PAW 1941-45 larryfulkerson (Axis) vs warspite1 (Allies)

[warspite1]

Turn 8
25th January 1942

Pacific and PI

The forces in the PI hold another turn - albeit at huge cost.

Samoa falls to the Japanese steamroller and Johnston Island's airfield is attacked successfully.

I just have to sit back and watch island after island being taken. I've seen what happens when I put aircraft on those islands to defend them so there's not a lot of point in doing anything.

[warspite1]

Turn 8
25th January 1942

Not much to report for the Allies as they don't have that many units to utilise.

I take the following action:

1. As decided last turn I dig-in with the Chinese Communists.
2. I do pretty much the same with the Nationalists - although with some withdrawal in the south.
3. I move the excess units of the Eastern Fleet to Arabia but then find I have no aircraft to provide CAP. On the basis that it doesn't seem to do much good I don't consider that to be a problem. I just have to accept that the Japanese can send scouting ships freely all over the Indian/Pacific Oceans so there is no possibility of escape.
4. On Mindanao I have some Guerillas that fan out in all directions to try and tax the Japanese forces there.
5. I attack the two Japanese paratroop units - I force one off the Ledo Road and destroy the one that originally landed in Myithynia.

The turn ends

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

I'm not sure what is frustrating me more at the moment, the exaggerated ahistorical Japanese capabilities or the game mechanics. Almost every time I click on a battle the battle area is masked by the giant box that almost fills the screen.... I have to click it clear and hope (though not always successful) that the game map doesn't then move to the other side of the Pacific. I then have to get the co-ordinates, make the map of sufficient size that I can put that map section in the corner of the screen and then drill down on the battle detail. Frustrating. I don't remember the desert game being like this....

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

Anyways, back to the game itself. A lesser turn in terms of number of attacks I'm pleased to say, but painful nonetheless - and there could have been more losses during RBC but as I no longer watch the playback I can't be sure (except the PI where there was definitely one).

China

One attack and a cut-off Chinese Communist unit is destroyed for no loss. I can only assume that there are supply considerations in play here. If that is the case then that would be welcome because until now the Japanese have simply steam-rollered the hapless Chinese.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

NEI

More frustration with the Allied air units. In Combat 3 the computer decides to send the dwindling air assets to attack a Japanese fleet containing two carriers of the 5th Carrier Division. Sensible. The results are unsurprising; the Allies lose 27 precious bombers on a ridiculous waste of time suicide mission.

The Japanese - utilising 9 unescorted destroyers - bombard the remaining air units on Bali (Combat 13). The RAF units that attacked the carriers don't fly on this mission - and the defenders on Bali don't fly either.

Similarly at Tarakan (Combat 15) 1 light cruiser escorts 21 destroyers/destroyer escorts and bombards the airfield. The Allied aircraft don't appear vaguely interested in such a juicy target.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

Australia

Meanwhile in Australia there are two airfield attacks. The Japanese seem to conduct most(?) of their airfield strikes using fighters only. The results of the two attacks - on Darwin and Cairns - was 17 vs 7 aircraft destroyed in the Allies favour.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

India/Burma/Malaya

The computer chooses a better (if slightly bizarre in terms of location) choice of target for its first attack. A few Japanese army units are lost in an air attack off the French Indo-Chinese coast (Combat 2).

Sadly for Combat 4 in the Indian Ocean, south of the sub-continent, we are back to a rag tag bunch of aircraft attacking a Japanese fleet containing the 1st Carrier Division....

The Japanese are content to largely bombard at present - either airfields or troops using aircraft or ships. There was just one land combat (Combat 27) southeast of Port Dickson that saw the remnants from Malay Brigade retreat.

Note that in Burma Japanese engineers are hard at work building a bridge over the Sittang.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

PI and the Pacific

The defenders on Luzon are now down to one hex and as can be seen (Combat 28) those defenders have been pulverised....

The remaining PI attacks are bombardments/land attacks against the guerilla units on Mindanao.

Combats 5,6 and 7 are another perfect example of whittling away of precious forces for no purpose. The target is a CL escorting a few destroyers and so there should at least be some damage to the destroyers - but sadly not, just a load of shot down aircraft. The Japanese fighters (from where I don't know) react for Combat 7 and the Allies come of slightly better. However they are worse off overall and quite how the Allies get more destroyed is something of a mystery.

