Sheep are Reborn - Bill Brown(A) vs lowpe(J)

[BillBrown]

Here is a link to Jocke's original AAR tm.asp?m=3861156&mpage=1&key=

I have everything loaded and running. Game, tracker, combat reporter. I do not have the history files for intel monkey to be effective.

Repeating from the original thread
A quick assessment is probable in order.
I have never played a PDU off game, never gave it a thought, so I will be
having to learn a lot in the coming days.

Anything I say here should not be construed as a criticism of Jocks play. We all play differently and have
different areas we stress. One case in point, I insure that I protect my C2 Cargo ships and make sure I convert
them to C2 Lassen AE's before March 1943. If you wait until after that you can not convert them. I do like having
lots AE's with a cargo space of 5400 available. And they are the ones that can do underway replenishment in 1945.
Unfortunately Jocke did not, so I will have a lot less that I would prefer.

Jocke did a good job of positioning supply and fuel to the front, but I need to see if I can increase the forward
stockpiles. The Allies can go through a huge amount of supply and fuel in the last 18 months of the war. It appears
that Jocke did not lose an excessive number of xAKs and his AO and TK loses were very reasonable. So the ground
work for Allied victory is in place.

Since we all play the game differently I will be taking a month or so to change the logistics. I need to get supply to Aden so it can be shipped to India and eventually to Burma. I also need to streamline the supply and fuel movements to Australia and the whole South Pacific Area. I think I might see about mounting some offensives into the Gilbert and Marshall Islands to widen my line of supply/communication.

Jocke had prepped a large number of units for an DEI invasion. I am not entirely sure I will continue with that, but I have not changed anything yet. Even if I do invade into the DEI, I will want to clean up the Papua New Guinea area along with New Britain. The Admiralty Islands will also need to be taken. Again, I do not want him to have bases that can interdict my supply convoys.

This is what that area looks like now.

[Drakanel]

Good luck. I will be following both AARs

[BillBrown]

I didn't realize originally that actually Jocke only made 17 AKEs also, and no more can be made. This pretty much makes any
idea of an island hopping campaign impossible. I will have to wade in through the DEI so I can have multiple large ports available for rearm.

So, I will need to spend some time reorganizing my logistics and getting things ready for a major push into the DEI.
This will be much different than my normal inclination toward prosecuting the war.

[Canoerebel]

Bill, good luck and thanks for starting an AAR.

We're kinda doing the same thing, picking up games (you in late '43, me in early '44) against good opponents. It'll be fun to watch and compare notes.

It's very interesting to read your thoughts - your synopsis of what Jock hath bequeathed thee and how you plan to manage from here.

[BillBrown]

I can tell you that things look a bit out of wack. I would mostly attribute that to Jocke's lack of time to do turns as good as I am sure he can.
There are things that are just in the wrong place as far as I am concerned. Note also, that as I have stated everyone plays the game differently.
As you can by the following info screen, there is nothing big that stands out. Japan has a lot of bases controlled and that makes a large VP number,
but that will change in the coming months. Everything else looks fine and I am in no danger of defeat any time soon.

My bottom line assessment is that the position is playable. I will have to change my normal strategy and tactics to fit the position. There are some
things that I would have done much different but such is life, I will have to take the hand I am dealt.
I do plan on taking about 7 days or so to really get a grasp on the situation and will do more detailed updates on each area as I go.

[witpqs]

Bill,

Good luck! I walk in both AARs on this one so cannot make certain kinds of comments, but this has been one wild and woolly game so far! [8D]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

I didn't realize originally that actually Jocke only made 17 AKEs also, and no more can be made. This pretty much makes any
idea of an island hopping campaign impossible. I will have to wade in through the DEI so I can have multiple large ports available for rearm.

So, I will need to spend some time reorganizing my logistics and getting things ready for a major push into the DEI.
This will be much different than my normal inclination toward prosecuting the war.

There should be lots of AKE material still out there - just not the C2 Lassen class that make the 5400 ton AEs.
All the 4900 ton capacity xAKs should convert to 4200 ton or 3920 ton AKEs. The 5250 ton xAKs convert to 4900 ton AKE, IIRC.
I had so many of the latter that I made very few of the 4900 tonners into AKEs.

[BillBrown]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

I didn't realize originally that actually Jocke only made 17 AKEs also, and no more can be made. This pretty much makes any
idea of an island hopping campaign impossible. I will have to wade in through the DEI so I can have multiple large ports available for rearm.

So, I will need to spend some time reorganizing my logistics and getting things ready for a major push into the DEI.
This will be much different than my normal inclination toward prosecuting the war.

There should be lots of AKE material still out there - just not the C2 Lassen class that make the 5400 ton AEs.
All the 4900 ton capacity xAKs should convert to 4200 ton or 3920 ton AKEs. The 5250 ton xAKs convert to 4900 ton AKE, IIRC.
I had so many of the latter that I made very few of the 4900 tonners into AKEs.

It is too late, you have to convert them by 6/43. After they upgrade to the 6/43 version they no longer can be converted.

