Several divisions, easily concentrated, with support troops and shipping to act as reserves.
Fire Brigades...mobile fast troops to plug gaps to buy a few days.
Air mobile reserves...infantry and AT guns and ART that can be flown to a hotspot in a moments notice.
Pick x2 and x3 and river crossings to defend. Each defense needs 15cm+ artillery, forts, AA guns, radar, and preferably IJA 43 infantry (you only have a dozen or so these heavy divisions - make sure they aren't in Manchuko or China). If you mass several AA rgts you can even defend in clear terrain if you have enough troops to absorb the bombing.
Type 1 Medium Tanks are simply great. In June of 44 they upgrade to Type 3 Medium Tanks which are even better...make sure you can upgrade to Type 3 ASAP.
I'm constantly attempting to set the above up. Good to hear I'm not wasting my time.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
What would you do if the Allies landed 5 divisions at Tavoy for example?
Couldn't handle 5 divisions, but I've already started placing troops there to fortify the base. I think that having bases in these 'rear' areas with amounts of AS would be a good idea too. How much AS I can't say, but I'd like it to be around 150-200 as much as possible. Its one of the reasons I like the M3a zero, range = 8. Can help to cover more ground.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Lots of excellent advice and details. Love it. Right now my reserves in Burma are 2x tank and 2x infantry divisions. I'm still going to push the Chindits out of Warazup, then move those guys back to a central location.
Been out of town with the wife for a few days but got the next turn back to Ted.
The Jack caught a convoy of xAKs hauling resources and a little oil and put 2 torpedoes into one. Later in the day, she put another torpedo into her sinking her.
The rest of the action was at Vaitupu. I have 3 subs in the hex. I usually don't like putting subs in shallow hexes, but it was too tempting. The I-5 was caught by the DD Aaron Ward and put down. Too bad. But the I-6 made up for it. She put 2 torpedoes into CVE Corregidor leaving her burning and heavily damaged. No sign of her sinking, but she's definitely out of the fight.
Later in the day, the I-6 caught a BIG tanker and put a torpedo into her, leaving her doing a nice impression of a pyre. No confirmation that she sank either.
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
I have a small surface TF of a CA, 2 CL and 3 DD headed to Vaitupu hoping to catch some of those juicy ships and kill them. They're still a couple of days out though.
I detached 2 DDs from that TF to head to another destination. Details below.
SE Fleet
There are a couple of TFs sitting at Namatani (the hex due east of Rabaul, still a dot hex). One is APAs and the other is AKAs. Those two DDs mentioned above are heading here. They'll be in range to attack tomorrow. See map below.
The typical Allied bombing occurred today.
There's a carrier TF tooling around south of Rabaul. I think it may be CVEs because of the number and type of planes. Or maybe the remaining CVs are low on planes. Not sure.
I am sending out a CV TF composed of Akagi, Kaga and Zuikaku with extra fighters totaling 136 Zeros, 28 Judies, 36 Jills and 18 Kates. It has 2, possibly 3 missions. I hope to hit the APA/AKAs and sink a bunch. Also, I'm sending a convoy with 18k supply to Rabaul. They'll cover it. Finally, if I get lucky, I'd like to hit the enemy carrier TF. Yeah, that's a lot of missions, but we'll see what happens. I suspect once Ted gets a whiff of my carriers he'll head for the hills. My primary goal is to get supply to Rabaul. Currently, Rabaul has no port damage so the supply should be off loaded pretty quickly.
You'll see that there are a couple of surface fleets in the NE corner of the map. That's the 2 small fleets that are going to raid the two bases mentioned above.
SRA
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
The N1K2-J George R&D advanced to 11/43. It'll become operational on 9/43. There currently are 6x30 factories working with 27(3), 23(7) and 21(9) repairing.
