The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

The Chinese units have decent experience, decent commanders, and about half with '43 squads and half without.

The real challenge is closing the perimeter around the pocket without letting the enemy units escape. It's far more complicated and time-consuming than it looks. For instance, if I had four good Chinese corps in a single hex moving into a Japanese held hex...and if the Japanese units left just before the Chinese arrived...it could turn into weeks of delay.

Here the Japanese are confined to two contiguous hexes. That means I have to hold eight hexes to maintain the pocket. Hold those eight while also deploying units to advance through bad terrain.

It's complicated but it'll get done eventually.

[Canoerebel]

2/4/45

31st Div.: This unit has mainly served in garrison roles due to '41 squads. It participated in the landings at Gunzan and has upgraded.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The Chinese units have decent experience, decent commanders, and about half with '43 squads and half without.

The real challenge is closing the perimeter around the pocket without letting the enemy units escape. It's far more complicated and time-consuming than it looks. For instance, if I had four good Chinese corps in a single hex moving into a Japanese held hex...and if the Japanese units left just before the Chinese arrived...it could turn into weeks of delay.

Here the Japanese are confined to two contiguous hexes. That means I have to hold eight hexes to maintain the pocket. Hold those eight while also deploying units to advance through bad terrain.

It's complicated but it'll get done eventually.

A unit in a hex cannot cross an internal hex side owned by the enemy. An internal hex side is owned by whichever side last crossed into the hex across that hex side. Of course the side which had a unit in the hex with no enemy present starts out owning all the internal hex sides.

So if you manage to own all the internal hex sides the only way for the enemy troops to escape by land is another enemy unit comes to their rescue and opens a hex side. But closing all hex sides is very time consuming, especially the fewer units you have available for the task.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

2/4/45

31st Div.: This unit has mainly served in garrison roles due to '41 squads. It participated in the landings at Gunzan and has upgraded.

I don't think the "Guard" divisions that appear later in the game are nearly as potent as the experienced "Imperial Guard" division that is in the Bangkok area at game start.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The Chinese units have decent experience, decent commanders, and about half with '43 squads and half without.

The real challenge is closing the perimeter around the pocket without letting the enemy units escape. It's far more complicated and time-consuming than it looks. For instance, if I had four good Chinese corps in a single hex moving into a Japanese held hex...and if the Japanese units left just before the Chinese arrived...it could turn into weeks of delay.

Here the Japanese are confined to two contiguous hexes. That means I have to hold eight hexes to maintain the pocket. Hold those eight while also deploying units to advance through bad terrain.

It's complicated but it'll get done eventually.

A unit in a hex cannot cross an internal hex side owned by the enemy. An internal hex side is owned by whichever side last crossed into the hex across that hex side. Of course the side which had a unit in the hex with no enemy present starts out owning all the internal hex sides.

So if you manage to own all the internal hex sides the only way for the enemy troops to escape by land is another enemy unit comes to their rescue and opens a hex side. But closing all hex sides is very time consuming, especially the fewer units you have available for the task.

Yeah, the rough terrain will make it difficult in any circumstance. Their retreat path will be toward the nearest Japanese base that has a clear supply path linking it to the unit in the field. In this case, Canton - unless you have moved your troops into Canton from all hex sides, cutting off supply path. In that case the retreat path should be toward Chuhsien or Wenchow.

So the hex sides toward those three bases are the ones you should close first (if you have the choice).

[Canoerebel]

You know, there's not a supply path to any Japanese hex anywhere. The Allies control all hexsides at Canton and Hong Kong. So there's no way the Kukong Pocket troops can be forced to retreat. They do have some hexsides that they control, so they can still try to leave voluntarily.

[Canoerebel]

Ikoma and Chikuma ended up just two or three hexes from Death Star, vulnerable to air strikes. I had all my strike aircraft set to ASW at low range, so none sortied. The same settings will be employed tomorrow.

I could order Death Star to near Fusan and interdict those two enemy ships plus all the other shipping there, including the transports bringing in 2nd Guards Division. I'm not doing so.

Why?

Death Star's primary task remains to shepherd the Gunzan invasion. Half the troops and 80% of the supply hasn't landed yet. Most of the focus is on securing and building the airfield as fast as possible. In comparison to that mission, the points to be scored or the advantage gained by somewhat risky missions is insignificant. CAP traps are a concern. Also, John has many interlocking level 9 airfields in proximity to Fusan, along with combat ships proximity.

For these reasons, I'm trying to let the combat ships and subs deal with the surface combat threat while Death Star retains maximum capacity for CAP to ward off the attacks that might come at any time.

The right call? For me, yes. I suspect many of you wish (itch!) for me to strike now. I realize many of you would do so and would succeed handsomely. But this is a case where I've got to trust my instincts.

[Canoerebel]

Yesterday or Saturday, I provided excerpts of a message from John. I should've included the full message, because the redacted part is significant.

It's clear that he is under the impression that the Allies will/have to invade Japan, sooner or later. I don't think he has a good feel for the points ration, how fast the Allied lead is increasing, and how long the game is likely to last. He's focused on a ground war in Korea that will be largely irrelevant. It's the air war that matters, and that's a near- and medium-termed proposition.