[BBfanboy]

Yikes! That is a big problem!
Guess you will just have to capture every big port on the board! [:)]

[BillBrown]

My first impression is that I will need to take Java, that will give me Batavia and Soerabaja as large ports.

[Lovejoy]

How are the Port and Airfield at Darwin? Is Darwin practicable as a forward base with which to advance on Java?

[pws1225]

Good luck Bill, just not too much. [8D]

[BillBrown]

The turn has been sent. We will see what happens. My plan is to not do too much in the first 7-10 days. I will do a detailed analysis of each area of the
map, one per day. When you take over a game there are a lot of questions. The first is the context, what has happened, what areas were active, which areas
quiet, where is KB, where have sub activity taken place lately? It takes a few days of actual playing to get a good feel for this. The second is what has
the previous player been up to? There are TFs all over the map, where and why are they going? There are units( ground, air, naval) all over the map, what
purpose are they there? And of course the last, what preparations have been made and will I use them or go in a different direction. It is almost impossible
to wrap your head around all of the questions and get concrete answers.

I have some notes from Jocke, so I am not entirely in the dark. One area he admits he was lax on is pilot training and I agree. So one item on my long list
of things to do has a partial check mark next to it. TRAIN Pilots, lots of pilots. I have started and will continue to identify more training units and get them
up and running.

[CaptBeefheart]

Good luck. This should be an interesting ride for the peanut gallery.

Cheers,
CC

[BillBrown]

December 9, 1943
Another turn has been done.

No big news, I sank an xAKL near Legaspi.

I looked over India and Burma in more depth this turn. A picture of the Burma area is included.
India itself is fine, a bit low on supply, but that is an area I have things moving to correct.

The red rounded square is the 32nd USA Inf Div and the 6th Australian Inf Div. They are trapped and
will be eliminated. I do not know how long they will last, but not too much longer.

The units in the Blue box are moving to the indicated hex to try and bring some order
to this region. I would like to clear that hex and start moving troops down the coast
road. Some other units are moving to establish a semblance of defensive line in the woods in
the North. I have a number of other units moving in India to Chittagong to start building up
an attack force. I have set up a huge ground bombing attack on the units in the light green box.
As far as I am concerned, all Japanese units in open terrain are subject to massive bombing raids.
As I go along I will switch some to airfield bombing to suppress the airfields, and burn his supply.

In most the rest of the map I am just doing a lot of logistic moving about. I need to distribute supply
and fuel to a number of bases, move a lot of LCUs about and get things in order for extensive offensive
operations in the near future. I am also looking to take some bases in the Pacific that have been bypassed.
I do not like having potential bombing bases too close to my line of supply movement. Plus I can look
to shorten the trips. More about that in a couple of turns.

BTW, there is basically no China.

[Canoerebel]

You and I will have to be cautious about posting comparisons, because Obvert (Erik) can read this AAR and Lowpe (Jeff) can read my AAR.

But let me just say that the similarities are immense, the major difference being that your game is four months behind mine.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

You and I will have to be cautious about posting comparisons, because Obvert (Erik) can read this AAR and Lowpe (Jeff) can read my AAR.

But let me just say that the similarities are immense, the major difference being that your game is four months behind mine.

No, really, I have no time to read AARs these days. No need for extra care. Post away. [;)]

Love that you're keeping the sheep alive, Bill.

[Canoerebel]

In my game with Erik, I have 42,000 AV 100% prepped for Nagasaki. They've all upgraded to '44 US Army and US Marine squads, even the Indian units. I have 62 carriers including 14 fleet carriers. All air squadrons are fully upgraded to Hellcats and Corsairs, even the CVEs. They armada is three hexes from Nagasaki and showing 0 detection. Three days ago SigInt reported 297 men at Nagasaki. One day ago, SigInt reported that the unit there is a tax police battalion 97% prepped for San Francisco.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In my game with Erik, I have 42,000 AV 100% prepped for Nagasaki. They've all upgraded to '44 US Army and US Marine squads, even the Indian units. I have 62 carriers including 14 fleet carriers. All air squadrons are fully upgraded to Hellcats and Corsairs, even the CVEs. They armada is three hexes from Nagasaki and showing 0 detection. Three days ago SigInt reported 297 men at Nagasaki. One day ago, SigInt reported that the unit there is a tax police battalion 97% prepped for San Francisco.

No! Not the Tax Police!

[Lovejoy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In my game with Erik, I have 42,000 AV 100% prepped for Nagasaki. They've all upgraded to '44 US Army and US Marine squads, even the Indian units. I have 62 carriers including 14 fleet carriers. All air squadrons are fully upgraded to Hellcats and Corsairs, even the CVEs. They armada is three hexes from Nagasaki and showing 0 detection. Three days ago SigInt reported 297 men at Nagasaki. One day ago, SigInt reported that the unit there is a tax police battalion 97% prepped for San Francisco.

Sometimes the best deception is to let your enemy see the truth, or the best way to create a large artificial reef. My memory is a bit iffy[:D]