The Gamiest Game in Town - EL (J) vs Rio Bravo (A)

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo


I have not seen any movement here. Rio has sent some Catalinas over on occasion. I have a new Ace there.

I have one more ID to remove.

I took Shemya so as to have a place from/to which to hop.

So, for me ADAK is a major trip wire. As long as I hold it, the allies have a tough time mounting a northern invasion. Not impossible, just much tougher. Meaning, I don't need nearly the garrison in Hokkaido. Still need very good NavSearch coverage of the NorPac. This is from Adak, Marcus, Kushiro. You can put Mavis/Emily/G3M3 on search at 20 hex range and maintain minimal ops losses with enough rest, especially the Nells. You want pilots with min 65 NavSearch .. more if you can. 32 hex warning is only 4 days notice, but it is 4 days. You can move a LOT of material to Hokkaido in 4 days if you see him.

Now there is a gap between Adak and Marcus (they are like 55 hexes apart) ... you need to fill that with an AV or 3 with Jake/Norms ... the allies will come hunting eventually, lay a trap and shut it hard if they do.

When I lose Adak and still control Marcus, I have at best 3 days notice of Hokkaido attack. Lose Marcus, only 2 days at best, and that means Hokkaido has to be fully fortified from then on. Able to withstand not only the DeathStar, but able to push 6ID's + 1 ARMDiv off in less than a week. That take a LOT of ground forces ...

[PaxMondo]

bump to keep on 1st page.

[el lobo]

Thanks. A little RL got in the way.

PRODUCTION Apr 1, 1943 Turn 481

Accelerated this month:

J2M3 Jack 2/44
Tony 100-I 5/44
Oscar -43-IV 4/43 In production
N1K1-J George In production
Ki-49-IIb Helen 4/43 In production
D4Y3 Judy 5/43
B6N2 Jill 5/43
Ki-84a Frank 12/43

Ha-43 5/45

[PaxMondo]

Sweet. George. Ramp up to a nice level and upgrade all of your land based IJN fighter groups to it. BIG improvement over Zero. You'll really appreciate how many pilots you save ....

[el lobo]

Rodger that, I will need them.

CHINA Apr 1, 1943 Turn 481

To say that I am up-set would be an understatement.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Chengtu (75,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 142036 troops, 1698 guns, 1183 vehicles, Assault Value = 4554

Defending force 97581 troops, 122 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2785

Japanese adjusted assault: 2375

Allied adjusted defense: 2621

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
34129 casualties reported
Squads: 190 destroyed, 1139 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 234 disabled
Engineers: 33 destroyed, 271 disabled
Guns lost 284 (26 destroyed, 258 disabled)
Vehicles lost 115 (2 destroyed, 113 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3319 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 279 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 312 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

[el lobo]

CHINA-BURMA

It looks like I will not be able to take China so my objective will be to keep it isolated as long as possible.

Rio is getting more troops into Burma, I am not. He has not DAed yet but when he does it will be with overwhelming forces.

So it is time to start my withdraw into the jungle. Shwebo will be first. I am not sure what to do with Ramree Island. Anything I put there will be locked-in and eventually destroyed.

Right now it has150 AV with forts three. I have two IDs and an Armor Div sitting in the hex to east that can go either into Ramree or elsewhere. The Armor Div will definitely go elsewhere, probably the Rangoon area.

Suggestions please.

[adarbrauner]

I don't know what to say about the retreat from Central Burma.

From one side, Rio is going to receive excellent advanced airstrips and logistic facilities, that we are loosing.

On the other side, a shorter deep jungle line of difense may require less LCUs and strenght to be employed somewhere else.

In any case isolation of China is of the 1st priority and has to be kept. I think this is 1st strategic objective of Rio (relief of China as long as it still exists)

(I almost fainted when I read of the 35000 casualties in one engagement one day only. It still causes me headaches). Obviously the ring around chunking and chengtu, and the daily bombardment should not be released. Eventually they shall fall later.

[Andav]

I am not sure what to do with Ramree Island. Anything I put there will be locked-in and eventually destroyed.

I would leave enough to make him have to divert enough forces to take the base. He will either need to amphibious assault of cross a river to enter the hex. 150 seems too light but I am not sure I would send a division. If it has an airfield, maybe fly in a regiment and then fly parts out when the end is near. When he takes Remree, he will be able to dump a bunch of supplies there which will feed everything in the Burma interior and eventually into China if there is an open road.

Tanks definitely need to drive away from Remree.

China is a grind. Most of those 34k casualties will come back eventually. Rotate them out and keep bombing. The adjusted value even with a supply (-) is a bit depressing. And plus leaders for the Chinese ... Bah ...

Wa

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo

Thanks. A little RL got in the way.

Spent a lot of time in thailand, both north and south. Had a "little" rl distract me many times there. [;)]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo


To say that I am up-set would be an understatement.

Bad luck, but well within the parameters of the game.

Here's the good news, it will happen to him and when it does, you take the base.

You have to remember that later in the game. Any defense can be broached because there is always a chance for it to happen. Defense in depth though, requires that to happen multiple times. those odds shrink drastically with depth. For example. the Korean penninsula. Barring an amphib landing at Moppo, there are 3 good MLR's that you can setup and even though you are badly outgunned you can hold against the SOV for 6 months there keeping Osaka out of B17 range for that time.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo


It looks like I will not be able to take China so my objective will be to keep it isolated as long as possible.

I can't see everything, but I wouldn't give up on China yet. although you are at Chengtu, what does Chunking look like?

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo


Rio is getting more troops into Burma, I am not. He has not DAed yet but when he does it will be with overwhelming forces.

So it is time to start my withdraw into the jungle. Shwebo will be first.