While I'm working the near- and medium-term aspects hard, I'm not ignoring the long-term. If things drag out, the Allies will be in position to attend to Singapore (that campaign would probably bring 25% of the points needed for auto victory today, maybe more). But I'll never invade Japan, unless it turns out I cannot win the war by strategic bombing, taking China, and eliminating hundreds of thousands of troops in Asia. I'm pretty sure I can.

John's full message:


You’ve fully activated the Manchurian/Korean troops.  Never thought in a million years they would actually get a chance to fight.  This WILL be fun to watch.  Part of me—in the AAR---talked about your China move that it would be telling at four points:
 
1. Form the coastal lodgment and use it to directly jump into Japan by Nov 1944.  OR
2. Advance deeper into China and take all of Southern China to the Yangste.  Japan by February 1945.  OR
3. Advance and take all of China but stop short of crossing into Manchuria.  Japan Landing by May 1945.  OR
4. Stay and take the entire Mainland.  No Japan Landing until late-Summer 1945.
 
I hoped for this so the Mainland could continue to develop new ‘toys’ and rebuild destroyed units.  Looks like it is Option 4 so it should be interesting to see just how much TIME and Casualties this decision costs.  You get AFs right next to the Homeland but the troops will be occupied for quite a while.
 
Should be fun to see how it plays out…

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Yesterday or Saturday, I provided excerpts of a message from John. I should've included the full message, because the redacted part is significant.

It's clear that he is under the impression that the Allies will/have to invade Japan, sooner or later. I don't think he has a good feel for the points ration, how fast the Allied lead is increasing, and how long the game is likely to last. He's focused on a ground war in Korea that will be largely irrelevant. It's the air war that matters, and that's a near- and medium-termed proposition.

While I'm working the near- and medium-term aspects hard, I'm not ignoring the long-term. If things drag out, the Allies will be in position to attend to Singapore (that campaign would probably bring 25% of the points needed for auto victory today, maybe more). But I'll never invade Japan, unless it turns out I cannot win the war by strategic bombing, taking China, and eliminating hundreds of thousands of troops in Asia. I'm pretty sure I can.

John's full message:


You’ve fully activated the Manchurian/Korean troops.  Never thought in a million years they would actually get a chance to fight.  This WILL be fun to watch.  Part of me—in the AAR---talked about your China move that it would be telling at four points:
 
1. Form the coastal lodgment and use it to directly jump into Japan by Nov 1944.  OR
2. Advance deeper into China and take all of Southern China to the Yangste.  Japan by February 1945.  OR
3. Advance and take all of China but stop short of crossing into Manchuria.  Japan Landing by May 1945.  OR
4. Stay and take the entire Mainland.  No Japan Landing until late-Summer 1945.
 
I hoped for this so the Mainland could continue to develop new ‘toys’ and rebuild destroyed units.  Looks like it is Option 4 so it should be interesting to see just how much TIME and Casualties this decision costs.  You get AFs right next to the Homeland but the troops will be occupied for quite a while.
 
Should be fun to see how it plays out…

A case of Führerbunker Fever?

[Smoky Stoker]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

2/3/45

Battle of Gunzan: Mixed shock attack and deliberate attack by Allied army is immediately decisive.

Happened to notice here that the defender had 72 guns, and then lost 88 of them. How's that work??

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Smoky Stoker

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

2/3/45

Battle of Gunzan: Mixed shock attack and deliberate attack by Allied army is immediately decisive.

Happened to notice here that the defender had 72 guns, and then lost 88 of them. How's that work??

I have seen similar imbalance in reports on all types of devices - guns, squads, support troops, engs., vehicles. Just FOW I presume. I take the lower figure in any imbalance in the reports.

[Canoerebel]

Supply from the Burma Road is filtering through hexes all the way to the Allied spearhead in northernmost China - and to the "guerilla Chinese" even further north, on and near the Manchurian border.

Supply does have trouble filtering into base hexes. Hong Kong draws full supply ever other day. And supply doesn't seem to flow well to the big Allied bases like Ningpo, Foochow and Shanghai. There I've had to rely on supply deliveries via boat. That's another reason Korea is key. Gunzan airfield will be, in effect, an island. Supply deliveries to Gunzan won't filter inland more than the few hexes the Allies will advance to.

I'll be landing about 125k supply in total at Gunzan. That will be sufficient to support combat and base-building ops and perhaps some early fighter sweeps and even bombing runs.

Of the 1 million supply that was brought in a few months ago, Luzon still has plenty; Formosa has 300k (and is the primarily draw source for China); and Ningpo has about 100k, sufficient to fund bombing ops into the medium term.

My guesstimate several months ago that the 1 million supply would get me through February was correct. The next slug of supply is gathering at Boela, currently at about 600k and probably near 1 million by the time I'm ready to send it forward. There's no doubt that will fund the rest of the war, though I'll continue working supply delivery until the war ends. Most of this next delivery will go to "island" Korea, where air ops will be the priority.

