Notes from a Small Island

[Canoerebel]

2/20/45

Kushiro: Enemy resistance collapsing here.

[Canoerebel]

2/20/45

Contested Hex: Allied sweepers took care of moderately-heavy LRCAP (though Allied LRCAP got involved, to their detriment), allowing the bombers to come in without opposition. The hits scored were decent but not overwhelming. Towards the end, nearly all damaged inflicted was "destroying" units (not just disabling them). But more than half of the Japanese army clears the hex by turn's end. So the week-long air battle over this hex is winding down. Allied bombers pounded the Japanese army into submission (no assault values left for any of the units) but failed to destroy the units.

Overall, I'm disappointed the Superforts didn't manage to demolish the enemy army, but if Erik is persuaded to withdraw from Bihoro without turning it into a siege, the air campaign probably played a big role in that decision.

[Canoerebel]

2/20/45

Bihoro: Allied bombardment here decidedly counterproductive, probably due to lack of arty and armor. I'm a bit concerned this will encourage Erik to make a stand here, but you can see from unit AVs that the Japanese army is pretty weak. I should know in a day or two what Erik will do.

[Canoerebel]

2/20/45

NoPac: The plan is to continue applying pressure at Bihoro in hopes of persuading Erik (if he needs persuading) to withdraw. I should know in a day or two, because if he intends to make a stand here, he has to bring in fresh troops. If he goes that way, I think I'll fight for the base, even though that will take a lot of time and entails exposing Allied units to air attack under unfavorable conditions. If he does withdraw, the shape of the campaigns in NoPac will change greatly, as the Allies shift to the Kuriles while simultaneously preparing armies for medium-term objectives elsewhere.

[RangerJoe]

If she or someone like her is dancing around the stage with you, then I don't blame you for wanting to prance around the stage. [:D] She is doing something that is impossible for me to do and I would be in extreme agony if I tried to dance like that on the stage - or anywhere else. Besides, I would not look good dressed like that!

Back to the game, at least you won the open hex battle and have rendered ineffective those units there. A few naval bombardments might encourage him to leave. But I am sure that your navy will be busy elsewhere. Also, he has the kamikazes now that you have Kushiro.

[zuluhour]

Small question for Dan, I was looking for the name of the AAR where I think you were playing John, and you
opened in China with smashing IJA divisions. I want to take a quick look back as I remember you had a couple
of maps posted. I'm teaching someone new to the game and want to show him this and Lowpe's AAR on
some varying approaches to the AO. I gave him Alfreds China defense post as well.

[JohnDillworth]

I do believe this is what you looking for. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3224205
In My Humble Opinion ...the success in China was due to many things, not the least of which was supply. Lots of it and he ability to deliver it where it was needed. It came from the Big Blue Fleet and it came from Burma. Once the Chinese upgraded all their divisions to 1943 squads the steamroller was unstoppable

[Canoerebel]

John Dilworth provided the link to my game with John III, but I think Zulu may have confused that game with another. The only Allied success in China early in that game was when John improvidently engaged in shock attacks that beat up a bunch of his divisions, both in China and at Singapore. I don't remember any Allied attacks, though the game did start something like six years ago, so my memory may be fuzzy.

Zulu, good to see you posting.

[zuluhour]

thank you gentlemen, I'll have time tonight to peruse.

[BBfanboy]

Perhaps those beat-up units that arrived in Bihoro created an overstack and a good naval bombardment could do some damage before they march away to the northwest?

[Canoerebel]

Unfortunately, no. There's no stacking limits in the game and Erik's CD unit is making it hard on even my best BB TFs to score hits. My BBs have been so ineffective that I'm thinking of backing them off to a range for only the BBs to engage, to see if that dampens the effect of the shore guns somewhat.