Well, it is '43. He will be getting the US INF upgrade along with ESSEX, Corsairs, F6F's. He still is really short of bombers though. Some rules I use in '43.
1. You are still able to have numbers advantage with fighters. When you have George fielded, sweep hard with overwhelming numbers. Ideally 3:1 or better. So like 4x36 as a minimum. Bigger groups are always better to sweep with. Be sure to have best commanders in the air units and the air HQ that you can. You will lose some pilots, but you should be able to keep your losses well above 1:1. He can't afford that in '43 with anything other than F6F, and even then he can't do it for long.
2. Keeping his fighter pool short means he can neither sweep you nor have strong escort for his bombers. This means your LCU's will not be subjected to bombing ... and his will.
3. His LCU's are now STRONGER than yours ... more firepower even though AV is about the same. Don't be fooled by the AV numbers. The firepower will hurt you very badly and his troops EXP's now should be above 50 fairly consistently. Your bombers are the equalizer in '43.

As for Burma ... I hate Burma.

So, yes withdrawal is about moving through a series of MLR's until you are back somewhere east of Hanoi. With skill and luck, you won't be there until late '44. The goal is to never let the allies get behind you. Always remember that their units are FASTER than yours. Really. Your next defensive line needs to be manned before you start you retreat. Manned doesn't mean 1200AV, it just means something there that a fast units can't kick out in 1 turn. So any bde or reg that is dug into 3x terrain with 3 forts can hold against an allied ID pretty easy for 2 attacks or more. That's all the time you need for your withdrawing forces to catch up preventing you from being encircled. Each line should be no more than 3 hexes from the current one. Easy to lay out in SE Asia ... lotsa jungle hexes.

You need to plan what forces will be sacrificed in Singers. You can't hold it, but you can't give it up for free either. Always a tough call, never right or wrong. Lots of AAR's to read through to get ideas of what was done and how long they lasted.

[el lobo]

adarbrauner

I will miss the infrastructure, especially the airfield, but I think my time to be proactive here is limited.

I agree on China.

Andav

I have a Regiment at Prome I can march there.

The forts one was a little surprising as there were only three or four days that the airfield was not damaged, but I guess that is all it took. I will keep it higher this time around.

[el lobo]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Spent a lot of time in thailand, both north and south. Had a "little" rl distract me many times there. [;)]

We went to Vientianne for some Visa work. Coming back across the border there was a young man asking for a ride. We dropped him off at Udon Thani airport. He happened to be Japanese.

I am making a couple of assumptions here but any thing to which you can relate? [8D]

[el lobo]

Thanks Pax. A lot of good information as usual.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: el lobo

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Spent a lot of time in thailand, both north and south. Had a "little" rl distract me many times there. [;)]

We went to Vientianne for some Visa work. Coming back across the border there was a young man asking for a ride. We dropped him off at Udon Thani airport. He happened to be Japanese.

I am making a couple of assumptions here but any thing to which you can relate? [8D]

Just that I was single, and I always have been a sucker for dark eyes and hair. I've noticed that those traits are not that uncommon in Udon Thani. [;)]

[el lobo]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

I can't see everything, but I wouldn't give up on China yet. although you are at Chengtu, what does Chunking look like?

CHINA Apr 9, 1943 Turn 489

We took Neikiang today.

I haven't done much with CK except daily bombing. I expect he has 6.5K +/- by now. I am going to move some units out of Chengtu to CK and see what I can do there for awhile. I am hoping Rio will DA me in Chengtu, which I doubt he will do, or move some more units out toward Burma so I can pick them off.

[el lobo]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Well, it is '43. He will be getting the US INF upgrade along with ESSEX, Corsairs, F6F's. He still is really short of bombers though. Some rules I use in '43.
1. You are still able to have numbers advantage with fighters. When you have George fielded, sweep hard with overwhelming numbers. Ideally 3:1 or better. So like 4x36 as a minimum. Bigger groups are always better to sweep with. Be sure to have best commanders in the air units and the air HQ that you can. You will lose some pilots, but you should be able to keep your losses well above 1:1. He can't afford that in '43 with anything other than F6F, and even then he can't do it for long.
2. Keeping his fighter pool short means he can neither sweep you nor have strong escort for his bombers. This means your LCU's will not be subjected to bombing ... and his will.

BURMA SWEEPS Apr 9, 1943 Turn 489

The first George unit will be in the field in about a week. It will be an offensive unit and sweep as you suggest. My Jack units are defensive right now so I am sweeping with Zeros, Tojos (OK), and Oscars (Ugh) as that is all I have for offense for now. I am finally getting enough units upgraded to have some full-size units for offense.

They have done fairly well.

[PaxMondo]

Be cautious sweeping with Oscar. Even though you are knocking down planes, you will be training up his pilots. When thsoe pilots resurface later in better planes, they are really nasty. For example, of those 29 P40's you got he likely lost less than 6 pilots. While those 19 kills of his added 3 - 5 pts of exp 19 times to his pilots.

The goal of the sweeps with overwhelming numbers is that your A2A losses are minimal, all of his planes go down, and with George 4x20mm his pilot losses are higher. So, he losses planes, but gains almost no pilot experience. Your pilots rack up EXP (rotate them out at ~80 exp so your high EXP pool continues to grow), and your plane losses are minimal. When he stops CAP. bomb his bases and then units in bases, continue to advance and rack up his device losses. This is the advantage of having the initiative. Pick targets that he will defend. Always monitor your supply usage.

[el lobo]

Pax, an Magic Highway question.

As you can see by last month's production, oil is dropping-off as the surpluses are being shipped. I still have some oil in the DEI and Java that I would like to ship back to the HI but I don't have the tankers.

If I pull a couple of tanker out of Fusan, will that upset the algorithm or is it established enough to handle some disruption?

Thanks.