JFB in charge of the USN??? BtS Lite ver. 4.5 Kitakami (A) vs Falken (J)

[Kitakami]

Victory points are slowly moving in my esteemed opponent's direction. I have no way to gauge how I am doing, but I am doing a losing fighting withdrawal, that is for sure.

[Kitakami]

A question for the peanut gallery: should Addu be garrisoned? Or is Diego García enough?

Many thanks to those that reply

[Kitakami]

Jan 10, 1942

Cagayan has fallen. Perhaps I should not have reinforced it so much, as there was not enough supply for the troops. Still, what is done is done, and now the remains of the defenders are moving towards Japanese-controlled Oroquieta. Hopefully I will find it empty or occupied by a tiny unit I can attack. Lost 3 damaged Catalinas and 4 Seagulls (these last I should have flown out last turn). AV is 143, but with low supplies those troops are bound to surrender. Still, they are buying time, distracting my opponent.

Lost Subic Bay, Boac, Jolo, Port Swettenham, Buna and Tioman Island, and Palembang's fortifications have climbed back to 2.

Pilot deaths decreased, while wounded pilots increased. Can't avoid the losses, I guess.

[ny59giants]

Diego Garcia: Usually I send one of the brigades at sea here. Later, a small TF of supply from Cape Town. Build forts to 4 before any AF building.

Addu: Too close to Colombo for Japan to take without taking Ceylon.

Ceylon: Transport to India those troops you don't want to lose and/or cannot afford to rebuild. For me, its some of the AA as you don't get enough as replacements.

[Kitakami]

Fighter air frames continue to be lost at a worrying rate. The allies lost 29 fighters to Japan's 28, so at least I gave almost as much as I took last turn. The fact that 11 Zero and 7 Kate pilots might not have gone back home is at least some consolation.

[Kitakami]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Diego Garcia: Usually I send one of the brigades at sea here. Later, a small TF of supply from Cape Town. Build forts to 4 before any AF building.

Check! The defenders are in place and forts have begun to be built.

Addu: Too close to Colombo for Japan to take without taking Ceylon.

Ok. Will let it be for the time being.

Ceylon: Transport to India those troops you don't want to lose and/or cannot afford to rebuild. For me, its some of the AA as you don't get enough as replacements.

The AAA Bde will surely be moved to the mainland when it arrives. I think I have already shipped out two AAA Rgts. I don't have enough PP to ship the restricted Inf. Bdes. out, at least not now... trying to save enough PPs to ship two Inf. Divs. out of the East Coast to India.

[Kitakami]

Total plane losses continue to favor the Allies slightly, which is very good at this point of the game, I guess. If I can maintain this for a while, I will be one happy camper.

[Kitakami]

The DEI:

British reinforcements finally finished downloading. The last to get out of the holds were the 4.5" artillery pieces, but they are finally on and and moving towards Palembang. My esteemed opponent has landed more land units in Palembang, losing a few squads here and there. I will bombard this turn to see what he's got.

[Kitakami]

The Philippines:

With the fall of Cagayan the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Manila will hold for a bit still, as many Japanese land units are still in Iba, Subic Bay and Clark Field, plus the ones moving north from Legaspi. All told those must be at least 20k troops, more if 38th Div. has started landing in Iba already.

I will not withdraw fighters here yet, but the time is coming soon.

[Kitakami]

Jan 12, 1942

An interesting turn, and one that has me thinking about air losses up to this point. I do not know what my esteemed opponent has written in his AAR about this, but this question is directed at this mod's design team: is Japan losing too many planes? I do not want to speculate if the cause is tactics or if it is Japanese exp levels, but I think I have been shooting down more planes than I recall losing last time I played Japan. Granted, that was DBB, but it feels odd somehow, as it will only accentuate supply consumption on the Japanese side.

SS I-158 hit a mine near Tandjoengpinang. Don't think it sunk, but it will be out of commission for a while. Besides that, no naval combat.