The Japanese attack the airfield at Vanua Levu again (Combat 14) using land based aircraft (probably from New Caledonia) and ships. It is pleasing to see the Allies win an aerial battle.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

The Royal Navy get some reinforcements which appear off Bombay. With the IJN freely moving around the Indian Ocean these units need to be moved - but Karachi is full.

The Formidable air group contains fighters and Swordfish so I'm not sure if this should be on air superiority or sea interdiction?? I'll put them on air superiority and see what happens.

I now have:

Eastern Fleet (Karachi) (US 49th Fighter Group with 48 Warhawks on air superiority providing protection for the fleet).

CV: Formidable (25 Fulmar, 25 Swordfish), Hermes (12 Fulmars, 12 Swordfish, 8 Albacore)
BB: Revenge
CA: Cornwall
CL: Durban, Dauntless
DD: Dest Squadron 3 - 3 destroyers

With Karachi full, the remaining ships I head south with, hugging the western map edge and hoping they are not detected.....

CL: Emerald, Ceres, Dragon, Caledon
DD: Dest Squadron 1, 2 and 4 - 6 destroyers

I've realised I have no land units in Karachi and given the Japanese ability to move anywhere I think that is unwise. I remove the Formidable and Hermes air groups and send them to airfields. I then rail in the New Zealand brigade and artillery from Delhi.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

At Pearl Yorktown and Hornet get their bomber group back. The Enterprise Fighter Group also returns, but with no carrier to fly from, it is sent to Hawaii to strengthen the US defences.

For some reason the Lexington Bomber Group does not want to land on Lexington. Having tried all manner of things, I think I've found out why. If I remove the Fighter Group the Bomber Group will land. So it looks like the loss of one carrier means that I can either have fighters or bombers on the remaining carrier - but not a sensible mix of the two.... okay...

After all that mucking about I don't have the movement left to get the task force back to Hawaii so I send the fighters to Hawaii and the fleet to San Francisco.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

Allied Air Forces

I decide to look a little more closely at these. I want to know if there is anything I can do about that engineer on the Sittang.

Before I do I look to see if I have any units to spare. The answer is of course no but....

The lead elements of the 17th Indian Division is sent from Para-bashing in China to Toungoo, Burma thus releasing the units there head south to try and block the engineer building a bridge over this formidable obstacle.

The 23rd Indian Division - released from a similar role - are needed back in Calcutta. The Chinese will have to deal with the beaten up, out of supply para.... I send the Indians to Ledo where they will have rail access next turn. I can think about what to do with these then.

I have two US bomber groups arrived in Delhi and I send these to Burma. I place all bombers (bar one) on interdiction and set range such that they should attack the Japanese between the Sittang and Salween rivers.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

NEI

Sumatra
The Malay unit south of Medan evaporates trying to move, but the Aussie battalion gamely takes two ports and tries to cut the north-south road.

Borneo
I send the air units on Bali to Balikpapan.

Java
The remnants of the 2nd KNIL Regt. moves inland but runs into a Japanese engineer.

The Philippines

I continue to move the Guerilla units on Mindanao in as many directions as possible. The port of Tran is liberated! [:)] [:D]

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

New Zealand

[&:] A port on the North Island has been taken and seemingly with no ground units required, two Japanese air units have set up camp. I shall say no more on this.....

EDIT: Well I will say more on this because it appears these units are invulnerable to attack...see below....

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

That just leaves China. Which is too boring for words. No idea what to do, no supply, unstoppable Japanese that threaten to surround about 20 units, no reserves, paras that land anywhere.... just totally clueless as to what to do. Ho hum.....

I refuse to move with the Communists as there is literally nowhere to go. Intrigued by the fact that two Japanese units are deployed actually in the Gobi Desert..... I would hope they are out of supply but.....

With the Nationalists I sort of move around a bit and dig-in a bit and sort of... well... just hope and pray really.

[warspite1]

Turn 9
1st February 1942

This is total cobblers. The New Zealand infantry battalion can't eject two air units - WITH NO LAND UNITS IN SUPPORT - but has bombarded the hex. Why has an infantry battalion bombarded a hex???? I mean what the hell is that all about????

So I try an airfield attack instead see if that does any good. Well I destroy a few aircraft but that's it. This has to be a bug - it can't be a game mechanic that was meant????

And then the turn ends [:D]

I've alerted Larry to the issue to see what he thinks.

