1000 mile war - liberating the Aleutians

[Energisteron]

Thanks again, BBfanboy

That's all good detailed advice which I've cut and pasted for future reference!

As regards the call-sign for an enemy CA being virtually outside Dutch Harbor: I thought it may be a sub calling up the CA.

[Energisteron]

Day 51 - Jun 05

With shocking weather continuing any significant air ops are out of the question.

Maybe we can sneak in our big guns to bombard Attu without a significant threat from land-based aircraft on Attu?

CA TF will go in tonight, with CVE Nassau moving up to provide air cover should the weather improve. The BB TF will follow up within 48hrs while CVE Nassau stays on station and contests Attu air-space.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Energisteron

Thanks again, BBfanboy

That's all good detailed advice which I've cut and pasted for future reference!

As regards the call-sign for an enemy CA being virtually outside Dutch Harbor: I thought it may be a sub calling up the CA.

One of the tricks that was tried IRL was having a sub or other vessel make radio calls using the call sign of an important ship. The idea was to make the enemy think the important ship was somewhere other than its real location. So I think the game models this kind of BS in Sigint.
Other stuff is just inexperienced naval search sighting pods of whales and reporting several ships. After a while you will get a feel for what is a good report and what is not. I try to look for both Sigint and Op reports mentioning the same hex.

[Energisteron]

Day 51 - Jun 05

A very successful bombardment. Now let's hope they get clean away!

[Energisteron]

Day 52 - Jun 06

CA bombardment TF well on the way back to Dutch Harbor where it will re-load and speed right back to Attu for another night's work!

BB TF approaches Attu unmolested. CVE Nassau in position to contest Attu air-space and cover approach of BBs tomorrow.

No air ops possible.

[Energisteron]

Day 53 - Jun 07

Nothing at all in the air due to bad weather. CVE's Wildcats unable to contest Attu air-space.

BBs Nevada and Idaho bombard Attu overnight with little success. Worse, their approach is opposed by a Coastal Gun Battalion which strikes Idaho 3 times! Fortunately damage is insignificant and by dawn the BB TF is well on its way back to Dutch Harbor.

[Energisteron]

Day 54 - Jun 08

So what happened? Well, err, nothing really . . . Poor weather more than hampers all air ops. We saw not even one Japanese recon mission!

CA TF reloaded and ready to go is on its way back to Attu. The BB group having fulfilled its mission (to little effect) continues towards Dutch Harbor without incident.

Before the time limit expires, I could have just about loaded up my troops and sent them to Attu into the unknown. But, I will not do that until I have an inkling at least of what's there in defence. The information gathered so far would indicate a similar force to that which we overcame on Kiska, plus, this time, there's a full Coastal Gun Btn to oppose us! And they're sharpshooters. Of 15 shells they fired at our BB bombardment TF, 3 hit BB Idaho. That's excellent gun laying!!

[Energisteron]

Day 55 - Jun 09

The weather improves for once. Light rain at times is about the best we've had.

Switching to daylight raids with fighter support, mainly from CVE Nassau, but with a few Warhawks operating from the tiny airstrip at Kiska, proves costly and is a stark reminder of early encounters over Kiska a month before. The defending fighters make short work of our disjointed efforts. Small numbers of bombers are sent out due to logistical problems at Adak. We simply do not have the capacity to undertake big raids.

A couple of air units are flown back to Dutch Harbor, now crammed with aircraft we can hardly use and now operating over capacity. A Group of Liberators are flown in to replace them but it seems doubtful they can be handled by Adak. Only by virtually shutting down ops at Dutch Harbor and transferring ground crews and support to Adak can we seemingly move air ops forward.

[Energisteron]

Day 56 - Jun 10

The CA bombardment TF hits Kiska successfully overnight.

The day's air ops against Kiska were disappointing in effort, results, and losses.

[Energisteron]

Day 57 - Jun 11

CVE Nassau turns for Dutch Harbor to replenish. Without its fighters, dwindling as they were in any case, the raids against Attu cannot be escorted. Kiska air ops, despite the vigorous efforts of the Sea Bees who have improved the airstrip to the same extent as Adak (level 2), are so meagre as to be insignificant.

Liberators from Adak (just a handful) do attack Attu in daylight but are met with significant defending fighters and their attack is hardly effective.

The BB bombardment TF is sent back towards Attu to repeat its mission.

Day 58 - Jun 12

All offensive air ops against Attu are suspended due to lack of escorts.

No contacts at sea.

Day 59 - Jun 13

With all efforts winding down, there's no incidents to report.

