. I've used Peggys to good effect, and the Grace and Judy being so fast get through CAP.

With no CAP kamis are dangerous, and results like this are amazing! [&o]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: njp72

Any small win is good for morale as I am getting smashed!

Say no more![:D]

I like the Jill too, great range for a single engine...

+1
Biggest issue for me is finding escorts for them ... don't have a lot of 10 range fighters, either have to use older models for that range or limit them to 9 hex.

[njp72]

April 45

The shame of falling into the second page of AAR world!

Overall pretty quiet except in the air. Mike continues to eliminate pockets in China which are yielding good points for him. In Korea there have been some brutal clashes but my forces continue to slowly retreat into better defensive terrain. I can't defend any position in the open or near the coast due to BB bombardments and 4e bombers.

Interestingly, apart from few half hearted efforts which went poorly for the Allies, Mike has refrain from strat bombing. I do have hundreds if not thousands of fighters now parked in the HI (including a very big stock pile of night fighters) so I am a little surprised more of an effort has not been made. I want to see how all my night fighters perform including the Francis [:)]


Point wise I am still relatively confident of getting to 80K which means he will need 160K to win.

I have grown a little more confident in Korea due to his bomber losses and thus have decided to give the boys a fair bit of my previous supplies.

I now suspect game over will be July.

[njp72]

The critical sector is Korea

You can see where I am forming defensive positions in rough terrain and off the coast line.

I have plenty Av and as I slowly withdraw closer to the HIs it is getting easier to supply.

I am confident of holding here for a couple of months. Hopefully Mike loses patience and heads straight for the Home Islands.[;)]

[njp72]

And here you have the courageous IJN sheltering in the inland sea under massive cap.

I am really glad I preserved these critical assets as they continue to play a vital role in slowing the Allied advance and on rare occasions striking the odd blow, especially around Saishu To.

The key factor in ensuring their survival was I refused to deploy them outside the cover of strong LBA, always in the range of friendly bases and always covered by strong search assets once I reached 43.

The other key factor was I refused to engage his fleet CVs post the introduction of the Hellcat and instead tried to target other less dangerous naval assets, especially CVEs and APs.

[njp72]

Economy-

Clearly on a downward spiral but I am confident I have enough of everything for 4 months of very intensive fighting.

After that I will be largely dead but I will get my 80K VPs (well that is the plan)[:D]!

[njp72]

Kuriles

It has taken Mike a lot longer to move here than he did in the previous game. Not sure why but it has certainly helped my cause.

I have generally found the Empire can handle single sector threats in a reasonable fashion but once the Allies come in from multiple avenues of approach, eventually the defences collapse.

Not too concerned about this now, it would have been nastier 6 months ago linked with the China invasion.

[njp72]

Total Aircraft losses

There is interesting disparity here. Main score board indicates 25K allied aircraft lost and yet here it is only 23K.

Still there is not too many B24Js flying around any more which is a big relief.

Plenty of B29s still left though. [8|]

[njp72]

Japanese aircraft pools

Still plenty left here to give him grief over the next 4 months.

I am just rebuilding my A6M8 numbers after all of the recent fighting.

[njp72]

Leading Japanese pilots

Nothing to surprising here with most of my top guns dead. The IJN is heavily over represented at the top but the vast majority of aces are IJA, flying the Frank R, Oscar and Tojos.

I have tried to be careful with my pilots (less so with airframes) and thus despite losing close to 40K of aircraft I have only lost half of that in pilots.

The end result is the Home Islands are full of highly experienced fighter groups which is why it is such a tough nut to crack.

Not so with regards to the quality of attack pilots which are very mediocre in quality due to massive losses.

[CaptHaggard]

NJP72— Just off the turnip truck here, but trying to pick things up...

I have already read Wargmr's AAR and now yours... really the most exciting AARs I have come across. I mean, one might think I'd be bored seeing the same game played out again, but no—a truly nice job, great to binge. What a game! Thank you!

I do have one question. Early on, it seems a great nemesis of the Allies is the Betty. A plane that really has no double in Allied inventories, a truly potent anti-ship LBAC. Even though, cost-wise, it makes perfect sense to concentrate on producing top-line fighters, why do these seem relegated to a much lesser role in AS operations, especially when his fleets are in such close proximity?