At least I now know where Bomber Harris went wrong. He tried to obliterate Berlin using bombs. All he needed to do was sneakily land a few Lancaster squadrons at Templehof and, bingo, War Won! [:)]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 9
1st February 1942

This is total cobblers. The New Zealand infantry battalion can't eject two air units - WITH NO LAND UNITS IN SUPPORT - but has bombarded the hex. Why has an infantry battalion bombarded a hex???? I mean what the hell is that all about????

So I try an airfield attack instead see if that does any good. Well I destroy a few aircraft but that's it. This has to be a bug - it can't be a game mechanic that was meant????

And then the turn ends [:D]

I've alerted Larry to the issue to see what he thinks.

At least I now know where Bomber Harris went wrong. He tried to obliterate Berlin using bombs. All he needed to do was sneakily land a few Lancaster squadrons at Templehof and, bingo, War Won! [:)]

I always knew there was something wacky about Kiwis.

[warspite1]

Larry has checked out the issue and sent me a copy of a response received from the scenario designer. I've PM'd Larry to thank him.

Hi Larry

Thanks for the response. I found this piece incredible:

Dual icon units will also act like artillery units in that they will not take te target hex during the combat phase. They would need to take the hex on a subsequent phase. It is recommended non dual icon units be mixed in to take the hex during the combat phase.

The scenario designer has decided to give the Allied player few units. It is a struggle in places like Australia, the NEI and New Zealand to find any units. To suggest that the Allied player simply 'mix in' other units rather misses the point. But of course none of the above addresses the real issue; that the Japanese can land in the middle of New Zealand thousands of miles from any supply base - and, without ground troops (or frankly even with) - set up an air force base. So how did they even get control of the airfield and port? where do these aircraft get their fuel? their spare parts? how do they defend against even a local militia attack or sabotage? The whole thing is woefully unrealistic. Ho hum.

End of the day it is what it is and we just have to play with what we have in front of us.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Larry has checked out the issue and sent me a copy of a response received from the scenario designer. I've PM'd Larry to thank him.

Hi Larry

Thanks for the response. I found this piece incredible:

Dual icon units will also act like artillery units in that they will not take te target hex during the combat phase. They would need to take the hex on a subsequent phase. It is recommended non dual icon units be mixed in to take the hex during the combat phase.

The scenario designer has decided to give the Allied player few units. It is a struggle in places like Australia, the NEI and New Zealand to find any units. To suggest that the Allied player simply 'mix in' other units rather misses the point. But of course none of the above addresses the real issue; that the Japanese can land in the middle of New Zealand thousands of miles from any supply base - and, without ground troops (or frankly even with) - set up an air force base. So how did they even get control of the airfield and port? where do these aircraft get their fuel? their spare parts? how do they defend against even a local militia attack or sabotage? The whole thing is woefully unrealistic. Ho hum.

End of the day it is what it is and we just have to play with what we have in front of us.

Can you get a VAR? [8|]

[warspite1]

Turn 10
8th February 1942

21 combats this turn. Lets see the detail.

The first two combats were Allied attacks against a CL/DD task force in the Pacific. 4 Kingfishers are destroyed for no benefit.

There were 3 airfield attacks - one in Australia, one in China and one at Singapore. The results were as follows:

Australia - 7 PBY (2 destroyed) in return for 5 fighters (1 destroyed)
Singapore - 2 fighters (1 destroyed) and 5 bombers (2 destroyed) in return for 5 fighters (3 destroyed)
China - 44 fighters (16 destroyed) but at least this time the Japanese were hurt 54 fighters (18 destroyed) and 12 bombers (1 destroyed)

There were two land attacks - the Allied resistance north of Manilla is finally ended. Meanwhile in Burma a Japanese attack across the Sittang is thwarted. The British/Indian/Burmese troops suffer the loss of 3 rifle squads and 7 fighters (1 destroyed) but the Japanese suffer 26 rifle squads, 10 machine guns, 7 mortars, 14 trucks, 2 fighters and 4 bombers.

Irritatingly my bombers set to interdiction and right next to the hex decide that an attack on this vital hex would be entirely inappropriate....

The remaining combats were bombardments- mostly in China and Malaya - but without major casualties.

[Hyding]

My god warspite just set the artillery range on those units to zero like it recommends in the scenario and the infantry will walk right in instead of bombarding the hex