The CA bombardment TF was about to go in next night with the BB TF following but suddenly it's all over!

Apparently it's a DRAW. I'm not so sure; our losses were significant for little result.


For the moment the whole scenario just seems to have closed down and I did not get a screenshot of the final result which was a splash screen stating Draw and a score of approx Japan 305, USA 255. I'll have a look if there's an auto-save of the end game and post it if possible.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Energisteron

Day 57 - Jun 11

CVE Nassau turns for Dutch Harbor to replenish. Without its fighters, dwindling as they were in any case, the raids against Attu cannot be escorted. Kiska air ops, despite the vigorous efforts of the Sea Bees who have improved the airstrip to the same extent as Adak (level 2), are so meagre as to be insignificant.

Liberators from Adak (just a handful) do attack Attu in daylight but are met with significant defending fighters and their attack is hardly effective.

The BB bombardment TF is sent back towards Attu to repeat its mission.

Day 58 - Jun 12

All offensive air ops against Attu are suspended due to lack of escorts.

No contacts at sea.

Day 59 - Jun 13

With all efforts winding down, there's no incidents to report.

The CA bombardment TF was about to go in next night with the BB TF following but suddenly it's all over!

Apparently it's a DRAW. I'm not so sure; our losses were significant for little result.


For the moment the whole scenario just seems to have closed down and I did not get a screenshot of the final result which was a splash screen stating Draw and a score of approx Japan 305, USA 255. I'll have a look if there's an auto-save of the end game and post it if possible.

Once you reach the end date for the scenario, you cannot extend the campaign to see what would happen. You should have the opportunity to look at the Japanese side of things now and see what their state was.
It is always fun to replay the scenario vowing not to make the same mistakes you did the first time ... so you can make different mistakes next time! [:D]

[Energisteron]

Mistakes? Qui, moi? !! [:)]

I suppose it would be feasible to edit the scenario to leave it more open ended?

I had to 're-fight' the last day to get to the end screen again, but there was not much going on so the end result is virtually the same. Here it is:-

[Energisteron]

I'd like to thank all those who contributed with ideas, and helpful advice throughout this AAR.

Certainly, I've learned a lot but there's much more to assimilate. I will go off and re-read the rules and hopefully gain a fuller knowledge of the workings of the game.

I have chosen NOT to read the 'reveal screen' at the end so I am still unaware of exactly what I might be facing after Kiska. I will play this again, more aggressively, with the knowledge I've gained and see how it goes.

Ok, let's give a final assessment.

Well, first of all, thanks to the designer of this hypothetical scenario. In my estimation it is an excellent training scenario for a novice, and would be a quick fun game for someone more experienced. In truth it could be played through in a single night, certainly 2 nights, against the AI and one could always ramp up the difficulty. Please note I set this up with a +/-15 day reinforcement window. That was deliberate because I like uncertainty but in such a short scenario (just 60 days) perhaps I stretched the resilience of the design somewhat. I seemed to get reserves on average, as one would expect, approximately on time so I have no complaints. I have no idea if the Japanese AI felt the same!

So what did I do wrong? Did I do anything right? Or was it just a catalogue of errors? Was I lucky or unlucky?

Pivotal features : The US forward base at Adak is hopelessly underdeveloped which drastically hampers air operations and re-supply. Dutch Harbor is in good shape but even here resources become stretched. By resources, I really mean air ops support and naval repair. I never had any shortage of supplies or fuel which seemed to keep topping up nicely throughout.

Kiska is in range of Liberators from Dutch Harbor, but Attu is not and Adak is simply not up to putting large formations of Liberators in the air.

Finally, the weather is almost entirely foul throughout. This reduces the effectiveness of air strikes, and their frequency, as sometimes air ops are cancelled altogether. The bad weather hinders search over (even here) a vast tract of ocean but that also means our naval TF can travel back and forth to bombard with seeming impunity (unless you were on BB Pennsylvania when that SSX hit it!).

Operational factors : It is now obvious that naval bombardment is by far the most effective way of degrading the defence. I was concerned about losing big ships to air strikes but now realise that the bad weather cloaked them to some degree. In any case, I adopted the tactic of escorting TF with fighters from Dutch Harbor until the task was handed over to fighters from Adak. The latter could just provide a CAP over unloading at Kiska. In the open sea, no enemy subs intervened at all, but except for one fast CA TF, I always provided adequate DD escorts.

