Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

We've made it into August 1942 and not too much to report. Given that my easy string of victories is rapidly fading into the review mirror that is probably a good thing. Here is the current VP total.

[John B.]

Here is the current ship lost list. The intel boys really can't make up their mind about the Hermes. One day it got sunk and the next day it was re-floated. I did put on torpedo into the Enterprise but it was a smaller one from a RO and there was no reports of fire or damage. Flooding so it's probably out of the fight for a little while. I did sneak my reduced KB down to strike at an american convoy at Buna. The Vals put some nice hits on a CL and a CA and sank an AP (I'm pretty sure) but all of the Kates missed. [:-] The next day a surface TF intercepted his escorts and sank a CL for the loss of a DD and a damaged CA. I also put five torpedoes into another AP and I"m pretty sure that went down.

[John B.]

And, here is the current production screen. I've shut off Oscar Ic production since there are 320 planes in the pools and I'm not facing any losses right now. And, the Tojos are coming soon. Otherwise, no real surprises here. For some reason my light industry total went down by 40 or so a couple of weeks back but I can't figure out why as I had not shut any down and can't find any that are shut down. My only real concern right now is that north of Darwin is very weakly held. I'm starting to move a few troops into there but if Scott pushes that way it can put the resources into his bomber range pretty quickly.

[Aurorus]

You can shut off some merchant production also to conserve heavy industry for more aircraft and engine production later in the war.

[John B.]

I went through the list and shut off almost all merchant production awhile ago. I'm still making the tankers but no AKLs and almost no AKs. since I have about 100+ AKs sitting around not doing anything already I think that building more is just making VP for Scott to sink. And, I also turned off all of the 1945 CVs.

I'm starting to see a supply pinch around the empire I have about 1.7 million in Tokyo so I'm starting to ship supplies out.

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: John B.

I went through the list and shut off almost all merchant production awhile ago. I'm still making the tankers but no AKLs and almost no AKs. since I have about 100+ AKs sitting around not doing anything already I think that building more is just making VP for Scott to sink. And, I also turned off all of the 1945 CVs.

I'm starting to see a supply pinch around the empire I have about 1.7 million in Tokyo so I'm starting to ship supplies out.

Shut off the merchant shipyards themselves in addition to the actual ships. The merchant shipyards serve to convert heavy industry into merchant shipyard points, which are used in the construction of the invidual ships. You have a sufficient stockpile of merchant shipyard point to handle any future problems, so shut off all merchant shipyard production in excess of what is needed to meet your daily production. You can find your daily production estimates on the ship availability screen, which is off the intelligence screen. Here is an image, from my game with Roger, of the screen to which I am referring. Shut off merchant shipyards such that the estimate, underlined in red, is equal to or even a little greater than, the number producing per day, which I have circled in red.

Once the heavy industry points are converted into one of the various pools (shipyard, aircraft, engine, armament, vehicle), they are consumed. You will need a surplus of heavy industry points later in the war for aircraft and engine production as the heavy industry that you convert to these devices will increase. You may need some cargo and tanker production to replace losses as the U.S. submarine war escalates in 1943/44, but you may not, depending upon how your opponent uses his submarine forces. If he does not target your merchants and tankers, you can eventually shut off all merchant shipyards.

[John B.]

I did not know that! Thanks.

[Aurorus]

John, as an AFB, maybe you can answer a question for me.

How well do supplies flow to Darwin and the region surrounding it from the supply centers in Southern Oz? If an allied player heavily garrisons Darwin and the surrounding areas: with 5 or 6 Aussie divisions, will he be able to keep them in supply without any cargo convoys? Looking at the map and doing some basic math, it seems that virtually nothing will flow to Darwin given the poor quality of the roads and the vast distance, but I have never played the allies, so I do not know for sure. It seems the only path that may have a positive supply value is from Normantown.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Aurorus
How well do supplies flow to Darwin and the region surrounding it from the supply centers in Southern Oz?

My experience is supply does no flow up there by land. Only convoys.
You can do it stepwise with some command HQ marching from Alice Springs and pausing in the bases to let that chunk of supply catch up. Wastage on the way is horrendous though, command HQs are not especially easy to come by either, and the itelf process is long and does not bring adequate amount in the end.

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Aurorus
How well do supplies flow to Darwin and the region surrounding it from the supply centers in Southern Oz?

My experience is supply does no flow up there by land. Only convoys.
You can do it stepwise with some command HQ marching from Alice Springs and pausing in the bases to let that chunk of supply catch up. Wastage on the way is horrendous though, command HQs are not especially easy to come by either, and the itelf process is long and does not bring adequate amount in the end.

Thank you GetAssista. John, there is your solution to Darwin. Simply isolate it as I suggested by moving on Port Hedland and Horn Island. The more assets he has accumulated there, the more he will have to try to break supply through the isolation, and you can force a battle around Koepang or Horn Island.

This is a major strategic consideration, for both sides, but especially for the allied player, that I had not thought through completely before. It seems to me that Port Hedland is a critical objective for the Japanese player in the early war, along with Horn Island to prevent any early allied moves into the DEI.

[John B.]