Anyway, rock on—great stuff!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: njp72


The end result is the Home Islands are full of highly experienced fighter groups which is why it is such a tough nut to crack.

Not so with regards to the quality of attack pilots which are very mediocre in quality due to massive losses.

A common plight, but one that is very difficult to overcome. You have to really focus on this from 12/7/41 ... and during 42/43 you seem to have MORE bomber pilots than you think you will ever use until 44... then you never have enough.

[njp72]

Hi and welcome aboard Capt Haggard.

It has been a wonderful game fought on many different continents and land masses, Australia, India, Russia and now Korea. To have a wonderful game though you need a wonderful opponent which I am very lucky to have with Mike.

With regard to the Betty it is a very versatile mount and very effective against the Allies in early 42 when their shipping is scattered and they lack modern fighter aircraft. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for good allied players to start to provide adequate protection to their convoys and the Betty's are horrifically vulnerable.

I transfer most of my Betty's to naval search as by 44 the chances of them delivering a successful attack against a well protected navy target is very low/nil. There is also the cost involved. By 44 and 45 the IJN have more than capable one engine attack aircraft which are cheaper to produce, have greater survivability and more likely to deliver a successful attack than the Betty or even the Francis.

Thanks for reading

ORIGINAL: CaptHaggard

NJP72— Just off the turnip truck here, but trying to pick things up...

I have already read Wargmr's AAR and now yours... really the most exciting AARs I have come across. I mean, one might think I'd be bored seeing the same game played out again, but no—a truly nice job, great to binge. What a game! Thank you!

I do have one question. Early on, it seems a great nemesis of the Allies is the Betty. A plane that really has no double in Allied inventories, a truly potent anti-ship LBAC. Even though, cost-wise, it makes perfect sense to concentrate on producing top-line fighters, why do these seem relegated to a much lesser role in AS operations, especially when his fleets are in such close proximity?

Anyway, rock on—great stuff!

[njp72]

So true and my silly attacks on his fleet CV's drained the pools very quickly in the last month.

I have an enormous amount of training groups arriving now which I am using to train up masses of new pilots and rebuild a large reserve. Not that keen to make them all kamikaze squadrons as I have plenty of these already.

These training groups just keep on arriving and I am keen to try out these flimsy biplanes- Willow
etc.

What are people's experiences with these biplanes?- I am guessing not much. [:D]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

A common plight, but one that is very difficult to overcome. You have to really focus on this from 12/7/41 ... and during 42/43 you seem to have MORE bomber pilots than you think you will ever use until 44... then you never have enough.
[/quote]

[PaxMondo]

Yeah, my results have been lousy with those flimsy things. They are just too fragile and too slow to survive long enough for a successful attack... still they do work. fast (350) and big bombs (800).

[njp72]

Korea- The last stand

Epic battles continue in Korea against US/Commonwealth forces in the West and the Soviets in the East.

Thus far the veteran divisions who have fought the Chinese, Soviets, Commonwealth and US forces have defended well and inflicted heavy losses on the Allies. Some of the divisions/units are survivors from the Burma front who have marched/railed their entire way back to the Korean peninsula!

About a week ago approximately 9+ US Battalions of Armour (850 AFVs) surged forward and cut my rail lines near Keijo. Whilst doing so they also happen to slaughter a couple of battered inf divisions trying to rail their way south to safety.

After some careful thought, I decided to launch a major attack counter attack from Keijo to try to catch his armour in the open.

I also thought it would make for a nice distraction from the slaughter of my remaining forces in China.[:)]

[njp72]

Of course the element of surprise was never going to happen and whilst I avoided the coastline (and thus his BB bombardments) sure enough about 350 allied bombers attacked my forces in the open.

I had plenty of AA units and fighters to protect my airforces and thus the epic struggle commenced.

[njp72]

But they kept on coming and my air cover was soon exhausted.. sigh [8|]

[njp72]

And yet when all seemed lost my forces though badly disrupted, shocked attacked the Allied armour and ....... surprisingly won thanks to the quality of the units, plenty of Type 3 tanks and arty.

Close to half of the Allied armour destroyed and the survivors retreated.

A minor victory in dark times, though it does demonstrate the Japanese still have teeth even in April 45 as long as supply is available.