My one CVE, which in any case is not available at the start, is not capable of contesting air-space over an occupied island unless the defending fighters have been severely depleted. It may be my subjective opinion, but it seems to be borne out by the facts (aircraft losses), that only Wildcats and Lightnings are capable of combatting Zeros on anything like equal terms, and the Lightnings were always at the limit of their range from Dutch Harbor. Warhawks seemed to be out-classed. Of the bombers, the Liberators did splendid work but it did not come cheap. In large formations they do seem to be able to fend off the fighters. Venturas especially and to a lesser extent Mitchells are more vulnerable and must be escorted until we have air-supremacy.

In this scenario, I seem to arrive when someone else has set out his plan, since all infantry units at Dutch Harbor, and those that arrive later, are pre-set for an attack on Kiska or Attu. Most are set for Attu. I do not think those few units set to planning for Kiska at the start could have taken the place so some considerable re-jigging was needed. Additionally only civilian transports are available at start. As evidenced by my 2nd wave invasion, APAS discharge their troops much faster drastically speeding up troop build up and offensive capability, while reducing the risks to the vessels themselves from loitering at the beachhead too long. I should have waited for the release of the APAs before making any attack!

Now to the HQ situation. There's just 2, the North Pacific HQ and an Air Force HQ, both at Dutch Harbor. Since operations of any significance certainly start from there it is probably best to leave it there until the troops are about to invade. Then the HQ can be moved up to Adak at the same time.

Mistakes : Yes, I admit it!

I didn't bring up the HQ soon enough (due to lack of fast transports) but I really should have got it to Adak sooner.

I didn't begin naval bombardment soon enough (wary of air attack and subs).

I didn't try replenishing BB or CA from ammo tenders moved up from Dutch Harbor to Adak (my excuse, I'd experienced just how bad the dock there was!) which could have reduced turnaround time and led to multiple attacks in a single week.

I launched medium bombers against an intact fighter defence (I thought they were more degraded!) and at too low an altitude so they were hit by flak.

Worst of all, I used Warhawks to straf at 2000ft (because I thought the fighters were just about done) and they were decimated by flak. I did it just once.

I made insufficient use of night bombing (operational losses increased at night, and likelihood of a raid occurring in bad weather was reduced till further)

On land, I'm not sure I made mistakes, but maybe I launched the invasion a fraction too soon and without immediately available reserves (lack of transports).

Lessons Learned : Next time, I will ramp up the number of bombardment missions to the max, use night bombing at first and then switch to day time raids with Liberators. Infantry will be switched to target Kiska from the start and they will load up in APAs, supplies following in xAKs. The HQ will move to Adak as the invasion force goes in.

Overall, I really enjoyed this scenario.

Thanks again to all who've encouraged me and offered advice.

[BBfanboy]

I took a look at the scenario start from both the Japanese and Allied side - I do not consider this cheating because the Allies had very good intel on what the Japanese OOB was and their general intentions week to week.

I will not mention specifics since you said you want to keep the tension of the unknown, but I will say the Japanese start out even weaker than the Allies but in your game you just finished the Japanese did not throw everything they had at you after the mid-point of the scenario.

So, some suggestions/comments.

First of all, for your first run-through you did very well and put up a very good/well illustrated AAR. Well done!

Dutch Harbour is hard to build any higher so I would not concentrate on that at all. Move every unit with engineers to Adak (until they go to invade somewhere) and build the AF fast to level 5, then the port.
Since the Japanese AF was causing you a lot of grief, you must suppress those two bases ASAP. Send all your bombers at Kiska on day one to get the AF damage over 50 and try to keep it there. Do not bother bombing troops - Kiska is a swamp and bombing is not very effective. Same for night bombing - not effective. The bonus to keeping the AF damaged is that the enemy cannot build forts until all the AF and Port damage is repaired.

Sweep the fighters there with your fighters based on Adak. Fighters assigned to escort bombers are tied to the bomber stream speed and cannot go after the enemy, so they are sitting ducks.

The P-40E can hold its own against Zeros if it does not try to dogfight at high altitude. Open the squadron screen for P-40s and click on the "Aircraft Data". At the bottom you will see info on maneuver bands. Note that the P40E's best maneuver number (16) holds until 15,000 feet. Keep the P-40s below this altitude.
The p-40's advantage is durability and firepower.

Your P-40 squadron leaders have very poor skills - spend the PP to replace them with the best leaders you can get with skill priorities Air - 65+ Aggression 65+ Leadership 60+. Bomber squadron leaders need good Air, Aggression and Leadership skills 55+.