Lost Lae, Madang, Lihir and Tandjoengbalai. I have used flying boats to transport troops from smaller bases to Palembang, Soerbaja, and Port Moresby. They are somewhat decently defended, and fort levels are slowly rising. Singapore, even though it has been bombed, is fort 3.4. Hope it delay the inevitable at least for a bit.

After taking a look at fort levels, supply levels, and AVs, I am hopeful that Singapore, Manila, and Palembang might still be in Allied hands by February 1st. If not all, at least two of them.

There were several land attacks of note:

Japanese Deliberate attack at Chengchow (88,44)
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)
Japanese ground losses:
* 3956 casualties reported
*** Squads: 17 destroyed, 442 disabled
*** Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 44 disabled
*** Engineers: 1 destroyed, 51 disabled
*** Guns lost 27 (1 destroyed, 26 disabled)
*** Vehicles lost 20 (1 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
* 1788 casualties reported
*** Squads: 80 destroyed, 52 disabled
*** Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 51 disabled
*** Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
*** Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled)

I know, I know... all cities in clear hexes should be vacated asap. But I decided not to vacate those with industry in them. If my esteemed opponent wants to take them, they will be somewhat damaged when he does (or so I hope). Besides, the fact that basically a full IJN Inf Div was disabled in that attack should give me a bit of a respite.

Japanese Deliberate attack at Tsiaotso (88,42)
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)
Japanese ground losses:
* 1376 casualties reported
*** Squads: 3 destroyed, 164 disabled
*** Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Allied ground losses:
* 328 casualties reported
*** Squads: 4 destroyed, 42 disabled
*** Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

This is a different matter. Losing Tsiatso would complicate the defense of Sian and expose Loyang's flank. I will definitely try to hold this base.

Japanese Deliberate attack at Wuchow (76,57)
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 3)
Japanese ground losses:
* 1035 casualties reported
*** Squads: 4 destroyed, 108 disabled
*** Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Allied ground losses:
* 168 casualties reported
*** Squads: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
*** Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Wuchow is another one of those cities in clear hexes that should be vacated... but I decided not to without a fight. First because it buys me time, but second because it denies their supply production to the enemy. We will see how long I last.

Japanese Deliberate attack at Palembang (48,91)
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)
Japanese ground losses:
* 1854 casualties reported
*** Squads: 25 destroyed, 158 disabled
*** Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled

Allied ground losses:
* 380 casualties reported
*** Squads: 3 destroyed, 47 disabled
*** Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
*** Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

The only additional Japanese unit that was not present in the previous attack is 4th Inf Rgt (or 4th Ind Mixed Rgt, not sure). Anyway, current Japanese forces are not enough to dislodge me from Palembang, and fort level is climbing back up. Falken will need to reinforce with at least one full-strength division to be able to take Palembang.

[Kitakami]

The air war continues to be murderous. Following counsel, I am fighting over my own bases, which has the grand total of MIA pilots so far at 1. But WIA and KIA are still high, with the third turn in a row losing 15 pilots.

[Kitakami]

This turn was interesting in the air. Allies lost 24 fighters to Japan's 31, which I can't complain about. Still, given the Allied replacement rates, this is an attrition tempo I can ill afford, as I am running out of fighter planes to feed into the grinder. In a sense, it feels so much like a Russian Stalingrad in the air: "If the man with the rifle dies, take his rifle and keep moving forward!" Problem is I am running out of rifles...

[Kitakami]

Total airframe losses keep favoring me. The (alleged) number of Betty losses is frightening. There is no way Japan can sustain that for too long, thankfully. I am running out of Buffaloes, and I won't have much to replace them with until February. There are some purchasable planes coming in a few days, so I guess the USA Inf Divs will have to wait a bit when those planes become available.

[Kitakami]

The DEI:

Zeroes keep sweeping Palembang and Batavia, and Japanese bombers keep bombing Batavia, but things seem to have somewhat stabilized. The IJN still has heavy cruiser forces blockading Palembang, heavy enough for me not to dare approach them. My USAAF dive bombers are back ion training, waiting for more transports to appear. They are not good enough to attack warships yet.

Batavia's airfield is basically out of commission. That in itself is not so terrible, but repairing that damage means no fort level increase, and that IS a problem. Still, one does what one can.