Something came to me the other day that I don't think anyone mentioned WRT Ted's damaged CV's. Mike if they haven't sunk, and they may not have, he could've disbanded them at a base in the area. You know to do some much needed repair so they have a chance of getting home. May be why you haven't found 'em. Are you reconing his bases? You should have a number of good recon aircraft by now. Irving's and Dinah's come to mind.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Here's another little tidbit on something I just tried. I said before to fly your CV planes off to a base for fatigue reduction. Well it came to me I had never bothered to offload them once disbanded. Well as expected all go to damaged. The good news is they have a delay of one day for return, looks like 2-3 days in reality, but when repaired all have zero fatigue. So that's probably faster than CB's method (are you listening dude?) and no supply cost to swap planes either.[:)]
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Still no turn from Ted. [:(] Time to give him a holler. Either he's really busy or he's discouraged with the game. I hope the former. If it is the latter, then that means he probably took a beating with his carriers. Anyway, here's the most recent turn:
16 Aug 43
Sub War
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
The Allied ships sitting at Vaitupu finally vacated the area. My two subs are sitting there looking at each other through their periscopes. My little surface fleet of 1 CA, 2 CL and 3 DD that was headed there for a visit is now headed toward SE Fleet area where there are a couple of Allied TFs that are begging to be victims of Long Lances.
SE Fleet
The 2 DD that were detached from the TF above are within striking distance of the APA TF sitting at Namatani (the dot base 1 hex east of Rabaul). Full speed!
An Allied TF composed of 7 CA, 6 CL and 5 DD bombarded Rabaul today (oh joy) trashing the place. The CA Minneapolis ate a mine on the way out. I’m determined to give away nothing cheaply.
The Allied bombers spread themselves around bombing everything in sight destroying a couple dozen planes on the ground in the process. Current damage is pretty bad:
KB1 (Akagi, Kaga and Zuikaku) will be within 5 hexes of Namatani (the APA TF) and 7 hexes of the Allied carrier TF. I think the carriers are the 3 surviving CVEs. They have 50+ fighters and 20 bombers. If that’s the case, my carriers could do a number on them tomorrow. I have 136 fighters, 28 Judies, 36 Jills and 18 Kates. There aren’t a lot of bombers, but it should be enough to wreck them. I’m hoping to kill or drive off the carriers tomorrow so I can safely (relative term here) drop off some much needed supply at Rabaul (~18k) protecting my cargo ships with my carrier fighters.
This won’t stop the Allied bombers from wreaking havoc but with the Allied fleet out of the way, I’ll be able to control the seas more easily. The goal is to ship more supply to my beleaguered bases in the area.
SRA
Timoeka finally repaired all the damage (I caused) and completed level 1 forts. A couple more levels and that base should be good to go.
Burma
Four fighters showed up over Warazup (LRCAP and not a lot of supply) and shot down 4 bombers. The other 135 bombers sorties did no real damage to the tank regiment sitting there staring at the Chindits. I am going ahead with the operation to oust the Chindits. The 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division (along with 18 Army HQ) are de-training in the base to the south and will move there in a few days. I can’t pass up on an opportunity to execute an operation where the odds are stacked in my favor. Every squad I kill delays the Brits that much more.
Just so you guys don't flip out, I'm beginning to pull back some of my frontline units to road hexes so they can more easily move about. It takes forever to move units out of jungle hexes and I really don't want them to get cut off.
China
The Chungking force finally got some supply so the artillery will bombard tomorrow. In the mean-time, about 135 2E bombers continue with their daily bombing raid of Chungking.
Other Stuff
So, the month of August has been a pretty successful month for the IJN. We have finally met the Allied carrier force and soundly defeated them for relatively small cost to ourselves.
Three days of carrier battles started on 8/1/43 with an Allied CV TF of CVs Hornet and Gettysburg (cool name for a CV [8D]) and CVLs Independence and Princeton catching the Junyo, Hiyo, Shoho and Zuiho sinking the Junyo and Zuiho and trashing Hiyo and Shoho for basically no damage to the Allied carriers. Total Allied cost was 19 aircraft. Not a good start. KB was to the west out of range. I recall spending a lot of time trying to decide whether to continue the battle or head for the hills. I knew there were more Allied carriers TFs out there in addition to this one too.