For Attu- use bombardment to keep it suppressed and use your CVE to cover the bombarding ships with LRCAP on the way out. Bombardment TFs have an AI mission profile that makes them run in and out at maximum speed to try and avoid air strikes. So position your TF in SC mode just out of Betty range, but as close to Attu as you can. Ensure all the ships in the TF have enough fuel for the run-in and out. Keep an AO or two with your CVE if you can. When the all is ready, only then do you switch the TF to "Bombardment" and give it a target. Set your float planes on the Bombardment TF to: Night Ops, Recon, Range 0, Altitude 1000 feet. Usually if the FP can take off it will act as spotter for the bombardment and increase its effectiveness.

After the bombardment check that your TF used a decent portion of their ammo and have reverted to "Mission Speed" from Max Speed. Refuel as required.
If they did not fire off much ammo, your detection level (DL) on the target is too low. Have more recon fly to ID targets on the enemy base. Sweep it first with fighters, then use Cats or FPs during the day or night to raise MDL.

Don't re-prep the Attu troops at start - consider taking that base first. Nuff said without spoilers, but imagine how useful that would be in keeping enemy fighters off your back if you keep Kiska suppressed with bombers. Zeros can only operate at 14 hexes with drop tanks, and Paramushiro Jima is 17 hexes from Attu!

Lots of details in this advice but the game rewards attention to detail over getting the turn done quickly! Good luck with your next one!

[Energisteron]

Thank you for your very detailed reply, BBfanboy.

That is very sound advice which I will try to assimilate.

To some extent you've second guessed me as regards invading Attu first. That was my intention in the replay, but not for the reasons you suggest. I thought gaining Attu first would isolate Kiska.

Engineering resources and infrastructure improvement : I set both Adak and Dutch Harbor to expand at the start (airfield only) but neither improved over the course of the scenario. I believe they were about 80% towards the next step up. However the Sea Bees who arrived as reinforcement (about midway) made a huge impact on the improvement and repair of Kiska which upgraded to level 2 same as Adak. Your plan to pour everything into the upgrade of Adak seems like a wise choice.

Air escort : I did get some fighter only raids (sweeps) as you will have seen but perhaps I left just a bit too much leeway with the friendly AI. Certainly it would never have been my intention to have 1x Ventura bomber making a raid with 2x Warhawks as escort for instance! However, if I recall correctly, there were occasions when the defending fighters stayed on the ground if only fighters were above them.

Special thanks for the heads-up on Lightnings and how to check the details you describe. I never even looked at that data.

Leaders : I did look at replacing some leaders and indeed pilots but didn't seem to get the hang of it. I couldn't find any replacements in the pool.

Bombardments : I must admit I did not check TF speed on the way home. I had an inkling they were returning faster than they arrived! However, I did check ammo expenditure and in all but one case early on the big ships fired 80% of their ammo. That seems a reasonable proportion.

I've copied and pasted your guideline, as in fact I have done with others too,for easy accessibility in future.

It'll be a few days before I fire up this scenario again.

Thanks again.

[BBfanboy]

You don't have to look in the pools for Air Leaders - just click on the name of the current leader of the squadron and a list of available leaders will come up. Click on "Air" to arrange the list by Air skill, and then look for the best mix of Air, Aggression and Leadership. But pay attention to the PP cost of the change - you may need those PPs for other things, and some leaders can be extra costly to buy out.

[Energisteron]

Thanks again.

I'm going to open up the final turn at some point, in Allied mode, and cycle through as much data as I can find. There were one or two things that confused me!

And I may be back with some questions before starting my second playthrough AAR, which may as well be here, although I will not be reporting back in quite so much detail.

Good luck with your present campaign(s)!

[Energisteron]

Actually I've got an immediate question!

Referring back to the very first post here, it is clear that both Attu and Kiska were worth 40pts to the Japanese, as I thought all along.

But somewhere mid-scenarion Attu apparently became more valuable to the Japanese, but not to me. You will see in my Result Screen a few posts above, that the enemy scored 60pts for Attu.

Are Victory Points dynamic during the course of a scenario? If so, that's a novel idea, and quite a good one, although I don't ever recall seeing it in any other wargame (time limits being usually defined by a cut-off date rather than a decreasing reward for gaining an objective late, for instance).

[traskott]

VP are not dinamic but each base has different value for each side...

[BBfanboy]

IIRC when I looked at the scenario - there are points for Paramushiro Jima, Attu, Kiska, Adak and Dutch Harbour. Japan held the first two at the end of the game. To see how much each base is worth, hover the cursor over the base and the pop-up label will tell you. Points for the size of the AF and Port are standard for the two sides, but there is often a different multiplier for the value of the base to each side.