[Canoerebel]

2/4/45

Allied Army in Korea: This is the assault infantry that landed at Gunzan on D-Day (four armored units have already advanced from the hex).

Note that the assault included units heavily prepped for Keijo rather than for the invasion beach. Despite the lack of proper pre, the units came ashore in great shape. That's partly attributable to the lack of strong defenses. But, as you all know, even landing on a vacant beach results in heavy disablements for an unprepared unit (usually). The 100% prepped Amphibious Assault HQ is the likely reason for the successful landing here.

[Lovejoy]

Well done on getting the troops ashore! That's a formidable force, particularly when you factor the high firepower that Allied LCUs can have this late in the game.

I wonder what Stalin is thinking now that the Amerikanski have landed in Korea

[Canoerebel]

What Stalin is thinking: "This is some crazy yak droppings. But if you want real crazy, get a load of the American bases in Russia proper in a certain other contest!"

[Canoerebel]

It's 1 a.m., I've just awakened after sleeping for about three hours, and the mood to write is upon me. This may or may not be a good thing. Sometimes the writing flows in a satisfying, fulfilling way. Usually it doesn't, filling the writer with dismay and despair. I may write all night. Or I may succumb to self-loathing, shut down my computer, and toss and turn all night long.

I'm going to do something pretty questionable for a writer. Here's the opening paragraphs. Later, if it turns into something complete, I'll post the final version. If it turns out I was embarking on a task of futility, I'll let you know that too.

I'm hoping this will turn into an article of 1,000 to 2,000 words about beauty and about time. The genesis of the idea came last week, while I was walking the autumn woods shortly after rain had brought down most of the colorful leaves.

The opening paragraphs (all I have, at the moment, except for the outline):

For the poet, there are moments when time seems to stop; occasions when, for seconds or minutes, a thing of surpassing beauty transfixes. With clarity awakened, he contemplates the newly extraordinary – the loveliness of a leaf, the melody of a birdsong, the biting scent of hickory. His mind plays with words and phrases that might do justice to the occasion. Sometimes he succeeds. More often, he doesn’t.

The grand old movie Doctor Zhivago captures this mood perfectly. Yuri Zhivago, the protagonist, is a gifted poet and physician enduring the deprivations and horrors of the Russian Revolution. In one scene, he stands at a dark window frosted with ice. When a beam of sunlight suddenly illuminates the window, he traces with his finger the delicately laced frost crystals. And the beauty of the moment pierces his heart.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

It's 1 a.m., I've just awakened after sleeping for about three hours, and the mood to write is upon me. This may or may not be a good thing. Sometimes the writing flows in a satisfying, fulfilling way. Usually it doesn't, filling the writer with dismay and despair. I may write all night. Or I may succumb to self-loathing, shut down my computer, and toss and turn all night long.

I'm going to do something pretty questionable for a writer. Here's the opening paragraphs. Later, if it turns into something complete, I'll post the final version. If it turns out I was embarking on a task of futility, I'll let you know that too.

I'm hoping this will turn into an article of 1,000 to 2,000 words about beauty and about time. The genesis of the idea came last week, while I was walking the autumn woods shortly after rain had brought down most of the colorful leaves.

The opening paragraphs (all I have, at the moment, except for the outline):

For the poet, there are moments when time seems to stop; occasions when, for seconds or minutes, a thing of surpassing beauty transfixes. With clarity awakened, he contemplates the newly extraordinary – the loveliness of a leaf, the melody of a birdsong, the biting scent of hickory. His mind plays with words and phrases that might do justice to the occasion. Sometimes he succeeds. More often, he doesn’t.

The grand old movie Doctor Zhivago captures this mood perfectly. Yuri Zhivago, the protagonist, is a gifted poet and physician enduring the deprivations and horrors of the Russian Revolution. In one scene, he stands at a dark window frosted with ice. When a beam of sunlight suddenly illuminates the window, he traces with his finger the delicately laced frost crystals. And the beauty of the moment pierces his heart.

Looks like a great lead in to the discussion of beauty and time. Beauty must be fleeting else it becomes the usual, the ordinary. So the rose loses its petals after a brief blessing to our sight, and the leaves fall off the autumn trees after a cold rain. I look forward to seeing more of your article.

[Canoerebel]

Hah! At 2:50 a.m., I checked back in, prepared to delete what I had written but resigned to allow it to stand on the off-chance that somebody had quoted it while making a reply. And BBfanboy foiled my intentions.

So I must allow words written in the small hours of the night to stand. I'm seven paragraphs (500 words) in and wondering what I'm doing up this late and what made me think I could write something worthwhile.

But, in my heart, I think there's something there to work with. With enough time and effort, I think it might become a story. But I don't think it's going to get written tonight.

[Crackaces]

Does that mean that evil exists so we can recognize good?

[Canoerebel]

I'm not sure if that's why it exists, but the contrast helps us distinguish the two and appreciate the one.

By the same token, work helps us appreciate leisure, and pain helps us appreciate pleasure.