I chose to charge forward, mainly to try and save Hiyo and Shoho. On 8/6/43, my combined KB caught a CVE TF. The final tally was CVEs Anzio and Santee along with BB New Mexico and two DEs sunk. In addition, 10 other ships were damaged to varying degrees, a few severely. Total Japanese cost was 20 planes.
The other Allied CV TFs were still moving around. It seemed like a chess match. On 8/7/43, KB (2 full CV TFs) caught a single US CV TF heavily damaging the Saratoga and Wasp and lightly damaging Yorktown. The US retaliation was unsuccessful, with heavy losses on their part. My afternoon raid put more holes in the three US carriers. There were small raids on both sides that did little, but I did get a few more licks in on the remnants of the CVE TF. I have gotten confirmation of the sinking of Saratoga only. I don’t know the fate of the other 2 Allied CVs but they’re out of the fight for a long time if they survived. Total losses to the Japanese were about 65 aircraft, but only about half that number of pilots.
Here's what I know of the Allied carriers:
CV:
Hornet, 3x5” on 8/5/43, last spotted on 8/5/43, operational.
Gettysburg, last spotted 8/5/43, operational.
Wolverine (in honor of Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State’s nemesis [:D]), not spotted, operational.
Lexington, 1 sub torpedo, 1x500kg on 4/27/43, fuel storage explosion, last spotted on 4/27/43, should be repaired?
Enterprise, 1 aerial torpedo on 6/22/43, last spotted on 6/22/43, expected return end of August 43.
Essex, 1 sub torpedo on 6/26/43, expected return end of August 43.
Yorktown, 2x500, 1x250 on 8/7/43, fuel storage explosion, last spotted on 8/7/43, sunk or badly damaged.
Wasp, 2 aerial torpedoes, 2x500, 1x250 on 8/7/43, fuel storage explosion, sunk or badly damaged.
CVL:
Independence, last spotted 8/5/43, operational.
Princeton, 1x5” on 8/5/43, last spotted 8/5/43, operational.
Belleau Wood, not spotted, operational.
CVE:
Sangamon, not spotted, operational, part of the TF currently south of Rabaul?
Suwannee, not spotted, operational, part of the TF currently south of Rabaul?
Barnes, not spotted, operational, part of the TF currently south of Rabaul?
Corregidor, 2 sub torpedoes on 8/15/43, last spotted 8/15/43, sunk or badly damaged.
CVE-R:
Copahee, not spotted, operational.
Nassau, not spotted, operational.
Prince William, not spotted, operational.
Altamaha, not spotted, operational.
Breton, not spotted, operational.
Casablanca, not spotted, operational.
So, I see 3 CV, 3 CVL and 3 CVE (not counting the CVE-Rs) currently known to be operational with a potential 3 additional CV repaired soon. By the end of the year, another 2 CV, 4 CVL and 6 CVE are arriving.
Still long odds.
I have the following:
KB:
Akagi, operational.
Kaga, operational.
Soryu, operational.
Ryujo, operational.
Shokaku, operational.
Zuikaku, operational.
Shoho, operational in Sep 43.
Taiyo, operational in Sep 43.
Hiyo, operational in Jan 44.
Plus, a few brand spanking new carriers…
By the end of Aug 43:
CVL Chitose, KB?
CVL Chiyoda, KB?
By the end of Sep 43:
CV Katsuragi, KB
CV Amagi, KB
CV Unryu, KB
CVL Mizuho, KB?
CVL Nisshin, MKB
That should be a surprise to Ted.
So, with no losses to either side, carrier capacity on 1/1/44 will be about 1173 Allied air capacity to 870 Japanese air capacity. Ouch. Hopefully, the losses and damage has made Ted a little guy shy.
ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Apparently Ted never got my last turn and has been frothing at the mouth waiting for it. That's good news. We should be back in business soon. [:)]
Just opened up a can of worms. Now he won't shut up. [:D] He's talking about B-24J production starting on 1 Sep and B-29 production starting next Spring.
Glad I'm getting that IJAAF fighter expansion in a few months. I suspect those Franks and Tonys are going to come in handy.
Since you are playing without Symon's air mod, be careful with those Tonies...Franks much better, and the Frank R is really great with very high altitude capability.
Since you are playing without Symon's air mod, be careful with those Tonies
Yeah, its finally sinking in with me. I think Loka loves these things so much because he's using the mod. In the mod its a 400+ mph aircraft. In stock its like 367mph. I'm beginning to get it.
BTW I don't have a problem with the mod speed rating, I have a book around somewhere that tells me the plane will hit 400+ mph.
Edit: Consentrate on the Franks.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
KB1 (Akagi, Kaga and Zuikaku) will be within 5 hexes of Namatani (the APA TF) and 7 hexes of the Allied carrier TF. I think the carriers are the 3 surviving CVEs. They have 50+ fighters and 20 bombers. If that’s the case, my carriers could do a number on them tomorrow. I have 136 fighters, 28 Judies, 36 Jills and 18 Kates. There aren’t a lot of bombers, but it should be enough to wreck them. I’m hoping to kill or drive off the carriers tomorrow so I can safely (relative term here) drop off some much needed supply at Rabaul (~18k) protecting my cargo ships with my carrier fighters.
Since your going after merchies, I would take off the Kates due to their slow speed and put on more Judy. You risk a fragmented strike of just Kates getting destroyed and losing precious pilots, In My Opinion (IMO). If the Kates do fly with main strike, they will fly with speed of slowest planes....Kates! [:-]
KB1 (Akagi, Kaga and Zuikaku) will be within 5 hexes of Namatani (the APA TF) and 7 hexes of the Allied carrier TF. I think the carriers are the 3 surviving CVEs. They have 50+ fighters and 20 bombers. If that’s the case, my carriers could do a number on them tomorrow. I have 136 fighters, 28 Judies, 36 Jills and 18 Kates. There aren’t a lot of bombers, but it should be enough to wreck them. I’m hoping to kill or drive off the carriers tomorrow so I can safely (relative term here) drop off some much needed supply at Rabaul (~18k) protecting my cargo ships with my carrier fighters.
Since your going after merchies, I would take off the Kates due to their slow speed and put on more Judy. You risk a fragmented strike of just Kates getting destroyed and losing precious pilots, In My Opinion (IMO). If the Kates do fly with main strike, they will fly with speed of slowest planes....Kates! [:-]
Good advice, but I got it after the turn was sent. I got it back last night and ran it this morning. Those Kates played an important part of the action...
KB1 (Akagi, Kaga and Zuikaku) will be within 5 hexes of Namatani (the APA TF) and 7 hexes of the Allied carrier TF. I think the carriers are the 3 surviving CVEs. They have 50+ fighters and 20 bombers. If that’s the case, my carriers could do a number on them tomorrow. I have 136 fighters, 28 Judies, 36 Jills and 18 Kates. There aren’t a lot of bombers, but it should be enough to wreck them. I’m hoping to kill or drive off the carriers tomorrow so I can safely (relative term here) drop off some much needed supply at Rabaul (~18k) protecting my cargo ships with my carrier fighters.
Since your going after merchies, I would take off the Kates due to their slow speed and put on more Judy. You risk a fragmented strike of just Kates getting destroyed and losing precious pilots, In My Opinion (IMO). If the Kates do fly with main strike, they will fly with speed of slowest planes....Kates! [:-]
Good advice, but I got it after the turn was sent. I got it back last night and ran it this morning. Those Kates played an important part of the action...
I smell SCLS (Sudden Carrier Loss Syndrome) for poor Ted.[;)]
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