[Canoerebel]

2/21/45

Bihoro: Back to back bombardments by slow-BB TFs. Not particularly effective. I'm testing different "range" settings - in this case, the Arkansas TF was set to "Escorts Bombard" without any adjustment to range. I believe the NY TF was set to "Escorts Bombard" and then I fiddled with the range setting, lowering it below 6k. The results clearly aren't worth it - and some of these ships probably need dockside repairs or maybe even yard time.

[Canoerebel]

2/21/45

Kushiro: Perhaps the strangest sweep results I've ever seen. Antiquated FM-2s and the earliest generation Corsairs hold their own against the robust, cutting-edge Ki-83s from Toyohara. Altitude might have been a factor - my guys were at something like 6k and 8k.

[Canoerebel]

2/21/45

Bihoro: The 4EB are divided between airfield strike and ground strike. The objectives are two-fold: to discourage Erik from basing fighters here (I'd much rather he rely on LRCAP) and to beat up on his troops enough to (hopefully) give him sufficient reason to withdraw from this base. The bombardments and bombings are fairly effective today, but by no means overwhelming.

Figuring that most of Erik's contested-hex army would leave that hex today and make Bihoro, I switched nearly all sweeps and bombing missions to Bihoro. The sweepers encountered modest defenses and cleared them out before the bombers arrived.

Erik did post serious CAP over the contested hex, where his own bombers roughed up my little units. I had some 2EB set at 1k, thinking they might avoid LRCAP and slow down his remaining units. They accomplished that.

[Canoerebel]

2/21/45

Bihoro: The second of the two large raids focuses solely on the airfield, doing modest damage.

There were a number of other smaller strikes split between airfield and ground troops.

Cumulatively, the naval bombardments and bombings are modestly effective. I'll know soon if Erik intends to make a stand here. If so, he'll post meaningful CAP or LRCAP and bring in reinforcements.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Unfortunately, no. There's no stacking limits in the game and Erik's CD unit is making it hard on even my best BB TFs to score hits. My BBs have been so ineffective that I'm thinking of backing them off to a range for only the BBs to engage, to see if that dampens the effect of the shore guns somewhat.

When this happens, I typically back up to 5K.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Unfortunately, no. There's no stacking limits in the game and Erik's CD unit is making it hard on even my best BB TFs to score hits. My BBs have been so ineffective that I'm thinking of backing them off to a range for only the BBs to engage, to see if that dampens the effect of the shore guns somewhat.

When this happens, I typically back up to 5K.

Should that be 15K?

[Canoerebel]

2/21/45

BB Massachusetts: She took moderately-heavy damage in early '44, before I stepped in effective 3/1/44. She retired to Townsville, staying there until Allied ops in NoPac pulled all of Erik's subs away from SoPac. Then she made the long journey to Pearl. She repaired there rather than at West Coast, electing not to chance the small risk of enemy subs (indeed, no enemy sub has ever been seen anywhere near Hawaii or West Coast). I already had enough BBs in NoPac, and this one served as kind of a "in the bank" reserve, just in case the wheels came off.

She'll go into action fairly soon. I hope she's not an unlucky ship.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Unfortunately, no. There's no stacking limits in the game and Erik's CD unit is making it hard on even my best BB TFs to score hits. My BBs have been so ineffective that I'm thinking of backing them off to a range for only the BBs to engage, to see if that dampens the effect of the shore guns somewhat.

When this happens, I typically back up to 5K.

Should that be 15K?

Nope, I mean 5. It brings the ships out of range of all but the biggest, dedicated CD guns.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Unfortunately, no. There's no stacking limits in the game and Erik's CD unit is making it hard on even my best BB TFs to score hits. My BBs have been so ineffective that I'm thinking of backing them off to a range for only the BBs to engage, to see if that dampens the effect of the shore guns somewhat.

As Loka says, it's worthwhile increasing the range. CD guns on the whole are at best a minor nuisance for bombardment missions. It's a different story during extended amphibious operations once the escorting warships run out of ammo, or in narrow straits where CD guns can absolutely maul transiting ships.