Hey Aurorus,

I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I did not see your posts.

I agree with Get Assista. Supply does not flow up to Darwin in any amount at all. When I've played the Allies I've tried to take Darwin back by coming up the road and you just can't keep your forces supplied even adding in airdrops. I think it's a bit late for me to cut Darwin off since we're already into September 1942 as you'll see in the updates. He has not fully developed Darwin yet, but he has built up his airbase on Meruke (sp?).

[John B.]

So, we have just about finished up the month of August 1942 and things are stayed pretty quiet. Here is the current VP screen. I've still got a good VP cushion but I have lost some high value ships of late. There was a surface action near Darwin where I lost a CA and a DD and only seem to have damaged a couple of CLs. Then, for some odd reason the rest of my TF stayed around for two days and I may well have lost another CA to fire damage (it's disbanded in a port with no naval squads and at 61 fire. Fates of war I suppose.

[John B.]

Here are the latest production numbers. I am just about to start producing the KiIIa Tojos so I'll get a decent fighter with which to replace the Oscar. I have such a backlog of Oscars, Sallies etc.. that I've shut off a lot of my plane production. I keep the engines going because (as I recall) I get some sort of research bonus if I have 300+ engines in any one category so I'm building up to that. I've also shut down merchant ship production for awhile to eat away at the surplus. No sense in having all those extra points around in 1944 when I'll want maximum plane production.

[John B.]

Here is the latest from Burma. I have 6 divisions (and three Thai divisions) there. So rather than just sit around, I thought I'd go kill a few empire units. I have no desire to go beyond Cox's Bizar but I think that there are just a couple of base forces and battalions there. So, two divisions will move into the hex, see what I can kill, and then leave. So far this little side show has accounted for three Indian battalions and a large base force that was at Akyab. I did get a nice shore bombardment in on Chittagong last turn that accounted for 10 or so planes.

[John B.]

Here is the DEI. This really is my soft underbelly. I've started moving forces into Ambon and Keopang but these are mainly SNLF forces. I'm also moving the KB from Truk to Babeldeob (sp?). It's a more central location so I can react either way. I'm not being too aggressive right now but I don't think that I have to be. I just need to get more forces down here to help solidify the position.

[John B.]

China continues to be the main focus of effort and it continues to be as annoying as ever. Not too much to report. Several sieges going on. I"ve made some attacks but the casualties are about equal. All of his troops are low on supply so if I can hold in Burma I have to think that as the months pass their moral etc.. will slowly go down. My hope in the north is to get Scott to retreat to the broken/clear terrain as there I think my bombing will start to have a real effect on his units.

[Aurorus]

It is still 1942. You still have an advantage, or at least parity, in naval air. I firmly believe that Yamamoto was correct and that Japan must provoke a CV engagement, a battle for all the chips, in 1942. In fact, in game terms, later in 1942 is better, because any US CVs that you sink will appear again as Essex-class CVs, but they will appear later in the war than if you sink them early in 1942.

Darwin, Horn Island, and Port Hedland, the "soft underbelly," is a good location for a CV engagement (the Marshalls being the ideal location). You have repair yards nearby, at Soerabaja. This is much preferably to journeying far into SoPac, Centpac, or Perth to engage the US CVs. A move to Port Hedland and cutting off Darwin is very likely to provoke a CV engagement, as he will be forced to resupply the region if he has any forces present and wants to threaten the DEI.

If you lose a couple of CVs in the engagement, it is not the end of the empire, provided that you destroy at least a comparable number of US CVs and a large component of US naval aviation. The value of a full KB is reduced as the war wears on. In most cases, you will not be able to attack the US Schwerpunkt directly in 1944. You will need to harry the flanks and strike where the US CVs are not. Having all of your CVs is not essential for the harrying and flanking attacks that will slow the allies later in the war. If you do wish to preserve your forces and try to confront the US Schwerpunkt in 1944, this is a different strategy altogether that requires a great deal of pre-planning, including a massive investment in A7M2 research as described by Pax Mondo.

Bonzai, John... Bonzai!

[John B.]

Interesting idea. I may make Meruke Island the target since it is not in easy range of US based land air (although he has been building it up and it's a level 4 airfield on its own (but it is in shallow water). I was thinking the same thing about a CV battle. Just waiting just means he can strike back sooner and the longer I keep him away from the oil the better. The upside for Japan of the allies going through the Dutch East Indies is there are no VP to speak of down there. with the exception of Singapore there are no high value hexes. To get that, he needs to come through the central pacific and into Manila the HI and China.

I just got the Tojo. Yay.

He just landed a marine para battallion and retook Eniwetok. So, the amphib force is loaded to go and kill them from Truk. Then, it's on to the DEI.

[John B.]

First, the good news. Tuyun fell in what was somewhat of a surprise since I had not been able to get better than a 1-2 against it. Lots of dead and I'm not going to rest but I'll try to take the river on the bounce. I think he has 5 fresh units across the river so we'll see how bad the assault is.

[John B.]

So, the iron jaws grow ever tighter around China. It's just bombardments in the north and around the perimeter as I attack from just the stack near Tuyun. It's a slog, but it is netting VP.