[Kitakami]

Philippines:

With Mindanao and most smaller islands lost for all practical purposes, the focus is now on Luzon. Japanese airplanes attack daily, and I do my best to minimize bombing damage. Last turn a group of Bettys attacked unescorted, and that was sweet, but it does not happen every day.

On land, all units that could have now holed up in Manila, with only static defenses left behind everywhere else. I tried to save as much AV as possible for the final stand, fully knowing that the battle is already lost. Still, this caged ferret still has teeth.

[Kitakami]

New Guinea and the Solomons:

The usual unopposed advances have been made by the Japanese, but the Aussies have reinforced Port Moresby heavily. Lark force and the New Guinea Bn were airlifted by Catalinas, instead of waiting for their doom elsewhere. They at least have a fighting chance now, as Port Moresby's current AV is 400+, and supply levels decent enough to be working on forts and airfield. Further reinforcements are on the way.

[Kitakami]

The Banda Sea:

Here the Japanese have taken whatever they have aimed for. Those SNLF Assault Divs are nasty! I wonder what direction they will turn to after they are done here.

[Kitakami]

There are a number of questions I have no answer for:

1. Where are the three CarDivs of Kido Butai? I have not seen them in a while. I have seen the CVLs and the CVEs, and know their general location, but not the heavy hitters. I am NOT getting my flat tops out to play unless and until I know the IJN CVs are nowhere near.

2. Will my esteemed opponent attack the Aleutians? I am preparing for it, but it sure would be nice to know.

3.How am I really doing? On land I feel I am doing OK, but in the air it feels I am only feeding meat to the grinder. Not knowing how things are supposed to be like on this side of the fence makes for some tense moments at times.

Commens are, as always, most welcome and appreciated

[BBfanboy]

It is only January 42 - you cannot expect major reinforcements or experienced/well-trained troops/crews/pilots just yet!

1. First, look at your replacement queues. That will give you a sense of when and where the reinforcements will arrive. Hint - send lots of transports to Aden and send some of Abadan's tankers over with fuel for Aden. If supply is sketchy, send some of your transports to Abadan or Karachi to pick some up.

2. When those short ranged 4000 nm xAKLs are no longer useful because of the distances on map, send them to Cape Town and have them work hauling supply from EC USA to CT.

3. Look at your pilot pools to see what is coming from the training system. They graduate to on-map availability at 12 months training so the numbers for 11 months will be your next month influx.

4. Look at your industry screen to see the number of airframes being produced per month, by type. If you need info on future months you might have to go to the editor to see what aircraft are produced and when.

5. Don't forget to manage withdrawals or they will bite your PP hard! Start moving the units to be withdrawn to a base that allows that weeks ahead of due date.

[Dirtnap86]

1) They may be replenishing planes, or something similar, upgrading escorts, etc. Given his losses, he may have landed his KB zeroes to sweep with. It'd be absurd but well...refuge in audacity I suppose.

2) The only real reason for an Aleutian push is to take Adak and *maybe* Cold Harbor. Not a whole lot up here.

3) I don't know the mod that well, but you seem to be doing as good as you can. The butcher's bill in the air is always bad for the Allies, especially early war as you are limited on how many planes you can even put up. I do know in stock, you get several Hurricane squadrons that come in at Aden in Jan/Feb 42. Ship em to Karachi then rail them to Calcutta to train for a bit then deploy them as range 0 defense for akyab/chittagong/cox's bazaar. Good fighters and more than a match for Oscars. If you find yourself really hard up for planes you can always 'upgrade' one of the permanent restricted squadrons to an older plane (if you have PDU on). Then again you get to buy planes with the mod, so maybe it won't help as much. I find it astounding that he has that many land based zero squadrons, I always thought Japan was fairly hard up for Zekes for the first couple of months, here he's blown through an entire KB's worth of 'em.

On the plane front, once you get some P-38s save them for sweeping. Nothing can contend with a Lightning once it comes online til mid-late 43 and even then it does well.